HIGH VALUE CROPS RESEARCH, A PERSPECTIVE FROM AFRICA

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HIGH VALUE CROPS RESEARCH, A PERSPECTIVE FROM
AFRICA

• Dr. Peter SSERUWAGI
• National Crops Resources Research Institute
  (NaCRRI)
• P. O. Box 7084, Kampala, Uganda
• Dr. Dennis KYETERE
• National Agricultural Research Organisation
  (NARO)
• P. O. Box 295, Entebbe, Uganda

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Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa (FARA)

• FARA - facilitating and information exchange
  forum among the sub-regional organizations (SROs)
  and as an apex body to represent Sub-Saharan
  Africa (SSA).
• The manner in which FARA adds value to the SROs
  is set out in the Framework for African
  Agricultural Productivity (FAAP). These
  interrelationships are depicted in Figure 1.

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FARA 2007 - 2016 Strategic PlanEnhancing African
Agricultural Innovation Capacity

• The Plan leads to FARAs Super Objective, which
  is to contribute to the sustainable reduction of
  food insecurity and poverty in Africa while
  enhancing the environment.
• The General Objective to which it will contribute
  is to establish sustainable high broad-based
  agricultural growth in Africa.
• It will do this by achieving its Specific
  Objective of sustainable improvements to
  broad-based agricultural productivity,
  competitiveness and markets.

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FARAs Net working Support Functions

• FARAs general and specific objectives are
  achieved through 5 networking support functions
• The support functions include
• i) advocacy and resource mobilisation
• ii) access to knowledge and technologies
• iii) regional policies and markets
• iv) capacity strengthening
• v) partnership and strategic alliances
• The needs and requirements of Africas farmers
  are at the centre of all FARAs work.

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Figure 2. Inter-relationship of networking
support functions and stakeholders
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ASARECAs priorities

• ASARECA has undertaken extensive, thorough and
  participatory priority setting and has concluded
  that the most important objectives and advantages
  for collaborative regional research programmes
  are
• 1. To address common constraints that cut across
  several countries
• 2. To enhance complementarity and reduce
  duplication
• 3. To increase the efficiency of agricultural
  research through the optimum use of human,
  financial and other research resources
• 4. To facilitate the spill over and transfer of
  technology among cooperating countries

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ASARECA priorities

• Commodities accorded priority by ASARECA are
  congruent with the priorities of member countries
  (11) and the mandates of the IARCs operating in
  its sub region.
• ASARECA Strategic Plan 2005-2015 identified
  commodity priorities as follows
• 1. Staples maize, sorghum, cassava
• 2. Livestock products
• 3. Fruits and vegetables
• 4. Oilseeds

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ASARECA priorities

• Recommendations from the priority setting
  exercise relevant to the SSA CP were that
• ASARECA stimulates the NARSs to give higher
  priority to
• a) post-production issues, b) private sector
  involvement, c)
• natural resource management and d) technology
  transfer
• 2. Developing technology options that have high
  potential
• payoff in a wide range of agro-ecological
  systems, including
• arid and semi-arid lands, irrigated agriculture
  and peri-urban farming.
• 3. Production must be profitable for farmers to
  be interested in how new
• technology can be applied.
• 4. Through the NARSs, ASARECA could be the
  regional meeting point for
• extension services, farmer organisations,
  co-operative movements, private
• research, agribusiness services and NGOs

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ASARECA priorities

• ASARECA should strive to develop and foster links
  between agricultural research institutions and
  the technology transfer institutions such as
  public sector extension departments, private
  sector, farmer organisations, co-operative
  societies and NGOs.

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Figure 3. Priority research for development
themes identified by the CGIAR Centres and ASARECA
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ASARECAs themes

• Eight specific themes for programmes have been
  agreed between the CGIAR centres and ASARECA
  (Figure 3).
• 1. Adaptation to climate change
• 2. Support to policy reform
• 3. Agriculture, health and nutrition
• 4. Management of agrobiodiversity
• 5. Integrated Natural Resource Management (INRM)
• 6. Analysis of problems, priorities and impacts
• 7. Market chains
• 8. Improving learning mechanisms, capacities and
  spread of knowledge,
• ASARECA expects the SSA CP to contribute to these
  themes.

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CORAF/WECARDs Priorities

• In common with the other SROs and the priorities
  of the SSA CP, CORAF/ WECARD recognises that
• Sustainable natural resource management is the
  most critical factor in agricultural food
  production in West and Central Africa.
• The relationships between soil, water, genetic
  resources and human communities are therefore the
  central issues.
• This challenge is heightened by the fragile
  nature of the ecosystems, characteristic of much
  of West and Central Africa.
• CORAF/WECARD is looking to science to boost
  agricultural factors of production and enable the
  people of the region to meet the challenge of
  intensifying agriculture in a sustainable manner.

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CORAF/WECARDs Priorities

• The approach to be adopted by the SSA CP, CORAF/
  WECARD believes
• a. That future research should focus on an
  holistic approach to integrated natural resource
  management.
• b. Must involve all sections of stakeholders
• c. Examine competitiveness of the agriculture of
  the sub-region.
• d. It should focus on reducing poverty, and
  increasing food and income security.
• e. Should address the following four themes
  production markets policy issues and capacity
  development and retention.

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CORAF/WECARDs Priorities

• Research is needed to improved key productivity
  constraints and opportunities that include
• 1. Lack of improved germplasm
• 2. Low efficiency of input use
• 3. Low labour productivity
• 4. Little market orientation
• 5. Weak productivity of the farming system
• 6. Poor integration of the production systems
• 7. Land tenure constraints
• 8. Weak access to credit.

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CORAF/WECARDs Priorities

• Research is particularly needed to improve
  national, regional and international level input
  and output markets. The constraints include
• 1. Poor access, including infrastructural issues
  and limited competition
• 2. Quality of products prejudiced by poor
  harvest, produce processing, conservation and
  conditioning technologies and procedures
• 3. Poor market information
• 4. Poorly organised producer organisations

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CORAF/WECARDs Priorities

• Research to address policy issues and produce
  options to guide the formulation of appropriate
  policies that will provide economic incentives
  bro producers to improve
• technology adoption, and increase output and
  productivity.
• Capacity building is required to develop the
  ability to analyse policy and make informed
  policy decisions on
• 1. Facilitating/guaranteeing access to inputs,
  subsidies, decentralisation and liberalisation
• 2. Strengthening research and extension links and
  partnerships with farmers and extension agents
• 3. Systematising market control/information
  supported by training in international markets
  and policies that promote access to regional and
  international markets
• 4. Promoting and institutionally strengthening
  producer organisations and facilitating
  stakeholder involvement

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CORAF/WECARDs Priorities

• 5. Promoting agro-industries
• 6. Facilitating access to credit
• 7. Providing land tenure security
• 8. Addressing quality control issues.

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SADC/FANRs Priorities

• The SSA CP is also consistent with SADC/FANRs
  recognition that increased food insecurity and
  poverty, in many parts of Africa, relate directly
  to the declining productivity of the soils.
• SADC/FANR note that research that seeks to
  recapture the ability of the soil to remain in
  sustainable production -such as conservation
  farming, represents an opportunity for dealing
  with recurrent food insecurity situations in
  sub-Saharan Africa.
• Development and promotion of conservation farming
  is now a priority, which needs financial, human,
  and material support to make further progress on
  improving livelihoods.

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SADC/FANRs priorities

• The objectives of SADC/FANRs regional component
  of land management and conservation farming
  are to develop strategies to develop, test and
  disseminate conservation farming practices.
• The programme activities will focus on
• 1. Development of technological options
• 2. Farmer-centred research action approaches
• 3. Local institutional capacity building
• 4. Involvement of the private sector.
• Taking into account local climatic and
  socio-economic circumstances and prevailing
  cropping systems, a range of conservation farming
  options is slated to be tested using
  participatory technology development approaches.
• These options are essentially based on minimum or
  no soil disturbance,
• maintenance of soil cover and crop rotations.
• SADC/FANR state that emphasis will be placed on
  understanding the basic principles of
  conservation farming practices.

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SADC/FANRs priorities

• Farmers will be encouraged to experiment,
  integrating external and local knowledge, and to
  direct their own learning experiences.
• The SSA CPs focus on participatory methods is
  echoed in SADC/FANRs objective of strengthening
  farmer group organisations to facilitate mutual
  learning and the sharing of information/experience
  s.
• Farmer groups are expected to be more competitive
  in the local and regional markets than individual
  farmers.
• Support to farmer groups will take into account
  and build on existing groupings, locally existing
  civic and traditional leadership and social modes
  of interaction.
• Deliberate private sector interest and
  participation is desired, especially in fields
  such as marketing, farm inputs/outputs, credit
  support and mutually rewarding strategies.
• SADC/FANR believes that the SSA CP will provide
  opportunities to
• Continue the process of technology development -
  finding practical solutions for direct planting,
  soil fertility management and weed control.
• Allow the promotion, on a more massive scale, of
  the technologies that have been proven at
  individual farm level.

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• Thank you for listening