Presented by Irmgard Hoeschle-Zeledon (IITA) and Peter Thorne (ILRI) at the Africa RISING–SIMLESA Joint Learning Event, Arusha, Tanzania, 13–15 March 2018

1. An introduction to Africa RISING
Irmgard Hoeschle-Zeledon (IITA) and Peter Thorne (ILRI)
Africa RISING – SIMLESA Joint Learning Event
Arusha, Tanzania, 13–15 March 2018

2. Program Purpose
To provide pathways out of hunger and poverty for
smallholder families through sustainably intensified
farming systems that sufficiently improve food,
nutrition, and income security, particularly for
women and children, and conserve or enhance the
natural resource base.

3. Africa Research In Sustainable Intensification for
the Next Generation (Africa RISING)
One Program - four Projects
1) Mixed Cereal-Legume-Livestock systems in
West Africa (Ghana and Mali), led by IITA
2) Mixed Cereal-Legume-Livestock systems in
East/Southern Africa (Tanzania, Malawi,
Zambia), led by IITA
3) Crop-Livestock systems in the Ethiopian
Highlands, led by ILRI
4) M&E and data management, led by IFPRI
>100 partner institutions; >250 individuals

4. Program Organogram

5. • Increased productivity per unit land, labor, capital
• Considers whole-farm, household and landscape issues
• Efficient, prudent use of inputs
• Conserves or enhances natural resources
SI of a Livelihood System
• Increases resilience &
reduces risk

6. Research in Development
• Demand-driven, based on long-term engagement of research
and development partners and USAID mission priorities
• Geographical focus aligned with the agenda of the
development partners
• Backstopping research priorities driven significantly by
development partners
• Output and outcome targets entirely aligned between
research and development partners

7. R in D Approach
• Systematic site selection within the target geographies:
market access, population densities, agro-ecologies
• Diagnostic analyses: identification of constraints,
opportunities and interventions at household, community
and landscape scales
• Participatory action research to adapt and validate SI
trajectories
• Facilitating dissemination and scaling

8. Research to Impact Pathways

9. Theory of Change
• Research generates, adapts and validates SI innovations
appropriate to the contexts in which they operate
• Applying selected SI innovations, rural households make
more efficient use of available resources
• Increased efficiency  increased productivity without
compromising the needs of future generations
• Increased productivity increases options for households to
realize a range of livelihood benefits (income, nutrition,
human capacity)

10. 1. Livestock and feed and forage management
2. Improved crop varieties x management practices
3. Horticulture – fruits and vegetables
4. Natural resource management
5. Synergies, trade-offs and systems integration
Cross-cutting themes – nutrition, markets and value chains,
gender equity, human and institutional capacity development
Thematic Areas

11. SI Assessment Framework – Malawi Example
- Developed by int’l scientific
community, including CGIAR &
FTF ILs
- Tool for considering multiple
development domains
- Helpful in developing
hypotheses & assessing
tradeoffs and synergies
- Published standardized
methods and user manual
- Developing web-based tool

12. Three Scaling Approaches
• Emphasis on development partnerships driven by co-investment
• Africa RISING – validates “technologies” and supporting research
evidence; instructional materials, training of trainers
• Development partners – finance implementation, person-power for
implementation
• 1. Scaling through frontline public and NGO delivery systems. e.g.
Ethiopia - feed and forages via woreda and zonal administrations.
• 2. Scaling through USAID mission-supported large development
initiatives. e.g. Tanzania – partnership between Africa RISING and the
Tanzania Staples Value Chain Activity.
• 3. Scaling through public-private partnerships. e.g. Ethiopia - expansion
of malt barley production with Raya Brewery

13. Vision of Success / Targets

14. Systems Research
under Africa RISING

15. Simple structures for success - Ethiopia
Interventions with low activation energy can completely transform the
enabling environment and potential for SI

16. Plot-scale Systems Research - Ethiopia
System
Feed Yield
(t ha-1)
Grain Yield
(t ha-1)
Net Return
(ETB ha-1)
5.6 3.3 35,032
2.6 3.6 36,756
7.4 3.4 41,869
Traditional
“Improved”
Redesigned

17. Annuals - for food
Perennials – biomass for soil
fertility & fuelwood
e.g. Bean or
Soybean
e.g. Gliricidia
or Tephrosia
Doubled up legume: GRAIN for food & income,
BIOMASS for fodder, fuelwood & fertility for the soil
Pigeon pea-groundnut intercrop

18. Improved Farming Practices to Change Lives

19. Maize-legume strip cropping
Maize strip-cropped with soybean and groundnut improved grain
yields, soil moisture and vegetation cover, and reduced fall army
worm damage and labor for weeding, Nadowli District Ghana

20. Food Safety First
Outcomes can look very different depending on the system, e.g.,
- food security (household system);
- aflatoxin reduction -> improvement of human capital/wellbeing
(livelihood system)

21. Integrated landscape management with
embedded farm and community level research
• Natural resource
management
• Improved crop
varieties and
agronomy
• Improved
livestock and
feed and fodder
management
• High value
horticulture
production

22. Issues for the Future
• Partnerships and dilution of resources
• M and E – quantitative vs qualitative vs mixed
• Data management
• Workable approach to systematic targeting (typologies
were difficult to implement)
• Definition of reach and adoption?

23. Africa Research in Sustainable Intensification for the Next Generation
africa-rising.net
This presentation is licensed for use under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Licence.