Presented by Olupomi Ajayi (Africa Rice Center) at the Africa RISING West Africa Review and Planning Meeting Tamale, Ghana, 23-25 October 2012

1. Africa RISING West Africa: Status of
activities in the rice-based systems,
January-September, 2012
Olupomi Ajayi
Africa Rice Center
Africa RISING-West Africa Review and Planning Workshop
23-25 October, 2012, Tamale, Ghana

2. Outline
 Partners & Implementation Teams
 Meetings
 Implementation approach – Rice Sector Development
Hubs concept
 Achievements and prospects
 1.1.1 Baseline survey
 1.1.15 Seed production
 2.1.7 Yield gap survey
 3.1.1 Diagnostic survey
 3.1.2 Multi-stakeholder platforms

3. Major partners
Partner Responsibility
Africa Rice Center Overall project coordination, backstopping
(AfricaRice)
Savannah Agricultural In-country project implementation and coordination
Research Institute
(CSIR-SARI)
World Vegetable Introduction, evaluation and promotion of high value
Research and fruits and vegetables
Development Center
(AVRDC)

4. In-country partners
 23 partners
 2 Universities
 5 Research institutes
 2 Ministries – health and agriculture
 NGOs
 The private sector
 Professional associations – farmers, processors, seed growers,
traders, etc.

5. Implementation teams
 Baseline survey – Wiredu, Etwire, Martey, Nachim, Dogbe (SARI),
Arouna, and Diagne (AfricaRice)
 Community seed production – Siise, Abebrese, Yirzagla, and Dogbe
(SARI)
 Yield gap analysis – Baba, Yirzagla, Mawunya, Abdulai (SARI), and
Saito (AfricaRice)
 Diagnostic survey – Nachim, Abdulai, Etwire (SARI) and Raboanarielina
(AfricaRice)
 Rice sector development hubs and multi-stakeholder platforms (MSPs) –
Prince, Owusu, Martey, Dogbe (SARI) and Raboanarielina (AfricaRice)

6. Some important definitions
 Baseline survey – describes the prevailing socio-
economic conditions of the actors in the target
area
 Diagnostic survey – finds out the knowledge and
constraints faced by the actors in the area, as well
as technology transfer and linkages
 Yield gap survey – quantifies yield gaps and their
causes through field observations and interviews

7. Meetings
Date Meeting
10-12 January Inaugural meeting of stakeholders: draft overall concept note and
logframe/workplan
10-11 February 1st consultative meeting at SARI: logframe and budget for the rice-
based component discussed
29 March 2nd consultative meeting at SARI: logframe and budget for the rice-
based component finalized
28-29 March Official launching of the project by IITA
12 April Inception workshop: sensitized potential partners; shared roles to
partners

8. Implementation Approach: The Rice Sector
Development Hub concept
 Hubs are zones where rice research products will be integrated
across the rice value chain to achieve development outcomes and
impact
 Hubs represent key rice ecologies and different market opportunities
in the target areas and will be linked to major regional or national rice
development efforts to facilitate out-scaling
 These hubs are testing grounds for new rice technologies and follow
a ‘reverse-research approach’, i.e. starting from the market

10.  Implementation follows an iterative 3-stage approach:
 1st generation villages / rice communities will participate in
baseline, diagnostic and yield gap surveys
 2nd generation rice communities will not be directly involved
in research, but will benefit from the outcome of the
research done in the 1st generation rice communities
 3rd generation rice communities will benefit from the
research work done through scaling out development
activities (funded by development partners)

12. Multi-stakeholder platforms
• Will operationalize the concept of rice sector
development hub
• Act as a platform for introducing, validating and
monitoring appropriate improved rice technologies and
interventions

13. Stages of the MSP Process

14. Achievements and prospects

15. 1.1.1. Baseline survey
 2 Hubs established:
 Northern Region: Savelugu Hub - 20 communities, 200
households
 Upper East Region: Navrongo Hub - 20 communities, 200
households
 Protocol/workplan developed
 Modular questionnaires formulated
 Sample frame generated for producer survey
 Sites selected based on Randomized Control Trials (Criteria:
Rice potential, Population, Accessibility, and Market access)

16. Baseline survey contd.
 10 Enumerators + 4 SARI scientists trained on data collection
using Smartphones
 First round of data collection commenced Sept
 Data collection completed in 13 communities and for 27
households (outstanding 27 communities and 373 households)

17. Baseline survey contd.
Backstopping an enumerator at Yizergu

18. Outstanding activities
 1st round of data collection ends Oct 2012
 2 more rounds in Nov and Dec 2012 for on-farm and
off-farm data on income and expenditure accounts for
2012
 Producer/community surveys will continue till Mar 2013
 Post-production surveys will start in Jan 2013

19. 1.1.15: Seed production
 Trained 15 farmers + 4 extension staff in the Navrongo
Hub – too late to start in the Savelugu Hub
 Provided foundation seed to the 15 farmers (0.4 ha
each = 6 ha total)
 All fields successfully established
 Four monitoring and technical backstopping visits by
CSIR-SARI
 Seed are being certified by Ghana Seed Inspection
Division of MoFA

20. Seed production field

21. Outstanding activities
 Field inspections by GSIU
 Harvesting & processing – end Nov 2012
 Final certification – Jan 2013
 Linking seed producing farmers to market (other
farmers in the Hubs)

22. 2.1.7: Yield gap survey
Yield gap concept:
 Yield gap is the difference between maximum attainable
yield and actual yield obtained by farmers

24. General Steps in Yield Gap Analysis

25. Yield gap survey: achievements
• 2 SARI scientists + 15 Agricultural Extension Agents
trained on data collection using Smartphones
• 1 automated weather station established in Navrongo Hub
(Nyangua)
• 8 communities randomly selected for the survey
• All households within the selected communities profiled
• 88 farmers were randomly selected for participation
• 88 farmers’ fields (8 researcher-managed) selected for
yield gap survey

26. Yield gap survey achievements contd.
• Selected plots geo-referenced and measured
• Documented farmers’ agronomic and management
practices in the communities
• Collected routine data based on the agreed protocol

27. Outstanding activities
 Continue data collection on harvesting and post- harvest
processes up to Feb 2013
 Collate data at each location and construct database – up to Mar
2013
 Analyze data to identify and delineate the main constraints
responsible for yield gaps – May 2013
 Clearly classify the yield gaps into:
 exploitable gaps (those that are due mainly to suboptimal crop
management practices)
 less exploitable gaps (those that can be closed, but with less
economic gains)

28. 3.1.1: Diagnostic survey
 Protocol developed
 2 team members trained by AfricaRice
 Community listing and selection completed
 Key Informant and Focused Group interviews conducted in
six communities
 Data transcription almost completed
 Data entry 85% complete

29. Communities selected for Key Informant
and Focused Group interviews

30. Outstanding activities
 Complete data entry – end Nov 2012
 Training on data analysis - Dec 2012 /Jan 2013
 Data analysis and report writing – end Mar 2013

31. 3.1.2 Multi-stakeholder platforms
 Different types of stakeholders identified (through
surveys and site visits)
 MSPs composed, launched and made operational
 Relationships between stakeholders identified
 Stakeholders’ needs and interests identified and
analyzed
 Backstopping at monthly MSP meetings

32. MSPs established
Navrongo MSP Savelugu MSP

33. Achievements contd.
The project facilitated:
 Statement of vision and mission by each MSP
 Election & inauguration of executives/steering committees
 Collection of membership levies
 Opening of bank accounts
 Adoption of local names for MSPs
 Initiation of official registration of MSPs as cooperative
societies
 Opening of office space

34. Hub Actor No. of Members Male Female
stakeholders
Savelugu FBO 10 500 448 52
MoFA 1 3 3 0
Aggregator 2 2 0 2
Processor 6 6 2 4
Tractor Services Provider 4 4 4 0
Agro Input Dealer 2 2 2 0
Rural Bank 1 1 1 0
District Assembly 1 1 1 0
Sub Total 27 519 461 58
Navrongo FBO 7 379 348 31
ICOUR 1 3 3 0
MoFA 1 1 1 0
Aggregator 2 2 1 1
Processor 4 4 1 3
Tractor Services Provider 2 2 2 0
Agro Input Dealer 2 2 2 0
Rural Bank 1 2 2 0
Sub Total 20 395 360 35
Total 47 914 821 93

35. Framework Research output 1: activities
Activity AfricaRice & partners
Construction of development domains within IFPRI will do this
and across the project mega-sites
Identification of action research sites within SARI has selected Hubs
the development domains of each mega-site
Establishment of R4D platforms Equal to MSPs
Collect baseline information Baseline + diagnostic + yield gap surveys
Construction of farm household typologies Baseline + diagnostic + yield gap surveys
Inventorize innovations Agronomy, social science, and economics teams
will develop inventory
Identification and prioritization of innovations Matching surveys’ results and inventory
addressing major constraints

36. Thank you.