FARMERS' PRODUCTION CONSTRAINTS, PERCEPTIONS AND PREFERENCES OF COWPEAS IN BUHERA DISTRICT, ZIMBABWE
Many smallholder farmers face crop production constraints, especially under rapidly changing climatic conditions. A survey was carried out to assess farmers' production constraints, traits, and preferred cowpea varieties. A semi-structured questionnaire was used in a survey of Buhera District,...
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Veröffentlicht in: | African journal of food, agriculture, nutrition, and development : AJFAND agriculture, nutrition, and development : AJFAND, 2021-02, Vol.20 (6) |
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Zusammenfassung: | Many smallholder farmers face crop production constraints, especially
under rapidly changing climatic conditions. A survey was carried out to
assess farmers' production constraints, traits, and preferred
cowpea varieties. A semi-structured questionnaire was used in a survey
of Buhera District, Zimbabwe, in March and April of 2018. Women farmers
dominated the survey as they were 52% of the surveyed population, while
men occupied 48% of the total population. Eighty-three percent of
farmers cited the shortage, unavailability, and cost of fertiliser.
Sixteen per cent of farmers acknowledged that they do not have access
to quality seeds, and 1% cited labour as the major constraint in cowpea
production. Cowpea yield varied from 100 to 500 kg/ha. However, 48% of
farmers harvested 200 kg/ha. As for abiotic factors, farmers ranked
heat (86%), drought (10%), and soil fertility (4%) as the most
important abiotic factors. Ninety-one percent of farmers ranked rust as
the most destructive disease, while 2% ranked storage rot, 1% ranked
anthracnose, and 1% ranked downy mildew. Eighty-one percent of farmers
cited aphids as the main pests, while 3% ranked thrips, 3% ranked
legume borers, and 2% ranked pod borers as other pests. Fifty-two
percent of farmers preferred varieties that are resistant to diseases
such as rust, whereas 48% were not concerned about diseases. As for
qualitative traits, 50% of farmers had no specific colour preference,
32% preferred white colour, 14% preferred brown colour, 3% preferred
red colour, and 1% preferred tan colour. For quantitative traits, such
as grain size, pod size, plant height, and head size, the preferences
of farmers varied. Ninety-nine percent of the farmers interviewed
preferred cowpea varieties that are bred for drought tolerance, as
Buhera District is frequented by intermittent droughts. Farmers'
experience in growing cowpeas ranged from 5 to 30 years. The top ranked
accessions were CBC1, IT 18, and Chibundi Chitsvuku, while the least
ranked was Kangorongondo. Identified constraints to cowpea farming
included lack of education, insect pests, diseases, drought, weeds,
harvesting difficulties and a lack of agriculture extension advice. The
survey showed that there is a need to breed for biotic factors such as
pests and diseases and abiotic factors such as drought and moisture
stress. |
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ISSN: | 1684-5358 |