A Gliricidia-pigeonpea doubled-up legume system for improved productivity of crop and livestock farming systems of semi-arid agro-ecologies of Central Tanzania

1A. A. Kimaro, 2E. Jonas, 3Ganga Rao, 4C. Rubanza, 1M. Swamila and 3P. Okori1World Agroforestry Centre, 2Sokoine University of Agriculture, 3International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics , 4University of Dodoma.

Key messages• Overgrazing and the use of crop residue and wood harvests for cooking are

major drivers of land degradation in semi-arid ecologies.

• Agroforestry technologies based on dual purpose shrubs and trees such asGliricidia sepium and Pigeonpea when grown as a doubled up legumeprovide an opportunity to meet fodder, energy supply and build resilience.

• These slow growing leguminous tree/shrub are beneficial for multiplecropping, allowing cultivation of annual cereals and legumes.

• A network of champion farmers have been engaged in technology testing,validation and benefit mapping of tree-based doubled up legumetechnology to inform scaling out.

Partners

This poster is licensed for use under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Licence. January 2017

We thank farmers and local partners in Africa RISING sites for their contributions to this research. We also acknowledge the support of all donors which globally support the work of the CGIAR centers and their partners through their contributions to the CGIAR system

Key results• The doubled-up system improved maize grain yield by up to 33% in

researcher and farmer managed sites (Figs. 1).• The doubled-up system had a higher land equivalent ratio (LER) of 2.25

compared to LER of 1.76 for maize-pigeonpea intercrop.• The system minimizes land degradation supplying fuelwood and

fodder (Fig 3).• Over 120 farmers were trained to use Gliricidia and Melia spp as

complementary fodder for livestock and poultry leaf meal (Fig 3)

Significance and scaling potential• Over 50 farmers were involved in developing the tree-based

doubled-up legume system.

• The multiple benefits of this system provide incentive for out scaling to more farmers in phase 2.

• Innovation platforms will be used to engage policy for leverage of other public funded environmental and agriculture productivity investments to scale out these technologies.

Fig. 1: (A) Maize yield under researcher managed plot (B) Maize yield under farmer managed plots in a doubled up legume system at Manyusi, Kongwa. MMGlr=Maize+Gliricida; MMMM=Maize monoculture, MMPP = Maize+Pigeonpea, MMPPGlr=Maize+Pigeonpea+Gliricidia, PPPP=Pure pigeonpea.

Fig. 3: Multiple benefits of the double up system: (A) Harvestedfuel wood improves labour use efficiency for especially women;(B) provides poultry feeds- as demonstrated in Mlali,(C) and aGliricidia fodder bank in Manyusi – planted 2016.Photo credit A.A. Kimaro

Objectives and approachPurpose: To assess performance of a tree-based doubled-up legumesystem for sustainable intensification and resilience of dryland smallholderfarming systems.

Approach: Field experiments were carried out in researcher managed sitesto assess ecological and economic benefits of (Fig 1a & 2a). Farmermanaged demonstrations were established for validation and upscalingpurposes (Fig 1b & 2b).

Fig 2: (A) A researcher managed site in Manyusi; (B) Harvesting foliage for green manure and maize cobs from a Gliricidia-pigeonpeafarmer managed plot in Laikala. (Photo credit A.A. Kimaro)

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