LegumeCHOICE Project Team
Field Visit Report
Nyaribari Chache and Rongo
World Agroforestry Centre (Ingrid Oborn/Irene Okeyo/Thomas Ochinga)
February 2016
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1. INTRODUCTION
Grain legumes and Nitrogen fixing shrubs and trees are important for cropping systems in Africa. The
goal of LegumeCHOICE project is to improve food and nutrition security, reduce poverty, and enhance
the production environment of smallholder farmers and rural populations, in particular women, through
facilitation of the smart integration and use of multi-purpose legumes, providing food, protein, feed,
fuel, and/or organic matter in crop-livestock systems. Legumes provide residual nitrogen hence reducing
the need for mineral nitrogen fertilizers by associated non-legumes. Monitoring is a key component of
project implementation since it checks whether activities are proceeding as planned. A field visit was
therefore carried out on the 1st and 2nd February 2016 in order to check on progress of selected farms in
Nyaribari Chache and Rongo sub counties being part of the project implementation sites. Farmers who
have project rain gauges installed on their farm were strategically selected to enable the team check out
on the status of the rain gauges. Others were randomly selected from farmers list of each site. The
project team consisted of staff from University of Hohenheim, ICRAF and KALRO. A total of nine farms
were visited: five in Nyaribari Chache and four in Rongo. During the visit, farmers’ opinion on the project
and farming activities was sought and discussed. Questions asked were random and varied. Grain
legume interventions for the short rains 2015 were still in the field awaiting harvest while others had
been harvested. Farmers generally stated that the grain legumes had performed below their
expectations in terms of yields and attributed this to weather variability and poor seed quality. Visited
farmers informed the team about their counterparts who were willing to participate in the project and
that they were willing to share with them the seeds generated during the short rains 2015 season.
Recruiting these interested farmers will enable the project to meet its target of reaching out to 1500
households in Kenya within the three years project period. Legume trees are performing better in Rongo
sub-county than in Nyaribari Chache. This presents a good research opportunity for cross site analysis of
the trees performance verses the environmental (soil, water, weather) conditions; and to take keen
note of the management practices by the farmer.
2. NYARIBARI CHACHE SUB COUNTY SELECTED FARMERS
2.1 Patrick Nyakundi
Patrick is a 54 year old male farmer actively engaged in LegumeCHOICE project and is among new
farmers brought on board at the start of short rains 2015 cropping season. His household was
interviewed during the quick baseline survey. Patrick owns 1.5 acres of land and has two improved
livestock; hence falls in the low farmer typology. The farmer has been working on his farm for the past
thirty years.
Grain legume interventions: The farmer has climbing bean trial, Kenya tamu variety, within his
homestead. Some of the beans are already harvested while others are still on farm. Patrick will be giving
climbing beans seeds to three interested farmers as part of the project recruitment strategy.
Legume trees: Patrick has one Calliandra calothyrsus and a few Sesbania sesban trees on his farm but
would like to grow more tree legumes for fodder and stakes. He did not receive tree seedlings
distributed to farmers by the project in November 2015. The farmer is motivated to grow more fodder
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trees to enable him feed his livestock sufficiently. He does not purchase nor use commercial feeds for
his cows.
Plate 1: Farmer Patrick Nyakundi’s climbing beans
Livestock and Input management: The farmer uses both organic and in organic fertilizers. Organic input
management in his farm involves incorporation of trash and cattle manure into the soil before planting.
Napier grass remains is also mixed with manure and applied to soil. The farmer applies ten wheel
barrow loads of organic input on his farm per cropping season. For the inorganic/mineral fertilizer, DiAmmonium Phosphate (DAP) is applied to maize and beans. He applies 14 kilograms of DAP to an area
of 0.75 acres. He says that fertilizer is not very expensive so he can afford it. The farmer has two
improved young cows. The cows are still young but he is optimistic that soon they will generate income
for him through milk production.
Plate 2: Livestock and organic input management by farmer Patrick Nyakundi
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The farmer practices crop rotation, relay cropping and intercropping of maize and beans. Maize is
planted first followed by beans. The maize is later harvested while beans remain on the farm. He regards
his soils as are moderately fertile and this is judged by crop performance. His harvest is usually eight 90
kilograms’ bags of maize from a three quarter area. However, yields have been declining due to change
in seed variety. The farmer has no problem with soil erosion.
Challenges: The farmer stated that obtaining own stakes for climbing beans was a major impediment to
up scaling the legume. The utilized stakes however, have an advantage of use for fire wood. Hailstorms
destroyed his climbing bean on farm hence minimizing his ability to obtain optimum yield.
2.2 Paul Ombuya Otiso
Farmer Paul Otiso is a 67 year old male household head and farmer engaged in the project since 2014.
He was engaged in both the quick baseline and farm characterization surveys. Paul is one of the selected
farmers generating legume tree seedlings on behalf of the project and belongs to the medium farmer
typology. He owns 2 acres of land.
Grain legume: The farmer planted soya beans for the short rains 2015, apparently not doing well. The
plot is not well kept and a very small area planted. The farm is crowded with weeds and seems to have
been planted later in the season. He however stated that a second plot for soya bean trial is planted far
away from the homestead.
Plate 3: farmer Paul Otisos’s soya bean trial in Nyaribari Chache
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Tree legumes: The farmer was not in a position to show tree legumes planted during June and
November, 2015. He explained that he had to plant the Calliandra close to the river far away from the
homestead in order to evade destruction of the young trees by animals. He further added that soils
close to the river were more fertile compared with those close to homestead and water reliability is
assured hence would yield more for trees. The farmer is currently raising Senna spectabilis, Calliandra
calothyrsus and Gliricidia sepium seedlings in nurseries. The seedlings are not very healthy and a
substantial number of tree seedlings were lost after he applied mineral fertilizer (DAP) during potting.
Plate 4: Legume tree seedlings currently raised by Paul Otiso
Cropping system: The farmer practices mixed cropping system combining the cultivation of food crops,
trees and commercial crops both for sale and subsistence. Trees present in his farm are majorly
eucalyptus and blue gum. Commercial crops include tea and bananas. One kilogram of tea is sold at KES
19 per kilogram at the factory. Crops grown by his neighbors include maize, beans, sugarcane, bananas,
pineapples and groundnuts. Fruit trees include avocado, guavas, mulberry, and papaya.
Farm management: Land preparation is done through hand digging. The farmer judges his soil fertility
level by structure and crop performance. He says that sections of his farm with high fertility have firm
soils while less fertile areas have loose soils. He experiences water logging in plots closer to his
homestead. The water table is about 20 feet during rainy season and 25 feet during dry periods.
2.3 Patrick Otiso
Farmer Patrick’s house hold did not participate in the quick baseline and farm characterization surveys
but is currently actively engaged in LegumeCHOICE project activities. The farmer generates legume tree
seedlings on behalf of the project. Tree seedlings obtained in 2015 have been planted as hedgerows on
his farm. He is motivated to plant the trees for fuel, timber, livestock feed and chicken feed. The farmer
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has planted 128 Calliandra trees on his farm: some close to homestead while others away from
homestead close to river. The team was unable to visit the ones planted away due to time constraint
and in accessibility of the farm.
Plate 5: Calliandra trees and tree shade on Patrick Otiso’s farm
Tree seedlings currently in the tree nurseries are doing fairly well. Hailstorms affected Senna and
Gliricidia but not Calliandra. Out of the 360 tree seeds planted, 50 failed to emerge. He attributes this to
extreme sunlight experienced immediately after planting.
Plate 6: Calliandra, Gliricidia and Senna seedlings currently generated by farmer Patrick Otiso
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The farmer has climbing bean trial and is aware of other farmers who are interested in growing climbing
beans and participating in the project. He has planted in two separate farms but is not planning to
increase area due to the difficulty experienced in getting stakes. At the time of visit, the farmer was
harvesting the beans.
Plate 7: Farmer Patrick Otiso’s climbing bean farm
Soil treatment: The farmer uses animal manure: mixes goat, chicken and cow manure. During potting
process of tree seedlings the farmer prepares soil by putting into a sack, beating up till soft and
eliminates the bigger particles. The water source for the tree seedlings is rainfall and supplement from a
nearby stream.
Challenge: There was a dry period after planting followed by high intensity rainfall affecting both
climbing beans and tree seed germination. The farmer lacks a watering can for use on watering tree
seedlings. He was advised to improvise one from old containers. Another challenge is the lack of sand to
be added to soil for a better tree germination. Delay in input disbursement by the project team led to
delay in planting of trials thereby affecting final yield. Staking remains a big problem to climbing beans
adoption to the farmer.
2.4 Richard Makori
The 47 year old farmer participated in both quick baseline and farm characterization surveys. He owns
2.5 acres of land and falls in the medium farmer typology. Richard has grown Gliricidia and Calliandra
trees on his farm from seedlings given to him by LegumeCHOICE project in 2015. The farmer planted
field peas for grain legume intervention which he already harvested at the time of visit. The farmer is
planning to upscale field peas because of good market price: KES 400 per kilogram, and ready market
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available. Another advantage of field peas according to the farmer is that there were no incidences of
crop disease experienced during the cropping season.
Cropping system: The farmer practices mixed cropping system. His crops include soya beans, cow peas,
kales, pineapples, pigeon peas, maize, cassava, sugarcane for consumption and sale of surplus. The most
profitable crop and main income source to this farmer is sugarcane. The type of sugarcane grown is that
consumed/chewed but not used for sugar processing. The largest proportion of his land, 1 acre is
allocated to sugarcane. The farmer grows and is planning to increase area under soya beans because of
its significance as an alternative beverage to tea preferred by SDA church which is dominating in the
area.
Plate 8: farmer Richard and project staff in his farm
Fertilizer management: The farmer uses both organic and in organic sources of manure. Sugarcane is
planted with cow manure and top dressed using Calcium Ammonium Nitrate (CAN). About 2-3 fifty four
kilogram drums of manure are applied to other crops in an area approximately 8 square meters. Animal
manure is also incorporated into the soil at times when poor crop performance is observed. Pesticides
are used when necessary, especially the insecticides to kill aphids which is the most common pest in his
farm.
Livestock: Richard’s livestock comprises two improved dairy cows. Sugarcane leaves are fed to the cows.
One cow consumes about 60 kilograms of sugarcane leaves per day while the other about 70 kgs/day.
All left over from crops including dry maize stover is also fed to the cows. The farmer does not buy
commercial feeds for his livestock instead he buys salt to supplement organic feed. He is anticipating
that Calliandra cuttings will boost livestock feed in the coming times. Milk produced by each cow ranges
between 7-10 litres per day, giving a rough estimate of 14-20 litres of milk for this household per day.
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However, the farmer states that this production declines with time as the calf grows. About 5 litres of
milk produced is consumed by the household while the larger proportion is sold.
Market for farm produce: All milk is sold within the community to some individuals who make prior
arrangements. His main clients are teachers. The price of a litre is KES 40. The farmer therefore earns
between KES 360-600 from milk per day. Sugar cane is sold within the homestead especially to brokers
who move around and books the crop while still on farm.
Challenge: The management of field peas is rather hectic in comparison to common beans. He says, field
peas just like climbing beans require staking. High intensity rainfall was detrimental to field peas during
growth stages. Staking of field peas is cumbersome.
2.5 Jackson Ogenche
Farmer Jackson is 45 years of age, owns two acres of land and falls in the in the medium farmer
typology. He has soya bean trial which was almost ready for harvest at the time of visit. The farmer has
up taken on climbing beans after introduction by LegumeCHOICE project during Long rains 2015 season.
Plate 9: Jackson’s farm with soya beans and Gliricidia
The farmer has a few Gliricidia trees in his farms that were established through the project during long
rains 2015 season. Jackson would like to obtain Calliandra and Gliricidia seedlings for erosion control on
his farm. He did not receive tree seedlings distributed during November 2015. Gliricidia was not known
to him before the project implementation in Nyaribari.
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Soil fertility: Jackson regards his soils as moderately fertile but would like to boost it further through
cultivation of legumes. On the contrary, a general observation made by the project is that this farm has
poor soils that require adequate fertilization.
Plate 10: Jackson’s climbing bean own initiative
The farmer has an automatic rain gauge installed in his farm by LegumeCHOICE project PhD student. The
rain gauge records daily minimum and maximum temperatures, rainfall and soil temperatures. The area
is fenced off to guard animal interference. The team acknowledged the good care given to the rain
gauge by the farmer.
Plate 11: Automatic rain gauge installed on Jackson’s farm
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3. RONGO SUB COUNTY
3.1 Philemon Onyango
The 60 year old male farmer owns 14 acres of land and participated in both quick baseline and farm
characterization surveys, and falls in the wealthy typology. Gliricidia trees on his farm introduced by the
project are doing very well. Good tree management practice is evident on this farm.
Plate 12: Gliricidia sepium trees on Philemon’s farm
Calliandra trees are equally performing well and are planted as hedgerows for erosion control. The
farmer has serious erosion problems with some of his plots hence the motivation to grow trees.
Plate 13: Calliandra hedgerows for erosion control
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The farmer planted grain legumes field peas and faba beans interventions during the short rains 2015
season. The crops were already harvested at the time of visit. He stated that the field peas performed
better than faba beans in terms of both grain and biomass yields.
Cropping system: The farmer grows a range of food crops, fodder crops and trees for household
consumption and sale. Food crops include bananas, maize, kales, groundnuts and soya beans. Banana
sale generates his main income fetching between KES 350-450 per bunch. Fodder crops grown are
Desmodium, Napier grass, Calliandra calothyrsus and Gliricidia sepium. However, desmodium did not do
well due to sudden dry period after planted. Trees in his farm are majorly eucalyptus, harvestable after
1.5 years and are good source of poles, timber, firewood and income.
Labor: The farmer relies on both household and hired labour. He hires labour during planting, weeding
and harvesting.
Fertilizer management: The farmer uses both organic and mineral fertilizers on his farm. He keeps two
bulls, 2 sheep and one local dairy cow and therefore has access to organic manure. The mineral fertilizer
used include DAP and CAN. Animal manure is used and residue management carried out by collecting
and spreading under banana trees.
Plate 14: Crop residue management on Philemon’s farm
Challenges: Crop pests and diseases are rampant in the area. The farmer gave up on indigenous banana
crop due to pests. Improved banana varieties promoted by KALRO in the area have no pest incidences
hence widely adopted by farmers. The farmer uses pesticides on maize and ground nuts.
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3.2 Edward Oyier
Edward is a 45 year old male household head and farmer from Kosodo village in Rongo. His spouse,
Irene Edward, was present at the time of visit. This household has been actively engaged in the project
since 2014 and participated in quick baseline and farm characterization surveys. The household owns 3
acres of land and belongs to the medium typology.
Plate 15: Irene’s cow feeding on Calliandra cuttings
The farmer grew field peas for grain legume interventions during short rains 2015 cropping season. At
the time of visit, the peas were already harvested. Irene informed that the peas did not perform well.
Apart from peas, the farmer through own initiative planted climbing beans after introduction by the
project. She is planning to increase area under climbing beans. Staking is not a major challenge to her
because the household has grown many trees and even owns a wood lot.
Farming system: The house hold grows maize, bananas, beans, Napier grass, Desmodium, Sesbania
sesban, Calliandra calothyrsus, Eucalyptus, Gravellia and Leucaena Leucocephala. The farmer keeps
chicken and improved dairy cows.
Legume trees: The household is an example of a success story. Through engagement with
LegumeCHOICE project, she accounts on the benefits derived from legume trees. The farmer has grown
Leucaena Leucocephala and Calliandra calothyrsus along farm boundary and is glad that this has
reduced boundary related disagreements with her neighbor. She also feeds her dairy cows with
Calliandra cuttings and this she says has significantly boosted milk production
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Plate 16: Calliandra hedgerows in Irene’s farm
Irene has further grown Calliandra in alleys with maize and along farm hedges for both soil erosion
control and soil fertility enhancement. The farmer uses dry Calliandra leaves to feed her fish in the fish
pond, adds tree legume residues to her compost pit, utilizes fresh legume tree cuttings for green
manure and uses dry woody stems and pruning for cooking. Her vision is to find an apiarist to empower
her on commercial bee keeping. This she says will increase her household income.
Plate 17: Calliandra cuttings and tree seedlings from Irene’s farm
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3.3 Lawrence Otieno
Farmer Lawrence owns 3.5 acres of land, keeps local cattle and falls in the medium typology. The 64
year old male farmer is physically challenged, blind; therefore entirely rely on hired labor for his farm
operations.
Farming system: The farm has avocado, mango and guava fruit trees. Major food crops grown by the
farmer are maize and bananas. He keeps local cows and runs a shop keeping business within his
homestead that supplements his farm income.
Table 1: Farmer Laurence’s fruit trees and local cow
Project interventions are not doing quite well on this farm partly because the farmer cannot actively
engage in farm activities. The automatic rain gauge installed in his farm was not in good condition at the
time of visit. The laborers had uprooted the fencing structure of the area with rain gauge. Gliricidia trees
on his farm were destroyed by laborers, only one left.
3.4 Jane Ogweno
Farmer Jane is a 58 year old widow who owns 2.25 acres of land and falls in the low farmer typology.
Her household was engaged in the quick baseline and farm characterization surveys. Jane implemented
legume interventions during the long and short rains seasons of 2015. For the short rains 2015
intervention, Jane had planted soya bean and already harvested her plot and obtained 4 kilograms. Her
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seeds are ready for planting during the upcoming long rains 2016 cropping season. She has no hope of
increasing area of cultivation under soya beans due to competing interests. For instance, she leases out
part of her land for income generation. Jane has planted 5 Gliricidia tree seedlings within his homestead
along the fence. She has a nearby permanent water source-River Nyasore. Jane has another farm far
from the homestead where she grows maize and beans each season.
Plate 18: Farmer Jane with project staff during a visit to her farm
4. Summary of the discussions
Farmers visited in Nyaribari chache either had mature grain legumes in the field or harvested already.
Climbing and soya beans were still in the fields while faba beans and field pea were already harvested
and stored for multiplication during the upcoming long rains 2016 cropping season. Participating
farmers have been approached by other farmers interested in growing legumes. If this strategy
succeeds, the project will be able to meet its target of reaching out to 1500 households in Kenya by year
2017.
Farmers indicated that the short rain 2015 season performed poorly in terms of grain legumes yields.
This was attributed to poor weather conditions: heavy rainfall, delay of onsets, poor rainfall distribution
during the season and intra seasonal dry spells characterized by high temperatures. Damage of grain
legumes in fields by birds especially during the flowering stage was another significant challenge
affecting final yields. Poor soil fertility and soil erosion observed on sloping landscapes and hail storm
destruction in some fields resulted into poor yields.
Staking for climbing bean, Faba bean and Field pea remain a big challenge for the farmers especially
those without adequate trees on their farms. Inadequate labor poses a challenge to adoption of both
tree and grain legumes
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Despite the attractive market price and market availability of the grain legumes, increasing area under
their cultivation is not a likely future agricultural option for these farmers given the staking challenge
and many competing land uses including cash crops and leasing of land. Farmers in Kisii generally have
small land holdings and therefore are not in a position to increase legume area.
Seedlings in the nurseries were observed to have stunted growth. Nyaribari was more affected than
Rongo. This could be associated with poor soil mixing ratios, high clay content in the soil, poor aeration,
low soil organic matter and soil compaction as a result of heavy down pours. Senna spectabilis is the
most affected among the four species being promoted. Farmers from Nyaribari Chache and Rongo are
willing to incorporate tree legumes in their farming systems for multiple benefits. These include
biological nitrogen fixation, livestock feed, firewood, barrier, stakes, erosion control, income from sale
and apiary.
Discussion on yield trends with farmers revealed that there has been a substantial decline on crop yield
over the past 10 years. They associate this with poor soil fertility and seed quality. Farmers link soil
fertility degradation to soil erosion, continuous farming, nutrient mining and poor farming practices. In
an effort to counter the situation and increase crop yields, farmers undertake practices such as direct
incorporation of crop residues at ploughing, use of compost and livestock manure use.
5. Insights into the discussions
Implementation sites in Kisii have relatively small land holdings, about 2 acres on average. Legume trees
can be integrated into the farming systems through appropriately selected niches without necessarily
compromising routine land use. These would include alley cropping, hedgerows, intercrop, boundary,
conservation structures and spot planting. Fertilizer trees: Calliandra calothyrsus and Sesbania sesban
were are already growing in farmer fields and farmers agree that they are friendly to crops and are
capable of improving soil fertility. In Migori County where land holdings are large, farmers are better
placed to practice crop rotation and improved fallow with legume trees in addition to the niches
recommended for Kisii.
Residues of grain legumes as well as herbaceous and fodder tree legumes provide an excellent source of
high quality feed to livestock especially during dry seasons when animal feeds are in short supply. As a
practice in the sub-humid savanna zone of West Africa, natural pastures in areas with large parcels of
land like Migori can be improved incorporating legumes to provide high quality fodder. Increase in
productivity of animals fed from these ‘fodder banks’ could be over 20% above those that are grazed on
natural pastures (Tarawali and Ogunbile, 1995).
Poor and slow growth of legume trees was observed in Nyaribari Chache while those in Rongo are doing
well. This presents an opportunity for investigation on the biophysical requirements for the legume tree
species Calliandra calothyrsus, Gliricidia sepium, Senna pectabilis and Leucaena trichandra. It would be
of interest to investigate soil rhizobia diversities in the sites.
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6. Selected photos
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