We often refer to Conservation Agriculture (CA) and Farmer Field Schools (FFS) without explaining clearly what they are. Considering that CA and FFS are the foundation of our Food Security Program, for those of you who are interested, here goes:
Conservation Agriculture is an approach to crop production that aims to increase and sustain high levels of production while at the same time conserving the environment. As practiced here, it's based on the application of three principles:
1. Maintaining a permanent vegetative soil cover through planting cover crops and leaving crop residues on the field to protect the soil surface from wind and water erosion;
2. Minimum disturbance of the soil by planting directly through the mulch to maintain the soil structure and retain moisture in the soil;
3. Intercropping two or more crops. For example, the staple crop here is maize which is a shallow-rooted plant that extracts nutrients from the soil. Pigeon peas on the other hand are a leguminous crop with deep roots that can break down the hardpan (compacted soil caused by repeated plowing) and fix nitrogen in the soil, thereby contributing to a healthier more productive soil. Intercropped together, maize and pigeon peas compliment each other.
Farmers, especially subsistence farmers, never put all their eggs in one basket. Understandably, they take a cautious approach to any changes in their methods of food production. The practice of Conservation Agriculture entails a significant departure from conventional agriculture. We therefore start with women and men farmers coming together to form Farmer Field Schools, which are "schools without walls" where farmers can share information and experiment and learn together in a participatory process facilitated by CPAR Tz. They start by applying the CA practices together in an experimental plot over one cropping season. They meet regularly to closely observe their fields and document the progress. Once they see and experience for themselves the positive effects, for example less labour due to no clearing of the land; no soil erosion during heavy winds and rainfall; and a bigger yield at the first harvest, they take the methods home to their household farm. Some farmers start practicing CA on their own plots immediately, others wait until the harvest before they are convinced that this is an approach worth trying.
Farmers from Karatu and Bunda Districts have now completed their formal training in Conservation Agriculture. The intensive training was conducted on a training of trainer basis for 20 women and 20 men farmers who have now returned to their communities and will help CPAR Tz train many more farmers in newly formed Farmer Field Schools. An important component of the training is use of CA implements such as the hand operated jab planter which plants through the soil cover, and the draught animal powered ripper which cuts furrows through the soil cover and places the seed directly in the ripper furrow. Other CA equipment exists but to keep the costs down we focus on the jab planter and the ripper along with ox ploughs for mulching the cover crops and crop residues into the soil.
Conservation Agriculture is an approach to crop production that aims to increase and sustain high levels of production while at the same time conserving the environment. As practiced here, it's based on the application of three principles:
1. Maintaining a permanent vegetative soil cover through planting cover crops and leaving crop residues on the field to protect the soil surface from wind and water erosion;
2. Minimum disturbance of the soil by planting directly through the mulch to maintain the soil structure and retain moisture in the soil;
3. Intercropping two or more crops. For example, the staple crop here is maize which is a shallow-rooted plant that extracts nutrients from the soil. Pigeon peas on the other hand are a leguminous crop with deep roots that can break down the hardpan (compacted soil caused by repeated plowing) and fix nitrogen in the soil, thereby contributing to a healthier more productive soil. Intercropped together, maize and pigeon peas compliment each other.
Farmers, especially subsistence farmers, never put all their eggs in one basket. Understandably, they take a cautious approach to any changes in their methods of food production. The practice of Conservation Agriculture entails a significant departure from conventional agriculture. We therefore start with women and men farmers coming together to form Farmer Field Schools, which are "schools without walls" where farmers can share information and experiment and learn together in a participatory process facilitated by CPAR Tz. They start by applying the CA practices together in an experimental plot over one cropping season. They meet regularly to closely observe their fields and document the progress. Once they see and experience for themselves the positive effects, for example less labour due to no clearing of the land; no soil erosion during heavy winds and rainfall; and a bigger yield at the first harvest, they take the methods home to their household farm. Some farmers start practicing CA on their own plots immediately, others wait until the harvest before they are convinced that this is an approach worth trying.
Farmers from Karatu and Bunda Districts have now completed their formal training in Conservation Agriculture. The intensive training was conducted on a training of trainer basis for 20 women and 20 men farmers who have now returned to their communities and will help CPAR Tz train many more farmers in newly formed Farmer Field Schools. An important component of the training is use of CA implements such as the hand operated jab planter which plants through the soil cover, and the draught animal powered ripper which cuts furrows through the soil cover and places the seed directly in the ripper furrow. Other CA equipment exists but to keep the costs down we focus on the jab planter and the ripper along with ox ploughs for mulching the cover crops and crop residues into the soil.
And that, in a rather large nutshell, is Conservation Agriculture 101. The impact of Farmer Field Schools on farmers, on the other hand, goes way beyond learning new agricultural methods. At risk of boring our readers, we'll leave the wonders of FFS for another posting.
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