Andrés Ramírez Gossler, Facundo Schinnea - eCommerce Day Chile 2024
Ar briefing feb2022
1. Africa RISING In The Ethiopian Highlands:
Project Overview From 2012 to 2022
Kindu Mekonnen and Peter Thorne
ILRI, Ethiopia
10 February 2022
Project Briefing Meeting with SLS Management
Team
Virtual
2. Discussion points
1. Background
2. Focus, operational areas and target
3. Project implementation processes (phase 1
and 2)
4. Achievements
5. Opportunities and challenges
6. Next steps
3. One Program - four Projects.
o Mixed Cereal-Legume-Livestock systems in West
Africa
o Mixed Cereal-Legume-Livestock systems in
East/Southern Africa
o Crop-Livestock systems in the Ethiopian
Highlands
o M&E and data management
Funded by USAID through the FtF initiatives.
Duration: 2012- Sept 2016 (Phase I) and Oct 2016-2022
(Phase II).
Africa RISING- Africa Research In Sustainable
Intensification for the Next Generation
1. Background
4. 2. Focus, operational areas and targets
Focuses on SI of mixed farming systems to contribute to:
o climate smart development- food security
o gender equitable development
o improved nutrition
o income diversification
o Development of human and institutional capacities
Conducts multi-disciplinary action research for
development
Facilitates scaling through development partnership
arrangements
Operates in four regions (Amhara, Tigray, Oromia and
SNNPR) in the highlands of Ethiopia
Planned to reach and benefit 0.7 million direct beneficiary
hhs through its validated SI technologies
5. 3. Project implementation
processes (phase 1 and 2)
Sites selection
Systems understanding (diagnosis)
Formation of research thematic areas
Identification of SI interventions
Testing and validation of SI
interventions
Packing information/evidences of
validated interventions
Identification of potential scaling DPs
Facilitation of scaling
Capacity development, IPS, Partnership
6. 4. Achievements
a) Research for development - examples
o Cultivated forages, and agronomic and utilization practices
o Selection of improved cereal, food legume, oil crop and enset
varieties
o Productivity/yield and quality of HVFTs
o Use options of small-scale mechanization (2 WT based
technologies)
o Fertilizer blends, ISFM practices
o Water management and application, and SWC at landscape
scale
b) Generic and methodological (diagnostic, validation, evidence
generation) studies- examples
o Nutrition studies (contribution of nutrition education and project
interventions)
o Gender studies (women farmers’ participation in the ag research
Research:
7. Scaling:
Phase II target= 700,366 hhs
Reached through AR validated innovations in phase II =
360,548 hhs
Reached through spillover, farmers to farmer and private
sector agents = 19,014 beneficiaries and from R4D=2,183
beneficiaries
0
50000
100000
150000
200000
250000
2017 2018 2019 2020 2021
Number
of
beneficiaries
Years
Targeted (T)
Reached (R)
Difference
9. AR Phase
Degree
type Men Female Total
Phase I MSc 18 7 25
PhD 2 2 4
Phase I
Total 20 9 29
Phase II MA 1 1
MSc 4 3 7
PhD 15 2 17
Phase II
Total 19 6 25
Grand Total 39 15 54
Student attachment:
In phase I and II, AR project of the Eth highlands supported 33
MSc and 21 PhD students.
From the total attached students – 28% were female students
Most CGIAR centers supported the attachment program
through supervision of MSc and PhD students.
10. Publications:
Over 254 project outputs have been produced since 2017, of
which 36 are journal articles
Examples of peer reviewed and highest profile journal
publications:
o Assessing smallholder sustainable intensification in the
Ethiopian highlands(Hammond et al. 2021, Agricultural
Systems)
o Landscape positions dictating crop fertilizer responses in
wheat-based farming systems of East African Highlands
(Amede et al. 2020, Renewable Agriculture and Food
Systems)
o Feed and forage development in mixed crop–livestock
systems of the Ethiopian highlands: Africa RISING project
research experience (Mekonnen et al. 2021, Agronomy
Journal)
o Multilevel innovation platforms for development of
smallholder livestock systems: How effective are they? (Lema
11. 5. Challenges remaining
Covid 19 pandemics
Security concerns
Mismatch of planning of activities and release of
project funds
Tracking and documenting informally disseminated
AR-validated technologies within and outside Africa
RISING operational areas
Strengthening, testing and validating M and E
approaches (most notably the SIAF) to improve the
credibility of the evidence base for SI.
12. 6. Next steps
Undertake studies to strengthen the evidence base
for Africa RISING outcomes and benefits; e.g.
RHoMIS, gender, and other studies
Produce Africa RISING legacy products
Generate information on farming systems priorities
and gaps for guiding future SI research and
investments for the Ethiopian Highlands
Explore options/opportunities that enhance wider
use/application of Africa RISING project success
stories (approaches, validated innovations)
Design Africa RISING project exit strategies
13. Africa RISING Scaling Development Partners in the Different
Sites/Regions (Phase II)- Examples
15. Africa Research in Sustainable Intensification for the Next Generation
africa-rising.net
This presentation is licensed for use under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Licence.
Thank You