Drought. Extreme heat. Flooding. Superstorms. These extreme weather patterns once felt like a distant prophecy, but they have already begun to materialize at alarming rates around the world. Climate change is beginning to affect each of us, but some communities are affected more severely than others. Among them, smallholder farmers face an urgent need to protect their livelihoods and protect our food supply. While there is no foolproof solution to the ongoing climate struggle, one tactic that can help communities is intercropping — in other words, growing more than one crop in a field at the same time. Farmers throughout Mozambique and the world have been intercropping a variety of crops in innumerable arrangements for centuries. Appropriately designed intercropping systems enhance the resilience of agriculture systems by increasing the productivity and profitability of fields for resource poor farmers.

However, there is limited data on what specific intercrops are the best in which contexts as well as what implications intercrops have for labor demands and overall return on investment (ROI). So, the Feed the Future Resilient Agricultural Markets Activity – Beira Corridor (RAMA-BC) project, implemented by Land O’Lakes Venture37, partnered with two local research institutions in Mozambique — the Universidade Eduardo Mondlane (UEM) in Maputo and Instituto de Investigação Agrária De Moçambique (IIAM) — to conduct targeted research on intercropping. The farmers involved in the studies are particularly vulnerable to climate change and have already been experiencing intense weather events including cyclones and erratic rainfall, so building their resilience is critical.

Drawing on our findings, a new technical brief summarizes the promising research from the trials in Mozambique and provides insights into how to further promote intercropping in similar contexts. From the research, we learned three main lessons: 1) Intercropping makes for abundant harvests; 2) Intercropping can help tackle pests naturally; and 3) Intercropping can increase returns on investment. More widespread adoption of intercropping will lead to increased resilience among smallholder farmers, as well as strengthened market systems and more resilient communities beyond the farm.

Lesson 1: Intercropping Makes for Abundant Harvests

Among our findings, we discovered that intercropping legumes with maize increased maize yield from increased soil fertility and decreased yield losses from fall armyworm compared to maize planted on its own — also known as monocropped maize. RAMA-BC’s research showed that intercropping increased maize yields by as much as 84 percent compared to monocropped maize. Besides boosting the amount of maize farmers produced, intercropping also resulted in a legume harvest, thereby increasing the total yield for that plot of land. The IIAM study found that total yield — maize yield + intercrop yield — was up to 101 percent higher in intercropped plots compared to monocropped plots. Even though the crops were planted closer together and would traditionally be viewed as competing for the same resources—such as nutrients and water — on a given plot of land, our research showed that intercropping was mutually beneficial for both maize and legumes. In addition, some of the intercropped legumes are harvested up to five months later than maize. This staggered harvest is important for household food security. All together, these results have important implications for income generation, resilience, and nutrition outcomes.

Lesson 2: Tackling Pests Naturally Through Intercropping

Beyond increasing crop yield, our research also showed that intercropping is an effective way to tackle pests naturally, without the need to use pesticides or other forms of pest management that are often expensive and may be harmful. Fall armyworm (Spodoptera frugiperda) is a moth native to the tropical and subtropical regions of the Americas and is now dispersed globally. Since it was first reported in Africa in January 2016, fall armyworm has contributed to the damage of more than 80 different plant species, primarily cereal crops. Maize is the most severely affected cereal crop. Fall armyworm-damaged maize has led to significant food security issues and economic losses for tens of millions of smallholder farmers and their families across the continent, including Mozambique. Because of this, RAMA-BC was interested in learning how effective intercropping was at controlling fall armyworm — and the results are impressive! Intercropping maize with legumes resulted in a significantly higher abundance of predatory insects compared to maize alone, increasing the natural biological control of maize pests including fall armyworm. Intercropping legumes with maize prevents moths from laying eggs, inhibits larval movement between plants, and provides habitat for predators. The higher abundance of predators in the intercropped plots resulted in significantly lower fall armyworm damage severity scores.
In addition to tackling insect pests, intercropping can also tackle pesky weeds. Intercrops act as living mulch or green manure by shading soil and suppressing weed growth. Not surprisingly, our research showed that intercropping reduced weeds: farmers spent 33 to 66 percent less time weeding intercropped plots compared to monocropped plots. This represents significant time-savings, especially for women who are primarily responsible for weeding among households in Mozambique. Reducing weeding time eases a heavy burden for women and frees up time for them to perform other activities.

Lesson 3: Intercropping Increases ROI

Taken together, through increased yields and reduced labor, intercropping legumes with maize resulted in an average profit of $557 more per hectare, which is nearly a three-fold increase in profits compared to monocropped maize. Intercropping also resulted in an increase in ROI of nearly two-and-a-half times the amount of monocropped maize’s ROI. This is a substantial ROI for a relatively easy, low-cost, and highly effective practice.

Overall, our studies have shown that maize-legume intercropping increases maize yield and total yield, increases the presence of fall armyworm predators, thereby reducing fall armyworm infestation and damage, and reduces labor demands. All together, these benefits contribute to a nearly 2.5 times increase in ROI for intercropped maize compared to monocropped maize. Such benefits mean that farmers and their families are better equipped to improve their livelihoods, helping those households be more resilient to climate change and other shocks and stresses. In addition, because intercropping can reduce greenhouse gas emissions and enhance carbon sequestration in soils, it can also aid in mitigating climate change. Intercropping legumes with maize or similar cereals can be adapted for agroecosystems around the world — resulting in increased and diversified food supplies and more resilient communities. RAMA-BC plans to expand the use of intercropping with annual crops, including incorporating tree crops and livestock through mobile pens to continue to strengthen smallholder farmer resilience. From these lessons, we’re hopeful that all agriculture system actors, including farmers, the private sector, public institutions and non-governmental organizations, can adopt and adapt similar intercropping practices in other agroecosystems around the globe – which can equip communities to better respond to the increasingly urgent climate emergency.

View the full technical brief here [English]
Resumo técnico: Resiliência Construtiva através de Consorciação de Culturas [português]
Dossier technique: Renforcer la résilience grâce aux cultures intercalaires [français]
 
Since 2016, RAMA-BC has supported Mozambican producers to increase agricultural productivity, profitability, and resilience. RAMA-BC promotes the adoption of affordable and sustainable agricultural technologies and practices, including intercropping. Learn more about the project here.