supervisor: ken giller examiner: linus franke may...

Supervisor: Ken Giller

Examiner: Linus Franke

May 2013

Frederik van der Bom Plant Production Systems - PPS 70424

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3 Table of Contents

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Table of Contents ............................................................................................................................. 3

Chapter 1. Introduction ..................................................................................................................... 7

N2Africa ....................................................................................................................................... 7

Soya ni Pesa .................................................................................................................................. 7

Background .................................................................................................................................. 8

Internship objectives ................................................................................................................... 10

Outline ........................................................................................................................................ 11

Chapter 2. Project locations ............................................................................................................ 13

Caritas Njombe ........................................................................................................................... 15

Caritas Songea ............................................................................................................................ 16

Chapter 3. Findings ........................................................................................................................ 19

Farmer selection ......................................................................................................................... 19

Soybean history .......................................................................................................................... 19

Farming systems ......................................................................................................................... 20

Project timing ............................................................................................................................. 20

Inoculants ................................................................................................................................... 20

FEO functioning ......................................................................................................................... 21

Field size measurements ............................................................................................................. 22

Travel .......................................................................................................................................... 22

Weather ...................................................................................................................................... 22

Chapter 4. Nodulation assessment of demo plots of soybean (Glycine max) in the Soya Ni Pesa

project in the Southern Highlands of Tanzania. ............................................................................. 25

Abstract ...................................................................................................................................... 25

Introduction ................................................................................................................................ 25

Materials and Methods ............................................................................................................... 25

Nodule assessment .................................................................................................................. 26

Results ........................................................................................................................................ 28


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Discussion .................................................................................................................................. 28

Final comments .......................................................................................................................... 31

Chapter 5. Germination of two lots of Soybean (Glycine max cv. Uyole soya-1) used in the Soya

Ni Pesa project in the Southern highlands of Tanzania. ................................................................ 33

Abstract ...................................................................................................................................... 33

Introduction ................................................................................................................................ 33

Uyole soya-1 .......................................................................................................................... 34


Results ........................................................................................................................................ 35

Discussion .................................................................................................................................. 35

Final comments .......................................................................................................................... 36

Chapter 6. Plant stands of soybean (Glycine max

the Southern Highlands of Tanzania. ............................................................................................. 39

Abstract ...................................................................................................................................... 39

Introduction ................................................................................................................................ 39


Results ........................................................................................................................................ 40

Discussion .................................................................................................................................. 41

Final comments .......................................................................................................................... 42

Chapter 7. Characteristics of farmers in the villages of Ikondo and Nyave in Njombe region in the

Southern Highlands of Tanzania. ................................................................................................... 45

Abstract ...................................................................................................................................... 45

Introduction ................................................................................................................................ 45


Site description ....................................................................................................................... 46

Selecting households .............................................................................................................. 46

Data collection ....................................................................................................................... 47

Results ........................................................................................................................................ 47

A. Demographic information .............................................................................................. 47

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B. Income ............................................................................................................................ 47

C. Labour ............................................................................................................................ 49

D. Livestock ownership ....................................................................................................... 49

E. Land use.......................................................................................................................... 49

F. Crop production .............................................................................................................. 51

G. Nutrition ......................................................................................................................... 53

Discussion .................................................................................................................................. 54

Final comments .......................................................................................................................... 55

Chapter 8. Challenges and opportunities ........................................................................................ 57

Market ........................................................................................................................................ 57

Storage ........................................................................................................................................ 57

Inoculants ................................................................................................................................... 57

Demo plots ................................................................................................................................. 58

Field measurements .................................................................................................................... 58

Transport .................................................................................................................................... 58

FEOs ........................................................................................................................................... 58

Office location ............................................................................................................................ 59

Costs and returns ........................................................................................................................ 59

References ...................................................................................................................................... 60

Appendices ..................................................................................................................................... 63


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7 Chapter 1. Introduction

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This academic report was written in fulfilment of the academic requirements pertaining to

guidelines for an Internship in the Plant Production Systems chair group (PPS) at Wageningen

UR. The internship was carried out under the auspices of the N2Africa project and took place in

the Southern Highlands Tanzania with the Catholic Relief Services (CRS) project of Soya Ni Pesa

(SnP).

N2Africa is a large scale, science research project focused on putting nitrogen fixation to work for

smallholder farmers growing legume crops in Africa (N2Africa, no date). The project is funded

rd G. Buffet Foundation' through a

grant to Plant Production Systems, Wageningen University, who lead the project together with

CIAT-TSBF, IITA and many partners in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ghana, Kenya,

Malawi, Mozambique, Nigeria, Rwanda and Zimbabwe. Currently, new partnerships are

established in Ethiopia, Uganda, Tanzania, Liberia and Sierra Leone.

The project directly links the atmospheric reserves of nitrogen to the protein and nitrogen needs of

poor African farmers. It aims to improve farm household welfare by raising the average yields of

grain legumes by 954 kg/ha in four legumes (groundnut, cowpea, soybean, and common bean)

and to increase average biological nitrogen fixation (BNF) by 46 kg/ha. Goals to be achieved at

the end of the 4-year project are to:

identify niches for targeting nitrogen fixing legumes

test multi-purpose legumes to provide food, animal feed, and improved soil fertility

promote the adoption of improved legume varieties

support the development of inoculum production capacity through collaboration with

private sector partners

develop and strengthen capacity for legumes research and technology dissemination

deliver improved varieties of legumes and inoculant technologies to more than 225,000

smallholder farmers in eight countries of sub-Saharan Africa.

The Soya ni Pesa (Soybean is Money) project is an initiative to strengthen the soybean value


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smallholder farmers and integrating them with markets. During the four years of the project CRS

invests United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) funds to increase the production of

soybean from 3,500 MT per year to 11,000 MT and to support a total of up to 11,250 local

farmers in the process. The project will upgrade the feed component of the Tanzanian poultry

sector, with special attention to building a competitive supply of soybean for oil and meal

production.

The two main objectives are:

to increase agricultural productivity in the egg and soybean value chains by

demonstrating improved production techniques, facilitating access to improved seed, and

linking agricultural producers to financial services and agro-dealer networks

to expand trade of agricultural products in the egg and soybean value chains by training

agricultural producer groups, facilitating access to storage facilities, and linking

agricultural producers to markets and market information.

These objectives will be achieved by ten major interventions/activities (Figure 1).

Low and declining soil fertility is widely recognized as a major constraint limiting smallholder

farming systems in sub-Saharan Africa (FAO, 2012, Okalebo et al., 2006). In many areas low soil

fertility is the result of continuous cropping, minimal use of fertilizers and a shift away from the

traditional systems that included fallow, which allowed the soil to recover from several years of

cropping (Smaling et al., 1997). Restoration and maintaining soil fertility therefore is a major

challenge to ensure food security. Conventional methods to increase soil fertility are the use of

fertilizers and manure, but use by smallholders is often restricted due to high costs, unreliable

returns, lack of credit, market access etc. (Sanchez, 2002). In the past governments periodically

ran successful fertilizer and seed subsidy programs, but these are unsustainable in the long run

because of the high costs involved (Sanchez et al., 1997). Moreover, removal of such subsidies

caused fertilizer prices to surge in relation to the prices of crops.

Alternatively, many legumes can nodulate and fix atmospheric nitrogen abundantly by the

symbiotic association between the crop and soil bacteria (rhizobia) (Giller, 2001). Nodulated

legumes have the potential to fulfil their demand for nitrogen by fixation and, as a result, can

influence the nitrogen balance of the soil (Hardarson and Atkins, 2003). Thus, growing legumes

may increase availability of nitrogen to accompanying or succeeding crops and intensification of

nitrogen-fixing legumes may provide an agronomic and economically sustainable alternative


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(Kaschuk et al., 2006). At the same time sustainability will be improved by the diversification of

the cereal dominated rotations.


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Besides their potential to contribute to soil fertility grain legumes are often valued as being the

with meat (Kaizzi et al., 2012). They complement other foods such as maize by which they can

play an essential role in human nutrition. Furthermore, while addressing the nutritional security

of the households legumes can also provide opportunities for farmers to improve their income

(Giller et al., 2011).

The objective was to observe and -on-the-

the SnP project and its challenges. Apart from initially getting acquainted with the project and the

people involved, the internship activities can be divided over three main activities, during which

data was collected:

1. Work closely with a Field Extension Officer (FEO) at the village level; meet with and talk

to actors and farmers involved in the project.

2. Walk along with the officers at the regional level; understand the project from the

perspective of the local organisations.

3. Field visits, workshops, trainings with the SnP agricultural officer from Dar es Salaam;

progress.

Figure 2 provides a general description of how the project is organised and, hence, at what level

each activity took place.


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The following chapters were written to provide an overview of all experiences and findings. First

Chapter 2 further explains about the project and describes the projects locations. Then, Chapter 3

describes some of the main findings. After, Chapters 4 7 present a series of short papers on the

collected data, each supplemented with some final comments. Chapter 8 provides an overview of

the challenges and opportunities. Finally, a reflection is added after the Appendices.


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13 Chapter 2. Project locations

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The SnP project will take place in three regions, Njombe, Ruvuma and Morgoro, all in the

Southern Highlands of Tanzania, but currently only the previous are included (Figure 3). CRS

office is located in Dar Es Salaam and the organisation of the project on the regional and village

level works directly via Caritas Njombe and Caritas Songea.

Rainfall in the Southern Highlands is monomodal. The period between June and October is a low

rain or no rain season and therefore little agricultural production takes place. In some places small

gardens in the valleys, but these are

usually much smaller in size. In many cases these vinyungus are used for seed multiplication of

beans for instance. Slash and burn agriculture is visibly practiced throughout the area. The main

staple crops are maize and beans. In terms of production the second crop, after maize, varies from

location to location and by agro ecologies. Apart from beans large crops are sunflower, simsim,

rice, tobacco, tea, etc.

Figure 4 presents the agro-ecological zones of both Songea district and Njombe district.

Additionally, Table 1 provides the legend needed to interpret the codes displayed in each of the

maps (Ministry of Agriculture Food Security and Cooperatives, no date).


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Njombe district inhabits over 420,000 people in approximately 99,000 households and consists of

a total of 25 wards (Tanzania National Website, no date). Currently the villages of Ikondo,

Mambegu, Mlevela and Nyave are included in SnP, in which a total of 112 households participate

(Figure 5).

An interesting other project also ran via Caritas Njombe, in collaboration with Heifer

international. Families received a heifer and became donors themselves as they passed the next


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generation to other families in need. This project ended recently, but there are still many

households waiting in line, interested to participate. Subsequently, some villages were already

well known and, hence, the choice to start the SnP project in the current villages was influenced

by this history.

In Ruvuma region SnP is organised via Caritas Songea. The project includes the districts of

Songea Rural (pop. 148,000; 32,000 households) and Namtumbo (pop. 185,000; 33,000

households) (Tanzania National Website, no date) .

A total of 282 households from the villages of Chengena, Namanguli, Mkongo gulioni, Limamu,

Hanga, Mbimbi, Sinai (Namtumbo district), Liganga, Nakahegwa, Madaba, Mkongotema

(Songea Rural district) are included (Figure 6). This number is meant to increase to 2752 in the

following season and up to 4065 by the third year. By then 14 villages should be included in

Namtumbo, and 13 in Songea Rural.


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19 Chapter 3. Findings

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When I arrived in Tanzania I spent the first day in the CRS office in Dar es Salaam to get

familiarised with the project, the planning for the next days, etc. The day after I travelled to

Njombe, from where I was transferred to Ikondo to spend some time with the local Field

Extension Officer for Ikondo and Nyave. After several weeks I returned to Njombe to grasp some

of the project on the regional office level and joined on visits to each of the villages. Finally I

joined Lembris Laiser, the SnP agricultural officer, on a series of field visits, demonstrations and

workshops in both Njombe and Songea.

Overall most time was spent on: 1. Walking along and talking to farmers; and 2. Measurements in

the field. This chapter presents a selection of findings I believe to be noteworthy. Several other

findings will be presented in Chapters 4-7 and will therefore not be further described here.

In Ikondo and Nyave soybean cropping takes place in groups that were originally

established by CEFA (an Italian development organisation in Ikondo) for a project in

sunflower production. They were formed by approaching some already known women to

become group leader and by having them find interested group members. Hence, the

groups were designed to boost women empowerment. CEFA was open to also introduce

soybean production so the groups were approached for growing soybean as well. In all

other villages soya is grown independently. The farmers that are currently in the project in

Mambegu and Mlevela were already known by Caritas Njombe from the heifer project

briefly mentioned in Chapter 2.

Soybean is a crop that is already known amongst farmers, especially in Ruvuma region.

In many locations farmers have a history of growing a local soybean variety, or in fact

still are. In Ikondo soybean was introduced several years ago, but the buyer pulled out of

the project after a conflict with local government. Hence, the market for soybean

disappeared abruptly. Farmers do not have any knowledge about other functions of

soybean and had no choice but to burn their harvests. As a result farmers are very

reserved about growing soybean. To convince them CEFA offered the groups to use

CEFA lands instead of their own. In Songea too soybean was introduced multiple times,

but the projects were never really backed up. As a result farmers have a lack of trust and

plant the SnP crop on marginal lands.


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In all locations farmers typically use a rotation system with two major crops: maize and

beans, sometimes in combination with fallowing. One exception is the

(relay)intercropping system that was observed in Mambegu, where farmers generally

grew maize, beans and cowpea. First beans are harvested, then maize and finally the

cowpea, that use the maize stalks to climb due to their vining habit.

In addition, the improved heifers from the Heifer project briefly mentioned in Chapter 2

(in Mambegu and Mlevela, Njombe district) were kept in a zero-grazing system, whereas

local breeds graze on communal lands.

The late launch of SnP showed up in an appearance of a somewhat chaotic project

organisation. For instance, in Ikondo, groups had cultivated their land in December but

the seeds had not yet been supplied. Moreover, distribution was further delayed because

transport to the villages became impossible because of heavy rains: roads were simply too

muddy. By the time the seeds finally arrived, weeds had regrown and lands had to be

prepared for a second time, yet farmers were now active in undertaking other activities.

Likewise, the inoculants arrived late. As a result, project staff often seems to be one step

late with many tasks and are mostly busy fixing things, rather than moving forward to a

next phase.

Knowledge about inoculants is inadequate. The information provided in the workshop

about Rhizobium only partly reached its audience. Possibly this was a result of too much

information that was to be taken up in one go. Furthermore, the text on the bags that were

distributed is written in Czech, which is clearly not spoken by anyone in the project. This

product could be sourced. Consequently some important information did not reach the

farmers.

The inoculant was supplied in bags of 2.5 kg whereas the majority of farmers plants less

than 10 kg of seeds. Therefore they only require a maximum of 40 grams, or, often, less

than that. Distribution takes place by taking little quantities from the 2.5 kg bags and

handing them out it in a piece of paper, matchbox, plastic bag etc., thereby completely

missing sterility considerations and the need to plant within 1-2 days. Furthermore, it is


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likely that the inoculant is stored by the farmer between time of distribution and time of

planting. Both may lead to Rhizobium dying off, thus a failing product.

Farmers in Namanguli explained that a local research station (ARI Uyole) already

introduced Rhizobium at the beginning of the previous season. When some of the fields

became diseased and/or showed high mortality farmers feared the product to be toxic.

Now, the majority of farmers did not use inoculant this season, even though they have

received them. What is striking is that originally this information did not reach the Caritas

FEO and/or the SnP project staff.

It seems there is a considerable gap between FEOs and farmers in the majority of villages.

While visiting many villages with Lembris it became apparent that most FEOs are

struggling in both the documentation of farmer data and communicating project

knowledge to farmers. The tools they were supplied with in order to support them in their

work, such as a handbook, are little made use of.

Although it is improving, on the regional scale there is still a lack of knowledge about and

controlling of FEO activities. Many issues did not come to light until Lembris and I

started visiting the fields. We went through great lengths to gather simple data such as the

quantity of seeds sown, date sown and date weeded. Furthermore, documentation of any

activities such as new or improved practice/agronomic advice or meetings with farmers

was usually absent.

In addition reliability of information provided forms a major factor of concern. One of the

most striking stories is a FEO who presented field size data that soon turned out to be the

result of cross multiplication: field size (acres) = kg of seeds received × acres per kg of

seeds (based on recommended spacing).

In Ruvuma region Caritas ended up recruiting 15 helper farmers, who received a two-day-

training, in order to ensure that at least the main tasks of FEOs were to be completed. This

turned out to be a very effective way of gathering important data, but it ignored the more

fundamental problem which is that the FEOs did not fully do or understand their tasks.

On top of that it places local farmers in a position where they financially compensated by

the project. This is not necessarily a problem, but I believe caution is advised because it

may raise some (long term) financial expectations.


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In many locations field measurements were not completed or often were imprecise.

Common methods used to measure fields were the counting of steps, sticks, pieces of

string, etc. In some cases it was shown that field size had been overestimated up to 20%.

After a thorough inspection it was concluded that a substantial part of the area of soybean

that had originally been recorded had to be written off because it had never existed.

Transport forms a major obstruction for the FEOs to successfully fulfil their tasks. In both

Njombe and Ruvuma region I discovered that several FEOs had only seen some fields

once, up to months earlier. I do not attribute these facts to a lack of transport options only,

because I believe attitude plays a major part. Nevertheless, while staying in Ikondo I

repeatedly experienced having to spend considerable time on travel and, moreover,

arranging a mode of transport. In particular travel to and from Nyave, over 20 kilometers

from Ikondo was a constant challenge. It was not uncommon to be waiting at least half a

day for transport. As a result several planned meetings were missed and had to be

rescheduled. The lack of signal for mobile communication further exacerbated the issue

because any delays could not be communicated.

Farmers in Songea Rural indicated drought at time of sowing and/or time of flowering

have influenced crop performance. Rainfall data from two sources (ARI Uyole substation

based in Namtumbo and Caritas advisor based in Songera Rural) also suggest a lack of

rains during this period (Figure 7).


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25 Chapter 4. Nodulation assessment of demo plots of soybean (Glycine max) in the Soya Ni Pesa project in the Southern Highlands of Tanzania.

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Within the Soya Ni Pesa (SnP) project demonstration plots were formed with the goal of

demonstrating a set of improved soybean production techniques to local farmers. Six well-

established plots were selected and nodulation was scored and recorded for each plot. Results

showed nodulation to be significantly greater with (Brady)rhizobial inoculation, alone and in

combination with 120 kg DAP ha-1. A combined application of inoculant and P fertilizer may be

most profitable, but more research is needed to confirm. Furthermore, additional soil sampling

may provide more insight in environmental constraints. Finally, it is believed that, when well

taken care of, the demo plots provide a powerful tool to convince farmers to change their

management.

As part of a program to upgrade the Tanzanian poultry feed sector the Soya Ni Pesa project (SnP)

aims to increase the production of soybean (Glycine max) in the Southern Highlands of Tanzania.

Up to 11,250 farmers will be supported in the four year project with the objective of increasing

agricultural productivity, diversifying outputs, increasing smallholder incomes and improving soil

fertility.

Several demonstration plots were established (Figure 8) with the goal of demonstrating improved

soybean production techniques to local farmers. In principle where targeted groups are located

within ten kilometres of one another, CRS intended to establish one demonstration plot for every

three to four producer groups. Where groups are not located within ten kilometres of one another,

one demonstration plot was to be established for each group. Field extension workers can work

from these plots to explain to farmers the types of technology options they can use. Nodulation

assessment was executed for reliable demo plots that included inoculation as a treatment.

SnP recommended spacing for soya production is 0.45 m inter-row and 0.05 m intra-row. Hence,

spacing, which provided a tool to compare different management options. Accordingly, when


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farmers observe and realize what practice is the best one they may decide to adopt their

management in the next season. Besides spacing, several other treatments were also presented:

1. Control (no treatment)

2. DAP

3. inoculation

4. DAP + inoculation

5. Minjingu Rock Phosphate

6. Minjingu Rock Phosphate + inoculation

The actual presented management options varied largely for each location. For instance, due to

late arrival of the inoculants not all demo plots included the inoculation treatment. Similarly,

Minjingu Rock Phosphate was not included in many demonstration plots in Ruvuma region. All

-1.

Only well-established demo plots were selected for nodulation assessment. Criteria for this

selection were 1. reliable demo plot formation (treatment design and establishment, same date of

27 Chapter 4. Nodulation assessment of demo plots of soybean (Glycine max) in the Soya Ni Pesa project in the Southern Highlands of Tanzania.

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planting, record keeping) and 2. proper management (preparation, weeding). In practice this

meant six plots in Ruvuma region were selected of which their formation was closely supervised

by CRS. Figure 9 provides a graphical representation of the plot design and their included

treatments. Minjingu Rock Phosphate was not included in any of these specific plots.

Nodulation was scored and recorded for each plot, based on the system devised for soybean in the

N2Africa project (Figure 10). Three plants were randomly selected from each plot at time of

flowering and dug up in such a way that the root system and nodules were recovered. The scores

from all plants were added and then divided by three to obtain a mean nodule score. A mean

nodule score of: 4 - 5 represents excellent nodulation; excellent potential for nitrogen fixation 3 -

4 represents good nodulation; good potential for fixation 2 - 3 represents fair nodulation; nitrogen

fixation may not be sufficient to supply the N demand of the crop. 0 - 2 represents poor

nodulation, little or no nitrogen fixation.

All the data were subjected to Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) using the ANOVA Procedure of

Genstat version 15 and differences among th

LSD test at 5% probability level.

supervisor: ken giller examiner: linus franke may...

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