Kingsley Ayisi

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• PhD
• Director-Research at University of Limpopo

The opportunity of sheep reared by communal and smallholder farmers to contribute to the growth of the livestock industry in South Africa is untapped. This study aimed to describe the socioeconomic characteristics of these sheep producers, identify their production systems, and describe the constraints that impede the productive expansion of these...

Livestock farmers in the semiarid regions of South Africa depend on rangelands to meet the nutritional needs of their animals during the dry winter months. However, climate change and variability are threatening this traditional feed source. In addition, the negative effects of conventional land preparation and challenges in following recommended c...

Understanding the spatial and seasonal dynamics of surface water bodies is imperative for addressing water security challenges in water-scarce regions. This study aimed to evaluate the efficacy of multi-date Sentinel-2-derived spectral indices, specifically the normalized difference water index (NDWI), modified normalized difference water index (MN...

In Southern Africa, feed gaps towards the end of the cool–dry season are a challenge that needs addressing by the timely growth of suitable forage species. Therefore, we assessed the adaptation of the species vetch ( Vicia villosa Roth) and Egyptian clover ( Trifolium alexandrinum L.) with one cultivar of each. A fully irrigated experiment consisti...

Purpose Small-scale farmers are highly heterogeneous with regard to their types of farming, levels of technology adoption, degree of commercialization and many other factors. Such heterogeneous types, respectively groups of small-scale farming systems require different forms of government interventions. This paper applies a machine learning approac...

Upper air temperature measurements are critical for understanding weather patterns, boundary-layer processes, climate change, and the validation of space-based observations. However, there have been growing concerns over data discrepancies, the lack of homogeneity, biases, and discontinuities associated with historical climate data records obtained...

Soil carbon dioxide (CO2) fluxes are a critical component in understanding carbon sequestration. In sub-Saharan Africa, empirically measured CO2 emissions data from diverse land-use systems is limited. Soil CO2 emission rates were measured in the Limpopo Province, South Africa for 12 months at two-week intervals in natural systems (forest and shrub...

Savanna rangelands cover large areas of southern Africa. They provide ecosystem functions and services that are essential for the livelihoods of people. However, intense land use and climate change, particularly drought, threaten biodiversity and ecosystem functions of savanna rangelands. Understanding how these factors interact is essential to inf...

In this chapter, we explore how, in the face of increasing climatic risks and resource limitations, improved agro-technologies can support sustainable intensification (SI) in small-scale farming systems in Limpopo province, South Africa. Limpopo exhibits high agro-ecological diversity and, at the same time, is one of the regions with the highest de...

This chapter introduces the different agroforestry systems (AFSs) as part of the diversification of agricultural landscapes and gives examples of their use in different related crop production systems in southern Africa. The introduction of trees into agriculture has several benefits and can mitigate the effects of climate change. For example nitro...

Rural livestock farmers in the semiarid and arid areas of Southern Africa face large uncertainties due to a high intraseasonal and year-to-year variability in rainfall patterns which affect forage resources. Creating resilient communal livestock farming systems will require the understanding of feed gaps as perceived by livestock farmers as well as...

Stable isotope analysis of 13 C and 15 N has been widely used to provide information regarding short-or long-term animal dietary composition as affected by changes in land or ecological system use. In complex mixed-crop −livestock systems, rangeland biomass, crop residues, and feedstuff contribute to livestock diets with high seasonal variations. P...

This study seeks to identify the key wavelengths and spectral transformation techniques that may be used to accurately estimate soil nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium (NPK) concentration in the Hutton soils. For this purpose, the reflectance spectra of 74 soil samples were measured in the laboratory, and the chemical properties of the soil were a...

Alternaria leaf blight, caused by Alternaria solani , is one of the major foliar diseases of tomato. Synthetic fungicides remain an integral component of managing Alternaria leaf blight to reduce yield losses. However, their negative side effects on the environment, human health and increased pathogen resistance call for the exploration of alternat...

Anthropogenic land use alters soil properties and influences biological transformations in the root zone, thereby affecting the distribution and supply of soil nutrients. It is generally acknowledged that human land-use activities such as intensive cattle farming and cultivation of citrus products lead to a homogenization of soil nutrients. This re...

Population growth and environmental shifts have elevated the pressure on land use and cover (LULC), necessitating vital management and adaptive strategies to preserve the balance between ecosystem services and human well-being in watersheds. It's pivotal to understand the implications of human-induced shifts from natural to human-dominated surround...

Citation: Mashala, M.J.; Dube, T.; Mudereri, B.T.; Ayisi, K.K.; Ramudzuli, M.R. Abstract: This study aimed to provide a systematic overview of the progress made in utilizing remote sensing for assessing the impacts of land use and land cover (LULC) changes on water resources (quality and quantity). This review also addresses research gaps, challeng...

Understanding the carbon dioxide emission rates under different agricultural practices is a critical step in determining the role of agriculture in greenhouse gas emissions. One of the challenges in advocating for an intercropping system as a sustainable practice in the face of climate change is the lack of information on how much CO2 is emitted by...

This study quantifies the effect of fertilizer and irrigation management on water use efficiency (WUE), crop growth and crop yield in sub-humid to semi-arid conditions of Limpopo Province, South Africa. An approach of coupling a cropping system model (DSSAT) with an agro-hydrological model (SWAT) was developed and applied to simulate crop yield at...

Pronounced subsidence leading to summer drought over southern Africa causes warmer than average surface air temperatures or even heatwave (HW) conditions. We investigated the occurrence of HWs during the summer drought over South Africa based on station data and the ECMWF ERA5 reanalyses. Temperature observations from the South African Weather Serv...

Nitrogen (N) availability under no-till intercropping systems has not been widely investigated in diverse agro-ecological regions in Limpopo Province. Two seasons of rainfed experiments were conducted during 2018/19 and 2020/21 in a 2 × 4 × 2 factorial design to measure the biological nitrogen fixation (BNF) ability of cowpea in an intercropping sy...

Smallholder farming systems in southern Africa are characterized by low-input management and integrated livestock and crop production. Low yields and dry-season feed shortages are common. To meet growing food demands, sustainable intensification (SI) of these systems is an important policy goal. While mixed crop–livestock farming may offer greater...

Mulching is regarded as the most important of the three conservation agriculture principles in increasing crop yield in the short term. Thus, the main objective of this study was to investigate the impact of mulch type and mulch application rate on biological nitrogen fixation (BNF), physiological and yield responses of cowpea. A multi-locational (...

Increased seasonal climatic variability is a major contributor to uncertainty in livestock-based livelihoods across Southern Africa. Erratic rainfall patterns and prolonged droughts have resulted in the region being identified as a climate ‘vulnerability hotspot’. Based on fieldwork conducted in the dry seasons in a semiarid region of South Africa,...

Sustainable intensification (SI) of low input farming systems is promoted as a strategy to improve smallholder farmer food security in southern Africa. Using the Limpopo province South Africa as a case study (four villages across a climate gradient), we combined survey data (140 households) and quantitative agronomic observations to understand clim...

Climate change is severely disrupting ecosystem services and crop productivity, resulting in lower crop growth and yields. Studies have emphasized the importance of assessing conservation practices through crop modelling to improve cropland productivity. There is a lack of accurate information in the performance of conservation practices as well as...

supplement to Pfeiffer et al 2022 in Biogeosciences

Smallholder farming systems in southern Africa are characterized by low-input management and integrated livestock and crop production. Low yields and dry-season feed shortages are common. To meet growing food demands, sustainable intensi-fication (SI) of these systems is an important policy goal. While mixed crop-livestock farming may offer greater...

Smallholder farming systems in southern Africa are characterized by low-input management and integrated livestock and crop production. Low yields and dry-season feed shortages are common. To meet growing food demands, sustainable intensification (SI) of these systems is an important policy goal. While mixed crop-livestock farming may offer greater...

Smallholder farmers like those in Limpopo and the Free State (FS) Province of South Africa sometimes incur high production costs due to their crop choices. This cost is exacerbated by the challenges posed by climate change and the socio-economic position of the smallholder farmers. The opportunity cost of producing cost-intensive crops is the forgo...

In southern Africa, livestock productivity in mixed crop-livestock systems is constrained by forage supply towards the end of the dry period. Opportunities to improve forage availability to close the temporal feed gap counteracting negative effects on production as well as on the environment need to be explored. A promising option might be the plan...

Intensification of low-tech agricultural production is required in the Greater Giyani Municipality (Limpopo province, South Africa) to respond to changing climatic conditions, water scarcity and increased food demand of the local market. Two years of field experiments were conducted on two typical small-scale farms under real-world conditions. The...

The risk of climate-induced feed gaps, i.e. seasonal deficiencies in forage quantity and quality, is a major constraint for livestock in the dry regions of southern Africa. In South Africa particularly, the frequent occurrence of drought is a challenge for livestock farming and, coping strategies to mitigate feed gaps on smallholder farms are urgen...

Disease infection on crops has been increasing over the years, in line with the changing climate, which has provided a conducive environment for disease proliferation. Timely and up-to-date information on disease spread and its magnitude is a critical component of crop management. This study provides a detailed overview on the role of remote sensin...

Purpose To investigate whether soil clay content, cultivar and seasonal variation have any effect on soil CO 2 emission rates and leaf CO 2 assimilation rates in a drip-irrigated commercial Citrus sinensis orchard. Methods The study was carried out in the field as a randomised complete block design in a 2 × 2 factorial consisting of two soil types...

Climate change and land degradation, resulting from human-induced pressures on ecosystems are threatening crop productivity, food and feed supply, and food security in the Limpopo Province of South Africa, especially within the socio-economically marginalised communities. A combination of survey and field experimentations were conducted from 2016 t...

Leaf gas exchanges play a critical role in determining crop productivity as they control both CO2 gain and water loss. CO2 gain and water loss influence water use efficiency (WUE) and carbon isotope composition (δ13C). Responses in leaf gas exchanges to water stress are species-specific. However, the extent of this variation in C3 crops is less stu...

A broad scope of crop models with varying demands on data inputs is being used for several purposes, such as possible adaptation strategies to control climate change impacts on future crop production, management decisions, and adaptation policies. A constant challenge to crop model simulation, especially for future crop performance projections and...

Purpose To investigate whether soil clay content, cultivar and seasonal variation have any effect on soil CO2 emission rates and leaf CO2 assimilation rates in a drip-irrigated commercial Citrus sinensis orchard. Methods The study was carried out in the field as a randomised complete block design in 2x2 factorial consisting of two soil types and t...

Quantifying how multiple ecosystem services and functions are affected by different drivers of Global Change is challenging. Particularly in African savanna regions, highly integrated land-use activities created a landscape mosaic with flows of multiple resources between land use types. A framework is needed that quantifies the effects of climate c...

Smallholder oilseed production constitutes a crucial component of rural economies and continues to face the consequences of a changing climate despite the increased levels of vulnerability. This paper assesses how smallholder oilseed farmers’ adaptive capacity in Limpopo is enhanced through various institutional support schemes within the context o...

Poor soil fertility and land degradation limit crop production among smallholder farmers. The practice of agroforestry with leguminous trees has proven to be sustainable as it bolsters nutrient supply through nitrogen fixation and nutrient cycling. The beneficiation of agroforestry species could add even more value by using tree based waste materia...

Smallholder farmers in South Africa continue to be affected by the changing climate despite the existence of support to improve their adaptive capacity. This study focused on the institutional support systems and support types available to farmers in agro-ecological zones of Limpopo Province and assessed support types best suited to each area. Six...

Grasslands cover ca. 30% of the global land surface and provide critical ecosystem services. Among them, carbon storage is one of the most important. However, grasslands are increasingly threatened by drought and overgrazing which might negatively affect soil carbon stocks. Despite this threat, there is a dearth of information on how drought and gr...

Smallholder farmers in rural communities that are prevalent in provinces such as Limpopo are not only confronted with the challenges of their direct environment but they also face new challenges in terms of the type of crops to produce in the era of climate change and variability. These challenges influence the way farmers make key decisions. Given...

On the background of increasing welfare and continued population growth, there is an ever-increasing pressure on land and other natural resources in many parts of the world. The situation is, however, particularly severe in the drylands of Sub-Saharan Africa. Southern African landscapes, composed of arable lands, tree orchards and rangelands, provi...

The provision of farm management decision support and advisory services to insure climate resilient agricultural production systems, especially for subsistence farmers, depends on data on such producers. The main objective of the paper was to generate such data by comparing the status quo regarding dryland, subsistence grain farmers' perceptions of...

Despite the importance of common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris) in human nutrition, its production in developing countries is far below consumption rates. A study was established to understand the yield performance and physiological response of common bean under three farmers’ field in the Limpopo Province. The results revealed significant variation in...

Smallholder farming in many parts of southern Africa is characterized by the integration of livestock and cropping. Throughout summer, cattle graze rangelands, and crop areas are fenced off. Cattle are allowed to graze on crop residues in the winter. These practices can positively affect income, manure availability and farmers' prestige. However, c...

Identifying options for the sustainable intensification of cropping systems in southern Africa under prevailing high climate risk is needed. With this in mind, we tested an intercropping system that combined the staple crop maize with lablab, a local but underutilised legume. Grain and biomass productivity was determined for four variants (i) sole...

Core Ideas Cowpea nodule biomass was more sensitive to water stress compared to shoot biomass. Rainfed conditions resulted in 57% decrease in N 2 fixation compared to well‐watered. Inter‐seasonal variability in rainfall accounted for 58% difference in cowpea grain yield. Future increase in drought and heat stress will challenge legume productivity...

Abstract Adapting groundnut production to the high climatic variability and extremes prevailing in Limpopo (South Africa) requires season- and site-specific exploitation of genotype x environment x management interactions. Notably, the El Niño-Southern Oscillation phenomenon (ENSO) causes distinctive seasonal rainfall anomalies in the province: Wea...

Maize streak virus is economically the most common foliar disease of maize in Africa and is widely distributed throughout sub-Saharan Africa. In South Africa, maize streak virus is prevalent in parts of Limpopo, KwaZulu-Natal, the Northern Cape and Mpumalanga, particularly in areas experiencing high rainfall and temperatures. The aim of this study...

Climate change has modified rainfall and temperature patterns especially in semi-arid areas. One practical way to cope with this challenge is to plant trees that could have a great influence on environmental perturbations. Plants act as carbon sink minimize carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) from the atmosphere during photosynthesis and stores excess carbon as...

In assessing the relationships between crop productivity and future climate change, a combination of climate change scenarios, environmental conditions and resultant crop yields information are utilized. Recent progress in simulating the impacts of future climate change on crops is focused on increased temperature, and little attention is paid to t...

Smallholder livestock farmers who depend on natural communal grazing lands are particularly vulnerable to climate change as well as to food insecurity and should be encouraged to grow drought-tolerant fodder crops. Moringa oleifera is a highly valued plant, due to its exceptionally high nutritional content. This study was conducted at two experimen...

Drought is a major limitation to crop productivity worldwide. Plants lose most of their water through stomata, thus making stomata an important organ in the control of transpiration and photosynthesis. This study assessed the stomatal behavior of four cowpea genotypes grown under four moisture levels under hot semi-arid conditions. Stomatal conduct...

Maize streak geminivirus (MSV) causes maize streak disease, a major disease limiting maize production over widespread areas of Africa. There has always been an urgency to develop quick and efficient methods of detecting such a disease for control purposes as well as increased food production and security. The use of remote sensing techniques for de...

Development of techniques for early detection of maize grey leaf spot (GLS) infection is valuable in preventing crop damage and minimising yield loss. In this study, we tested whether GLS field symptoms on maize can be detected using hyperspectral field spectra resampled to different sensor resolutions. First, field spectra were acquired from healt...

Water availability in semi-arid regions is increasingly becoming threatened by frequent droughts due to climate change and variability. Crop adaptation to climate change, particularly to drought, has become a priority in Africa. Water use efficiency (WUE) is one important trait in adapting crops to water limited environments, but its direct measure...

Stockpiled soils are excavated from the ground during mining activities, and piled on the surface of the soil for rehabilitation purposes. These soils are often characterized by low organic matter (SOM) content, low fertility, and poor physical, chemical, and biological properties, limiting their capability for sustainable vegetation growth. The ai...

Water stress is arguably the most limiting factor affecting cereal productivity in the world and its effects are likely to increase due to climate change. It is therefore imperative to have a wide-ranging understanding of water stress effects on crop physiological processes so as to better manage, improve and adapt crops to future climates. A field...

The paper examined the effectiveness of public extension support for dryland smallholder grain producers. Both probability and non-probability sampling procedures were used to select districts, Local Agricultural Offices and farmers from 20 villages of Limpopo province, South Africa in January 2014. Data was collected from field-level extension age...

In order to define the variation of the genomic proportion of the recurrent parent [G(RP)] and its relation to yield, G(RP) of individual BC1 plants of two sorghum populations composed of a high-yielding cultivar as recurrent parent (RP) and a donor with superior drought resistance or grain quality, respectively, was estimated using AFLPs and SSRs....

Lepidopterous stem borers seriously affect production of maize, Zea mays L., in sub-Saharan Africa. Intercropping maize with legumes such as lablab, Lablab purpurens (L.), is one of the effective systems to control stem borers. Sole culture maize and maize/lablab intercrop system of different lablab densities were planted at two locations to invest...

South Africa has invested substantially in smallholder irrigation, particularly in the former homeland areas. In Limpopo Province alone, there are 171 irrigation schemes with assets valued at R4 billion. However, most of these irrigation schemes are not performing optimally. As a result, the original objective of generating employment and reducing...

In order to get an overview on the genetic relatedness of sorghum (Sorghum bicolor) landraces and cultivars grown in low-input conditions of small-scale farming systems, 46 sorghum accessions derived from Southern Africa were evaluated on the basis of amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLPs), random amplified polymorphic DNAs (RAPDs) and simp...

The purpose of the study was to evaluate the nutritive value of the forage legume species, Centrosema pascuorum, Lablab purpureus, Macroptilium bracteatum, Macroptilium gracile and Vigna oblongifolia as feed for ruminants in the Capricorn region of Limpopo Province, South Africa. It was hypothesized that forage legumes grown in the Province will be...

In order to identify improved sorghum varieties for smallholder farmers, 85 promising varieties were evaluated at three locations. Thirteen varieties were selected on the basis of grain yield, resistance to drought, aphids and stem borers, as well as seed characteristics such as seed and flour colour, endosperm texture, kernel hardness and seed mas...

Yield improvement and insect pest control in intercropping systems relative to sole cultures has been variable and inconsistent over habitats, component species, varieties, density, row arrangement, soil fertility and moisture. This study was initiated to quantify yield response of two sorghum varieties (Macia and SV-2) and a cowpea variety, PAN311...

In order to study the influence of harvest index on drought resistance in sorghum, forty-four varieties were planted under two levels of moisture stress, well-watered and water-stressed, with three randomized blocks for each level. Drought resistance was determined as the relative yield loss due to moisture stress. It was compared with the concurre...

Identification of cowpea varieties with superior grain yield and high nitrogen fixing potential is crucial to increasing productivity of the crop among small-scale farmers in the Northern Province. A field experiment was established during the 1997/98 growing season to evaluate six cowpea varieties for their grain yield, protein content, yield comp...

Extracted from text ... Chemical composition and physical characteristics of cowpea haulms as forage forruminantsH.K. Mokoboki, K.K. Ayisi and L.R. Ndlovu #Dept of Animal Production, University Of The North, P Bag X 1106, Sovenga, 0727# e-mail:NdlovuL@unin.unorth.ac.za.IntroductionCowpea ( Vigna unguiculata) is a major grain legume grown by small-...

This study, which was conducted in the field during the 1997-1998 cropping season, assesses growth and symbiotic performance of six cowpea varieties (namely, Pan 311, Glenda, Bechuana white, Chappy, Encore and NWK) cultivated in a rich mineral N soil environment. The experiment was carried out on a sandy loam, Hutton form soil using randomized comp...

In order to compare the effect of three selection methods, forty-eight sorghum varieties and inbreds were planted in duplicated trials, one of which was irrigated. The effect of relative drought on grain yield, ears per plot, seeds per ear, thousand-seed mass, biomass, seeds per plot and harvest index were determined. Seven genotypes from each of t...

The influence of moisture stress on grain yield, thousand-seed mass, seed number per ear, harvest index, biomass and ear number per plot was investigated in sorghum varieties and inbreds by planting them in duplicated trials, one of which was irrigated. Characteristics most severely affected by moisture stress were seed mass, harvest index and biom...

Increased world demand for high-quality edible oil requires agronomic practices that increase oilseed yields with minimal environmental impact. We hypothesized that strip intercrops of canola (Brassica napus L.) and soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merr.] would increase seed, oil, and protein yields compared with sole crops. Canola (cv. Global) was grown...

Variation in seed yield and protein levels of sweet white lupin (Lupinus albus L. cv. Ultra) in the North Central USA has limited production of the crop in this region. Poor N nutrition from biological or exogenous sources may be one of the causes of this variation. Studies were conducted under irrigation in 1988, 1989, and 1990 at Becker, MN, on a...

Timing of N uptake and N 2 fixation may be important determinants of yield and seed N concentration in spring sown white lupine ( lupinus albus L.). This study was initiated to determine N 2 fixation, N and dry matter (DM) accumulation and distribution patterns, and nodulation as influenced by Bradyrhizobium sp. ( lupinus ) inoculation and N fertil...