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Intercropping Sorghum with Cowpea in Dryland Farming Systems in Botswana. I. Field Experiments and Relative Advantages of Intercropping

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 October 2008

C. W. F. Lightfoot  and
R. S. Tayler
C. W. F. Lightfoot
Affiliation:
Department of Agricultural Research, PB 0033, Gaborone, Botswana
R. S. Tayler
Affiliation:
Department of Agriculture, University of Reading, Reading RG6 2AT, England
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Summary

The intercropping objective of the subsistence fanner in Botswana was identified as a need to secure some cowpea production without reducing the yield of the staple crop, sorghum. Field experiments in which sorghum and cowpea were intercropped in several different environments over three years met this objective on most occasions, but cowpea yields were low compared with their sole crop performance. Although intercropping out-performed monocropping by producing some cowpea yield, land equivalent ratios greater than one and higher gross income and cash returns to draught-power (but not returns to labour) the differences were never large and seldom statistically significant.

Type
Research Article
Information
Experimental Agriculture , Volume 23 , Issue 4 , October 1987 , pp. 425 - 434
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1987

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