Development and Transfer of Conservation Agriculture Production Systems (CAPS) for Small-Holder Farms in Eastern Uganda and Western Kenya.

Conservation agriculture practices (CAPS) that build productive capacity of soils and build upon local agricultural knowledge are needed to increase and stabilize food production, improve environmental conditions, and sequester carbon. On-station and on-farm studies were established in two highland, high rainfall sites (Trans Nzoia, Kenya and Kapchorwa, Uganda) and two lowland, low rainfall sites (Bungoma, Kenya and Tororo, Uganda) in western Kenya and eastern Uganda in 2011. Each on-station study consisted of 5 by 5 meter plots in a three-factor factorial randomized complete block design replicated four times with 18 treatments. Factor 1 consisted of three levels of tillage practices including conventional moldboard or disk plow, no-till, and minimum till. Factor 2 consisted of two levels of nitrogen top-dressing whereby +N included nitrogen at the rate of 60 Kg N Ha^-1 and –N with no top dressing. Factor three consisted of three levels of cropping systems including traditional maize-beans intercropping, Rotation 1 (Rot 1) of maize-bean intercrop in rotation and Rot 2 of maize, beans, and Mucuna cover crop in rotation.  Three on-farm sites each representing one replicate of the study were also established at each site.  Preliminary results revealed that conventional tillage had greater maize and bean yield than both CAPS on-farm and on-station in Trans Nzoia. While there were no statistical differences between tillage practices for crop yield in Bungoma and both on-station sites in Uganda, maize and beans performed better in traditional cropping system than rotations. In all on-farm sites in Uganda, there were no statistical crop yield differences between tillage practices. However, Rot 2 performed significantly better than Rot 1 and traditional system. These preliminary results suggest that tillage may not be necessary in Uganda and crop rotations may be better than intercropping. Inadequate weed control on-station may have compounded results in CAPS plots.