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The profit motive
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Reaping benefits in the sorghum fields.
Smallholder farmers are often reluctant to adopt new crop management practices. But adoption can be speeded up if crop management extension is linked to creation of market opportunities. ICRISAT and partners have realized this in a project that covers 13 drought-prone districts in Zimbabwe. The partners include the national research and extension service, farmer groups, NGOs, and the private sector.
Activities include two sets of sorghum trials/demonstration plots. One set, run with support from TJ Commodities (a large private-sector grain trader) and CARE, focuses on low-cost soil fertility management, using a combination of farmyard manure and small amounts of chemical fertilizer. The other, supported by Chibuku Breweries and hosted by farmers growing sorghum on contract to the company, focused on crop management methods – early sowing, thinning, fertility improvement, crop rotation (sorghum/legume and sorghum/sunflower rotations for Striga control), moisture conservation (potholes, modified tied ridges), and plant spacing.
Every demonstration site was monitored through the season. ICRISAT also installed rain gauges at most sites, to help farmers track the progress of the rains, and see for themselves how rainfall distribution affects plant growth.
Results from the just-concluded season are encouraging. The demonstration plots were highly successful. Over 1100 farmers participated directly, and many others are showing interest in trying out the new methods. Over 6500 farmers attended the project field days.
Farmers provided valuable feedback on different fertility amendments, in terms of technical results as well as relevance/affordability. Application of inorganic fertilizer, ie Compound D + ammonium nitrate, gave the highest yield increases, but farmers considered it impractical due to the high cost and unavailability of chemical fertilizers. They preferred a combination of farmyard manure and ammonium nitrate – the former applied at sowing, the latter as a top-dressing later in the season.