Abstract
The increasing population pressures on land and the limited land that can be brought into agricultural production have necessitated the development of crop production technologies that are practicable, stable, environmentally sound, and adoptable by resource-poor farmers. A maize modeling initiative, set within this general framework, is underway in Malawi. Activities include the following: Establishing a natural resources data base for Malawi; matching appropriate maize cultivars for the agroecological zones of the country under varying management inputs; and updating site- and season-specific fertilizer recommendations in the primary maize-growing agroecological zones of the country. Field trials carried out for a number of sites in Malawi have been used to validate a simulation model of the growth, development, and yield of maize. In this paper, results from the simulation work are discussed, and the model is used to illustrate weatherand soil-related variability in maize production. The way in which the modeling component can be integrated into the soil fertility research agenda of the Department of Agricultural Research in Malawi is outlined, and future prospects for model application are discussed.
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© 1993 Kluwer Academic Publishers
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Singh, U., Thornton, P.K., Saka, A.R., Dent, J.B. (1993). Maize modeling in Malawi: a tool for soil fertility research and development. In: Penning de Vries, F., Teng, P., Metselaar, K. (eds) Systems approaches for agricultural development. Systems Approaches for Sustainable Agricultural Development, vol 2. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-2840-7_15
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-2840-7_15
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