Presentation by Sue Edwards (Institute for Sustainable Development, Ethiopia), at the 2012 Agriculture and Rural Development Day in Rio de Janiero, Learning Event No. 1, Session 4: Ecological Intensification – Key Success Factors of the Award Winning Tigray Project in the Ethiopian Highlands with Hans Herren (Co-Chair , IAASTD) – The Eco-functional Intensification Principles of Organic Conservation Agriculture (based on push and pull) in Africa and Andre Leu (President, IFOAM) – The intensification of ecological functions that increase the adaptation and mitigation potential of agriculture (based on Pasture Cropping in Australia and long term comparative research studies from around the globe)

1. #IFOAMRio
@IFOAMorganic
18 June 2012 | Agriculture & Rural Dvelopment Day | Rio de Janeiro | Brazil
Ecological and Social Intensification of
Agriculture for Food Security & Poverty
Eradication
FEATURING
• Vandana Shiva and the Navdanya Network (India)
• Sue Edwards and the Institute for Sustainable Development (Ethiopia)
• Andre Leu and the Organic Farmers of Australia
• Hans Herren and the Biovision Africa Trust (Kenya)
• Laercio Meirelles and Centro Ecológico (Brazil)

2. #IFOAMRio
Africa’s agricultural challenges @IFOAMorganic
Agriculture is diverse, with both Traditional Knowledge
and genetic resources under-valued and poorly
studied
Sparsely populated, e.g. DCR is the size of Europe
but has a population the same size as Belgium
Population is young, 75% under 30
Many Lost to ‘brain drain’
Infrastructure investment has focused on extraction
(minerals) and not on people centered development
Very poor R&D investment, particularly for agriculture
Current solutions promoted by agribusiness for an
African Green Revolution will not be sustainable

3. #IFOAMRio
@IFOAMorganic
AFRICA’S
AGRICULTURAL
SYSTEMS
Ethiopia classified
as Highland
Temperate Mixed

4. #IFOAMRio
@IFOAMorganic
Ethiopia – agroecological challenges
Where ISD
is working
D r y a n d/ or cold a r e a s w it h
low pr odu ct ion pot e n t ia l
Low soil su it a bilit y
Low a n d e r r a t ic r a in fa ll
St e e p slope s a n d m ou n t a in s
Se ve r e a n d ve r y se ve r e la n d
de gr a da t ion
Low t o m e diu m clim a t ic
pr odu ct ion pot e n t ia l
H igh clim a t ic pr odu ct ion
pot e n t ia l
Source: FAO

5. #IFOAMRio
@IFOAMorganic
Ecological Degradation in Ethiopia
Land degradation, particularly soil erosion, is a core
challenge for Sustainable Development in Africa

6. #IFOAMRio
@IFOAMorganic
Ecological Intensification
• For a Green Revolution to succeed, Africa and
Ethiopia need a BROWN REVOLUTION
• Soil built up and maintained through
establishing effective cycling of nutrients
• Returning living carbon – HUMUS – to soil
• Organic fertilizers:
– Compost (including bioslurry)
– Cover crops
– Agroforestry with multipurpose trees
• Restored soil gives doubled crop yields
IN 4 YEARS
• Improved local hydrology

7. #IFOAMRio
@IFOAMorganic
Ethiopia’s opportunities for change
• Over 14 million smallholder farmers
• 5,000 years of farmers’ knowledge and skills
• Agro-biodiversity wealth
– Vavilov Centre with over 190 crop species still
cultivated
– Great varietal diversity within crops
– Very low use of external inputs, e.g. chemical
fertilizer
– Farmers’ dislike / distrust of debt
• Governance in the hands of local communities

8. #IFOAMRio
@IFOAMorganic
Biodiversity Intensification
A few of Ethiopia’s sorghum varieties

9. #IFOAMRio
@IFOAMorganic
Origin of the Tigray Project
In mid-1990s, ISD asked by the Ethiopian
Government for an alternative to the Sasakawa
Global approach promoting increased use of
chemical fertilizer, but suitable for only about
10% of the country--classified as high
production potential areas
• ISD established in 1996 to implement the
Project “Sustainable Development and
Ecological Land Management with Farming
Communities in Tigray” = The Tigray Project

10. #IFOAMRio
@IFOAMorganic
Ecological & Social Intensification
Bylaws - communities restore local control
Biological and physical water & soil conservation, through
using multipurpose local trees, i.e. Sesbania and local
grasses
Managing grazing, stopping access to vulnerable land
(watersheds), so grass, herbs and trees can grow
Restoring soil fertility through compost, and helping farmers
avoid debt paid for chemical fertilizer
Mature compost Making Sesbania in flower
compost

11. #IFOAMRio
@IFOAMorganic
Ecological Intensification at Landscape
Level, started in 1996, pictured in 2003
Pond Rehabilitated
gullies Faba bean
Sesbania
trees and Composted fields
long grasses growing tef, wheat
and barley
Rehabilitated
biodiverse
hillside for bee
keeping

12. #IFOAMRio
@IFOAMorganic
The 4 Principles of Organic Agriculture
Applied
• Ecology – restores and maintains ecosystem
services (good soil, water availability, pollinators)
• Health – maintains and restores both natural
and agricultural biodiversity
• Fairness – Involves all social groups in the local
communities, women, men, disadvantaged
groups such as elderly couples, landless youth,
families challenged by HIV/AIDS, etc.
• Care – the communities take responsibility for
caring for their environment through bylaws

13. #IFOAMRio
@IFOAMorganic

14. #IFOAMRio
@IFOAMorganic
Yield of Faba Bean with
compost 2,500 kg/ha
Yield of Faba Bean without
compost 250kg/ha

15. #IFOAMRio
@IFOAMorganic
Grain yield of 5 staple crops from farmers (2000 to 2006)
Based on samples from 900 plots
4000
Check Compost Chemical fertilizer
3500
3000
2500
2000
1500
1000
500
0
Barley Durum wheat Maize Teff (n=741) Faba bean
(n=444) (n=546) (n=273) (n=141)
Crop (n=number of observations/fields sampled)

16. #IFOAMRio
@IFOAMorganic
Raised Yields from Ecointensification
through the use of organic fertilizer, particularly compost
Average crop yields doubled and
Percentage of grain (grain index) in
harvested crop increased
– Durum wheat: from 34% to 39%
– Maize: from 33% to 43%
– Sorghum: from 35% to 41%
– Teff: from 32% to 36%

17. #IFOAMRio
@IFOAMorganic
Water-holding and infiltration capacity
of soil increased
Crops survive dry gaps and stay green for 2
weeks longer than others at the end of rains
Water tables raised (farmers dig shallow hand
dug wells)
Springs reappear, streams persist and run for
longer through the year
Farmers grow 2 or more crops/year

18. High Yielding Resilient Organic #IFOAMRio
@IFOAMorganic
Agriculture
• Organic systems have higher yields than
conventional farming systems in weather
extremes such as heavy rains and droughts.
– (Drinkwater, Wagoner and Sarrantonio 1998; Welsh, 1999; Lotter 2004)
• The Wisconsin Integrated Cropping Systems
Trials found that organic yields were higher in
drought years and the same as conventional in
normal weather years.
– (Posner et al. 2008)
• The Rodale FST showed that the organic
systems produced 30 per cent more corn than
the conventional system in drought years.
– (Pimentel D 2005, La Salle and Hepperly 2008)

19. #IFOAMRio
Organic Matter Intensifies @IFOAMorgani
Water Infiltration
Organic
Picture: FiBL DOK Trials
Conventional

20. Soil Organic Carbon Intensifies Climate #IFOAMRio
@IFOAMorgani
Change Mitigation and Adaptation
• Higher corn and soybean
yields in drought years
• Increased soil C and N
• Higher water infiltration
• Higher water holding cap
• Higher microbial activity
• Increased stability

21. Soil Organic Matter #IFOAMRio
@IFOAMorgani
Living Carbon
• Holds up to 30X its
weight in water
• Cements soil particles
and reduces soil
erosion
• Increases nutrient
storage & availability
• Humus can last 2000
years in the soil
Electron micrograph of
soil humus

22. Ecointensification of #IFOAMRio
@IFOAMorganic
water retention
Research Shows that Organic Systems use Water More Efficiently
Volume of Water Retained /ha (to 30 cm) in relation to
soil organic matter (OM):
• 0.5% OM = 80,000 litres (common conventional level)
• 1 % OM = 160,000 litres (common conventional level)
• 2 % OM = 320,000 litres
• 3 % OM = 480,000 litres
• 4 % OM = 640,000 litres
• 5 % OM = 800,000 litres

23. Ecointensification of #IFOAMRio
@IFOAMorganic
water retention
Better infiltration, retention, and delivery to
plants helps avoid drought damage
Organic Conventional
Picture: Rodale Institute

24. #IFOAMRio
@IFOAMorganic
Livelihood benefits of ecological
intensification with compost
Soil and crops with increased resistance to wind
and water erosion
Farmers avoid debt from getting chemical fertilizer
on credit – now costing USD 80 per 100 kg
– Farmers making bioslurry compost can sell one
sack (approx. 100 kg for ETB 100 or USD 5.8
– Competent farmers make 35 to 100 sacks a year
Women say the food tastes better and their families’
hunger is satisfied more easily

25. #IFOAMRio
@IFOAMorganic
Impact of compost on crop health &
disease resistance
Wheat infested with stripe rust
and sprayed – gave yield of 1.6
t/ha
Wheat grown on composted
soil resisting the rust – gave
yield over 6.5 t/ha

26. #IFOAMRio
Planting with Space @IFOAMorganic
Another example of ecointensification
An adaptation of SRI, by growing in rows either from
transplanting seedlings or direct sowing, gives
Increased yields with easier and timely management
of weeds, pests and easier harvesting
e.g. Finger millet and tef, seed rate reduced by 90%
compared to broadcasting, hence more efficient use of seed
resources, and
Grain and straw yields doubled, i.e. for finger millet from 1.4
t/ha to 3 t/ha grain, and for tef from 1.2 t/ha to 2.5 t/ha or
more of grain
Because, root growth greatly increased giving many more
productive tillers (greater root mass = greater shoot
mass)

27. Participatory Planting with Space #IFOAMRio
@IFOAMorganic

28. #IFOAMRio
Ecological Intensification of @IFOAMorganic
Tillering Potential – Teff
Tiller production increased
At harvest impact of ecological
intensification on biomass

29. #IFOAMRio
Finger Millet & Sorghum yields @IFOAMorganic
from 3 farmers
Yield q/ha equivalent
50
45
40
35
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
Yehdegu Abay Giday G/Hair Laike Markos Giday G/Hair
Finger millet Sorghum 'Lequa'
Sorghum has 1200 seeds per head

30. #IFOAMRio
Rearranging the cropping system for @IFOAMorganic
pest and weed management

31. #IFOAMRio
Push-pull in action…. @IFOAMorganic

32. ECONOMICS OF INTEGRATING EDIBLE #IFOAMRio
@IFOAMorganic
BEANS IN THE ‘PUSH-PULL’ SYSTEM
(source Z Khan et al)
3.000
a
2.500
Maize monocrop
Maize + Desmodium
Maize + Desesmodium + bean same hole b
Currency (US$)-(1US$/65 KES) per ha.
Maize + Desmodium + bean different hole
2.000 Maize + bean c
d
1.500
a a
b
b
c
1.000 d b
b
e
a a
a
b c
500
b
0
Total labour costs Total variable costs Total gross revenue Net benefits
d
-500

33. #IFOAMRio
The way ahead is people-centred @IFOAMorganic

34. The Ecological way ahead is: #IFOAMRio
@IFOAMorganic
knowledge & people intensive
• Improve and
expand
extension
services (ICT)
• Introduce
capacity
building (ICT)
• Agriculture is
very localized
www.organicfarmermagazine.org
www.infonet-biovision.org
http://www.biovision.ch

35. #IFOAMRio
@IFOAMorganic
Social Intensification

36. #IFOAMRio
@IFOAMorganic
Farmers as ToTs
(training of trainers)
• All trainings involve >50% farmers
• Local experts as ‘advisors’
• Development agents for monitoring,
including recording yields
• Fully participatory evaluation
• Incentives for farmers
– Improved tools
– Involvement in training outside their own
areas

37. Intensification of Women’s
#IFOAMRio
@IFOAMorganic
Knowledge & Skills
• Intensification of use of herb and spices
• Medicinal plants
• Meat (chickens, goats, sheep)
• Processing milk for butter
• Marketing & entrepreneurism
• Biological control of pests
• Generation of cash based income for family
essentials (education, health, salt, sugar,
coffee and tea)

38. #IFOAMRio
@IFOAMorganic
Scaling up and out in Ethiopia
Making and using compost incorporated into the
MoA Extension for all crop growing areas, and to
Help combat climate change by applying compost to
40,000 million hectares of cultivated land by 2015
• National research institutes collaborating with
farmers on:
– Testing advanced lines of bread wheat in an compost-
based organic system to identify the organic HYVs
(as against costly NPK HYVs)
– Next steps?
• Participatory breeding in an organic system

39. Participatory
Guarantee Systems
Laércio Meirelles
Centro Ecológico - Rio Grande Do Sul.
laerciomeirelles@gmail.com
www.centroecologico.org.br

40. PGS definition
Participatory Guarantee Systems are
locally focused quality assurance systems.
They certify producers based on active
participation of stakeholders and are built
on a foundation of trust, social networks
and knowledge exchange
http://www.ifoam.org/about_ifoam/standards/pgs.html

41. Some PGS characteristics
• Like the conventional certification programs,
provide a credible guarantee for consumers. The
difference is in the approach.
• The participation of farmers and consumers (if
it’s possible) in the certification process is
required.
• The active participation of the stakeholders
result in greater empowerment, but also a bigger
responsibility .

42. Some PGS consequences… good
ones!!!
• To allow access to the organic market;
• Less burocracy
• Facilitate the development of local markets
• It is a work that promotes social organization;
• Favors the building of Knowledge Networks
• Strengthening relations between producers and
consumers

43. And… it’s going on!!!
FRANCIA
INDIA

44. Latin-American PGS Forum

45. #IFOAMRio
@IFOAMorganic
Influencing national Ethiopia policy on research
Wheat grown on Wheat grown with
compost treated chemical fertilizers
field and requiring
spraying with
fungicide

46. #IFOAMRio
AU Framework Policies for @IFOAMorganic
Scaling-Up Organic Agriculture
African Union, Decision on organic farming in January 2011
(EX.CL/Dec.621 (XVIII) / Doc. EX.CL/631 (XVIII)) requests the
Commission and its New Partnership for Africa’s Development
(NEPAD) Planning and Coordinating Agency (NPCA) to:
Initiate and provide guidance for an African Union (AU)-led
coalition of international partners on the establishment of an
African organic farming platform based on available best
practices; and
Provide guidance in support of the development of sustainable
organic farming systems and improve seed quality;

47. #IFOAMRio
@IFOAMorganic
Key Messages
1. Africa CAN feed itself and provide food for people
in other parts of the world
2. Invest in Ecological and social intensification of all
traditional agriculture systems for healthy and
sustainable food for all
3. Mainstream globally Farmers’ Rights to save and
use their own seed, as in Ethiopia
4. Build capacity for fully participatory research
and development with farmers to support
comprehensive ecological organic agriculture
systems

48. THANK
YOU
TO ALL OUR FARMERS
Sue Edwards, with Tewolde Berhan Gebre
Egzibher Dereje Gebremichael, Hailu Araya,
and Arefayne Asmelash
Institute for Sustainable Development,
Ethiopia
sustaindeveth@ethionet.et /
sustainet@yahoo.co.uk