KNOWLEDGE FOR LIFE

development projects

Cotton is one of the most important sources of income for many smallholder farmers in Africa. Many rural farmers in both Kenya and Mozambique grow the cash crop, which has the potential to provide them with a route out of poverty.

so what’s the problem?For a number of differing reasons – such as low quality seeds, poor land preparation and inadequate pest control – yields are not what they could be. Much of this poor crop management is caused by lack of farmer knowledge and inadequate technical support. As a result, many farmers are moving away from cotton farming.

Much research has been carried out to date, but so far, few of the crop management techniques suggested by researchers are being adopted by farmers. And, full advantage has not been taken of the new seed varieties available.

improving cotton production in East Africa

locationKenya and Mozambique

date2009 – 2013

project teamDaniel Karanja Martin Kimani Richard Musebe George Oduor

what is this project doing?To remedy this, CABI, with funding from the Common Fund for Commodities, the European Union through its All ACP Agricultural Commodities Programme and developed in consultation with the International Cotton Advisory Committee (ICAC), is instigating a project which aims to revamp the cotton industry in both Kenya and Mozambique.

The Kenyan Government has identified cotton as a key crop with the potential to benefit 8 million citizens of the country’s drier regions. Mozambique’s Government has also recognized the value of the cotton industry and are keen to promote good practices and revitalise an industry that was severely impaired during their civil war.

Ultimately, the goal is to improve the livelihoods of the rural farmers and allow them to profit from their labours. How? By making cotton production more efficient and subsequently more profitable. To do this, the project team is working with all those involved in the production of cotton including farmers and their associations, ginneries (cotton processing stations), input providers and regulators. This allows the team to analyse the whole production system, identifying the key issues and constraints along the value chain.

The project is providing farmers with the tools and the know-how to produce more and better cotton by introducing an innovative Integrated Crop Management (ICM) strategy. This holistic approach focuses on participatory training techniques, so that farmers can learn how to get the most from their land and grow their crops in a sustainable way.

Furthermore, we want to ascertain how things can be improved in both countries and establish ways of working that can be continued long beyond the life of the project.

results so farThe project started operations in late 2009. The team then initiated a baseline survey comprising a total of 350 households. We did this in the target project sites and selected comparison group in Kenya. Similarly, we undertook a situation analysis of over 350 households in the target districts of Mozambique and selected a comparison group. We shared and published this data.

Following a needs assessment, a curriculum for trainers and farmers on Integrated Crop Management (ICM) in cotton was developed and will be continuously updated during the season-long farmers’ training. We also conducted a training course for more than 100 farmer field school facilitators from the six target districts in each country.

We are also conducting an agro-ecosystem analysis and found that farmers reduced spraying pests from 8-12 to 5-6 times during one cropping season in both countries. 124 farmer field schools reaching more than 3,000 smallholder cotton farmers have been established. In addition, training materials including cotton ICM manual, IPM posters and pictorial pest identification guides have been developed.

We also found that in Mozambique, the cotton seed yield during the 2010/11 cropping season, was as high as 1,682 kg/ha compared to 552 kg/ha in the non-ICM plot nearby. A cost benefit analysis is on-going.

contactCABI, ICRAF Complex, United Nations Avenue, Gigiri, PO Box 633-00621, Nairobi, Kenya T: +254 20 72 24450 F: +254 20 71 22150 E: africa@cabi.org www.cabi.org/africa

www.cabi.org/africancottonID

-AFC

OTT

ON

-06-

12

Daniel Karanja, Project Manager

partnersKenya Agricultural Research Institute (KARI)

Mozambique Cotton Institute (IAM)

Cotton Development Authority (CODA), Kenya

Department of Crop Production and Plant Protection, Eduardo Mondlane University, Mozambique

Mozambique Institute for Agrarian Research (IIAM)

Cotton Research and Seed Multiplication Center of Namialo (CIMSAN)

sponsors

Common Fund for Commodities (CFC)

European Commission (EC)

and counterpart funding from the governments of Kenya and Mozambique