1. Hannington Odido Ochieng KALRO Kibos
Multipurpose Legumes Project
The CCRP Eastern Africa Research Methods Workshop
Hannington Odido Ochieng KALRO Kibos
Maanzoni Lodge
15th – 19th February, 2016

2. Objectives
to identify legume-cereal enhancing strategies suitable for agro-ecological environments of Nandi County
to verify farmer preferences for legume-cereal enhancing strategies
to empower farmer to evaluate the performance of the strategies by training them on data collection and record keeping

3. What was done and why? Selected 71 farmers in Nandi
Introduced 4 intercropping patterns and farmers selected 2 to test because of land limitations. Plots were 8 by 8 meters.
Pattern row of maize alternating with 1 row of legume
Pattern 2 - maize in the same hole with legume, alternating with 1 row of legume
Pattern 3 - maize in the same hole with legume, alternating with 2 rows of legume
Pattern rows of maize alternating with 2 rows of legume
These patterns were compared to mono-cropped maize and legumes.
Experimental design was Randomized Complete Block (RCBD), one replicate per farm
Data collected on emergence, stand count, and grain yield for maize and legume
Most of the data collection done by farmers assisted by the youths.
Data analysis: ANOVA and mean separation by R
Interested in evaluating the performance and benefits of Soybean, groundnut, and bean when intercropped with cereals were selected to conduct the trials.
Each farmer selected one grain legume that was to be intercropped with maize using two different intercropping patterns that were previously discussed and prioritized.
Fertilizer (DAP) was be applied as a blanket treatment at the rate of 150 kg/ ha at planting and management of the trial was left under control of the farmers.

4. What was found out?
Preliminary results show that legume-cereal enhancing strategies improved productivity.
Productivity can be improved by:
up to 6 times for maize-soybean intercrop systems
Pattern 2 - maize in the same hole with legume, alternating with 1 row of soybean was the best
up to 4 times in maize-bean intercrop systems
Pattern 2 - maize in the same hole with legume, alternating with 1 row of bean was the best
up to 3 times in maize-groundnut systems
Pattern 2 - maize in the same hole with legume, alternating with 1 row of groundnut was the best
Profitability was not determined since the costs of production were not collect

5. Problems or issues that came up
Difficulty of getting the targeted number of farmers due to land scarcity and interest
Only about 20% of farmer could collect the agreed data in spite of the training provided
In some cases there were no enough replications to allow statistical analysis e.g. only 2 farmers selected pattern 4

6. Lessons learnt from methods used
The trial should target new farmers because the old farmers are likely to be less interested since they have tested some of the patterns being introduced
Training should not focus on the participating farmer only, it should target the whole household
It is useful to analyse the patterns selected by the farmers before designing the trials