Challenges

One-third of the agricultural land in Ethiopia, Kenya and United Republic of Tanzania is severely degraded. Food insecurity is already high among smallholder farmers practising rainfed agriculture and is expected to increase as rainfall becomes more erratic. Conservation agriculture has proven effective at restoring soil health, improving the capture and use of rainfall, increasing crop yields and farm profitability, and contributing to climate resilience. Conservation agriculture has been promoted in East Africa to varying degrees by civil society organizations, governments and agencies such as the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), and there is an opportunity for more extension work to increase adoption by farmers, as well as coordination work with multiple actors to bring about policy change at the national level.

Toward a Solution

This project, implemented by the Canadian Foodgrains Bank with the financial support of Global Affairs Canada, aims to scale up conservation agriculture among male and female smallholder farmers in East Africa. Traditional practices of subsistence agriculture are characterized by low use of inputs, high vulnerability to soil deterioration, and increasingly variable climatic conditions. Conservation agriculture focuses on enhancing soil fertility, improving moisture retention, and reducing soil erosion and tillage through environmentally responsible agricultural practices. The project therefore improves the food security and livelihoods of smallholder farmers while encouraging sustainability, strengthening the empowerment of women, and reducing financial barriers. Activities within the project provide an effective way to address Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 2, particularly target 2.4, which focuses on sustainable food production systems and climate-resilient agricultural practices that increase productivity and production. The project’s triangular approach is also beneficial to the realization of SDG 17 (Partnerships for the goals) because it strengthens the means of implementation through a more inclusive and dynamic partnership.

The project includes a partnership with the African Conservation Tillage Network, a regional entity that works across the three recipient countries (Ethiopia, Kenya and United Republic of Tanzania) to create supportive policy and programme environments for conservation agriculture by engaging local, regional and national government officials. The Network serves as a pivotal partner, providing expertise on culturally relevant policy engagement in the region. It has not only engaged successfully with governments in conservation agriculture, but more importantly, has highlighted concerns and insights of farmers, further boosting the need for policy changes. The Network’s leadership and management brought fruitful and unexpected results in terms of realizing significant progress on the project’s policy objectives. In Ethiopia, this included broad relationships between numerous government departments, enabling continued progress on policy dialogue despite government restructuring and staff turnover. The field-level successes in Ethiopia enabled Canadian Foodgrains Bank to secure funding from other sources to scale up conservation agriculture in different regions of the country, and these successes have been sufficiently convincing that the Government of Ethiopia is now looking to other donors for further scale-up.

In the course of this project, a conservation agriculture curriculum was developed and then used by partner organizations to train farmers, government extension agents and other local non-governmental organization (NGO) staff. Partners provided ongoing support to farmers through workshops, farmer field days and farmer-to-farmer exchanges. Savings groups were established to facilitate local savings and credit access.  In partnership with Farm Radio International, radio content was developed and broadcast in Ethiopia and United Republic of Tanzania to promote conservation agriculture principles.

This resulted in several innovative and sustainable outcomes in support of the SDGs. Triangular cooperation created mutual benefit for the Canadian Foodgrains Bank and the African Conservation Tillage Network to work together across the three countries. The Canadian Foodgrains Bank gained access to the region and sector, assisted by the African Conservation Tillage Network as a credible, knowledgeable and renowned organization. The Network, in turn, was able to elevate its profile by working with the Canadian organization. The adoption of policies that are more favourable to conservation agriculture, a goal shared by both organizations, was enhanced through the collaboration. Knowledge-sharing platforms were created in each country, bringing together local and international NGOs, government institutions, academics and the private sector to foster collaboration and strengthen sector capacity.

As of March 2019, 42,495 farmers (21,450 women) were practising two out of three conservation agriculture principles, and nearly half of the conservation agriculture farming households had 12 months of sufficient food. In addition to time saved through conservation agriculture, farmers reported a net profit of CAD$999 from crop yields, and just over half of the participants stated that their household was able to pay for household needs. Participation in the programme has contributed to women’s empowerment of by increasing their access to household finances. The project also led to the establishment of 1,091 savings and credit groups with 24,329 members (18,677 women), and radio campaigns promoting conservation agriculture have been conducted in a number of regions.

The sustainability of this project is demonstrated by the inclusion of conservation agriculture in the training curriculum for all agriculture extension staff in Ethiopia and a commitment to do the same in United Republic of Tanzania, and the presence of a multi-stakeholder hub dedicated to conservation agriculture in Kenya. Results from this project are already being replicated in other regions of Ethiopia with support from other funders.  The African Conservation Tillage Network will apply learning from this project to conduct research and policy dialogue in other countries. Canadian Foodgrains Bank is conducting a detailed evaluation of this project, to include lessons learned in policy dialogue and to inform work in other countries.

Also available in: Arabic | Chinese | French | Portuguese | Russian | Spanish