TY  - BK
AU  - Gatsi,T.
AU  - Friesen,D.K.|Palmer,A.F.E.
AU  - Kanyungwe,K.
AU  - Mabasa,S.
AU  - Makanganise,A.
ED  - Centro Internacional de Mejoramiento de Maiz y Trigo (CIMMYT) Kenya
ED  - 7. Proceedings of the Eastern and Southern Africa Regional Maize Conference
TI  - Economics of integrated tillage and weed control parctices on maize-based systems in the smallholder farming sector of Zimbabwe
SN  - 970-648-120-6
U1  - 338.16 
PY  - 2002///
CY  - Nairobi (Kenya)
PB  - KARI|CIMMYT
KW  - Agricultural economics
KW  - Cropping systems
KW  - AGROVOC
KW  - Farmers
KW  - Maize
KW  - Seed production
KW  - Small farms
KW  - Weed control
KW  - Zimbabwe
KW  - Tillage
KW  - Farming systems
KW  - CIMMYT
KW  - KARI
N2  - Smallholder farmers in Zimbabwe rely heavily on draught animal power and ox-drawn mouldboard ploughs for primary tillage and crop establishment. Reduced tillage studies in the past have proved that it is a viable option, which ensures early planting and has less draught animal power demand. Work conducted in two communal areas of Zimbabwe (Chihota, and Tsholotsho) showed that labour can be significantly reduced by the use of half the recommended rates of atrazine (herbicide used in maize) either banded (applying herbicide close to the maize) or full cover. The objective of this paper is to analyse the profitability of tillage and weed control practices in smallholder farms. Using two seasons' data, gross margin analysis showed there were higher returns to cash expenditure ranging from 1.08 to about 2.65 per dollar invested for the reduced tillage and banded atrazine treatments in the three sites. In Tsholotsho, which is a drier area, reduced tillage and either mechanical or use of atrazine banded was more profitable with returns to cash expenditure of Z$2.79 and Z$ 2.65 per Z$ invested, respectively. In Chihota, a relatively wetter area, reduced tillage and banding atrazine in combination with mechanical weeding was more profitable with returns of Z$ 2.05 and Z$ 1.97, respectively. It might be worthwhile for farmers in the two areas to use reduced tillage with mechanical, atrazine or manual weeding depending on their resources
ER  -