On-farm research challenges for agronomic field trials in smallholder systems: a practical experience from Zanyokwe irrigation scheme, South Africa

Abstract

On-farm field trials are important for validating agronomic interventions aimed at improving crop yields on smallholder farms. However, on-farm field trials on African smallholder farms potentially bring about new, peculiar challenges that are sometimes not well documented by researchers. This chapter is a chronicle of researcher experiences through practical research on a smallholder irrigation scheme in rural South Africa, including the lessons learnt. Improvements in agronomic practices such as weed control, cultivar choice, soil tillage and irrigation water management had a significant positive effect on yields and farmer profits. However, several challenges also emerged, and these include accessing the trial sites, language barriers, pest problems, labour shortages, theft of produce and negative attitudes of the farmers towards research trials. It was concluded that these challenges could be overcome through an interdisciplinary approach to the agronomy field trials research. In this case, a holistic research design for the on-farm trials, which addresses both agronomic and socioeconomic challenges of the farmers simultaneously, is proposed.