Diagnosing impacts of sustainable rice production
intensification: A case study in Senegal
Romina Cavatassi - Stefania DiGiuseppe
FAO (ESA-AGPM)
ICABR June 28th 2011
Case study: Senegal
�Context and motivation:� Models used for crop intensification have
generated costly environmental damage (e.g. pollution arising from poor land use management and/or overuse of pesticides and other chemical).
� In view of current and emerging challenges (climate change, food insecurity, price spikes etc.) they need to be revised.
� How?
� Get better understanding of potential success factors and constraints for the development of sustainable intensive production.
� Rice-production in areas with high potential such as the Senegal River valley: a good example.
Produire plus avec moins: SCPI
� In view of sustainable development, the risks of intensifications are increased land degradation and increased pesticide use
� IPPM approach has been running for few years now
� Objective: compare sustainable land management practices with conventional agriculture is thus a good starting point to better understand implications and possibilities for increasing production and yield whilst respecting the environment
The case under study
� Rice is the core staple in Senegal
� average consumption per capita 74- 93 kg per capita per year
� The vast majority of rice consumed in Senegal is imported rice (about 80 % of total rice supply)
� Government of Senegal: top priority in policy agenda “Achieving self-sufficiency in rice production by 2012”� Grand Offensive for Food and Abundance program,
� National Program for Rice Self-Sufficiency,� National Strategy for Development of Rice
Cultivation.
SRI: 6 practices
� Transplanting instead of broadcasting
� Distance between seedlings
� Age of seedlings
� Flooding approach
� Organic fertilisers
� Reduced use of pesticides or IPM approach
FFS on the use of pesticides
� Main training: Integrated Pest Management (IPM).
� Pest control approach that includes a variety of complementary strategies: prevention, observation, and intervention.
� To reduce the use of pesticides while managing pest populations at an acceptable level.
� Key to this approach is the use of traps, but also a number of sustainable land management practices:� use of resistant varieties,
� field sanitation,
� crop rotations,
� use of good quality and undamaged seed,
� monitoring of diseases and pest attack
� alternating different types insecticides to prevent the buildup of resistance;
Approach:
Literature
ReviewField Visit Key informant
interview
Formulate
strategy and
methodology
Focus groups+
value chain an.
Qualitative analysis
Quantitative analysis
Household
survey
Community
level survey
Qualitative findings
� Intensification doable: need to strenghten irrigation
system
� Knowledge diffusion: rice valley
� Value chain to be strenghten: processing, packaging
and commercialization
Sample selection
Done in several steps:
1. Selecting comparable communities (to the participant
communities).
2. Corroboration of communities selected through key
informant interviews and through field visits.
3. On selected communities participants and non –
participants were randomly assigned from the list
provided chèfs des villages and IPPM coordinators
Sample: survey
862 households:
� 1/3 participants
� 1/3 non participants in participant communities
� 1/3 non participants in non- participant communities
Participant communities (21) NON Participant communities(21)
Data
� Collected in the provinces of Dagana and Podor in December 2010-January 2011
� Quasi-experiment
� Common problem of missing data
�KEY: take greater care in defining control and treatment groups than is often done in literature and focus not only in the analysis but on careful data
collection
Analysis and outputs
� Preliminary analysis given data received very late
� Assumption that FFS participants are a good proxy for adoption of sustainable intensification practices
� Compare conventional agriculture with Sust. Intensified Agr. to measure impacts on:
� Farmers welfare:
� Productivity
� Yields, commercialization
� Health related: knowledge and precautions in using pesticides
� Environment:
� Use of agrochemicals
� Application of organic fertilizers
� Application of SCPI practices
What kind of households?
Variable Media Part No Part T-test
Years of education of HH head 2.3 2.67 2.168
Average age of HH head 48.94 44.14 50.66 ***
Female headed HH 9% 18% 7% ***
Family size 10.40 9.53 10.71
Ha of rice land 1.23 0.92 1.36 **
Impacts:
Participants Non Participants t-test Signif
Repiquage 32% 18% ***
Young-plants 52% 37% *
Distance 17% 16% *
Price seeds kg 295 387
Organic Fertilisers(kg/ha) 2883 215 ***
Nr_appl. Pest 1.03 1.19Cost_pest(USD/ha) 19.12 30.07 ***
Knowledge of pesticides’ hazards
9%
6%
0%
2%
4%
6%
8%
10%
Participants*** Non Participants
Knowledge Pesticides Toxicity
Participants***
Non Participants
Using protection when applying pesticides
Percentage of farmers that use the following precautions
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
gloves* boots helmet** pants glasses mask
Non Participants
Participants
Conclusions:
1. FFS relatively successful in knowledge
diffusion and application of sustainable
agriculture
2. Data on yield still very uncertain and to double
check
3. Intensification doable but not enough to reach
2050 objectives if value chain not strengthened
4. FFS as well as rice intensification policy need
to move one step further and strengthen post
harvest activities
Further research:
1. Results very preliminary
2. Need to check for spillover effects
3. Diversify by rice varieties
4. Diversify by type of irrigation system
5. Analyze gender difference and other
heterogeneous effects