Beyond resource constraints – Exploring the biophysical feasibility of options for the intensification of smallholder crop-livestock systems in Vihiga district, Kenya

• Published in: Agricultural systems 2009-06, Vol.101 (1), p.1-19
• Main Authors: Tittonell, P., van Wijk, M.T., Herrero, M., Rufino, M.C., de Ridder, N., Giller, K.E.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: animal husbandry; animal manure management; animal manures; case studies; crop management; crop yield; dietary energy sources; dietary protein; dynamics; efficiencies; farm-scale; Farm-scale modelling; Farming systems design; feeds; fertilizers; Food security; food self-sufficiency; gradients; impact; input output analysis; intensive farming; intensive livestock farming; land use; livestock; manure; milk yield; phosphorus fertilizers; primary productivity; profitability; Resource use efficiency; simulation models; small-scale farming; Smallholder farms; soil fertility management; soil organic carbon; Solanum tuberosum; strategies; Sub-Saharan Africa; Sub-Saharan Africa Farming systems design Smallholder farms Farm-scale modelling Food security Resource use efficiency; water use efficiency; weather; western kenya; Zea mays
• ISSN: 0308-521X; 1873-2267
• DOI: 10.1016/j.agsy.2009.02.003

During participatory prototyping activities in Vihiga, western Kenya, farmers designed what they considered to be the ideal farm [Waithaka, M.M., Thornton, P.K., Herrero, M., Shepherd, K.D., 2006. Bio-economic evaluation of farmers’ perceptions of viable farms in western Kenya. Agric. Syst. 90, 243–271]: one in which high productivity is achieved through optimising crop-livestock interactions. We selected four case study crop-livestock farms of different resource endowment (Type 1–4 – excluding the poorest farmers, Type 5, who do not own livestock) and quantified all relevant physical flows through and within them. With this information we parameterised a dynamic, farm-scale simulation model to investigate (i) current differences in resource use efficiencies and degree of crop-livestock interactions across farm types; and (ii) the impact of different interventions in farm Types 3 and 4 on producing the desired shifts in productivity towards the ideal farm. Assuming no resource constraints, changes in the current farm systems were introduced stepwise, as both intensification of external input use (fertilisers and fodder) and qualitative changes in the configuration of the farms (i.e. changing land use towards fodder production, improving manure handling and/or changing cattle breeds). In 10-year simulations of the baseline, current scenario using historical weather data the wealthiest farms Type 2 achieved food self-sufficiency (FSS) in 20% of the seasons due to rainfall variability, whereas the poorer Type 4 only achieved FSS in 0 to 30% of the seasons; soil organic C decreased during the simulations at annual rates of −0.54, −0.73, −0.85 and −0.84 t C ha −1 on farms of Type 1–4, respectively; large differences in productivity and recycling efficiency between farm types indicated that there is ample room to improve the physical performance of the poorer farms (e.g. light and water use efficiency was 2–3 times larger on wealthier farms). Simulating different intensification scenarios indicated that household FSS can be achieved in all farm types through input intensification, e.g. using P fertilisers at rates as small as 15 kg farm −1 season −1 (i.e. from 7 to 28 kg ha −1). Increasing the area under Napier grass from c. 20 to 40% and reducing the area of maize, beans and sweet potato in farms of Type 3 and 4 increased their primary productivity by c. 1 t ha −1 season −1, their milk production by 156 and 45 L season −1, respectively, but decreased the produc