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Is conservation agriculture ‘climate-smart’ for maize farmers in the highlands of Tanzania?

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Abstract

Conservation agriculture (CA) is promoted extensively to increase the productivity and environmental sustainability of maize production systems across sub-Saharan Africa and is often listed as a climate-smart agriculture (CSA) practice. However, the impacts of CA on food security, resilience/adaptive capacity and climate change mitigation are location-dependent and it is unknown whether CA can simultaneously address CSA’s multiple objectives. Here we evaluate four variations of CA: reduced tillage plus mulch (mulch), reduced tillage plus mulch and leguminous cover crop (Lablab), reduced tillage plus mulch and leguminous trees (CAWT), and reduced tillage plus mulch and nitrogen fertilizer (CA + F)—for their effect on CSA-relevant outcomes in highland Tanzania maize production. By comparison to conventional practice in the region, intensification of maize production by Lablab, CAWT, and CA + F significantly increases yields by 40, 89 and 77 %, respectively. Likewise, rainfall use efficiency was highest in these three treatments and significantly greater than conventional practices in 7 of 12 comparisons. Seasonal and annual greenhouse gas fluxes were similar across all treatments; however, yield-scaled global warming potential (Mg CO2 eq Mg grain−1) was lower in CAWT (2.1–3.1) and CA + F (1.9–2.3) than conventional practice (1.9–8.3), averaging 62 and 68 % of the emission intensity of conventional practice, respectively. The findings demonstrate that CA can deliver benefits consistent with the objectives of CSA for farmers in this region, particularly when soil nitrogen limitation is alleviated, providing other constraints to adoption are removed.

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Acknowledgments

We thank the farmers of the Kolero region for their collaboration. This work was primarily funded by the FAO Mitigation of Climate Change in Agriculture (MICCA) Programme and conducted in its MICCA Pilot Project in Tanzania implemented with CARE and ICRAF. We thank the CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS) and the Standard Assessment of Mitigation Potential and Livelihoods in Smallholder Systems (SAMPLES) program, specifically, for funding scientists and laboratories that collaborated on this project.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF), Tanzania Programme, P. O. Box 6226, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania

    Anthony A. Kimaro, Mathew Mpanda & Samuel Shaba

  2. Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations, Viale delle Terme di Caracalla, 00153, Rome, Italy

    Janie Rioux

  3. World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF), UN Avenue, P. O. Box 30677-00100, Nairobi, Kenya

    Ermias Aynekulu, Margaret Thiong’o, Paul Mutuo, Sheila Abwanda, Keith Shepherd, Henry Neufeldt & Todd S. Rosenstock

  4. CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture, and Food Security (CCAFS), UN Avenue, P. O. Box 30677-00100, Nairobi, Kenya

    Todd S. Rosenstock

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  1. Anthony A. Kimaro
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  2. Mathew Mpanda
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  3. Janie Rioux
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  4. Ermias Aynekulu
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  5. Samuel Shaba
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  6. Margaret Thiong’o
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  7. Paul Mutuo
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  8. Sheila Abwanda
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  9. Keith Shepherd
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  10. Henry Neufeldt
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  11. Todd S. Rosenstock
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Correspondence to Todd S. Rosenstock.

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Kimaro, A.A., Mpanda, M., Rioux, J. et al. Is conservation agriculture ‘climate-smart’ for maize farmers in the highlands of Tanzania?. Nutr Cycl Agroecosyst 105, 217–228 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10705-015-9711-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10705-015-9711-8

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