Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Transdisciplinary processes of developing, applying, and evaluating a method for improving smallholder farmers’ access to (phosphorus) fertilizers: the SMAP method

  • Special Feature: Original Article
  • The Reality of Transdisciplinary Processes
  • Published:
Sustainability Science Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The lack of knowledge about fertilization, inadequate income to purchase fertilizers, limited access to the right type of fertilizers, and national policies have been identified as prerequisites of Sub-Saharan smallholder farmers’ low yield and food insecurity. This paper presents how the smallholder access to phosphorus (SMAP) method was developed in a transdisciplinary process in Kenya, and what insights have been gained in a first application of the SMAP method. The transdisciplinary SMAP method comprises (1) farmers’ participation in a transdisciplinary process including extension officers and local scientists to construct farm-specific fertilization strategies based on (2) farm-specific soil testing and (3) the construction of cooperative strategies for purchasing fertilizers involving farmers, traders, and financial institutions in a timely manner. The method aims to improve farmers’ participation in the value chain. The development of the method followed the Zurich 2000 conception of transdisciplinarity. The development co-led by representatives of a cereal growers association and scientists from local and international universities included main actors of the national and local (phosphorus) fertilizer supply–demand chain. The first application of the SMAP method was evaluated by embedding an ANOVA (analysis of variance) study design following the ideas of experimental action research. There were significant effects of soil testing and a marginal significant effect of the transdisciplinary construction of farm-specific fertilization strategies. This paper presents the initial transdisciplinary project plan for developing the SMAP method, how the transdisciplinary process worked in reality, what obstacles were met in practice, and the benefits of practice and science that resulted from this transdisciplinary project.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Ariga J, Jayne T, Nyoro J (2006) Factors driving the growth in fertilizer consumption in Kenya, 1990–2005. Tegemeo Institute Egerton University, Nairobi

    Google Scholar 

  • Baijukya FP, de Ridder N, Masuki KF, Giller KE (2005) Dynamics of banana-based farming systems in Bukoba district, Tanzania: changes in land use, cropping and cattle keeping. Agric Ecosyst Environ 106(4):395–406

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Barasa JN, Omami EN, Okalebo JR, Othieno CO (2013) Effect of lime and phosphorus fertilizer applications on performance of french beans in Uasin Kishu district, Kenya. GJBAHS 3:35–41

    Google Scholar 

  • Bryson JM (2004) What to do when stakeholders matter. Stakeholder identification and analysis techniques. Public Manag Rev 6(1):21–53

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Buresh RJ, Smithson PC, Hellums DT (1997) Building soil phosphorus capital in Africa. In: Buresh RJ, Sanchez PA, Calhoun F (eds) In replenishing soil fertility in Africa. Soil Science Society of America, Special Publication No. 51, Madison, pp 111–149

  • Dobermann A, Witt C, Dawe D, Abdulrachman S, Gines HC, Nagarajan R et al (2002) Site-specific nutrient management for intensive rice cropping systems in Asia. Field Crops Res 74(1):37–66

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gicheru P (2012) An overview of soil fertility management, maintenance, and productivity in Kenya. Arch Agron Soil Sci 58:S22–S32

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Giller KE, Tittonell P, Rufino MC, van Wijk MT, Zingore S, Mapfumo P et al (2011) Communicating complexity: integrated assessment of trade-offs concerning soil fertility management within African farming systems to support innovation and development. Agric Syst 104(2):191–203

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Graef F, Sieber S, Mutabazi K, Asch F, Biesalski HK, Bitegeko J et al (2014) Framework for participatory food security research in rural food value chains. Global Food Secur 3(1):8–15

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hofmann-Souki S, Wenz K, Bokelmann W (2011) Incorporating value chain approaches into horticultural study programmes in developing countries. In: Kahane R, Martin LMM, Martin A (eds) Acta horticulturae. International Society for Horticultural Science (ISHS), Leuven, pp 119–130

    Google Scholar 

  • Hurni H (1999) Sustainable management of natural resources in African and Asian mountains. Ambio 28(5):382–389

    Google Scholar 

  • Jeng AS (2014) Securing crop phosphorus availability in the humid tropics: Alternative sources and improved management options—a review. In: Vanlauwe B, Blomme G, van Asten P (eds) Challenges and opportunities for agricultural intensification of the humid highland systems of Sub-Saharan Africa. Springer, Cham, pp 51–68

    Google Scholar 

  • Kibet N, Lagat JK, Obare GA (2011) Identifying efficient and profitable farm enterpise in Uasin Gishu County in Kenya. Asian J Agric Sci 37(5):378–384

    Google Scholar 

  • Kioko A (2013) Improving smallholder farmers’ access to phosphorus in Kenya (SMAP-Kenya) by transdisciplinary processes. Fraunhofer IWKS SMAP Kenya Project, Alzenau

    Google Scholar 

  • KIPPRA (2013) Kenya economic report. Creating an enabling environment for stimulating investment for competitive and sustainable kounties. Kenya Institute of Public Policy Research and Analysis, Nairobi

  • Kirimi L, Sitko N, Jayne TS, Karin F, Muyanga M, Sheahan M et al (2011) A farm gate-to-consumer value chain analysis of Kenya’s maize marketing systems. Egerton University, Tegemeo Institute, Egerton

  • Kisinyo PO, Othieno CO, Gudu SO, Okalebo JR, Opala PA, Maghanga JK et al (2013) Phosphorus sorption and lime requirements of maize growing acid soils of Kenya sustainable agriculture research, vol 2. Canadian Center of Science and Education, Toronto

    Google Scholar 

  • Klein JT, Grossenbacher-Mansuy W, Häberli R, Bill A, Scholz RW, Welti M (eds) (2001) Transdisciplinarity: Joint problem solving among science, technology, and society. An effective way for managing complexity. Birkhäuser, Basel

    Google Scholar 

  • Lewin K (1946) Action research and minority problems. J Soc Issues 2(4):34–46

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Loukopoulos P, Scholz RW (2004) Sustainable future urban mobility: using ‘area development negotiations’ for scenario assessment and participatory strategic planning. Environ Plan A 36(12):2203–2226

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mikkelsen R, Binder CR, Frossard E, Brand FS, Scholz RW, Vilsmaier U (2013) Use: what technologies, information, and transdisciplinary approaches are required to sustainably transform P-use? In: Scholz RW, Roy AH, Brand FS, Hellums DT, Ulrich AE (eds) Sustainable phosphorus management: a global transdisciplinary roadmap. Springer, Berlin, pp 181–228

    Google Scholar 

  • Mwinuka L, Schneider I, Maeda C, Mutabazi KD, Makindara J, Graef F et al (2015) Comparing stakeholder views for mutual acceptable food value chain upgrading strategies in Tanzania. Afr J Agric Res 10(12):1376–1385

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nezomba H, Mtambanengwe F, Tittonell P, Mapfumo P (2015) Point of no return? Rehabilitating degraded soils for increased crop productivity on smallholder farms in eastern Zimbabwe. Geoderma 239:143–155

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ngetich KA, Freyer B, Bingen J (2010) Transdisciplinary research in sub-Saharan Africa: experiences and challenges in Kenya. In: Building sustainable rural futures: the added value of systems approaches in times of change and uncertainty. 9th European IFSA symposium, Vienna, Austria, 4–7 July 2010. BOKU-University of Natural Resources and Applied Life Sciences, pp 517–526

  • Nutrient Stewardship (2015) What are the 4RS. http://www.nutrientstewardship.com/what-are-4rs. Accessed 2 May 2015

  • Place F, Barrett CB, Freeman HA, Ramisch JJ, Vanlauwe B (2003) Prospects for integrated soil fertility management using organic and inorganic inputs: evidence from smallholder African agricultural systems. Food Policy 28(4):365–378

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pohl C, Rist S, Zimmermann A, Fry P, Gurung GS, Schneider F et al (2010) Researchers’ roles in knowledge co-production: experience from sustainability research in Kenya, Switzerland, Bolivia and Nepal. Sci Public Policy 37(4):267–281

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Reed MS, Graves A, Dandy N, Posthumus H, Hubacek K, Morris J et al (2009) Who’s in and why? A typology of stakeholder analysis methods for natural resource management. J Environ Manag 90(5):1933–1949

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Roethlisberger FJ, Dickson WJ (1964) Management and the worker: an account of a research program conducted by the Western Electric Company, Hawthorne Works, Chicago, by FJ Roethlisberger and William J. Dickson, with the assistance and collaboration of Harold A. Wright. Harvard University Press, Cambridge

  • Rosendahl J, Zanella M, Rist S, Weigelt J (2015) Scientists’ situated knowledge: strong objectivity in transdisciplinarity. Futures 65(1):17–27

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rushemuka NP, Bizoza RA, Mowo JG, Bock L (2014) Farmers’ soil knowledge for effective participatory integrated watershed management in Rwanda: toward soil-specific fertility management and farmers’ judgmental fertilizer use. Agric Ecosyst Environ 183:145–159

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sattari SZ, Bouwman AF, Giller KE, van Ittersum MK (2012) Residual soil phosphorus as the missing piece in the global phosphorus crisis puzzle. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 109(16):6348–6353

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Scholz RW (2000). Mutual learning as a basic principle of transdisciplinarity. In: Scholz RW, Häberli R, Bill A, Welti W (eds) Transdisciplinarity: joint problem-solving among science, technology and society. workbook II: mutual learning sessions. Haffmans Sachbuch, Zürich, pp 13–17

  • Scholz RW (2011) Environmental literacy in science and society: from knowledge to decisions. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Scholz RW, Le QL (2014) A novice’s guide to transdisciplinarity. In: Scholz RW, Roy AH, Brand FS, Hellums DT, Ulrich AE (eds) Sustainable phosphorus management: a global transdisciplinary roadmap. Springer, Berlin, pp 116–118

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Scholz RW, Stauffacher M (2007) Managing transition in clusters: area development negotiations as a tool for sustaining traditional industries in a Swiss prealpine region. Environ Plan A 39(10):2518–2539

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Scholz RW, Stauffacher M (2009) From a science for society to a science with society. Psycholog Rundsch 60(4):242–U280

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Scholz RW, Steiner G (2015a) The ideal type and the real type of transdisciplinary processes. Part I—theoretical foundations. Sustain Sci. doi:10.1007/s11625-015-0326-4

    Google Scholar 

  • Scholz RW, Steiner G (2015b) The ideal type and the real type of transdisciplinary processes. Part II—what constraints and obstacles do we meet in practice? Sustain Sci. doi:10.1007/s11625-015-0327-3

    Google Scholar 

  • Scholz RW, Tietje O (2002) Embedded case study methods: Integrating quantitative and qualitative knowledge. Sage, Thousand Oaks

    Google Scholar 

  • Scholz RW, Lang DJ, Wiek A, Walter AI, Stauffacher M (2006) Transdisciplinary case studies as a means of sustainability learning: historical framework and theory. Int J Sustain High Educ 7(3):226–251

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Scholz RW, Roy AH, Brand FS, Hellums DT, Ulrich AE (eds) (2014a) Sustainable phosphorus management: a global transdisciplinary roadmap. Springer, Berlin

    Google Scholar 

  • Scholz RW, Roy AH, Hellums DT (2014b) Sustainable phosphorus management: A global transdisciplinary challenge. In: Scholz RW, Roy AH, Brand FS, Hellums DT, Ulrich AE (eds) Sustainable phosphorus management: a global transdisciplinary roadmap. Springer, Berlin, pp 1–113

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Sileshi G, Akinnifesi FK, Ajayi OI, Place F (2008) Meta-analysis of maize yield response to woody and herbaceous legumes in sub-Saharan Africa. Plant Soil 307(1–2):1–19

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • van Paassen A, Klerkx L, Adu-Acheampong R, Adjei-Nsiah S, Zannoue E (2014) Agricultural innovation platforms in West Africa How does strategic institutional entrepreneurship unfold in different value chain contexts? Outlook Agric 43(3):193–200

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Vanlauwe B, Giller KE (2006) Popular myths around soil fertility management in sub-Saharan Africa. Agric Ecosyst Environ 116(1–2):34–46

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Vellema S, Ton G, de Roo N, van Wijk J (2013) Value chains, partnerships and development: using case studies to refine programme theories. Evaluation 19(3):304–320

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wickstrom G, Bendix T (2000) The “Hawthorne effect” - what did the original Hawthorne studies actually show? Scand J Work Environ Health 26(4):363–367

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Yin RK (2003) Case study research: design and methods, 2nd edn. Sage, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Zingore S, Mutegi J, Agesa B, Tamene L, Kihara J (2015) Soil degradation in sub-Saharan Africa and crop production options for soil rehabilitation. Better Crops Plant Food 99(1):24–26

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

Above all, we wish to thank Anthony Kioko, CEO of the Kenya Cereal Growers Association (CGA) and practice co-leader of the SMAP Kenya project, for his valuable and visionary inputs at all stages of the project. We also want to thank Gerald Steiner and Jana Zscheischler, the three anonymous reviewers for their reviews and feedback of this paper, and Elaine Ambrose for her feedback and language editing. The transdisciplinary SMAP project, including this writing, has been funded by the Syngenta Foundation for Sustainable Agriculture, Basel, Switzerland.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Soil Science, School of Agriculture and Biotechnology, University of Eldoret, Eldoret, 30100, Kenya

    Ruth Njoroge & Chebet Arusey

  2. Sustainable Agriculture, Department of Crops, Horticulture and Soil Sciences, Egerton University, Nakuru, Kenya

    Rhoda Birech & Mark Korir

  3. Cereal Growers Association of Kenya (CGA), Nairobi, Kenya

    Christopher Mutisya

  4. Fraunhofer IWKS, Alzenau, Germany

    Roland W. Scholz

  5. Department of Psychology, University of Zürich, Zurich, Switzerland

    Roland W. Scholz

Authors
  1. Ruth Njoroge
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Rhoda Birech
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Chebet Arusey
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Mark Korir
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Christopher Mutisya
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Roland W. Scholz
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Ruth Njoroge.

Additional information

Handled by Gerald Steiner, Danube University Krems, Austria, and Harvard University, USA.

Electronic supplementary material

Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.

Supplementary material 1 (DOCX 188 kb)

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Njoroge, R., Birech, R., Arusey, C. et al. Transdisciplinary processes of developing, applying, and evaluating a method for improving smallholder farmers’ access to (phosphorus) fertilizers: the SMAP method. Sustain Sci 10, 601–619 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11625-015-0333-5

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11625-015-0333-5

Keywords

Search

Navigation