When the Weak Win: Role of Farmer Groups in Influencing Agricultural Policy Outcome; a Case of Nkhate Irrigation Scheme in Malawi

The knowledge today recaps that’s livelihood of many African farmers are constrained by poor access to both inputs and output markets, limited entrepreneurial skills for adding value to produce and to bargain for better prices and finally limited technical skills in agricultural production. Despite a tremendous attention to salvage this through government interventions and research, there is still a big problem in addressing the smallholder farmer’s needs. Farmer organizations open up opportunities for farmers to better overcome the above mentioned constraints through lobbying and collective action. Drawing from results of Participatory diagnosis and participatory market research done in Nkhate irrigation scheme in 2007 and 2008 this paper examines the effect of effective farmer groups in influencing rice price formation. Results demonstrated that farmer groups have the potential to effectively influence policy outcomes in their favour. This was however achieved through reorganization and mobilization of farmer groups to improve lobbying efficiency and reduce the inefficiencies caused by free riding. The results indicate that from the participatory gross margin analysis which was done by CIAT ( 2007) with rice farmers at the irrigation scheme, it was revealed that farmers have been making losses in the marketing of Kirombero and Super Fire rice varieties and have been realizing a very small positive margin for Mtupatupa a local rice variety. The analysis revealed gross margins of 36.78 US$ha-1, -182.50 US$ ha-1, and 60.36 US$ha-1, for Super fire, Kirombero and Mtupatupa varieties respectively. This shows that farmers were making losses when they sold rice to traders at a price dictated to them. However, after farmers were effectively organised in a group and linked to markets, farmers realized gross margins of 681.84US$ ha-1, 664.23US$ha-1 and 1,028.69US$ ha-1 for Mtupatupa, Super fire and Kirombero rice varieties respectively. The paper further recommends that such farmer groups need to better articulate and deliver benefits to members hence ensuring that these members subscribe to the group and hence finance lobbying efforts which are often costly.Farmer groups, Profitability, input and output markets, participatory market research, lobbying, Farm Management,

ANALYSIS OF EFFECTIVE MARKET LINKAGES IN PROMOTING INVESTMENTS IN NATURAL RESOURCE MANAGEMENT IN THE RICE-BASED FARMING SYSTEM IN MALAWI: A CASE OF NKHATE IRRIGATION SCHEME

N° ISBN - 978-2-7380-1284-5International audienceThis study focuses on assessing how effective market linkages have promoted investments in natural resource management in the smallholder rice-based farming systems in Nkhate Irrigation Scheme, in the context of the Enabling Rural Livelihoods approach. As both income and investment in natural resource management is linked to the wealth status of the farmers, a participatory wealth ranking exercise was done to group farmers into resource groups. Farmers were grouped into three resource-endowment classes; high resource-endowment (RG 1), intermediate (RG 2) and resource-constrained (RG 3), on the basis of cattle ownership, use of mineral fertilizers and land ownership. The study used household data on these resource groups to address two specific objectives in influence of enhanced farmer market linkages: (i) to assess the profitability of rice (ii) to assess farmer decisions on allocation of income from rice to natural resource management. The results indicate that from the participatory gross margin analysis which was done by CIAT ( 2007) with rice farmers at the irrigation scheme, it was revealed that farmers have been making losses in the marketing of Kirombero and Super Fire rice varieties and have been realizing a very small positive margin for Mtupatupa a local rice variety. The analysis revealed gross margins of 36.78 US$ha-1, -182.50 US$ ha-1, and 60.36 US$ha-1, for Super fire, Kirombero and Mtupatupa varieties respectively. However, after farmers were effectively linked to markets, farmers realized gross margins of 681.84US$ ha-1, 664.23US$ha-1 and 1,028.69US$ ha-1 for Mtupatupa, Super fire and Kirombero rice varieties respectively. The results further showed that a lot of investment from money gotten from rice sales has gone into improving food security and the accumulation of household assets as well as improving the dwelling houses. This was regardless of farmer's wealth status

Diagnostic trials: a field guide

The Diagnostic Trials, conducted in Kenya, Malawi, Mali, Nigeria, and Tanzania, constitute a major part of Africa Soil Information Service agronomic activities. This guide provides a standard tool that is part of a structured approach for the diagnosis of soil health related constraints to crop production. It is intended for use by national and international agricultural research systems, development partners and extension services to ensure standard procedures in data collection that will feed to an Africa-wide database of diagnostic trials, allowing an increase in data density over time and an improvement of the reliability in the assessment of soil constraints and inferences

Evaluation of Resource Management Options for Smallholder Farms Using an Integrated Modelling Approach

Farm-level analysis of trade-offs between soil fertility management alternatives is required to improve understanding of complex biophysical and socio-economic factors influencing decision making in smallholder farming systems and to identify opportunities for improving resource use efficiency. A farm characterization tool (IMPACT) linked to a generic optimization model (Household) was used to evaluate resource use on farms in contrasting wealth categories. The Household model optimized the net cash income for the farms (accounting for all on-farm and off-farm income, costs of production and expenditure for the households). Alternatives for management of nutrient resource were simulated using other models; APSIM for the crop production and RUMINANT for the livestock component. The output from the simulation models was fed into the Household model and evaluated within the biophysical and socioeconomic boundaries of the farms. Analysis of the performance of a poor farmer by IMPACT indicated a yearly net cash balance of US$-7 per annum (after all needs had been taken care of), mainly due to negative returns from the cropping system. The farmer relied on donated food and fertilizers. The cash balance was negative, even though she also worked for other farmers (i.e. sold labour, about 10 days a month during six months of the crop growing season) to generate income. The net income of the poor farm would be increased to US$81 per annum and the N balance from 7 kg ha-1 yr-1 to 10 kg ha-1 yr-1 by expanding the area allocated to groundnut from the current 5% to 31%. This would, however, generate a huge demand in labour in the current year (extra 46-man days) and reduce the P balance from 0 to -1 kg ha-1 yr-1. Maize could be managed more efficiently on the poor farm by cultivating a smaller, well-managed area. A wealthy farm household with a maize dominated cropping system had a net cash balance of US$210 per annum, mainly from sale of crop products. Under current resource management, the net cash balance could be increased to US$290 per annum by optimization of household energy and protein consumption. The net cash balance for the wealthy farm would be further increased to US$448 per annum, and nutrient balances to 271 kg N ha-1 and 30 kg P ha-1 by expanding the management strategy where maize was grown with a combination of cattle manure and ammonium nitrate fertilizer. To do this, the farmer would need to source more manure (or improve capture and the efficiency with which nutrients are cycled through manure) and invest in 110 man-days extra labour. Expansion of the area grown to groundnut without fertilizer inputs to a third of the farm would reduce net cash balance by US$11 compared with the current crop allocation due to poor groundnut yield. This would also increase labour demand by 155 mandays. Groundnut intensification on the wealthy farm would be more economic and labour effective if a small area was grown with basal fertilizer (7%N, 6%P, 8%K). Despite reducing nutrient balances for the arable plots, feeding groundnut residues to lactating cows increased net cash balance by 12-18% for the current year through increased milk production. The integrated modelling approach was useful for linking biophysical and socio-economic factors influencing decision making on smallholder farms and evaluating trade-offs for resource use in terms of nutrient balances, labour use, food sufficiency and cash balance.Farm Management, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy,

Building Twenty-first Century Agricultural Research and Extension Capacity in Africa

This study explores the effectiveness of international efforts to build the capacities of national agricultural research and extension systems (NARES) in Africa and proposes actions to improve the performance of these systems. Analysis draws on agricultural research expenditure data in Africa, Asia and Latin America and key informant interviews of 26 senior representatives of international and African research organisations. We conclude that donors and international partners have increased the supply of professional African scientists while contributing relatively little to the institutional capacities of African NARES. We propose a transition to what we call a twenty-first century African-led agricultural research system and identify actions to manifest it

Understanding biophysical and socio-economic determinants of maize (Zea mays L.) yield variability in eastern India

AbstractThe aim of this paper was to investigate the key factors limiting maize (Zea mays L.) productivity in eastern India to develop effective crop and nutrient management strategies to reduce yield gap. A series of farm surveys was conducted in two distinct agro-ecological zones of eastern India to evaluate the importance of crop management and structural constraints for maize productivity in a range of socio-economic settings prevalent in smallholder farms. Surveys revealed yield gap and yield variations among farms across growing seasons. Lower yields of farmers were mainly associated with farmer's ethnic origin, availability of family labor, land ownership, legumes in cropping sequence, irrigation constraints, seed type, optimal plant population, labor and capital investment, and use of organic manure. These constraints varied strongly between sites as well as growing seasons. Stochastic Frontier Analysis suggested intensification of farm input use and removal of socio-economic and structural constraints for increasing efficiency in maize production. The use of multivariate classification and regression tree analysis revealed that maize yield was affected by multiple and interacting production constraints, differentiating the surveyed farms in six distinct resource groups. These farm types lend scope for introducing typology-specific crop management practices through appropriate participatory on-farm evaluation/trials. Summarily, this research indicated that interacting production constraints should be addressed simultaneously, considering the need of different farm types, if significant productivity improvements are to be achieved. This will be, however, more challenging for less endowed farms due to lack of social and financial capital to improve management intensity.A typology-specific farm support strategy may be formulated to offset this lack of entitlement among resource-poor farmers

Closing yield gaps in oil palm production systems in Ghana through Best Management Practices

The area under oil palm in Ghana has expanded but average fruit bunch yields remained low, resulting in large yield gaps. This study assessed the potential for increasing yield with 'Best Management Practices (BMP)' on plantations and smallholder farms in southern Ghana, compared with current standard practices, i.e. reference (REF) yield. We evaluated short-term (≤1 year) yield increases with 'yield taking' (improved crop recovery), and long-term increases (>1 year) with 'yield making' (better agronomy) practices and identified the factors that contributed most to yield improvements. Average fruit bunch yield increases with BMP were 2.1 t ha−1 (+19%) and 4.7 t ha−1 (+89%) with yield taking and 4.7 t ha−1 (+36%) and 7.6 t ha−1 (+76%) with yield making at plantations and smallholder farms respectively. Short-term yield improvements were achieved with more frequent harvesting events and improved field access, which can help finance inputs needed for the yield making phase. Our analysis suggests more balanced palm nutrition could contribute considerably to yield making, particularly on smallholder farms. Improved fertilizer recommendations are therefore essential for sustainable oil palm production in Ghana. Increasing yields to 21.0 t ha−1 on land already planted to oil palm, can increase national fruit bunch production from 2.5 Mt to 6.9 Mt, sparing 600,000 ha of land. However, labour constraints on plantations and lack of access to credit and agricultural inputs on smallholder farms are major hurdles that need to be overcome to increase production.</p