Bio-physical and socio-economic challenges, farmers’ perception of success and 14- year soil fertility trajectories in smallholder organic market gardens of North-East Zimbabwe

Bio-physical and socio-economic challenges, farmers’ perception of success and 14- year soil fertility trajectories in smallholder organic market gardens of North-East Zimbabwe | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article Bio-physical and socio-economic challenges, farmers’ perception of success and 14- year soil fertility trajectories in smallholder organic market gardens of North-East Zimbabwe Akinson Tumbure, Mazvita Chiduwa, Gideon Mazuruse, Brighton Nyagadza, and 1 more This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-4176428/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Under Review Version 1 posted 3 You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Some researchers have argued that organic agriculture does not yield intended benefits in African smallholder settings because of degraded soils and lack of organic resources. A multidisciplinary case study analysis of selected organic farming gardens in Makoni, Zimbabwe was done to explore farmer resources, perceptions, market access, preferences, and soil fertility status using survey and interview tools and soil analysis. Lack of agricultural water was identified as a major production challenge by 75% of respondents. Unavailable and unreliable transport and low income from sales were identified as the two main challenges (84 % of respondents) in selling organic produce. Roughly 95% of interviewed farmers currently sell their organic produce not marked as organic in the local district. We also reveal that 14-year organic management of soil fertility at MOFA has resulted in increased on average pH (range 0.6 – 2.1 units), and available P (range x6 – x26) compared to adjacent uncultivated areas. Soil organic matter either stayed the same or increased at 5 out of 6 sites and exchangeable Ca, Mg, and K increased by at least 157%, 21%, and 10%, respectively, all compared to uncultivated land. These improvements are likely the reason why 64% of farmers said they had observed yield increases. We conclude that 14 years of organic agriculture has led to the improvement of soil fertility in the initially low-fertility gardens as measured by pH, organic matter, and nutrient content. However, we recommend strengthening the market access to organic produce to sustain organic farming for smallholder farmers in Zimbabwe. agricultural water markets livelihoods policy organic carbon soil nutrients sustainability Figures Figure 1 Figure 2 Figure 3 1.0 Introduction Projected increases in global food demand as a result of global population growth will see the current 8 billion global population increase to 9.7 billion by 2050 (UN-DESA, 2022 ). Feeding the growing population will require nutritious food produced through more environmentally sustainable means such as effective organic farming strategies (Aghasafari et al., 2020 ; Tsvetkov et al., 2018 ). Sustainable farming and food production systems will require the application of organic farming methods in selected areas to hedge against a modern farming crisis that includes ecosystem degradation and climate change (Udeigwe et al., 2015 ). Organic farming avoids the use of synthetic fertilisers and agro-chemicals which may cause adverse environmental and health effects when unregulated. Such adverse effects include surface and ground water contamination, emission of greenhouse gases, biodiversity reduction and soil degradation (Bayramov, 2018 ). Practices and motivation for organic farming stem from statutes and/or policy dictates of the International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements (IFOAM), which was established in 1972, in close ranks with the Codex Alimentarius Commission (CAC) of the United Nations (UN) (Tumbure et al., 2022 ). These statutes are formed from the principles of good health (soil, plant, animal, and human), ecology (sustenance of natural ecological systems), fairness (common life opportunities) and care (precaution to protect current and future generations and environment) (IFOAM, 2019 ). However, organic agriculture (OA) is a broad term that must be unpacked in each context. The successful execution of any farming practice must be led by evidence of the associated merits. Most associated merits vary by region affected by environmental, ecosystem and social value factors. In OA, such merits could be identified as yield maintenance or increase, environmental and food quality enhancement, and social acceptance among others. Research must identify and contribute to closing the gaps in the systems. Globally at a commercial scale and for organic market establishment, organic farming demands reliable, efficient, and credible standard-setting processes and certification schemes (Lippert et al., 2016 ). Some of the challenges of organic market gardening include conflicting global harmonisation versus local adaptation, problems of dynamism in the review of policies and standardisation, making establishing opportunities challenging (Fouilleux & Loconto, 2016 ), ecological justice, supply chain development, and productivity limitations, among others (Halberg et al., 2005 ). The lack of shared understandings and perceptions of organic agriculture could be why there have been mixed views towards the practice of organic market gardens by farmers, as some have called the practice ideological nonsense (Willer & Lernoud, 2019 ). Globally, most rural organic market gardening farmers need more knowledge of organic production, branding, promotion and market development (Hasan et al., 2019 ). At a national scale, agricultural policy effects on accessibility of OA consultancy and extension services, training and development and value chain development will directly affect farmers' attitudes and adoption of OA technologies (Bhatta & Doppler, 2011 ; Nandwani et al., 2021 ). Domestic demand of organic products is essential to drive markets and certification systems and could result in higher expected revenues and profit margins by encouraging better market access to farmers (both physical and digital markets) (Home et al., 2017 ; Tumbure et al., 2022 ). At the farmer’s level, production and marketing challenges due to local farmer circumstances could be a significant threat towards adoption of OA technologies especially in sub-Saharan Africa. Organic production challenges in smallholder agriculture such as increased labour needs, initial poor soil fertility, unavailability of agricultural water, low availability of good quality organic inputs, and more laborious preventative pest and disease management measures have been reviewed elsewhere (Tumbure et al., 2022 ). It is evident that no two regions are the same nor do they present similar challenges at similar levels of intensity. It is therefore essential to assess each region’s environmental, market and production nexus considering all these factors to generate useful information for all stakeholders involved from farmer to politicians and organisations. When organic farming technologies are poorly practiced without considering local situations, they have been revealed to result in negative environmental impacts, which lower yield performance (Manici et al., 2004 ). For example, when OA practices are not optimised for local conditions, soil degradation might ensue as observed by Dougill et al. ( 2002 ) on low-quality manure-reliant farmers’ fields in Africa. This can be the case for inherently infertile soils which are characterised by low soil organic matter (SOM) content, poor soil structure, low water holding capacity and multiple nutrient deficiencies, all which severely limit agricultural production. Some researchers have therefore argued that OA is not suitable for poor quality soils in most African farming areas that also have insufficient quantities of high-quality organic materials (Tumbure et al., 2022 ). However, a counter agreement for OA is that sole addition of synthetic fertilisers cannot improve the productivity of such degraded soils and organic material addition has potential to condition such soils and improve their productivity. The process of conditioning the soil takes time and is depended upon the soil fertility status, quantity and quality of organic materials applied, and other soil management practices employed (which include cropping and tillage type) (Tumbure et al., 2022 ). These variables are responsible for greater variations in crop yield responses observed after organic material addition in sub-Saharan Africa (Tumbure et al., 2023 ). In a practical sense most smallholder farmers in Africa rely on multiple sources of organic materials for organic agricultural production. Therefore, results from research where sole or two types of organic materials have been applied such as livestock manure/ plant residues can only be loosely extrapolated to actual conditions. The increase in the push for the agenda for the adoption of organic farming through market gardening across Zimbabwe, in areas such as Makoni in Rusape, is therefore done with expected benefits such as improved farmer livelihoods and environmental protection. The organic farming drive is taking place in the backdrop of a massive national conventional farming drive that embraces the use of modern farming practices which include enhanced irrigation systems, machinery, and increased synthetic fertiliser use, all for improved social and economic viability (Rukasha et al., 2021 ; Tumbure et al., 2022 ). These two drives have fewer areas of overlap and could in time antagonise each other if policy structures are not carefully setup to encourage both. The challenges in production and marketing of organic produce as previously highlighted, occur in various combinations and degrees of severity in smallholder farming regions affecting farmer attitudes and the long-term continuity of organic market gardens. Research that looks at the whole system in terms of state of market development, access to organic residues, organic cropping patterns, production management and soil fertility trajectories is lacking. Information on OA in southern Africa is lacking and there are vast knowledge gaps of how OA practices employed in the confines of market gardens alter local environmental, social and economic trajectories (Tumbure et al., 2022 ; Wekeza et al., 2022 ) Addressing the knowledge gaps of how organic market gardens are performing given the explained challenges and farmers’ attitudes on the significance of these challenges towards their success will allow further optimisation of organic practices to local conditions. The self-perception theory provided an overarching theoretical backdrop to the phenomena under study (socio-economic challenges, farmer attitudes and perception of success in organic market gardens in Makoni district, Zimbabwe). Self-perception theory was proposed by Daryl Bem in 1967 as a super alternative account of cognitive dissonance theory (Decision Lab, 2023 ), to which certain conditions result in self-described attitudes that are a function of the individual’s observations of their own behaviour (Fazio et al., 1977 ). The two major tenets of the self-perception modelling framework are that enjoyable activities are based on intrinsic or extrinsic motivation. For intrinsic motivation, enjoyable activities have no external rewards, and the self-perception is that “I do this because I like it”, while for extrinsic motivation there are external rewards (money, social acceptance etc.) and the self-perception is that “I do this because of the benefit” (Jasmijn, 2023 ). In line with the current study, interaction between attitudes and behaviours of farmers and perception of success in organic market gardens in Makoni district, Zimbabwe can be seen as causal sequence that progresses linearly from attitude to behaviour (Sternthal et al., 1976 ). The organic market gardens farmers’ behaviour leading to attitude can be seen as counterintuitive, when assumed to be a reversal in the sequence of causation (Fazio et al., 1977 ). In other sense, the organic market gardens farmers tend to observe their behaviour and change their attitude as to be consistent with their behaviour. This could be as a result of the socio-economic challenges that they might be facing leading to the changes in their behaviours towards organic market gardens. It is supported by the views by Wilson and Gilbert ( 2003 ), who proposed that people may overestimate the strengths or reaction, to positive and negative life events than they actually felt when the event has taken place. Main causes of the latter is due to the fact that when internal cues are difficult to interpret, people gain self-insight by observing their own behaviour (Bem, 1972 ; Reibstein & Lovelock, 1980 ). Therefore, in this study we sought to snapshot the economic, social and biophysical condition in an ongoing OA system in Zimbabwe and trace trajectories of soil fertility and farmer livelihood. The following were the main research questions that guided the study: Q.1 What are the socio-economic and bio-physical challenges and farmer perception of success in organic market gardens in Makoni District, Zimbabwe? Q.2 What are the significant factors that influence market participation and choice of marketing channels and how are the factors associated with farmer perceived success in Makoni District, Zimbabwe? Q3 What is the influence of OA on soil quality trajectory as measured by soil chemical fertility attributes (SOM content, available P, mineral N, exchangeable bases) 2.0 Materials and methods 2.1 Study site description The Makoni Organic Farmers Association (MOFA) that was formed in 2007 (Tumbure et al., 2022 ) which currently consists of 225 farmers was selected as the study area. The association established six organic market gardens in 2008, which were then extended in area in 2011. Among these farmers 103 actively maintain 6 market gardens which have a land size of around 1 hectare per garden. The association is headed by a chairperson who is in close communication with the six garden leaders. The garden leaders are involved in the day-to-day technical backstopping and assessment of organic practices that are employed in their respective gardens. It is located in Makoni District in Manicaland Province, in Zimbabwe. The region is geographically located approximately 150 kilometres North-East of Harare, towards the eastern town of Mutare, at an altitude of 1410 m above sea level. In the MOFA gardening areas, the farmers practise organic market gardening where they don’t use synthetic chemicals such as pesticides, fungicides, insecticides, fertilisers, or genetically modified seeds. 2.2 Questionnaire and interviews A questionnaire was created and administered by induvial face-to-face interviews in Makoni district during February 2022. The organisation’s chairperson was initially contacted, and arrangements done to interview all the farmers who were available during February 2022. The sample size was based on number of farmers who were available. The final sample size was 64 after discarding incomplete questionnaires in cases where farmers were represented by family members who did not have sufficient knowledge of crop and management history. Respondents were met in groups onsite and they constituted farmers belonging to a single organic garden. A general setup of each garden was established by asking some general questions. These questions involved getting information on how many farmers operate in each garden including those that were not there. The questionnaire was then administered individually, and it consisted of semi-closed questions with the answer option “other” where farmers could further explain. The first set of questions characterized farmer’s demographics, which included age, sex, household size and how long they have been doing OA. Other sections of the questionnaire were to gather information on cropping patterns/history, availability of organic resources, production practices employed, and current markets. Around 65% of the 103 farmers who maintain organic farming market gardens were interviewed (Table 1 ). Table 1 General details of market gardens where survey was conducted Garden name Status of borehole & pump Total garden Size (ha) Total farmers Total female Farmers Total male Farmers Farmers interviewed Chiwara Solar Panels Stolen 0.6 13 7 6 11 Machinya Solar Panels Stolen 1.0 21 20 1 11 Tashinga West Solar Panels Stolen 1.3 27 26 1 11 Vimbainesu Functioning 0.7 14 12 2 14 Hwaro Solar Panels Stolen 0.7 14 10 4 7 Tashinga East Solar Panels Stolen 0.7 14 9 5 10 Totals 5.1 103 84 19 64 2.2 Soil sampling and analysis Farmers’ cropping history provided a roadmap for soil sampling allowing for the assessment of plots where OA had been practiced for 11 and 14 years. Each farmer had several cropping beds that measured 1.5 x 3m. These were separated into 2, The first section was where OA had been practiced for 14 years (where they began in 2008) and another which was an extension of their gardens with 11-year OA history. Soil samples were collected from 3 spots in each (1.5 x 3m) bed and mixed together from all beds that the farmer had in each section (11- and 14-year history) to obtain 2 composite samples per farmer. Information on whether farmers had cropped each year was collected and any fallow periods noted. Details of total samples collected and analysed are shown in Table S1 . The Tashinga East Garden had farmers who had left their fields fallow for a varied period which allowed us to separate the plots into plots that had organic management for 9, 10, 11, 12 and 14 years (Table S1 ). Soil samples were air dried and sieved through a 2mm sieve before analysis. Available P was analysed using the resin extraction method, pH in CaCl 2 , mineral N after extraction in KCl, and exchangeable bases after extraction in ammonium acetate (Okalebo et al., 2002 ) at the Chemistry and Soil Research Institute, Harare. Organic carbon was analysed by the Walkley-Black method at Marondera University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology (MUAST), Marondera. 2.3 Statistical analysis Descriptive statistics of generated survey data was performed using Microsoft® Excel® for Microsoft 365 MSO Version 2203. Crosstabs were employed for the survey categorical data in IBM SPSS Statistics software (ver 28.0.1.1). Soil analysis data were analysed in IBM SPSS Software (Version: 28.0.1.1 (14)). All data were checked for normality by running Shapiro-Wilkinson and Kolmogorov-Smirnov tests and homogeneity of variances were checked using a Levene’s test. Since sample sizes for some garden data were not the same, equality of means between 14- and 11-year cropping data were assessed by running Brown-Forsythe t tests. A one-way ANOVA was run for Tashinga East data and separation of means was done using Tukey’s HSD. Soil attributes data from uncultivated soils was used as a qualitative reference only because only one composite sample per garden was obtained due to the small area of adjacent uncultivated land within the fenced gardens. 3.0 Results 3.1 Farmer demographics Respondents consisted largely of females with males constituting only 18% (Table 2 ). The male: female ratio of interviewed farmers was similar to that of total farmers in the association (Table 1 ). The majority (67%) of all interviewed farmers were over 55 years of age, while young adults (26–35 years) were only 5%. Older farmers reported disruptions to their farming activities caused by sickness, and it was noted that the farmers routinely train and work with their grandchildren (teen-age and early twenties years old) on the farms who take over in periods of absence. Roughly 86% of interviewed farmers had at least 11 years of experience in OA and 95% had received formal or informal OA training. Farmers identified several organisations that have trained or supported their OA training as local government extension agents (AGRITEX), Global Environment Facility (GEF), United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), and Zimbabwe Organic Producers Association (ZOPPA). Table 2 Socio-demographic characteristics of farmers Frequency Gender Male 12 Female 52 Age 55 and up 43 46–55 years 13 36–45 years 5 26–35 years 3 Less than 26 years 0 Organic farming experience 11–15 years 55 6–10 years 4 3–5 years 1 Less than 3 years 4 Size of household More than 8 people 3 6–8 people 15 3–5 people 35 2 people 11 3.2 Organic area, cropping patterns and cropping history. The average OA land sizes per farmer for Chiwara was 350 m 2 , Machinya (141 m 2) , Tashinga West (277 m 2 ), Vimbainesu (126 m 2 ), Hwaro (113 m 2 ) and Tashinga East gardens (80 m 2 ). The total organic market cultivation area that each farmer had within the organic gardens was highly variable ranging from 9 to 495 m 2 with only farmers in Chiwara West having more than 400 m 2 of area. Across the gardens, farmers with less organic land had recently joined the association. While the market gardens were initiated targeting vegetables (brassicas, legumes, Solanaceae, cucurbits), the farmers started including cereals in their cropping. Currently cereals (dominated by maize) are grown by most farmers (54%) in the market gardens, followed by legumes and brassicas (Fig. 1 a). The reader should note that this does not necessarily translate to total organic land dedicated to the crop. A similar proportion of farmers indicated that they had grown maize in the previous five years as well at least once. However, cereals were not grown during the survey year (2022) at Vimbainesu and Hwaro gardens, with farmers at Vimbainesu garden having not grown maize in the past five years. A high number of farmers (84%) indicated that they had grown legumes in the previous five years (Fig. 1 b). The common legumes that were grown included peas, groundnuts, round nuts, and common beans, while the brassicas consisted of cabbages and collard greens. Solanaceae were mainly potatoes and tomatoes whereas butternuts and pumpkins were the main cucurbits the farmers grew. 3.3 Biomass resources availability Biomass resource availability was assessed as organic biomass available to a farmer regardless of source that is not necessarily coming from the organic area. The majority of interviewed farmers (68%) reported having maize residues of more than 1.2 tonnes per year that could be used for soil application (Table 3 ). However, for legume residues and livestock manure, at least 67% of interviewed farmers indicated that they had only 0.4 tonnes or less per year available. Comparing with the biggest land sizes in the organic gardens (495 m 2 ), around 50% and 64% of farmers could potentially compost and apply at least 8t/ha of legume residues and livestock manure respectively. Tree litter availability was hard to quantify because it depends on farmer resources, especially how far a farmer can travel to obtain tree litter. Table 3 Frequency table showing biomass availability for soil amelioration in Makoni organic farming market gardens (n = 64) Quantities available (t/year) Percentage of farmers with the biomass quantities available Maize residues Legume residues Livestock manure < 0.4 1.6% 50.0% 35.9% 0.4 15.6% 29.7% 32.8% 0.8 14.1% 18.8% 20.3% 1.2 20.3% 0% 6.3% 1.6 ≤ 48.4% 1.6% 4.7% 3.4 Organic agriculture practices employed and production challenges. Soil amelioration is done by applying matured compost produced in plastered brick open pits using available biomass. We asked farmers to single out a type of biomass resource that they feel is the most important essential ingredient for a good compost and the majority of farmers identified either tree litter (40%) or livestock dung / droppings (40%). An estimation of how much of each type of biomass resource is applied in organic market gardens is given in Table 4 . At least 85% of respondents revealed that they applied an estimated total of 0.4 tonnes or less of legume residues and livestock manure to all their organic plots cumulative per year (Table 4 ). This agreed with what farmers had indicated was available earlier (Table 3 ). However, greater quantities applied of maize residues and tree litter of at least 0.8 t/year (more than 54% of respondents each) were reported. Based on average land sizes, this would translate to 22t/ha for Chiwara garden farmers. Table 4 Total biomass resources applied (as compost) to Makoni organic market gardens annually per farmer (n = 64) Estimated quantities applied (t/year) Percentage of farmers who apply the estimated biomass quantities Maize residues Legume residues Livestock manure Tree litter < 0.4 7.8% 68.8% 54.7% 12.5% 0.4 29.7% 23.4% 31.3% 32.8% 0.8 34.4% 3.1% 4.7% 20.3% 1.2 9.4% 1.6% 7.8% 14.1% 1.6 ≤ 18.8% 3.1% 1.6% 20.3% A majority of farmers (96%) did not use any hired labour and the only 2 farmers who did, only did so occasionally and paid for the labour using produce from the gardens. In addition, the older farmers were noted to engage younger family members to assist in the management of the organic plots. All the farmers practised crop rotation and 67% of interviewed farmers revealed that intercropping was an essential characteristic of their organic cropping system. About 84% of farmers said that they had an active organic pest control programme (84%). Organic pest management and control was achieved through the use of various plant species. Some of the identified plants that were used included zumbane ( Lippia javanica (Burm.f.) Spreng.), mucherekesa ( Syzygium cordatum ), muzambara ( Carissa spinarum ), velvet bean ( Mucuna pruriens ), muunga ( Acacia hebeclada ), chilli ( Capsicum frutescens ) and garlic ( Allium sativum ). These were used in various forms, including as crushed leaves/roots in suspension/solution, as water extracts and as ashes. The frequency and quantities applied could not be ascertained. While crop yields were hard to estimate because most farmers did not keep a record, 64% of farmers perceived that yields from their organic gardens had increased (Table 5 ). For those who perceived that their yields had decreased, 86% identified the lack of agricultural water as their major production challenge. Overall, the shortages of agricultural water were the major production challenge identified (75% of respondents). Table 5 Crosstabulation of identified major production challenge and farmer perceived yield changes Production challenge Farmer perceived yield changes Decreased No Change Increased Total Capital 1 2 5 8 Infertile soil 1 0 0 1 Water 18 1 29 48 Knowledge 1 0 1 2 Pests 0 0 1 1 Organic Inputs availability 0 0 2 2 Land size 0 0 2 2 Total 21 3 40 64 3.5 Current markets, challenges, and preferences About 94% of farmers sell their produce in the local district and 3% were not selling their produce (data not shown). Most farmers (77%) preferred to sell their produce in their local district because of ease of market entry (Fig. 2 a & b). Compared to other age groups, farmers above 55 years had a greater proportion (79%) that preferred to sell in the local district. Ease of market entry was the main reason (70% of farmers) that drove farmer decision on choice of market. Of the farmers who identified ease of market entry, 91%, 7%, and 2% preferred to sell produce in the district, province, and nationally, respectively, while none preferred to export. Over 85% of farmers identified transport and low profits as major market restrictions regardless of perceived market success (Fig. 2 c). Around 67% of farmers who perceived to have had some market success, cited low profits as a major restriction while 18% cited transport. For those farmers who perceived to have not had market success, 54% and 33% identified transport and low profits as main problems respectively. For farmers who perceived to have market success, 62% of these farmers were selling their produce in areas where there were more farmers (> 8 farmers) compared to those selling in areas with < 2 farmers (12%) (Fig. 2 c). 3.6 Soil fertility changes after practicing organic agriculture. Compared to uncultivated soil values, there were positive changes in SOM content at 4 out of the 6 organic gardens (Fig. 3 ). The highest increases in SOM content were generally from plots that were organically managed for 14 years and were x11 the SOM content of uncultivated plots for Tashinga West, Hwaro and Machinya gardens (Fig. 3 ). However, differences in SOM content between plots with 11- and 14-year organic management history were only statistically significant for Machinya garden. The uncultivated plot at Chiwara garden was besides a wetland and this could have been the reason for a higher SOM content compared to cultivated plots. Generally, all uncultivated soils at the gardens were acidic ranging 4.2–5.4 and all organically managed plots had increased pH points that ranged from 0.37 to 2.18 points above that of the uncultivated area. With the exception of Chiwara garden, all the other gardens had a very low available P content (< 4.6 mg P/kg soil), low SOM ( ≤ 0.5%) content, low mineral N (< 20 mgN/kg) and acidic (pH ≤ 5) in the uncultivated plots, which is characteristic of inherently infertile soils. Across all gardens, the 14 year organically managed plots had x2 to x11 more available P content compared to their subsequent uncultivated plots. A similar trend to available P was observed for mineral N. With the exception of Chiwara garden, 14-year organically managed plots had increased exchangeable Ca, Mg and K of at least 157%, 21% and 10% respectively compared to the uncultivated plots (Table 6 ). Table 6 Selected exchangeable bases (Ca, Mg and K) in soils from Makoni organic farmer gardens Ca Mg K (mg equivalents /100 g soil) 14 years Chiwara (n = 10) 13.03 ± 0.90 2.83 ± 0.33 0.98 ± 0.19 Tashinga West (n = 9) 11.20 ± 1.91 1.79 ± 0.18 0.56 ± 0.07 Machinya (n = 11) 7.29 ± 0.74 0.98 ± 0.29 0.61 ± 0.08 Hwaro (n = 13) 3.5 ± 0.59 0.98 ± 0.03 0.22 ± 0.03 Vimbainesu (n = 4) 5.89 ± 0.63 1.16 ± 0.13 0.42 ± 0.07 Tashinga East (n = 7) 6.98 ± 2.5 1.3 ± 0.31 0.41 ± 0.01 11 years Chiwara (n = 9) 8.17 ± 1.41 1.76 ± 0.26 0.52 ± 0.14 Tashinga West (n = 9) 7.67 ± 1.09 1.39 ± 0.15 0.37 ± 0.07 Machinya (n = 11) 4.58 ± 0.50 0.64 ± 0.05 0.26 ± 0.04 Hwaro (n = 13) 6.8 ± 3.63 1.03 ± 0.4 0.58 ± 0.35 Vimbainesu (n = 4) 5.09 ± 0.57 1.08 ± 0.09 0.54 ± 0.15 Tashinga East (n = 4) 2.25 ± 0.45 0.63 ± 0.04 0.32 ± 0.05 Uncultivated Land a Chiwara 8.61 3.06 0.39 Tashinga West 2.91 0.57 0.18 Machinya 2.42 0.61 0.21 Hwaro 1.36 0.81 0.2 Vimbainesu 0.8 0.57 0.17 Tashinga East 0.9 0.45 0.16 a Uncultivated land values were from one composite sample. Numbers after ± are standard errors of means. This paragraph outlines results from Tashinga West garden only which had plots that had various fallow periods. Organically managed plots (9–14 years) had increased pH points of between 0.5 to 1.5 when compared to uncultivated soil (Fig S1 ). However, pH differences between year 9, 10, 11, 12 and 15 organic plots were not significant. Soil available P content in 12- and 14-year plots was significantly higher (P < 0.01) than in the 9–11-year plots by at least 170%. All the organically managed plots (9–14 years) had at least x3 as much, and up to x12 more soil available P content than the uncultivated soil. Mineral N content in the uncultivated soil was within the same range as organically managed plots. Soil organic matter content in the 9- and 14-year plots was in the range of the uncultivated soil. The 10–11-year plots had significantly less (P = 0.04) SOM content than the 9- and 14-year plots. 4.0 Discussion 4.1 Farmer demographics We observed that 95% of the interviewed farmers have received some training in organic agriculture from various organisations. Most of the farmers have more than 11 years of experience and MOFA has had a few new recruits over the years with less experience. The few recruits have only received peer to peer training as the Covid pandemic resulted in a halting of extension services to new recruits from NGOs. The relatively older age of farmers practising OA would be surprising if you consider that generally older farmers are reported to be more reluctant to pick up new innovative technologies (Jiri et al., 2015 ). However, organic management practices are not new to Zimbabwe smallholder farmers as they employ these practices (though not exclusively nor optimised) due to necessity (Tumbure et al., 2022 ). The continuation of such farmer practices can be viewed as intrinsically motivated due to tradition according to the self-perception theory. Farmers who were less than 46 years old were conspicuously low (13%) suggesting that young adults are less involved in organic farming activities. This trend has been noted elsewhere for non-organic smallholder farmers in central and western Zimbabwe who had an age range of 55–75 years (Makuvaro et al., 2017 ). Young adults move to the cities and towns where they engage in other forms employment (Makuvaro et al., 2017 ; Potts, 2013 ). It is likely that these young adults do not see farming in general as a lucrative endeavour especially when their parents perceive that the low income from sales of organic produce is the biggest market challenge (Fig. 4c). As a result, a future challenge of these small-scale organic gardens will be lack of expansion and continuation. When the young adult population retire back to these areas, they would need to be trained to run such gardens. There is an urgent need to attract a younger labour force to agriculture to sustain the future of organic farming. 4.2 Cropping patterns and cropping history More farmers reported growing brassicas in the organic market gardens because they are a staple relish and have a ready market in Zimbabwe albeit not a dedicated organic market (Tumbure, 2021 ). Nevertheless, more maize was grown recently and this decision by the farmers was because they currently have a shortage of agricultural water caused by the theft of their solar panels. This presents a case where farmers adjust cropping decisions based on self-perceptions amid challenges encountered. Farmer actions in terms of cropping choices could be described as extrinsically motivated because of potential income and when potential income is low, farmers may prefer growing maize. 4.3 Biomass resource availability Results from this study reveal that organic materials may not be a major bio-physical limitation if small land sizes are considered as farmers can easily apply an equivalent of 20t/ha/yr of compost (that is a total of 800kg to a land size of 400m 2 ). The low livestock manure quantities that farmers had to their disposal each year could be indicative of their resource endowment. In particular and though not assessed in this study, the farmers could have limited cattle ownership which translates to inadequate manure supply for soil application in Zimbabwean farming areas (Tumbure et al., 2022 ). Many farmers in this study reported using alternatives to cattle manure which included chicken, rock hyrax, and goat manure. These alternatives enable resource constrained farmers to organically manage their soils where they would have otherwise failed. The same farmers reported that they perceived greater yield responses from the application of composted small livestock manure compared to composted cattle manure. A preference of small livestock manure such as goats for vegetable production has been reported elsewhere for Zimbabwean communal farmers (Wuta, 2012 ). While nutritional content of livestock manure and compost produced varies according to type of livestock and its diet, and the manure collection and processing methods, N,P,K content is usually around 1–2%, 0.3–1.6%, and 0.2–2.2% respectively (Agyin-Birikorang et al., 2007 ; Kugedera et al., 2022 ; Mbatha et al., 2021 ; Wuta, 2012 ). The findings of Wuta ( 2012 ) concluded that goat manure was superior to cattle manure in terms of N,P, and K content which could explain the findings in our survey that famers perceived, through field observations, that small livestock manure perform agronomically better than cattle manure. This presents practical knowledge acquired by Makoni organic farmers which can be shared amongst the communities they operate in thereby improving the chances of uptake of more sustainable organic management practices. In addition to livestock manure, MOFA farmers identified tree litter as one of the most important compost ingredients. When tree litter is applied to low fertility soils, it has an initial N immobilisation period which correlates with initial litter N, and lignin content (Musvoto et al., 2000 ; Nyamangara et al., 2009 ). However, when tree litter is combined with livestock manure and composted, as is the case for MOFA farmers, it could have a more balanced C:N ratio which results in less N immobilisation and greater plant yield response. In addition, tree litter may improve cation content and soil cation exchange capacity as shown previously in Zimbabwean sandy soils (Campbell et al., 1994 ). Composts with tree litter may have relatively higher micronutrient content than agricultural residue compost and this complements well the macro-nutrients in livestock manure. The argument that organic residues could be insufficient for smallholder organic farmers (Tumbure et al., 2022 ) is based on estimations done on large land areas. However, survey results from MOFA farmers show that organic agriculture is more practical when optimised to organic resource availability. Farmers could intensify on smaller land sizes initially in which their resources are sufficient, and as shown through this survey, most farmers have capacity to apply 20t/ha of composted materials to land sizes below 400 m 2 . These small land sizes can improve farmer revenues, and farmers’ food security. Upscaling would only make sense when done slowly over the years as the farming activities produce more organic residues to use for soil application. 4.4 Organic agriculture practices & production challenges Extra labour was generally not required because the small organic farming areas per farmer (< 495 m 2 ) make them more manageable. However, given that a majority of farmers were older than 55 years, the ability to engage in labour intensive hand hoe weeding becomes an issue. Most farmers relied on their families to provide that labour. Other studies have reported shortage of labour in smallholder farming areas of Zimbabwe as a result of migration to urban areas (Makuvaro et al., 2017 ). Farmers could alternatively hire labour, but the farmers do not make sufficient income to afford help. This presents a significant challenge to some older farmers which could disrupt farming activities. The lack of agricultural water is the main production constraint in the surveyed organic gardens which limits what can be grown and when. Lack of irrigation means that farmers cannot grow vegetables during drought years and annual dry seasons (Batchelor et al., 1996 ). Reduced production capacity cascades to lower income from the business enterprise and threatens the future viability of these organic market gardens. The lack of agricultural water is however not particular to organic farmers as it is a national issue with government policy in place to improve national smallholder irrigation area from 26000 to 55000 hectares by 2025 (Mwadzingeni et al., 2022 ). In this case study, the farmers initially had enough agricultural water access through solar powered boreholes. However, theft of solar panels at their gardens meant that they lost their ability to extract agricultural water. Pest pressure on brassicas, cucurbits, Solanaceae have previously been shown to be poorly managed in non-organic smallholder farming areas who employ conventional control methods (Sibanda et al., 2000 ). However, in the surveyed organic market gardens farmers expressed satisfaction with the effectiveness of organic methods. The farmers use of Zumbane ( Lippia javanica (Burm.f.)) makes sense since several research have reported that it is toxic and effective against pests such as maize weevil, fall armyworm larvae, and aphids (Kamanula et al., 2017 ; Phambala et al., 2020 ; Tembo et al., 2018 ). This is because Lippia javanica contains camphor, camphene, α-pinene, eucalyptol, among other bioactive compounds that have been shown to have insecticidal properties (Tembo et al., 2018 ). However, a few farmers mentioned that it has been hard for them to organically manage birds, and termites. In this case physical barrier methods may prove effective against birds, for example fine-mesh exclusion netting which has been shown to be more effective against birds and beetles in blackberries compared to organic insecticides (Kuesel et al., 2019 ). There is need to develop a local organic inclined industry that produces and supplies such products to smallholder farmers at low cost. Effective organic pest management has positive health outcomes for smallholder farmers in Zimbabwe who have been shown to expose themselves to harmful chemicals by practicing conventional pest management without proper protective clothing (Sibanda et al., 2000 ). 4.5 Current markets, challenges, preferences The current market and preference for the district market is a function of many factors which include age, transport issues and low profits. While the MOFA has exported their produce before (Tumbure et al., 2022 ), they have since lost access to the export market. The association explained that the company they had worked with to export their organic produce went bankrupt and was shut down without paying them their export dues which discouraged most farmers. It therefore comes as no surprise that a majority of them now prefer to sell in the local district as they are not collectively marketing their produce anymore. It is much easier to access the non-organic district market, however the potential to make significant income is lost (Tumbure et al., 2022 ). Increased income through sale of certified organic produce is a major motivation for Kenyan farmers (Tankam & Djimeu, 2020 ). The low profits that are particular to MOFA farmers are because farmers have had to sell at discounted prices to middlemen who then transport to national markets without regard that it is organic produce. In addition to low profits, transport was identified as a major issue and this is supported by Mango et al. ( 2018 ) who reported that transport information had a huge bearing on farmer market decision in North-East Zimbabwe. The lack of a developed market for organic produce is evident from results of this survey. Given that the non-organic market is still very restrictive as 94% of surveyed farmers are only accessing local district markets, a lot needs to be done to reduce the marginalization of communal farmers. 4.6 Soil fertility changes after organic agriculture The low SOM content in the uncultivated areas of < 0.86% at 5 out of 6 gardens has been noted by other researchers to be indicative of infertile soils in other areas of Zimbabwe (Mtambanengwe & Mapfumo, 2005 ; Soropa et al., 2021 ). Initial mineral N, available P and exchangeable K content in the uncultivated areas is acutely deficient according to the Zimbabwean classification system (Soropa et al., 2021 ). Though qualitatively compared, this study showed that organic management increased available nutrients (N, P, Ca, Mg, K), SOM and led to soil acidity neutralisation, all which leads to increased soil productivity. Differences of SOM between 11- and 14-year plots were generally not significant alluding to the fact that these soil changes are slow, taking more than 3 years to be significant. Soil organic matter takes a long time to build up because it is rapidly broken down through oxidation under sandy soil and tropical conditions (Jephita et al., 2023 ). While the trajectory of soil attributes is positive with OA management and considering uncultivated areas, the values of SOM are not yet adequate (SOM > 1.29%) according to the Zimbabwe soil fertility classification system (Soropa et al., 2021 ). On the other hand, while available P was acutely deficient ( 40 mgP/kg) at 5 gardens and to marginal levels (20–40 mgP/kg) at Hwaro garden. These soil fertility attributes mean that the areas where organic farming has been practiced are more productive than the uncultivated fallow areas which have severe nutrient deficiencies. 5.0 Conclusion and recommendations The lack of access to organic markets and shortage of agricultural water were among the major socio-economic and bio-physical challenges identified in Makoni. The major, farmer identified challenges to market participation and preference were shortage of transport and low profits. These challenges have influenced farmers to seek local non-organic markets which are less profitable. Despite these challenges, farmers perceive that they have had success in improving their yields and selling their produce although the produce is sold not marked as organic. The low soil fertility status of uncultivated plots around the market gardens reveal that inherent low soil fertility is a challenge. However, the practice of OA has resulted in improved soil fertility of MOFA market gardens as measured by pH, SOM content, and available macro-nutrients. These results show that acutely nutrient deficient soils can be conditioned to marginal and or adequate soil nutrient levels through multiple year cumulative effects of practicing OA. Nevertheless, more research is needed on the use of organic resources such as rock hyrax manure that was reported by several farmers suggesting their effectiveness as organic fertility amendments. No research data is currently available on their local use and what quantities could potentially be available. Results from this survey reveal that Zimbabwe’s organic market is poorly developed in smallholder farming areas of Makoni district. National policy should prioritise infrastructure development in smallholder farming areas which includes well-developed road networks and transportation systems that will improve market participation. Local extension agents should be trained to provide market information to farmers. Local educational institutions should provide informal business skills training to smallholder farmers, the cost of which could be subsidised by the government. Alternatively, national policy instruments that encourage private – public partnerships which promote farmer business skill growth and develop organic markets should be drafted and implemented. Policy incentives could be tax relief to companies developing organic markets. We also recommend improved consumer education to support OA for its role in environmental enhancement and contributions to climate change mitigation efforts. This may require policies that recognize and reward organic production. While there are already good national policies for smallholder irrigation development, the implementation process needs to be accelerated. The failure to attract young people towards organic production as observed for MOFA presents a future continuation challenge of small-scale organic gardens, and the recommendations above may solve this issue. Declarations Funding information This work was supported by the 11th European Development Fund (EDF/2019/410–697) through the project Global Program of Capacity Building Related to Multilateral Environmental Agreements in Africa, Caribbean and Pacific Countries Phase III (ACP MEAs 3 – GCP/GLO/006/EC), which is implemented by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and funded by the European Union. Author Contribution AT - Research designing, Data collection and analysis, Writing manuscript draft, Editing manuscript, Logistics and AdministrationMSD - Research designing, Editing manuscript, Logistics and AdministrationGM - Research designing, Data collection and analysis, Editing manuscriptBN - Research designing, Data collection and analysis, Editing manuscriptKK - Editing manuscript, Logistics and administrationAll authors reviewed the manuscript Acknowledgement Much appreciation is given to Makoni Organic Farmers Association members who took time to share with us their knowledge and allowed us to sample their gardens. We also thank Simbarashe Shereni and Simbarashe Chipungare who provided technical assistance during soil analysis at Marondera University of Agricultural Science and Chemistry and Soil Research Institute, respectively. Data Availability Survey data and soil analysis data is available upon request to the authors. 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The world of organic agriculture. Statistics and emerging trends 2019 . Research Institute of Organic Agriculture FiBL, Frick, and IFOAM – Organics International. http://www.organic-world.net/yearbook/yearbook-2019.html Wilson, T. D., & Gilbert, D. T. (2003). Affective forcasting. Advances in experimental social psychology, 35 . Wuta, M. (2012). Management of cattle and goat manure in Wedza smallholder farming area, Zimbabwe. African Journal of Agricultural Reseearch, 7 (26). https://doi.org/10.5897/ajar12.038 Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. 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Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-4176428","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":289905518,"identity":"f5c33cb3-16f0-4ef1-b3c5-fc7d7e7150a0","order_by":0,"name":"Akinson Tumbure","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAAA0UlEQVRIiWNgGAWjYJACZhDBz8DAhiKAG7BBVUg2kKzF4ACxWvjn95huLmy7J2d8I/nZgw8VDPL8DDzGBvi0SBzjMbs9s63Y2OxGmrnhjDMMhjMbeIwT8FoD0sLblpC47UaCmTRvG0OCwQEe4wP4dMhDtdRvnpH+jTgtBlAtCQYSOQhb8DrM8Fha2e0Z5xKA3nhTJjnjjIThzGa2Yrzelzt8eNvtgrIEef729G0SHyps5PnZmzdL4NOCAAJg10gQjEgkwH+AaKWjYBSMglEwwgAApNhCOtZccsAAAAAASUVORK5CYII=","orcid":"","institution":"Marondera University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology (MUAST)","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Akinson","middleName":"","lastName":"Tumbure","suffix":""},{"id":289905519,"identity":"c37642a9-0761-4ade-917a-f6f5fc30ac5d","order_by":1,"name":"Mazvita Chiduwa","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Agronomy Research Institute","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Mazvita","middleName":"","lastName":"Chiduwa","suffix":""},{"id":289905520,"identity":"1d0d04fa-8ac4-46c3-bc42-e0b30a591f27","order_by":2,"name":"Gideon Mazuruse","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Marondera University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology (MUAST)","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Gideon","middleName":"","lastName":"Mazuruse","suffix":""},{"id":289905521,"identity":"26de0956-772d-41d8-a198-432f2458455a","order_by":3,"name":"Brighton Nyagadza","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Marondera University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology (MUAST)","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Brighton","middleName":"","lastName":"Nyagadza","suffix":""},{"id":289905522,"identity":"16e5af00-b080-4634-b4ae-4632ee475c2c","order_by":4,"name":"Kudzai Kusena","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Kudzai","middleName":"","lastName":"Kusena","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2024-03-27 13:29:16","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":"","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-4176428/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-4176428/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":54994981,"identity":"ea682c78-2781-48cc-b9a8-5fe94fe856d3","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2024-04-19 17:52:36","extension":"jpg","order_by":1,"title":"Figure 1","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"figure","size":147687,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"\u003cp\u003eTop five crop families grown in the organic market gardens in Makoni\u003c/p\u003e","description":"","filename":"1.jpg","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-4176428/v1/ebf671066eab00a38b022b34.jpg"},{"id":54994979,"identity":"7b472898-a209-48dc-b573-a36743d06e6b","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2024-04-19 17:52:36","extension":"jpg","order_by":2,"title":"Figure 2","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"figure","size":123645,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"\u003cp\u003eMarkets that are preferred by Makoni Organic Farmer Association farmers according to their \u003cstrong\u003e(a)\u003c/strong\u003e age groups and \u003cstrong\u003e(b)\u003c/strong\u003ereason for preference, and relationships between farmer’s perception of sales success and \u003cstrong\u003e(c)\u003c/strong\u003e what they identify as major hindrances and \u003cstrong\u003e(d)\u003c/strong\u003etheir current size of selling area. Numbers around the circles are frequencies for each grouping (n = 64)\u003c/p\u003e","description":"","filename":"2.jpg","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-4176428/v1/5ab7b29925fb5a3c90fb2ba1.jpg"},{"id":54994982,"identity":"b29e50a1-fb1f-4c3c-aa87-a4ad83fa33c5","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2024-04-19 17:52:36","extension":"jpg","order_by":3,"title":"Figure 3","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"figure","size":134531,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"\u003cp\u003eSoil organic matter, pH, available P and mineral N content of Chiwara (\u003cstrong\u003ea\u003c/strong\u003e, \u003cstrong\u003ef\u003c/strong\u003e, \u003cstrong\u003ek\u003c/strong\u003e, \u003cstrong\u003ep\u003c/strong\u003e), Tashinga (\u003cstrong\u003eb\u003c/strong\u003e, \u003cstrong\u003eg\u003c/strong\u003e, \u003cstrong\u003el\u003c/strong\u003e, \u003cstrong\u003eq\u003c/strong\u003e), Machinya (\u003cstrong\u003ec\u003c/strong\u003e, \u003cstrong\u003eh\u003c/strong\u003e, \u003cstrong\u003em\u003c/strong\u003e, \u003cstrong\u003er\u003c/strong\u003e), Hwaro (\u003cstrong\u003ed\u003c/strong\u003e, \u003cstrong\u003eI\u003c/strong\u003e, \u003cstrong\u003en\u003c/strong\u003e, \u003cstrong\u003es\u003c/strong\u003e) and Vimbainesu (\u003cstrong\u003ee\u003c/strong\u003e, \u003cstrong\u003ej\u003c/strong\u003e, \u003cstrong\u003eo\u003c/strong\u003e, \u003cstrong\u003et\u003c/strong\u003e) garden plots. Error bars represent standard deviation and *indicates significant differences (P\u0026lt; 0.05). The blue horizontal line indicates values in adjacent uncropped soils\u003c/p\u003e","description":"","filename":"3.jpg","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-4176428/v1/5928253e99ea6b41f775779d.jpg"},{"id":54996550,"identity":"ce11699c-e959-4178-9d22-1f90699fd7aa","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2024-04-19 18:00:37","extension":"pdf","order_by":0,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":905405,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"manuscript.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-4176428/v1/84fa9000-a19c-4462-9994-793e38a1a515.pdf"},{"id":54994980,"identity":"9d31be80-dd0d-47a7-a73d-916dad650319","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2024-04-19 17:52:36","extension":"docx","order_by":2,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"supplement","size":26521,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"Supplementarymaterial.docx","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-4176428/v1/844d45bc762b07155a10c0ee.docx"}],"financialInterests":"No competing interests reported.","formattedTitle":"Bio-physical and socio-economic challenges, farmers’ perception of success and 14- year soil fertility trajectories in smallholder organic market gardens of North-East Zimbabwe","fulltext":[{"header":"1.0 Introduction","content":"\u003cp\u003eProjected increases in global food demand as a result of global population growth will see the current 8\u0026nbsp;billion global population increase to 9.7\u0026nbsp;billion by 2050 (UN-DESA, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR47\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2022\u003c/span\u003e). Feeding the growing population will require nutritious food produced through more environmentally sustainable means such as effective organic farming strategies (Aghasafari et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR1\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2020\u003c/span\u003e; Tsvetkov et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR42\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2018\u003c/span\u003e). Sustainable farming and food production systems will require the application of organic farming methods in selected areas to hedge against a modern farming crisis that includes ecosystem degradation and climate change (Udeigwe et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR46\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2015\u003c/span\u003e). Organic farming avoids the use of synthetic fertilisers and agro-chemicals which may cause adverse environmental and health effects when unregulated. Such adverse effects include surface and ground water contamination, emission of greenhouse gases, biodiversity reduction and soil degradation (Bayramov, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR4\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2018\u003c/span\u003e). Practices and motivation for organic farming stem from statutes and/or policy dictates of the International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements (IFOAM), which was established in 1972, in close ranks with the Codex Alimentarius Commission (CAC) of the United Nations (UN) (Tumbure et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR44\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2022\u003c/span\u003e). These statutes are formed from the principles of good health (soil, plant, animal, and human), ecology (sustenance of natural ecological systems), fairness (common life opportunities) and care (precaution to protect current and future generations and environment) (IFOAM, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR15\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2019\u003c/span\u003e).\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eHowever, organic agriculture (OA) is a broad term that must be unpacked in each context. The successful execution of any farming practice must be led by evidence of the associated merits. Most associated merits vary by region affected by environmental, ecosystem and social value factors. In OA, such merits could be identified as yield maintenance or increase, environmental and food quality enhancement, and social acceptance among others. Research must identify and contribute to closing the gaps in the systems.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eGlobally at a commercial scale and for organic market establishment, organic farming demands reliable, efficient, and credible standard-setting processes and certification schemes (Lippert et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR22\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2016\u003c/span\u003e). Some of the challenges of organic market gardening include conflicting global harmonisation versus local adaptation, problems of dynamism in the review of policies and standardisation, making establishing opportunities challenging (Fouilleux \u0026amp; Loconto, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR11\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2016\u003c/span\u003e), ecological justice, supply chain development, and productivity limitations, among others (Halberg et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR12\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2005\u003c/span\u003e). The lack of shared understandings and perceptions of organic agriculture could be why there have been mixed views towards the practice of organic market gardens by farmers, as some have called the practice ideological nonsense (Willer \u0026amp; Lernoud, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR49\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2019\u003c/span\u003e).\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eGlobally, most rural organic market gardening farmers need more knowledge of organic production, branding, promotion and market development (Hasan et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR13\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2019\u003c/span\u003e). At a national scale, agricultural policy effects on accessibility of OA consultancy and extension services, training and development and value chain development will directly affect farmers' attitudes and adoption of OA technologies (Bhatta \u0026amp; Doppler, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR6\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2011\u003c/span\u003e; Nandwani et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR30\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2021\u003c/span\u003e). Domestic demand of organic products is essential to drive markets and certification systems and could result in higher expected revenues and profit margins by encouraging better market access to farmers (both physical and digital markets) (Home et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR14\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2017\u003c/span\u003e; Tumbure et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR44\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2022\u003c/span\u003e). At the farmer\u0026rsquo;s level, production and marketing challenges due to local farmer circumstances could be a significant threat towards adoption of OA technologies especially in sub-Saharan Africa. Organic production challenges in smallholder agriculture such as increased labour needs, initial poor soil fertility, unavailability of agricultural water, low availability of good quality organic inputs, and more laborious preventative pest and disease management measures have been reviewed elsewhere (Tumbure et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR44\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2022\u003c/span\u003e). It is evident that no two regions are the same nor do they present similar challenges at similar levels of intensity. It is therefore essential to assess each region\u0026rsquo;s environmental, market and production nexus considering all these factors to generate useful information for all stakeholders involved from farmer to politicians and organisations.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eWhen organic farming technologies are poorly practiced without considering local situations, they have been revealed to result in negative environmental impacts, which lower yield performance (Manici et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR25\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2004\u003c/span\u003e). For example, when OA practices are not optimised for local conditions, soil degradation might ensue as observed by Dougill et al. (\u003cspan citationid=\"CR9\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2002\u003c/span\u003e) on low-quality manure-reliant farmers\u0026rsquo; fields in Africa. This can be the case for inherently infertile soils which are characterised by low soil organic matter (SOM) content, poor soil structure, low water holding capacity and multiple nutrient deficiencies, all which severely limit agricultural production. Some researchers have therefore argued that OA is not suitable for poor quality soils in most African farming areas that also have insufficient quantities of high-quality organic materials (Tumbure et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR44\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2022\u003c/span\u003e). However, a counter agreement for OA is that sole addition of synthetic fertilisers cannot improve the productivity of such degraded soils and organic material addition has potential to condition such soils and improve their productivity.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eThe process of conditioning the soil takes time and is depended upon the soil fertility status, quantity and quality of organic materials applied, and other soil management practices employed (which include cropping and tillage type) (Tumbure et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR44\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2022\u003c/span\u003e). These variables are responsible for greater variations in crop yield responses observed after organic material addition in sub-Saharan Africa (Tumbure et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR45\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2023\u003c/span\u003e). In a practical sense most smallholder farmers in Africa rely on multiple sources of organic materials for organic agricultural production. Therefore, results from research where sole or two types of organic materials have been applied such as livestock manure/ plant residues can only be loosely extrapolated to actual conditions.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eThe increase in the push for the agenda for the adoption of organic farming through market gardening across Zimbabwe, in areas such as Makoni in Rusape, is therefore done with expected benefits such as improved farmer livelihoods and environmental protection. The organic farming drive is taking place in the backdrop of a massive national conventional farming drive that embraces the use of modern farming practices which include enhanced irrigation systems, machinery, and increased synthetic fertiliser use, all for improved social and economic viability (Rukasha et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR36\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2021\u003c/span\u003e; Tumbure et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR44\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2022\u003c/span\u003e). These two drives have fewer areas of overlap and could in time antagonise each other if policy structures are not carefully setup to encourage both.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eThe challenges in production and marketing of organic produce as previously highlighted, occur in various combinations and degrees of severity in smallholder farming regions affecting farmer attitudes and the long-term continuity of organic market gardens. Research that looks at the whole system in terms of state of market development, access to organic residues, organic cropping patterns, production management and soil fertility trajectories is lacking. Information on OA in southern Africa is lacking and there are vast knowledge gaps of how OA practices employed in the confines of market gardens alter local environmental, social and economic trajectories (Tumbure et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR44\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2022\u003c/span\u003e; Wekeza et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR48\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2022\u003c/span\u003e) Addressing the knowledge gaps of how organic market gardens are performing given the explained challenges and farmers\u0026rsquo; attitudes on the significance of these challenges towards their success will allow further optimisation of organic practices to local conditions.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eThe self-perception theory provided an overarching theoretical backdrop to the phenomena under study (socio-economic challenges, farmer attitudes and perception of success in organic market gardens in Makoni district, Zimbabwe). Self-perception theory was proposed by Daryl Bem in 1967 as a super alternative account of cognitive dissonance theory (Decision Lab, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR8\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2023\u003c/span\u003e), to which certain conditions result in self-described attitudes that are a function of the individual\u0026rsquo;s observations of their own behaviour (Fazio et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR10\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e1977\u003c/span\u003e). The two major tenets of the self-perception modelling framework are that enjoyable activities are based on intrinsic or extrinsic motivation. For intrinsic motivation, enjoyable activities have no external rewards, and the self-perception is that \u0026ldquo;I do this because I like it\u0026rdquo;, while for extrinsic motivation there are external rewards (money, social acceptance etc.) and the self-perception is that \u0026ldquo;I do this because of the benefit\u0026rdquo; (Jasmijn, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR16\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2023\u003c/span\u003e).\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eIn line with the current study, interaction between attitudes and behaviours of farmers and perception of success in organic market gardens in Makoni district, Zimbabwe can be seen as causal sequence that progresses linearly from attitude to behaviour (Sternthal et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR39\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e1976\u003c/span\u003e). The organic market gardens farmers\u0026rsquo; behaviour leading to attitude can be seen as counterintuitive, when assumed to be a reversal in the sequence of causation (Fazio et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR10\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e1977\u003c/span\u003e). In other sense, the organic market gardens farmers tend to observe their behaviour and change their attitude as to be consistent with their behaviour. This could be as a result of the socio-economic challenges that they might be facing leading to the changes in their behaviours towards organic market gardens. It is supported by the views by Wilson and Gilbert (\u003cspan citationid=\"CR50\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2003\u003c/span\u003e), who proposed that people may overestimate the strengths or reaction, to positive and negative life events than they actually felt when the event has taken place. Main causes of the latter is due to the fact that when internal cues are difficult to interpret, people gain self-insight by observing their own behaviour (Bem, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR5\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e1972\u003c/span\u003e; Reibstein \u0026amp; Lovelock, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR35\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e1980\u003c/span\u003e).\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eTherefore, in this study we sought to snapshot the economic, social and biophysical condition in an ongoing OA system in Zimbabwe and trace trajectories of soil fertility and farmer livelihood. The following were the main research questions that guided the study:\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e \u003cstrong\u003eQ.1\u003c/strong\u003e \u003cp\u003e \u003cem\u003eWhat are the socio-economic and bio-physical challenges and farmer perception of success in organic market gardens in Makoni District, Zimbabwe?\u003c/em\u003e \u003c/p\u003e \u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e \u003cstrong\u003eQ.2\u003c/strong\u003e \u003cp\u003e \u003cem\u003eWhat are the significant factors that influence market participation and choice of marketing channels and how are the factors associated with farmer perceived success in Makoni District, Zimbabwe?\u003c/em\u003e \u003c/p\u003e \u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e \u003cstrong\u003eQ3\u003c/strong\u003e \u003cp\u003e \u003cem\u003eWhat is the influence of OA on soil quality trajectory as measured by soil chemical fertility attributes (SOM content, available P, mineral N, exchangeable bases)\u003c/em\u003e \u003c/p\u003e \u003c/p\u003e"},{"header":"2.0 Materials and methods","content":"\u003cdiv id=\"Sec3\" class=\"Section2\"\u003e \u003ch2\u003e2.1 Study site description\u003c/h2\u003e \u003cp\u003eThe Makoni Organic Farmers Association (MOFA) that was formed in 2007 (Tumbure et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR44\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2022\u003c/span\u003e) which currently consists of 225 farmers was selected as the study area. The association established six organic market gardens in 2008, which were then extended in area in 2011. Among these farmers 103 actively maintain 6 market gardens which have a land size of around 1 hectare per garden. The association is headed by a chairperson who is in close communication with the six garden leaders. The garden leaders are involved in the day-to-day technical backstopping and assessment of organic practices that are employed in their respective gardens. It is located in Makoni District in Manicaland Province, in Zimbabwe. The region is geographically located approximately 150 kilometres North-East of Harare, towards the eastern town of Mutare, at an altitude of 1410 m above sea level. In the MOFA gardening areas, the farmers practise organic market gardening where they don\u0026rsquo;t use synthetic chemicals such as pesticides, fungicides, insecticides, fertilisers, or genetically modified seeds.\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv id=\"Sec4\" class=\"Section2\"\u003e \u003ch2\u003e2.2 Questionnaire and interviews\u003c/h2\u003e \u003cp\u003eA questionnaire was created and administered by induvial face-to-face interviews in Makoni district during February 2022. The organisation\u0026rsquo;s chairperson was initially contacted, and arrangements done to interview all the farmers who were available during February 2022. The sample size was based on number of farmers who were available. The final sample size was 64 after discarding incomplete questionnaires in cases where farmers were represented by family members who did not have sufficient knowledge of crop and management history. Respondents were met in groups onsite and they constituted farmers belonging to a single organic garden. A general setup of each garden was established by asking some general questions. These questions involved getting information on how many farmers operate in each garden including those that were not there.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eThe questionnaire was then administered individually, and it consisted of semi-closed questions with the answer option \u0026ldquo;other\u0026rdquo; where farmers could further explain. The first set of questions characterized farmer\u0026rsquo;s demographics, which included age, sex, household size and how long they have been doing OA. Other sections of the questionnaire were to gather information on cropping patterns/history, availability of organic resources, production practices employed, and current markets. Around 65% of the 103 farmers who maintain organic farming market gardens were interviewed (Table\u0026nbsp;\u003cspan refid=\"Tab1\" class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e1\u003c/span\u003e).\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"gridtable\"\u003e\u003ctable float=\"Yes\" id=\"Tab1\" border=\"1\"\u003e \u003ccaption language=\"En\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"CaptionNumber\"\u003eTable 1\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"CaptionContent\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eGeneral details of market gardens where survey was conducted\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/div\u003e \u003c/caption\u003e \u003ccolgroup cols=\"7\"\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c1\" colnum=\"1\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c2\" colnum=\"2\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"char\" char=\".\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c3\" colnum=\"3\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"char\" char=\".\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c4\" colnum=\"4\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"char\" char=\".\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c5\" colnum=\"5\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"char\" char=\".\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c6\" colnum=\"6\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"char\" char=\".\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c7\" colnum=\"7\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cthead\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eGarden name\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eStatus of borehole \u0026amp; pump\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eTotal garden Size (ha)\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eTotal farmers\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eTotal female Farmers\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eTotal male Farmers\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eFarmers interviewed\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003c/thead\u003e \u003ctbody\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eChiwara\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eSolar Panels Stolen\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.6\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e13\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e7\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e6\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e11\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eMachinya\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eSolar Panels Stolen\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e1.0\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e21\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e20\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e1\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e11\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eTashinga West\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eSolar Panels Stolen\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e1.3\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e27\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e26\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e1\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e11\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eVimbainesu\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eFunctioning\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.7\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e14\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e12\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e2\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e14\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eHwaro\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eSolar Panels Stolen\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.7\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e14\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e10\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e4\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e7\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eTashinga East\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eSolar Panels Stolen\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.7\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e14\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e9\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e5\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e10\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eTotals\u003c/b\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e5.1\u003c/b\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e103\u003c/b\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e84\u003c/b\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e19\u003c/b\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e64\u003c/b\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003c/tbody\u003e \u003c/colgroup\u003e \u003c/table\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/p\u003e \u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv id=\"Sec5\" class=\"Section2\"\u003e \u003ch2\u003e2.2 Soil sampling and analysis\u003c/h2\u003e \u003cp\u003eFarmers\u0026rsquo; cropping history provided a roadmap for soil sampling allowing for the assessment of plots where OA had been practiced for 11 and 14 years. Each farmer had several cropping beds that measured 1.5 x 3m. These were separated into 2, The first section was where OA had been practiced for 14 years (where they began in 2008) and another which was an extension of their gardens with 11-year OA history. Soil samples were collected from 3 spots in each (1.5 x 3m) bed and mixed together from all beds that the farmer had in each section (11- and 14-year history) to obtain 2 composite samples per farmer. Information on whether farmers had cropped each year was collected and any fallow periods noted. Details of total samples collected and analysed are shown in Table \u003cspan refid=\"MOESM1\" class=\"InternalRef\"\u003eS1\u003c/span\u003e. The Tashinga East Garden had farmers who had left their fields fallow for a varied period which allowed us to separate the plots into plots that had organic management for 9, 10, 11, 12 and 14 years (Table \u003cspan refid=\"MOESM1\" class=\"InternalRef\"\u003eS1\u003c/span\u003e).\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eSoil samples were air dried and sieved through a 2mm sieve before analysis. Available P was analysed using the resin extraction method, pH in CaCl\u003csub\u003e2\u003c/sub\u003e, mineral N after extraction in KCl, and exchangeable bases after extraction in ammonium acetate (Okalebo et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR32\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2002\u003c/span\u003e) at the Chemistry and Soil Research Institute, Harare. Organic carbon was analysed by the Walkley-Black method at Marondera University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology (MUAST), Marondera.\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv id=\"Sec6\" class=\"Section2\"\u003e \u003ch2\u003e2.3 Statistical analysis\u003c/h2\u003e \u003cp\u003eDescriptive statistics of generated survey data was performed using Microsoft\u0026reg; Excel\u0026reg; for Microsoft 365 MSO Version 2203. Crosstabs were employed for the survey categorical data in IBM SPSS Statistics software (ver 28.0.1.1).\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eSoil analysis data were analysed in IBM SPSS Software (Version: 28.0.1.1 (14)). All data were checked for normality by running Shapiro-Wilkinson and Kolmogorov-Smirnov tests and homogeneity of variances were checked using a Levene\u0026rsquo;s test. Since sample sizes for some garden data were not the same, equality of means between 14- and 11-year cropping data were assessed by running Brown-Forsythe t tests. A one-way ANOVA was run for Tashinga East data and separation of means was done using Tukey\u0026rsquo;s HSD. Soil attributes data from uncultivated soils was used as a qualitative reference only because only one composite sample per garden was obtained due to the small area of adjacent uncultivated land within the fenced gardens.\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/div\u003e"},{"header":"3.0 Results","content":"\u003cdiv id=\"Sec8\" class=\"Section2\"\u003e \u003ch2\u003e3.1 Farmer demographics\u003c/h2\u003e \u003cp\u003eRespondents consisted largely of females with males constituting only 18% (Table\u0026nbsp;\u003cspan refid=\"Tab2\" class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e2\u003c/span\u003e). The male: female ratio of interviewed farmers was similar to that of total farmers in the association (Table\u0026nbsp;\u003cspan refid=\"Tab1\" class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e1\u003c/span\u003e). The majority (67%) of all interviewed farmers were over 55 years of age, while young adults (26\u0026ndash;35 years) were only 5%. Older farmers reported disruptions to their farming activities caused by sickness, and it was noted that the farmers routinely train and work with their grandchildren (teen-age and early twenties years old) on the farms who take over in periods of absence. Roughly 86% of interviewed farmers had at least 11 years of experience in OA and 95% had received formal or informal OA training. Farmers identified several organisations that have trained or supported their OA training as local government extension agents (AGRITEX), Global Environment Facility (GEF), United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), and Zimbabwe Organic Producers Association (ZOPPA).\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"gridtable\"\u003e\u003ctable float=\"Yes\" id=\"Tab2\" border=\"1\"\u003e \u003ccaption language=\"En\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"CaptionNumber\"\u003eTable 2\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"CaptionContent\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eSocio-demographic characteristics of farmers\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/div\u003e \u003c/caption\u003e \u003ccolgroup cols=\"3\"\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c1\" colnum=\"1\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c2\" colnum=\"2\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"char\" char=\".\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c3\" colnum=\"3\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cthead\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eFrequency\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003c/thead\u003e \u003ctbody\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eGender\u003c/b\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eMale\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e12\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eFemale\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e52\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eAge\u003c/b\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e55 and up\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e43\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e46\u0026ndash;55 years\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e13\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e36\u0026ndash;45 years\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e5\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e26\u0026ndash;35 years\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e3\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eLess than 26 years\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eOrganic farming experience\u003c/b\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e11\u0026ndash;15 years\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e55\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e6\u0026ndash;10 years\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e4\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e3\u0026ndash;5 years\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e1\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eLess than 3 years\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e4\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize of household\u003c/b\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eMore than 8 people\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e3\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e6\u0026ndash;8 people\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e15\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e3\u0026ndash;5 people\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e35\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e2 people\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e11\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003c/tbody\u003e \u003c/colgroup\u003e \u003c/table\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/p\u003e \u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv id=\"Sec9\" class=\"Section2\"\u003e \u003ch2\u003e3.2 Organic area, cropping patterns and cropping history.\u003c/h2\u003e \u003cp\u003eThe average OA land sizes per farmer for Chiwara was 350 m\u003csup\u003e2\u003c/sup\u003e, Machinya (141 m\u003csup\u003e2)\u003c/sup\u003e, Tashinga West (277 m\u003csup\u003e2\u003c/sup\u003e), Vimbainesu (126 m\u003csup\u003e2\u003c/sup\u003e), Hwaro (113 m\u003csup\u003e2\u003c/sup\u003e) and Tashinga East gardens (80 m\u003csup\u003e2\u003c/sup\u003e). The total organic market cultivation area that each farmer had within the organic gardens was highly variable ranging from 9 to 495 m\u003csup\u003e2\u003c/sup\u003e with only farmers in Chiwara West having more than 400 m\u003csup\u003e2\u003c/sup\u003e of area. Across the gardens, farmers with less organic land had recently joined the association.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eWhile the market gardens were initiated targeting vegetables (brassicas, legumes, Solanaceae, cucurbits), the farmers started including cereals in their cropping. Currently cereals (dominated by maize) are grown by most farmers (54%) in the market gardens, followed by legumes and brassicas (Fig.\u0026nbsp;\u003cspan refid=\"Fig1\" class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e1\u003c/span\u003ea). The reader should note that this does not necessarily translate to total organic land dedicated to the crop. A similar proportion of farmers indicated that they had grown maize in the previous five years as well at least once. However, cereals were not grown during the survey year (2022) at Vimbainesu and Hwaro gardens, with farmers at Vimbainesu garden having not grown maize in the past five years. A high number of farmers (84%) indicated that they had grown legumes in the previous five years (Fig.\u0026nbsp;\u003cspan refid=\"Fig1\" class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e1\u003c/span\u003eb). The common legumes that were grown included peas, groundnuts, round nuts, and common beans, while the brassicas consisted of cabbages and collard greens. Solanaceae were mainly potatoes and tomatoes whereas butternuts and pumpkins were the main cucurbits the farmers grew.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e \u003c/p\u003e \u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv id=\"Sec10\" class=\"Section2\"\u003e \u003ch2\u003e3.3 Biomass resources availability\u003c/h2\u003e \u003cp\u003eBiomass resource availability was assessed as organic biomass available to a farmer regardless of source that is not necessarily coming from the organic area. The majority of interviewed farmers (68%) reported having maize residues of more than 1.2 tonnes per year that could be used for soil application (Table\u0026nbsp;\u003cspan refid=\"Tab3\" class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e3\u003c/span\u003e). However, for legume residues and livestock manure, at least 67% of interviewed farmers indicated that they had only 0.4 tonnes or less per year available. Comparing with the biggest land sizes in the organic gardens (495 m\u003csup\u003e2\u003c/sup\u003e), around 50% and 64% of farmers could potentially compost and apply at least 8t/ha of legume residues and livestock manure respectively. Tree litter availability was hard to quantify because it depends on farmer resources, especially how far a farmer can travel to obtain tree litter.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"gridtable\"\u003e\u003ctable float=\"Yes\" id=\"Tab3\" border=\"1\"\u003e \u003ccaption language=\"En\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"CaptionNumber\"\u003eTable 3\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"CaptionContent\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eFrequency table showing biomass availability for soil amelioration in Makoni organic farming market gardens (n\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;64)\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/div\u003e \u003c/caption\u003e \u003ccolgroup cols=\"4\"\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c1\" colnum=\"1\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"char\" char=\".\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c2\" colnum=\"2\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c3\" colnum=\"3\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"char\" char=\".\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c4\" colnum=\"4\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cthead\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eQuantities available (t/year)\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colspan=\"3\" nameend=\"c4\" namest=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003ePercentage of farmers with the biomass quantities available\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eMaize residues\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eLegume residues\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eLivestock manure\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003c/thead\u003e \u003ctbody\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u0026lt;\u0026thinsp;0.4\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e1.6%\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e50.0%\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e35.9%\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.4\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e15.6%\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e29.7%\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e32.8%\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.8\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e14.1%\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e18.8%\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e20.3%\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e1.2\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e20.3%\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0%\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e6.3%\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e1.6 \u003cspan type=\"Underline\" class=\"Underline\" name=\"Emphasis\"\u003e\u0026le;\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e48.4%\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e1.6%\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e4.7%\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003c/tbody\u003e \u003c/colgroup\u003e \u003c/table\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/p\u003e \u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv id=\"Sec11\" class=\"Section2\"\u003e \u003ch2\u003e3.4 Organic agriculture practices employed and production challenges.\u003c/h2\u003e \u003cp\u003eSoil amelioration is done by applying matured compost produced in plastered brick open pits using available biomass. We asked farmers to single out a type of biomass resource that they feel is the most important essential ingredient for a good compost and the majority of farmers identified either tree litter (40%) or livestock dung / droppings (40%). An estimation of how much of each type of biomass resource is applied in organic market gardens is given in Table\u0026nbsp;\u003cspan refid=\"Tab4\" class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e4\u003c/span\u003e. At least 85% of respondents revealed that they applied an estimated total of 0.4 tonnes or less of legume residues and livestock manure to all their organic plots cumulative per year (Table\u0026nbsp;\u003cspan refid=\"Tab4\" class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e4\u003c/span\u003e). This agreed with what farmers had indicated was available earlier (Table\u0026nbsp;\u003cspan refid=\"Tab3\" class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e3\u003c/span\u003e). However, greater quantities applied of maize residues and tree litter of at least 0.8 t/year (more than 54% of respondents each) were reported. Based on average land sizes, this would translate to 22t/ha for Chiwara garden farmers.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"gridtable\"\u003e\u003ctable float=\"Yes\" id=\"Tab4\" border=\"1\"\u003e \u003ccaption language=\"En\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"CaptionNumber\"\u003eTable 4\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"CaptionContent\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eTotal biomass resources applied (as compost) to Makoni organic market gardens annually per farmer (n\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;64)\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/div\u003e \u003c/caption\u003e \u003ccolgroup cols=\"5\"\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c1\" colnum=\"1\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"char\" char=\".\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c2\" colnum=\"2\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"char\" char=\".\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c3\" colnum=\"3\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"char\" char=\".\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c4\" colnum=\"4\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"char\" char=\".\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c5\" colnum=\"5\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cthead\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eEstimated quantities applied (t/year)\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colspan=\"4\" nameend=\"c5\" namest=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003ePercentage of farmers who apply the estimated biomass quantities\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eMaize residues\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eLegume residues\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eLivestock manure\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eTree litter\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003c/thead\u003e \u003ctbody\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u0026lt;\u0026thinsp;0.4\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e7.8%\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e68.8%\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e54.7%\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e12.5%\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.4\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e29.7%\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e23.4%\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e31.3%\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e32.8%\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.8\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e34.4%\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e3.1%\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e4.7%\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e20.3%\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e1.2\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e9.4%\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e1.6%\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e7.8%\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e14.1%\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e1.6 \u003cspan type=\"Underline\" class=\"Underline\" name=\"Emphasis\"\u003e\u0026le;\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e18.8%\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e3.1%\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e1.6%\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e20.3%\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003c/tbody\u003e \u003c/colgroup\u003e \u003c/table\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eA majority of farmers (96%) did not use any hired labour and the only 2 farmers who did, only did so occasionally and paid for the labour using produce from the gardens. In addition, the older farmers were noted to engage younger family members to assist in the management of the organic plots. All the farmers practised crop rotation and 67% of interviewed farmers revealed that intercropping was an essential characteristic of their organic cropping system. About 84% of farmers said that they had an active organic pest control programme (84%). Organic pest management and control was achieved through the use of various plant species. Some of the identified plants that were used included zumbane (\u003cem\u003eLippia javanica\u003c/em\u003e (Burm.f.) Spreng.), mucherekesa (\u003cem\u003eSyzygium cordatum\u003c/em\u003e), muzambara (\u003cem\u003eCarissa spinarum\u003c/em\u003e), velvet bean (\u003cem\u003eMucuna pruriens\u003c/em\u003e), muunga (\u003cem\u003eAcacia hebeclada\u003c/em\u003e), chilli (\u003cem\u003eCapsicum frutescens\u003c/em\u003e) and garlic (\u003cem\u003eAllium sativum\u003c/em\u003e). These were used in various forms, including as crushed leaves/roots in suspension/solution, as water extracts and as ashes. The frequency and quantities applied could not be ascertained.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eWhile crop yields were hard to estimate because most farmers did not keep a record, 64% of farmers perceived that yields from their organic gardens had increased (Table\u0026nbsp;\u003cspan refid=\"Tab5\" class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e5\u003c/span\u003e). For those who perceived that their yields had decreased, 86% identified the lack of agricultural water as their major production challenge. Overall, the shortages of agricultural water were the major production challenge identified (75% of respondents).\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"gridtable\"\u003e\u003ctable float=\"Yes\" id=\"Tab5\" border=\"1\"\u003e \u003ccaption language=\"En\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"CaptionNumber\"\u003eTable 5\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"CaptionContent\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eCrosstabulation of identified major production challenge and farmer perceived yield changes\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/div\u003e \u003c/caption\u003e \u003ccolgroup cols=\"5\"\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c1\" colnum=\"1\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"char\" char=\".\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c2\" colnum=\"2\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"char\" char=\".\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c3\" colnum=\"3\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"char\" char=\".\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c4\" colnum=\"4\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"char\" char=\".\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c5\" colnum=\"5\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cthead\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\" morerows=\"1\" rowspan=\"2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eProduction challenge\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colspan=\"3\" nameend=\"c4\" namest=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eFarmer perceived yield changes\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/th\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eDecreased\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eNo Change\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eIncreased\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eTotal\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003c/thead\u003e \u003ctbody\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eCapital\u003c/b\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e1\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e2\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e5\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e8\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eInfertile soil\u003c/b\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e1\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e1\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eWater\u003c/b\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e18\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e1\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e29\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e48\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eKnowledge\u003c/b\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e1\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e1\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e2\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003ePests\u003c/b\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e1\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e1\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eOrganic Inputs availability\u003c/b\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e2\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e2\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eLand size\u003c/b\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e2\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e2\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eTotal\u003c/b\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e21\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e3\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e40\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e64\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003c/tbody\u003e \u003c/colgroup\u003e \u003c/table\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/p\u003e \u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv id=\"Sec12\" class=\"Section2\"\u003e \u003ch2\u003e3.5 Current markets, challenges, and preferences\u003c/h2\u003e \u003cp\u003eAbout 94% of farmers sell their produce in the local district and 3% were not selling their produce (data not shown). Most farmers (77%) preferred to sell their produce in their local district because of ease of market entry (Fig.\u0026nbsp;\u003cspan refid=\"Fig2\" class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e2\u003c/span\u003ea \u0026amp; b). Compared to other age groups, farmers above 55 years had a greater proportion (79%) that preferred to sell in the local district. Ease of market entry was the main reason (70% of farmers) that drove farmer decision on choice of market. Of the farmers who identified ease of market entry, 91%, 7%, and 2% preferred to sell produce in the district, province, and nationally, respectively, while none preferred to export. Over 85% of farmers identified transport and low profits as major market restrictions regardless of perceived market success (Fig.\u0026nbsp;\u003cspan refid=\"Fig2\" class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e2\u003c/span\u003ec). Around 67% of farmers who perceived to have had some market success, cited low profits as a major restriction while 18% cited transport. For those farmers who perceived to have not had market success, 54% and 33% identified transport and low profits as main problems respectively. For farmers who perceived to have market success, 62% of these farmers were selling their produce in areas where there were more farmers (\u0026gt;\u0026thinsp;8 farmers) compared to those selling in areas with \u0026lt;\u0026thinsp;2 farmers (12%) (Fig.\u0026nbsp;\u003cspan refid=\"Fig2\" class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e2\u003c/span\u003ec).\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e \u003c/p\u003e \u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv id=\"Sec13\" class=\"Section2\"\u003e \u003ch2\u003e3.6 Soil fertility changes after practicing organic agriculture.\u003c/h2\u003e \u003cp\u003eCompared to uncultivated soil values, there were positive changes in SOM content at 4 out of the 6 organic gardens (Fig.\u0026nbsp;\u003cspan refid=\"Fig3\" class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e3\u003c/span\u003e). The highest increases in SOM content were generally from plots that were organically managed for 14 years and were x11 the SOM content of uncultivated plots for Tashinga West, Hwaro and Machinya gardens (Fig.\u0026nbsp;\u003cspan refid=\"Fig3\" class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e3\u003c/span\u003e). However, differences in SOM content between plots with 11- and 14-year organic management history were only statistically significant for Machinya garden. The uncultivated plot at Chiwara garden was besides a wetland and this could have been the reason for a higher SOM content compared to cultivated plots. Generally, all uncultivated soils at the gardens were acidic ranging 4.2\u0026ndash;5.4 and all organically managed plots had increased pH points that ranged from 0.37 to 2.18 points above that of the uncultivated area. With the exception of Chiwara garden, all the other gardens had a very low available P content (\u0026lt;\u0026thinsp;4.6 mg P/kg soil), low SOM (\u003cspan type=\"Underline\" class=\"Underline\" name=\"Emphasis\"\u003e\u0026le;\u003c/span\u003e\u0026thinsp;0.5%) content, low mineral N (\u0026lt;\u0026thinsp;20 mgN/kg) and acidic (pH\u0026thinsp;\u003cspan type=\"Underline\" class=\"Underline\" name=\"Emphasis\"\u003e\u0026le;\u003c/span\u003e\u0026thinsp;5) in the uncultivated plots, which is characteristic of inherently infertile soils. Across all gardens, the 14 year organically managed plots had x2 to x11 more available P content compared to their subsequent uncultivated plots. A similar trend to available P was observed for mineral N. With the exception of Chiwara garden, 14-year organically managed plots had increased exchangeable Ca, Mg and K of at least 157%, 21% and 10% respectively compared to the uncultivated plots (Table\u0026nbsp;\u003cspan refid=\"Tab6\" class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e6\u003c/span\u003e).\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e \u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"gridtable\"\u003e\u003ctable float=\"Yes\" id=\"Tab6\" border=\"1\"\u003e \u003ccaption language=\"En\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"CaptionNumber\"\u003eTable 6\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"CaptionContent\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eSelected exchangeable bases (Ca, Mg and K) in soils from Makoni organic farmer gardens\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/div\u003e \u003c/caption\u003e \u003ccolgroup cols=\"4\"\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c1\" colnum=\"1\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c2\" colnum=\"2\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c3\" colnum=\"3\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c4\" colnum=\"4\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cthead\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eCa\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eMg\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eK\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colspan=\"3\" nameend=\"c4\" namest=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e(mg equivalents /100 g soil)\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e14 years\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/th\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003c/thead\u003e \u003ctbody\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eChiwara \u003cem\u003e(n\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;10)\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e13.03\u0026thinsp;\u0026plusmn;\u0026thinsp;0.90\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e2.83\u0026thinsp;\u0026plusmn;\u0026thinsp;0.33\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.98\u0026thinsp;\u0026plusmn;\u0026thinsp;0.19\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eTashinga West \u003cem\u003e(n\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;9)\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e11.20\u0026thinsp;\u0026plusmn;\u0026thinsp;1.91\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e1.79\u0026thinsp;\u0026plusmn;\u0026thinsp;0.18\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.56\u0026thinsp;\u0026plusmn;\u0026thinsp;0.07\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eMachinya \u003cem\u003e(n\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;11)\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e7.29\u0026thinsp;\u0026plusmn;\u0026thinsp;0.74\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.98\u0026thinsp;\u0026plusmn;\u0026thinsp;0.29\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.61\u0026thinsp;\u0026plusmn;\u0026thinsp;0.08\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eHwaro \u003cem\u003e(n\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;13)\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e3.5\u0026thinsp;\u0026plusmn;\u0026thinsp;0.59\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.98\u0026thinsp;\u0026plusmn;\u0026thinsp;0.03\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.22\u0026thinsp;\u0026plusmn;\u0026thinsp;0.03\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eVimbainesu \u003cem\u003e(n\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;4)\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e5.89\u0026thinsp;\u0026plusmn;\u0026thinsp;0.63\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e1.16\u0026thinsp;\u0026plusmn;\u0026thinsp;0.13\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.42\u0026thinsp;\u0026plusmn;\u0026thinsp;0.07\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eTashinga East \u003cem\u003e(n\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;7)\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e6.98\u0026thinsp;\u0026plusmn;\u0026thinsp;2.5\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e1.3\u0026thinsp;\u0026plusmn;\u0026thinsp;0.31\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.41\u0026thinsp;\u0026plusmn;\u0026thinsp;0.01\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"4\" nameend=\"c4\" namest=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e11 years\u003c/b\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eChiwara \u003cem\u003e(n\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;9)\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e8.17\u0026thinsp;\u0026plusmn;\u0026thinsp;1.41\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e1.76\u0026thinsp;\u0026plusmn;\u0026thinsp;0.26\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.52\u0026thinsp;\u0026plusmn;\u0026thinsp;0.14\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eTashinga West \u003cem\u003e(n\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;9)\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e7.67\u0026thinsp;\u0026plusmn;\u0026thinsp;1.09\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e1.39\u0026thinsp;\u0026plusmn;\u0026thinsp;0.15\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.37\u0026thinsp;\u0026plusmn;\u0026thinsp;0.07\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eMachinya \u003cem\u003e(n\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;11)\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e4.58\u0026thinsp;\u0026plusmn;\u0026thinsp;0.50\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.64\u0026thinsp;\u0026plusmn;\u0026thinsp;0.05\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.26\u0026thinsp;\u0026plusmn;\u0026thinsp;0.04\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eHwaro \u003cem\u003e(n\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;13)\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e6.8\u0026thinsp;\u0026plusmn;\u0026thinsp;3.63\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e1.03\u0026thinsp;\u0026plusmn;\u0026thinsp;0.4\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.58\u0026thinsp;\u0026plusmn;\u0026thinsp;0.35\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eVimbainesu \u003cem\u003e(n\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;4)\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e5.09\u0026thinsp;\u0026plusmn;\u0026thinsp;0.57\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e1.08\u0026thinsp;\u0026plusmn;\u0026thinsp;0.09\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.54\u0026thinsp;\u0026plusmn;\u0026thinsp;0.15\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eTashinga East \u003cem\u003e(n\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;4)\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e2.25\u0026thinsp;\u0026plusmn;\u0026thinsp;0.45\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.63\u0026thinsp;\u0026plusmn;\u0026thinsp;0.04\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.32\u0026thinsp;\u0026plusmn;\u0026thinsp;0.05\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"4\" nameend=\"c4\" namest=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eUncultivated Land\u003c/b\u003e\u003csup\u003e\u003cb\u003ea\u003c/b\u003e\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eChiwara\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e8.61\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e3.06\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.39\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eTashinga West\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e2.91\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.57\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.18\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eMachinya\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e2.42\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.61\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.21\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eHwaro\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e1.36\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.81\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.2\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eVimbainesu\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.8\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.57\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.17\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eTashinga East\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.9\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.45\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.16\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003c/tbody\u003e \u003c/colgroup\u003e \u003ctfoot\u003e \u003ctr\u003e\u003ctd colspan=\"4\"\u003e\u003csup\u003ea\u003c/sup\u003eUncultivated land values were from one composite sample. Numbers after \u0026plusmn;\u0026thinsp;are standard errors of means.\u003c/td\u003e\u003c/tr\u003e \u003c/tfoot\u003e \u003c/table\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eThis paragraph outlines results from Tashinga West garden only which had plots that had various fallow periods. Organically managed plots (9\u0026ndash;14 years) had increased pH points of between 0.5 to 1.5 when compared to uncultivated soil (Fig \u003cspan refid=\"MOESM1\" class=\"InternalRef\"\u003eS1\u003c/span\u003e). However, pH differences between year 9, 10, 11, 12 and 15 organic plots were not significant. Soil available P content in 12- and 14-year plots was significantly higher (P\u0026thinsp;\u0026lt;\u0026thinsp;0.01) than in the 9\u0026ndash;11-year plots by at least 170%. All the organically managed plots (9\u0026ndash;14 years) had at least x3 as much, and up to x12 more soil available P content than the uncultivated soil. Mineral N content in the uncultivated soil was within the same range as organically managed plots. Soil organic matter content in the 9- and 14-year plots was in the range of the uncultivated soil. The 10\u0026ndash;11-year plots had significantly less (P\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;0.04) SOM content than the 9- and 14-year plots.\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/div\u003e"},{"header":"4.0 Discussion","content":"\u003cdiv id=\"Sec15\" class=\"Section2\"\u003e \u003ch2\u003e4.1 Farmer demographics\u003c/h2\u003e \u003cp\u003eWe observed that 95% of the interviewed farmers have received some training in organic agriculture from various organisations. Most of the farmers have more than 11 years of experience and MOFA has had a few new recruits over the years with less experience. The few recruits have only received peer to peer training as the Covid pandemic resulted in a halting of extension services to new recruits from NGOs. The relatively older age of farmers practising OA would be surprising if you consider that generally older farmers are reported to be more reluctant to pick up new innovative technologies (Jiri et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR18\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2015\u003c/span\u003e). However, organic management practices are not new to Zimbabwe smallholder farmers as they employ these practices (though not exclusively nor optimised) due to necessity (Tumbure et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR44\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2022\u003c/span\u003e). The continuation of such farmer practices can be viewed as intrinsically motivated due to tradition according to the self-perception theory. Farmers who were less than 46 years old were conspicuously low (13%) suggesting that young adults are less involved in organic farming activities. This trend has been noted elsewhere for non-organic smallholder farmers in central and western Zimbabwe who had an age range of 55\u0026ndash;75 years (Makuvaro et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR23\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2017\u003c/span\u003e). Young adults move to the cities and towns where they engage in other forms employment (Makuvaro et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR23\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2017\u003c/span\u003e; Potts, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR34\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2013\u003c/span\u003e). It is likely that these young adults do not see farming in general as a lucrative endeavour especially when their parents perceive that the low income from sales of organic produce is the biggest market challenge (Fig.\u0026nbsp;4c). As a result, a future challenge of these small-scale organic gardens will be lack of expansion and continuation. When the young adult population retire back to these areas, they would need to be trained to run such gardens. There is an urgent need to attract a younger labour force to agriculture to sustain the future of organic farming.\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv id=\"Sec16\" class=\"Section2\"\u003e \u003ch2\u003e4.2 Cropping patterns and cropping history\u003c/h2\u003e \u003cp\u003eMore farmers reported growing brassicas in the organic market gardens because they are a staple relish and have a ready market in Zimbabwe albeit not a dedicated organic market (Tumbure, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR43\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2021\u003c/span\u003e). Nevertheless, more maize was grown recently and this decision by the farmers was because they currently have a shortage of agricultural water caused by the theft of their solar panels. This presents a case where farmers adjust cropping decisions based on self-perceptions amid challenges encountered. Farmer actions in terms of cropping choices could be described as extrinsically motivated because of potential income and when potential income is low, farmers may prefer growing maize.\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv id=\"Sec17\" class=\"Section2\"\u003e \u003ch2\u003e4.3 Biomass resource availability\u003c/h2\u003e \u003cp\u003eResults from this study reveal that organic materials may not be a major bio-physical limitation if small land sizes are considered as farmers can easily apply an equivalent of 20t/ha/yr of compost (that is a total of 800kg to a land size of 400m\u003csup\u003e2\u003c/sup\u003e). The low livestock manure quantities that farmers had to their disposal each year could be indicative of their resource endowment. In particular and though not assessed in this study, the farmers could have limited cattle ownership which translates to inadequate manure supply for soil application in Zimbabwean farming areas (Tumbure et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR44\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2022\u003c/span\u003e). Many farmers in this study reported using alternatives to cattle manure which included chicken, rock hyrax, and goat manure. These alternatives enable resource constrained farmers to organically manage their soils where they would have otherwise failed.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eThe same farmers reported that they perceived greater yield responses from the application of composted small livestock manure compared to composted cattle manure. A preference of small livestock manure such as goats for vegetable production has been reported elsewhere for Zimbabwean communal farmers (Wuta, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR51\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2012\u003c/span\u003e). While nutritional content of livestock manure and compost produced varies according to type of livestock and its diet, and the manure collection and processing methods, N,P,K content is usually around 1\u0026ndash;2%, 0.3\u0026ndash;1.6%, and 0.2\u0026ndash;2.2% respectively (Agyin-Birikorang et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR2\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2007\u003c/span\u003e; Kugedera et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR21\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2022\u003c/span\u003e; Mbatha et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR26\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2021\u003c/span\u003e; Wuta, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR51\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2012\u003c/span\u003e). The findings of Wuta (\u003cspan citationid=\"CR51\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2012\u003c/span\u003e) concluded that goat manure was superior to cattle manure in terms of N,P, and K content which could explain the findings in our survey that famers perceived, through field observations, that small livestock manure perform agronomically better than cattle manure. This presents practical knowledge acquired by Makoni organic farmers which can be shared amongst the communities they operate in thereby improving the chances of uptake of more sustainable organic management practices.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eIn addition to livestock manure, MOFA farmers identified tree litter as one of the most important compost ingredients. When tree litter is applied to low fertility soils, it has an initial N immobilisation period which correlates with initial litter N, and lignin content (Musvoto et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR28\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2000\u003c/span\u003e; Nyamangara et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR31\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2009\u003c/span\u003e). However, when tree litter is combined with livestock manure and composted, as is the case for MOFA farmers, it could have a more balanced C:N ratio which results in less N immobilisation and greater plant yield response. In addition, tree litter may improve cation content and soil cation exchange capacity as shown previously in Zimbabwean sandy soils (Campbell et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR7\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e1994\u003c/span\u003e). Composts with tree litter may have relatively higher micronutrient content than agricultural residue compost and this complements well the macro-nutrients in livestock manure.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eThe argument that organic residues could be insufficient for smallholder organic farmers (Tumbure et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR44\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2022\u003c/span\u003e) is based on estimations done on large land areas. However, survey results from MOFA farmers show that organic agriculture is more practical when optimised to organic resource availability. Farmers could intensify on smaller land sizes initially in which their resources are sufficient, and as shown through this survey, most farmers have capacity to apply 20t/ha of composted materials to land sizes below 400 m\u003csup\u003e2\u003c/sup\u003e. These small land sizes can improve farmer revenues, and farmers\u0026rsquo; food security. Upscaling would only make sense when done slowly over the years as the farming activities produce more organic residues to use for soil application.\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv id=\"Sec18\" class=\"Section2\"\u003e \u003ch2\u003e4.4 Organic agriculture practices \u0026amp; production challenges\u003c/h2\u003e \u003cp\u003eExtra labour was generally not required because the small organic farming areas per farmer (\u0026lt;\u0026thinsp;495 m\u003csup\u003e2\u003c/sup\u003e) make them more manageable. However, given that a majority of farmers were older than 55 years, the ability to engage in labour intensive hand hoe weeding becomes an issue. Most farmers relied on their families to provide that labour. Other studies have reported shortage of labour in smallholder farming areas of Zimbabwe as a result of migration to urban areas (Makuvaro et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR23\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2017\u003c/span\u003e). Farmers could alternatively hire labour, but the farmers do not make sufficient income to afford help. This presents a significant challenge to some older farmers which could disrupt farming activities.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eThe lack of agricultural water is the main production constraint in the surveyed organic gardens which limits what can be grown and when. Lack of irrigation means that farmers cannot grow vegetables during drought years and annual dry seasons (Batchelor et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR3\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e1996\u003c/span\u003e). Reduced production capacity cascades to lower income from the business enterprise and threatens the future viability of these organic market gardens. The lack of agricultural water is however not particular to organic farmers as it is a national issue with government policy in place to improve national smallholder irrigation area from 26000 to 55000 hectares by 2025 (Mwadzingeni et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR29\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2022\u003c/span\u003e). In this case study, the farmers initially had enough agricultural water access through solar powered boreholes. However, theft of solar panels at their gardens meant that they lost their ability to extract agricultural water.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003ePest pressure on brassicas, cucurbits, Solanaceae have previously been shown to be poorly managed in non-organic smallholder farming areas who employ conventional control methods (Sibanda et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR37\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2000\u003c/span\u003e). However, in the surveyed organic market gardens farmers expressed satisfaction with the effectiveness of organic methods. The farmers use of Zumbane (\u003cem\u003eLippia javanica (Burm.f.))\u003c/em\u003e makes sense since several research have reported that it is toxic and effective against pests such as maize weevil, fall armyworm larvae, and aphids (Kamanula et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR19\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2017\u003c/span\u003e; Phambala et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR33\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2020\u003c/span\u003e; Tembo et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR41\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2018\u003c/span\u003e). This is because \u003cem\u003eLippia javanica\u003c/em\u003e contains camphor, camphene, α-pinene, eucalyptol, among other bioactive compounds that have been shown to have insecticidal properties (Tembo et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR41\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2018\u003c/span\u003e). However, a few farmers mentioned that it has been hard for them to organically manage birds, and termites. In this case physical barrier methods may prove effective against birds, for example fine-mesh exclusion netting which has been shown to be more effective against birds and beetles in blackberries compared to organic insecticides (Kuesel et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR20\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2019\u003c/span\u003e). There is need to develop a local organic inclined industry that produces and supplies such products to smallholder farmers at low cost. Effective organic pest management has positive health outcomes for smallholder farmers in Zimbabwe who have been shown to expose themselves to harmful chemicals by practicing conventional pest management without proper protective clothing (Sibanda et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR37\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2000\u003c/span\u003e).\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv id=\"Sec19\" class=\"Section2\"\u003e \u003ch2\u003e4.5 Current markets, challenges, preferences\u003c/h2\u003e \u003cp\u003eThe current market and preference for the district market is a function of many factors which include age, transport issues and low profits. While the MOFA has exported their produce before (Tumbure et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR44\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2022\u003c/span\u003e), they have since lost access to the export market. The association explained that the company they had worked with to export their organic produce went bankrupt and was shut down without paying them their export dues which discouraged most farmers. It therefore comes as no surprise that a majority of them now prefer to sell in the local district as they are not collectively marketing their produce anymore. It is much easier to access the non-organic district market, however the potential to make significant income is lost (Tumbure et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR44\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2022\u003c/span\u003e). Increased income through sale of certified organic produce is a major motivation for Kenyan farmers (Tankam \u0026amp; Djimeu, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR40\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2020\u003c/span\u003e). The low profits that are particular to MOFA farmers are because farmers have had to sell at discounted prices to middlemen who then transport to national markets without regard that it is organic produce. In addition to low profits, transport was identified as a major issue and this is supported by Mango et al. (\u003cspan citationid=\"CR24\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2018\u003c/span\u003e) who reported that transport information had a huge bearing on farmer market decision in North-East Zimbabwe. The lack of a developed market for organic produce is evident from results of this survey. Given that the non-organic market is still very restrictive as 94% of surveyed farmers are only accessing local district markets, a lot needs to be done to reduce the marginalization of communal farmers.\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv id=\"Sec20\" class=\"Section2\"\u003e \u003ch2\u003e4.6 Soil fertility changes after organic agriculture\u003c/h2\u003e \u003cp\u003eThe low SOM content in the uncultivated areas of \u0026lt;\u0026thinsp;0.86% at 5 out of 6 gardens has been noted by other researchers to be indicative of infertile soils in other areas of Zimbabwe (Mtambanengwe \u0026amp; Mapfumo, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR27\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2005\u003c/span\u003e; Soropa et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR38\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2021\u003c/span\u003e). Initial mineral N, available P and exchangeable K content in the uncultivated areas is acutely deficient according to the Zimbabwean classification system (Soropa et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR38\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2021\u003c/span\u003e). Though qualitatively compared, this study showed that organic management increased available nutrients (N, P, Ca, Mg, K), SOM and led to soil acidity neutralisation, all which leads to increased soil productivity. Differences of SOM between 11- and 14-year plots were generally not significant alluding to the fact that these soil changes are slow, taking more than 3 years to be significant. Soil organic matter takes a long time to build up because it is rapidly broken down through oxidation under sandy soil and tropical conditions (Jephita et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR17\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2023\u003c/span\u003e). While the trajectory of soil attributes is positive with OA management and considering uncultivated areas, the values of SOM are not yet adequate (SOM\u0026thinsp;\u0026gt;\u0026thinsp;1.29%) according to the Zimbabwe soil fertility classification system (Soropa et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR38\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2021\u003c/span\u003e). On the other hand, while available P was acutely deficient (\u0026lt;\u0026thinsp;20 mgP/kg) in the uncultivated areas, it had increased in all organic market gardens to adequate levels for plant growth (\u0026gt;\u0026thinsp;40 mgP/kg) at 5 gardens and to marginal levels (20\u0026ndash;40 mgP/kg) at Hwaro garden. These soil fertility attributes mean that the areas where organic farming has been practiced are more productive than the uncultivated fallow areas which have severe nutrient deficiencies.\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/div\u003e"},{"header":"5.0 Conclusion and recommendations","content":"\u003cp\u003eThe lack of access to organic markets and shortage of agricultural water were among the major socio-economic and bio-physical challenges identified in Makoni. The major, farmer identified challenges to market participation and preference were shortage of transport and low profits. These challenges have influenced farmers to seek local non-organic markets which are less profitable. Despite these challenges, farmers perceive that they have had success in improving their yields and selling their produce although the produce is sold not marked as organic.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eThe low soil fertility status of uncultivated plots around the market gardens reveal that inherent low soil fertility is a challenge. However, the practice of OA has resulted in improved soil fertility of MOFA market gardens as measured by pH, SOM content, and available macro-nutrients. These results show that acutely nutrient deficient soils can be conditioned to marginal and or adequate soil nutrient levels through multiple year cumulative effects of practicing OA. Nevertheless, more research is needed on the use of organic resources such as rock hyrax manure that was reported by several farmers suggesting their effectiveness as organic fertility amendments. No research data is currently available on their local use and what quantities could potentially be available.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eResults from this survey reveal that Zimbabwe\u0026rsquo;s organic market is poorly developed in smallholder farming areas of Makoni district. National policy should prioritise infrastructure development in smallholder farming areas which includes well-developed road networks and transportation systems that will improve market participation. Local extension agents should be trained to provide market information to farmers. Local educational institutions should provide informal business skills training to smallholder farmers, the cost of which could be subsidised by the government. Alternatively, national policy instruments that encourage private \u0026ndash; public partnerships which promote farmer business skill growth and develop organic markets should be drafted and implemented. Policy incentives could be tax relief to companies developing organic markets. We also recommend improved consumer education to support OA for its role in environmental enhancement and contributions to climate change mitigation efforts. This may require policies that recognize and reward organic production.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eWhile there are already good national policies for smallholder irrigation development, the implementation process needs to be accelerated. The failure to attract young people towards organic production as observed for MOFA presents a future continuation challenge of small-scale organic gardens, and the recommendations above may solve this issue.\u003c/p\u003e"},{"header":"Declarations","content":"\u003ch2\u003eFunding information\u003c/h2\u003e \u003cp\u003e This work was supported by the 11th European Development Fund (EDF/2019/410\u0026ndash;697) through the project Global Program of Capacity Building Related to Multilateral Environmental Agreements in Africa, Caribbean and Pacific Countries Phase III (ACP MEAs 3 \u0026ndash; GCP/GLO/006/EC), which is implemented by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and funded by the European Union.\u003c/p\u003e\u003ch2\u003eAuthor Contribution\u003c/h2\u003e\u003cp\u003eAT - Research designing, Data collection and analysis, Writing manuscript draft, Editing manuscript, Logistics and AdministrationMSD - Research designing, Editing manuscript, Logistics and AdministrationGM - Research designing, Data collection and analysis, Editing manuscriptBN - Research designing, Data collection and analysis, Editing manuscriptKK - Editing manuscript, Logistics and administrationAll authors reviewed the manuscript\u003c/p\u003e\u003ch2\u003eAcknowledgement\u003c/h2\u003e\u003cp\u003eMuch appreciation is given to Makoni Organic Farmers Association members who took time to share with us their knowledge and allowed us to sample their gardens. We also thank Simbarashe Shereni and Simbarashe Chipungare who provided technical assistance during soil analysis at Marondera University of Agricultural Science and Chemistry and Soil Research Institute, respectively.\u003c/p\u003e\u003ch2\u003eData Availability\u003c/h2\u003e\u003cp\u003eSurvey data and soil analysis data is available upon request to the authors.\u003c/p\u003e"},{"header":"References","content":"\u003col\u003e\u003cli\u003e\u003cspan\u003eAghasafari, H., Karbasi, A., Mohammadi, H., \u0026amp; Calisti, R. (2020). Determination of the best strategies for development of organic farming: A SWOT \u0026ndash; Fuzzy Analytic Network Process approach. 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D., \u0026amp; Gilbert, D. T. (2003). Affective forcasting. Advances in experimental social psychology, \u003cem\u003e35\u003c/em\u003e.\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/li\u003e \u003cli\u003e\u003cspan\u003eWuta, M. (2012). Management of cattle and goat manure in Wedza smallholder farming area, Zimbabwe. African Journal of Agricultural Reseearch, \u003cem\u003e7\u003c/em\u003e(26). \u003cspan class=\"ExternalRef\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"RefSource\"\u003ehttps://doi.org/10.5897/ajar12.038\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan address=\"10.5897/ajar12.038\" targettype=\"DOI\" class=\"RefTarget\"\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/li\u003e\u003c/ol\u003e "}],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":true,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":false,"hideJournal":false,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":false,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":false,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":false,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"organic-agriculture","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"externalIdentity":"orga","sideBox":"Learn more about [Organic Agriculture](http://link.springer.com/journal/13165)","snPcode":"13165","submissionUrl":"https://submission.nature.com/new-submission/13165/3","title":"Organic Agriculture","twitterHandle":"","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":true,"editorialSystem":"em","reportingPortfolio":"Springer Hybrid","inReviewEnabled":true,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":false},"keywords":"agricultural water, markets, livelihoods, policy, organic carbon, soil nutrients, sustainability ","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-4176428/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-4176428/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"\u003cp\u003eSome researchers have argued that organic agriculture does not yield intended benefits in African smallholder settings because of degraded soils and lack of organic resources. A multidisciplinary case study analysis of selected organic farming gardens in Makoni, Zimbabwe was done to explore farmer resources, perceptions, market access, preferences, and soil fertility status using survey and interview tools and soil analysis. Lack of agricultural water was identified as a major production challenge by 75% of respondents. Unavailable and unreliable transport and low income from sales were identified as the two main challenges (84 % of respondents) in selling organic produce. Roughly 95% of interviewed farmers currently sell their organic produce not marked as organic in the local district. We also reveal that 14-year organic management of soil fertility at MOFA has resulted in increased on average pH (range 0.6 – 2.1 units), and available P (range x6 – x26) compared to adjacent uncultivated areas. Soil organic matter either stayed the same or increased at 5 out of 6 sites and exchangeable Ca, Mg, and K increased by at least 157%, 21%, and 10%, respectively, all compared to uncultivated land. These improvements are likely the reason why 64% of farmers said they had observed yield increases. We conclude that 14 years of organic agriculture has led to the improvement of soil fertility in the initially low-fertility gardens as measured by pH, organic matter, and nutrient content. However, we recommend strengthening the market access to organic produce to sustain organic farming for smallholder farmers in Zimbabwe.\u003c/p\u003e","manuscriptTitle":"Bio-physical and socio-economic challenges, farmers’ perception of success and 14- year soil fertility trajectories in smallholder organic market gardens of North-East Zimbabwe","msid":"","msnumber":"","nonDraftVersions":[{"code":1,"date":"2024-04-19 17:52:32","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-4176428/v1","editorialEvents":[{"type":"communityComments","content":0},{"type":"checksComplete","content":"","date":"2024-04-11T01:30:36+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""},{"type":"editorAssigned","content":"","date":"2024-04-11T01:30:36+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""},{"type":"submitted","content":"Organic Agriculture","date":"2024-03-27T13:20:51+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""}],"status":"published","journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"organic-agriculture","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"externalIdentity":"orga","sideBox":"Learn more about [Organic Agriculture](http://link.springer.com/journal/13165)","snPcode":"13165","submissionUrl":"https://submission.nature.com/new-submission/13165/3","title":"Organic Agriculture","twitterHandle":"","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":true,"editorialSystem":"em","reportingPortfolio":"Springer Hybrid","inReviewEnabled":true,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":false}}],"origin":"","ownerIdentity":"dc6e0cbb-f243-4f63-8e01-daff7a4638d1","owner":[],"postedDate":"April 19th, 2024","published":true,"recentEditorialEvents":[],"rejectedJournal":[],"revision":"","amendment":"","status":"under-review","subjectAreas":[],"tags":[],"updatedAt":"2025-02-20T04:38:21+00:00","versionOfRecord":[],"versionCreatedAt":"2024-04-19 17:52:32","video":"","vorDoi":"","vorDoiUrl":"","workflowStages":[]},"version":"v1","identity":"rs-4176428","journalConfig":"researchsquare"},"__N_SSP":true},"page":"/article/[identity]/[[...version]]","query":{"redirect":"/article/rs-4176428","identity":"rs-4176428","version":["v1"]},"buildId":"8U1c8b4HqxoKbykW_rLl7","isFallback":false,"isExperimentalCompile":false,"dynamicIds":[84888],"gssp":true,"scriptLoader":[]}