Farming Systems and Food Security in Sub-Saharan Africa: Priorities for Science and Policy

A Farming Systems Approach to Support Planning and Investment

in Agriculture

Jean-Marc Boffa, Chris Auricht, John Dixon and Dennis Garrity

16 April 2015, Bingu International Conference Centre, Lilongwe, Malawi

Farming Systems and Food Security in Sub-Saharan Africa: Priorities for Science and Policy

Opportunities and challenges for agriculture in Africa

• Growth from agriculture at least twice as effective in reducing poverty compared to other sectors (WB 2008)

• Opportunity – economic take off, needs consolidation to address increasing food needs

• Existing systems are expected to continue to accommodate • large increases in population• increasing urbanisation• rising demand for plant and animal products• competition for land and water and • climate change impacts

• Transition from land expansion to intensification needed with closure of land frontier

• Go beyond ‘business-as-usual’ investments in agriculture to deliver sustainable solutions

Farming Systems and Food Security in Sub-Saharan Africa: Priorities for Science and Policy

Why a farming systems lens?

• Low productivity and rural food insecurity and poverty persist after many years of interventions

• Large diversity of farming systems and farm households’ potentials and needs (population, crop-livestock ratios, market access, poverty prevalence).

• Top-down propositions and/or co-learning? Grasping the complexity of farm household decision-making is key to fostering innovation and accelerating adoption

Farming Systems and Food Security in Sub-Saharan Africa: Priorities for Science and Policy

Do we understand farm household decision-making? Connecting resources, production, consumption and investment in farm context

Multiple enterprises

Farming Systems and Food Security in Sub-Saharan Africa: Priorities for Science and Policy

Farming systems approach and evolution

• Interdisciplinary• Participatory (diagnosis, design, evaluation,

learning)• On-farm research• Modelling

• Applications• Research, extension (technology generation and

adaptation)• Typologies for scaling out, planning, policy

Farming Systems and Food Security in Sub-Saharan Africa: Priorities for Science and Policy

Focus: WB Rural Devt Strategy, capacity to speak to Finance Ministers

2001 2015

Farming Systems and Food Security in Sub-Saharan Africa: Priorities for Science and Policy

Simplifying complexity

• Investment planning needs simplified broad patterns, key trends and major opportunities

• Large populations of farm systems have broadly similar patterns of livelihood (crop/livestock) and consumption patterns, as well as constraints and opportunities.

• Policy-making relevance: Similar development strategies and interventions apply.

• Farms are systems. Interactions between farm components.

• Workable number of systems for effective targeting (max 12-15)

• Recognizable internal heterogeneity (sub-systems)

Farming Systems and Food Security in Sub-Saharan Africa: Priorities for Science and Policy

Approach

• Central tendency concept• Core criteria for classification:

– Agro-ecology (LGP)– Socio-economics (especially market access) – Key commodities (crops, livestock, trees, fish)

• Expert knowledge• Large data providers e.g. IFPRI – Harvest Choice,

UN-FAO, ILRI, ICRAF, IIASA, CGIAR others• Iterative system delineation process

Farming Systems and Food Security in Sub-Saharan Africa: Priorities for Science and Policy

ElevationSlope, aspect, drainageSettlements, ports, marketsRoad, rail, river, ICT networksMarket travel times & costs

Underlying information

Port travel times & costs

Terrain, Demography,

Infrastructure, Admin Units

ProductionEnvironment &

Constraints

ProductionSystems &

Performance

Interventions/Responses

Agroecological ZonesCropland extent & intensityPests & Diseases (Maize Stem Borer)Drought Incidence & SeverityRunoffAdministrative Units Farming SystemsCrop Suitability: Rainfed WheatCrop Distribution & YieldsValue of Production per Rural Person

NA

010

2030

40

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

100 80 60 40 20 0

IrrigationThreshold

% of AvailableSoil Water

MaizeYield

Potentialt[DM]/ha

Fertilizer Application Ratekg[N]/ha

Yield Responses to Inputs, Management, CCProfitability of small scale irrigationQuantity of Nutrients RemovedFertilizer ProfitabilityDistribution of Welfare Benefits

Linkage toMacroModels

Aggregate to FPUs

Source: HarvestChoice 2010

Farming Systems and Food Security in Sub-Saharan Africa: Priorities for Science and Policy

Regional-level farming systems classification

Farming Systems and Food Security in Sub-Saharan Africa: Priorities for Science and Policy

Highland Perennial FS and subsystems

High population densityHigh agricultural potentialPermanently cultivated systemsMarket-orientation as a way to intensify systems

Central HighlandsCommercializing

Western HighlandsDiversifying

Population density +++ ++++Farm size +++ ++Market infrastructure ++ +Poverty 30% poor >60% poorFarm area

35% maize17% tea

17% coffeeMore high value crops

42% maize8% tea

10% coffee

% of improved cattle 95%22% of crop area in

fodderZero-grazing increasing

67%11% in fodder

Value of production 102K KSh/household 44K KSh/householdUse of fertilizers 122 kg/ha

74 manure bags51 kg/ha

26 manure bagsSYSTEM LEVEL

SUB-SYSTEM LEVEL

Differentiate

Farming Systems and Food Security in Sub-Saharan Africa: Priorities for Science and Policy

Occurrence of rainfed crops by farming system (%)

**Total year 2000 harvested area. Source: Van Velthuizen et al. 2013

Farming Systems and Food Security in Sub-Saharan Africa: Priorities for Science and Policy

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Central Tendency for Farming systems Length of Growing Period

Farming Systems and Food Security in Sub-Saharan Africa: Priorities for Science and Policy

Drivers of farming system change• Population, hunger and poverty• Natural resources and climate • Energy • Human capital and information• Technology and science• Markets and trade • Institutions and policies

Drivers shape farming systems evolution and their relative importance differs by farming system

Farming Systems and Food Security in Sub-Saharan Africa: Priorities for Science and Policy

Relative importance of poverty escape pathways across FSFarming system Intensification Diversification Increased farm

or herd sizeOff-farm income

Exit from agriculture

Maize Mixed 2.5 3 1 2.5 1

Agropastoral 3 2.5 1 1.5 2

Highland Perennial 1 2 0 3 4

Root and Tuber Crop 3 2.5 2 1.5 1

Cereal Root Crop Mixed 3.5 1.5 2 1.5 1.5

Highland Mixed 3 2 1 1 3

Pastoral 3 2 0 2 3

Forest-based 2.5 2.5 1.5 1 2.5

Large-scale Irrigated 4 2 1.5 2 0.5

Urban and Peri-Urban 3 2 2 2 1

Farming Systems and Food Security in Sub-Saharan Africa: Priorities for Science and Policy

Informing planners• Where are the main poverty/production deficits /

exploitable yield gaps in each farming system?

• What are the pathways to elimination of rural poverty (intensification, diversification, farm size increase, off-farm employment, exit from agriculture) specific to each FS?

• What combinations of farm gate prices, technologies and institutional innovations would be effective in each farming system?

Farming Systems and Food Security in Sub-Saharan Africa: Priorities for Science and Policy

Applications

• Scaling up strategy development of NEPAD-INGO African Alliance for Climate-Smart Agriculture - Vision 25 by 25– Differentiation of CSA practices by farming systems– Priority setting by farming systems– Quantifying targets (number of farmers, cultivated land

area, crop/livestock volumes produced, etc)– A structural level for M&E and reporting frameworks

Farming Systems and Food Security in Sub-Saharan Africa: Priorities for Science and Policy

FORUM FOR AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH IN AFRICA

SCIENCE AGENDA FOR AGRICULTURE IN AFRICA (S3A) 

“CONNECTING SCIENCE”

A SCIENCE AGENDA FOR TRANSFORMING AGRICULTURE IN AFRICA

Farming Systems and Food Security in Sub-Saharan Africa: Priorities for Science and Policy

National level FS classification: Ethiopia

Agricultural Commercialization Clusters

February 2015

Address systemic bottlenecks in the ag.

sector by strengthening capacity of MoA and

other actors

What is an Agricultural Commercialization Cluster?

“ An agro-based cluster is simply a geographic concentration of producers, agribusinesses and institutions engaged in the same agricultural or agro-industrial sub-sector, that interconnect and build value networks when addressing common challenges and pursuing common opportunities. ”

- FAO Study on Agro-Clusters in Developing Countries

21

Objectives of ACC in Ethiopia• Drive specialization, diversification and commercialization for priority value

chains• Enhance production, quality, aggregation, value addition and market

linkages• Provide an integrated platform to implement multiple interventions • Improve focus and coordination among actors

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Common methodology, criteria and metrics have been used to identify and prioritize clusters in four regions

1. Production potential and smallholder farmer coverage by commodity

2. Size of export / import substitution and domestic market opportunity

3. Ethiopia’s comparative advantage in the international market by commodity

4. Strategic drivers by commodity at regional or national level

Step 1 - Prioritize commodities Step 2 - Identify candidate clusters for each commodity

Step 3 - Prioritize clusters by commodity and prioritize overall

1. Woredas with high production potential for primary and secondary commodities

2. Woredas with sufficient natural resource endowment

3. Groups of woredas that meet cluster size and initial scale requirements

1. Potential production by commodity

2. Basic infrastructure by cluster

3. Value addition capacity by cluster, including aggregation and storage, processing, and transport links and proximity to urban centers or other hubs

4. Access to markets by cluster

5. Presence of institutions and ongoing initiatives by cluster

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Example: Clusters and Commodities Prioritization Exercise in Oromia

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Clusters and commodity-value chain prioritized in Oromia for upcoming season (testing and learning)

• Driven by market demand and requirements• Planning at Cluster level and harmonized at Woreda level

Farming Systems and Food Security in Sub-Saharan Africa: Priorities for Science and Policy

Potential added value• Differentiate strategic priorities and targeting investment according to

farming context

• Common platform for planners with various interests and intervention priorities

• Effective focus in targeting “people and their FS” rather than, or in addition to sectoral or commodity aspects

• Efficiency and impact of programs in addressing opportunities and challenges over targeting organized by administrative or agro-ecological zones

• Regional spillover of approaches / technologies from neighbouring countries with similar systems

• Alignment and consistency of planning among regional, sub-regional and national programs and partners

Farming Systems and Food Security in Sub-Saharan Africa: Priorities for Science and Policy

• THANK YOU!