Africa RISING: an overview

Bekele Hundie KotuStudy to Monitor Adoption of Africa RISING

TechnologiesTraining of Field Staff

July 29- August 2, 2015Tamale

What does the name imply?• Africa: Research In Sustainable

Intensification for the Next Generation:- Africa RISING

What is it?• Africa RISING (AR) is a research-for-

development program. • It comprises three projects in different

parts of Africa

Sustainable intensification of in cereal-based farming systems of the Guinea-Sudano-Savanna of West Africa (Ghana and Mali)-Led by IITA

Sustainable intensification of cereal-legume-livestock integrated farming systems in East and Southern Africa (Tanzania, Malawi, and Zambia)-Led by IITA

Sustainable intensification of crop-livestock integrated farming systems in the Ethiopian highlands (Ethiopia) –Led by ILRI

Who is the donor?• AR is supported by the United States

Agency for International Development (USAID) as part of the U.S. government’s Feed the Future initiative.

Who are the participants?• AR is a collaborative research-for-

development program implemented by international research institutions, national research institutions, other development partners.

• In Ghana collaborating institutions include: IITA, IFPRI, CIAT, AVRDC, ILRI, SARI, ARI,, ILRI, UDS, KNUST, MOFA

What is the goal of the project?• The overall aim is to provide pathways

out of hunger and poverty for smallholder families through sustainable intensification of farming systems

When did it start?• AR was launched in 2011. The first

experiments in Ghana were conducted in 2013

Research Hypotheses• Integration hypothesis: Integrating

technological components into SI systems confers more benefits to smallholder farmers than single components.

• Adoption hypothesis: Integrating technological components into SI systems stimulates more adoption compared to single components.

• Trade-off hypothesis: Effective targeting of innovations reduces the negative impacts of trade-offs between farm productivity and environmental sustainability and helps to identify potential “win-win” options for SI.

• Scalability hypothesis: Agricultural SI interventions that are tailored to diverse local conditions on smallholder farms are more likely to be scalable to similar populations and environmental settings.

• Innovation sequencing hypothesis: The adoption of innovations that lead to SI is affected by the sequence in which the component technologies, practices, and knowledge are integrated and applied

Sustainable intensification: the core agenda in ARSustainability: • Benefiting the current generation with

no/minimal adverse affects to the next generation

Agricultural intensification: • Agricultural intensification can be

defined as an increase in agricultural production per unit of inputs (which may be labour, land, time, fertilizer, seed, feed or cash)’ (FAO, 2004).

Sustainable intensification: • Defined as ‘producing more output

from the same area of land while reducing the negative environmental impacts and at the same time increasing contributions to natural capital and the flow of environmental services

AR considers three types of SI• Genetic intensification: the use of

varieties/breeds with more desirable traits (e.g. yield, disease resistance, etc)

• Ecological intensification: undertaking more agricultural practices with no/minimal adverse effects on the environment or natural resource base (e.g. integrated pest management, integrated soil fertility management)

• Socio-economic intensification: the existence of more and more efficient and integrative institutions to facilitate commercialization (e.g. the existence of good market institutions)

Project areas in Ghana

Areas of Research in Ghana• Partnerships and socioeconomics

Analysis• Intensification of cereal-legume-

vegetable cropping systems • Intensive livestock and crop-livestock

systems • Land, soil and water management • Nutrition, food storage, value addition

and mycotoxin management

Scope of research• More than 70 research and

development activities are underway this year

• Crops covered include: Maize, Rice, Soybean, groundnut, cowpea, Vegetables (okra, pepper, rozell, eggplant), sesame

• Livestock include: poultry, sheep and goats, and pigs

T1: Socio-economic, Partnerships and R4D Platforms

T2: Crops T3: FodderL/Stock

T4: Land, Soils and Water

T5: Nutrition

PartnershipsCom

munication

Gender

Rainwater harvestingAdoption constraintsCommunity based Orgs

Market linkages

Training Adoption constraints

Training Adoption constraints

-Animal manure-Feed production-Feed conservation

-Safety-Quality of feed-Quality of food

-Conduct in crop trials-Nutrient dynamics-Soil conservation

-Veg. irrigation-Nutrient management-Production-Processing-Post harvest issues

-Nutrient studies-Fodder Irrigation-Education

Part

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Com

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Research approach• A participatory research approach is

promoted in Africa RISING.• Farmers participate in two types of trials

in Ghana, namely mother trials and baby trials.

• Mother trials constitute almost all trials to be conducted in each community.

• They serve as demonstration and training sites for farmers.

• Mother trials are managed by a group of voluntary farmers with a close guidance of researchers.

• Baby trials constitute a few technologies chosen by farmers from mother trials to try in their fields.

• They are managed by farmers with a little guidance of researchers.

• Some of the baby trials are now on upscaling stage whereby farmers apply the technologies on bigger fields.

Africa Research in Sustainable Intensification for the Next Generation

africa-rising.net

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