Abstract Rainfed crop production is the primary means of food security and income generation for rural households in semi-arid West Africa, which contains a high level of agro-ecological and socio-economic heterogeneity. Official management recommendations currently focus on the use of purchased certified seed and inorganic fertilizers, but are based primarily on highly controlled on-station trials that do not capture this heterogeneity and complexity of production systems. This study established hundreds of on-farm research trials across Senegal and The Gambia to test the agronomic benefit of multiple integrated practices related to seeds, inorganic fertilizers, and locally available organic amendments. All management practice were found to reliably increase yield across both the heterogeneity of this region and the diversity of the partnering farmers, and multiple integrated practices had greater effect than the currently recommended “best” practice. These alternative practices therefore offer an immediate pragmatic replacement to the existing recommendations and demonstrate the research and extension value of supervised on-farm trials. These findings also suggest that agronomic recommendations should focus on multiple “better” options rather than singular “best” practices, and farmers encouraged to select among these options based on their individual knowledge, circumstances, and preferences.

中文翻译：

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农场试验确定了西非雨养农业的适应性管理方案

摘要 雨养作物生产是西非半干旱地区农村家庭粮食安全和创收的主要手段，该地区农业生态和社会经济异质性高。官方管理建议目前侧重于使用购买的经过认证的种子和无机肥料，但主要基于高度控制的现场试验，没有捕捉到生产系统的这种异质性和复杂性。这项研究在塞内加尔和冈比亚建立了数百个农场研究试验，以测试与种子、无机肥料和当地可用有机改良剂相关的多种综合实践的农艺效益。发现所有管理实践都能可靠地提高该地区的异质性和合作农民的多样性的产量，并且多种综合实践比目前推荐的“最佳”实践具有更大的效果。因此，这些替代做法提供了对现有建议的直接实用替代，并证明了受监督的农场试验的研究和推广价值。这些发现还表明，农艺建议应侧重于多种“更好”的选择，而不是单一的“最佳”做法，鼓励农民根据他们的个人知识、情况和偏好在这些选择中进行选择。因此，这些替代做法提供了对现有建议的直接实用替代，并证明了受监督的农场试验的研究和推广价值。这些发现还表明，农艺建议应侧重于多种“更好”的选择，而不是单一的“最佳”做法，鼓励农民根据他们的个人知识、情况和偏好在这些选择中进行选择。因此，这些替代做法提供了对现有建议的直接实用替代，并证明了受监督的农场试验的研究和推广价值。这些发现还表明，农艺建议应侧重于多种“更好”的选择，而不是单一的“最佳”做法，鼓励农民根据他们的个人知识、情况和偏好在这些选择中进行选择。