The green revolution in Zimbabwe

This paper presents an historical overview of plant breeding research, variety release and seed supply of staple food grains in Zimbabwe, and assesses the impacts of the new varieties on yields using national aggregate yield data. The paper also analyses farm-level factors determining farmers' adoption decisions in the semi-arid areas, where the mini-green revolution lagged behind more favorable areas. The results indicate that the adoption of improved crop varieties will not lead to substantial yield gains unless improved soil management methods, such as application of manure and fertilizer, are also adopted

Exante economic impact assessment of genetically modified banana resistant to Xanthomonas wilt in the great lakes region of Africa

Published: September 28, 201

Impact of Farmer Field Schools on Adoption of Soil Water and Nutrient Management Technologies in Dry Areas of Zimbabwe: Global Theme on Agro-Ecosystems Report no. 14

Agricultural extension systems in sub-Saharan Africa are increasingly using participatory approaches to improve technology adoption by smallholder farmers. This approach has been successful particularly in low-rainfall areas, where adoption is traditionally slow. Crop productivity, farm incomes and food security have improved as a result. ICRISAT worked with Zimbabwe’s Department of Agricultural Research and Extension to pilot-test the effectiveness and efficiency of one such participatory approach – Farmer Field Schools, FFS – for delivering extension messages on improved soil and water management technologies in drought-prone areas. FFS are costlier to implement than traditional Master Farmer and community-based Participatory Extension approaches; but they provide more opportunities for experimentation, and collective learning-by-doing and learning- by-using. This improves farmers’ understanding of new technologies, their capacity to effectively use the technologies and to make better decisions, and improves adoption rates. To introduce FFS more widely into national programs and make them sustainable, the study recommends that part of the government extension budget be re-allocated from Master Farmer training to FFS; and that NGOs and commercial agribusinesses be encouraged to target their investments towards developing a nation-wide FFS system

Towards a research agenda on tracking the contribution of agricultural research to poverty reduction in Africa: the case of the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture

Like all public organizations concerned with research for development, IITA aims to contribute to poverty reduction goals in the developing world through improved agricultural technologies. IITA’s refreshed strategy articulates a major target of lifting 11 million people out of poverty by 2020. This paper discusses the analytical strategies for tracking the number of people lifted out of poverty through the contributions of IITA’s Research-for-Development (R4D) initiatives. The paper documents the evolution and underlying impact pathways of R4D programs carried out by IITA during the past 45 years and reviews the literature on impact evaluation of agricultural research. The paper then identifies and discusses the challenges, opportunities, and strategies which translate into a set of research agendas for tracking IITA’s contributions to poverty reduction

Does farmer participatory research matter for improved soil fertility technology development and dissemination in Southern Africa?

Crop management research is increasingly involving farmers in evaluating new technologies, identifying adoption constraints and opportunities for improving farm performance to produce more sustainable impact. ICRISAT and its partners worked with farmers in Malawi and Zimbabwe during the 1999/2000 and 2000/2001 seasons to evaluate a range of ‘best bet’ soil fertility and water management technologies and evaluate the impact of farmer participatory research. Although there was some variation in methods implemented at different sites, the study found that there is a basis for a comparison of methods. Community entry and participatory approaches that engage farmers in decision making throughout the research-development-diffusion-innovation process have higher setup costs compared to traditional ‘top-down’ approaches. But they improve efficiency, both in technology development and in building farmers' capacity for experimentation and collective learning. This results in the development of more relevant technologies, joint learning among farmers, researchers and extensionists and better impact. To make farmer participatory research projects more sustainable and introduce them on a wide scale, the study recommends that public and NGO investments be targeted to building district and village-level innovation cluster

Spreading the word on fertilizer in ZimbabweGlobal Theme on Agroecosystems Report no. 24

Next to drought, poor soil fertility is the single biggest cause of hunger in Africa. Despite this, smallholder farmers use very little manure, and less so, the recommended inorganic fertilizers. This is largely due to the input being unaffordable to the majority of smallholders. In drier regions, farmers are also concerned about application risks. In light of this, the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) is promoting the use of small fertilizer quantities (micro-dosing) that smallholders are more likely to afford and adopt. Although higher rates are known to give higher yields, the marginal returns from the small investment when using lower fertiliser rates are much better. In the 2003-04 cropping season, with assistance from the Department for International Development (DFID) and the European Commission Humanitarian Aid Office (ECHO), a large-scale relief program distributed 25 kg of ammonium nitrate to each of 170,000 small-scale farmers through a consortium of non-governmental organizations (NGO). With technical assistance from ICRISAT and a simple fertilizer pamphlet, NGOs established 1,200 on-farm trials across the country to demonstrate the micro-dose approach. In each trial, the farmer selected the cereal crop, and compared results with and without fertilizer. Data were obtained from more than 900 of these demonstrations, and a national survey assessed impacts on the larger group of 170,000 farms. Despite poorer than average rains, micro-dosing increased grain yields by 30 to 50%, and almost every farmer achieved significant gains. The 170,000 households increased their production levels by an estimated 40,000 tons. The program significantly improved household food security, and saved US$7 million in food imports. Many of these farmers are now becoming interested in investing their own resources in fertilizer, but access remains a constraint. The program has started working with fertilizer companies to test strategies for resolving this problem

Priorities for a global cassava research program to improve food security and incomes in developing countries: A survey of experts.

The resources available for implementing the CGIAR Research Program Roots, Tubers, and Bananas (CRP-RTB) are limited and have an opportunity cost in terms of foregone alternatives.There are many alternative research options that can be pursued to improve food security and incomes for resource-poor farmers in developing countries. This raises the need to identify how to best invest limited resources in order to generate the greatest impacts per dollar invested. The CRPRTB proposes a six stage process for setting priorities. As an initial step in this process, this study describes the perceptions of cassava research priorities by cassava researchers, development and extension specialists. These experts were asked to rank three top constraints on cassava production, transformation and commercialization and to rate the importance of 13 kinds of research options to reduce poverty and improve food security. The ranking was based on a five-point scale, between 5 as the most important and 1 as the least important research option. Results presented reflect perceptions of critical priorities for cassava research based on tallying of the response and provide the basis for further priority setting in the CRP-RTB

A COMPARATIVE STUDY ON THE APHRODISIAC ACTIVITY OF FOOD PLANTS MONDIA WHITEI, CHENOPODIUM ALBUM, CUCURBITA PEPO AND SCLEROCARYA BIRREA EXTRACTS IN MALE WISTAR RATS.

Background: Any substance that increases erectile function, sexual performance and enjoyment is considered an aphrodisiac. The was to compare the effects of food plants Mondia whitei, Chenopodium album, Cucurbita pepo and Sclerocarya birrea extracts 200mg/kg body weight on sexual behavior, sperm parameters and testosterone levels in adult male rats. These are food plants also aphrodisiacs in South Africa, Zimbabwe and other parts of Africa. Materials and methods: Sexual behavior parameters assessed in this study included an arousal component (mount latency and intromission sexual potency (mount frequency and intromission frequency), erection (copulatory efficiency) and ejaculations. All treatments orally daily for 28 days. Sexual behavior parameters were quantified 2 hours after a single dose, at 14 days and at 28 days of treatment. Results: The order of efficacy in stimulating sexual behavior in male rats was M. whitei >S. birrea > C. pepo ≥C. album. Although change in number of ejaculations and sperm count (P>0.05) for all treatment groups compared to controls, all treatments increased motility. M. whitei and C. pepo treatments resulted in increased (