%0 Journal Article %T Legumes in soil fertility management: The case of pigeonpea in smallholder farming systems of Zimbabwe %A P. Mapfumo %A B. M. Campbell %A S. Mpepereki %J African Crop Science Journal %D 2001 %I %X We investigated the current use of legumes in soil fertility management and the feasibility of promoting use of pigeonpea in smallholder farming systems of a Communal Area in Northeast of Zimbabwe. Participatory rural appraisal methods were used to establish farmer management strategies and perceptions on major constraints to crop productivity. Soil fertility parameters were evaluated through farmer participatory experiments. The study revealed limited cultivation of legumes for both human nutrition and soil fertility management. Legumes were generally regarded as women's crops, and therefore minor, because of men's domination over women in the household decision-making process. Balancing gender interests in terms of allocation of inputs and distribution of benefits at household level was identified as a major challenge to the implementation of legume technologies. Poor extension thrusts with respect to legume production, and poor agronomic practices were identified as major production constraints. Over-emphasis on maize in the current extension packages led to the relegation of legumes to the status of 'minor crops'. Participatory experiments suggested that pigeonpea can be successfully grown by farmers under poor soil fertility conditions. The crop yielded about 3 to 9 t ha-1 of shoot biomass in a single cropping season, and up to 23 t ha-1 after two seasons of growth. High amounts leaf litter released by the crop in one season (up to 3 t ha-1) are considered a potentially viable source of nutrients for subsequent crops, as confirmed by a 22% maize yield increase obtained from a field that was previous cultivated with pigeonpea. R¨¦SUM¨¦ Les investigations sur l' utilisation des l¨¦gumineuses dans la gestion de fertilit¨¦ du sol ainsi que les possibilit¨¦s d' incorporer le pois cajan dans le syst¨¨me agricole de petits fermiers ont ¨¦t¨¦ fait dans un milieu rural au Nord-Est du Zimbabwe. La m¨¦thode "Participatory rural appraisal" a ¨¦t¨¦ utilis¨¦e pour d¨¦terminer les strat¨¦gies de gestion du sol et les perceptions qui contribuent ¨¤ la r¨¦duction de la productivit¨¦ de la r¨¦colte. Les param¨¨tres de fertilit¨¦ du sol ont ¨¦t¨¦ analys¨¦s en collaboration avec des agriculteurs. Cette ¨¦tude a r¨¦vel¨¦ qu' il y a une utilisation limit¨¦e de l¨¦gumineuses dans l' alimentation des gens ainsi que dans la gestion de fertilit¨¦ du sol. Les l¨¦gumineuses sont g¨¦neralement consid¨¦r¨¦es commes la r¨¦colte pour les femmes, sur ce, de peu d' importance, et ¨¤ cause de la domination des hommes dans la prise de d¨¦cision dans le foyer. L'ex¨¦cution des t¨¦chnologies d' incorporer les l¨¦gumineuses dans le syst¨¨me de production agricole s' est heurt¨¦e ¨¤ un probl¨¨me majeur de domination de l'homme, ses pr¨¦f¨¦rences dans la r¨¦partition et la distributions des intrants et les b¨¦n¨¦fices. Un autre probl¨¨me identifi¨¦, c'est une vulgarisation tr¨¨s limit¨¦e de la production de l¨¦gumineuses et une difficile adaptation agronomique de vari¨¦t¨¦s de l¨¦gumineuses qui sont d¨¦j¨¤ dans le syst¨¨me. Le syst¨¨me de v %U http://www.ajol.info/index.php/acsj/article/view/27585