G.S. Mkamilo : Maize-sesame intercropping in Southeast Tanzania

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29 Mar 2004 16:00
Unit: Wageningen University
Location: Aula (gebouw 362), Gen. Foulkesweg 1, Wageningen
Promotor: prof.dr.ir. M.J. Kropff (Crop and Weed Ecology)
Co Promotor: dr.ir. L. Bastiaans, dr. R. Ruben

 In Southeast Tanzania, maize is often intercropped with the cash crop sesame. A farm household survey revealed that of the two crops, farmers consider maize the more important one, as it secures the basic food requirements of the household. Sesame is desired as it offers diversification of cash income. Growing sesame in pure stand is hardly practised, because of the high risk of crop failure. In addition, the intercrop puts less demand on labour and fertile land. Understanding farmers’ needs and priorities showed essential in interpreting the results of experiments that were conducted to study the influence of relative sowing time, fertilization and spatial arrangement on the performance of the intercrop. The results indicated that recommendations for intercropping can not simply be based on extrapolated results obtained with pure stands, as is currently done. This might be a major reason for the discrepancy between farmers’ practices and institutional recommendations.
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