This is one of 280 summaries describing key outputs from the projects run by DFID’s 10-year Renewable Natural Resources Research Strategy (RNRRS) programmes.
Summary for Project titles: R8219: Improved access to appropriate farm inputs for integrated maize crop management by small-scale farmers in Embu and Kirinyaga Districts, Kenya and R8455: Improved access to appropriate farm inputs for integrated maize crop management by small-scale farmers in Kenya and Tanzania.
Farmers in Kenya growing mixed maize–bean systems are using improved fertilisers, diseasetolerant maize varieties and early-maturing bean varieties to increase the productivity of their crops; herbicides are helping to protect crops, reduce women’s labour (weeding) and conserve soil; and Farmer Field Schools are promoting the new methods. Farmers are also using an affordable, lightweight chisel plough to break up the hard soil (‘soil pans’) that results from years of shallow cultivation with hand implements or disc ploughs. Soil pans make it hard for crops to take root and for rainwater to penetrate the earth. Consequently, crops do not achieve their yield potential and are more susceptible to drought, and soils have high potential for erosion.
The CD has the following information for this output: Description, Validation, Current Situation, Current Promotion, Impacts On Poverty, Environmental Impact. Attached PDF (12 pp.) taken from the CD.