Conservation Agriculture the foundation for Africa’s green revolution

1. Presented at the
Regional Conservation Agriculture Tour; Eastern African
Directors and CA Practitioners to Zambia and Zimbabwe
21-27 April 2013
Eng. Saidi Mkomwa
African Conservation Tillage Network (ACT)
Email: info@act-africa.org

2. 17/02/2016 2

3. Why conservation agriculture?
AFRICA HAS FAILED TO FEED ITS PEOPLE
 While global population will increase by 50% by
2050; SSA will increase by 150% (0.8-2 billion)
 This will require 70% more food globally
 But Africa’s per capita food production has been
declining over the last 50 years!!
 While World Wide, hunger has decreased by
132 M in the last 20 years, it has increased by
20 M is SSA in the last 4 years
 Africa is a net importer of food. Trade deficit of
US$ 22 billion in 2007 (FAOSTAT 2011).

4. 17/02/2016 4
Why is Africa in this Predicament?
How Africa Compares With Other Developing Regions
1Africa; less Egypt and Mauritius.
2Bangladesh, Brazil, China, India, Korean Republic, Pakistan, Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam.
Source: World Bank, World Development Indicators, Table 32, Jan. 2007
Region Fertilizer
Use
kg/ha
Irrigation
% of Arable
Land
Tractors
per
1000 ha
Africa1 13 5 28
Average of 9
Countries 2
208 38 241

5. Eliminating hunger in Kenya calls
for a transformation in agriculture
Eliminate
hunger by
2025
Hunger
10 Million
Kenyans
food
insecure
Productivity
Decreasing
• Cereals 1.2
t/ha
• Walk 42 km
to ox plough
1 ha
80% ASALs;
rainfed
agriculture;
home of
the poor
Population
increasing
at 1 Million
per yearClimate
Change
• Kitale to
become
rangeland!
• Will it rain in
March?
Environment
al
degradation
• Water towers
• Soil erosion
and siltation
of dams

6. But, are high external
inputs a sufficient solution?
 100 tractors in the village
 100 – 200 ha/farmer
 Very low yields of 1.5-2.0
tonnes per hectare of maize
 30,000 tones maize
 Shifting cultivation (3-4 yrs)
 Extensive environmental
deterioration. What
rehabilitation costs? Are we
not robbing the future of our
children?
Scaling Up CA in Africa
The Case of Hembahemba, Kongwa, Tanzania
THE NEGATIVE EXAMPLES ARE MANY, answer not in the numbers!

7. But, are high external
inputs a sufficient solution?
 Low organic matter content
soil moisture, phosphorus
and pH limit efficiency of
chemical fertilizers
 Organic amendments, such
crop residues, manure, rock
phosphates are essential.
 Soil improvement is both a
tool for and a goal of
agriculture intensification
 What % of farmers use
inorganic fertilizers – 50
years after?Scaling Up CA in Africa
The Case of Inorganic Fertilizer use
Feed the soil or
the cow?

8. While important, high external
inputs a not a sufficient solution!
 Inputs are increasingly expensive and difficult
to obtain. Timeliness, packaging, infrastructure.
 Produce prices highly variable. Without strong
cooperatives and a voice, the African farmer gets
punished for over and under production!
 Weak market linkages, making the use of
input-intensive, high-yield technologies more
risky.
 Risks aggravated by poor development of
water resources. Farmers at the mercy of
highly irregular rainfall.
 Are we managing the business lobby for inputs?
Scaling Up CA in Africa

9. Some lessons – Sasakawa & AGR
1. LESSONS FROM SASAKAWA GLOBAL 2000
 Facilitated access by smallholder farmers to improved
inputs through credit; improved agronomic practices
 Highest ever crop yields attained (8.5 t/ha maize)
 Yields fell (by more than 50%) when subsidies/credit were
withdrawn.
2. LESSONS FROM THE ASIAN GREEN REVOLUTION
 Reliance on heavy use of chemical inputs &monocultures
 Able to produce food in sufficient levels.
 Nutritional issues!
 Threats to ground water scarcity, vulnerability to pests,
social marginalization
Scaling Up CA in Africa

10. J. Benites, FAO
Hold back the desert with Conservation Agriculture 10
Soil still full of available water, growing
Soil empty of available water, finished - shrivelled
1. Why measure soil water?
The reality::
2.65 t/ha
Protein: 15.5%
2.11 t/ha
Protein: 11.4%
Source: Benites (FAO))

11. The promise is in the 15 cm layer
of the earths’ crust – “dirt”?
1. Civilisations rise and fall depending on the
ability of soil to sustain food production
2. Farmers as producers and stewards of the
environment revert to beating the soil when
beaten by externalities
3. Need to improve soil health as a tool for and a
goal of agriculture intensification
Scaling Up CA in Africa

12. What is Conservation Agriculture?
The 3 principles
 Minimum soil
disturbance – or
direct seeding if
possible
 Permanent soil
cover
 Crop and cover
crop associations
and rotations
Maximum and
sustainable benefits
derived when the 3
principles overlap

13. Essential and complimentary CA enhancers …
which are however not CA!
 Good agronomic practices
 Timely planting; Proper plant spacing
 Effective weed control (with and without herbicides)
 Use of improved external inputs
 Improved seeds
 Judicious use of fertilisers and pesticides
 Crop – livestock integration
 Agro-forestry – fertiliser trees, fodder, fruit, live fences, wind
breakers.
 Mechanization
CAUTION: Farmers should be empowered to differentiate CA and the
contributions of improved inputs

14. Effects of Conservation Agriculture
 CA builds soil, stops erosion, reverses degradation (1
mm new soil per year)
 SOM increase 0.1-0.2% per year
 Spatial structure with soil life (roots, fauna)
 Recharge of aquifer (permanent macro-pore structure
in soil)
 Improved water quality (less leaching and erosion)
 More available water in soils (1 % OM = 150 m3/ha)
 Reduced water losses (evaporation),
 Better water efficiency (requirements -30%)

15. What to achieve from
intensification over time and land?
 2 or more crops per year from same piece of land. How
much grain for every kg of water?
 More yield (grain and biomass) per unit of land
 Mixed cropping
 Relay /alley cropping

16. 12 units
Seeding
width = 64 m
CA on large farms in Brazil
The day of harvesting is the day of planting!!

17. Newly Developed Prototype
Seed box
Fertilizer box
Clutches
Engine
Separator

18. Sowing wheat on date 11-11-09

22. Double crop on same piece of land
at same time. Complimentary!

23. Enterprise diversification is imperative
1. How can we efficiently engage/utilise rural
labour all year round?
2. How many months for crop production?
Emphasis on yields takes the oxygen from all other
very important benefits of CA!!
3. Farmers need to be assisted to seeing
beyond the crop yield benefits (costs;
labour; sustainable production; )
17/02/2016 23

24. CA is needed
now, …
To integrate and
increase crop and
livestock
productivity
By establishing grass
pastures underneath
the crop, the
Brazilians in Cerrados
have shown, it
sustainably increases
crop yields and
doubles livestock
carrying capacity.
Brachiaria spp. Intersown in maize
Brachiaria intersown in maize; note
height of grass shortly before maize
harvesting

25. Diversification . .
Power tiller drills
Value addition of oil seeds under CA rotations

26. The world trends
 CA at 125 million
hectares,
increasing at 6 m
ha annually
 CA for CC
adaptation and
mitigation. Drought alert:
NRCS urges no-till planting this spring
http://www.tristateneighbor.com/news/re
gional/article_57facc4c-9e26-11e2-8226-
0019bb2963f4.html
 1 million ha
under CA in
Africa
 SA – 400,000
 Zambia|Zimbabwe

27. THE BIG QUESTIONS
 Is CA appropriate
for smallholder
farmers (Africa &
Asia)
 Can African control
their livestock and
maintain soil cover?
 Are the 3 CA
principles enough?
 Is organic CA a
reality or a
dream?
 What is the entry
point to get CA
work?
 Hard pans
 Terracing/bunds
 Liming
 CA equipment

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Milhõesdehectares
fonte: EMATER RS, EPAGRI-SC, EMATER-PR, CATI-SP, FUNDAÇÃO MS, APDC(CERRADO)
BRASIL - EXPANSÃO DA ÁREA CULTIVADA EM PLANTIO DIRETO
SAFRA VERÃO/SAFRINHA/INVERNO
BRASIL 0.00 0.00 0.01 0.03 0.06 0.06 0.05 0.13 0.21 0.23 0.26 0.38 0.50 0.58 0.65 0.73 0.80 0.90 1.00 1.35 2.03 3.00 3.80 5.50 8.85 11.33 13.37 14.97 17.36
72/73 73/74 74/75 75/76 76/77 77/78 78/79 79/80 80/81 81/82 82/83 83/84 84/85 85/86 86/87 87/88 88/89 89/90 90/91 91/92 92/93 93/94 94/95 95/96 96/97 97/98 98/99 99/00 00/01
23.6 Mill.
ha today
Extent of no-till adoption in Brazil
(FEBRAPDP,2002)
1990 - 1 Million ha

29. Do we need CA in irrigated farms?
 Water availability assures of higher fertiliser
efficiency and crop yields
 Costs of even small-scale irrigation are high
(e.g. 4,000$ - 8,000$ per hectare)
 Rate of return for irrigation infrastructure is
quite low
 Residues retention and manure require 550$
and 730$ per hectare respectively
 Most of the huge irrigation systems are rainfed!
WHAT IS REALISTIC TO SCALE UP?
Scaling Up CA in Africa
Irrigated Land – a distorted promise land!

30. We have the opportunity to make a difference