SIMLESA: Enhancing Integration, Innovation and Impacts in Eastern and

Southern Africa: Initial findings and lessons

Mulugetta Mekuria, SIMLESA Program Leader, CIMMYT Southern Africa Regional Office Harare Zimbabwe – email

M.Mekuria@cgiar.org, Menale Kassie, CIMMYT- Kenya; Isaiah Nyagumbo, CIMMYT-Southern Africa; Paswel Marenya and Dagne

Wegary CIMMYT-Ethiopia

CASFESA End of Project Workshop

ARARI, Bahirdar 23 February 2105

Executed by CIMMYT with financial Grant from ACIAR

• Phase 1-2010-2013

• SIMLESA2 2014-2018

PARTNERS-NARS

• EIAR, KARI, DRD,DARS , IIAM, spill over NARO,RAB, DAR

• Regional/International

- ICRISAT, QAAFI, ARC, ASARECA, MU, CCARDESA(phase2), ILRI and CIAT

The problem setting

Low productivity Scarce biomass Land degradation

Poor markets Climate variability Limited resouces

SIMLESA Background……Vision of Success

To increase maize and legume yields by 30% while sustaining the environment through

• Conservation agriculture and improved maize and legume varieties

• the development of markets and value chains, from input supplies to output markets.

To reduce downside yield risks by 30%

To benefit 650,000 farm households by 2023.

CA CHMPION FARMER IN MALAWI Mrs Grace Malaichi

Approaches 3+3- Is INTEGRATION (SYSTEMS) INNOVATION PLATFORMS IMPACT ORIENTATION Information Inputs Institutions/policy

More productive,

and sustainable

practices, tactics

and strategies

Better use of

climate

information

M&E, Gender mainstreaming, scaling out and capacity building

Improved

understanding of

socio-economic

conditions

Input and output

markets

Household

resource

allocations

Improved range

of maize and

legume varieties

available for

smallholders

Improved access

to inputs

Objective 1 Objective 2 Objective 3

Objectives 4 & 5

Test and develop productive, resilient and sustainable smallholder

maize-legume cropping systems and innovation systems for local

scaling out

Community awareness meetings Farmer consultations and agreement on

treatments

On-station trials:

Out scaling trials and innovation

platforms and partnerships

Exploratory trials

establishment and

monitoring:

Farmer field days

Major findings from on- station and on-farm

trials 2010-2013

1. Conservation agriculture can improve crop productivity and incomes

• Three years of experimental data and results from Ethiopia showed that the average grain maize yield can increase by about 5-18% under CA options compared with farmers’ practices

• Malawi the increase in maize yield ranged from 3-21% in the mid-altitude agro-ecology, and 8-40% in lowland agro-ecology

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

ETH KEN TAN MAL MOZ ETH KEN TAN MAL MOZ

Me

an m

aize

ggr

ain

yie

ld (

t h

a-1

)

Farmer practice

Conservation Agriculture

WET AREAS DRY AREAS

Complex interactions: Rainfall × Soil × Tillage × Residue cover × inputs etc

SIMLESA Results on the Ground Increased maize yield from CA

Land Preparation and Weed Management Labour Cost

(US$/ha) in Eastern Kenya

Source: Team SIMLESA Kenya

Net returns from integration of different components-Financial Analysis

5396

4652

2959 28082410

1829

497

0

1000

2000

3000

4000

5000

6000

Legume-maize

rotation+reduced/zero

tillage +improved

maize seeds

Legume-maize

rotation +improved

maize seeds

Improved

maize seeds +reduced/zero

tillage

Improved

maize seedsonly

Reduced/zero

tillage only

legume-maize

rotation only

Rotation +

reduced/zerotillage

Ne

t m

aiz

e in

com

e (

ET

B/h

a)

498

1892

2350

2823 2959

4507

5579

0

1000

2000

3000

4000

5000

6000

Maize-legumerotation (R) +

Minimumtillage(T)

R T Improvedmiaze

varities(V)

V+T V+R V+R+T

Net

mai

ze in

com

e(E

TB

/ha)

Impact of CA on Maize income in Ethiopia

5250

8440

9710

11370 11840

12540

14270

Improved maizevarieties(V)

Maize-legumerotation (R)

Maize-legumeintercropping(I)

I + V I + R R +V I + R + VN

et c

rop

inco

me

(MW

K/h

a)

Impact of CA on Maize income in Malawi

Major findings…

2. Conservation agriculture improves ecosystem services • Maize –legume intercropping increased the total nitrogen in the preceding year

compared with planting sole maize

• CA options increased water use efficiency overtime.

• In Mozambique and Ethiopia the highest water use efficiency is achieved when CA

options are combined with maize-legume intercropping system.

3. Conservation agriculture options play a role of risk management

strategies

• Empirical analysis using household survey data in Malawi has shown that CA options has the capacity to improve farmers’ resilience by reducing the probability of crop failure (downside risk) and cost of risk (Kassie et al. forthcoming).

• Higher risk reduction was achieved when CA options are used jointly

Soil moisture effects of CA based cropping

systems in Mozambique, Angonia district, 2012.

Effects of CA based cropping systems on rain

water use efficiency in Ethiopia.

0

50

100

150

200

250

300

350

400

0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3

Ris

k p

rem

ium

(mai

ze y

ield

-kg/

ha)

Farmers’ risk behavior index

Both Crop diversification Minimum tillage

Conservation agriculture options play a role of risk management strategies

Major findings…

4. Maize-Legume variety selection and release under SIMLESA enhanced system productivity, sustainability and diversification

– CA compatible new maize variety released-

– PVS tools and Seed Road Maps enhance availability and access to improved maize and legume varieties to farmers

The main lesson from the varietal work under SIMLESA is that building on existing work and networks to create a multi-stakeholder coalitions in seed systems

A newly released maize hybrid, BH546, with

narrow and erect leaf architecture and suitable

for intercropping with common beans

3

6

3

5

7

3

1

4

3

4

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

Num

ber

of

var

ieti

es r

elea

sed

Open pollonated variety Hybrid

40

71 72

92

121

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

140

Tanzania Malawi Mozambique Kenya Ethiopia

Nu

mber

of

dem

os

On-farm PVS trails conducted during

2010-2013

Major findings…

5 . Adoption factors identified

6. Innovation Platforms- mechanisms for scaling out and market linkages and knowledge and information management

7. M&E, Gender mainstreaming and Capacity building are critical components

What Drives Adoption of SIPs?

Group Membership

Those farmers belonging to groups

had a higher chance to adopt:

In Ethiopia: Cropping system

diversification(CD) and minimum

tillage(MT)

In Kenya: Improved

Varieties(IV) and fertilizer

In Malawi: Soil and Water

Conservation(SWC)

Proximity to markets

When close to markets farmers had a

higher chance to adopt:

In Ethiopia: CD and manure use

In Malawi: Improved varieties

In Tanzania: CD and MT

Household assets & extension skill

With more assets farmers had a higher

chance to adopt :

In Ethiopia: Soil and Water

Conservation

In Kenya and Tanzania: Manure

With quality of extension services farmers

had a higher chance to adopt:

• In Ethiopia: CD, MT,

• In Kenya: CD and SWC

• In Malawi: MT

• In Tanzania: IV

Source: Land use Policy (2014) 42:400-411

Credit agencies

Processors

Development agencies

NGOs Farmers

Government policies, informal institutions, practices, behaviors and attitudes

Seed companies

Farmer

coops/

CBOs

Public and

private

extension

Input suppliers

SIMLESA

Research teams

Local and

regional

government

Service providers

Institutional Innovations – example of IPs

Wholesalers &

retailers

What to scale up/out?

Promising new varieties Maize hybrids

Maize OPVs

Pigeonpea varieties

Soybean varieties

Bean varieties

Groundnut varieties

Forages spp.

Agronomic/CA components

Planting system (spacing etc)

Fertilizer application

Weed control

Soil & water management

Legume rotations/ intercropping

Minimum or zero tillage

Residue retention

Institutional innovations

• Farmer targeting tools (typologies)

• Gender targeting and mainstreaming

• Farmer marketing groups

• Link to credit and insurance providers

• Post-harvest practices

How Much Labor do Women Contribute

to Agriculture

Female labor share by agricultural activity for all crops (%)

Female labor contribution to maize production – 44% (19-55%)

Activity Ethiopia

(N=2257)

Kenya

(N=534)

Tanzania

(N=551)

Malawi

(N=1904)

Mozambique

(N=500)

Land preparation & planting 13 48 40 52 45

Weeding 25 50 42 52 53

Harvesting 26 54 41 54 58

Threshing 28 54 38 61 64

Total 23 53 43 54 55

• Women’s total labor commitment is disproportionately high

• given that they contribute some 50% of agricultural labor

• plus nearly all the labor required for family care and related household chores.

• What intervention(s) can ease the work load of female so that their and their family

welfare can be improved?

Key lessons for Asia maize-legume systems

1. Need to carefully understand sources of residues for CA in each cropping environment and consider challenges from livestock competition and termites.

2. Labour reduction /savings witnessed from CA with herbicide assisted weed control

3. Rotations across ESA region found to be superior in terms of maize yields despite farmer preference in some cases for intercropping systems.

4. Need for strong input/output market support services through IPs or other organizational support models.

Challenges and opportunities

• Difficulties experienced in applying the 3 principles as a package : components, stepwise adoption preferred by farmers

• Labour savings from CA generally the key benefit especially in herbicide assisted systems- availability of herbicides

• Yield benefits most apparent from rotation systems.

• But yield increases were not apparent in some situations especially waterlogged soils.

• Diseases in some maize varieties and environments under CA.

Lessons from SIMLESA and CASFESA: Enhancing adoption and impact

• Practices that conserve natural resources (moisture, soil, nutrients) also

reduce costs of production

– Suggesting clear opportunities for sustainable intensification using “simple”

techniques:

• Such as legume intercrops, reduced frequency of tillage

• Risk is a major objective (perhaps co-equal to productivity)

– SIPs practices reduce downside risk

– Providing extra incentives for adoption

– The need for farmer education on these risk reduction benefits

• Three classes of variables remain critical for SIPs adoption

– Social capital and networks (evidenced by group membership)

– Public goods in the form of infrastructure and extension

– Private asset endowments (land, equipment, livestock)

From Results to Lessons: Implications

• For many rural households, food security depends on productivity

enhancement through improved maize varieties and SIPs

– For the foreseeable future: the pathway to food security will pass through

smallholder productivity and technology improvement on own-farms

• Need to expand the analytical frontiers of gender research in agriculture

– We find that latent and difficult-to-observe factors lie behind the gender

food security gaps

• Evidence exists for synergies in agricultural practices for SIPs

– Promising win-win outcomes

– But also suggesting greater role of information, extension and adaptive

research

Next steps

• Validate research products

• Undertake various research issues

– Gender technology and productivity gaps and causes

of these gaps

– Household bio-economic modelling

– SIPs and Risk analysis,

– Livelihood diversification

• Taking research products to policy makers, farmers,

researchers, development partners, etc.,

• Promotion of Integrated improved germplasm and

crop management practices is critical.

• Phased intensification across farming systems

• Focus on impact pathways, innovation platforms and

systems integration

Take Home Messages • Crafting and enhancing a comprehensive

integration of disciplines to generate the relevant

options/ technologies;

• bringing on board a functional stakeholders group

through innovation platforms for scaling out/up

• Mainstreaming gender and inclusive strategies and

value chain analysis tools to create farmer-market

linkages • Technology, Institutions and Policy remain critical

• Promotion of Integrated improved germ plasm and crop management practices is critical

• Sustainable intensification through CA in Africa is not only necessary but urgent

• Phased intensification across farming systems • Focus on impact pathways, innovation platforms

and systems integration

•

Sustainable intensification through CA in Africa and Asia is not only necessary but urgent

Acknowledgment SIMLESA Partners including Farmers

ACIAR and CIMMYT Colleagues