LAKE VICTORIA BASIN

Potato farming in the Lake Victoria Basin, Kenya

Agriculture About 85 per cent of the LVB population depends on agriculture as their major economic and livelihood activity (Lake Victoria Basin Commission 2007a). Agricultural production is the mainstay of the Basin economy, particularly in terms of food security, income generation and employment. The main food crops grown in the Basin are maize, beans, rice, cassava, sweet potato, Irish potato, sorghum, wheat, millet, banana, pineapples, groundnuts, sesame cowpeas, green grams, soybean, yams, tomato and a wide variety of indigenous and exotic fruits. Vegetables and other horticultural crops such as tea and coffee are also grown on a commercial-scale. Other main cash crops grown in the Basin are sugarcane, cotton, tobacco, sunflower, pyrethrum and vanilla. The proportion of land used for agriculture varies, depending on topography, soils, rainfall, population pressure and climate. The area of arable land in the

Basin is 33 per cent, 20 per cent and 28 per cent of the total land area for Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda, respectively (Bullock et al. 1995). Small- to medium-scale irrigation schemes are common, especially in the lower part of the Basin where river water is harnessed for irrigation. Figure 1.8 shows the different kinds of cultivation systems in the LVB. Mixed lowland smallholder subsistence rain-fed cultivation is the most common agricultural production system in the Basin and is characterized by small landholdings of less than one hectare, operated by single households and cultivated mainly by hand. There is a single growing season during the rainy period. There is minimal use of innovative farming techniques and many households maintain a small herd of livestock. Mixed highland smallholder cultivation is also common and similar to the lowland system. There are, however, some differences: mixed highland smallholder cultivation is generally located at higher altitudes (above 1,700 metres above sea level [masl].); the landholdings are a little bigger, ranging between 2 and 10 ha; there is a mix of hand cultivation and some use of mechanized equipment; the farming system is semi-commercial, with cash crops prevalent in addition to food crops; and crop efficiency is higher, with two growing seasons a year. Small-scale irrigation is sometimes practised in these cultivation systems, and is used to provide water during the dry season and times of drought. Marshland irrigation is a particular type of technique practised in the Kagera sub-basin. Large-scale cultivation systems involve landholdings as large as tens of thousands of hectares. The system is generally mechanized and cash (or industrial) crops are the main types of crop. They are characterized by large household landholdings and company-owned or government-owned estates. Commonly grown crops are coffee, tea, cotton, flowers, sugarcane and cereals. This type of farming system is characterized by the high use of fertilizers, pesticides and herbicides, as well as supplementary irrigation.

Figure 1.8: Main agricultural systems in the Lake Victoria Basin Source: BRL Ingénierie 2014

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