Sustainable Intensification of Smallholder Farming Systems in Zambia (SIFAZ) project outline carwig

1. Sustainable Intensification of Smallholder
Farming Systems in Zambia (SIFAZ)
Regional Conservation Agriculture Dialogue Meeting,
Lusaka, Zambia

2. 2
Overview of the SIFAZ project
What is the logic
behind the SIFAZ
project design?
What is the scope
of the SIFAZ
project?
2Scope of
Project
What are they
key challenges
SIFAZ intends to
address?
Challenges
address
1
What are the
objectives and
expected results
of the project?
Objectives &
results
3
How will the
SIFAZ project be
implemented?
Implementation
Arrangement 4

3. Weak
enabling
environment
Weak enabling
environment to
adequately incentivise
adoption of SIPs
• Mechanisation
• Gender inequality
• Weak input output
markets
• Limited financing
Factors contributing to low productivity of
smallholder farmers
Weak
research &
extension
linkage
Agricultural research
disjointed from farmer needs:
• Inadequate extension
advisory
• Outdated information and
material
• Underperforming farming
systems
• In adequate coordination
Poor
mechanisa
tion
Labour shortage
at critical
husbandry
practices:
• Land
preparation
• Weeding
• Harvesting
• Post-harvest
handling
Inadequate
farming
practices
and inputs
Agricultural
technologies often
promoted among
farmers without
taking into account:
• Prevailing agro-
ecology
• Farmers' socio-
economic and
cultural set-up

4. 4
SIFAZ Intervention Logic
SIFAZ will support three closely interlinked pillars
Enabling Policy Environment
• Strategic consultations and advocacy for SIP SIP
based farming systems approach
 Training and extension
 Input supply and marketing
 Financial and risk
management
• Development and advocacy for the enactment
of national Mechanisation and SIP strategies
Farming Systems Approach
• Novel extension methods focused on
SIPs
• Permanent dialogue (feed-back
mechanism) between Follower farmers
and project research centres and project
Lead Farmers
Adaptive Research and Development
On-station and on-farm adaptive research
to refine Sustainable Intensification
Practices and technologies

5. 5
SIFAZ Project Result
AreasExpected outcome of SIFAZ is to improve sustainable and climate
smart crop production and land management practices, with a
gender sensitive approach through three logically linked Outputs
Agronomic research
Mechanisation research
Socio-economic research
Synthesis & information
sharing
Sustainable
intensification practices
(SIPs) co-developed
with farmers and made
available for scaling up
1 SIP strategy
Agricultural Mechanization
Strategy
Enabling institutional and policy
environment for scaling and adoption of
SIPs by smallholder farmers established
3
Promotion & implementation of
SIPs
Capacity building
Agricultural services &
information
Farmers trained,
mentored and
capacitated to use SIPs,
better manage farmer
enterprises and engage
value chain actors
2

6. 6

7. 7
Farmer Organization under SIFAZ Output 2
Lead Farmers
Follower Farmers
Functional Cooperative
Extension and advisory services
Input and output SMEs
Financial & mechanization service providers
Farming systems and value chain
development approaches to promote
SIPs adoption among smallholder
farmers
• SIPs generated from research (output 1) and existing
SIPs promotion among farmers
• Agro-ecological specific SIPs recommended to
farmers
• PRA exercises to obtain farmer feed back on
experience from SIPs into research
• Linking farmer cooperatives to (i) SMEs for input
and output marketing (ii) mechanization (iii)
financial services
• Promotion of farming as business using farmer’s
own resources

8. 8

9. 9
Geographical Scope of the SIFAZ Project
The SIFAZ implementation will follow a transect approach following the
agro-ecologies on the country
Representative of three agro-
ecologies:
• Region 2a
• Region 2b
• Region 3
3 Agro-ecologies
Representative of all agro-
ecologies:
• Southern
• Western
• Copperbelt
• Eastern
• Northern
5 Provinces
A total of 27 districts
representing low, high
and medium production
potential areas
27 Districts
Cooperatives with farmers
organized into lead and
follower farmers minimum
150 per cooperative
104 Cooperatives
16,000
smallholder
farmers
01
02
03
05
04
06

10. 10
Key SIFAZ Implementing
Stakeholders
• Overall SIFAZ Coordination
• Administration and logistics
• Technical delivery of output
2 and 3
Food and
Agriculture
Organization (FAO)
• Technical delivery of
output 1
• Agronomy,
Socioeconomic and
Mechanization Research
CIMMYT
• Field Implementation of
activities
• Technical ownership
Ministry of
Agriculture
• Agricultural Financing (credit and
Insurance)
• Input Marketing
• Output Marketing
• Mechanization
Private Sector
• Primary beneficiaries
• Field Implementation of
activities
Smallholder farmers
& Cooperatives
• Resource partner and
financial support
European Union