(Blog post courtesy of AfricaRice-Madagascar team based on discussions on the occasion of the International Day of Rural Women 2019 with three lead women rice farmers in Vakinankaratra region, empowered with GAP training thanks to the TAAT Rice Compact.)
The
Rice Compact of the Technologies for African Agriculture Transformation (TAAT) program
is being implemented in Madagascar in the region of Vakinankaratra. During the
2018-2019 cropping season, its objective was the dissemination of Good
Agricultural Practices (GAP) to rice farmers by establishing 45 demonstration
plots managed by lead farmers who were trained in GAP at the beginning of the
season.
AfricaRice
collaborated with two organizations namely VFTV-FIFATA[1], an umbrella organization of farmers' associations
and the GTDR-D[2] responsible for rural development in the
region. More than 2,400 producers participated and learned about GAP through
the organized field days and regular exchanges within their groups and
communities. Among the 45 lead farmers who allocated a plot of their farms for
GAP application and demonstration were 14 female farmers, three women from
VFTV-FIFATA and 11 women associated with GTDR-D. On the occasion of the International Day of Rural Women 2019, we discussed with
three of these lead women farmers, living in the district of Antsirabe 2,
Vakinankaratra.
Mme RATISBONNE Nasolonjanahary Hortense, who is simply
known as Mme Nasolo, is the president of Manovosoa Association of women in the
rural community of Ambano, which currently includes 13 members. Mme Nasolo got the
best yield of all the demonstration plots supervised by GTDR-D: in the rainfed ecology,
the rice yield in her plot was close to 4 t/ha. According to her, the quantity could have been doubled if the crop
calendar was respected.
Mme RAVONIHERIMANANTSOA Haja Claire or Mme Avotra as named
after the rural women association “Avotra” for which she is the president in
the rural community of Fandrendrano Andranomanelatra, estimated her yield to be
about 2.4 t/ha, the biggest challenge being the intense hailstorms that occurred
in March 2019 and destroyed her crop. She said that however, in comparison with
other rice crops around her field, hers was the best, most probably due to the
variety used (FOFIFA 174) which resulted in a high number of tillers.
The same story was echoed by Mme RAHARIMALA Céléstine
of the rural community of Soanindrariny and a member of VFTV-FIFATA at Ambano,
who, on her 1.5 are[3]
demonstration plot in the lowland irrigated ecology, doubled her rice yield
from 90 kg with own practice to 180 kg with GAP application.
But thanks to the TAAT Rice Compact and equipped with
GAP knowledge, they used the 20x20 cm space between holes, noting that “there is a big difference, now we know
exactly the number of grains per hole, which should be from four to seven
grains and the fertilizer quantity is also calculated – one hand per hole for organic
fertilizer – and we do not broadcast any more. For chemical fertilizer it is
2.5 kg NPK/are and 1.5 kg Urea/are now, while previously each application of
NPK could for instance be as high as 3 to 4 kg/are”.
Also, while she was
weeding only two times earlier, she did it four times after GAP training,
surprisingly with a lower number of laborers and consequently at a lower cost; for
example, before she needed 20 man-days labor for the two times of weeding, but now
the total is only about 12 man-days labor for the four times of weeding.
Mme Nasolo explained that for the
first weeding (15 days after seeding), they practiced manual weeding, for the
second and third weeding (always 15 days after the previous weeding) they
combined manual and mechanical weeding, and for the last weeding, it was manual
weeding. “My neighbor farmers asked me
about this, and they did not believe when I said that I did not use chemical
herbicide as there are fewer weeds”; said Mr Nasolo, and adding, “I think I would have got around 6 t/ha if
the beginning of the crop season was earlier”.
Mme Avotra who followed the same
practices agreed that by putting many grains per hole and using a lot of seeds,
she believed earlier that she would get more yield because of the small
distance between holes, but with GAP, she reduced the seed quantity. The
application of fertilizer used to be random, as “I used only what I had without any calculation of appropriate quantity,
putting seed, chemical and organic fertilizers together in the holes”. She
learnt to spread organic fertilizer before plowing and to put only NPK when sowing.
Ms Avotra also noted the advantage of
regular weeding, compared to the earlier case of weeding when she was free, implying
that there were a lot of weeds. She declared that with GAP she spent less time
in weeding and there were fewer weeds.
Rice farming in the irrigated lowland
involves transplanting. Mme Celestine says that with GAP, she learnt how to make
the seeds germinate quickly by soaking in water for 36 hours and then covering them
in a bag for 48 hours for uniform sprouting. Consequently, “within 15 days after sowing, we can transplant
young seedlings with two leaves whereas in our previous practices, we were
transplanting 3-week old seedlings”, she said.
Moreover, she was planting four or five
seedlings per hill producing only about 10 tillers, whereas with GAP, the
number of tillers increased to 30 per hill, hence the increase in yield. Mme
Celestine said: “it seems like I really
played when I transplanted; it was the same case for weeding as there were fewer
weeds and the spacing really facilitated the mechanical weeding. Other farmers
and I did not believe until we saw the yield”.
Like other women above, Mme Celestine
was earlier using a small quantity of organic manure and did not use chemical
fertilizer at all. With GAP, she spread 3 carts of organic manure three days
before harrowing, added 3 kg/are of NPK just after transplanting and 2kg/are of
Urea after the first mechanical weeding and then another application of 1.5 kg/are
of NPK after the second weeding. Besides, she placed small irrigation canals on all the edges of her plot
to ease the water circulation thereby also preventing insects from entering the
rice field.
The three lead women farmers are fully
convinced about the advantages of GAP: in terms of the reduced seed rate,
reduced labor and increased yield. Mme Celestine has even started to make
plans for transplanting for this coming season, noting that previously she used
50 kg for 30 ares, but now she needs only 10 kg of seeds for 30 ares with these
new techniques, transplanting at 20x25 cm spacing.
While the women are ready to continue
the GAP practices and lead the labor and fellow farmers, they anticipate
challenges in acquiring the appropriate quantity of inorganic fertilizer for
all their plots due to lack of funds. Despite these challenges, having noticed
the big difference between their usual practices and the results following good
practices, they will certainly continue and extend GAP on other plots. As true
leaders, they indicated to do so especially on the first set of demonstration
plots, because “farmers don’t believe until they see for themselves the results,”
as Mme Nasolo said.
Mme Celestine is anticipating a
special training to be provided by VFTV-FIFATA, as there are many farmers
(around 40 farmers) who showed real interest in GAP. She already has plans to
start the rice farming activities for this season, guiding the other members of
her association and neighborhood farmers, who are interested with GAP and
teaching them the practices.
The three women indicated that they
have chosen to keep the harvested produce as seed for the coming season for
them and for the other members of their associations, who were very involved
and followed each activity on their demonstration plots and other farmers in
the neighborhood.
Mme Celestine however added that they also
need to learn improved techniques since the yield is not only due to the choice
of variety and seeds but also because of following all the GAP. She concluded by saying “I really see the difference with these new techniques, my dream is that
after one or two years, with my plots of 30 area, my family can be self-sufficient,
and we can even get a surplus of 1 ton so that we can buy enough inorganic
fertilizers”.
The TAAT program,
initiated by the African Development Bank (AfDB) as part of its Feed Africa
Initiative, seeks to improve the business of agriculture across Africa by
raising agricultural productivity, mitigating risks and promoting
diversification and processing in 18 agricultural value chains within eight
Priority Intervention Areas (PIA). The TAAT Rice Compact, led by AfricaRice is
currently being implemented in seven focus countries, including Madagascar.
[1] FIkambanana FAmpivoarana ny TAntsaha
ou association pour le progrès des paysans (http://www.fifata.org)
[2] Groupe de Travail pour le Développement
Regional Durable
[3] 1
are=100 square meters
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