Context:
TARI is one of the partners of the EWA-BELT Project in Tanzania; TARI is experimenting different agricultural practice and technologies in the field of Sustainable Soil Management and Land Recovery techniques. The general objective is to improve the sustainability and productivity of local agricultural systems through sustainable soil management practices tested in pilot demonstration trials within the FFRUs. Evaluation of the effects of integrated use of organic and Inorganic fertilizer on maize cropping system under small-holder farming conditions was conducted in Arumeru and Monduli Districts, Northern Tanzania. Therefore, TARI performed several trials to test the effectiveness of home-made bio-pesticides and synthetic pesticides. Achieving high maize yield requires an adequate and balanced supply of nutrients as declining soil fertility is a prominent constraint for maize production in most areas of Tanzania. Many scholars have reported higher maize yields through the application of balanced use of high-quality organic inputs in combination with inorganic fertilizer as compared to the sole application of inorganic fertilizers. Some of the farmers involved in the different trials were interviewed and reported the befits they have experienced. You can also see the video of these interviews at the following link.
Interview:
Lalaito Engidoni
“My name is Lalaito Engidoni from Letikija village in Monduli District, we would like to thank researchers from TARI-Selian for bringing this Agriculture project in our village, Letikija. Firstly, we are thankful for bringing us good agricultural knowledge that we well understood. We have learned and understand the knowledge we obtained differ from what we previous practiced, even when you look at our unfertilized fields now they differ so much from our fertilized fields, so from this, we have learned something.
Firstly, in our community, the use of fertilizers in maize cultivation is uncommon, but today we have seen the use of fertilizers. You travelled so long to be able to bring to us such knowledge in our village. We are so thankful, we are to ask, if the knowledge could be continuous, not only for this season but also for the next seasons. Also we understand that fertilized maize performs better compared to the unfertilized one; we also noted, organic manurers are good for agricultural use, so, we thank you, we gained good knowledge and we understand well. (…) My desire, is to use fertilised technologies in agriculture, because, we have seen that the crops that were fertilized perform much better, compared to the unfertilized one, so we have noted a difference between fertilized and unfertilized maize. My opinion is that industrial fertilizer leads to the quality crops.”
Also, Nazaroti Engidoni speaks on behalf of the village’s women:
“My name is Nazaroti Engidoni, I am thankful for the knowledge that the project has brought in the area, we have seen good agricultural practices, we have seen unfertilized crops perform poorly compared to the fertilized one, I am thankful for all the researchers that brought such good knowledge..”
A conclusion can be made that farmers found of grad benefit the use of fertilizers in the fields and noted a greater improvement.
Andreson Erastus Sumari:
Speaker interviewd is Andreson Erastus Sumari:
“My name is Anderson Erastus Sumari, I am a farmer, I received a training from Tari Selian and learned a lot of things, as you see the maize crops here, the way we sowed nicely and we used fertilizers, we have learned a lot from the institute because they taught us how to plant inter-row and intra-row spacings. So, we have seen the positive impacts and as we continue to learn, we believe that we could have good prosperity, so, I would like to thank the institute for giving us a broad knowledge. Before, we used broadcasting method during sowing but currently, we are improving as we continue to learn, so, we see a brighter future ahead and for the next upcoming seasons. We shall continue using this knowledge and teach other farmers about these agricultural and agronomic practices so, I am thankful for that.”
Anderson’s wife speaking:
“My name is Anna Anderson Sumari, I would like to thank the institute for bringing us such good agriculture practise knowledge, we are so thankful and we shall continue to learn and use this knowledge, we say thank you.”