CRP Dryland Systems - CIAT - 2015 Technical and Financial Report - Final

Abstract

As part of continued demonstration and out-scaling exercises, we have introduced drought resilient bean varieties complemented with various agronomic practices during the 2014/15 season. Results show that the new varieties had an average yield of 1050 kg ha-1, which was about 263% higher than the reported mean yields in Malawi (about 400 kg ha-1) and much higher than yields obtained by farmers in the study sites (0 – 500 kg ha-1) (Ndengu et al., 2015a). It was further observed that treatments under Integrated Soil Fertility Management (ISFM) had better yield (500 - 1200 kg ha-1) as opposed to those without ISFM (350 - 550 kg ha-1). The drought resilient bush bean varieties introduced in the study site have thus been instrumental in reducing the impact of the drought that affected 30% of crop yield in Malawi. These gains contribute towards achieving IDOs 1.3, 1.4 and 3.3. The soil and water conservation (SWC) technologies implemented also enhanced crop productivity whereby maize did very well (13-28% higher than farmer practices) due to availability of residual moisture despite the drought (IDO1.1, IDO1.4) (Mponela et al., 2015a). In this activity 1200 households benefited from the new varieties and good agronomic practices introduced. As much as the year was a disaster for other crops, it presented a great opportunity for the participating farmers to learn and gain first-hand experience on how improved genotypes (that are drought resilient) and ISFM and/or SWC technologies synergistically work in buffering effects of drought on bean yields (IDO1.1, 1.4, 3.3).