FACULTY OF AGRICULTURECROP PRODUCTION & HORTICULTUREINTEGRATED FARMING SYSTEMIng. II & 3rd Year Classes

Presented by Group 9

  Names Registration Number1 Gasana Clément 07/198432 ISHIMWE Rodrigue 08/211423 MANZI Pascal 06/176324 MUGISHA Léon Fidèle 08/221005 MUHIZI Félix 06/184976 MUKESHIMANA Béathe 08/222267 MUSABEYEZU Francine 06/177188 NDUSHA R. Francis 06/177959 NSENGIMANA Assiel 06/17865

10 NYAMWASA Innocent 07/2017111 RWABUKAMBIZA Venuste 06/1712812 UWAMAHORO Marcelline 06/17091

Lecturer: Mr. BUCAGU Charles (MSc)

Huye, March, 2010

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REPORT OF THE FIELD TRIP TO SIMBI

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. INTRODUCTION.....................................................................................................................................3

2. OBJECTIVE.............................................................................................................................................3

3. MAP REPRESENTATION OF THE AREA OF STUDY.....................................................................4

4. DESCRIPTION AND ANALYSIS OF THE AGRICULTURAL SYSTEM........................................4

4.1. Landscape..........................................................................................................................................4

4.2. Soils....................................................................................................................................................4

4.3. Climate...............................................................................................................................................4

4.4. Settlement..........................................................................................................................................5

4.5. The homestead visited.......................................................................................................................5

5. THE STRUCTURE OF THE FARMING SYSTEM..............................................................................5

5.1. Chart representation of the farming system...................................................................................5

6. GRAPHIC REPRESENTATION............................................................................................................6

7. CONCLUSION..........................................................................................................................................7

8. RECOMMENDATION............................................................................................................................7

9. Annex………………………………………………………………………………………….…8

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1. INTRODUCTION

This field trip was carried out in Simbi sector, Cyendajuru cell and more specifically in Rugarama village. The sector is located in the western part of Huye District in the southern province which is around 150 km from the Capital Kigali. Simbi sector is around 25km from Huye town on the road to Nyamagabe District. Simbi sector is surrounded by five sectors: Rwamiro in the North, Kigoma in the North West, Ruhashya in the East, Mbazi in the South East and Maraba in the South West.

This trip was taken by the combined class of the fourth and third years on Thursday 4 th March 2010. The class left the faculty premises at around 10:00a.m and arrived at the road- junction to Simbi sector which is 4 km interior on the road to Nyamagabe District. The whole class got off the bus and assembled to get a briefing on how to carry out the exercise from the lecturer.

Three groups were formed and the first group immediately left on foot with the lecturer, then the second and the third groups followed. We arrived in Simbi at around Mid-day. The first group left for the nearby homestead and was assigned work which took around 25minutes explanation, the second group was also taken and assigned work to another homestead which was around 1/2km away from the first homestead.

The explanation and assigning work took also around 25minutes. Then our group was the last be assigned work. On the way the lecturer explained to us about watershed management; while we were observing the hill across a valley, its impact on agriculture. In fact on that hill we observed differentiated sequences of soil fertility caused by the effect of soil erosion which resulted to downward movement of light soil particles.

Consequently for each level of the hill (top, middle and foot) we discovered successive gravel at the top, silt in the middle and clay soils at the bottom and each level of soil corresponds to a specific crop growth. The top level was predominantly occupied by coffee, the middle by sweet potatoes and cassava, then the bottom/foot level was occupied by crops with shallow roots example: maize and vegetables. However, this depends on the socio-economic or biophysical factors of the farmers.

2. OBJECTIVEThe main objective of the visit was to see ourselves a kind of farming system in Simbi, know components of the system, their interactions then make comparison with the exercise done during the course by calculating inputs, outputs and balances, analyse the results, then make conclusion and recommendations.

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3. MAP REPRESENTATION OF THE AREA OF STUDY

Map drawn using ArcGIS software by the members of Group 9

4. DESCRIPTION AND ANALYSIS OF THE AGRICULTURAL SYSTEM

4.1. LandscapeGenerally Simbi sector is hilly with V-shaped valleys. Most of the hills are covered with scattered vegetation and few eucalyptus trees. Eucalyptus is the most predominating tree species in the area.

4.2. SoilsThe soils of the area are reddish in colour which means they contain large quantities of Fe and this makes it have poor soils. This was caused by rampant loss of soil due to uncontrolled soil erosion. 4.3. Climate

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The climate is dry and wet throughout the year. The area has tropical climate so it receives enough and equally distributed rainfall throughout the year. There are also few avocado trees grown close to the homestead.4.4. SettlementThe farmers in the sector reside either in the middle or hill tops and are organised in dispersed or scattered settlements. 4.5. The homestead visited The farmer whom we visited was moderate. He had one goat, a cow and its calf which could generate some income as well as provide him manure to use as inputs in his gardens.

5. THE STRUCTURE OF THE FARMING SYSTEM

The farming system we visited comprised of the following components: Household Crops and Livestock

5.1. Chart representation of the farming system

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6. GRAPHIC REPRESENTATION

Fig.1Interpretations:The above graph shows that coffee is getting the highest amount of fertilizer because it is the one considered as the source of farm income therefore it is given maximum care for better yield.

Fig. 2

Interpretations:The graph shows that coffee output content is reach in nitrogen and potassium more than beans per hectare meaning that coffee berries and coffee by-products contain a lot of the two elements in other words, coffee needs both N and K in great quantities than P.

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Fig. 3Interpretations:From the total balance, beans have the highest Nitrogen meaning that beans have extra nitrogen because they are capable of fixing more from the atmosphere.

7. CONCLUSIONFrom our results, it seems the farmer has enough resources to boost his agriculture outputs. He can also have extra for selling but actually it is not the case in reality according to our observation. This could have resulted from inappropriate farmer data.

8. RECOMMENDATIONIf the above data were perfect, there would not be any problem of poverty with farmers in the sector. Since this farmer has extra manure that we need to have had proper data in order to get proper recommendation.

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