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‘Three sister’ mixed cropping gives 54% more food from old, indigenous methods

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Indigenous farmers and smallholder farmers outside of Africa have made more from their plots of land by mixed cropping which despite lowering their overall yields increases the total profitability of their land.

Intercropping involves growing two or more crops on the same piece of land at the same. The “three sisters” maize, bean, and pumpkin/watermelon intercropping system has been documented in use by Native Americans for centuries. In studies done in China where most small family farms are less than one hectare, farmers have been encouraged to make fuller use of their land, fertiliser, and labor time through double cropping maize and watermelon. Although the total maize yield decreased by 19 per cent, and that of watermelon also went down by 21 per cent, watermelon being a valuable cash crop made up for this. The average annual gross income from the family farms which were 0.6 ha in size went up by Sh174,452– a 54 per cent increase.

Maize provides farmers with a relatively low-risk crop as its market is assured but it has a limited income as it is not as lucrative as watermelon farming. Watermelons for their part despite being much more lucrative have huge fluctuations in market prices. Marrying the two offers farmers an attractive medium.

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Maize is grown manually at a seeding rate of two seeds per hole. Each hole is 35–40 cm apart and every maize row is 15cm in width apart. This means the maize density is from 56,000 to 64,000 plants per hectare. A 75 cm strip of land is left for the watermelon to grow freely between the rows.

Watermelons are then sown in on this ‘strip’ after 30 days at a depth of one to half a centimeter to hit the soil’s “moisture zone.” 

Both crops are harvested at the same time, cutting down on labour costs.

The farmers applied the same amount of fertiliser in the double crop as they did when maize and watermelon were grown separately.

Fertilizer costs were found to be just six per cent higher in maize and watermelon double cropping than when the two were grown separately. Water usage was however 98 per cent higher in the intercropping system than when maize was grown separately.

The watermelon is fertilised thrice. Fertiliser is applied right before planting in the watermelon strip and dug into the soil. It is then top dressed with C.A.N fertiliser after three to. The second top dressing is then done 15–20 cm from the watermelon during fruit formation together with irrigation or rain. Maize fertiliser application in maize is done next to the maize rows then also irrigating the field or timing it with the rains.

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In Sothern Mozambique, watermelon was found to be an ideal companion crop when grown at the same time as maize as it avoided complete crop failure during drought as it reached maturity 45 days quicker. In semi-arid conditions with low, unpredictable rainfall, farmers who intercropped maize and watermelon saw a reduction in both their yields but diversified their farm earnings and produced 13 per cent more than when they grew one crop.

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