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From 6 July 2006, a graphic version of the current edition is available at the Daily News Online web site.

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The home grown method is called ‘Bio-tillage in Permanent Strips’ and its developer says it can be a solution to poor crop yields and help prevent flooding and soil erosion. Gus Nilsson, of Sanitas in Gaborone, invented the method 30 years ago.

The Australian import is Zero Tillage and is being tried by Debswana at their Masedi Farm in Pandamatenga.

Originally from Sweden, Nilsson came to Botswana in 1967 as a United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) as a plant pathologist in the Ministry of Agriculture.

He left the ministry in 1970 to venture into research by starting Sanitas Horticultural project near Gaborone Dam.

Nilsson has since developed three new farming methods - Bio-tillage in Permanent Strips, Bow-bench and Bow-table. Bio-tillage in Permanent Strips gives high yields on dryland and with supplementary irrigation.

The method can give at least two maize crops per year.

The other methods, Bow-bench and the Bow-table, use irrigation and can be used by small farmers in suggested productive homesteads.

Nilsson says he demonstrated the methods in Brazil at the Second World Congress on Conservation Agriculture where he went with African representatives in August this year.

"Sanitas produces food crops and ornamental plants including trees and shrubs," says Nilsson, who adds that it also produces seedlings. It employs 120 people.

Nilsson’s plans are to market his dryland farming method to the rest of Africa while continuing to run Sanitas as well. He uses Sanitas to do research and develop dryland farming on a two-hectare plot.

After 30 years of research and development, Nilsson is confident that he has developed a method that can go a long way in solving low crop yields in Botswana.

He says his Bio-tillage in Permanent Strips method can beat drought, reduce flooding as well as give higher yields. The method is important when rains are irregular because water is concentrated on the crops.

The moisture is stored in the root zone or close to the roots, deep in the soil. When applying this method, Nilsson says there is no need to plough every rainy season as it is the case now in Botswana.

What is needed, he advises, is for the farmer to use ripper blades or "Sanitas Rainmaker Blade" and the ridger blade to make permanent strips of 3.30 metres apart and a depth of 70 cm.

When crops are planted on the strips the roots go deeper into the soil.

The method produces seven to eight tons per hectare amounting to between 70 and 80 bags per hectare of either maize or sorghum because water is concentrated to the roots of crops.

"Strips are done once and a farmer can plant twice in a year because the method can also be used for supplementary irrigation to add to the total rainfall when moisture is needed for much higher yields," explains Nilsson.

This method uses 30 per cent of the land for planting while 70 per cent is used for water catchment to the strips. The strips are shaped like a bow to direct water flow.

Kraal manure or fertilisers can be used in the strips to soften the soil for roots of an annual crop to penetrate during a growing season.

Nilsson says the two most important factors that increase yields in dryland farming are the soil volume and the plant number.

Low plant numbers allow for larger soil volumes per plant and this can result in more grain per plant. "We can decide on a higher yield by increasing the soil volume, which means increasing the store room for moisture and plant food," states Nilsson.

He says the low average yields of 200kg per hectare in Botswana can be explained by a too high plant number of over 50 000 plants per hectare in a too small shallow soil volume.

Catchment areas are needed between raised strips to concentrate and store moisture for high yields and also temporarily store heavy rains.

Nilsson recommends the vibration ripper because it easily cuts the soil without creating big lumps in dry soil. He says the ripper and the ridger blades can be made if this farming method is adopted in Botswana.

Commenting on the National Master Plan for Arable Agriculture and Dairy Development (NAMPAADD) recommendations, Nilsson says: "We can only hope that it works." He says that only Bio-tillage in Permanent Strips can make farming viable by dramatically increasing yields.

He stresses that the ordinary use of ploughs and discs must stop and only strips must be ripped deeply for water storage in the root zone of the crop to solve the problem of low rainfall.

"The rain water has to be concentrated to the crops in rows," emphasises Nilsson. He has rubbed the interest in agricultural research on his two sons who hold university education in horticulture and economics from the United States of America and Sweden.

Apart from Nilsson, Debswana has also adopted dryland farming at its Masedi Farm in Pandamatenga. NAMPAADD has adopted the Masedi model as first pilot project and the government announced a young farmers’ scheme along the lines pioneered by Masedi for training young people to become professional farmers.

According to Debswana, Masedi yields are consistently higher than those of other Pandamatenga farmers. Masedi average production for four seasons is 1.88 tons per hectare compared to other Pandamatenga farms which is 1.45 tons per hectare.

Masedi Farm manager Peter Schuurs says they use the Australian method of dryland farming called Zero-Tillage or No Tillage.

After the crop is harvested the stubble remains standing until the following season.

He explains that the primary aim of not tilling is to leave cracks in the Pandamatenga area, which is clay to loam soil, open throughout the dry season.

This is to ensure that when opening storm rains start to fall, the water goes down these cracks into the soil instead of running-off and causing soil erosion. This water is later available for plant roots to take up.

According to Schuurs, once the crop has established, it is important to maintain good weed control and monitor crops for insect pest damage.

Crops are checked two to three times a week and a boomspray is used to spray the weed.

Schuurs says by reducing water loses and storing more of it in the soil profile, it is possible to grow higher yielding crops.

Commenting on the Sanitas dryland farming method, Seja-Gasenone Maphanyane of the Department of Agricultural Research at Sebele, says: "Dr. Nilsson, being an independent researcher, has the freedom to recommend whatever method he sees fit, on the strength of the data he presents." She says those who are supposed to adopt the method can choose if it is demonstrated to them.

"If it is good, they will definitely pick it up. Dr. Nilsson does not need to be given a go-ahead by this department.

"The adoption part is not controlled by even the researcher, it is controlled by whether or not the performance of the technology is convincing enough, and that it is affordable for the people who are supposed to use it," argues Maphanyane.

She says so far there is no tool to utilise Nilsson’s method. However, she states that the engineering section of the research department has designed a prototype ridge maker to facilitate the application of Nilsson’s method of water harvesting.

The ridge maker is currently being tested on Napier grass in collaboration with Nilsson who is a member of the fodder and pasture committee of the Department of Agricultural Research.

Concerning Masedi’s Zero Tillage, she says the method is not new to some parts of the world, except that it comes with special requirements for planting and weed control.

She adds that is because chemicals are used and a farmer has to wait for a certain period before receiving the benefits of Zero tillage.

She argues that Masedi is piloting the Zero-Tillage and it will take some time before the benefits can be obvious to all.

"It is a process of transformation and stabilisation of the soil structure to eventually give the beneficial effects in as far as plant growth and water retention is concerned." NAMPAADD, which is the brainchild of TAHAL Consulting Engineers of Israel, aims at improving and ensuring sustainable performance of the agricultural sector by streamlining arable agriculture and dairy development programmes.

It is to be implemented over 10 years and the first three will concentrate on establishment of pilot projects in areas of high production potential designated as priority areas in the master plan.

NAMPAADD will promote rainfed farming only in areas identified to have high potential and promote the establishment of large cultivation units or fields of at least 150 hectares.

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