RESUMO
Persistent food insecurity in the global south has triggered calls for sustainable development worldwide. Moreover, more than a quarter of the world's population suffers from micronutrient deficiencies or hidden hunger. The population bulge, declining soil fertility and inadequate/inappropriate use of farm inputs in Sub-Saharan Africa place it in a precarious position. Multi-nutrient fertilizer blends have been mooted as a key innovation in closing yield gaps and boosting food and nutrition security. This study assessed the extent of multi-nutrient fertilizer blends utilization and yield response across agroecological zones and their on-farm profitability under Kenyan smallholder farmer conditions. We collected data through a detailed household survey conducted in eight counties in Kenya representative of high, medium, and low productivity zones using a sample of 1094 smallholder farmers. Multi-nutrient fertilizers increased maize yields significantly (P < 0.05), eliciting a 400% yield increase compared to the control and 108% greater maize yield than conventional fertilizers in the high potential zone. Conversely, at 3.7 t/ha conventional fertilizers elicited a significant (P < 0.05) yield response in Irish potatoes in the high potential areas. Multi-nutrient fertilizers increased on-farm profitability of crops, specifically for potato production systems where a benefit: cost ratio (BCR) of more than 2 was observed. Farmers may break even when they use multi-nutrient fertilizers on maize particularly in the low potential areas. Therefore, there is considerable potential for multi-nutrient fertilizers to increase crop productivity while being economically viable across agroecological zones and cropping systems. However, the uptake of multi-nutrient fertilizers among farmers is quite low across the country, except for small pockets where limited interventions have been carried out. This calls for sustained efforts to scale multi-nutrient fertilizers with a focus on clear messaging that stresses the need to apply appropriate rates of various nutrients including the secondary nutrients and micro-nutrients.
RESUMO
Women are involved in bean production and marketing, but their contribution is often invisible. This study is interested in understanding gender gaps in bean production, marketing, and decision-making powers over income and sales. A mixed method was used to collect survey data from 332 farming households and qualitative data from focus group discussions and key informant interviews. The respondents in the study were young men (30.42%), young women (13.25%), adult men (35.84%) and adult women (20.48%). From the results, adult men and young men owned more land than adult women and young women. Common bean had the highest median price of MZN25.00 (US$1.25) per kg over other crops such as maize at MZN7.00 (US$0.35), soybean at MZN 10 (US$0.50), groundnut at MZN 17 (US$0.85) and cowpea at MZN10.00 (US$0.50). The study revealed gender disparities in the control of bean sales and income. While there were no differences in the volume of bean grain sales between adult men and adult women, there were significant differences (p < 0.05) between young men and young women. Compared to young women, young men sold twice the bean grain volume and earned nearly twice more income, despite the two groups producing comparable volumes of bean grain. In conclusion, unlike the prevailing consensus that legumes are women's crops, the economic benefits, particularly in common bean, accrue more to young men than to any other category in this study.