Seasonal and year-round intercropping systems for smallholder farmers : results from on-farm intercropping trials on terraces in Nepal on maize, millet, mustard, wheat and ginger

Abstract

Low yield and total land productivity are major challenges associated with smallholder terrace agriculture in developing countries. Crop intensification and diversification by introducing legumes as intercrop could help alleviate these challenges. We compared 10 intercrop combinations with sole cropping system for two rotation cycles (2015-17) to identify the most productive and economic intercrop combinations for smallholder terrace agriculture. In the spring-summer season (March/April-July/August), cowpea (var. Makaibodi and Suryabodi) and bean were intercropped with maize in rows of 1:1 whereas soybean, blackgram and horsegram were broadcasted with millet (30:70 ratios) during summer-rainy season (July/August-November/December). Pea and lentil were used as winter intercrop (November/December-March/April) in wheat (30:70 ratios) while mustard was planted with pea. Ginger was planted with maize in 1:1 rows during spring-summer season in which the maize rows were replaced by soybean and lentil during summer-rainy and winter season, respectively.

Description

We would like to thank the Canadian International Food Security Research Fund (CIFSRF), jointly sponsored by the International Development Research Centre (IDRC, Ottawa) and Global Affairs Canada (GAC) for funding.

Keywords

INTERCROPPING, SEASONAL, YEAR-ROUND, TOTAL LAND PRODUCTIVITY, TERRACE AGRICULTURE, NEPAL

Citation

DOI