However, the crop became a less popular choice
with many farmers because profitability had declined over recent
years because of declining yields and occasional total crop failures
from soil fertility depletion and long drought effects.
Farmers considered cassava to have fairly high drought resistance
and noted that it grewwell on a range of soil types. Moreover,
cassava required less management and allowed farmers to generate
extra income from other on-farm activities and off-farm casual
employment. These were the major reasons given by farmers for
growing cassava.
Farmers also said mungbeanwas not a popular choice because it
was susceptible to a wide range of diseases and insect pests. In
addition, it required 2e3 hand pickings to complete the harvest
which was labour intensive and time consuming. Soybean, on the
other hand, was grown less because heavy rains at harvesting time
could reduce yield and quality. It also had similar disease and insect
problems to mungbean. Peanut became a less popular choice
because it required more labour at harvest, rather than being
difficult to grow. Lastly, sesame was not considered an important
crop in the region and was grown by a minority of farmers.