East and Southern Africa Flagship

Key highlights of our work so far

Prepared by Siboniso Moyo and Mohammed SaidPresented by Polly Ericksen

CRP-DS Science and Implementation Workshop30th June – 4th July, 2014

Holiday Inn Hotel - Amman, Jordan

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Resilience areasLand pressure, increasing human population, diminishing access to resources, weak policy

frameworks, under developed/lack of markets, low livestock productivity

Increased vulnerability to shocks such as drought, price increases and conflict

Response Develop enabling policies

Develop resilience enhancing mechanisms

Intensification areasHigh population densities, small plot sizes, low soil fertility, labour constraints, heterogeneity of land

pressure and farmer preferences

Opportunities for intensification of agriculture exist, technologies need to respond to markets, IPs and

value chain enhancement are key

Agricultural intensification can substantially contribute to reduce household and increase food security

Resilient livelihoods

Wealth and well

being

Food access

Natural Resources

Management

Gender Empowerm

ent

Capacity to

Innovate

Contribution to IDOs

In Pastoral, Agro-Pastoral, Crop based and Mixed crop x livestock systems

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East and Southern Africa Flagship Action Sites

7

Chama

Angonia

Lundazi

Chipata

Petauke

Katete

Chadiza

Tsangano

MoatizeZumbo

Mutarara

Changa

ra

Chora-Bassa

Magoe

MaraviaChiuta

Chifunde Macanga

Cons

trai

nts/

pote

ntial

/opp

ortu

nitie

s

‘map

ping

’ usin

g ‘g

uida

nce

map

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ICRISAT

CIAT

CIATCIP

ICRAFBioversity

CIATCIP

Mich

inji

CIP

Dedza

Ntcheu

Chikwaw

a

Nsanje

Tholo

Zomba Chiradzulu

Mulanje

Machinga

Common Action Site in the Chinyanja Triangle

8Source: ASARECA Report; KRDP/ASAL DM

Galla goats indigenous breed for milk and meat in West Pokot

Reclaimed farm (African Foxtail grass) from invasive prosopis julifora

Sale of fatten livestock fed on African Foxtail grass

Main research questions• What are resilience enhancing options?• Where are the hot spots of land degradation and how

best to tackle this?• Do integrated crop and livestock systems minimise

environmental impacts, reduce risk and enhance resilience?

• What are the major determinants of technology adoption by smallholder farmers?

• What are the best bet technology options that can be recommended for adoption by smallholder farmers?

Main research questions• What are the dynamic drivers of change in the status of

agricultural biodiversity resources in integrated crop livestock systems?

• What is the soil health status of landscapes and its implication on sustainable intensification?

• How to make low input small scale farming productive, profitable and resource efficient?

• What are the decision support tools which will help intensification of integrated agricultural water management interventions?

Tools and methods• Development of vulnerability frameworks• Characterisation of food systems and identification of

entry points• Characterisation of agricultural biodiversity resources• Understanding research gaps and gap filling• Developing integrated systems approach to land and

water use for productivity and income• Developing resilience enhancing options and testing best

bet technologies

Tools and methods• Baseline surveys, agronomic and socio-economic surveys• Participatory value chain analysis and development of

interventions• Test extension approaches for NRM, land use plans,

governances and tenure security• Innovation platforms for stakeholder engagement• Integrated systems simulation modelling, remote sensing

and geospatial analysis• Developing capacity of farmer associations and cooperatives

Scale of operation• Household (individual surveys)• Plot level• Farm level• Community level (FGDs,

participatory mapping)• Landscape (rangeland ecology,

NRM, water management)• Ecosystem, biomass (range and

biodiversity assessments and modelling)

Collaboration frameworks and Partnerships

• Bioversity, CIAT, CIP, ICARDA, ICRAF, ICRISAT, ILRI, IWMI and SSA-CP

• Currently there is a regional focus• Partnerships formed around bilateral

projects• All CGIAR Centres in DS/ESA;• NARS; • Farmers, Extension Services;• Private Sector; • Universities and colleges; and• NGO Partners in target sites• Policy makers – in various countries

Key Achievements (1)• Four Innovation Platforms (IPs) established in mixed crop-

livestock systems• Nine major technologies tested and put into use eg.

- mechanised and non-mechanised CA;- intercropping maize with legumes;- cultivation of improved forage varieties;- Seed multiplication

• Partnerships developed and some strengthened• Capacity building – eg. training of farmers, extension staff,

MSc students and the project teams.

Key Achievements (2)• Soil and landscape health assessment conducted in the

Chinyanja Triangle.• Review on agricultural water management interventions for the

Chinyanja Triangle.• Revision of Empirical Model upon which Index Based Livestock

Insurance contracts are based.• Wildlife and conservation Management Bill 2013 was passed in

Kenya.• Work with K NDMA on EWS system.• Generated knowledge, tools and data (eg. lessons distilled on IPs

and NGO partnerships to improve livestock value chains)

Key Achievements (3)• Publications, policy briefs and policy engagements (revision

of policy) and media materials• Conference papers on various topics on sustainable

intensification of agriculture.• Consultative process to compile and synthesise knowledge

on trees and resilience in the drylands of Africa.• Special publication on pastoral farming systems and food

security in Sub-Saharan Africa priorities for science and policy• Special publication on Pro-poor co-investment in

environmental services in Africa and Asia: a theory of change

Successes• Developed appropriate technologies• Introduced improved management practices • Generated data on several areas (eg. soils, landscapes, and

household typologies)• Forged partnerships with local organisations which helped with

implementation• Engaged stakeholders identification of constraints and

opportunities• Generated publications on conceptualizing and measuring

resilience in drylands,• Generated publications on sustainable intensification and on trees.• Conducted a number of capacity building initiatives

Challenges (1)• Understanding complexity of systems and implications

for research and development. • Developing and tailoring the management technologies

to a diverse group of large numbers of smallholder farmers.

• There are barriers to adoption of technologies which are beyond Science and require investments (capacities and infrastructure) in the drylands.

• Limited capacity to implement systems research (trans disciplinary research across organizations and partners)

Challenges (2)• CG Centres in the FP not yet working closely in

implementing an integrated systems approach at the action site level.

• New to joint planning• Centre issues result in focal points without

authority to follow up on deliverables in some cases

Areas for improvement• Adopt systems approach, and make use of synergies• Engage relevant stakeholders from the beginning.• More attention and involvement of policy and decision

makers.• Improve Centre coordination and communication (joint

planning).• Develop joint proposal to support the work of the FPs

(currently plans do not match the available resources). • Improve reporting mechanisms.• Disburse funds in good time.

What would we do differently?• Define the goal of each FP clearly from the beginning.• FPs should have the funding initially not Centres.• Activities should be accompanied by resources.• Allocate enough time and resources to do the work.• Define and agree areas for joint resource

mobilisation (filling the gaps).• Improve mechanisms for inter centre coordination

(funds, communication).

• Thank you for your attention