Rice Sector Support Project: Enhanced Adaptive research responsive to productive and environmental needs of the ecological zone

START DATE: 2012.                       ESTIMATED DURATION: 3 years (+2year Extension)

SPONSORS: French Development Agency (AFD):             

LOCATION: Northern Region, Upper East Region and Upper West Region

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR: Dr. Wilson Dogbe

PARTICIPATING SCIENTISTS: Dr. Roger A.L Kanton, Dr. S.S Buah, Michael Mawunya, Fulera Tahiru, Elsie Sarkodie-Addo

COLLABORATING INSTITUTIONS: CIRAD, MoFA, CSIR-SARI, CSIR-FRI and UDS

OBJECTIVES:

-          Test several cropping system to select the most performing ones.

-          Investigate the feasibility of the systems according to different factors (ecologies, time of flooding of the field, equipment availability, date of establishment, crop varieties).

-          Evaluation of production capacity grain and/or forage of cover crops

-          Monitoring of herbicides management

-          Develop management strategies for cover  crop seed production

METHODOLOGY:

On- station DMC trials have been conducted in Upland, Midland and the Lowland ecologies of the CSIR-SARI Rice field. The Upland DMC trial is maize or soy bean based, whiles the Midland and the Lowland trials are rice based. Randomized Complete block design with 3 replications have been employed for the experiments. Each main plot of a cropping system is divided into 3 levels of fertilizers. The followingFertilizer levels  are  being used ,for maize  F1/2= NPK (11-11-11); F1= NPK (45-30-30+); F2=NPK (84-45-60); for soy bean: F1/2= NPK (11-11-11):F1= NPK (30-30-45);F2=NPK (45-45-60); for rice: F1/2= NPK (11-11-11):F1= NPK (40-30-30):F2=NPK (74-53-53).

  In all the experiments, cover crops such as Stylosanthes guanensis, Sesbania sesban, Crotalaria ssp, Centrosema pascuorum, Brachiaria ruziziensis or Vigna sinensis var unguiculata have been intercropped in the main crops with corresponding sole cover crop plots for bi-annual rotation.

ACTIVITY/PROGRESS MADE SINCE PREVIOUS REPORT:

The experiments were suscessfully executed in the Upland, Midland and Lowland in the 2015 season. Pre-harvest data collection on all the experiments has been completed. The harvesting of the experiment in the Upaland has also been completed. The remaining g experiments in the Lowland and the Midland will start in early weeks of the November ,2015.

WAY FORWARD: Data collected on the cropping systems will be analysed so as to ascertain the performance of the cropping systems in terms of yields as well as their  amenability to farmers’ adoption.