Conservation Agriculture for Climate Change Adaptation in Tharaka Nithi
Gioto Victoria*, Shem Wandiga* and Christopher Oludhe**
* Institute of Climate Change and Adaptation
**Department of Meteorology, University of Nairobi
https://doi.org/10.20987/jccs.1.07.2017
Corresponding author
Address: P.O. Box 53547, Nairobi
Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. / This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
(Received 27 September 2016, received in revised form 28 April 2017, Accepted 1 June 2017)
Abstract
Rain-fed agricultural crop production has recently declined due to volatile and unreliable rainfall patterns in Tharaka community.The scarce understanding of seasonal rainfall variability in the cropping calendar by farmers has contributed to low crop yields.The study was designed to test the yields of sorghum, cowpeas and green grams using conservation agriculture in the semi-arid parts of the Tharaka Nithi County namely; Tharaka North and Tharaka South sub-counties (Tharaka Constituency). Two sites with four experimental plots were subjected to 6 treatments.Treatment one was Sorghum, treatment two was Sorghum/ Cowpeas, treatment threewas Sorghum/green grams, treatment four Green grams, treatment five Cowpeas and finally treatment six Conventional Control, all treatments were under conservation agriculture with an exception of the treatment six. Sorghum was the main crop for the intercropping pattern. Using a randomized block design, the subjects were assessed and put in layout of six according to the study design. The four experimental plots (blocks) were then randomly assigned with a total of 3 times replication. The sorghum planting depth was 5 centimeter with spacing of 60 centimeter by 20 centimeter, cowpeas was at depth of 4 cm with spacing of 60 centimeter by 20 centimeter, while green grams was at depth of 4 cm with spacing of 45centimeter by 15 centimeter. The treatments of conservation agriculture in addition to soil amendment of 60 Kilogrammes of CAN (Calcium Ammonium Nitrate) coupled with to 60 Kilogrammes NPK ( Nitrogen, PhosphorusPotash) had the highest grain yield ranging from 2.0 tonnes per hectare for the intercropped to 2.3 tonnes per hectare for the mono cropped Conservation agriculture contributed positively in increased crop yield owing to more moisture retention in comparison to conventional control. Generally, trials under conventional controls had the lower yield at 1.0 tonnes per hectare for the mono cropped. Therefore, conservational agriculture could be considered as an alternative option towards increasing resilience on food security means and buffering the effects of climate change for Tharaka community attributed to the capability of more moisture retention.
Full Text
