ESA_planning_review_2012_day1

=East and Southern Africa Annual Review and Planning meeting = toc  ** Ngurdoto Mountain Lodge, ** ** Arusha, Tanzania ** Back to the event agenda page
 * 1-5 October 2012 **

=Day 1 - Monday 1 October=

Welcome and introductions

 * Keywords**: Integration, taking stock, partnerships, commitment, forming interdisciplinary teams, excitement, interaction.

**Presentation of year 1 (I. Hoeschle-Zeledon)**

 * Q**: What is your long-term commitment?
 * A**: Four more years

Jump start activities

 * Enhancing Vegetable Value Chains (AVRDC) **
 * Rice systems: have we considered contract farming under vegetable systems? Would that be an option to ensure farmers get access to interactive markets?
 * Pesticides: Have we looked at the pollution of irrigation waters on rice?
 * Extension: Given the weak extension systems, what options would we propose for training agro-dealers in providing extension to farmers? Should the DALDOs be given the mandate to carry out extension? Start a public-private partnership?
 * Can the project be extended to include maize systems? What is likely to be different?
 * Capacity building and information gaps on pesticide abuse.


 * Value Chain Analysis of Grain Legumes (IITA) **
 * Production data for pigeon peas is inconsistent with district level data. We need to revisit/evaluate the data system for agric production data e.g. Malawi data is probably exaggerated, Zambia one also questionable.
 * Most grain legumes have potential to be integrated with livestock.
 * About soya beans: they’re doing well only in Southern areas but there’s also potential in Morogoro – we are capturing current options but not other options i.e. 'what could be’. They are neglected by governments and are not supported. Productivity is low at less than 2 tons/Ha.
 * Participants also questioned options of intercropping vs. sole cropping.

Use of soil for developing prediction models and predicting crop response Background reading:
 * Catalogue of Tested Crop, Soil, and Water Management Options (CIAT) **


 * Identifying Efficient Seed Systems, Practices and Models (CIAT) **
 * Maize is well taken care of by formal structures so we should focus on legumes using centralized and decentralized structures.
 * We should facilitate/establish forage seeds – there are several promising varieties. We have to engage forage system in TZ and see how could this be taken up.
 * Finally, we might want to link market to seed systems to allow sustainable intensification.


 * Seed Multiplication ( **** ICRISAT **** ) **
 * Representativity of CG centers?
 * Discussion around the issue of production of seeds in national research programs. They have breeders etc. but they continue to have problems with seeds. --> We need to revisit the national research programs.
 * Other general question on commercial environment vs. providing subsidies. Subsidies may not last that long… or perhaps they might last as long as competitors are there. Positive impact of having commercial seed producers but how to get seed companies to invest beyond subsidies and see the market beyond subsidies


 * Improved Post-harvest Technologies ( **** CIMMYT **** ) **
 * **Links to other crops and aflatoxin work?**
 * Price of technologies?
 * Prices change in grains
 * **Economic / cost-profile analysis**
 * Pics bags
 * Improved cribs
 * **Develop a communication strategy to include video, SMS work etc.**
 * Use pesticides


 * Mycotoxins in maize and cassava (IITA) **
 * Link with post harvest technologies to reduce insects (stored in bags) and mycotoxins (bags must remain stored in dry and ventilated places)
 * Follow up via SMS for farmers, market vendors with high mycotoxin levels in samples tested to advise field storage processing techniques to reduce fungal growth and mycotoxin contamination
 * Government - policy: through involvement of Ministry of Agriculture, Tanzania food and drug agency and Tanzania pesticide registration institute
 * Control fungi causing contamination through biological control, using non-toxin producing forms of the fundugs
 * Sorting to remove visually contaminated grains of maize or degraded cassava
 * Processing - pathways e.g maize -> Ugali, groundnuts -> sauces and spreads... unless high premium product and tested for mycotoxins, otherwise wholly unregulated.
 * Detection (NIR, ELISA, LC/MS, HTLC): there are different methods of measuring thresholds or absolute amounts. Either specific to each mycotoxin or capable of measuring a massive range. Each suited to different needs based on cost, sample number and analysis required.


 * Evergreen Agriculture (ICRAF) **
 * Farmers' perception on MTP use of fertilizers, is determined by use value to farmers.
 * How likely can tree-based options produce impact within two to five years? As green manure? --> GM * manure * MD (micro dose) --> shrub legumes
 * Tree value and density: What is really the entry point? OM + fertilizer.


 * Weed Management in Rice-based Systems (AfricaRice) **
 * Web address is www.afroweeds.org and www.afroweeds.org/network for science network;
 * How do we distinguish good herbicides and fake ones? Have good labels and have good registration number approved by TPRI;
 * Poverty rights on rotary weeder
 * What about using radio as a medium?
 * How to communicate application rates for farmers to understand quantities?
 * What application timing of rotary weeder?
 * Involving researchers from Ifakara
 * Draft video to TPRI for review
 * Employing youth or women groups to provide weeding services
 * Do the same for when we move to promoting rotary weeders to alleviate burden of manual weeding
 * "Are we taking away income opportunities for women"

With all the money pumped into maize, why do maize yields remain low? CA __needs__ residues to work well
 * Intensification of maize-based Systems in Malawi (CIMMYT) **
 * Micronutrients
 * Weeding
 * Acidity
 * Management
 * Technologies not profitable enough
 * Pest/diseases


 * Agroecological Intensification in Malawi and Tanzania (MSU) **
 * Research design to capture inherent/agroecological potential through treatments that enable benchmarking productivity with or without nutrient inputs. A smart design will be able to capture the component of the yield gap that can be closed through simple best practices such as proper weed management, early planting, etc.
 * The mother and baby experimentation approach in an action oriented environment could easily be used as model for technology dissemination, as farmers are more likely to accept approaches that involve them more closely during the research process - farmers have a say in the choices of technologies for their baby adaptive experiments
 * Prospects of diseases accumulation once the farming systems are altered? All change should be associated with the basics of sound crop production practices. Disease or pest cycles can be reduced through appropriate rotations, that in principle have to be part of any crop intensification pathways.
 * Domains - there was debate on the 4 domains (High market access, high agroecological potential; High market access, high agroecological potential; High market access, low agroecological potential; Low market access, high agroecological potential; low market access, low agroecological potential). returns to intensification are lowest for the LL domain. However, it could be that the LL is so dominant (e.g >70%). Can this be ignored then under such a situation?

Teasing lessons out of jump start activities (Open Space)
//What are opportunities and lessons/insights to capitalize on for the next year(s)?//

Gaps to address
Comment: It's normal that there are gaps for jumpstart activities and it's unavoidable that not all were interlinked. Scaling up and out will be addressed in the coming days.
 * Disciplinary gaps: Lack of integration between livestock and crops (crop residues, food-feed crops, pastures and forage seeds).
 * Quality and diversification of nutrition
 * Pests and diseases (biotic stress)
 * Safe use and handling of pesticides
 * Integrated Pest Management (IPM)
 * Capacity building and strengthening:
 * Farmers
 * Extension agents
 * Researchers
 * Communications and outreach
 * Socioeconomics conditions (sociocultural conditions and household typologies)
 * Abiotic stresses (nutrients, moisture stress)
 * Synergies between projects and institutions
 * Resources
 * Information
 * Database / cataloguing
 * Scaling up/out:
 * Technologies
 * Strategies and pathways
 * Identification of entry points from the action site (processes and mechanisms, criteria and prioritization)

Going beyond the research plot size to farms
Justification: Opportunities Constraints
 * Farmers make decisions and operate at the farm level; they know their entire farm
 * Success at the plot level cannot be automatically translated to improved livelihoods at the farm level
 * Trade-offs between allocations of resources at the farm level
 * Understanding farmer decision-making processes
 * Farming system analysis to identify entry points and optimize ex-ante resources available
 * Diversification of farm interventions related to drivers (markets, etc)
 * Evaluation of interventions at the farmer livelihood level
 * Diversity of households --> Need to identify representative typologies
 * Limited availability of resources --> Make more resources available (markets, etc)
 * Limited education --> Need to find ways to communicate complex knowledge
 * Farmer’s willingness to cooperate

Partnerships
Sometimes we can't drop partners because they are essential - we should also find out ways to engage with them.
 * 1) Celebrate our successes
 * 2) Move quick to engage the Southern Africa stakeholders
 * 3) In Zambia, we know who are the partners / clear scope of work)
 * 4) Partnerships must be limited and select partners that have a specific advantage. Number of partners can grow over the years
 * 5) Make serious attempts to partner with private companies
 * 6) Partners that are not responsive to be dropped
 * 7) MOUs must be developed early in discussion with decision makers
 * 8) Partners must have methods to distribute funds
 * 9) Realistic expectations on all sides about funding, timing etc. and communicated early
 * 10) Large agro businesses to be encouraged to do research in partnership with us
 * 11) Partner with other projects e.g. N2Africa, SARD-SC, SIMLESA, FtF's ZIMLESA
 * 12) Need to keep partners active and strong so communication is important. Establish a platform for partnerships.
 * Q**: Is there a system to identify how to engage private sector actors?
 * A**: Yes, they have a role to play but should not gain financially (i.e. get a share our budget), it should be a natural fit based on profit they can make.

Marketing and market access
Comment: Add safety to markets! We need to talk about food safety. Comment: great presentation. A driving factor is to find the linkage with intensification (local and regional markets are not regulated etc. and those markets will be drivers). Did you identify any type of organization to drive intensification to drive market access?
 * Farming is a business, it's not an agricultural development project
 * Quality and quantity matter very much - MIS, seeds, crop management, post harvest etc. all to contribute --> work with farmers on what they can do - communicate!
 * Gap: grades and standards link to farmers:
 * Linkages with standard bodies (partner)
 * Lack of consumer demand or knowledge of quality
 * Develop commodity-based awareness campaigns, linked to food safety
 * Farmer organisations have a role in technology transfer --> research / action bringing FOs into market, based on commodities
 * Capital issues --> investments required by farmers in tech options --> make credit available as part of 'farming as a business' or as part of subsidy programs. It's not just about farmers selling commodity, it's also about selling services and knowledge
 * Farming management is a business. Farm management and planning tools --> we need to have more effective marketing agents.
 * MIS and other info through cellphones etc. ICT & ICE (information, communication and education)
 * Linked to pricing strategies and post harvest
 * Management decisions to time commodity for markets - also access to inputs
 * Broad information / communication / education approaches

Cross-cutting issues

 * Card statements**:
 * Cross cutting issues
 * Integrating climate change impacts in sustainable intensification
 * Land use planning
 * Ensure equity (poor + women in SI)
 * Systematic assessments of ecological, agronomic, socio-economic indicators at landscape scale (to allow cross site comparison)

We opened with the question of ‘how is Africa RISING going to be different?’ and not: ‘business as usual’. But if business as usual works then perhaps this should be considered. This brought around the key question of ‘what is the niche of Africa RISING'?’

More of a rhetorical question, which was discussed at length especially in respect of how to be cross-cutting in terms of commodity, spatial variability, sites, interdisciplinary approaches, etc. And with this came the topic of scaling up and the issue of how to scale up suitably and correctly, and why scaling up seems to be a bottleneck. Consequently proposed that research on scaling up should constitute a specific research topic.

In relation to cross cutting, the issue of sequencing activities in time as well as space was discussed, particularly for longer term activities such as agro-forestry and livestock issues which may take time to bear fruit. There thus needs to be diversity of activities to ensure income/activities/ outputs for farmers while longer term activities mature. Divert focus but be cross cutting and inclusive/encompassing.

Another issue of smallholder systems vs increased commercialisation was raised, in respect to how to improve productivity across value chains towards excess production for market, as opposed a subsistence notion. This is critical towards the sustainability of food production for a growing urban population, which is at the expense of the smallholders, but which needs to be a gradual shift - or does it?

Additional topics or comments raised included: See diagram also (photo)
 * Climate change
 * Building a platform for assessment/evaluation
 * Integration of systems. Which ones?
 * Land use issues/– planning.
 * Land tenure and availability of credit
 * Integration of disciplines
 * Suite of indicators
 * Gender / youth diversity
 * How to integrate complementarities

Comments:
 * (J. Glover) I appreciate the discussion about the niche for Africa RISING. One component that seems a trademark approach of Africa RISING is sequencing i.e. working on different approaches at different times e.g. forestry and livestock trajectories being longer term... Start with legumes then livestock then agroforestry services etc.

Semi-arid areas
Comment: Use tillage practice for water management Comment: Use sequencing for more rapid benefits e.g. sequencing of different trees e.g. faidherbia Comment: We need to create opportunities/platforms for partners to engage Comment: I don't see much on capacity building, skills, knowledge.
 * Soil water management, dissemination of released crop varieties, appropriate technologies for semi-arid lands**
 * Opportunities:
 * Technologies on soil and water management are available
 * Drought tolerant varieties have been released (crop / forage)
 * CA technologies are available
 * Integrated systems with impact on productivity, NR and HH nutrition
 * Crop: proper / systematic assessment of needs per site / landscape
 * Action research on best bets (QDs, private sector) to address seed system challenges in dry semi-arid lands
 * Participatory evaluation of promoting pre-and post-harvest technologies
 * Evaluation of conservation agriculture
 * Crop-livestock interactions in pastoral farming systems
 * Evaluation / demonstrations of drought-promising varieties of of legumes/forage and maize (participatory variety evaluation)
 * Devaluation and demonstration of best bet in-situ rainwater harvesting technologies

Agroforestry
Including fruit trees for more benefit and output / micro dose for sustainable soil fertility management Summary:
 * Starting points:
 * Soil fertility
 * Land degradation
 * Trees for fruits and other benefits
 * Trees/shrubs
 * Opportunities:
 * OM replenishment --> tree crops, cashew nuts, honey
 * Integrated with inorganic inputs
 * Land rehabilitation
 * Scale/land level approach / Landscape level should be a priority
 * Livestock integration
 * Fodder bank
 * Lessons learnt:
 * Aspect of land degradation (not addressed) through wind, water erosion --> vetiver grass
 * Fruit trees for improving nutrition
 * HH energy and wood timber products for domestic and commercial needs
 * Tree crop products bring high value: This could be a great mechanism for adoption e.g. timber products, honey etc. with possibilities of livestock interactions...
 * Vegetables
 * honey products
 * Timber ( G: robusta in Babati)
 * Neon tree