Presenting during the session cropping systems to maintain soil quality and available soil moisture, Khalid Hussain who is a PhD student at the University of Hohenheim stated that mixed cropping reduces the risk of crop failure and has an impact on soil moisture. His presentation was entitled “impact of mixed and alley cropping on grain yield and water use on maize“, The study was conducted in Thailand and the objectives were to; quantify the effects of mixed and alley cropping on maize yield, to evaluate impact of sole, mixed and alley cropping on maize crop performance and to assess competition for water in maize based cropping systems. Major conclusions from his research were that;  Intercropping had positive effects on the row yield of maize  Alley and mixed cropping with minimum tillage showed higher soil moisture contents than sole cropping (farmer‘s practice)  13C isotopic discrimination was variable in grains & leaves and were related to water uptake which ultimately affected the yield

“Integrated Pest Management (IPM) and Integrated Nutrient Management (INM) are recommended methods of farming in Africa” says Anne Muriuki from the Kenyan Agricultural Research Institute. She presented during the session, cropping systems to maintain soil quality and available soil moisture on the topic Resilience of organic versus conventional farming systems in the tropical Africa. She highlighted that a new change has been brought about by climate change which results in droughts and floods. She recommended farming methods as Integrated Pest Management (IPM) and Integrated Nutrient Management (INM). In a contrast, she mentioned that the reality of farming however requires farmers to make use of synthetic inputs such as fertilizers and pesticides which are expensive and beyond the reach of most small holder farmers. Thus this results in food and nutrition insecurity, rural poverty as well as soil fertility depletion and land degradation. As its objectives, the research compared organic versus conventional farming in relation to a) Quality and quantity of crop products b) Resource use efficiencies c) Sustainability of the agro-ecological system The overall aim of the research is to disseminate findings to stakeholders The study was done in Kari-Thika for a duration of 20years using a Randomized Complete Block Design with a three year rotation of maize, vegetables and legumes.

The session was moderated by Ronald F. Kuhne from the Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, Germany who introduced the speakers and welcomed all participants. The lead speaker was Birthe Paul from the International Centre for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT), who presented on the topic, “Impact of tillage and residue management on soil quality and crop productivity”. Birthe mentioned that 80% of soils in Sub-Saharan Africa are inherently low in soil fertility and that 65% of the soils are degraded by human activity. She further added that there is stagnating crop yields pegged at 1 tha-1 while 30 % of the population is affected by food shortage. According to her, Conservation Agriculture has the advantages of continuous minimum mechanical soil disturbance, permanent organic soil cover and diversification of crops grown in sequence or association and this potentially improves soil aggregate ability, soil aggregate organic carbon and crop yields. The study objectives were outlined as; 1. To bridge knowledge gaps by providing rigorous empirical evidence 2. To capture medium term effects of tillage and residue management on – soil aggregate stability, soil organic carbon and crop yields.