The IITA-led, multidisciplinary research program, Africa Research in Sustainable Intensification for the Next Generation (Africa RISING), now on its third year, has made significant progress in getting researchers coming from different backgrounds and institutions to work together in a truly integrated way to develop science-based solutions to the challenges faced by smallholder farmers. This has resulted in impressive increases in the productivity of smallholder farmers involved in the research project across its five districts in East and Southern Africa.
This was noted during an annual review meeting of the program’s activities in East and Southern Africa held 9–12 September in Arusha, Tanzania, which brought together project researchers and partners. The project is funded by the US Government under the Feed the Future Initiative in East and Southern Africa. It covers Malawi, Tanzania, and Zambia.
Speaking during this event, Jerry Glover, Senior Advisor on Sustainable Intensification for USAID, noted that this year the research teams were truly integrated unlike at the beginning of the program when the researchers were more concerned with their specific disciplines. “This has led to the successes the project is having,” he said.
This was echoed by Ben Lukuyu, one of the scientists from the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) who is heading the research efforts on livestock: “This stepwise effort towards integration has worked. At the beginning, we were looking out for the interests of our respective institutions and research disciplines. But this year was different. Now the disciplines are less evident; we are now working together as a team.” The research project has already identified and verified technologies that can be scaled up and disseminated to farmers to increase their production and productivity. These include new, improved varieties of various crops including cereals and legumes for feed and fodder which are high yielding and suitable to the sites.
Combined with improved farming practices, these varieties have been able to yield in some cases up to five times what the farmers have been getting and the farmers can hardly wait to get their h ands on them, reported one of the project implementers.
“We have been promoting maize–pigeon pea intercropping and the use of improved varieties and phosphorus fertilizer. We have seen yield increases between two to three times more across all project sites in Babati, on average,” said Stephen Lymo, from the Selian Agriculture Research Institute, Tanzania, and one of the project’s researchers.
“We have also managed to change the mindset of the farmers on the use of inorganic fertilizers. Before this, they only wanted to use manure. They had no knowledge of using inorganic fertilizers. Now, they are more than willing to combine the two,” he said.
Research on vegetables reported even higher yield gains according to Victor Afari-Sefa from The World Vegetable Centre (AVRDC). “We have experienced tremendous increase in yields in the project and farmers’ demonstration plots―up to even 700% after introducing improved vegetable varieties of tomato, amaranth, and African eggplant and the implementation of improved agronomic practices in growing vegetables including the use of disease-free healthy planting material and inorganic fertilizer combined with manure,” he said.
“We have also introduced poultry–vegetable integration where farmers use poultry droppings as manure for the vegetables and waste from the vegetables to feed the poultry,” he added.
Stakeholder involvement
The Director of Research Development (DRD) under the Ministry of Agriculture, Food Security and Livestock, Dr Myaka, who was also present at the meeting, hailed the project for its sustainable intensification efforts and for its livestock component.
“The added value of this project is the intensification approach and inclusion of a livestock component. It is bringing livestock and crop scientists together. It also has a strong component of stakeholder involvement in its multi-institutional/multidisciplinary and value-chain approaches. It is also involving the community in research―this is an indicator that its impact can be achieved,” he said.
He therefore asked the researchers to come up with concrete recommendations for scaling up the results achieved by the program to other cereal-based areas in the country.
To further strengthen the involvement of stakeholders the project has established four R4D platforms; two in Tanzania and two in Malawi. These platforms bring together the different stakeholders necessary to facilitate the project’s research activities and also the scaling up of the technologies generated. These include policymakers from the agriculture, livestock, and health sectors, NGOs, national agriculture research institutes, extension workers, district administration, the private sector, and farmers.
“Last year, R4D platforms were on paper. But this year, they are in place in all the sites. This is a big step for the project,” said Per Hillbur, a consultant with Africa RISING who is coordinating the formation of the R4D platform in Babati.
Next steps
The project will continue to verify and test the successful technologies and look at factors such as cost–benefit analysis to ensure they are economically beneficial for the farmers. The project will also further strengthen the R4D platforms so that they are active and remain functional beyond the project’s lifespan.
“We have made a lot of progress under Africa RISING in East and Southern Africa. We are seeing very impressive results. In the coming two years, we will focus on consolidating these results, refining the technologies, and developing recommendations to development partners and policymakers on how to improve the productivity of smallholder farmers in cereal-based systems in East and Southern Africa,” said Irmgard Hoeschle-Zeledon, Coordinator of the Africa RISING program.
For more details, please contact: Andrea Gros, a.gros@cgiar.org
About IITA www.iita.org
The International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) is one of the world’s leading research partners in finding solutions for hunger, malnutrition, and poverty. Its award-winning research for development (R4D) approach addresses the development needs of tropical countries. IITA works with partners to enhance crop quality and productivity, reduce producer and consumer risks, and generate wealth from agriculture. IITA is a non-profit organization founded in 1967 in Nigeria and governed by a Board of Trustees. IITA works on the following crops: cowpea, soybean, banana/plantain, yam, cassava, and maize. IITA is a member of CGIAR, a global agriculture research partnership for a food secure future.
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