By Joshua Zake, Doctoral Thesis Defense, 23rd April 2015.

Email: joszake@gmail.com

Smallholder Banana Farming Systems and

Climate Variability: Understanding the

Impacts, Adaptation and Mitigation in Mpigi

District, Uganda.

Supervisors:

Sophie Zechmeister-Boltenstern, (Univ.Prof. Dr.phil.) Institute of Soil Research

Michael Hauser, (Ass. Prof. Dipl.-Ing. Dr.), Centre for Development Research

Outline of presentation

• Introduction

--Objectives

--Research hypothesis and questions

--Study site characteristics

• Materials and methods

• Key results and discussions

• Main conclusions

• Take home message

• Acknowledgements

• Key References

Introduction

• Uganda is one of the most unprepared and vulnerable countries

in the world in respect to impacts of climate variability disasters.

• Farmers' perceptions are rarely integrated in the implementation

of climate change disasters preparedness policy strategies.

• They try out new ideas and or make adjustments in existing

agronomic techniques and practices.

• These constitute innovations for adaptation and mitigation

depending on the farmer innovations definition.

Introduction

• However, in Uganda these innovations

are not known because they have not

been identified, evaluated and

documented.

• Climate variability will worsen soil

fertility depletion, which is already a

major constraint to agricultural

productivity.

• Agroforestry farming systems are more

resilient (through soil fertility

improvement, C storage) to climate

variability compared to monocultures.

Main objective of the study

Contributing to sustainable banana farming systems for

food security amidst climate change impacts among

smallholder farmers in Central Uganda.

Specific objectives:

(i) To examine farmers’ perceptions of the implementation of climate

change disaster preparedness policy strategies;

(ii) To evaluate smallholder farmers’ innovations for climate change

adaptation and mitigation under selected banana farming systems;

(iii) To evaluate the soil fertility status and C storage in smallholder

banana monocultures and banana-coffee agroforestry farming

systems under the current climate variability.

Research Hypothesis

• The inadequate implementation of climate variability disaster

preparedness strategies triggers early actions by farmers for

climate change adaption and mitigation.

• Likewise, the occurrence of climate variability disasters triggers

farmers to develop climate change adaption and mitigation

innovations.

• Smallholder banana-coffee agroforestry farming systems are more

resilient to climate change impacts.

• Specifically, banana-coffee agroforestry have higher levels of soil

fertility parameters and C pools compared to banana monoculture.

Research Questions

(i) Does inadequate implementation of climate variability disaster

preparedness strategies trigger early actions by farmers?

(ii) Do climate variability conditions trigger farmer innovations for

adaptation and mitigation?

(iii) What are the existing farmer innovations for climate change

adaptation and mitigation?

(iv) What is the soil fertility status of smallholder BM and BCA farming

systems in Central Uganda amidst the current climate variability?

(v) How much C is stored in the aboveground, belowground and the

soil under smallholder BM and BCA farming systems?

Study site characteristics

--Banana and Coffee are

major food and cash in

Uganda.

--Banana is grown as

monoculture or banana-

coffee agroforestry.

--Dominant soils are old

and highly weathered

(classified as Ferralsols).

--Rainfall is bimodal with

annual average of 1320

mm. Photo by Zake

Site selection

The study was conducted in Nkozi

and Kituntu sub-counties.

Materials and methods

--Literature review.

--Preparation of research tools i.e.

survey questionnaires and check lists

for key informants and focus group

discussions.

--Research tools were tailored to

integrate gender issues.

Photo by Zake

Materials and methods

Farmer selection (socio-economy)

• Random selection was done for respondents (133) involved in

household survey.

• Respondents (30) and key informants (30) involved focus group

discussions and expert interviews were purposively selected,

respectively.

Farm selection (carbon storage)

• The 20 farms evaluated for soil fertility and C storage were

identified through simple stratified sampling and selected

purposively.

• Thus, each farming system was a stratum and 10 farms were

evaluated under banana monoculture versus banana agroforestry.

Location of

selected farms

Paper 2– Zake et al. (2015). J. Plant Nutr. Soil Sci.

Soil sampling and analyses

--Soil samples were randomly

collected from 100x100 m plots

located along flat plains within 20-40

m from the valleys on each of the

selected farms.

--They were obtained from the top and

sub layers and for each layer 6

replicates were obtained. Thus, in

total 240 samples were collected.

--Soil samples were analyzed for total

soil organic matter, total soil C, total

N, plant-available P, exchangeable K,

pH, soil texture, bulk density. Photo by Zake

Soil sampling and analyses

• Depth of top and sub soil layers was determined using a tape

measure.

• Soil core samples were collected for each soil layer up a 20 cm

depth. Soil core diameter was measured and fresh weight of

each core sample was measured using a field scale.

• Soil C stocks were calculated based on total organic carbon and

bulk density using formulae according to Murphy et al. (2003).

Data collection

Aboveground plant biomass

(on ha basis) of major trees

(coffee, bananas & key

agroforestry tree species)

was determined using

allometric equations based on

measurements of diameter at

breast height and tree height

& tree bulk density.

Belowground biomass for

each tree species was

derived from the aboveground

biomass using the equation

by Cairns et al. (1997).

Photo by

Zake

Derived

from

google

images

2015

Data analyses

• Total C pools under each farming system were calculated as a

sum of aboveground, belowground and soil carbon in the soil

layers.

• Further analysis was done using a 2-factorial model to

determine analysis of variance at 5% using GenStat 13.

• Data generated using the survey questionnaires were analyzed

using SPSS 16 to generate percentages for variables and

cross-tabulation between selected variables using Chi-square

and 2-tailed T-test.

• Gender was integrated in the analyses to compare perceptions

of males and females.

Key results – excerts from 2 articles and 1 manuscript

• Paper 1 - Zake, J. and Hauser, M. (2014). Farmers' perceptions of

implementation of climate variability disaster preparedness strategies

in Central Uganda. Journal of Environmental Hazards.

doi:10.1080/17477891.2014.910491

• Paper 2 - Zake, J., Pietsch, S. A., Friedel, J. K. and Zechmeister-

Boltenstern, S. (2015). Can agroforestry improve soil fertility and

carbon storage in smallholder banana farming systems? J. Plant

Nutr. Soil Sci. doi: 10.1002/jpln.201400281

• Paper 3 - Zake, J. (2014). Climate Variability triggers Innovations for

Adaptation and Mitigation: A case for Smallholder Banana Farmers in

Central Uganda. Unpublished manuscript submitted to the Journal

of Climate and Development for consideration and is under review.

Interaction between key actors and farmers in the implementation of community

early warning actions in Mpigi district.

Paper 1 – Zake and Hauser (2014); Journal of Environmental Hazards.

Key results (socio-economy)

Key results (socio-economy)

Respondents’ perceptions of early actions against climate change disasters

in Mpigi district (n = 133).

Paper 1 – Zake and Hauser (2014); Journal of Environmental Hazards.

Respondents’ perceptions of existing actors in the implementation of disaster

strategies at community level vs. planting indigenous drought-resistant crops

as early action by farmers against climate change disasters (N = 133).

Key results (socio-economy)

Paper 1 – Zake and Hauser (2014); Journal of Environmental Hazards.

Respondent’s perceptions of current climate conditions vs. Creating shade for young

coffee plants using Kisansa (Phoenix reclinata) branches as adaptation innovation to

protect them from prolonged droughts in Mpigi district, Central Uganda (N = 133).

Key results (socio-economy)

Paper 3– Zake (2014); Unpublished manuscript submited to Journal of Climate and Development.

Left photo – shows the Oluwannyi (Draceana fragrans) plant whose stems and leaves

were initially used for shading the young coffee seedlings; Middle photo – shows the

stems and leaves of Kisansa (Phoenix reclinata) plant currently used for shading young

coffee (coffee cenephora) seedlings; Right photo – shows several coffee seedlings

protected from prolonged drought.

Paper 3 – Zake (2014); Unpublished manuscript submited to Journal of Climate and Development.

Key results (socio-economy)

Key results (carbon storage)

Selected soil chemical properties of banana farming systems in

Mpigi district, Central Uganda.

Paper 2– Zake et al. (2015). J. Plant Nutr. Soil Sci.

Paper 2– Zake et al. (2015). J. Plant Nutr. Soil Sci.

Key results (carbon storage)

Paper 2 – Zake et al. (2015). J. Plant Nutr. Soil Sci.

Key results (carbon storage)

Conclusions

• Inadequate implementation of climate change disaster preparedness

strategies at community level triggers early actions by farmers.

• Climate variability triggers farmers to develop innovations for

adaptation and mitigation.

• Banana-coffee agroforestry improves soil fertility and C storage under

the prevailing climate conditions.

• Future research should focus on:

--Evaluation of the effectiveness of implementation of climate change

disasters management strategies by existing actors;

--Determination of C pools in deeper layers and greenhouse gas

emissions of smallholder banana farming systems.

Take home message

• Implementation of community climate change adaptation and mitigation

strategies should be strengthened.

• Farmer’s early actions for addressing climate change disasters should

be supported.

• Farmer innovators should be supported with inputs and financial

resources because their innovations potentially contribute to long term

adaptation and mitigation of climate change impacts.

• Promotion of Banana-coffee agroforestry would result in more C

storage per ha compared to banana monoculture.

• Agricultural and environmental policies should implement this shift.

Acknowledgements Individuals

Supervisors:

-- Univ.Prof. Dr.phil. Sophie Zechmeister-

Boltenstern;

-- Ass. Prof. Dipl.-Ing. Dr. Michael Hauser.

Advisory Team:

--Priv. Doz. Dr. Stephan A. Pietsch;

-- Ao. Univ. Prof. Dipl.-Ing. Dr. Jürgen K. Friedel.

Others:

--Reviewers and Examiners;

--DI Elke Stinnig;

--Ass.Prof. Dipl.-Ing. Dr. Axel Mentler;

--Dr. Charles Walaga;

--Colleagues at the Institute of Soil Research and

CDR;

--Kituntu and Nkozi sub-counties farmers;

--Friends and Family.

Institutions

Thank you very much/Danke/Mwebale nnyo!!!