Agro-ecological Intensification through action research with smallholder farmers in Malawi

Regis Chikowo, Sieg Snapp -MSUWezi Mhango – LUANAR Agronomy

Fanny Chigwa –LUANR Animal Science DepartmentAgness Mangwela –LUANAR Nutrition Department

Isaac Nyoka–ICRAFDesta Lulseged, Rowland Chirwa – CIAT

Owen Kumwenda & Anilly Msukwa – DAESWURIFPRI

Africa RISING ESA Review and Planning Meeting,Arusha, Tanzania, 9-11 September 2014

Background Project strategy Key findings to date

Systems WP Bean WP Livestock WP Nutrition WP

Capacity building

Outline

Background - the project recognizes the importance of application to scale of - action-learning and systems approaches that show

potential Knowledge transfer mechanisms that broadly work

across: o farmer typologies and oagro-ecologies

Challenges...

management recommendations generally at variance with local farmer circumstances (consideration of agricultural risks, resource constraints and farmer production objectives) The levels of labor, fertilizer, manure demanded are often far

beyond the capabilities of all but the wealthiest householdsoWealthy farmers in SSA <10% (Shepherd and Soule, 1998,

Mapfumo and Mtambanegwe, 2005; Tittonell et al., 2005, 2011; Zingore et al, 2007; Kamanga et al. 2009)

Average land holding of 0.5 ha

Fertilizer access is increasing with subsidies- how to improve use efficiency/returns?

Land pressures

Reduced fallows

Deficiencies in soil organic matter (active, total,

other nutrients)

Low crop response to

N

Population pressure

Reduced grazing

land

Alarming yield gaps ??

Crop Actual yields (t/ha)

Attainable yields (t/ha)

Maize 1 4+Soyabean 0.6 1.8+Groundnut 0.5 1.5+

Closing the yield gaps:

Requires knowledge assimilation by farmers through simple pathways

Plausible approaches include learning by doing – farmers empowered through experimentation

Africa RISING Years 1-3• Site selection• Characterization• Partner building• Design of research trials• Implementation• Partner MOUs

The mother and baby approach…

The mother and baby approach as a learning and technologies transfer platform

The philosophy - co-learn with farmers through a basket of technologies on ‘mother’ trials, while concurrently ‘variants’ of elements within these are acceptable at farmers’ ‘baby’ fields

Snapp, 1998

‘Mother and baby’ trial design

What we did during Year 2

4 Intervention sites

Village cluster 1 Mother Trial A

40-60 baby trials

Village cluster 2 Mother Trial B

40-60 baby trials

Year 3 (2013/14) ....consolidation and expansion

Intervention site ‘Section’

Village cluster 1 (old)

Mother Trial A80 baby trials

Village cluster 2 (old)

Mother Trial B80 baby trials

Village cluster 3 (new)

Mother Trials C & D100 baby trials

Farmers experimented with…. Grain legumes (cowpea, groundnut, soyabean,

common bean, pigeonpea) Different crop mixtures

maize/legume intercropsLegume –legume intercrops (doubled-up legume

technology based on different crop growth habits/architecture

Different soil nutrient mangement regimes (organic-inorganic nutrient resources, and their combinations

Doubled-up legumes – intercropping 2 legumes that have little inter-specific competition for resources

Bean integration ….

Working with farmers to identify diseases

Climbing beans on a baby trial in Kandeu

Yield response of bush bean varieties under different cropping management options

• Compare varieties: SER 83 and SER 45 with addition of manure in various systems

Livestock feed as a major challenge to dairy intensification...

88 percent of farmers were use grass sourced from wetlands - poor quality

46% of farmers cultivated napier grass and 13% rhodes grass

Only 17 percent of the farmers were using Leucaena species

What are the opportunities for this ?..

Establishing fodder trees around farm boundaries

Graduate student thesis work Pigeonpea-soyabean systems with P fertilization

– Mzumara Nutrition intervention in goat production –

Mkutche Local processing of grain legumes – Soflet Above and belowground biomass additions in

pigeonpea based intercrops –Chiwimbo Soil organic matter and farm management -Erin

Anders

Sustainable intensification: above and belowground biomass additions in pigeonpea based intercrops

Graduate student -thesis work

Root excavations cont…

Belowground biomass: 0-20 cm layer

Food and nutritional security

Africa RISING Nutrition workshops & open days

Soyabean ‘coffee’

Biochemistry with smallholder farmers in Malawi!

Production of soyabean flour for nutritious soya porridge! (mixture of soya, groundnut and maize)

Farmer gives further explanations on the product

… and men also came for ‘cooking lessons’

‘Judgement time’

Outputs/main activities Consolidated action research in project sites

(Linthipe, Golomoti, Kandeu and Nsipe) Ntcheu and Dedza R4D platforms fully functional

(main actors -DAES, DC office, NGOs, farmers) Recently held a writeshop in Mangochi, 27-31 July

– a number of products lined up

Mangochi writeshop meeting, 27-31 July

2014

Dissemination through field days

Outputs/main activities Consolidated action research in project sites

(Linthipe, Golomoti, Kandeu and Nsipe) Ntcheu and Dedza R4D platforms fully functional

(main actors -DAES, DC office, NGOs) Recently held a writeshop in Mangochi, 27-31 July

– a number of products lined up Nutrition workshops held in the action sites We continue to train graduate students

Lessons learnt Appropriate selection of pigeon pea varieties

essential for success in mixed crop-livestock systems – long duration varieties likely to be damaged by goats during July/August

Despite repeated explanations, a good proportion of farmers can not separate R4D activities and Development programs – this leads to ‘excessive’ demands on free inputs – seed, fertilizers, etc.

What worked

Farmers in intervention sites take ownership of the project

Farmer experimenting (and innovating)DAES as convenors of R4D platforms Graduate student training going on well

Plans for Year 4 (and 5)

Africa RISING Years 3-5• “R4D” Platforms• Transfer research outputs• Research refinement & expansion

(e.g., IPM)• Technical support

Year 4 (2014-15)1. Scale-out farmer experimentation with ‘fewer

silver bullet’ technologies • Conduct participatory technology evaluation/

participatory modeling

2. Research in R4D platforms to take a leading component – how can these be replicated

3. Nutrition outcomes to be highlighted

Introducing and combining technologies: Towards a fully (Physical)

SI System

Productivity

Schematic representation of integrated research

(Farmer Practice)

markets/institutions, gender, policies, nutrition, shocks and stress

Africa Research in Sustainable Intensification for the Next Generation

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