Public - private partnership collaboration in environmental climate compatible agricultural growth: preliminary observation

Abstract

Following the success of PANTIL sub-project integrated dairy production systems in Njombe District villages an idea of piloting the Promising Agricultural Production Methods evolved among the University of Life Sciences (UMB) and SUA experts by the end of the programme in 2010. The idea was shared with the Private Companies namely YARA (International Fertilizer Company) and SYANGETA (an international Company dealing with agricultural inputs). In October 2010 a Public –Private Partnership (PPP) team composed of SUA, UMB, YARA and SANGETA researchers conducted a reconnaissance survey in Manyara, Morogoro and Iringa regions with an aim of establishing demonstration farms for piloting promising agricultural methods that are environmentally friendly and climate compatible. In order to establish a baseline data of soil physical and chemical properties of the farms and recommend the use of fertilizers accordingly before crop planting, soil samples were collected from 8 farms in Nov 2010; 1 in Manyara region (Malbadaw wheat farm), 4 in Morogoro region (Gairo and Mgeta maize farms and Dihombo and Lungo rice farms), and 3 from Iringa region (Ibumila, Lunyannywi, Kichiwa maize farms). At each farm, historical background was recorded before soil sampling. Then a free survey was done to know the boundary and size of the farm. Important feature of the farm such as landform, soil colour, soil texture were observed so as to draw sampling units. At each sampling unit 10 to 15 points were selected in zigzag fashion and at each point a pit of 60 x 60 cm was made and two soil samples were collected one each in two sampling depth 0-20 cm and 20-40 cm. Soils were air dried, sieved through 2mm sieve, packed and sent to the soil laboratory for analysis. The farms in Iringa region were planted with maize in mid Dec. 2010 while those in Morogoro were planted with rice in Feb 2011. A baseline survey involving 5 villages (i.e. 3 in Njombe district- Iringa and 2 in Mvomero district- Morogoro) where the demonstration farms were established was conducted in March 2011. Twenty farming households (HH) were involved (i.e. 4 HH per village; 2 in and 2 out of demonstration farms). The aim of the HH baseline survey was to collect information on HH characteristics, current land-use and agricultural practices, use of inputs such as seeds, pest and weed control, and the timing and nature of agricultural activities related to maize and rice cultivation. The crops were harvested in June and July 2011 in Morogoro and Iringa, respectively. Historically, it was noted that, except for the large wheat farm in Manyara region, most HH did not apply enough fertilizer to their farms. Use of nitrogen fertilizer ranged from 1.5 to 1.8 bags of urea per ha. Fertilizers use regardless of type ranged from 67 to 87 %. Use of pesticides was greatly pronounced in Njombe (90 % of the HH) as compared to Mvomero (50%of the HH). In both districts, 64 % of the HH just recycle the seeds they produce from their own farms. Except for the Malbadaw and Gairo farms which had high ph value (> 7) all other farms had pH values ranging from very low (< 4.3) to low (4.4 – 5.0). Soil Phosphorus, Potassium, Magnesium, Sulphur, Copper and Zinc values were very low in Iringa farms and low to medium for the Morogoro and Manyara region farms. Intervention with correct fertilizer application, weed management and pest management increased the yield of rice in Dihombo from 1438 kg/ha to 5400 kg/ha and maize yield in Kichiwa-Njombe increased from 2625 kg/ha to 4375 kg/ha. The increase in crop yield improved HH farming profitability substantially. Preliminarily it can be concluded that Public –Private Partnership collaboration can improve substantially the environmentally climate compatible agricultural growth. However, enough time is required in testing the model meanwhile its real economic and social impacts being assessed.