This document summarizes two assessments conducted by Africa RISING on sustainable intensification and return on investment from 2011-2020. It finds that: 1) The total value of direct benefits to farmers was $74.6 million, while the total project cost was $15.9 million, resulting in a return on investment of 469%. 2) An assessment of progress towards sustainable intensification analyzed households by total production per hectare and compared indicators across five domains. It found that more intensified households showed improved scores in agricultural production, economics, environment, human welfare, and social indicators. 3) A focus on assessments at the woreda (district) level provided insights into differences between communities and guidance for

1. Two Assessments of Africa RISING:
Sustainable Intensification and Return
on Investment
Jim Hammond, ILRI
Africa RISING Progress Update and
Planning workshop with CGIAR partners
18-19 November 2021

2. Return on Investment: 2011-2020
0
20
40
60
80
COST BENEFIT
Million
$
Project Cost vs Direct
Benefits to Farmers
$42 cost
per
household
$197
benefit
per
household
• The total value of direct
benefits to farmers was
$74.6M.
• The total project cost was
$15.9M.
• The return on investment
was 469%.

3. RoI: How calculated?
Technology Direct benefit to
Baseline
income $
Avg. %
increase
$ benefit
per farm
No. farms
using
Benefit
value $
Oat-Vetch forage
Improved milk
production 342 50 171 138 23,598
Desho Grass
Improved milk
production 342 40 137 205 28,085
Tree Lucerne
Improved milk
production 342 50 171 459 78,489
Sheep Fattening Sheep sale price 966 15 145 55 7,975
Bread Wheat Yield increase 807 40 323 1,170 377,910
Faba Bean Yield increase 115 30 34.5 180 6,210

4. RoI: Further Points
Direct
Benefits
Indirect
Benefits
Enabling
Outcomes
Project legacy beyond 2020
0
5
10
15
20
25
2011
2012
2013
2014
2015
2016
2017
2018
2019
2020
Million
$
Project direct benefit per year
Scaling activities began

5. Assessment of progress towards
Sustainable Intensification
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agsy.2021.103266

6. SI Assessment:
Indicators and
Domains

7. SI Assessment: Trends
Five Domains of SI:
- Agricultural Production
- Economics
- Environment
- Human welfare
- Social/society
We split households by total
production per ha to get an
indication of intensification,
then we compared all the
other indicators per
intensification tercile.
Overall findings were that SI
was associated with
improved scores in other
domains.

8. SI Assessment: Woreda
Focus

9. 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.
Thank You