Whenever Temegnush Dhabi, a 50-year-old widow, stops to look out over her two-hectare farm in East Shewa, Central Ethiopia, she cannot help but think about the dramatic changes that have taken place since 2008.

Until four years ago, Temegnush, who has been a farmer for 26 years, grew mostly teff (a popular cereal native to Ethiopia) on her land. Teff fetches a reasonable price at her local market, but it requires expensive fertilizer to grow well and is labor-intensive to harvest. Then she began working with researchers from the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) and the Ethiopian Institute of Agricultural Research (EIAR) to test new improved varieties of chickpea. Pleased with the results from one of the high-yielding, drought-tolerant, pest-resistant varieties, she divided her land in two and started growing chickpeas.

Chickpeas, which are now Temegnush’s main crop, generate more income for her and her family. “I would never have thought chickpeas could bring me such high returns,” she says, scooping out a handful of recently harvested chickpea grains from one of the many bags that fill the grain store in her house. “I started sowing the improved chickpea variety three years ago and it was the best decision I made. Not only do I get better harvests, but it needs very little labor and fertilizer compared to growing cereals.”

Tropical Legumes II (TL-II) project

Temegnush is just one of nearly 250,000 smallholder farmers in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia directly reaping the benefits of higher yields and incomes from improved tropical legume varieties and farming practices through the Tropical Legumes II (TL-II) project, which started in 2007. The project has provided farmers in 10 countries with improved varieties of six major grain legumes, as well as much-needed farmer education programs. In Ethiopia alone, the number of farmers growing these new legumes has increased by more than 14 per cent, while in Karnataka, in southwest India, the number has grown by more than 33 per cent since the project began.

“The key driver for this project is that we look at the needs and solutions in a holistic way,” says Tsedeke Abate, TL-II project coordinator. “We work with farmers, agrodealers, market traders and local government to ensure that training and tools, such as high yielding seed varieties, are provided for sustainable impact.”

This “chickpea revolution” shows how agricultural production and productivity can significantly increase when innovations are adapted to farmers’ needs, when local research and extension systems are working, and when all stakeholders work together to meet a healthy market demand.

Other benefits

In addition to helping her test “risk-free” the improved seed varieties, the project also taught Temegnush about crop rotation, how to obtain improved seed and manage her crop. Moreover, in common with other legumes, chickpea boosts nitrogen in the soil, making it more fertile, and reducing the need for fertilizer.

“I started growing wheat on the land after having harvested the chickpea and found that I needed half the amount of fertilizer I used to need to get a good yield of wheat,” she says.

Chickpea is also more water-efficient than teff, which is valuable given the challenges of scarce and unpredictable rainfall in this region.

“The high yields and market value of chickpea last season meant I could buy a second pair of oxen,” says Temegnush. “I lend these to neighboring farmers. I’m no longer seen as a poor widow but a successful farmer. I am also able to send all six of my children to school. So it’s not just my income but also my social status that has improved.”

A second phase of the TL-II project, which is jointly implemented by ICRISAT, the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT) and the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) in close collaboration with partners in the national agricultural research systems of target countries in sub-Saharan Africa and in India, was recently guaranteed by a grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

Further reading: Tropical Legumes II

Photo essay: Ethiopian farmers test new chickpea crops – in pictures

Video impact story: Changing Chickpea Culture in Ethiopia 

Photo credit: Alina Paul-Bossuet, ICRISAT

 

After concluding his 40-year career as a mathematics professor, Geraldo Gálvez Orozco began looking for a new challenge and found it in farming. For the last 15 years, this seventy-nine-year-old has been farming in the Mezquital Valley in the mountains of southwest Hidalgo State, 60 kilometers north of Mexico City. Despite the region’s parched soils (the valley receives an average of only 527 mm of rainfall per year), about half the valley’s residents are farmers.

Since 1789, Hidalgo farmers have relied heavily on sewage water, referred to as ‘aguas negras’ or black water, to irrigate their cereal and fodder crops. However, within the next two years, the supply of black water for irrigation will decrease due to a new government initiative to purify Mexico City’s waste-water and reuse it within city limits. Therefore, to maintain the soil on their land, the farmers are switching from traditional agriculture practices to conservation agriculture-based methods.

From arithmetic to agronomy

Gálvez started experimenting with conservation agriculture eight years ago when he adopted the zero-tillage practice and also began leaving his crop residue, such as husks and cobs, on the surface of the ground of his three-hectare farm, where he grows maize and oats.

“Since switching to conservation agriculture, I have noticed a small increase in my yields compared to what I used to produce under irrigation, but I don’t do it for the yields,” he says. “Living in a climate like this, keeping my soils in good condition is my number one priority. That’s why I practice conservation agriculture.”

CIMMYT: Providing the tools to start a revolution

According to Fermín Hernández Méndez, a graduate of CIMMYT’s Conservation Agriculture-certification course and a technician with the Monsanto-ASGROW seed company, Gálvez isn’t the only farmer in the region changing his ways. “In Hidalgo, conservation agriculture is a revolution,” he says.  “Farmers are adopting the practice because they know that a change is coming – a change that is most likely going to strain their soils.”

The work of CIMMYT’s Mexico-based Conservation Agriculture Program in the Mezquital valley, which is helping graduates like Hernández educate farmers on conservation agriculture practices, is funded principally by the Mexican Agricultural Secretariat under the MasAgro initiative and by Monsanto-ASGROW, as well as with support from numerous foundations and local organizations.

Sustainable practices

Conservation agriculture is based on three principles: frequent crop rotation to avoid the build-up of pests and diseases; reduced tillage, so soil is disturbed as little as possible; and covering the soil surface with crop residues and/or living plants. Such principles are widely adaptable and can be used for a variety of different crops in varied soil types and environments.

For example, during the 2009 drought in Mexico’s Central Highlands (where crops rely on precipitation alone), farmers who practiced conservation agriculture harvested up to 125 per cent more maize than those who farmed the traditional way. Combining higher yields with lower costs, conservation agriculture enabled farmers in rain-fed areas to earn an average net return of US$800 per hectare compared to the approximate US$400 per hectare that conventional highland farmers reaped.

A smooth transition

Although the benefits of conservation agriculture are numerous, it faces competition for crop residues, which often have great value as forage. Also, farmers are skeptical about moving away from farming methods that have been used for generations.

Hernández works to help farmers make the transition from the traditional farming methods. “It’s nothing more than a question of culture,” he replies, when asked why some farmers are hesitant to adopt the new principles. “It’s not that they don’t believe us or think we mean ill, it’s simply that they are afraid of change.”

The future

“I’m not worried for myself, I have all I need,” says Gálvez, as he crunches through the corn husks and stalks that blanket his fields. ”I am worried for my children. The land needs to stay healthy and fertile for the future generations.”

Read the full story Aguas negras: An agricultural revolutions buds in Mexico

Learn more about CIMMYT’s Conservation Agriculture Program

Video credit: CIMMYT

 

When stripe rust disease  strikes a susceptible wheat crop, the results are usually devastating. The fungus can spread like wildfire, quickly transforming fields of healthy wheat into yellow swathes of stunted grain. The disease results in fewer spikes, fewer grains per spike, and shriveled grains with reduced weight.

“You see very beautiful fields actually, yellow like a canola field in flower,” says Firdissa Eticha, the national wheat research program coordinator with the Ethiopian Institute of Agricultural Research (EIAR). “But for farmers, it is a very sad sight. Stripe rust can cause up to 100% yield loss.”

And Eticha should know. Ethiopia’s wheat crops became of one the casualties in the race against the disease in 2010, when a severe stripe rust epidemic struck the country, hitting many dominant wheat varieties. This threat was further compounded by climate change, with persistent gentle rains throughout the year, and prolonged dews and cool temperatures – perfect weather for stripe rust. There was little Ethiopia could do to prevent the epidemic. Imported fungicides controlled the disease when they were applied on time, but supplies were limited and expensive.

But Ethiopia was not alone. Many countries in Africa, the Middle East, and Asia, struggled to control the epidemic in 2009 and 2010. But even more alarming was the evolution of new races of stripe rust that are able to overcome a major wheat gene (Yr27) that was previously resistant to the disease.

CIMMYT’s Global Wheat Program

Although recent weather conditions have allowed the new rust races to thrive, the fungus first began to emerge more than a decade ago. As a result, CIMMYT’s Global Wheat Program, which tries to anticipate the next stripe rust threat, began selection for resistance to Yr27-virulent races in 1998.

“CIMMYT has a number of wheat lines that have shown good-to-excellent resistance to stripe rust without relying on Yr27, in screening in Mexico, Ecuador, and Kenya,” says Ravi Singh, a CIMMYT scientist and rust expert who leads the breeding effort in Mexico.

Seed multiplication of resistant CIMMYT varieties

Currently, CIMMYT is working with national programs to identify and promote the best resistant materials for individual environments — a process that was underway in Ethiopia when the epidemic struck. Indeed, newly released wheat varieties derived from international partnerships have proven to be resistant to the disease, and are now being multiplied for seed. In particular, two CIMMYT lines released in Ethiopia in 2010 have shown to be both high yielding and resistant to stripe rust in their target environments.

EIAR and the Ethiopian Seed Enterprise, a government company specializing in providing select seed, worked together to speed the multiplication of seed of these varieties, with financial support from the USAID Famine Fund. Two resistant lines from the International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA) were released in Ethiopia in 2011, and will add to the diversity for resistance.

Nine hundred farmers grew the new varieties on small on-farm demonstration plots in 2010, resulting in disease-resistant crops. More demonstration plots will be made available as more seed becomes available.

The importance of partnership

“The contribution of CIMMYT is immense for us,” says Eticha. “CIMMYT provides us with a wide range of germplasm that is almost finished technology — one can say ready materials that can be evaluated and released as varieties that can be used by farming communities.”

Bekele Abeyo, a CIMMYT senior scientist who works closely with national programs in Ethiopia, also emphasized the importance of partnership. “I think East Africa is colonized by rust,” he says. “Unless national programs work hard to overcome and contain disease pressure, wheat production is under great threat. It is very important that we continue to strengthen the national programs to overcome the rust problem in the region.”

With Yr27-virulent stripe rust varieties now widespread throughout the world, Ethiopia’s story is reflected in many CIMMYT partner countries. The challenge is to work quickly together to identify and replace susceptible varieties with the new, productive, resistant materials.

Read the full story: Resistant wheats and Ethiopian farmers battle deadly fungus
Find out more about CIMMYT’s Global Wheat Program

Photo credit: Thomas Lumpkin, CIMMYT

Excessive rains and the increased presence of late blight disease devastated Peru’s Cusco region in 2010, prompting the government to declare a national emergency. The following season, the food security of communities in the region’s Paucartambo province was maintained due in part to two improved potato varieties developed by the International Potato Center (CIP).

The Pallay Poncho and Puka Lliclla varieties are both resistant to late blight disease, a fungus that is posing an increasing threat to potato production in the Andes.

“Three years after their formal release, the yield of these two potato [varieties] was about 8 times higher than any of the 150 native potato varieties grown in the Cusco region,” explains Stef de Haan, CIP potato breeder, adding “It made the difference between having enough to eat, or not.”

Pallay Poncho and Puka Lliclla give yields of approximately 15-16 tons per hectare, compared to 5 tons per hectare from traditional native potatoes. Following the floods of 2010, yields from the improved varieties were maintained, while traditional varieties produced yields of about 2 tons per hectare, due to late blight damage.

Looking back

Back in 2003, CIP joined forces with the Peruvian Ministry of Agriculture and Peru’s National Institute of Agrarian Innovation (INIA) after late blight wiped out the native potato harvest of a large farming community in Paucartambo. It was the first time that the disease had occurred at such a high altitude.

“The rise in temperature due to climate change makes formerly untouched areas fall victim to the potatoes most feared disease, late blight, which is causing more damage with each year,” says CIP agronomist, Manuel Gastelo.

The improved varieties were chosen through a participatory selection process involving 200 farming families in the affected area working with 20 Andigena clones with expected late blight resistance. After 5 years of testing, the two clones with the best properties and performance, Pallay Poncho and Puka Lliclla, were chosen in collaboration with the community.

Today, small-scale Andean farmers, averse to risk, grow the two varieties along with numerous native varieties.  The improved varieties have not replaced local ones. Instead, they are used as a sort of insurance in case traditional varieties are damaged by disease.

Short-term gains

Further reading: International Potato Center Annual Report 2007 (page 14)
Download Flyer: New potato varieties prove vital for the survival of mountain communities
Photo credit: S. De Haan, International Potato Center

Colin Chartres, Director General of the International Water Management Institute (IWMI), talks about groundwater management

Farmers everywhere have used underground aquifers as a convenient source of water for centuries, but the recent availability of cheap water pumps (diesel and electric) and cheap energy has made on-farm wells a reality for an increasing number of India’s smallholders. Pumps allow them to dig deeper and withdraw greater volumes of water, which in turn enable them to irrigate high-value crops.

It is estimated that a million new tube wells are sunk in India every year, which has given rise to fears that over-exploitation could irreversibly deplete water tables, increase the demand for more and more energy to extract water from ever-deeper wells, and increase the risk of reduced water quality. However, research by the International Water Management Institute (IWMI) shows a more nuanced picture. While groundwater use in some of India’s drier areas needs to be regulated if it is to be sustainable, other wetter areas could help poor farmers boost their incomes through improved groundwater access. Evidence from Gujarat in the semi-arid east, and West Bengal in the monsoon-soaked west, demonstrates that there is no ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach in groundwater management – and India’s policy makers are taking notice.

Gujarat: Lighting up villages

Gujarat, one of India’s driest states, has a long history of groundwater over-exploitation. Due to limited public irrigation, the government encouraged groundwater irrigation by subsidizing the supply of electricity to farms. However, by the 1990s, this policy had bankrupted the state’s electric utility and severely depleted Gujarat’s aquifer.

Donors and power experts recommended that the state meter all tube wells and charge farmers a consumption-linked tariff, a proposal that met with strong opposition from powerful farmer lobbies. As a result, researchers, including a team from IWMI, recommended a practical solution with three components: the intelligent rationing of farm power supply to match the irrigation needs of farmers; a power supply roster for the villages involved; and the supply of full voltage, uninterrupted power to agriculture during the rationing hours – to overcome farmer resistance.

Under the new scheme, dubbed Jyotigram Yojana or ‘lighted village’, US$ 260 million was invested in separating electricity feeder lines for agricultural and non-agricultural users. By providing regular and reliable full-voltage power, Jyotigram Yojana made it possible for farmers to keep to their irrigation schedules, conserve water, save on pump maintenance costs and use labor more efficiently. While the gross domestic product from agriculture grew at just under 3 per cent per annum for India as a whole, Gujarat recorded growth of nearly 10 per cent in the seven years from the project’s inception – the highest in India. Reducing some of the risk involved in farming helped boost on-farm incomes, and also resulted in a decrease in the number of farmers migrating to cities in search of work.

The Government of India has now accepted Gujarat’s Jyotigram initiative as a flagship scheme for its 12th five-year plan for the power sector (2012-17).

West Bengal: A contrasting scenario

A stark contrast to the Gujarat experience can be found in West Bengal, eastern India’s most populous state. To sustain the state’s population of 91 million, farmers need to harvest two to three crops a year. However, water tanks and ponds in the state are often dry by January, leaving little surface water available for crops until the monsoon rain starts in June. This makes groundwater a vital resource during the dry season.

In 2005, the state government made it compulsory for farmers to apply for permits for tube well pumps. The intention was to achieve sustainable groundwater use and maintain an inventory of wells. But applying for a permit was costly and time-consuming. As a result, most poor farmers were forced to hire expensive diesel pumps for irrigation, and agricultural growth in the state slumped from 6 per cent per annum in the 1990s to less than 2 per cent after the introduction of the permits.

Using data collected during several years of fieldwork (funded in part by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation), an IWMI research team conducted a detailed analysis of the situation and suggested that the authorities abolish the permit system, because groundwater aquifers in the state are regularly replenished by monsoon rains.

Researchers also proposed the introduction of a fixed fee for connecting a tube well to the electricity grid. Previously farmers had to bear the full cost of wires, poles and transformers; which was prohibitively expensive for many smallholders, especially those living far from existing supply lines.

Within two months of the recommendations being made in September 2011, the state government had accepted both propositions, scrapped small pump permits and introduced a flat connection fee.

The way ahead

As climate change and population growth put more pressure on agricultural systems, groundwater will become an increasingly important resource. Used wisely, it is a priceless water storage option than can keep crops watered throughout the year. This can only happen, however, if policy decisions are underpinned by careful research that puts both equity and sustainable use center stage.

Further reading:

Innovative electricity scheme sparks rural development in India’s Gujarat State
Boosting water benefits in West Bengal
Download flyer: “India: Research supports groundwater policy makers. IWMI“

Farmers should be aware of climate changes to adapt their agricultural practices: this sounds simple. Yet in developing countries, an extra effort is needed to make sure that farmers can easily access critical information on evolving weather conditions.

Enter the Agro-climate tools for a new climate-smart agriculture brief, which was jointly published by the International Research Institute for Climate and Society (IRI) and the CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS). This useful brief “outlines a number of valuable software tools that are already helping policy makers and farmers make better decisions in the face of climate change” and, at the same time, encourages potential donors to fund this cost-effective initiative.

Basically, these tools translate complex climate data into information that can allow decision-makers to assess the impact of different decisions on agricultural systems and livelihoods.

The applications on offer include the country-specific climate information and decision support system (IDSS) from Uruguay, which “integrates monitoring of weather and vegetation conditions, seasonal climate forecasts, soil water and water stress estimates within an internet-based GIS platform (www.inia.org.uy/gras/), informing climate risk management decisions from farm to national level.”; also available is the regional Africa RiskView, which takes a amalgamation of information including “globally-available rainfall data, crop parameters and livelihood information” and simplifies them into easily used “food security outlooks.”

The above examples clearly demonstrate that the major differentiation. For farmers, these software tools are easy to use and can help filter through large quantities of data so that the required climate information can be extracted and “climate-smart agriculture” can be properly implemented

For CCAFS‘ original news article, see: Agro-climate tools link farmers with crucial information.

Photo credit: J. Hansen/CCAFS

For farmers like Mary Sikirwayi, maize is life. Although she also grows wheat, peanuts, and beans on her farm in Zimbabwe’s Murewa District, maize is her most important crop. She usually eats white maize, which she grinds and cooks to produce sadza, Zimbabwe’s staple food. But she also grows yellow maize as feed for her chickens and other livestock, and local red maize that she uses for medicinal purposes, milling it into a special sadza to treat ailments ranging from indigestion to heart problems.

The Murewa District, which is located about 75 kilometers north-east of Harare, is normally subject to recurrent droughts, making it a perfect testing ground for drought-tolerant maize. So, like many other famers in the District,  Mary began growing drought-tolerant maize for the first time last year, when she participated in a program of on-farm trials carried out by the Drought Tolerant Maize for Africa (DTMA) project. Jointly implemented by the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) and the International Institute for Tropical Agriculture (IITA), the DTMA project is funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) and is also receiving complementary grants from the Howard G. Buffett Foundation (HGBF) and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

Lack of rainfall is usually the biggest problem facing maize farmers like Mary, but rainfall from January to July 2011 was more than double the average. Nonetheless, as Mary soon discovered, the maize’s performance shone even though the sun didn’t. Two seasons ago, her farm produced only 3.5 tons of maize, but last season her harvest had increased by 2 tons.

According to Oswell Ndoro, the CIMMYT research officer responsible for on-farm participatory trials in the Murewa District, the new drought-tolerant varieties, which can also survive high rainfall, can produce yields that are up to 25 per cent higher than those of commercial varieties.

“If CIMMYT develops varieties of maize which are drought-tolerant, then that’s great,” said Ndoro. “But if these same varieties are unable to produce high yields with varied levels of rainfall, then farmers lose confidence in the product. All it takes is one bad season for farmers to lose confidence in a seed variety.

“This is a highly-populated area that has often suffered from drought-related food deficits, but this year, the issue was nitrogen deficiency caused by the excessive rains. If they are to provide useful solutions, scientists must develop versatile varieties that provide reliably good yields and have other important traits too, such as resistance to pests and diseases. DTMA maize breeders are doing just that.”

Partnerships for success

In the Murewa District, the project works in collaboration with the Zimbabwe government’s Agricultural, Technical and Extension Services Department (AGRITEX) to test and disseminate drought-tolerant maize varieties. Training is also provided by extension workers on topics such as crop management and the identification of pests and diseases.

However, not all farmers are willing or able to participate in these initial trials, because they must be committed and able to keep records. Nonetheless, Nevis Moronbo and Nogate Zvereza Moronbo, a farming couple who feed 12 children on the maize, wheat, beans, and other crops from their 4 hectares of land, are in no doubt that the effort was worth it.

“I’m happy about the trial and expect to do it again,” said Nevis. “I wanted to know more about improved varieties of maize and I’m happy about the results. I’ve tested three varieties on my farm. They were all very good. Hopefully, I’ll be able to sell the surplus to invest in poultry and cattle.”

By working in partnership with national maize programs and private seed companies, DTMA brings together CIMMYT’s international network of breeders and germplasm resources with the power to test varieties extensively under local conditions, drawing on the expertise of farmers and extension workers to produce maize varieties ideally suited to the region.

Thanks to its greater productivity, the new drought-tolerant maize has the potential to increase farmers’ yields and incomes, and improve regional food security.

Read more on the Drought Tolerant Maize for Africa Initiative
Download Flyer: Zimbabwe: When drought-tolerant maize faces excessive rain.
Photo credit: M. DeFreese/CIMMYT

 
In 2008, the world was rocked by a global food price crisis which hit sub-Saharan Africa particularly hard.
“This is not just about meals forgone today, or about increasing social unrest, it is about lost learning potential for children and adults in the future, stunted intellectual and physical growth,” said Robert Zoellick, the World Bank President. ”Without urgent action to resolve the crisis, the fight against poverty could be set back by seven years.”

Fast-forward three years, and Nigerian farmers in the southern state of Oyo have more than doubled their cassava yields, thanks to the ‘Unleashing the Power of Cassava in Africa’ (UPoCA) project. This two-year initiative implemented by the the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) and funded by United States Agency for International Development (USAID) came about as a direct response to the 2008 food crisis.

“With local varieties, I used to harvest 10 tons per hectare, but now it is more than 20 tons per hectare,” said Bashir Adesiyan, Chairman of the local chapter of the Nigerian Cassava Growers Association in the state’s Ido community. “During the harvest period, other farmers accused me of applying ‘juju’ —supernatural or magical powers— on the farm, but I told them it was the improved cassava stems and training I got from IITA that has made my farm better.”

Farmers in other communities and in other states in the country echoed Adesiyan’s claims, saying that the project boosted their production of cassava through the availability of improved cassava stems, which made food more secure and generated wealth.

Similar reports have emerged from the six other countries where the UPoCA project was implemented: DR Congo, Ghana, Malawi, Mozambique, Sierra Leone and Tanzania.

The project introduced and facilitated the spread of free improved cassava varieties by establishing community-based stem multiplication sites across the seven countries. These improved varieties were then planted on smallholder farms, like that of Bashir Adesiyan. To help increase cassava yields, the farmers also learned modern production techniques under the project.

Training of Trainers

To build a critical mass of skilled people in the countries, UPoCA trained 1,043 men and 884 women farmers using the “Training of Trainers” approach. The trained participants produced a wide variety of cassava products such as odorless fufu flour, high quality cassava flour (HQCF), soya-fortified gari, starch, tapioca granules, HQCF/wheat flour composite bread, and a number of different cassava snacks. Most of these products were either being crudely prepared by the farmers, or were introduced by the project.

At the end of a “Training of Trainers” session in Sierra Leone on ‘Cassava Processing, Product Development and Utilization’, Mrs. Agnes Minah, one of the participants, said “I benefited most from the hands-on training approach due to three key features: seeing/observing, reading and practicing. With my ‘finger prints’ all over the products I produced, it will be difficult for me to forget what I have learnt, especially the skills to make high quality cassava flour and fufu flour. I never knew cassava had so many uses but now I clearly understand why IITA chose the project title Unleashing the Power of Cassava.”

Further reading: IITA Annual Report (page 46)

Photo courtesy: IITA

 
In Mali, nearly 68 percent of the population is considered poor. They are mostly smallholder farmers. Women here, as in many parts of Africa and Asia, are particularly vulnerable due to limited access to capital, land and training. Increasing opportunities for women can have a powerful impact on productivity and agriculture-led growth.

Smallholder farmers with less than 2 hectares of land contribute to almost 90% of agricultural production in Mali but have very low yields, mainly due to low seed quality.

The USAID supported Seeds project is part of a regional initiative, the West-African Seed Alliance (WASA), which aims at increasing local production and access to high quality-certified seeds of major staple crops for farmers.

The Seeds project trained women, such as Aïssata Konaté, to become seed producers, improving their incomes and helping to fill the yield gap in the farms buying these locally-produced improved seeds.

Konaté is seen as a pioneer in Koporo-Na near Mopti, Mali. Being one of the first women to start producing certified seed independent from her family farm, she is now the leading seed producer in her village.

Three years ago, The International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) and the Malian national agricultural system offered Konaté a high yielding cowpea seed variety along with technical support in soil, water and pest management from WASA’s regional office in Mopti. She has since doubled her cultivated plot from 1 to 2 hectares and was able to certify the seeds produced.

Konaté now supplies many other women farmers with high yielding seeds. Given her good reputation, she easily sells her improved seeds during seed fairs.

These high quality cowpea seeds drastically increased her yield from 2 bags of 100kg to 8 bags of 100kg per harvest. “I invested my extra earnings from the certified seed production into better food, schooling and health care for my three children,” Konaté says, when asked how the project has helped her. She points to the healthy crop covering her field. “The seed quality also increased the price of cowpea seeds from 300 CFA francs to 600 CFA francs.” she adds.

“My higher income meant I could save up and build a new house for my family,” Konaté says proudly standing by her children in front of their new house. “This has changed my status in the village. Here housing is normally the responsibility of men. Now the community can see how women can provide for their families too,” she says.

USAID’s Seeds project looks at the whole seed value chain, from training farmers to become producers to building capacity of rural agrodealers. It also supports active rural marketing (demonstration plots, farmer field days, seed fairs) to develop local demand for better seeds and organize the seed production from farmer’s cooperatives.

WASA will be reinforced by a regional strategy of harmonization of seed policies making the local seed industry a sustainable agriculture growth tool in the 6 target countries, Mali, Burkina-Faso, Ghana, Niger, Nigeria and Senegal. This means Konaté’s success will be followed by many others across the region, having a real impact on poverty reduction and food security.

More on the West-African Seed Alliance
View/Download this story in PDF

Story published in celebration of the International Women’s Day
Picture courtesy Agathe Diama/ICRISAT