Putting nitrogen fixation to work for smallholder farmers in Africa South-East Cluster Partnership: Achievements, Lessons & Way Forwards ILRI-N2Africa Partners Review and Planning Workshop Lalibela Auditorium, ILRI Campus, Addis Ababa January 2016 Kissi Wakweya, OARI/Sinana Agricultural Research Center

Putting nitrogen fixation to work for smallholder farmers in Africa Presentation Outline Partnership Objectives Scope of the partnership Achievements and Progresses Lessons Learnt Main Challenges Way Forwards

Putting nitrogen fixation to work for smallholder farmers in Africa Pillars/Strategic Objectives of the Partnership Nurturing long-term sustainability of –Knowledge transfer –Technology dissemination –Efficient input supply chains –Market linkages

Putting nitrogen fixation to work for smallholder farmers in Africa Scope of the partnership Partners and role mapping Focus crop (legume) Geographical area coverage

Putting nitrogen fixation to work for smallholder farmers in Africa The Scope: Key partners and role mapping Designing and Facilitation of partnerships Technical support M&E Grants and leverage resources Evidence generation M&E, communication Technical support Develop extension materials Liaise with other VC partners Source for chickpea seed Trainings on contractual farming & out grower Support technology disseminati on via out growers Supply inoculants Trainings on inoculant application s, handling, storage and distribution Grain buyer, Seed access (ACOS variety) Support trainings on grain quality & grading Communication & coordination

Putting nitrogen fixation to work for smallholder farmers in Africa Farmers’ coordination and mobilization, directly involved on different activities of the project. Bureau of Agriculture Cooperatives/ Unions Input supply (fertilizer, inoculant, herbicide, fungicide and insecticide) and purchase of outputs to supply for mkt/end users. The Scope: Key partners and role mapping...

Putting nitrogen fixation to work for smallholder farmers in Africa Focus Crop  Our focus crops are:  Faba Bean - Highland areas of Bale at Sinana, Agarfa and Goba districts/woredas on 11 PAs and  Chickpea - Midland areas of Bale at Ginir district/woreda on 5 PAs.

Putting nitrogen fixation to work for smallholder farmers in Africa Achievements and Progresses Key achievements: The Four Pillars –Capacity Development –Dissemination –Input Supply –Market linkages The roles/contributions of the partnership model in cluster achievements under the four pillars.

Putting nitrogen fixation to work for smallholder farmers in Africa 1Capacity Development  Training was given before planting on:   Improved agronomic practices:  Benefit of row planting in weed mgt, nutrient utilization etc,  Importance of legume crops in crop rotation,  Role of legumes in food diversification (in cereal monoculture) etc.  Inoculant Technology:   Method of inoculant application. Role of inoculant in N2 fixation. Achievements and Progresses …cont’d

Putting nitrogen fixation to work for smallholder farmers in Africa Achievements and Progresses…cont’d  Training was given for about  236 Male house hold  144 Female house hold  31 DAs and  3 Experts at both highland and midland districts of Bale zone (on FB and CP).

Putting nitrogen fixation to work for smallholder farmers in Africa Achievements and Progresses…cont’d  Training was also given for DAs, Woreda and Zone experts on: Improved agronomic practices, Inocuant technology, Agribusiness, Gender and Crop protections.

Putting nitrogen fixation to work for smallholder farmers in Africa 2 Dissemination  300 farmers’ were addressed under adaptation trail for faba bean in three districts (25% female farmers).  15 Demo plots were planned to establish on F. bean. But, 13 demonstration plots were successfully established which contains 325 farmers’ technology dissemination groups (25% female farmers) (25 FTDGs) for each plot.  Two demonstration plots were not established at Agarfa district (Ali PAs) due to erratic rainfall (too late rainfall). Achievements and Progresses…cont’d

Putting nitrogen fixation to work for smallholder farmers in Africa  Dissemination cont’d  Out of 13 established Demo plots, 3 Demo plots were also affected by moisture stress and totally failed. Picture1Picture1  10 Demo plots were planned on chickpea at Ginir which contains 400 farmers’ technology dissemination groups (25% female farmers) (40 FTDGs) for each plot. But, 8 demo plots were established (due to land shortage at few PAs). Picture 2Picture 2  Out of 400 FTDGs 100 farmers were planned to be out growers of Balegreen. However, we successful with 75 farmers’ due to early planting by farmers’ at Akasha PA. Achievements and Progresses…cont’d

Putting nitrogen fixation to work for smallholder farmers in Africa  This year Balegreen also planted different chickpea varieties:  12 ha of land for Ararti (Basic Seed),  5 ha of land for Dalota (Basic Seed),  2.5 ha of land for ACOS (pre-basic seed)  0.5 ha of land for Ejere (Basic seed), and  20ha of land for ACOS certified seed which totally covers 40 hectare of land with chickpea varieties  However, it was totally failed due to moisture stress and misuse of insecticide to control African Ball worms. Picture 3Picture 3 Achievements and Progresses…cont’d

Putting nitrogen fixation to work for smallholder farmers in Africa  This year a total of 1020 farmers were reached as direct and indirect beneficiaries (demonstration and adaptation trials) for both crops and total of 40 ha of land was planted with chickpea. Achievements and Progresses…cont’d

Putting nitrogen fixation to work for smallholder farmers in Africa Achievements and Progresses…cont’d Faba Bean Inputs Amount used Amount used Seeds 18 Quit Inoculants 150 Pkt Fertilizer (DAP) 6 Quit Chickpea Inputs Amount used Seeds40 Quit Inoculants150 Pkt Fertilizer (DAP) - 3. Input Supply (Adaptation trail on F. bean and C. pea)

Putting nitrogen fixation to work for smallholder farmers in Africa Achievements and Progresses…cont’d Seed Fertilizer Seed +Fert +Inoculant

Putting nitrogen fixation to work for smallholder farmers in Africa 3.Input Supply (Demonstration trail on FB and CP )InputsDemonstration Demo + Adaptation F. Bean F. BeanChickpea Seeds 117 kg87 kg60.04 Quit Inoculants 17 Pkt12 Pkt329 Pkt Fertilizer (DAP) 20 kg15 kg6.35 Quit Achievements and Progresses…cont’d

Putting nitrogen fixation to work for smallholder farmers in Africa Achievements and Progresses…cont’d  Variety used for faba bean:  Adaptation trail “Shallo” variety was used due to it’s availability in large amount at SARC and it also showed response to inputs compared to other cultivars (last years).  Demonstration trail “Degaga” variety was used due similar reason as Shallo.  For Chickpea:  Demonstration trail : ACOs Dubie, Arerti and Habru  Adaptation/out growers: ACOs Dubie, Arerti, Dalota and Ejere.

Putting nitrogen fixation to work for smallholder farmers in Africa Achievements and Progresses…cont’d 4. Market linkage: Faba bean ??? SARC, Capacity building, evidence generation Oromia Seed Enterprise (Seed source) N2Africa (facilitation of linkages) Smallholder F. Bean producer (Southeastern) Heniken and Diajo (use FB rotation) Union/Cooperatives (Agarfa Kajewa and Siko-mendo) Menagesha Biotec (MBI) inoculant source Seed Producer Coops Farmers’ (ISSD)

Putting nitrogen fixation to work for smallholder farmers in Africa Achievements and Progresses…cont’d 4. Market linkage: Chickpea ACOS, Chickpea processing and exporter SARC, Capacity building, evidence generation Balegreen (Seed source) N2Africa (facilitation of linkages) Smallholder Chickpea producer (Southeastern) Union/Cooperatives (Oda Roba) Menagesha Biotec (MBI) inoculant source

Putting nitrogen fixation to work for smallholder farmers in Africa Achievements and Progresses…cont’d  Roles/Contributions of the partnership model in cluster achievements:  Facilitation of the partnerships, M and E, grants and leverage of resources was fully coordinated by ILRI-N2Africa.  The trail establishment, trainings (farmers, DAs and experts), data collection, development of ext materials (leaflet) etc was conducted by SARC.  Technology dissemination Via out growers supported Balegreen.

Putting nitrogen fixation to work for smallholder farmers in Africa  Farmers’ mobilization and coordination was done by BoA.  Field days were organized in collaboration with ILRI- N2Africa, SARC, Balegreen, MBI and BoA. Picture 5.Picture 5.  Three RMA trials (Long term rotation, Effect of Dual gold on faba bean weed and interaction effect of CP cultivar and rhizobium strains) were also conducted. Picture 6.Picture 6. Achievements and Progresses…cont’d

Putting nitrogen fixation to work for smallholder farmers in Africa Achievements and Progresses Analysis and Inference of Demo, RMA, Adaptation trails and Technology evaluation was not ready for current report due to crop growing seasons of the area.  But, all the necessary data was collected for all faba bean trials except for yield data due to some trails are not yet harvested and underway for chickpea.

Putting nitrogen fixation to work for smallholder farmers in Africa Lessons Learned Cooperatives/Unions are paramount important in PPPs, so they should be strengthened. Creation of strong PPPs in the cluster is the first thing to be done for the sustainability of the project. Partners capacity development on pulse technology is the determinant factor for the success of this project. Joint monitoring and evaluation should be strengthened.

Putting nitrogen fixation to work for smallholder farmers in Africa  Shortage of vehicle, due to other project works.  Erratic rainfall.  No efficient input supply chains are developed.  No market linkage has been developed for faba bean and Weak linkage for chickpea.  Out break of African ball worms, due to moisture stress in Ginir district. Picture 7.Picture 7. Main Challenges

Putting nitrogen fixation to work for smallholder farmers in Africa  Efficient input supply chain should be developed.  Market linkage should be Strengthened between partners for chickpea.  Focus on faba bean market linkage.  Trainings on pulse technologies should be strengthen.  Effective insecticide for chickpea should be supplied via unions/traders. Way Forwards

Putting nitrogen fixation to work for smallholder farmers in Africa THANK YOU !!