Deep tillage brings plentiful harvests to farmers in drylands
Farmers watch as a chisel plough tills a piece of land at Makueni Agricultural Training College on September 4. Thousands of farmers in the region have embraced deep tillage to address food insecurity.
What you need to know:
- Deep tillage involves loosening the soil to allow for better water penetration and retention.
- The soil is loosened using a chisel plough. It fractures the hardpan, a hard service which forms below the uppermost soil layer out of continuous compaction through conventional tillage while causing minimum disturbance on the soil.
Weather forecast reports have listed Makueni among regions expected to receive above-average rainfall during the short rainy season. But farmers in the semi-arid county, which is prone to droughts, are not sitting pretty waiting for the rains. Despite the favourable prediction , they have embraced assorted smart farming practices to improve agricultural productivity and cope with climate change.
“We are not taking chances because we have previously seen our crops thrive then wither when they are about to flower,” said Anne Muema. The mother of three, who also keeps indigenous chicken, is part of a growing community of farmers in the region who have embraced deep tillage to cope with global warming.
Deep tillage involves loosening the soil to allow for better water penetration and retention. The soil is loosened using a chisel plough. It fractures the hardpan, a hard service which forms below the uppermost soil layer out of continuous compaction through conventional tillage while causing minimum disturbance on the soil.
A trained tailor, Ms Muema turned to agribusiness after her small tailoring business in Machakos town went down under in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Initially, she used oxen-drawn plough to plant maize, beans and cowpeas on her one-acre land in Kiatine Village on the fringes of Wote town.
At the height of the prolonged drought that hit many counties last year, Ms Muema had already shifted to deep tillage farming technique. She was pleasantly surprised when she harvested eight bags of maize, a bag of beans and 70 kilos of cow peas. “My life changed for good after embracing deep tillage. Previously, I used to harvest a bag or two of maize,” she told a group of farmers recently at the Makueni Agricultural Training College during a field day organised to promote deep tillage.
She said she was grateful that her family has had more than enough food at a time many of her neighbours stared at starvation.
Ms Muema’s agripreneurship has been so successful that she has become the face of a campaign to enhance soil and water retention in the region. The campaign is part of a United States Agency for International Development (USAID)-funded programme dubbed Kenya Crops and Diary Market Systems (KCDMS), which targets 100,000 farmers in Kitui, Machakos, Makueni and Taita Taveta counties.
The programme is designed to increase agricultural production and reduce poverty and malnutrition in the semi-arid region, where the sun burns fiercely.
At the core of the ambitious programme, which is also supported by Makueni County government and the Anglican Development Services, is the creation of awareness around the promise of deep tillage in building resilience among farmers.
The programme links farmers with tractor providers who offer subsidised deep tillage services. It also promotes rapid soil testing to enable smallholder farmers to make informed decisions on selecting appropriate crops and application of fertiliser.
“Deep ripping, which is also known as chisel ploughing, is among the conservation practices conceptualised on minimum tillage and soil disturbance by ploughing a planting area. This method is a sure bet in increasing crop production through allowing deep penetration into the soil during ploughing. This ensures water retention during the dry weather.
“The main aim of the campaign is to promote knowledge and access to deep tillage services and improve soil conditions characterised by hardpan that limits water infiltration, retention and crop root penetration; leading to reduced crop performance and ultimate food insecurity,” said Brenda Aluda, a senior technical advisor at KCDMS.
According to Makueni Agriculture and Irrigation Chief Officer Daniel Ndolo, more than 5,000 farmers in the region have embraced deep tillage since the KCDMS programme started eight years ago. Although tillage has been popular among farmers in Kitise and Kathonzweni regions, the beating heart of the county's pasture and milk value chains, data shows that it is picking up across the county where maize and pigeon peas remain the main value chains.
Beneficiaries of the new tillage method say they are happy with the results.
Daniel Kakui, a tractor service operator, has been doing deep tillage to grow maize for the last two years in Mandoi Village.
“With deep tillage, I harvest 10 bags per acre on average. This is five times what I used to get with conventional tillage. As a result, I have surrendered much of the farmland to pasture farming since only a small portion of it produces enough maize for domestic use,” he told Health Nation.
Agronomists, however, recommend the combination of ripping with other climate smart farming practices. These include drought-resistant crops such as green grams and certified seeds.
“After ripping, farmers should spread manure,” said George Kamami, an agronomist at Makueni County government.
“To enhance the utility of the rips, farmers should use mulching and herbicides to suppress weeds. Alternatively, they should go for minimum tillage to avoid compromising the water harvesting and retention features of the rips.”
According to Ms Aluda, the inclusion of tractor service providers and other private sector players is designed to ensure the sustainability of the programme.
