Presentation at a one-day workshop on February 23, 2015, convened to take stock of the Conservation Agriculture and Smallholder Farmers in East and Southern Africa (CASFESA) pilot project. CASFESA scientists share experience after three years of implementation in South Achefer and Jebitehnan Districts of Amhara Region, Northern Ethiopia, from June 2012, ending in March 2015. Funded by the European Union through the International Fund for Agricultural Development, CASFESA aimed at increasing food security and incomes of poor smallholder farmers through sustainable intensification of mixed, cereal-based systems. The project will leave a rich legacy, including: • adaptation and demonstration of CA-based technologies on selected farmer plots; • enhancing pro-poor and gender-sensitive targeting of CA-based interventions; • improving the delivery of information, including on technologies and market opportunities to smallholders, as well as developing policy options and recommendations that favor these technologies; and, • enhancing the capacity of research, and development interventions, for project stakeholders.

1. SIMLESA: Enhancing Integration,
Innovation and Impacts in Eastern and
Southern Africa: Initial findings and
lessons
Mulugetta Mekuria, SIMLESA Program Leader, CIMMYT Southern
Africa Regional Office Harare Zimbabwe – email
M.Mekuria@cgiar.org, Menale Kassie, CIMMYT- Kenya; Isaiah
Nyagumbo, CIMMYT-Southern Africa; Paswel Marenya and Dagne
Wegary CIMMYT-Ethiopia
CASFESA End of Project Workshop
ARARI, Bahirdar 23 February 2105

2. Executed by CIMMYT with financial
Grant from ACIAR
• Phase 1-2010-2013
• SIMLESA2 2014-2018
PARTNERS-NARS
• EIAR, KARI, DRD,DARS , IIAM, spill
over NARO,RAB, DAR
• Regional/International
- ICRISAT, QAAFI, ARC,
ASARECA, MU,
CCARDESA(phase2), ILRI and
CIAT

3. The problem setting
Low productivity Scarce biomass Land degradation
Poor marketsClimate variability Limited resouces

4. SIMLESA Background……Vision of Success
To increase maize and legume
yields by 30% while sustaining
the environment through
• Conservation agriculture and
improved maize and legume
varieties
• the development of markets and
value chains, from input supplies to
output markets.
To reduce downside yield risks by
30%
To benefit 650,000 farm households
by 2023.
CA CHMPION FARMER IN
MALAWI Mrs Grace Malaichi

5. Approaches
3+3- Is
INTEGRATION (SYSTEMS)
INNOVATION PLATFORMS
IMPACT ORIENTATION
Information
Inputs
Institutions/policy

6. More productive,
and sustainable
practices, tactics
and strategies
Better use of
climate
information
M&E, Gender mainstreaming, scaling out and capacity building
Improved
understanding of
socio-economic
conditions
Input and output
markets
Household
resource
allocations
Improved range
of maize and
legume varieties
available for
smallholders
Improved access
to inputs
Objective 1 Objective 2 Objective 3
Objectives 4 & 5

7. Test and develop productive, resilient and sustainable smallholder
maize-legume cropping systems and innovation systems for local
scaling out
Community awareness meetings Farmer consultations and agreement on
treatments
On-station trials:
Out scaling trials and innovation
platforms and partnerships
Exploratory trials
establishment and
monitoring:
Farmer field days

8. Major findings from on- station and on-farm
trials 2010-2013
1. Conservation agriculture
can improve crop
productivity and incomes
• Three years of experimental data and
results from Ethiopia showed that the
average grain maize yield can increase
by about 5-18% under CA options
compared with farmers’ practices
• Malawi the increase in maize yield
ranged from 3-21% in the mid-altitude
agro-ecology, and 8-40% in lowland
agro-ecology

9. 0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
ETH KEN TAN MAL MOZ ETH KEN TAN MAL MOZ
Meanmaizeggrainyield(tha-1)
Farmer practice
Conservation Agriculture
WET AREAS DRY AREAS
Complex interactions:
Rainfall × Soil × Tillage × Residue cover × inputs etc
SIMLESA Results on the Ground
Increased maize yield from CA

10. Land Preparation and Weed Management Labour Cost
(US$/ha) in Eastern Kenya
Source: Team SIMLESA Kenya

11. Net returns from integration of different
components-Financial Analysis
5396
4652
2959 2808
2410
1829
497
0
1000
2000
3000
4000
5000
6000
Legume-maize
rotation
+reduced/zero
tillage +
improved
maize seeds
Legume-maize
rotation +
improved
maize seeds
Improved
maize seeds +
reduced/zero
tillage
Improved
maize seeds
only
Reduced/zero
tillage only
legume-maize
rotation only
Rotation +
reduced/zero
tillage
Netmaizeincome(ETB/ha)

12. 498
1892
2350
2823
2959
4507
5579
0
1000
2000
3000
4000
5000
6000
Maize-legume
rotation (R) +
Minimum
tillage(T)
R T Improved
miaze
varities(V)
V+T V+R V+R+T
Impact of CA on Maize income in Ethiopia
5250
8440
9710
11370
11840
12540
14270
Improved maize
varieties(V)
Maize-legume
rotation (R)
Maize-legume
intercropping(I)
I + V I + R R +V I + R + V
Netcropincome(MWK/ha)
Impact of CA on Maize income in Malawi

13. Major findings…
2. Conservation agriculture improves ecosystem services
• Maize –legume intercropping increased the total nitrogen in the preceding year
compared with planting sole maize
• CA options increased water use efficiency overtime.
• In Mozambique and Ethiopia the highest water use efficiency is achieved when CA
options are combined with maize-legume intercropping system.
3. Conservation agriculture options play a role of risk management
strategies
• Empirical analysis using household survey data in Malawi has shown that CA
options has the capacity to improve farmers’ resilience by reducing the probability
of crop failure (downside risk) and cost of risk (Kassie et al. forthcoming).
• Higher risk reduction was achieved when CA options are used jointly

14. Soil moisture effects of CA based cropping
systems in Mozambique, Angonia district, 2012.
Effects of CA based cropping systems on rain
water use efficiency in Ethiopia.

15. 0
50
100
150
200
250
300
350
400
0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3
Riskpremium(maizeyield-kg/ha)
Farmers’ risk behavior index
Both Crop diversification Minimum tillage
Conservation agriculture options play a role of risk management strategies

16. Major findings…
4. Maize-Legume variety selection
and release under SIMLESA
enhanced system productivity,
sustainability and diversification
– CA compatible new maize
variety released-
– PVS tools and Seed Road Maps
enhance availability and access
to improved maize and legume
varieties to farmers
The main lesson from the varietal work under
SIMLESA is that building on existing work and
networks to create a multi-stakeholder
coalitions in seed systems

17. A newly released maize hybrid, BH546, with
narrow and erect leaf architecture and suitable
for intercropping with common beans

19. 3
6
3
5
7
3
1
4
3
4
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
Numberofvarietiesreleased
Open pollonated variety Hybrid
40
71 72
92
121
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
140
Tanzania Malawi Mozambique Kenya Ethiopia
Numberofdemos
On-farm PVS trails conducted during
2010-2013

20. Major findings…
5 . Adoption factors identified
6. Innovation Platforms- mechanisms for scaling out and
market linkages and knowledge and information
management
7. M&E, Gender mainstreaming and Capacity building are
critical components

21. What Drives Adoption of SIPs?
Group Membership
Those farmers belonging to groups
had a higher chance to adopt:
 In Ethiopia: Cropping system
diversification(CD) and minimum
tillage(MT)
 In Kenya: Improved
Varieties(IV) and fertilizer
 In Malawi: Soil and Water
Conservation(SWC)
Proximity to markets
When close to markets farmers had a
higher chance to adopt:
 In Ethiopia: CD and manure use
 In Malawi: Improved varieties
 In Tanzania: CD and MT
Household assets & extension skill
With more assets farmers had a higher
chance to adopt :
 In Ethiopia: Soil and Water
Conservation
 In Kenya and Tanzania: Manure
With quality of extension services farmers
had a higher chance to adopt:
• In Ethiopia: CD, MT,
• In Kenya: CD and SWC
• In Malawi: MT
• In Tanzania: IV
Source: Land use Policy (2014) 42:400-411

22. Credit agencies
Processors
Development agencies
NGOs
Farmers
Government policies, informal institutions, practices, behaviors and attitudes
Seed companies
Farmer
coops/
CBOs
Public and
private
extension
Input suppliers
SIMLESA
Research teams
Local and
regional
government
Service providers
Institutional Innovations – example of IPs
Wholesalers &
retailers

23. What to scale up/out?
Promising new varieties
Maize hybrids
Maize OPVs
Pigeonpea varieties
Soybean varieties
Bean varieties
Groundnut varieties
Forages spp.
Agronomic/CA components
Planting system (spacing etc)
Fertilizer application
Weed control
Soil & water management
Legume rotations/ intercropping
Minimum or zero tillage
Residue retention
Institutional innovations
• Farmer targeting tools (typologies)
• Gender targeting and mainstreaming
• Farmer marketing groups
• Link to credit and insurance providers
• Post-harvest practices

24. How Much Labor do Women Contribute
to Agriculture
Female labor share by agricultural activity for all crops (%)
Female labor contribution to maize production – 44% (19-55%)
Activity
Ethiopia
(N=2257)
Kenya
(N=534)
Tanzania
(N=551)
Malawi
(N=1904)
Mozambique
(N=500)
Land preparation & planting 13 48 40 52 45
Weeding 25 50 42 52 53
Harvesting 26 54 41 54 58
Threshing 28 54 38 61 64
Total 23 53 43 54 55
• Women’s total labor commitment is disproportionately high
• given that they contribute some 50% of agricultural labor
• plus nearly all the labor required for family care and related household chores.
• What intervention(s) can ease the work load of female so that their and their family
welfare can be improved?

25. Key lessons for Asia maize-legume systems
1. Need to carefully understand sources of residues for CA in each
cropping environment and consider challenges from livestock
competition and termites.
2. Labour reduction /savings witnessed from CA with herbicide
assisted weed control
3. Rotations across ESA region found to be superior in terms of maize
yields despite farmer preference in some cases for intercropping
systems.
4. Need for strong input/output market support services through IPs
or other organizational support models.

26. Challenges and opportunities
• Difficulties experienced in applying the 3 principles as a
package : components, stepwise adoption preferred by
farmers
• Labour savings from CA generally the key benefit especially
in herbicide assisted systems- availability of herbicides
• Yield benefits most apparent from rotation systems.
• But yield increases were not apparent in some situations
especially waterlogged soils.
• Diseases in some maize varieties and environments under
CA.

27. Lessons from SIMLESA and CASFESA: Enhancing adoption
and impact
• Practices that conserve natural resources (moisture, soil, nutrients) also
reduce costs of production
– Suggesting clear opportunities for sustainable intensification using “simple”
techniques:
• Such as legume intercrops, reduced frequency of tillage
• Risk is a major objective (perhaps co-equal to productivity)
– SIPs practices reduce downside risk
– Providing extra incentives for adoption
– The need for farmer education on these risk reduction benefits
• Three classes of variables remain critical for SIPs adoption
– Social capital and networks (evidenced by group membership)
– Public goods in the form of infrastructure and extension
– Private asset endowments (land, equipment, livestock)

28. From Results to Lessons: Implications
• For many rural households, food security depends on productivity
enhancement through improved maize varieties and SIPs
– For the foreseeable future: the pathway to food security will pass through
smallholder productivity and technology improvement on own-farms
• Need to expand the analytical frontiers of gender research in agriculture
– We find that latent and difficult-to-observe factors lie behind the gender
food security gaps
• Evidence exists for synergies in agricultural practices for SIPs
– Promising win-win outcomes
– But also suggesting greater role of information, extension and adaptive
research

29. Next steps
• Validate research products
• Undertake various research issues
– Gender technology and productivity gaps and causes
of these gaps
– Household bio-economic modelling
– SIPs and Risk analysis,
– Livelihood diversification
• Taking research products to policy makers, farmers,
researchers, development partners, etc.,

30. • Promotion of Integrated improved germplasm and
crop management practices is critical.
• Phased intensification across farming systems
• Focus on impact pathways, innovation platforms and
systems integration

31. Take Home Messages
• Crafting and enhancing a comprehensive
integration of disciplines to generate the relevant
options/ technologies;
• bringing on board a functional stakeholders group
through innovation platforms for scaling out/up
• Mainstreaming gender and inclusive strategies and
value chain analysis tools to create farmer-market
linkages
• Technology, Institutions and Policy remain critical

32. Sustainable intensification through CA in Africa
and Asia is not only necessary but urgent
Acknowledgment
SIMLESA Partners including Farmers
ACIAR and CIMMYT Colleagues