Farmer Involvement in the Development and Adoption of Improved Nutrient Management Technologies Using the Mother–Baby Trial Approach in Vertisols

Abstract

Research findings are often not adopted by farmers, for which many reasons have been suggested including poor communication between researchers and farmers. Mother–baby trials, involving on-farm participation to introduce and test technology options, was used to evaluate possible nutrient management technologies in a soybean–wheat system on vertisols deficient in N, P, S and Zn in Madhya Pradesh, India. Seven treatments were tested in four mother trials in 2005–2006 and 2006–2007 on farmers’ fields of soybean (monsoon season) and wheat (rabi season) in the Rajgarh and Bhopal districts. In soybean, balanced fertilization (BF) with recommended rates (kg ha−1) of 25 N, 26 P, 17 K, 20 S, and 5 Zn and Integrated Nutrient Management (INM2) (50 % of the recommended inorganic fertilizer + 5 t farmyard manure ha−1 + seed inoculation with Rhizobium) increased seed yield by ca. 26 % over the farmers’ practice (FP). In wheat, BF (120 N, 26 P, 17 K, and 20 S kg ha−1) and INM2 (75 % of the recommended inorganic fertilizer + P-solubilizing bacteria) increased grain yield by ca. 17 % over the FP treatment. Two sets of >90 baby trials conducted by farmers in 2007–2008 and 2009–2010 in 10 villages showed the benefits of these two promising technologies. In poor-yielding fields of soybean (seed yield −1), there was no benefit of applying fertilizers. In contrast, INM2 increased grain yield by 48 % over the FP treatments in fields with fewer limitations. In 2007–2008, wheat responded well to INM2 in fields irrigated three to four times but not in those where irrigation was limited. Field days conducted in 2007–2008 helped the farmers understand the importance of timely control of weeds and insect pests in soybean, and almost all 98 farmers produced higher soybean seed yield over the FP with BF and INM2 during 2009–2010. In this season with timely winter rainfall, almost all farmers at all levels of wheat production obtained good responses to BF and INM2 of 44 and 28 %. The involvement of farmers from the outset proved valuable in the adoption of improved nutrient management technologies for higher productivity of the soybean–wheat system, and farmers became aware that higher yields through better nutrient managements are achieved with proper weed and insect pest management in soybean and adequate irrigation in wheat.