Jm. Njoroge et Jk. Kimemia, ECONOMIC-BENEFITS OF INTERCROPPING YOUNG ARABICA AND ROBUSTA COFFEE WITH FOOD CROPS IN KENYA, Outlook on Agriculture, 24(1), 1995, pp. 27-34
As coffee prices fall, intercropping the young trees with vegetables h
as been suggested as a way of providing farmers with extra income as w
ell as improving their diet. To test whether this is an economic propo
sition, Arabica and Robusta coffee was intercropped with various food
crops at several sites in the main coffee-growing zones of Kenya. Inte
rcropping with potatoes, tomatoes, dry beans, cabbages, carrots and so
yabeans was found to be economically viable, depending on the site, In
tercropping coffee with maize, sweet potatoes, groundnuts, cowpeas, ga
rden peas and cassava was not economic, however.