Presented by Jeroen Groot, Charlotte Klapwijk, Carl Timler, Mateete Bekunda, Tom van Mourik, Katrien Descheemaeker, Pablo Tittonell, Ken Giller, Sieglinde Snapp and Bernard Vanlauwe at the 4th International Symposium for Farming Systems Design, Lanzhou, China, 19-22 August 2013
12
Rising to the challenge of sustainable intensification of agricultural production in Africa—Farming systems design to support action research for development Jeroen Groot, Charlotte Klapwijk, Carl Timler, Mateete Bekunda, Tom van Mourik, Katrien Descheemaeker, Pablo Tittonell, Ken Giller, Sieglinde Snapp, Bernard Vanlauwe Wageningen University, IITA, ICRISAT, Michigan State University 4th International Symposium for Farming Systems Design Lanzhou, China, 19-22 August 2013
Transcript
Rising to the challenge of sustainable intensification of agricultural production in Africa—Farming systems design to support action
research for development
Jeroen Groot, Charlotte Klapwijk, Carl Timler, Mateete Bekunda, Tom van Mourik, Katrien Descheemaeker, Pablo Tittonell,
Ken Giller, Sieglinde Snapp, Bernard Vanlauwe
Wageningen University, IITA, ICRISAT, Michigan State University
4th International Symposium for Farming Systems DesignLanzhou, China, 19-22 August 2013
Introduction Entry points for sustainable intensification:
• Farm components: crop and animal yield gaps• Farm yield gaps: configurations of components and inputs• Interactions with social-ecological and economic environment:
networks, markets, resources
Integrated farming systems analysis needed:• Context-specific• On-farm testing• Embedded in communities
Africa RISING project Create opportunities for smallholder farm households to
move out of hunger and poverty through sustainably intensified farming systems• Improve food, nutrition, and income security• Particularly for women and children• Conserve or enhance the natural resource base
Three regional projects:• West Africa (Mali and Ghana)• Ethiopian highlands• East and Southern Africa (Malawi, Tanzania, Zambia)
Farming systems analysis
Describe
Explain
Design
Explore
Issues and
indicatorsEvaluation
Innovations
Selection
Fine-tuning
Implementation
Demonstration
Stakeholder interactions
Diagnosis & design phases
Niches, regimes, transitions
Farming systems analysisSurvey
Rapid characteriz.
Detailed description
Explorationinnovations
Functional typology
Structural typology
Systems(re)design
Extrapolation
Farm diagnoses
Tradeoff analysis
Farm innovations
Potentialimpact
Farm selection – Y frame
Data collection
Preliminary results
Preliminary resultsProposed improvementmentioned by farmers
Babati (Tz)
Kongwa (Tz)
Dedza (Mw)
Ntcheu (Mw)
New crops, cultivars, processing 0.43 0.60 0.88 0.74
Inputs (fertilizers, seeds) 0.25 0.31 0.38 0.23
Land availability 0.23 0.13
Economic resources 0.07 0.15 0.20 0.26
Advice, education and research 0.23 0.13
Improved farm management 0.22 0.06
Technologies and machines 0.17 0.33
Natural resources (soils, manures) 0.14 0.14 0.03
Subsidies 0.02 0.05
Social initiatives, groups 0.01
Large diversity of farm sizes and endowment Farmers identified large sets of improvements To be explored:
• The role of functional and human/social farm characteristics in grouping and targeting
• Role of exploration (solution spaces) and design steps in the delivery of entry points for farm improvement
• Cross-country comparison of farming systems, their constraints and potential entry points
Discussion
Africa Research in Sustainable Intensification for the Next Generation
