Soil management support for smallholder farmers in West Africa’s Desert Margins

Sustainable Soil Management, Improved Market Access and Village Agro-Dealers Seen as Key to Improving Food Security in Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger

OUAGADOUGOU, BURKINA FASO (1 December 2009) – Farmers across the dry lands of West Africa have long struggled with a harsh climate and depleted soils. Now, a US$8.9 million program funded by the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA), and implemented the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) and national partners will enable 300,000 farm households to tackle those challenges.

Through the program, farmers will use targeted, minute amounts of fertilizers to increase crop productivity, combined with strengthened farmer organizations, and improved access to credit and to agro-dealer shops. The program aims to sustainably boost farmers’ grain yield by 50% and their income by 30%.

“Dry lands need not be barren lands,” said Dr Namanga Ngongi, President of AGRA. “We have seen farmers pilot the use microdosing to nourish their crops and grow their incomes. Our new partnership will scale-up these efforts, to reach hundreds of thousands of farmers.”

The project builds on results from several years of research done by the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) and National Agricultural Research Systems (NARS) on the use of reduced amounts of fertilizer on crops such as millet, sorghum, and cowpea -- food staples grown by many low-income farmers in West Africa.

Microdosing applies small amounts of fertilizer with the seed rather than spreading it over an entire field. It is affordable and gives plants a quick start by boosting their root growth, which enables the plant to capture the small amounts of water that fall in West Africa’s dry lands.

“Microdosing and other holistic soil management techniques were developed through asking new questions,” said Dr André Batiano, AGRA’s West Africa Director, and a soil scientist who pioneered development of the technique over many years. “Instead of asking ‘How much fertilizer does the farmer need to maximize yield?’ we asked, ‘How and when can the small affordable quantity of fertilizer be used more effectively?’ This difference reflects AGRA’s approach to a uniquely African Green Revolution.”

“Our new partnership provides a prime example of the huge payoffs that are possible from long-term research investments,” Dr. Farid Waliyar, Director of ICRISAT in West and Central Africa. “It will enable the region to build up its food supply, and better cope with intensified drought brought on by climate change,”

AGRA, ICRISAT and the National Agricultural Research Systems of Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger launched the Program. Pr.Joseph PARE, the Minister of Education and Scientific Research of Burkina Faso, welcomed dozens of officials, researchers and representatives of extension services and NGOs from the three countries to an implementation workshop. Participants reviewed the activities carried out during the 2009 cropping season in farmers’ fields. They heard that some farmers experienced productivity gains of up to 130 percent through the combined use of microdosing and other sustainable soil management techniques such as crop rotation using nitrogen-fixing legumes.

To make sure farmers that grow more food also make more money, the program will work to link farmers to markets. It will support the formation of farmers’ credit groups, also known as “warrantage.” The system enables farmers to pool and store their harvests and borrow low-interest loans against this combined collateral. The farmers can then use the loans to invest in their farms or in other income-generating activity. When prices rise, they can sell their produce, pay off their loans and earn a healthy profit.

Other aspects of the program include supporting the extension of micro-credit to village agro-dealers who can stock their shelves with small packets of fertilizers and improved seeds needed by farmers.

“To sustainably increase farmers’ yields and incomes we need comprehensive changes across the agricultural system,” said Dr Bashir Jama, Director of AGRA’s Soil Health Program. “The program we are launching today is aimed at promoting an environmentally sustainable, pro-poor Green Revolution across the dry lands of Africa.”

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About the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA)
AGRA is a dynamic partnership working across the African continent to help millions of small-scale farmers and their families lift themselves out of poverty and hunger. AGRA programmes develop practical solutions to significantly boost farm productivity and incomes for the poor while safeguarding the environment. AGRA advocates for policies that support its work across all key aspects of the African agricultural value chain ­from seeds, soil health and water to markets and agricultural education.

AGRA's Board of Directors is chaired by Kofi A Annan, former Secretary-General of the United Nations. Dr Namanga Ngongi, former Deputy Executive Director of the World Food Programme, is AGRA's president. With support from The Rockefeller Foundation, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the UK's Department for International Development and other donors, AGRA works across sub-Saharan Africa and maintains offices in Nairobi, Kenya, and Accra, Ghana.