A presentation made at the WCCA 2011 event in Brisbane, Australia.

1. Initiating Sustainable Agricultural Systems Through Conservation Agriculture in Mozambique: Preliminary Experiences from SIMLESA Dias, D.J 1 , Nyagumbo, I 2* and Nhantumbo, N.S 3 , Tomo, A 4 Instituto de Investiga ç ão Agr á ria de Mo ç ambique (IIAM) [email_address] CIMMYT, International Maize and Wheat Improvement Centre, Box MP163, Mt. Pleasant, Harare, Zimbabwe, [email_address] ; Instituto Superior Polit é cnico de Manica, Faculdade de Agricultura, [email_address]

8. Testing sites Angonia (R10) (Communities of Ciphole and Cabango) Sussundenga (R4) Community of Sussundeng-sede R10: Community of Rotanda Manica (R10&R4) Community of Chinhadombwe) Gorongoza (R4) Community of Canda-sede )

11. Results and Discussions

12. Perceptions of host farmers regarding what they think were reasons for being selected to host trials Reason for being selected Frequency Percent hard worker 18 51 ability to run trials and experience from other trials 8 23 s/he is trustworthy 2 6 very active/ willing to learn/ good fields 7 20

13. Previous experience hosting other trials 28.6 % have never participated in any research trials before 71.4 % have hosted other research/ extension trials before

14. Table 2. Key attributes of trial host farmers Variable Mean Standard deviation Period of residence in the community (yrs) 35.1 17.5 Family size ( no. of persons) 8 3.4 Age of household head (years) 45.5 12.7 No. of years in school (years) 6 3.3 Contribution of labour in own farm 84.3 31.2 Land size (ha) 4.8 3.6

16. Table 3: Gender characteristics of CA trial host farmers and research committees by community Province/District Farmers selected to host trials by community Farmers in Local Research Committees Total Male Female Male Female Sofala: Gorongosa-Canda 6 0 5 0 11 Manica: Chinhadombwe 5 1 3 2 11 Manica: Sussundenga Sede 5 1 3 2 11 Manica: Sussundenga-Rotanda 5 1 2 3 11 Tete: Angonia-Cabango 3 3 3 2 11 Tete:Angonia-Chiphole 5 1 2 3 11

21. Quality of CA management Site No. of farmers % applying residues by flowering stage Weed management by mid Season Maize average yield (kg/ha) Quality of Extension support Chiphole 6 100 1 excellent, 2 good; 3 average 3371 Very good Kabango 6 83 1 very good; 3 good; 1 average; 1 poor 4384 Very good Sussundenga 6 83 3 excellent; 2 average, 1 late planted 1997 Very good Rotanda 6 100 2 good, 3 average, 1 late planted 2458 average Gorongosa 6 83 2 good, 2 average, 2 very bad 1075 average Manica 5 20 1 excellent, 4 very bad 2198 Poor