INTERCROPPING COMPACT ARABICA COFFEE HYBRID AT ESTABLISHMENT STAGES WITH FOOD CROPS .2. EFFECTS ON COFFEE YIELDS, BEARING PLANT-COMPONENTS AND ECONOMIC-BENEFITS IN KENYA
Jm. Njoroge et al., INTERCROPPING COMPACT ARABICA COFFEE HYBRID AT ESTABLISHMENT STAGES WITH FOOD CROPS .2. EFFECTS ON COFFEE YIELDS, BEARING PLANT-COMPONENTS AND ECONOMIC-BENEFITS IN KENYA, Discovery and innovation, 8(1), 1996, pp. 79-84
Intercropping systems involving Irish potatoes, tomatoes, maize and dr
y beans was conducted between 1987 and 1989 at Ruiru, Kenya in newly e
stablished compact Arabica coffee hybrid cv. 'Ruiru 11'. Significant (
P < 0.05) reduction of the initial yields of clean coffee by the maize
intercrop systems was observed. Irish potatoes, tomatoes and dry bean
s intercropping systems did not affect the coffee yields, coffee bean
sizes, raw, roast and liquor quality adversely. A non significant coff
ee yield improvement was noted when the food crops were intercropped a
t alternate coffee inter-rows than in all the coffee inter-rows. All t
he intercrops gave positive net economic benefits per hectare per year
. Maize planted at alternate coffee inter-rows gave the highest margin
al rate of economic return followed by tomatoes in combination with dr
y beans. It was concluded that, maize was not suitable as an intercrop
in young coffee at coffee field establishment stages but Irish potato
es tomatoes and dry beans can be considered.