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Introduction
The number of people falling below the poverty is still increasing,
especially in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) rendering most of them food
insecure. Besides aspects such as the partly negative impacts of
increasing globalisation, the need for a technology revolution,
the changing role of the state and importance of good governance,
the need for reforming of agricultural input and output markets,
and processes of population increase and urbanisation, the continued
degradation of the natural resource base and soil fertility specifically
is observed as being a major problem to achieve the necessary productivity
increases in the future. In a EU-funded research project a research
consortium of European and African research and development organisation
try to address the problem of declining soil fertility in the East
African Highlands of Ethiopia, Kenya and Uganda. The LEI coordinated
project will be implemented in the period 2002 - 2005.
Aims
The project aims to make a measurable contribution to sustainable
improvement in the livelihoods of smallholder farm families in East
Africa by focusing on three representative intensive farming systems
facing serious decline in soil fertility and crop productivity in
Kenya, Uganda and Ethiopia through the development appropriate technologies
and formulate facilitating policy with participation of all stakeholders
involved.
The objectives:
- To develop an institutional sustainable approach of identifying,
testing, monitoring and evaluation technologies addressing soil
nutrient management constraints using principles of the Farmers
Field School approach
- To develop and test a quick and efficient participative tool
to diagnose productivity and sustainability of farming systems
in East Africa focussing on soil nutrient management and combining
quantitative and participative approaches
- To generate appropriate and effective technologies to address
problems of soil nutrient depletion aimed at a long-term increase
of productivity and profitability of farming systems in East Africa.
- To develop a participative policy formulation process involving
researchers, extensionsists and district policy makers aiming
at formulating appropriate policy recommendations and instruments
to address soil nutrient depletion leading to a sustainable increase
in productivity of farming systems in East Africa.
Farmers Field Schools
The Farmers Field School (FFS) concept is the institutional framework
in which the project activities will be implemented. Based upon
experiences of this concept in Integrated Pest Management (IPM)
in Asia and Africa and some limited experiences in Integrated Nutrient
Management (INM), this approach will be developed for the specific
circumstances in East Africa. Based on the experiences stakeholders
will be engaged in discussing institutionalisation the FFS approach
in the existing research and development system. A start for wider
implementation will be made through training local trainers in FFS
methodology to facilitate more the establishment of more FFS's in
and outside the research sites.
Diagnosis
A systematic appraisal will be made of the current constraints and
opportunities in farmers' soil fertility management, recognising
the value of existing knowledge and experience and acknowledging
the possibilities and limitations of local circumstances. Specifically
the historical trends and developments in soil fertility management
will be taken into account. For this activity an adapted version
of the NUTMON approach will be used (see www.nutmon.org). A set
of key indicators will be developed describing the complex and multidisciplinary
issue of soil fertility management. These indicators will be used
to assess the sustainability of the current management practices,
as well as evaluating the alternative INM technology options.
Technologies
The FFS's will identify INM technology options addressing the major
constraints observed. Thereafter experimentations are designed and
implemented in line with the developed INM approach. Central elements
will be the discussion of local knowledge, visualisation of soil
nutrient flows, observation and monitoring, assessment of agronomic
and economic performance, evaluation using the indicators identified.
Each season the results of the experimentation activities will be
discussed at the FFS platform level. Conclusions will be drawn concerning
the outcome of activities, effectiveness of the methodology and
the developed tools and techniques. The evaluation will lead to
possible modification in the approach as well as the INM techniques
to be tested.
Policies
Realising that the social and economic environment plays an important
role in determining farm management practices, an inventory is made
of policies that influence soil fertility management practices.
In this project relevant and interested district policy makers will
participate in all critical project activities. After identification
of the most relevant offices and policy makers, regular workshops
will be organised to plan and evaluate project activities, formulate
specific and targeted policies to facilitate implementation of INM
techniques which have proven to have a high potential addressing
soil fertility constraints in the district.
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