Intensification of maize-legume based systems in the semi-arid areas of Tanzania (Kongwa and Kiteto Districts) to increase farm productivity and improve farming natural resource base
Africa RISING-ESA Project Proposal 2015/16
International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT)
December 2014
Organization: International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT)Mailing Address:
ICRISAT, Patancheru 502 324, Andhra Pradesh, India / Contact Person:
Joanna Kane-Potaka
Director, Strategic Marketing & Communication
ICRISAT
Patancheru 502 324
Tel: +91 40 3071 3227
Fax: +91 40 3071 3074
Email:
Country / Tanzania – Kongwa and Kiteto Districts
Principal Investigator / Patrick Okori, Principal Scientist (Plant Breeding), ICRISAT-Malawi
Research Team composition
Name / Gender / Institution / Disciplinary expertise / Highest qualification / Project roleElirehema Swai / M / ARI- Hombolo / Soil Scientist/ Agronomy / PhD / Co-PI
Anthony Kimaro / M / ICRAF / Forestry & Soil Fertility / PhD / Co-PI
Dan Makumbi / M / CIMMYT / Plant Breeder / Co-PI
GangaRao, NVPR / M / ICRISAT / Plant Breeder / PhD / Co-PI
Anitha Seetha / F / ICRISAT / Molecular Diagnosis / PhD / Scientist
Monica Lyimo / F / SUA / Nutrition expert / PhD / Scientist
Yasinta Muzanilla / F / SUA / Nutrition expert / PhD/Prof / Scientist
Omari Mponda / M / ARI Nalendele / Plant Breeder / PhD / Scientist
Chrispinus Rubanza / M / University of Dodoma / Forage Scientist / PhD / Scientist
Rashid Msangi / M / Pasture Research / Forage Scientist / PhD / Scientist
Martha Swamila / F / ICRAF / Agriculture Economist / M.Sc. / Scientific Assistant
Mathew Mpanda / M / ICRAF / Forestry/Nursery techniques / M.Sc. / Associate Researcher
Bekele Hundie Kotu / M / IITA / Agricultural Economist / PhD / Researcher
2
Research Proposal
Table of Contents
1 Project Summary 4
2 Research Problem and Justification 4
2.1 State of the art and progress along the research to impact trajectory 4
2.2 Progress along the research to impact trajectory 5
3 Requirements to mature technologies 6
3.1 2014-2015 research objectives 6
4 Methodology for maturation of technologies 8
4.1 Thematic area 1: Technology packages for genetic intensification 8
4.2 Thematic area 2: Integrated crop, soil health and livestock technologies for ecological intensification 13
4.3 Thematic area 3. Aflatoxin mitigation to improve nutrition, safety and market competitiveness 22
4.4 Thematic area 4: Socio-economic intensification through innovation platforms 25
5 Lesson learning and management 30
6 Expected outcomes and impacts 31
6.1 Development impacts 31
6.1.1 Development impacts 31
6.1.2 Intermediate development outcomes (IDOs) 31
6.2 Research outputs and outcomes 32
6.2.1 Main research outputs 32
6.2.2 Research outcomes 32
7 Communication and Dissemination Strategies 32
7.1 Dissemination strategy 32
7.2 Communication strategy 33
8 Monitoring and evaluations 33
9 Project Budget 34
10 Appendices 35
10.1 Appendix 1. Project Theory of Change 35
10.2 Appendix 2. Logical frame work 36
10.3 Appendix 2. Feed the Future indicator projection matrix for 2014-2015 45
10.4 Appendix 4. Detailed budget broken down by thematic areas and activities 46
2
Research Proposal
1 Project Summary
The aim of this project, now in the third year of implementation, is to provide a scientific basis for sustainably intensifying agricultural production in semi-arid areas of central Tanzania. The project will implement activities packaged under 4 thematic areas that address three critical elements of sustainable intensification, i.e. genetic, ecological and socio-economic intensification technologies. The scope of activities being implemented include: Final packaging of new legume and cereal varieties with over 120% yield advantage, packaging and validation of integrated productivity enhancing technologies for cereals, legumes, legume trees and soil health technologies, food safety primarily to reduce aflatoxin contamination and integration of livestock into the cropping systems. In the 2013-2014 season, we reached out to about 1217 farmers Kongwa and Kiteto. This year we plan to reach out to about 1500 new farmers. Innovation Platforms established this year (2014), will remain essential for informing R4D priority, processes and impact pathways in 2015. The project team remains the same with ICRISAT leading implementation. The total budget for this year is 485,000 USD.
2 Research Problem and Justification
2.1 State of the art and progress along the research to impact trajectory
The research was launched in the 2012-2013 cropping season to improve resilience and productivity of maize-legume based farming systems in Kongwa and Kiteto. The rationale for these investments is still valid i.e.
1. Low productivity of crop and livestock systems and fragile production to market systems[1].
2. High vulnerability of communities to weather, natural disasters and nutritional deficiency (IFAD[2], 2001).
3. High levels of food poverty line at 35.5% and up to 51.4% based on expenditures[3].
In 2013-2014 cropping season, the project registered a number of achievements (Box 1).
In the 2012-2014 cropping season, this research for development (R4D) team undertook activities tooth validate promising technologies as well as generate new approaches for sustainably intensifying agricultural productivity of agro-pastoral communities in Kongwa and Kiteto. The main success points of the work such as, (i) identification of new high yielding maize, other cereals and legumes as part of genetic intensification; (ii) validation of low resource use efficient technologies for soil fertility and water management; (iii) characterization of new locally adapted legume browse species for integration into the agro pastoral rangeland and erosion management; (iv) testing of appropriate crop combinations as part of the ecological intensification; (v) characterisation of crop to market chains for aflatoxin contamination points; (vi) establishment of an innovation platform to inform the R4D process as well as provide scaffold for scaling up and out of innovation. Thus in 2014-2015 season, the aim will be to focus investments on a selected technology combinations to form “intensification research streams” for testing, validation and promotion at appropriate scale (Figure 1). These issues will be investigated in year three and four in an integrated and incremental manner.
Figure 1. Conceptual diagram illustrating the implementation framework being used to ensure, focus and relevance, integration of appropriate technologies, lesson learning and effective adoption strategies for sustainable intensification in line with Hypothesis 4 of the Programme framework.
2.2 Progress along the research to impact trajectory
This project has been designed along the Africa RISING principles of; (i) targeting investments and activities at the farm household scale in line with farm typology differences, (ii) Applying innovations that sustainably increase output from the same land area, while reducing negative environmental impacts, increasing contributions to natural capital and the flow of environmental services; and (iii) evaluating different options of innovations to generate options for intensification in semi-arid zones; (iv) location and design of interventions to identify and test key elements of development domains for the target districts; and (v) engaging R&D partners in innovation to improve relevance and adoption. Using these principles, our project is designed to experiment/evaluate diverse options for sustainable intensification of crop and livestock productivity in Kongwa and Kiteto. The project is using a three-pronged strategy that deploys the three key elements of sustainable intensification i.e. genetic ecological and socio-economic approaches (Montpellier Panel, 2013)[4]. The new varieties supply genetic improvement inputs i.e., crop and livestock management to assure ecological relevance and fitting, whilst the innovation platform and socioeconomic studies address questions relevant for adoption and scaling out of technologies.
These three essentials of agroecological intensification are being implemented using an integrated approach involving diverse R&D specialties to generate suites of technologies relevant for the target districts and other semi-arid agroecologies. After two years of experimentation, the suites of technology packages to support intensification being refined include (i) New cereal and legume varieties with yield advantage of 60 to 100% and their deployment options; (ii) Soil health and management (including water management) for effective crop management; (iii) mycotoxin management to unlock market and nutrition opportunities. The Innovation Platform will be used to inform, support learning and forge new partnerships (Figure 2). The work is being done in partnership with NARS and development agencies such as Tuboreshe Chakula and NAFAKA. This way, our R4D approach will evaluate the Africa RISING approach and provide key lessons for semi-arid savannahs of Tanzania.
Figure 2. Africa RISING impact pathway on a time scale. This research being conducted in Kongwa and Kiteto, now in its third year, is focusing on testing of integrated technology options and their scaling out approaches in agro pastoral communities of Manyara (Kongwa and Kiteto).
3 Requirements to mature technologies
3.1 2014-2015 research objectives
The ultimate goal of this project is to provide suites of technologies that will increase productivity of maize, associated cereals and legumes in the agro-pastoral communities of Kongwa and Kiteto. These technologies will increase output per unit input of deployed by farmers, increasing net benefits to farmers of the two environments. The technology packages will be validated for increasing production with more efficient use of all inputs on a durable basis, while reducing environmental damage and building resilience, natural capital and the flow of environmental services.[5]Models for scaling out will equally be tested to inform the next phase of the project i.e. the up and out scaling of proven technologies. The entire project is testing Africa RISING’s R&D hypothesis 4. However, project objectives 1-3 are also testing programme hypothesis 2 on integration, while objective 5 is testing Programme hypothesis 1 with an RO2 focus. A brief description of each project objective this year (2014-2015) is provided below.
1. Testing and validation of technology packages for genetic intensification. A central research entry point for this team is the testing and deployment of new higher yielding and resilient crop varieties in these semi-arid zones. Genetic intensification in this case embodies technologies that will increase crop productivity, improve nutritive value, enable nitrogen uptake and fixation and enhance resilience to pests and diseases. The success of genetic intensification requires that we get clarity on the traditional genotype (variety differences) by environment (agroecological information) interaction information. But, given the variation in typology of farmers and farming practices, the role of management actually influences performance and stability. Thus clarity on genotype x environment by management will inform (i) stability of material in the relatively drier cropping systems of Kongwa compared to millet with over 53% yield advantage (Box 1 for major results). These materials will be tested for both mono and multiple cropping systems as is common in the target areas. The role of genotype x environment x management interactions on productivity of the target varieties in the mono and multiple cropping systems will be studied. This will be done to identify and or validate the most promising technology packages for the relatively stressed environments of Kongwa compared to Kiteto. This objective will elucidate the effects of management options on crop productivity ultimately, but specifically to plant resilience to water and heat stress and competition for nutrients. The effects of sequential planting, effects multiple cropping on pest and disease as well as productivity and resilience to weather will be tested. This output will contribute to outcome 1 of our intervention (increased crop productivity) and objective 1 of the Africa RISING Programme. In the ESA log frame this activity will contribute to output five on “Innovations that increase resilience and productivity of farming systems deployed.”
2. Testing and validation of crop, soils technology packages for ecological intensification. In 2014 we tested a number of promising crop management options to support sustainable intensification in terms of providing farmers with technology packages that will improve nutrient use efficiency, soil moister capture and use as well as land management particularly erosion (Box 1 for highlights for major results). This objective will include activities that clarify and validate technology packages for up and out-scaling in terms mixed cropping to maximise yield potential and nutrient and water use; agroforestry for natural resource use (especially erosion), as well as soil and water management for increased productivity in these semi-arid zones.
3. Integration of crops, livestock and poultry for enhanced productivity and resilience. In 2013-2014 studies we identified locally adapted browse species rich in crude protein content (Box 1) and in year 2 characterised the grazing systems. In 2014-2015, the focus will be to start implementing design of Sylvo- pasture systems to support the agro-pastoral communities by supplying browse and soil nutrients and erosion control in the target communities. Under this activity limited work on poultry production especially feeds and management will also be implemented to improve household nutrition and incomes. This objective will contribute to objective 2 and 3 of the programme and to output 5 of the ESA log frame.
4. Improving nutrition, safety and market competitiveness through aflatoxin mitigation. Over the past two years of experimentation we have been able to map infection hotspots from the field to the store and markets. We have also mapped diversity of the pathogen Aspergillus flavus). A diagnostic lab is also being established at Sokoine University of Agriculture. ICRISAT has trained the staff on analytics but will continue to backstop SUA during the life of the project In 2014-2015, the focus shall be to test the functionality of a more comprehensive mitigation process that build on results from the past two years of research. Validation of mitigation efforts that prevent infection on the field, reduce initial inoculum under storage and for processing and marketing will be used. In the case of groundnut initial efforts to find alternative uses of contaminated nuts as an incentive to attract sorting and other preventive measures will be done. This objective will contribute to improving household food and nutrition security among households especially women and children. This objective will contribute to objective 2 of Africa RISING and ESA log frame output 7.
5. Supporting socioeconomic intensification through Innovation Platforms. In 2014 we established Innovation Platforms to inform our R4D and support catalysis of adoption. In 2014-2015, we will use this objective to explore opportunities for deepening our understanding of output 2 of Africa RISING as well as community level institution strengthening for adoption. Through this objective that will also interphase with other objectives, we will also test scaling up and out models building on the mother baby trial approach, community seed production and other farmer based knowledge management approaches. The Innovation Platforms will elucidate socioeconomic contexts of innovation process, challenges to value functionality and technology adoption issues in target communities. These Innovation Platforms will inform output 4 of the ESA log frame. Cost effectiveness of technologies will also be undertaken to inform scaling up and out. This activity will contribute to objective 2 and 3 of Africa RISING programme. In the ESA log frame this activity will contribute to output five on “Crop-nutrition and water efficient innovations introduced, evaluated and adapted.”