Conservation Farming and Changing Climate: More Beneficial than Conventional Methods for Degraded Ugandan Soils

Abstract

Abstract:The extent of land affected by degradation in Uganda ranges from 20% in relatively flat and vegetation-covered areas to 90% in the eastern and southwestern highlands. Land degradation has adversely affected smallholder agro-ecosystems including direct damage and loss of critical ecosystem services such as agricultural land/soil and biodiversity. This study evaluated the extent of bare grounds in Nakasongola, one of the districts in the Cattle Corridor of Uganda and the yield responses of maize (Zea mays) and common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) to different tillage methods in the district. Bare ground was determined by a supervised multi-band satellite image classification using the Maximum Likelihood Classifier (MLC). Field trials on maize and bean grain yield responses to tillage practices used a randomized complete block design with three replications, evaluating conventional farmer practice (CFP); permanent planting basins (PPB); and rip lines, with or without fertilizer in maize and bean rotations. Bare ground coverage in the Nakasongola District was 187 km 2 (11%) of the 1741 km 2 of arable land due to extreme cases of soil compaction. All practices, whether conventional or the newly introduced conservation farming practices in combination with fertilizer increased bean and maize grain yields, albeit with minimal statistical significance in some cases. The newly introduced conservation farming tillage practices increased the bean grain yield relative to conventional practices by 41% in PPBs and 43% in rip lines. In maize, the newly introduced conservation farming tillage practices increased the grain yield by 78% on average, relative to conventional practices. Apparently, conservation farming tillage methods proved beneficial relative to conventional methods on degraded soils, with the short-term benefit of increasing land productivity leading to better harvests and food security.

Towards Commercial Orientation of Maize Farming In East Nusa Tenggara

“…The important tangible outcome that could be seen from the program is in the first time farmers from ENT does inter-island trade of maize to Surabaya as much 4 containers or equal to 120 tons and local traders absorbed 270 tons. This implies also that maize farming or maize product from ENT is competitive enough with similar imported product (maize) [16,17]. Contract between farmers and off-taker facilitated by Provincial Food Crops from the beginning of the programs have bind all parties that guarantee market for the maize and encourage farmers to extend their maize farming.…”

Analysing the socio-technical transition to conservation agriculture in Uganda through the lens of the multi-level perspective

“…CA practice is relevant to the farmers in most of the agro-ecological zones in Uganda. Studies so far indicate increases in yields and associated increased incomes, profits and reduced soil erosion on degraded soils (Mubiru et al 2017;Vaiknoras et al 2014). Discussions with participants (cf.…”

“…Due to strong community relationships, farmers transformed their farming to CA. The new technical practice of CA involves digging permanent planting stations (Kaweesa et al 2018;Mubiru et al 2017), among others.…”

“…In Uganda, CA is already yielding benefits in fragile ecosystems, which are highly degraded and vulnerable to climate change, such as in Nakasongola District (Mubiru et al 2017). Other benefits from CA are reported in Eastern Uganda (Vaiknoras et al 2014) and in mid-Northern Uganda (Kaweesa et al 2018).…”

“…CA is a low-input technology based on three principles, namely minimum soil disturbance, maintaining a soil cover through mulching with crop residues or planting cover crops and practicing crop rotations. The technique has several benefits such as conserving soil and water (Mubiru et al 2017), reducing labour in the long term, increasing yields and reducing the effects of climate change variability (e.g. floods and droughts) (Hobbs et al 2008).…”