Evaluation of Mulberry Based Cropping Systems

Introduction

• Maize and beans are the most common food crops grown by smallholder farmers therefore If we are to promote mulberry production, we have to come up with beneficial cropping systems that favor production and productivity on the same piece of land.
• Land shortage is one of the limiting factors of adoption of new farming systems and technologies, therefore if farmers can be able to intercrop mulberry and other crops then it would have eased production and investment into mulberry production.

Objectives

1. Study different Mulberry tree intercrops for different agro-ecological regions.
2. Cost-Benefit analysis of different intercrops.
3. Economic impact of different mulberry cropping systems on farmers’ income and livelihoods.

Off-station experiments

Farmer selection: Purposive sampling was conducted and only farmers near our field stations were selected to take part in this study. A total of 5-10 farmers were selected in each area/station with at least agriculture land size of 1-2 acres under good management practices.

Replications:

 5-10 farmers were selected for each off-station experiment (5-10 replications).

Baseline Survey: Interviews on socio-economic parameters were administered to farmers to obtain baseline data of the families by socio-economist.

On-station experiments:

Choice of station: Stations were selected purposively depending on the geographical location (region) and areas of operation of TRIDI. Each station was a representative of the crops grown in that region which were intercropped with Mulberry tree therefore this formed a case of which Mulberry intercrops are suitable for each region and area of operation.

Number of stations: 5 stations selected for different experiments.

Lay out: Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD)

Treatments: 8 treatments