Africa RISING science, innovations and technologies with scaling potential from ESA-Zambia

Christian Thierfelder (CIMMYT), Peter Setimela (CIMMYT), Munyaradzi Mutenje (CIMMYT), Mulundu Mwila (ZARI) and Mateete Bekunda (IITA)

Key messages Cropping systems based on the principles of conservation agriculture

increase yield in 2-5 cropping seasons

Labour benefits of 25-45 days can be achieved when using labour saving planting methods and weed control strategies, especially benefitting women

Increased financial returns make CA rotation and intercropping systems more profitable

25,648 households have been reached; of these 10,258 have been using CA-based practices on at least 0.25 hectares consistently; 2,116 are full adopters of all CA principles.

This poster is licensed for use under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Licence. January 2017

We thank farmers and local partners in Africa RISING sites for their contributions to this research. We also acknowledge the support of all donors which globally support the work of the CGIAR centers and their partners through their contributions to the CGIAR system

Objectives and approachSmallholder farmers in Eastern Zambia are confronted with decliningsoil fertility, low access and use of improved seed and agricultureinputs. Increasingly, the negative impacts of climate variability andchange affect their farming systems.

Efforts have been made to provide cash constrained farmers withoptions in reach to improve productivity, profitability anddiversification while adapting to a changing climate.

Conservation agriculture (CA) systems, based on minimum soildisturbance, crop residue retention and crop rotations have beenpromoted from 2011-2016 in mother-and-baby trials and innovationsystems in Eastern Zambia.

Key resultsCA systems, as practiced in Eastern Zambia, showed yield benefitsacross different planting systems (Figure 1, Picture 1) but only after 2-5cropping season. Immediate financial benefits can be achieved due toreduced labour on planting and weeding (Figure 2a, Picture 2).Diversification in CA systems enhance yield benefits and increase thenutritional value of farming systems. The relative yield performance ofCA vs conventional agriculture shows greater potential for CA (Figure2b).

Significance and scaling potentialCA systems have been extended widely in Eastern Zambia by AfricaRISING and other scaling partners. Specific components of the system(e.g. herbicides and animal traction ripping) are currently adopted veryrapidly. Due to Governmental buy-in and conducive policies, thetechnology has been increasingly institutionalized and mainstreamed.CA provides a base of synergy with other SI innovations (e.g. doubled-up legume and intercropping systems) but options have to be adaptedto site and farmer circumstances to overcome barriers to adoption andto achieve behavior change for more sustained uptake.

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Figure 1: Maize grain yield in different CA systems in seven target communities of Eastern Zambia, 2014

Picture 1: Performance of CA (left) and conventional agriculture on farmer’s fields (right), Kawalala Camp, Eastern Zambia, February 2015

Figure 2a-b, Picture 2: Labour savingscan be achieved when practicing CA (topleft) to avoid manual ridging (top right).

The relative yield performance of CA vsconventional agriculture in EasternZambia (bottom right) from 2011-2016.Dots above the 1:1 line are morebeneficial for CA.

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