Maize legume relay intercrops in Malawi - Microbial Ecology in Sustainable Agroecosystems - page 241

Table 9.1 Mean Maize Yields and Profitability by Cropping System and Wealth Group

Mean
proitability
by wealth
group: 1999
(MKw/ha) 3

Mean
proitability
by wealth
group: 2000
(MKw/ha) 3

Mean yield
by wealth
group: 1999
(kg/ha) 3

Mean yield
by wealth
group: 2000
(kg/ha) 3

Mean
maize yield
(kg/ha) 1

Cropping
system

Wealth
group 2

D1/year 1999 2000 1999 2000

MZ+F 3,691 abc Wealthiest 4,476* 3,705* 28,098** 13,822*

Poorest 1,470* 2,760* 5,532** 8,591*

MZ-F 2,407 ac Wealthiest 2,260 2,142 16,995 8,359

Poorest 1,464 1,872 7,762 6,699

SS+F 4,422 bd Wealthiest 5,333*** 4,837 33,182*** 18,338

Poorest 2,110*** 4,230 8,830*** 14,601

SS-F 2,795 ac Wealthiest 3,372*** 3,180 21,006*** 12,403

Poorest 1,520*** 2,785 6,928*** 9,965

TV+F 3,811 ab Wealthiest 4,227* 4,577 25,982* 17,968

Poorest 2,655* 3,820 13,637* 13,533

TV-F 2,279 c Wealthiest 2,452** 2,937 15,302** 12,238

Poorest 1,570** 2,420 8,353** 9,239

PP+F 3,825 ad Wealthiest 4,451* 4,790* 34,233* 25,651*

Poorest 1,593* 3,340* 12,725* 17,768*

PP-F 2,591 ac Wealthiest 2,624* 2,983 23,167* 19,074

Poorest 1,363* 2,300 13,560* 15,247

D2/Year 2003 2004 2003 2004

MZ+F 4,201 a Wealthiest 4,457 4,183* 38,388 47,948*

Poorest 3,256 2,283* 23,956 22,694*

MZ-F 1,233 c Wealthiest 1,786 885 14,685 7,868

Poorest 1,104 1,055 6,941 10,225

SS+1/2F 3,150 ab Wealthiest 2,785 2,194 21,815 22,137

Poorest 2,751 2,409 19,787 25,176

TV+1/2F 3,046 ab Wealthiest 3,029 2,776 25,361 30,929

Poorest 2,874 2,028 22,000 21,057

PP+1/2F 1,756 bc Wealthiest 2,509 1,876 26,564 25,356

Poorest 1,443 1,120 14,639 15,436

1 Lowercase letters indicate statistical differences based on one-way ANOVAs ( P < 0.05, Tukey's post hoc test).
2 Profitability was not quantified for moderately wealthy farmers due to minimal information on their marketing
strategies.
3 The asterisks *, **, *** indicate significant t -test result comparing wealthiest and poorest farmers' yield or profit-
ability for a single cropping system at P < 0.05, 0.01, 0.001, respectively. Data from Sirrine, Shennan, S. Snapp,
et al. 2010.

When averaged across all landscapes in D2, the maize plus full fertilizer produced
the highest yields, the legumes plus half fertilizer intermediate yields, and the unfertil-
ized maize controls the lowest yields ( Table 9.1 ) . Once again, yields were lowest across
all systems on the hillside and highest in the dambo margin ( Figure 9.3 ). In a study in
the same area, Harawa et al. (2006) also found that S. sesban and T. vogelii performed
poorly on the hillside landscape, which had extremely rocky topography and shallow
soils ( Figure 9.4 ).