1. Production, location and change
The Management of Agricultural Change

2. Syllabus Content A single case study for one country illustrating:
title: the need for agricultural change
scale: at the scale of both the individual farmer and the country itself
content:
why changes are needed,
why changes are difficult,
attempts made to bring about change by management
critical evaluation of the success of these attempted solutions

3. The Need for Agricultural Change in Sub-Saharan Africa
Mali
Burkina Faso
Niger

4. Background
The success of IR8 in India has not been repeated in Africa – perhaps the continent that needs it the most.
This can be attributed to various factors including:
Widespread corruption,
Insecurity,
A lack of infrastructure, and
A general lack of will on the part of African governments.
Environmental factors, such as the availability of water for irrigation and the high diversity in slope and soil types in any given area, are also reasons why success has been so elusive.

7. Why are changes needed?
These countries are all critically short of food, especially during the dry season, which in some years can last for months.
Countries
HDI Score
HDI Position
Mali
0.407
176
Burkina Faso
0.388
181
Niger
0.337
187

8. Why are changes needed? The main reasons for low yields are:
general low soil fertility (impoverished, sandy, rapidly leached soils)
the impact of continuous cultivation of the same crops (over-cropping) leading to soil exhaustion
Other issues were climatic, cultural and economic:
In 2010 drought left 7.1 million people starving in Niger as crops withered and livestock died.
When most farmers in Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger apply fertiliser, they simply throw handfuls of it across a newly sown field;
With this traditional method most of the fertiliser is wasted with the granules falling nowhere hear the newly sown seed.
Nutrients are rapidly leached out before plants can access them.
In Mali, fertilisers cost US$1.65 per kilo (about 4 times the world average) so farmers use small amounts (about 5kg per ha.). Yields are consequently low.

9. Why changes are difficult?
The FAO has identified a number of challenges which farmers face in the area.
A considerable share of the rural population in Sub- Saharan Africa resides in smallholder farming areas that are densely populated and face land shortages.
Much of the under-utilised land is concentrated in relatively few countries and between one half and two thirds of surplus land is currently marginal land. Conversion of such marginal land to agriculture would come at considerable environmental cost.
In land constrained countries, area driven growth may / has come at the expense of fallows. Rising rural populations and associated land pressures has resulted in continuous cropping in many African countries, with fallows largely disappearing in densely populated areas.

10. Why changes are difficult?
The FAO has identified a number of challenges which farmers face in the area.
Continuous cultivation of existing plots would not necessarily pose problems for sustainable intensification if sufficient use of fertilisers, soil amendment practices and other land- augmenting investments are employed and coupled with continued education to maintain and improve soil quality.
However, a large body of literature in SSA points to soil degradation arising from unsustainable cultivation practices in regions with a high population density. Continuous cultivation and lack of crop rotation deplete organic carbon levels, making soil less responsive to fertiliser application. This also makes it more difficult for smallholder farmers to benefit from yield gains offered by plant genetic improvement.

11. Attempts to bring about change - Interventions
Microdosing
Impoverished soils and low yields are the bane of Africa’s small farmers. Chemical fertilizers are a critical input. The fertilizer microdosing technology using a bottle cap can boost productivity, improve the tolerance of sorghum and pearl millet to drought and temperature stress and make plant nutrient use more efficient to raise yields.
This method has been introduced in an attempt to reduce wastage of fertiliser. It is a precision farming technique developed where a small dose of fertiliser is strategically placed with seeds at planting time.
It also involves fertilisers are placed right beside the plant where it is most needed and effective.

12. Attempts to bring about change - Interventions
Microdosing
The system is supported by other interventions:
Subsidized fertilizer has been authorized for use on millet and sorghum farms in Niger and Mali.
Village-level input stores were created for distribution of government-supplied fertilizer in Niger and Mali. These are linked to agro-dealers and sell small packets of fertiliser to farmers – ensuring easy access.

13. Using a bottle cap, they apply tiny amounts of fertiliser - about one-sixth of the quantities normally put on grain crops in Europe - directly to the plant roots. Research shows this increases yields in Niger by an average of 55%

14. Attempts to bring about change - Interventions
Low-pressure drip irrigation
This is a very successful agricultural method used to increase yields – and it reduces labour. Instead of hours spent using a watering can, it only takes 10 minutes to switch on a drip kit.
Water is supplied directly to the roots instead of the entire plant.
Water is pumped from boreholes using solar power.
It allows women to produce vegetables year-round in arid areas like Niger and Burkina Faso.

15. Drip irrigation in Burkina Faso
Drip irrigation in Niger

16. Attempts to bring about change - Interventions
Bio-reclamation of degraded lands
Also used to counteract poor yields during drought.
Exhausted Sahelian soils are replenished using rainwater storage methods and the replanting of indigenous trees and crops.
In the dryland tropics, such as Niger, indigenous plants and crops are hardy natural survivors that are adapted to tolerate drought conditions.

17. Bio-reclamation of degraded lands

18. Attempts to bring about change
Warrantage
Also called inventory credit system, this scheme allows farmers to borrow against their harvest:
Farmers place part of their harvest in a local storehouse in return for inventory credit to meet pressing postharvest expenses and engage in dry-season, income-generating activities. The stored grain can be sold later in the year at much higher prices for profit.
The system allows farmers to sell their harvests when the price improves but in the meantime are able to invest in their farm by diversifying, repairing or merely clearing existing debts.
Warrantage has been implemented in Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger as well as Zimbabwe.

19. Policy Changes
In 2006, Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) was established to trigger an African Green Revolution.
The intention was:
to transform the existing system of small-scale farmers into a highly productive, efficient, competitive and sustainable operation to ensure food security, and
lift millions of people out of poverty.
AGRA’s aspirations are that by 2020:
Food insecurity in at least 20 countries would be reduced by 50%
Some 20 million small holder farmers would have their income doubled, and
At least 15 countries would be on the path to achieving and sustaining a Green Revolution.
In an attempt to remedy low fertility and high rates of leaching, AGRA set up the Soil Health Programme in 2008.
ICRISAT

20. Highlights of the Microdosing Project
Burkina Faso
Mali
Microdosing
field demonstrations
440 farmer schools
farmers benefitted
farmers adopted technology
farmers trained in microdosing
393 field days with farmers
Broadcasts reached farmers
2819 demonstration plots
farmers trained in fertiliser microdosing
72 famers’ organisations holding farmer field schools
farmers trained in integrated soil fertility management
Yield increases of 33 – 47% compared to no fertiliser
206 farmer field days with 9642 farmers (35% women)
133 broadcasts on regional radio and 6 FM stations
Inventory Credit
58 warrantage warehouses set up
158 committee members trained
FCFA 135 million (US$ 280,000) lent to 3470
farmers (51% women)
1150 tonnes of grain stored in 43 stores
FCFA 72 million (US$ 144,000) lent to 1077 farmers
Input Supplies
36 fertiliser dealerships set up
584 tonnes of NPK and urea fertilisers used in field demonstrations
3470 farmers (51% women) benefited
43 dealerships set up
farmers (30% women) bought minipackets and kg bags of fertiliser

21. Other Impacts of Policy Changes
39% of the total cropping area covered.
44-120% increase in sorghum and millet yields
30% increase in family incomes between 2009 and 2012
$ 7 million savings in food imports
Generated a net present value of $26 million and an internal  rate of return of 36% by 2013

22. Other Impacts of Policy Changes
Fertilizer use rates increased from 7.41kg/ha to kg/ha in the baseline study
21- 68% rise in proportion of farmers using mineral fertilizer
13km to 6km reduction in average distance to an input shop
77% farmers used at least one type of mineral fertilizer compared to 48%  in a control village

23. An evaluation of the methods

24. Evaluation
The combined effects of rapid urbanisation, population growth and resulting transformations in food demand have had major impacts on the size of the West African food economy and its structure. Using recent expenditure and consumption surveys compiled by the World Bank, the size of the West African food economy is estimated at USD 178 billion in 2010.
This represents 36% of regional GDP, making it the largest sector of the West African economy.
In many countries, the domestic food market is becoming more attractive for farmers than traditional export cash crops. The non-agricultural postharvest activities of the food economy, such as processing, logistics and retail, are developing quickly. These account for 40% of the sector’s value added and will continue to expand (Allen and Heinrigs, 2016).
The emergence of local food industries and processing facilities creates increasing employment opportunities in processing, packaging, distribution and retail in urban and rural areas. In many rural areas the non-farm rural economy is growing rapidly and driving economic transformations – alleviating poverty.

25. Evaluation
Undernourishment has been a long-standing challenge, with uneven progress across the region. Despite being reduced from 33% in to 23% in , the percentage of undernourishment remains the highest among developing regions (FAO, IFAD and WFP, 2015).
Owing to rapid population growth of 2.7% p.a. over the same period, the absolute number of undernourished people has increased by 44 million to reach 218 million.
Slow progress towards food security has been attributed to low productivity of agricultural resources, high population growth rates, political instability and civil strife.
However, vast regional differences remain and the success achieved in countries with stable political conditions, economic growth and expanding agricultural sectors suggests that appropriate governance systems, institutional capacities, and macroeconomic, structural and sectoral policies can work together to improve food security on a long-lasting and sustainable basis.

26. Evaluation
The strategic development of the agricultural sector would benefit from increased policy focus on infrastructure, research and development. Consistency of policy applications will remain a key factor shaping the success of the sector within the development agenda.
As a form of producer support targeting improved productivity, fertiliser subsidy programmes have been employed in a number of countries and while successful in accelerating yield growth in other SSA countries such as Zambia and Malawi, the ultimate effectiveness of such programmes in the long-run remains disputed, with the costs often found to outweigh the benefits.

27. Evaluation
The long-term effects of all these interrelated schemes appear to bring benefits but are not yet fully understood.
Much more research is needed to examine the impact on the soil in the long term.
Further work is needed to develop simple tools to help and reduce the labour intensity of the microdosing technique, especially with the possibility of labour shortages brought on by increasing urbanisation.