What's in it for farmers? Farm level advantages of Conservation Agriculture (CA) in Kenya

Abstract

Conservation agriculture (CA) consists of three principles: reduced tillage, retaining crop residue on the soil surface year round, and crop diversification (either intercropping or rotational systems). This practice is important to sustainably increase crop productivity through improving soil organic matter, conserving moisture, weed control, pests and diseases management, and enhancing farmers’ resilience to drought and climate change and variability. A four year (2010–2014) experiment was established on farmers’ field sites in eastern region (Embu, Meru and Tharaka-Nithi counties) and western region (Siaya and Bungoma counties) of Kenya. The experiments included conventional tillage (CVT) or farmers’ average practices, and two CA-based practices involving no or zero tillage (ZT) and a system of tillage involving construction of furrows and ridges (FR) rather than full tillage (although furrows and ridges were not established in the western Kenya sites). Beans in eastern and Desmodium in western regions were incorporated as intercrop in maize cropping systems. The experiments were carried out both in the short rain (SR) and long rain (LR) seasons. The financial analysis of the various treatments was carried out based on average village grain and crop residue prices and daily labour wage rates. For inputs (fertilizer and herbicides) the prevailing market prices were used.