Development and Dissemination of 4R Nutrient Stewardship Knowledge to Support Crop Production Intensification in Western Kenya

Inappropriate fertilizer recommendations and lack of access to information on good nutrient crop and nutrient management practices is a key factor underlying low crop productivity in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). The 4R Nutrient Stewardship Framework developed by the fertilizer industry worldwide aims to provide the context for efficient nutrient management focusing on four central components: applying the right fertilizer source, at the right rate, at the right time in the growing season, and in the right place. Despite the recognition of multiple nutrient deficiencies, including S, Mg, Zn, fertilizer recommendations mostly cover N and P alone. As various countries in the region take steps to support agricultural growth, development of approaches and tools to develop and effectively transfer 4R Nutrient Stewardship knowledge to extension systems and smallholder is essential to ensure sustainable crop production intensification. This project will be implemented in collaboration with the Kenya Agricultural Research Institute, the Ministry of Agriculture, the International Fertilizer Association and the Center for International Tropical Agriculture, IFDC and IFA to demonstrate the impact of various 4R techniques, including site- and crop-specific fertilizer recommendations, on crop productivity and profits. The project will also develop various 4R knowledge products for farmers, extension agents and fertilizer dealers, and use various media and ICT platforms to communicate 4R information to farmers. The main outputs of the project will include:

• Support the development of a mobile phone ICT platform for providing farmer extension services in partnership with local and international collaborators. The application will be available for use across all mobile phone service providers in Kenya.
• New agronomic and economic knowledge generated on the impact of 4R components on maize production intensification.
• Extension agents and farmers in pilot sites trained on implementation of 4R components.
• A 4R extension-training manual for smallholder farming systems.
• 4R extension pamphlets for smallholder farming systems in SSA developed in English and local language.
• 4R knowledge and project outputs from the pilot sites disseminated through television, radio and print media.
• Videos of main project activities and impact of the project in the pilot site.
• 4R Content developed in form of short messages ‘tips’ and disseminated to farmers. Database will have at least 5,000 farmers.

The project will initially operate in a pilot village of 2,000 households, and the 4R knowledge dissemination framework developed will be used as model for scaling out to other regions in SSA. The project will also identify challenges and opportunities for sustainable crop production intensification and recommend priority research and development activities that will be addressed by future project.

Project Outcomes and Indicators

• Improved access to fertilizer management information, based on 4R Nutrient Stewardship, by extension services and farmers.
• Number of farmers accessing fertilizer management information from various dissemination channels including (i) demonstrations, (ii) extension pamphlets and (iii) mobile phone ICT system.
• Number of farmers adopting improved fertilizer management practices based on the 4R concept.
• Improved livelihoods of smallholder farmers through adoption of improved fertilizer management practices.
• Percentage increase in crop productivity.
• Percentage increase in farm income.
• Increased household nutrition (indicated by crop production diversification).

The project will also identify challenged and opportunities for sustainable crop production intensification and recommend priority research and development activities that will be addressed by future project. The project will also strengthen the capacity of various partners, including the private sector, extension systems to communicate 4R information to farmers to ensure farmers will continue to benefit in the future.



Justification

The effort to initiate the Green Revolution in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) was launched by former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan in 2004, and is taking off to varying degrees within the region.

To achieve sustainable increases in crop productivity in SSA, there is need to increase fertilizer use, and support farmers to manage the fertilizers properly to ensure that crops are provided with the correct and adequate nutrients under variable soil fertility conditions. Inherently infertile soils are widespread, and characterized by problems of soil acidity and multiple deficiencies of nutrients. Despite the recognition of multiple nutrient deficiencies as a major constraint to crop productivity in SSA, fertilizer recommendations for maize production in many countries only cover N and P, resulting in very poor crop yield responses and low nutrient use efficiencies.

IPNI is implementing research and development activities in collaboration with various institutions to apply science to produce outputs (scientific and extension publications and decision support tools) that contribute to improved understanding of the role of best fertilizer management practices in crop production intensification in SSA. The main focus is to provide direction in plant nutrient management guided by the principles of 4R Nutrient Stewardship. 4R Nutrient Stewardship is defined as applying the right fertilizers, from the right source, at the correct rate, on time and on the right place.

A project to support maize production intensification in Western Kenya initiated in 2011 and implemented in collaboration with CIAT, Kenya Agricultural Research Institute, fertilizer distributors, extension agents and farmers has demonstrated that farmers can economically increase maize productivity from the current average of 1.5 t/ha to 6 t/ha by selecting the right source and rate of fertilizer and applying the fertilizer at the right time and place in addition to other good agronomic practices including the use of improved maize varieties, timely planting and weeding. Despite the strong evidence for the potential to intensify maize productivity demonstrated in Western Kenya, farmers and extension agents lack access to information on how they can apply 4R knowledge to increase crop productivity. The proposed project aims to fill the gap of limited access to information by farmers at a pilot site in Western Kenya through setting up of field-based learning centers facilitated through demonstrations of the importance of various nutrients (macro and micronutrients) in production of major crops. The project will also develop extension material and use radio programs and an ICT platform to communicate 4R information to farmers.

The project will be implemented over a 4-year period and the site will be located in Western Kenya, a region with high potential for intensification, but characterized by large yield gaps. The project will directly collaborate with the Africa Soil Information Services (AfSIS) project, implemented by CIAT and funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, as the pilot site is located in one of the AfSIS main. Availability of soil data and soil maps generated by AfSIS will assist in improving the nutrient management recommendations given to farmers. The project will provide feedback to the AfSIS project on the effectiveness of the soil information they have produced in providing fertilizer recommendations and suggestions for refinement needed. The pilot villages have 2,000 households.



Objectives

• To initiate long-term field demonstration sites that will form learning centers for 4R knowledge for farmers, extension agents, fertilizer distributors and agricultural development programs.
• Develop and adapt the 4R training manual for smallholder farming systems and extension products in local language to disseminate 4R information to farmers.
• Develop 4R content for use by an ICT mobile phone platform to disseminate 4R information to farming communities in western Kenya.

Methodology

Objective 1. To initiate long-term field demonstration sites that will form learning centers for 4R knowledge communication to farmers, extension agents, fertilizer distributors and agricultural development programs.

At least 50 field sites will be established to demonstrate the four components of the 4R Nutrient Stewardship (right source, rate, time and place), with the results assessed in agronomic and economic terms. Determination of the treatments will be based on trials implemented by the Africa Soil Information Services (AfSIS) project in collaboration with IPNI over the past two years. The demonstrations will include four crops (maize and soybeans, and two cash crops to be determined). The main factors included in the demonstrations include:

• The effects of K, S, Mg on crop productivity in addition to current N+P recommendations.
• The effects of liming on crop productivity.
• The effects of fertilizer application strategies (rate, time and placement) on crop productivity.

The demonstrations will be established on the main soil types at the site, which have been mapped by the AfSIS project. The demonstration will be implemented over a period of four years (8 cropping seasons) to capture the effect of 4R practices under varying climatic conditions. Learning centers will be established based on the demonstration sites by organizing farmers into formal groups to participate in implementation and evaluation of the results from the demonstrations. Field-based training will be held for the farmer groups.

The project will concurrently collect information of current practices by farmers and the yields that they are achieving, and will use this to explicitly determine the main shortcomings in farmers’ nutrient management practices and the impact that this has on yield reduction. The assessment of farmers’ management practices will also be used to highlight the impact of the project in influencing changes in nutrient management practices.

Objective 2. Develop and adapt 4R training manual for smallholder farming systems and extension products in local language to disseminate 4R information to farmers.

A 4R training manual will be developed to address the specific opportunities and challenges for smallholder farming systems in Africa. The training manual will be developed by adapting and simplifying the 4R international manual developed by IPNI. The adapted training manual will include examples and case studies from Africa. A series of concise extension material in pamphlet form will also be developed on each of the 4R components, based on knowledge from past research outputs and results from this project. The 4R training manual and extension material will be used to support training activities in Ob. 1, and will be made available for multiplication and wide distribution by collaborating projects.

Results and knowledge generated from the project will be packaged into short radio messages for broadcasting on the local and national radio station. Project activities will be captured on video, and a documentary to showcase the impact of implementing 4R nutrient management strategies on the livelihoods of smallholder farmers will be produced in the third years.

Activity	Output	Time
1. Development of the 4R training manual for smallholder farming systems in SSA	4R training manual for smallholder farming systems in SSA developed	End of year 1
2. Development of the 4R extension material	4R extension and training material for smallholder farming systems in SSA developed.	End of year 1 and reviewed annually
3. Development of scripts for 4R radio messages	4R knowledge disseminated on local and agricultural programs on national radio	Messages aired monthly on local radio, and quarterly on national radio.
4. Development of project documentaries	Videos of main project activities and impact for Agrium Documentary on project activities and impact	Every six months

Objective 3. Develop 4R content for use by an ICT mobile phone platform to disseminate 4R information to farming communities in western Kenya.

The IPNI Nutrient Expert for hybrid maize has been developed to capture 4R knowledge and apply it to provide site-specific recommendations the correct source of nutrients, rates of application, time of application as well as the where it is to be applied. It also provides the spacing required as well as the frequency of weeding that is required for optimizing maize productivity. This project intends to extract and disseminate simple 4R and agronomic knowledge generated from demonstrations and refined by Nutrient Expert to the farmers, agro-dealers and extension staff using a mobile phone ICT platform developed by Fibrelink Communications Limited (FCL). FCL is a private ICT company in Kenya working with Safaricom (the leading mobile network in Kenya) to support agricultural development in Kenya. In the first phase of the project (2 years) the IPNI will provide FCL with 4R nutrient management content for disseminating to farmers, who can consult extension agents in their area for detailed information. In the second phase of the project, FCL will integrate the IPNI Nutrient Expert for Hybrid Maize tool with an SMS/ IVR platform building on technologies developed for rice systems by IRRI. The application will enable farmers to receive SMS or voice messages on their mobile phone using the interactive voice response (IVR) system after sending questions on their current production status, soil and water conditions and target yields. The system will initially be tested at the pilot site in western Kenya, and extended nationwide. Although the pilot phase in the first year will be implemented in collaboration with Safaricom, Fibrelink will extend the application for use with other mobile phone service providers.

Activity	Output	Time
1. Develop 4R content for the dissemination using the Fibrelink platform	4R Content developed in form of short messages ‘tips’ and disseminated to farmers. Database will have at least 5,000 farmers	SMS messages sent weekly during the cropping season and every two weeks at other periods.
2. Development of an application based on the simplified Nutrient Expert tool to provide farmers with site-specific recommendations for nutrient management	4R centric ICT application developed and used to support site-specific adaptation by smallholder farmers Any ICT application developed will be open source, i.e. the 4R materials and content may be used in other mobile phone applications or providers	ICT application developed and use initiated by end of year 2