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Co-designing the transitions towards integrated market oriented mixed farming systems in semi-arid Zimbabwe

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Title Co-designing the transitions towards integrated market oriented mixed farming systems in semi-arid Zimbabwe
 
Creator Homann-Kee Tui, Sabine
 
Contributor Masikati, Patricia
Dube, Thabani
De Voil, Peter
Rodriguez, Daniel
van Rooyen, Andre
 
Subject integrated
mixed
co‐designing
transition
market oriented
semi-arid
 
Description poverty trap. These barriers include low soil fertility, variable climates, weak knowledge support, and lack of markets. Conventional technical options are insufficient to improve smallholder livelihoods. Given the diversity in resource endowments and livelihood sources identifying intensification options that fit circumstances remains problematic. In this paper we demonstrate co‐designing approaches (i.e. with multiple stakeholders) for two sites i.e. Gwanda and Nkayi
districts, of contrasting agro‐ecological potential. We engaged low, medium and high resource endowed farmers to (i) co‐design plausible improved scenarios that included incremental changes ‐ testing currently promoted technologies for crop‐livestock intensification and drastic change ‐ assuming that removing barriers will encourage investments towards resilient and profitable farming; and (ii) We quantified benefits and trade offs from alternative integrated actions using an
integrated whole farm modelling approach (APSFArm‐LivSim‐TOAMD). At both sites incremental change options improved food security through better‐integrated cereal‐legume‐livestock systems; income effects were however limited. Drastic change options achieved more substantial improvements in productivity, food and income generation: farmers set more land in use, with more diversified forage, food and cash crops and adapted cultivars, organic and mineral fertilizer application, small‐scale mechanization for ploughing and product processing and improved livestock management. Packages tailored to farm situations had larger benefits on food security and income than blanket applications. Recommendations that take into account the socioeconomic context and policies are key and need to be communicated in more effective ways for enabling more sustainable futures for smallholders in Zimbabwe.
 
Date 2015-11-18
2016-02-15T09:01:36Z
2016-02-15T09:01:36Z
 
Type Conference Paper
 
Identifier http://tropagconference.com.au/d/TropAg2015-Abstract-Book.pdf; http://tropagconference.com.au/d/presentations/Homann-Kee-Tui-Sabine.pdf
https://mel.cgiar.org/reporting/download/hash/MZqN1zIN
Sabine Homann-Kee Tui, Patricia Masikati, Thabani Dube, Peter De Voil, Daniel Rodriguez, Andre van Rooyen. (18/11/2015). Co-designing the transitions towards integrated market oriented mixed farming systems in semi-arid Zimbabwe. Brisbane, Australia.
https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11766/4399
Open access
 
Language en
 
Rights CC-BY-NC-4.0
 
Format PDF
 
Publisher Tropical Agriculture conference 2015
 
Source Tropical Agriculture Conference;