This study assesses the economics of improved fallow in the densely populated areas of western Kenya, where soils are nutrient depleted. A formal survey of 71 randomly selected farmers showed that half fallow 10–50% of their land for at least one season, mainly for soil fertility restoration. An improved-fallow prototype, established by direct seeding Sesbania sesban, an indigenous tree, into the maize crop preceding the fallow, was subjected to an economic analysis, based on 20 farmer-managed trials where the technology was tested. One would expect intuitively that the yield of maize grown after a one-season fallow would need to be at least double that obtained before the fallow, in order to compensate for the lost production during the fallow period. Instead, the break-even yield increase following the one-season fallow, compared to continuous cropping, was only 21% of the long rains yield of 600 kg ha1 for the base scenario. It was relatively low, because the foregone maize yield during the fallow was compensated by savings in crop labour. Improved fallow is a promising technique for reclaiming depleted land, especially for households with access to off-farm income or having low labour-to-land ratios. The farm trials facilitated a realistic economic analysis and farmers’ input into the design of the technology to help focus research on improving the practice. Insights from this trial led to a new phase of on-farm research, with researcher-designed, researcher-managed trials to screen potential improved fallow species, researcher-designed, farmer-managed trials on a range of design variables, a large network of farmer-designed, farmer-managed trials, and arapidly expanding extension programme promoting improved fallows.
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1079/9780851995618.0065Altmetric score:
Dimensions Citation Count:
Publication year
2002
Authors
Swinkels R A; Franzel S; Ohlsson E L; Ndufa J K; Shepherd K D
Language
English
Keywords
economics, fallow, sesbania sesban, soil nutrient content
Geographic
Kenya
