SI_workshop_for_building_climate_resilience

Dedza, Malawi



 * Introduction**

A workshop on Sustainable intensification for building Climate resilience in Farming Systemswas organised as a way of improving the efficiency and capacity of extension services. The objective of the workshop was to enhance the capacity of extension on issues of climate change, sustainable intensification (SI) and action learning. It was envisaged that such interactions will internally transforming extension services into institutions that can use research products for enhanced efficiency through district level R4D platforms.The workshop was held for three days and organised into four themes, namelya) action learning b) sustainable intensification for resilience building c) climate change and agriculture and d) crop yield estimates.

Majority of participants were extension officers (Agricultural Extension District Officers (AEDOs) and their Agricultural Extension District Coordinators (AEDCs)) that work closely with the AR Malawi team. We also had extension officers that work closely with the INVC Bridging project and Crop officers from Machinga, Mangochi and Dedza. The District Agricultural Development Officer (DADO) for Dedza District, also participated in the workshop


 * Workshop proceedings**

__Day 1__

Dr Chikowo introduced the Africa RISING team and went on to outline the objectives of the workshop. Mr Chapotoka gave opening remarks on the need to develop capacity within extension and how interactions with organisations such as AR is an important pathway for achieve capacity development with in the rural agricultural sectors.Thereafter, to contextualise the applicability of sustainable intensification, therefore setting the scene for how SI fits with the different regions across central and southern Malawi participants where asked to describe agro-ecological characteristics of their Extension Planning Areas (EPAs). It was clear that different areas had different farming systems and challenges facing agriculture were different. Overarching challenges were poor soil quality, low, poor access of improved technologies such as hybrid seed and fertilizers and high family farming units to extension officer ratio.

Dr Chikowo explained to the participants that among the numerous problems currently facing Malawi rural agricultural systems poor soil quality has affected maize productivity. It was highlighted that soil degradation through loss of soil organic matter and soil nutrients through erosion and nutrient mining and exportation meant that even the addition of macronutrients through inorganic fertilizer may not solve all the problems due to loss in micronutrients. The participants indicated that sustainable means to rehabilitate soils included the growing of legumes and use of manure. It was agreed however that legumes were more ecologically friendly. A debate ensued on the use of legumes in current maize cropping systems. Generally, the participants were able to articulate the need for tailor made agronomic recommendation when incorporating legumes into maize based systems for the different agro-ecologies.

//Effective communication [researcher - extension - farmer] - Action Learning//

Participants did a role-play highlighting the need for effective communication. Mr. Chapotoka, DADO Dedza reiterated the need for good communication between researchers, extension and farmers. Mr. Chapotoka explained that some technologies being introduced are very good pathways to improving productivity in rural farming communities however these technologies are often poorly explained to farmers. This results in low and poor adoption. Through extensive discussions, it was revealed that the high farmer to extension work ration also hinders effective delivery of technologies. Ntubwi AEDO, Sellah Chalimba pointed out the use of lead farmers. However, many of the participants indicated that the use of lead farmers is not always effective.

__Day 2__

//The use of legumes as a pathway for sustainable intensification//

Dr Wezi Mhango led the discussion on sustainable intensification of maize based farming systems. The participants listed down major constraints that they have observed in current maize based systems. Afterwards they explained why the incorporation of legumes could help minimise the risk imposed by identified constraints. During the feedback session the participants pointed out the direct and indirect benefits of incorporating legumes and linked this with sustainable intensification

During the last session of day two, a presentation was made on Climate change and variability and its direct effects of crop production. Africa RISING team explained the causes of climate change and how it has affected resource availability and crop production. The adaptive and responsive nature of SI can help cushion against the negative attributes of climate change. Participants were then asked to discuss on sustainable pathways for minimising the risk associated with climate change associated extreme conditions.

__Day 3__

//Estimating farmer productivity through yield cuts - field activity//

The last day of the workshop had participants participate in field activity on estimating on farm yield. This was done on a groundnut demonstration field at Dedza agricultural district office. It was indicated that during technology evaluations it is important to find out whether the technology has indeed improved productivity. They only way this can be done is to quantify crop productivity. While waiting for the farmer to harvest and then weighing total crop yield then calculating the productivity per unit area may be the most accurate procedure, it is time consuming and cumbersome. Also, calculating productivity using a few representative plants may over- or under-estimate productivity as it may ignore error introduced due to heterogeneous crop stands within the field. It was suggested the use of yield cuts, which is ideal for row crops. The procedure was outlined and participants were divided into three groups and tasked to estimate the productivity of groundnuts. Unfortunately, the groundnuts were not yet at physiological or harvest maturity however the participants were able to estimate plant populations. These were very similar with a narrow margin of error thus showing how effective the use of yield cuts can be at estimating productivity.