AGRA Soil Health ProgramBreadbasket Project Workshop

Curitiba, Brazil

July 9-16, 2011

• About 50 % of Africans live on less than $1.25 per day

• 4-12% of GDP is lost from environmental degradation 85% from soil erosion, nutrient

loss and changes in crops

• On average 43 million tons of food costing about $7.5 billion is imported annually to feed the hungry

• High potential for Internal conflicts & political instability

Low agricultural productivity in Africa

• Extreme hunger & poverty 265 million undernourished

Sources: Chen & Ravallion (2007); FAO (2009; 2010)

Annual Nutrient Depletion

Sub-Saharan Africa

Africa

Eurasia

South Africa

Central America

Oceania

West Asia

North America

North Africa

Latin America

World

South America

Central Europe

South Asia

Western Europe

Asia

East Asia

8

21

47

47

75

94

100

117

130

182

255

49

89

134

25

117

107

Developing Markets Developed Markets

Transitional Markets World

Source: IFDC; derived from FAO data

Average per hectare fertilizer use rates as kilograms of nutrients (NPK) by fertilizer markets in 2008/09

Fertilizer use

Relative cost of food aid

Source: Sanchez, P. 2009: A smarter way to combat hunger. Nature, 458, 12.

• To increase farmers access to seeds fertilizers for them to produce an extra ton of maize ($135)

• To buy a ton of maize locally and distribute it ($320)

• To buy, ship and distribute a ton of US maize in Africa

($812)

As AGRA's largest program, the Soil Health Program (SHP) plays an integrative role in promoting soil health and farmer productivity

AGRA, founded in 2006 in partnership between the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and The Rockefeller Foundation, is focused on catalyzing an African green revolution by promoting rapid and sustainable agricultural development among Africa's smallholder farmers.

AGRA’s organization-wide goals for 2020 are:– Reduce food insecurity by 50% in at least 20 countries– Double the incomes of 20 million smallholder families– Put at least 15 countries on track for attaining and sustaining an African Green

Revolution

AGRA’s Soil Health Program, was set up in early 2008 and became operational in 2009, with the following primary goals:

– Efficient and economically sustainable supply of fertilizer to farmers in Africa– Uptake of appropriate ISFM technology packages by smallholder farmers – Create an enabling environment upon which other organizations can build and

engage

1

2

3

1

2

3

170 MSc and PhD students trained by 2014/2015*

200 lab technicians trained and in service by 2014/20151

Implementation of policy agendas in at least 6 countries to support adoption of fertilizer and ISFM practices

AGRA’s SHP aims to achieve three primary outputs through 2014, with the ultimate outcome of increasing crop yields for over 2M farmers

Activity Targets

Fertilizer Supply: 150,000-200,000 tons of additional fertilizer delivered to small farmers through wholesale and retail networks

ISFM Extension: Initial adoption of appropriate ISFM practices by more than 2 million smallholder farmers3

Outcome Goals Impact Goal

Fertilizer Supply: 15% reduction in gap between farm gate and market fertilizer prices2 in AFAP countries

Notes: 1 At least 50% to be women; 2 Controlling for changes in international fuel prices; 3 See appendix for additional details

6,500 agro-dealers trained and functioning

80 extension and adaptive research projects targeting staple crops in 31 geographies in 16 major farming systems across 13 focal countries

Assumptions: The impact goal is the result of both AGRA’s interventions targeting 2 million smallholder farmers as well as ASHP and strategic partners’ efforts to promote farmer access to knowledge, inputs, financing, and markets. These efforts include both direct and indirect efforts, such as extension demos, radio, and word-of-mouth.

Over 4 million smallholder farmers provided with access to ISFM best practices, inputs, and markets, of which 2 million will have adopted them, to achieve 50-100% sustainable yield growth and improved farmer incomes

Establishment of import finance guarantee facility to support and encourage competition among fertilizer importers and manufacturers in 3 countries

Why integrating CA?

Unhealthy soils Untamed water

Breadbasket Project• SHP supports CA principles that incorporate the aspects of

ISFM (organic and inorganic fertilizers, improved seeds, markets

• Some of the current grants have incorporated CA which include the use of conservation agriculture with trees

• Eight projects targeting 400,000 smallholder farmers (Malawi, Zambia, Mozambique, Tanzania, Ghana and Mali) have been selected across different cropping systems and agro-ecological zones to pilot the CA investments

• Successes and lessons learnt from these sites will be critical for scaling out to other countries

• Workshop provided an opportunity to build the capacity of the project teams through interaction with CA experts and field visits

Some key questions on CA this week• What is the most cost effect and practical ways of dealing with

weeds?• What cover crops to use in order to provide good soil cover for

unimodal and bimodal rainfall?• How to use herbicides in cropping systems that have diversified

crops –intercropping• What equipment can smallholder farmers use to replace the

hoe/plough? • What are the benefits that farmers should look for in season one,

season two and so on?• How to deal competition between livestock and cover crop issues? • What lessons can we learn from the adoption process here ie move

from 1,000 ha to 25 million ha in 40 years?• How to win policy support?

Possible approaches for CA promotion

• Establishment of demonstration – engage lead farmers and early adopters

• Facilitate famers field days and farmer-to-farmer learning through their associations

• Support access to information through radio and print media; e-extension will be piloted in some regions

• Facilitate access to inputs (CA equipment, herbicides, seeds and fertilizers) through credit guarantee arrangements with input suppliers

• Train and re-tool extension workers through ‘hand-on’ short-term training events

• Forge strong partnerships- African Conservation Tillage Network, FAO etc.

12

You are the ‘Champions’ of the ISFM-CA• Do not ‘fear’ to try, dream big and the

first years of the projects will be on a learning curve

• Limited knowledge on CA should not be a hindrance-work with partners, outsource the expertise

• Yes, we can because we are many-Brazil started with 1!!

Thank You