Frederick Baijukya

International Institute of Tropical Agriculture | IITA · Natural Respurces

Abstract Tanzania is among the sub-Saharan African countries experiencing food insecurity and high rates of malnutrition in many forms, largely attributed to a lack of dietary diversity among disadvantaged households. The present study explores the potential of soybean-maize-chicken value chains to support the sustainable production of diversified...

Abstract The increasing human population in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) implies that the demand for major cereals will triple while that for animal-sourced food will double by 2050. The present study explored scenarios to provide sustainable diets to feed the population in the Iringa region, in the Southern Highlands of Tanzania. It does so by assessi...

Heterogeneity in soil fertility conditions impacts fertiliser use efficiency in smallholder cropping systems in sub-Saharan Africa. A study was performed to generate insights in nutrient limitations for cassava (Manihot esculenta Crantz.). We conducted 627 nutrient omission trials over three years in South East (SEN) and South West Nigeria (SWN), a...

Tanzania is among the sub-Saharan African countries experiencing food insecurity due to high rates of malnutrition in many forms, largely attributed to a lack of dietary diversity among disadvantaged urban and rural households. Surprisingly, Tanzania's breadbasket regions important for food production have high rates of micronutrient deficiency, pa...

Grain legumes are key components of sustainable production systems in sub-Saharan Africa, but widespread nutrient deficiencies severely restrict yields. Whereas legumes can meet a large part of their nitrogen (N) requirement through symbiosis with N 2-fixing bacteria, elements such as phosphorus (P), potassium (K) and secondary and micronutrients m...

The demand for chicken meat and eggs exceeds what can be produced in Tanzania, largely due to low productivity of the sector. Feed quantity and quality are the major factors determining the potential production and productivity of chickens. The present study explored the yield gap in chicken production in Tanzania and analyses the potential of incr...

The poultry industry in Tanzania has grown steadily over the past decade. We surveyed 121 chicken farming households along an intensification gradient from backyard to semi-intensive and intensive production systems based on rearing system and assumed purpose and poultry breed in the Iringa region. About 30% of households had more than one breed an...

Leguminous plants are known to require phosphorus fertilizers and inoculation with nitrogen fixing rhizobia for optimum yield but other nutrients may also be lacking. In this study, the most limiting nutrients for legume growth were determined in soils where the crops had not responded to P and rhizobial inoculation in field trials, using the doubl...

In Tanzania, diets are dominated by starchy staple crops such as maize, levels of malnutrition are high and largely attributed to lack of dietary diversity. We employed fuzzy cognitive mapping to understand the current soybean, maize and chicken value chains, to highlight stakeholder relationships and to identify entry points for value chain integr...

Intensification of common bean cultivation to improve food security on smallholder farms

The data was collected in the Karagwe and Kyerwa districts of the Kagera region in north-west Tanzania. It encompasses 150 smallholder farming households, which were interviewed on the composition of their household, agricultural production and use of organic farm waste. The data covers the two previous rainy seasons and the associated vegetation p...

This document presents a compendium of maps detailing the biophysical and socioeconomic conditions that influence the adoption of integrated technologies in the Feed the Future (FtF) Zone of Influence (ZoI) in Tanzania. Maps on the suitability of selected integrated agronomic technologies are also presented. The primary aim of the maps presented is...

The extreme poverty line is the most commonly used benchmark for poverty, set at US$ 1.90 by the World Bank. Another benchmark, based on the Anker living wage methodology, is the remuneration received for a standard work week necessary for a worker to meet his/her family’s basic needs in a particular place. The living wage concept has been used ext...

Common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) is an important grain legume for food and cash of the smallholder farmers worldwide. However, the total potential benefits to be derived from the common bean as a source of food and income, its complementarities with non-legume food crops, and significance to the environment are underexploited. Intensification of...

A rotational cropping experiment was conducted to understand whether non-formalized monocultures of maize could be substituted by the rotations with a common bean in the cropped smallholder farms. This study was installed in the northern highlands of Tanzania along the slopes of the highest African peak of Mt. Kilimanjaro with the predominance of s...

Intercropping with maize (Zea mays L.) and common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) is one of the widely used practices of producing food crops on smallholder farms in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). However, the knowledge on the options toward intensification of available practices in order to optimize systems productivity using intercrops is generally lacki...

In Tanzania, there is a large gap between food production and consumption, which contributes to high rates of undernourishment and micronutrient deficiencies. The dietary problems are mainly due to limited dietary diversity among households. Furthermore, increased urbanisation leads to an increase in demand for poultry products which is difficult t...

Climbing bean is the key staple legume crop in the highlands of East and Central Africa. We assessed the impact of interactions between soil fertility characteristics, crop management and socio-economic factors, such as household resource endowment and gender of the farmer, on climbing bean productivity and yield responses to basal P fertiliser in...

Agricultural production in East Africa (E-Afr) has to increase drastically to meet future food demand. Yield gap assessment provides important information on the degree to which production can be increased on existing cropland. Most research on yield gap analysis has focussed on cereal crops, while legumes have received less attention despite of th...

A study was conducted to identify the most suitable intercropping arrangement in smallholder farms in Western Kenya. Biomass and N (nitrogen)-accumulation, N2 fixation and grain yield of maize and soybeans grown as intercrops at three planting densities were assessed. The study was conducted in four seasons. Three soybean varieties, Namsoy 4m, SC S...

This paper generates an extrapolation suitability index (ESI) to guide scaling-out of improved maize varieties and inorganic fertilizers. The best-bet technology packages were selected based on yield gap data from trial sites in Tanzania. A modified extrapolation detection algorithm was used to generate maps on two types of dissimilarities between...

Sustainable intensification (SI) is a viable pathway to increase agricultural production and improve ecosystem health. Scaling SI technologies in locations with similar biophysical conditions enhance adoption. This paper employs novel extrapolation detection (ExeDet) algorithm and gridded bioclimatic layers to delineate extrapolation domains for im...

Low and declining soil fertility has been recognized for a long time as a major impediment to intensifying agriculture in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Consequently, from the inception of international agricultural research, centres operating in SSA have had a research programme focusing on soil and soil fertility management, including the Internationa...

Improving bacterial nitrogen fixation in grain legumes is central to sustainable intensification of agriculture in sub-Saharan Africa. In the case of soyabean, two main approaches have been pursued: first, promiscuous varieties were developed to form effective symbiosis with locally abundant nitrogen fixing bacteria. Second, inoculation with elite...

Food security entails having sufficient, safe, and nutritious food to meet dietary needs. The need to optimise nitrogen (N) use for nutrition security while minimising environmental risks in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) is overdue. Challenges related to managing N use in SSA can be associated with both insufficient use and excessive loss, and thus the...

Low adoption of sustainable intensification technologies hinders achievement of their potential impacts on increasing agricultural productivity. Proper targeting of locations to scale-out particular technologies is a key determinant of the rate of adoption. Targeting locations with similar biophysical and socioeconomic characteristics significantly...

The success of scaling out depends on a clear understanding of the factors that affect adoption of grain legumes and account for the dynamism of those factors across heterogeneous contexts of sub-Saharan Africa. We reviewed literature on adoption of grain legumes and other technologies in sub-Saharan Africa and other developing countries. Our revie...

Due to limited commercialization of legume varieties by the private sector, the legume seed system has remained rather underdeveloped and weak in many countries of sub-Saharan Africa. The TL II project developed and successfully implemented innovative seed delivery models that significantly impacted the seed systems in 13 countries of SSA and two i...

Climbing bean is the key staple legume crop in the highlands of East and Central Africa. We assessed the impact of interactions between soil fertility characteristics, crop management and socio-economic factors, such as household resource endowment and gender of the farmer, on climbing bean productivity and yield responses to basal P fertiliser in...

Low soybean yields in western Kenya have been attributed to low soil fertility despite much work done on nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) nutrition leading to suspicion of other nutrient limitations. To investigate this, a nutrient omission trial was set up in the greenhouse at the University of Eldoret-Kenya to diagnose the nutrients limiting soybe...

Low soybean yields in western Kenya have been attributed to low soil fertility despite much work done on nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) nutrition leading to suspicion of other nutrient limitations. To investigate this, a nutrient omission trial was set up in the greenhouse at the University of Eldoret-Kenya to diagnose the nutrients limiting soybe...

Legume-cereal rotations are an essential component of integrated soil fertility management in low-input cropping systems, but strategies are needed to increase phosphorus (P) fertilizer use efficiency in such systems. These may include preferential targeting of P to one of the crops in the rotation cycle, the use of P-efficient genotypes, and the o...

Soil properties, plant characteristics, agronomic practices and environmental factors often influence biological nitrogen fixation of legumes. Tillage method used in a specific agro-ecological zone is among these factors thus, the aim of this study was to determine the effect of tillage and no tillage on biological nitrogen fixation and grain yield...

African farming systems are highly heterogeneous: between agroecological and socioeconomic environments, in the wide variability in farmers’ resource endowments and in farm management. This means that single solutions (or ‘silver bullets’) for improving farm productivity do not exist. Yet to date few approaches to understand constraints and explore...

A study was conducted in the high and low rainfall zones in the banana-based farming system in Bukoba district, Tanzania, to explore the variability among household characteristics and farm productivity. Approaches used included a participatory rural appraisal, rapid system characterization, surveys and detailed farm monitoring in two villages, one...

Nitrogen release patterns from decomposing shoot residues of Tephrosia candida, Crotalaria grahamiana, Mucuna pruriens, Macrotyloma axillare, Macroptillium atropurpureum and Desmodium intortum were studied in the laboratory for a period of 22 weeks in a sandy clay soil and 10 weeks in a clay soil using a leaching tube technique. The residual effect...

In degraded soils, establishment of soil-improving legumes can be problematic and requires investment of labour and other resources. We investigated various aspects of managing herbaceous legumes in farmers¿ fields in Bukoba District, Tanzania. Biomass and N accumulation by Crotalaria grahamiana was 1.1 Mg ha¿1 and 34 kg N ha¿1 when established wit...

The spatial and temporal changes of land use, cropping patterns and cattle keeping were assessed for the period 1961–1999 in Kyamtwara division, Bukoba district, Tanzania. The assessment was based on interpreting aerial photographs, surveys and a review of historical statistical data. The area of grassland declined by 40% with a concomitant increas...

Farmers in Bukoba district, northwest Tanzania, are confronted with continuous decline in crop productivity. Previous studies as well as farmer interviews indicate that soil fertility is the major constraint in the banana based land use systems. Nutrient fluxes in these systems were not well documented. In the study presented here data were collect...

A glasshouse study was undertaken to investigate the effects of the copper fungicide Kocide 101 and its residues in soil on the growth, nodulation and nitrogen fixation of beans (Phaseolus vulgaris L.). The soil used was a sandy clay loam classified as Typic Rhodustalf. The bean variety SUA 90 was used as test crop. The bean rhizobia strains CIAT 8...

African farming systems are highly heterogeneous: between agroecological and socioeconomic environments, in the wide variability in farmers’ resource endowments and in farm management. This means that single solutions (or ‘silver bullets’) for improving farm productivity do not exist. Yet to date few approaches to understand constraints and explore...