Commodities and value chains as the method and argument for scaling up smallholder irrigation Amare Haileslassie; Jennie Barron; Fitsum Hagos; Petra Schmitter; Gebrehaweria Gebregziabher East Africa and Nile Basin Office

Background Local policy puts irrigations as priority: an opportunity to contribute to SDGs & SLO. We needs to ensure that irrigation technologies can be adopted and out-scalable; Farmers need incentives; incentive does not often come from the technology itself; farmers adoption challenges; Achieving SDGs & SLO need complementarity & synergy . http://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/sustainable-development-goals/

Background SDGs are more complicated They are all linked and water is more so; Understanding development partners investment and link with incentive structures and add value to ensure adoptions & its out scalability. http://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/sustainable-development-goals/

Description of our approach WE explore smallholders irrigation technology- commodity and value chain ( VC) nexus; In this context VC approach refers to the range of goods and services necessary for an agricultural product to move from the farm to the final customer (simplified fig); WE recognized that Innovation is a chain that requires strength at every link to be adopted ( Fig); Its uptake is specific to components of the VC.

Description of our approach Selected VC nodes Value chain accelerators VC structure IWMI & partners applied; intervention farmers; domain farmers; focal persons in gov office Haileslassie et al., 2014 Fodder, Fruits and Vegetables Inputs and services Capacity building( formal; coaching…) Production Knowledge management (infras…) & promotion ( IP) Harvesting & processing& marketing Research & documentation

Examples of our interventions Improved access to inputs( facilitated) through on farm planting material production(seeds; grafted seedlings of apple; mango; irrigated fodder); Agronomic practices(irrigation water optimization; fertilizer inputs demonstrated, coached); Fodder chopping techniques (demonstrated) and linked to market for some commodities, Haileslassie 2014

Examples of our interventions With out proper function motor pumps success of irrigation technologies?? Capacitated motor pump maintenance service provider; Multiple outcome (job is created; adopted; confidence in practice and thus better adoption; Working on business model Gebremedhin 2016 Gebremedhin 2016

Examples of our intervention Imported and expensive hybrid tomato planting media; LIVES identified, tested and publicized plating media from locally available materials; Cheaper and locally available and many farmers have access to the material to prepare it on farm; Practice adopted and enhanced adoption of tomato; job creation. Desalegne 2016

Why Smallholders irrigation-commodity and value chain approach is ready to scale up What we know & what we do not; Many technologies adopted; Some IDOs for SLO has emerged: yield/income, saved water, created job; Integrated/interdisciplinary research. Desalegne 2016

What next ? Fitting for purpose (R4D); being more visible; over come competition for niche; Smallholders irrigation technology-commodities- VC approach helps; IWMI need to contextualize this approach; target “big ideas” ; express it consistently; align with development partners Bring in/ nurture investment opportunity models for various actors along the VC.

For More Information……. Amare Haileslassie A.haileslassie@cigar.org https://lives-ethiopia.org/ https://ilssi.tamu.edu/