TITLE:
Participatory Evaluation of Productivity, Fertility Management, and Dissemination of Irrigated Exotic Vegetables in the Sahel, West Africa
AUTHORS:
Hide Omae, Addam Kiari Saidou, Kimio Osuga, Haruyuki Dan, Satoshi Tobita
KEYWORDS:
Participatory Approach, Irrigated Vegetable Production, Sahel
JOURNAL NAME:
Agricultural Sciences,
Vol.6 No.10,
October
29,
2015
ABSTRACT: We conducted on-farm participatory experiments and activities for 3 years at three sites in the Fakara district of western Niger to demonstrate, verify, and evaluate crop productivity due to fertilizer application, economic benefits, and the dissemination of crop technology. We tested combinations of manure and mineral fertilizer on 13 exotic vegetables: bell pepper, cabbage, carrot, chili, eggplant, lettuce, melon, onion, potato, pumpkin, sweet potato, tomato, and zucchini. Farmers’ selectivity was evaluated as the number of plots that farmers selected to carry out their own trials. The application of 110 kg·N/ha manure plus 13.7 kg·N/ha mineral fertilizer increased overall vegetable yields by 161% (P