Putting nitrogen fixation to work for smallholder farmers in Africa SCS South Cluster Partnership: Achievements, Lessons & Way Forwards Tulu Degefu Hawassa University, Department of Biology ILRI-N2Africa Partners Review and Planning Workshop Lalibela Auditorium, ILRI Campus, Addis Ababa January 2016

Putting nitrogen fixation to work for smallholder farmers in Africa SCS 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 SCS 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 SCS Partners and role mapping Designing and Facilitati on of partnersh ips Technical support M&E Grants and leverage resources Evidence generation M&E, communica tion Technical support Develop extension materials Liaise with other VC partners Traini ngs on legum e busine ss, Suppo rt techn ology disse minati on campa igns Technolo gy dissemin ation and scale up, Mobilize and facilitat e dissemin ation campaign s Supply inoculan ts Training s on inoculan t applicati ons, handling, storage and distribu tion Channel for Input delivery distribut ion and product bulking, marketin g Mobilizin g farmers Source of grain legumes Grain buyer, Seed supply (ACOS variety, limited amt) Support trainings on grain quality & grading Communication & coordination Unions

Putting nitrogen fixation to work for smallholder farmers in Africa SCS Geographical area coverage, Focus crops, total beneficiaries across the partnership period Target Woredas Focus CropTotal beneficiaries targeted during 2015 Success BorichaHB & SB Damot GaleCP Soddo ZuriaHB HalabaHB ShallaHB Total

Putting nitrogen fixation to work for smallholder farmers in Africa SCS Achievements and Progresses in terms of the four pillars  Knowledge transfer/Capacity Development  A total of 8 Trainings (By HwU, SCS & MARC) on legume agronomy, inoculation technology  BoA and Unions mobilized and coordinated the participants (farmers, etc)  HwU, SCS, MARC & BoA were responsible for training and data collection  A total of (including farmers, DA’s) participated on the trainings but the plan was to reach 1800 farmers

Putting nitrogen fixation to work for smallholder farmers in Africa SCS Demonstration cluster as part of knowledge transfer Target Woredas Target Commodity/crops # of FTDG (demos) sites Total # of farmers participat ed plannedRemark Boricha Haricot bean, Nasir N2Africa plot ACOS Keyo330N2Africa plot, but late planting Soybean5125 N2Africa plot HalabaHaricot bean, Nasir N2Africa plot Soddo Zuria Haricot bean, Awassa Dume N2Africa plot Damote Gale Chickpea, Habru N2A &AGRA- SSTP plot ShallaHaricot bean10250 N2Africa Plot TotalHB, CP & SB

Putting nitrogen fixation to work for smallholder farmers in Africa SCS  ACOS keyo (The red bean variety) was sourced from ACOS, while other varieties including Nasir and Awassa Dume were obtained from Sidama Elto  All gender disaggregated (% women)

Putting nitrogen fixation to work for smallholder farmers in Africa SCS Adaptation Cluster as part of KT Target Woredas Target Commodity Total # of farmers participated plannedKey Player/s Boricha Haricot bean, Nasir HwU, BoA & SEU ACOS Keyo30-HwU, BoA & ACOS Soybean125-HwU, BoA HalabaHaricot bean, Nasir HwU, BoA & SEU Soddo ZuriaHaricot bean, Awassa Dume SCS Damote GaleChickpea, Habru250225SCS, HwU & AGRA- SSTP ShallaHaricot bean96100MARC TotalHB, CP & SB NB: Farmers participated on FTDG also took part on Adaptation activities in SNNPR not at Shalla

Putting nitrogen fixation to work for smallholder farmers in Africa SCS Field days and media events as part of KT Five field day events were organized (1/woreda) participated Media spots (HwU radio, Debub FM and Soddo FM radio, Oromia TV & radio) broadcasted about rhizobia based biofertilizer technology We think that quite many people were likeli to get awareness regarding the inoculant technology

Putting nitrogen fixation to work for smallholder farmers in Africa SCS

Putting nitrogen fixation to work for smallholder farmers in Africa SCS Discussion held technology evaluated

Putting nitrogen fixation to work for smallholder farmers in Africa SCS  Input Supply  MBI with biofertilizer (1200+ sachet), Nasir & Awassa Dume varieties from Sidama Elto Unions and other sources, and red bean variety (50kg) from ACOS  Inclusion of red bean variety was the interest of buyer (ACOS)  Input distribution was coordinated…fairly all partners were involved  For example red bean variety distribution partners (ILRI, ACOS, SEU, HwU, BoA) all were involved  The inputs were distributed to individual farmers via their organization

Putting nitrogen fixation to work for smallholder farmers in Africa SCS Market linkages  ACOS provided red bean variety (50kg) for potential market links  3 demo site at Boricha each with 10 farmers/demo site  30 farmers participated on adaptation trial  All farmers coops member  But late planting time (erratic rain and moisture stress negatively affected the final yield)

Putting nitrogen fixation to work for smallholder farmers in Africa SCS Achievements and Progresses In all causes the use of +P+I resulted in yield better than use of one of them alone But much variations in the final yield among the same txt in different Kebeles at the two woredas For example 9.4 quintals/hactar at Lalenda kebele (Halaba) but 37.6 quintals/hactar at Shondolo liwo kebele (Boricha) Fig.1. Effects of inputs on the yield of Common bean at Boricha and Halaba

Putting nitrogen fixation to work for smallholder farmers in Africa SCS Achievements and Progresses  Belesa 95 is better in terms of yield and biomass Figure 2: The productivity of soybean varieties at Boricha, Shello Elancho kebele

Putting nitrogen fixation to work for smallholder farmers in Africa SCS The result shows there was no difference in yield at Sadamo Chala kebele, irrespective of the treatments But good result were observed from plots at Shondolo liwo Yield (quintal/hactar

Putting nitrogen fixation to work for smallholder farmers in Africa SCS Lessons Learned PPP is essential for dissemination of N2Africa packages to reach the wider farming communities Based on role mapping it would be good if all partners know their roles and responsibilities so that the platform will really function well Farmers now realized that plots which recieved both I & P as input responded better

Putting nitrogen fixation to work for smallholder farmers in Africa SCS Opportunities Identified The possibility to extend soybean production through adaptation cluster at and around Boricha Promising response of biofertilizer in most of the intervention woredas The growing interest and high demand of biofertilizer in the farming communities

Putting nitrogen fixation to work for smallholder farmers in Africa SCS Main Challenges There were loose communication between partners involved (roles and responsibilities) Country-wide flactuation and erratic rain The failure of the inoculant to respond better in some localities Pest infestation (chickpea)

Putting nitrogen fixation to work for smallholder farmers in Africa SCS Way Forwards PPP has to function even better than it was to reach wider farming communities, thus to ensure sustainability Late planting has to be avoided in order to materialize what we are anticipating for Timely establishment of RMA (Long-term Systems study) at Ziway research station

Putting nitrogen fixation to work for smallholder farmers in Africa