Knowledge Center Catalog

Trade-offs between investments in nitrogen and weeding: on-farm experimentation and simulation analysis in Malawi and Zimbabwe

By: Contributor(s): Material type: TextTextPublication details: Nairobi (Kenya) KARI|CIMMYT : 2002Description: p. 452-456ISBN:
  • 970-648-120-6
Subject(s): DDC classification:
  • 338.16 FRI
Summary: When household resources to invest in fertilizer and labour (for weeding) are limited, the important question for a farmer is which of these alternative investments offers the best return. Information and insights pertaining to this question are generally not well known by researchers, extension agents or farmers. This paper reports maize response in farmer trials in Malawi and Zimbabwe and complementary results of a simulation analysis that examines the trade-offs between N and weeding investments taking seasonal variations into account. Participatory farmer trials provided inconclusive results where biophysical and management variations between farms made interpretation of results difficult. Simulation analysis provided a more straightforward result, and showed that a single weeding can provide roughly the equivalent grain returns as a bag of ammonium nitrate. However, the experimental and simulation analysis show that actual return is highly variable depending on a range of factors, including seasonal rainfall, soil fertility, weed pressure and overall farm management.
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Item type Current library Collection Call number Copy number Status Date due Barcode Item holds
Book CIMMYT Knowledge Center: John Woolston Library CIMMYT Publications Collection 338.16 FRI (Browse shelf(Opens below)) 1 Available 2B630188
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When household resources to invest in fertilizer and labour (for weeding) are limited, the important question for a farmer is which of these alternative investments offers the best return. Information and insights pertaining to this question are generally not well known by researchers, extension agents or farmers. This paper reports maize response in farmer trials in Malawi and Zimbabwe and complementary results of a simulation analysis that examines the trade-offs between N and weeding investments taking seasonal variations into account. Participatory farmer trials provided inconclusive results where biophysical and management variations between farms made interpretation of results difficult. Simulation analysis provided a more straightforward result, and showed that a single weeding can provide roughly the equivalent grain returns as a bag of ammonium nitrate. However, the experimental and simulation analysis show that actual return is highly variable depending on a range of factors, including seasonal rainfall, soil fertility, weed pressure and overall farm management.

English

0410|AGRIS 0401|AL-Maize Program

Juan Carlos Mendieta

CIMMYT Publications Collection


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