PART V DISCUSSION
Biophysical and socio-economical factors are major
determinants of farming systems as revealed by several studies conducted across
SSA countries. The current study in Shanga cell clearly showed that there are
different types of farms that differ according to the wealth status and the
management style of the farmer. Categorizing farms on basis of socio-economical
factors seems relevant since farmers categorize themselves on basis of these
factors. With regards to wealth criteria, cattle is still regarded as sign of
wealth in Rwandan rural area and considered as a major criterion for
categorizing socio-economical categories of farmers. In addition to economical
benefits, cattle can also play several roles such as food security through
provision of milk, meat and indirectly provide nutrients through manure. Well-
off farmers can afford to have more than two cattle. However, our observations
indicate that lack of biomass resource and limited grazing area have refrained
people in acquiring more cattle and well-off farmers that own heads tend to
borrow some to poor farmers that allow them access manure, a system known as
«Kuragiza». Other small animals such as pigs, chickens and goats are
also among common livestock. Most farmers prefer them because they don't
require much care or attention.
In Shanga, a typical smallholder farm comprises a house
surrounded by living fences delimiting a compound often used as grazing place
for tethered cattle, fruits trees are scattered around the house. Banana and
local vegetables intercropped with pulses and grains are grown around the
house. A number of plots grown with food crops or timber trees are located at a
distance from home. Looking at the social characteristics of farmers in Shanga,
the majority of the households are headed by men. Although male are in most
cases household heads, female and child are responsible for major part of
agricultural activities and the chief of the family is responsible for looking
for money for family nutritional needs. Most of female headed families are
widow or divorced and poor farmers. Although the majority of surveyed farmers
attended school, large part did not completed the primary schools. The major
reason for not attending school or not sending children to school is largely
attributable to ignorance. The results show difference between farmers with
regards to education. Farmers with resources seem to be more educated than
their fellows in other groups. In addition, they seem to have benefited more
training. Farmers, irrespective of the wealth group they belong to use family
labour .Most rich farmers hired casual labour and in some cases hire permanent
labour. Some farmers from the poor class derived income by working for other
farmers during land preparation, planting, weeding and harvesting times. In
that cell, only the rich farmers were self-sufficient in food production and
obtained only some specific food items on the market. In Middle farmer
category, most income is generated by farming and farmers normally produce
surpluses of food crops for the market. Input-demanding activities such as cash
crops are not widely adopted due to financial limiting. Poor farmers are land
constrained and one or more family members worked casually for other farmers.
Most households headed by women were found within this group. However, some
middle farmers extend the areas under crops by hiring extra land.
Land is an important asset for farmers in general and in
Shanga in particular. The study tried to establish how different farmers have
acquired land. Most farmers get land via inheritance. Few farmers with enough
resources have bought land. In general farm area is small. Land ownership is
dynamic in the area, to the extent that a portion of land can belong to two
different farmers within laps of two seasons. Farmers renting in or out the
part of the land to the others are a common feature in the area. However with
increasing annual rate of the population and continued fragmentation of land
due to in heritance mechanisms of land acquisition, the farm size will continue
to diminish and this will affect negatively the production sustainability.
The adoption of management practices such as fallow and crop
rotation vary between farmers classes and are normally constrained by land
size. Most frequently used organic fertilizers are cattle manure either applied
pure or composted together with other organic resources such as crop residues.
Land use in Shanga is not different to what is seen across the country and
farmers tend to mix several crops to optimize land utilization and try to rely
on their own production. Major food crops grown by farmers are sweet potato,
bean, cassava and sorghum the same as those cultivated in central plateau
(Djimde, 1988; Niang & Styger, 1990). Bean and sweet potatoes are the
traditional food crops not only in Shanga but also for several families in
rural area. The main cash crops are coffee and vegetables. The management of
close and remote fields strongly correlates with farm size, resource endowment
and labour availability. The amount and quality of nutrient resources applied
to them varied also between farmers from different social classes. Resource
management strategies by farmers consist of concentrating fertilizers in some
fields at the expense of other. In Shanga cell, fertilizers are used on crops
especially grown for sale. A large proportion of farmers do use fertilizers,
although often in limited quantities like farmers elsewhere in Africa ( Mapfumo
and Giller, 2001; Tittonell, 2003) . The well-off farmers apply organic
fertilizers to both staple and cash crops while intermediate and poor farmers
allocate preferably them on food crops. Differences in soil fertility status
across the farm are a direct consequence of farm and plot management.
Differential allocation of resources to different plots across
the farm leads to gradients of decreasing soil fertility with increasing
distance from homesteads. The gradient being more pronounced on poor farmers
than on well off farmers. This has been highlighted by soil analysis results
that indicated that distribution of total N, exchangeable K, soil C and
available P decreases from plot 1, near home to plots located far away from
home for the three wealth categories. The amount of total N, soil C, available
P and exchangeable K found is related to wealth categories in the order:
well-of farmers > intermediate farmer > poor farmer. The
difference between farmers owning livestock and those who haven't them shows
that livestock play a major role in recycling of nutrients in farming system as
also shown in other tropical countries such as Zimbabwe (Zingore, 2006).
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