By Clet W. Masiga
Agro-ecological intensification of farming
systems has been recognised as one of the key strategies for transforming
subsistence farming to commercialisation in Africa.
This is a new move by the consortium for
improving agriculture-based livelihoods in central Africa (CIALCA) and world
experts on agricultural intensification to focus agricultural research on
experiments that will focus on agro-ecological processes rather than that which
focuses on use of external inputs and commodities rather than systems.
The experiments will, in addition, be done
without subsidising farmers and communicating the results of such complex
knowledge generated from such experiments by expert institutions.
The consortium brings together world leaders
with significant influence in agricultural research from three of 18
institutions supported by the consultative group on international agricultural
research (CGIAR). These are international institute of tropical agriculture
(IITA), Bioversity, and the tropical soil biology and fertility programme of
the International Centre for Tropical Agriculture (TSBF-CIAT).
These institutions have set up a research for
development platform in various mandate areas in Africa aiming to identify
improved production, market and nutrition options and to facilitate the access
for development partners to these options.
Therefore, their recommendation will have a
significant influence on African leaders and the donor community in driving the
agricultural research agenda for Africa in the next decade.
The recommendations were summarised in four
statements. If we are to maximise local soil fertility management practices, it
was suggested that priority needs to be given to making greater use of agro
ecological processes that optimise efficiency with only complementary use of
external inputs like fertilizers.
This should go hand in hand with a
commodity-based value chain approach, which is thought to be more efficient in
achieving system change than an integrated farming systems approach which is
very complex.
It was also thought that adoption of
technology driven by subsidies and hand outs is counterproductive and that
complex agricultural knowledge can only be communicated by expert
institutions.
The four recommendations were arrived at
during the discussion to take stock of the state of the art agricultural
intensification in the highlands of sub-Saharan Africa and to chart the way
forward for agricultural research for development in the humid highlands,
specifically in the humid tropics consortium research programme and the CIALCA
consortium.
It was agreed that African farmers face
numerous difficulties in improving production and productivity due to pests and
diseases, and declining soil fertility. It was also recognised that fertilizers
and pesticides are difficult to obtain, expensive and not properly evaluated in
African farming systems.
Agro ecological intensification is a
practical, knowledge-based approach with potential to respond both to the needs
of smallholder farmers for increased production through more efficient use of
local resources and to the demands placed on the high-input export sector for
more environmental sustainability.
This approach focuses on biological
mechanisms to suppress pests and diseases, strategies to increase crop yield
and management of soil nutrient cycles for a healthier and more productive
crop.
In this approach, management of functional
biodiversity and deployment of better knowledge about agro-ecological
interactions serve to reduce losses, optimise crop residue breakdown and soil
nutrient fixation, and promote crop health.
Technically, the outcomes of this
multimillion dollar agricultural experiment will contribute to information
required to influence policy for agricultural growth in Africa. However, the
impact would be more if other options were considered.
As such I believe that these recommendations
need to be taken seriously as it will influence agricultural research agenda
for Africa. The results will have a direct impact on food security, farming
incomes and agricultural economy.
The writer is a conservation biologist/geneticist
and farm entrepreneur
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