Tow4r13s Moiie Sustainaj3le Soil Fertility
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odi Network Paper No.63 _Agricultural Research & Extension Networkj A REN JULY 1996 TOW4R13S MOIIE SUSTAINAJ3LE SOIL FERTILITY MANAGEMEgr- LAUG 24\06 J y Toon Defoer, Salif Kante, Thea Ililhorst and Hugo pe rciot10) GIAOltNi FOuNDATIC5V - AGR;Ctit.TUP.,",!_ FC0i'\10M. Abstract In southern Mali, more intensive soil fertility motivatesfarmers to plan their own activities. If management strategies are needed to guarantee farmers so request, a field worker assists them to sustainableproduction. However, the increasing implement the new techniques. Village I iversity of the farming systems places high intermediaries are also being trained in mapping demands on research and extension. techniques and practical aspects of the new Technologies pmposed as recipesfor the average technologies. There are clear indications that this fI rmer are becoming less and less relevant. The approach has improved soilfertility management Farming Systems Research team (ESPGRN)o f the practices. Farmers have started to recycle Agricultural Research Institute (IER) nI is considerable amounts of crop residues as litter developing an action-research approach to and fodder. They are also experimenting with enII' farmers, together with researchers, to contour farming and planting fodder crops in I nalyse and understand farmer strategies and association with cereals. practices of soil fertty management and to iI- ntify technologies which both meet farmers' needs and are sustainable. I ER/ESPGRN The authors are part of the Equipe Systemes de Production et The analysis is done at the village andfarm Gestion de Ressources Naturelles(ESPGRN; FSR-team)from the levels, using different participatory tools. First a Centre Regional de Recherche Agronomique (CRRA; the village territory map is made to analyse the Regional Research Centre) of Sikasso, which is part of the mI nagement of the natural resources in the Institut d'Economie Rurale (IER; the Agricultural Research Institute) of Mali. The ESPGRN is a multidisciplinary team of villI.'. Next, the diversity of soil fertility researchers: agronomists, economists, zootechnicians, mI nagement practices between farms is sociologists and land use planners. It is financed by the Dutch investigated and its underlying causes are government and technically assisted by the Royal Tropical Institute (KIT) in Amsterdam. diagnosed. A classification of farms is made by the villagers using their own criteria for IER/ESPGRN distinguishing levels of fertility management. PO Box 186, Sikasso, Mali TO: +223-620028 Fax: +223-620349 Subsequently, the actual management practices Email: [email protected] I- depicted pictorially using resource flow models, drawn by 'test' farmers, representing KIT/AED each of the different categories farms. Mauritskade 63, 1092 AD Amsterdam, The Netherlands of On the Tel: +31 (20) 5688374 Fax: +31 (20) 5688444 II sis of these models, farmers and researchers Email: [email protected] I iscuss various possibilities for increasing the recycling of crop residues and reducing losses The research work on soil fertility management was carried out by IER/ESPGRN in collaboration with the IIED coordinated from theirfarms, and flow models are made to project 'Dynamics of soil fertility management in savanna 1 DI n management practices for the subsequent systems in Africa'. An earlier paper was presented at a year. workshop on Nutrient Cycling and Soil Fertility Management in Africa, 26 November — 2 December, 1995, coordinated by the The combination of analysis and regular Drylands Programme, IIED and hosted by FARM-Africa in feedback of farmers' results, together with Soddo, Welaita, Ethiopia. exposure to information on new technologies, The Agricultural Research and Extension Network is sponsored by the UKtry_e_rseas Developmendministration (ODA). The opinions expressed in this paper do not necessan y reflect those of ODA. We are happy for this material to be reproduced on a not-for-profit basis. The Network Coordinator would appreciate receiving details of any use of this material in training, research or programme design, implementation or evaluation. Network Coordinator: Diana Carney Assistant Coordinator: John Farrington Secretary: Alison Saxby ISSN 0952-2468 Agricultural Research and Extension Network Paper 63 Information from the resource flow models About the authors and their affiliations made by farmers can be transferred into a database which is then used to select Toon Defoer is a Belgian researcher. He has worked since sustainability parameters linked to farmers' key 1992 for KIT as chief technical advisor and agronomist in the criteria of fertility management. These FSR-team of the IER in Sikasso. He has 14 years' experience as an agronomist, extensionist and FSR-scientist in Morocco, sustainabilityparameters allow comparisons to be Comoro Islands, Pakistan and Mali. His major fields of interest made between different categories offarms and are farmer participatory research, natural resource management for the progress of particular farms to be and farming systems research. monitored over time. It is expected that the Salif Kante is a Malian researcher working in the FSR-team of insights gained by using this process about the IER in Sikasso. He has 5 years of field experience with the farmers' decision-making regarding soilfertility FSR-team in the field of agronomy and pedology. management will become relevant for policy- Thea Hilhorst is a Dutch researcher who joined KIT in 1991 makers. after working for 3 years in Honduras with NGOs and farmers' organisations. In 1993 she joined the FSR-team of the IER in Sikasso as a sociologist. Her major fields of interest are natural resource management (especially of common property questions) and client-oriented farming systems research. Hugo De Groote is a Belgian agricultural economist, working for KIT in the FSR-team of Sikasso. He worked for many years in rural development research in Thailand, Togo and Mali. His current fields of interest include intra-household resource allocation, rural credit, and the quantitative analysis of participatory research. The authors can be contacted at IER/ESPGRN and KIT. ii Towards More Sustainable Soil Fertility Management CONTENTS Page Abstract Acronyms iv 1 Introduction 1 2 The dynamics of the farming systems in southern Mali 2 3 The approach 3 3.1 Diagnosing and analysing farmers' strategies 5 3.2 Planning and implementing system-adapted improvements 6 3.3 Evaluation of the planned activities 6 4 Results from the village of Noyaradougou 7 4.1 Natural resources of the village 7 4.2 Diversity of soil fertility management and farm classification 9 Farmers' criteria 9 Farmers' classffication offarms, according to soilfertility management 9 4.3 Examples of resource flow models 10 Description of a Class HIfarm: a low recyclingfarm 11 Description of a Class Ifarm: a high recyclingfarm 11 4.4 Planning and implementing changes in soil fertility management 11 4.5 Evaluation of planned activities 14 Major achievements 15 Farmers' opinions of the process 15 5 Assessing the impact on the sustainability of the farming systems 15 5.1 Purpose 15 5.2 Data analysis and the development of sustainability parameters 16 5.3 Results 16 Crop residue recycling 20 Production/use of organic fertiliser 20 Dosage of mineralfertiliser 20 5.4 Plans for the future 20 6 Perspectives and challenges 20 6.1 Extension 21 6.2 Research 21 Appendix 1. Organisation of the data files 23 Endnotes 24 References 25 in Agricultural Research and Extension Network Paper 63 Page Text boxes, figures and tables Box 1. Extension services in southern Mali 3 Box 2. Agricultural research in Mali 3 Figure 1. Map of Mali, southern Mali, and the cotton belt 1 Figure 2. The action—research approach to soil fertility management 4 Figure 3. Steps in the analytical phase 4 Figure 4. Resource map of village territory made by farmers of Noyaradougou 8 Figure 5. Resource flow model of a Class III farm (low recycling farm) 12 Figure 6. Resource flow model of a Class I farm (high recycling farm) 13 Figure 7. Schematic representation of information flows within the action-research programme 17 Figure 8. Crop residue recycling (kg/ha) 18 Figure 9. Crop residue recycling (kg/TLU) 18 Figure 10. Organic fertiliser utilisation (kg/ha) 19 Figure 11. Manure production per TLU 19 Table 1. Population and land characteristics of southern Mali 2 Table 2. Household characteristics in Noyaradougou 7 Table 3. Criteria for differentiating soil fertility management between farms and underlying socio-economic causes as identified by farmers 9 Table 4. Soil fertility management practices by class of farmer: average and range 10 Table 5. Causes of differences (according to farmers) in soil fertility management practices by class of farmer: average and range 10 Table 6. Equipment, cotton acreage and cotton yield by class of farmer: average and range 11 Table 7. Overview of the major planned activities and principal target groups 14 Table 8. Planned activities that were implemented in 1995 15 Table 9. Users and uses of research results 16 Table 10. Quantities of mineral fertilisers applied (averages by class of farm) 10 ACRONYMS AV Village association (Association Villageoise) CFDT French Textile Fibre Development Company (Compagnie Francaise pour le Developpement des Fibres Textiles) CIRAD International Centre for Cooperation in Agricultural Research and Development (Centre de Cooperation Internationale en Recherche Agronomique pour le Developpement) CMDT Malian Textile Development Company(Compagnie