Strengthening the Capacity for Dissemination of Integrated Soil Fertility Management Technologies in East and Southern Africa

There is growing multi-sector interest to support small holder farmers in sub-Saharan Africa to increase crop productivity through improved access to fertilizer and improved seeds. It is recognized that an integrated approach to soil fertility management (ISFM), encompassing optimal use of organic resources, fertilizer and improved seed varieties, and adapting these to site-specific biophysical and socio-economic conditions is central to sustainable crop production. Despite the potential impact of various ISFM technologies at the plot level, the benefits to farmers at a large scale have been very limited. There are many on-going initiatives, including those funded by AGRA, that are working to scale out ISFM technologies. However, there are no clear recommendations for ISFM technologies that work best for various cropping systems due to poor integration of available scientific knowledge, unavailability of technical communication tools, and lack of coordination in activities to promote ISFM technologies at national level. Although there is new information on ISFM at national level that has been generated by national research institutions, CGIARs, NGOs and private sector over the years, little work has been done to synthesize and disseminate this knowledge in formats suitable for use by the different actors involved in agricultural research and development. These problems have resulted in dissemination of conflicting information and recommendations and ineffective approaches to scaling out ISFM technologies. To address these challenges, AGRA Soil Health Program has initiated Country Level Soil Health Consortia (CSHC), in key investment countries, to bring together key stakeholders working on soil health interventions. The participants include AGRA’s grantees, national and international research institutions, non-governmental development programs and the private sector. They also involve input dealers (seeds and fertilizers) and output markets (e.g., the World Food Program P4P).

IPNI will conduct regional activities to support the activities of the CSHC at the country level. IPNI will consolidate the ISFM information at the regional level to capture and showcase success stories and to show the potential application of results beyond pilot sites. Higher-level integration of ISFM knowledge is a key factor in influencing increased agricultural production to the levels required to feed Africa’s growing population and access regional and international markets. IPNI will also train CSHC to effectively implement ISFM research by providing appropriate protocols and data collection standards.

The overall goal of the project is to increase crop productivity in small holder farming systems through improved access and dissemination of harmonized ISFM information by stakeholders in agriculture research and development.

Project Sites
The project will focus on 8 countries in East and Southern Africa (i.e Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, Malawi, Mozambique, Zambia and Ethiopia)



Justification

Most of the soils in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) are inherently infertile, and poor agricultural management practices during the past decades have led to a severe decline in their productive capacity (Sanchez et al., 1997). Fertilizer use is extremely low in much of the SSA region, despite large areas with high potential for intensification, and this is one of the main factors explaining lagging agricultural productivity growth (World Bank, 2008). Cereal crop yields have stagnated at about 1 t per ha over the past 5 decades, despite an increase in food demand due to a rapidly growing population (World Bank 2008). Over the last two decades the number of undernourished in sub-Saharan Africa has increased with by 41%, from 169 million in 1990 to 239 million in 2010 (FAO, 2011). At present, chronic food insecurity affects about 28% of the 850 million people who live in SSA.

In addition to addressing various socio-economic constraints to agricultural development, in 2006 governments in SSA made commitments increase fertilizer use from 8.0 kg/ha to 50.0 kg/ha under the “Abuja Declaration on Fertilizer for the African Green Revolution.” However, increasing fertilizer use alone will have limited impact, unless this is complimented by application good agronomic practices to ensure that fertilizers are used efficiently and profitably. Smallholder farming systems in SSA are highly variable, implying that blanket technologies or recommendations to increase agricultural productivity do not exist (Giller et al., 2011). Research in SSA has established that efforts to increase crop productivity in the region will require a holistic Integrated Soil Fertility Management (ISFM) approach that aims to increase crop productivity though judicious management of organic and mineral nutrient resources, and integration of legume crops in cereal-based cropping systems. The ISFM approach takes into account the wide diversity of soils and highly heterogeneous socio-economic conditions in supporting farmers to adapt good agronomic practices to their local site-specific conditions (Vanlauwe et al 2010). Within the ISFM framework, application of fertilizers is one of the most effective mean to improve soil fertility and crop productivity. Organic resources are also crucial in nutrient depleted soils, and when combined with fertilizer can contribute significantly optimizing short-term nutrient requirement by crops and sustaining soil fertility in the long-term. Current efforts to implement the African green revolution by AGRA and other research and development programs aim at intensifying agriculture through large-scale dissemination of ISFM practices (BMGF, 2011).

There is recognition amongst scientists that ISFM is an appropriate framework to improve crop productivity and reverse soil fertility depletion and considerable research work has been published in scientific literature and project reports. Recent ISFM research has shown highly variable response to fertilizer by crops (Zingore et al., 2011; Tittonell et al., 2008), and highlighted the need to target fertilizer recommendation to site-specific conditions. Several studies have also established synergic benefits between mineral fertilizers and organic resources (Vanlauwe et al., 2004), particularly on degraded soils that respond poorly to fertilizer alone (Zingore et al., 2007). Cases where principles of ISFM have been applied to achieve wide impact on farmers livelihoods include (i) dual purpose grain legume – maize rotations with P fertilizer targeted at the legume phase and N fertilizer at rates below recommended rates targeted at the cereal phase in the moist savanna agro-ecozone (Sanginga et al., 2003) and (ii) micro-dose fertilizer applications in legume-sorghum or legume-millet rotations with retention of crop residues and combined with water harvesting techniques in the semi-arid agro-ecozone (Bationo et al., 1998). IPNI has over the past two years made contributions to dissemination of ISFM knowledge in SSA by developing nutrient management decision support tools to integrate ISFM knowledge and support extension workers and farmers to adapt ISFM knowledge to their local conditions.

Despite the potential impact of various ISFM technologies at the plot level, as shown in scientific literature, the benefits to farmers at a large scale have been very limited (Giller et al., 2006). A major gap exists in harmonization, consolidation and dissemination of this knowledge in formats suitable for use by the different stakeholders in agricultural development (Giller et al., 2011). Although there is a huge wealth of new information on ISFM that has been generated by national research institutions, CGIARs, NGOs and private sector over the years, little work has been done to synthesize and disseminate this knowledge in formats suitable for use by the different actors involved in farming systems development. Currently no country in SSA has made concerted efforts to consolidate available information on ISFM and create a centralized repository to enable easy access of the information. This has made it difficult to develop clear recommendations for prioritization of research, development and policy interventions.

There is growing multi-sector interest to support smallholder farmers in sub-Saharan Africa to increase crop productivity through out-scaling various ISFM innovations including improved access to fertilizer and improved seeds including those funded by AGRA, that are focusing on ISFM technologies (Toenniessen et al., 2008; BMGF, 2011). However, poor integration of available scientific knowledge, unavailability of technical and policy communication tools, and lack of coordination in activities to promote ISFM technologies at national level, have led to ineffective and inappropriate dissemination of ISFM technologies. There is growing awareness that the impact of investments to scale out ISFM technologies will remain limited unless the problems of lack of relevant knowledge products and poor linkage between various initiatives promoting ISFM technologies at the country and regional levels are addressed.


Methodology

Strategies to Solve the Problem
Overall strategy
To address the challenges of poor integration of ISFM information and lack of harmony in research and development programs, the AGRA SHP has initiated Country Level Soil Health Consortia (CSHC) in key investment countries, to provide a platform for various stakeholders with an interest in ISFM share knowledge and leverage dissemination. The participants are national and international research institutions, policy makers, AGRA’s grantees as well as programs supported by other donors. They also involve the private sector, input dealers (seeds and fertilizers) and output markets (e.g., the World Food Program P4P). The purposes of the consortia are: (i) to build partnerships for scaling up the impacts of AGRA’s investments beyond our projects geographical locations; (ii) to minimize duplication of efforts and improve the use of limited resources; (iii) to enhance collaboration with and increase prospects of developing joint communication within stakeholders/clients who are often the same for all the projects; (iv) to develop joint protocols for demonstrations and trials that the stakeholders will conduct in different locations; (v) to bring and build transparency, trust and a clear understanding of programs and projects on soil and land management; (vi) to assist with mobilizing resources; (vii) to help collecting and collating legacy data that is needed to develop fertilizer recommendations; and (viii) to develop/strengthen the technical and delivery capacity of the members.

Additional technical support is required at the regional level, to ensure that standard methods are available for use in agronomic trials, data collection and development of generic extension material that can be adapted at the country level. Development of a regional database is also required to highlight the impact of various ISFM technologies. IPNI will contribute to the regional analysis to ensure that results from the country level are shared across the region.

Project structure and management
IPNI will be the main grantee of the project, and will have the role of regional analysis and synthesis of ISFM and fertilizer management information, as well as training CSHC teams to effectively implement ISM research and training activities. IPNI will also play an active role to bridge the gap between the CSHC and regional programs addressing soil fertility problems in SSA to create linkages for harnessing at the country level the knowledge products and technologies developed by the regional programs. For example, the IPNI is working with the Africa Soil Health Consortium (ASHC) led by CABI-Africa to develop generic ISFM knowledge products at the regional level, and in this project IPNI will facilitate access by the CSHC to the ASCH products for a adapting to country specific needs.

IPNI will work independent of the CSHC both in terms of technical and financial components of the project, and reporting to AGRA. Each CSHC proposals has a specified budget, based on country specific financial requirements to achieve project outputs. CSHC will receive funds directly from the AGRA SHP and will be directly accountable to AGRA for project outputs and financial reporting. IPNI will also directly receive funds for the regional activities, and will provide financial and technical reporting directly to AGRA.

Figure 1. The structure of the project showing technical and financial management of the project

Regional level support
The coordinators of the CSHC who participated in the proposal writing process identified some areas of support required by the CSHC to effectively enhance collaboration in efforts to synthesize and disseminate ISFM knowledge to promote the adoption of ISFM technologies at the local and national levels. These include:

• Strengthening of the capacity for database development and for standardization of protocol development, analysis of data and interpretation.
• Technical support to develop effective ISFM knowledge products and to publish scientific review articles on available knowledge on ISFM.
• Support with spatial analysis, including developing of application domains for ISFM technologies within countries.
• Facilitation of knowledge sharing between CSHC at the regional level on effective approaches to implement project activities.
• Improved access to information and products developed by regional program for adaptation at the country level.
• Support the development of training programs to be implemented by the CSHC

To raise awareness of the CSHC and communication of project outputs, IPNI will host and maintain a website dedicated to the project. The website will have linkages to the regional and country specific information.


Exit Strategy

• The project will integrate the CSHC in the national institutions and built capacity for ISFM knowledge management and the project will leave behind, as an exit strategy, national capacity that is strong in coordination of ISFM activities.
• Regional and country level products will be integrated in IPNI’s portfolio of knowledge products and will be made available to various stakeholders in the long-term.
• The project will produce and create demand for a wealth of valuable outputs, including ISFM knowledge products that will continue to be used after the project ends