Development and transfer of conservation agricultural production systems (CAPS) for smallholder farms in eastern Uganda and western Kenya

Abstract

This presentation provides an overview of a research proposal for the conservation agriculture production systems in Kenya and Uganda (LTRA-10). The researchers will be covering four sites in western Kenya and eastern Uganda, focusing on smallholder farms in the formerly colonial Mt. Elgon region in Kenya and Uganda and among more diverse farmers further to the south. Several key constraints to CA identified by the researchers are the emphasis on tilling the soil with a moldboard plow and the limited availability of raw materials to construct alternative implements as well as the heavy reliance on maize in the agricultural production systems across the sites. The project will seek to identify alternative cropping rotations as well as how to integrate livestock into the conservation agriculture production system.