Canavalia brasiliensis (canavalia), a drought tolerant legume, was introduced into the smallholder traditional crop-livestock production system of the Nicaraguan hillsides as green manure to improve soil fertility or as forage during the dry season for improving milk production.

Studies from nine states indicate that adoption of micro-irrigation (MI) technologies - drip and sprinkler systems - has a positive impact in terms of water saving, yield and income enhancement at farm level. However, the overall impression among the farmers is that MI is capital intensive and suited only to large farmers who have Access to capital and technical knowhow. As such, only 12.2 percent of potential drip irrigation area and 7.8 percent of potential sprinkler area is covered in the country with large variations across states.