Growing Maize in zai pits in Kenya: New technology for arid and semi-arid areas

Maize is the most important staple and food security crop in Kenya. Zai pit technology is a water harvesting technology, suitable for areas with unpredictable rains and subsequent crop failure.

ZAI PITS DIMENSIONS AND LAY OUT: While growing Maize in Zai pits in Kenya, dig circular or square holes 30cm (1ft) deep. A square hole measuring 75 x 75 x 30 (cm) will accommodates nine maize plants. The top soil is mixed with farm yard manure at a ratio of 4:1 and returned. Manure ratio can be reduced while growing maize in zai pits in Kenya depending on soil quality, and use of artificial fertilizers.

ECONOMICS OF THE TECHNOLOGY: One acre will accommodate 1778 plant pits each measuring 75 x 75 x cm which gives plant population of 16000. One pit will yield a minimum of 1.5 kg giving 30 bags of maize from one acre.

TECHNOLOGY EFFICIENCY: The right maize variety must be planted early enough to benefit from the rainfall available. Plant using Phosphorus fertilizers for early crop root establishment.

INCOME FROM GROWING MAIZE IN ZAI PITS IN KENYA

Yield per acre is 30 bags @ KES 2000 = Gross income of KES 60,000
Cost of 10 kg seed	@140	1,400
Cost of 1778 Zai pits distributed into 6 seasons	@30	8,890
3 x 50 kg fertilizers	@2500	7,500
593 debes of FYM (each debe serves 3 pits)	@10	5,930
8 m/days of weeding	@200	1,600
Insecticides	Assorted	2,000
8 m/days of harvesting	@200	1,600
2 m/days dusting and spraying	@200	400
30 gunny bags	@50	1,500
10 m/days threshing and winnowing	@200	2,000
Total variable costs	32,820	60,000-32,820
Gross margin for growing maize in Zai pits in kenya	27,180

Growing Maize in Zai pits in Kenya is a worthwhile technology for achievement of Millenium Development goals and Kenya Vision 2030.

Farmers: It’s Time to Adopt Climate Smart Agriculture

How has climate change affected your life? No, I don’t mean all that stuff you read in the papers about climate change and how we are all going to die in a few years if we do not change our ways! That may be true but that’s a topic for another day.  Right now I would like to hear how climate change has affected you personally.

While you are thinking about that, there is one group of people whose lives will never be the same again due to climate change: the farmers.  For instance, my grandmother, Grace, is a farmer in a remote part of Kenya. She has been a farmer for more than 50 years and for a long time, she thought she knew all she needed to know about farming. After all, she has over 50 years of experience.

The last time I spoke to her, she was at a loss. She can no longer produce enough food for herself leave alone for her family. In her words, “It doesn’t rain like it used to and the sun doesn’t shine like it used to. Everything has changed.” When I last spoke to her, all I could do was listen because I didn’t have a solution for her. 

However, the Cop 17 conference in Durban Came and went and suddenly there was a new buzz word all over the internet: Climate Smart Agriculture. Climate Smart Agriculture is  a relatively simple climate change adaptation concept that involves farmers changing their agricultural practices to fit new precipitation patterns as  well as diversifying their livelihood strategy so that they aren’t  solely dependent on agriculture.

So we know what the problem is i.e. the lack of food security and we know the solution i.e. climate smart agriculture. It’s now time to act. A time has come when farmers must adopt new agricultural practices and diversify their livelihoods by engaging in non-agricultural activities.  It’s no longer enough for farmers, especially small scale farmers like my grandmother to rely purely on agriculture for their livelihood. If we want to achieve food security, we cannot continue to do things like we did in the past and expect different results. 

ZAI- PITS Technology for sustainable agriculture and Food security in Kenya

Zai-Pit technology is a sustainable agriculture and food security technology which is widely practiced in sahel west Africa, a densely populated semiarid region bordering the Sahara desert. Zai pit technology has been the missing link in the Kenyans endeavors to achieve sustainable agriculture and food security for all. 

Zai Pit Sustainable agriculture technology has been used to grow bananas, sorghum, maize and millets successfully, particularly in the drier parts of the republic of Kenya. Zai pit is a low cost sustainable agriculture and food security technology which can be applied by farmers of all walks of life including the youth in agriculture and it involves harvesting and conservation of rain runoff and soil fertility restoration.

Lack of adequate water is a constant problem in farming due to seasonality of rains and frequent droughts caused by climate change. This leads to total crop failures or harvests that are too low to break-even. Irrigation for sustainable agriculture and food security is expensive and out of reach for most of the small holder farmers in rural Kenya. 

Many farmers did not realize that it is possible to double or triple their crop yields through rainwater harvesting using Zai Pit technology. However farmers now have a reason to smile in appreciation of Zai pit technology which has been introduced in low rainfall areas by NALEP SIDA Project, a partnership project between the government of Kenya through the ministry of Agriculture Kenya and Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency. This is a national agriculture and livestock extension programme implemented by agriculture extension officers and the relevant agriculture value chain stakeholders. 

The Zai pit technology ensures soil water retention allowing crops to grow to maturity after the rain ceases without additional water.Make Pits measuring approximately 60 cm deep x 60 cm diameter as follows digging the holes at alternate positions behind each other to allow adequate catchments area for sufficient run off to be produced :-

• Dig a pit 60 cm in diameter placing the topsoil (about the first 20cm depth) on the uphill side.

• Scoop out the subsoil to a depth of 60 cm and place the soil on the downhill side.

• Reshape this hole to resemble a semi circular bund to enable better water storage.

• Mix one medium size bucket of well decomposed manure with the top soil and return to the pit .Refill the pit leaving space at the top to collect and store runoff water.

• Sow one Banana sucker or 5-12 seeds of maize, sorghum or millet in the hole depending on the crop type, variety and climate. Seeds planted in pairs must be thinned to single plants later.
More-http://yagrein.blogspot.com/p/what-are-youth-saying.html

Climate smart agriculture and climate change in Africa

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Significant reduction in crop yields is likely to be experienced in sub-Saharan Africa, in the face of population increase by 2050s. According to recently concluded African Ministerial Conference on Climate Smart Agriculture held in Johannesburg from 13^th-14^th September 2011, the farm yields might reduce by as much as 20 percent in the next four decades, unless Africa adopts climate smart agriculture.Climate smart agriculture includes verified practical techniques and approaches which can assist in achievement of food security, climate change adaptation and mitigation. 650 million people in Africa are dependent on rain-fed agriculture in environments which are vulnerable to inadequate rainfall, crop failure and environmental degradation. Without measures to adapt food productions to the current challenges caused by dynamic weather patterns and corresponding financial support, Africa’s poverty alleviation and food security goals cannot be achieved. Feeding Africa and the world is one of the major challenges today.

FAO in collaboration with African leaders are working to implement climate smart approach to agriculture, in order to increase agricultural productivity. Some of the measures which can be employed include proven practical techniques such as development and promotion of drought resistant crop varieties, cover cropping, mulching, agro-forestry, improved grazing management, zero or minimum tillage, improved water management and increased soil organic matter. Consequently soil water-holding capacity increases and yields are made more resilient to climate change in addition to realization of increased stock of carbon on farmland.
Climate change adaptation therefore refers to a response to the changing climate, and implementation of policies and actions to minimize the predicted impacts of climate change, while climate change Mitigation refers to human intervention to reduce emission or increase the sinks of greenhouse gases especially carbon which is the major greenhouse gas. 

To address these problems, MITIGATION OF CLIMATE CHANGE IN AGRICULTURE [MICCA] program is carrying out four pilot projects in Kenya, Tanzania, Ecuador, and Viet Nam which are aimed at showing results on the ground in order to persuade farmers, national policy-makers, international organizations and donors to make climate-smart agriculture a priority today. These projects will provide scientific evidence that climate-smart agricultural practices can mitigate climate change, improve farmers’ lives and improve local communities’ ability to adapt to climate change. MICCA’s pilot projects are a partnership with national and international development partners within the framework of larger agricultural development projects.