Farming systems analysis—Ghana and Mali

Africa RISING West Africa Review and Planning Meeting, Bamako, Mali, 3-4 February 2014

Jeroen Groot (Wageningen University)

Introduction Entry points for sustainable intensification:• Farm components: crop and animal yield gaps• Farm yield gaps: configurations of components and inputs• Interactions with social-ecological and economic environment:

networks, markets, resources

Integrated farming systems analysis needed:• Context-specific• On-farm testing• Embedded in communities

Introduction Relations with farmer- and community-oriented, on-farm

and on-station research:• Basket of technologies: local research on crops, animals, etc.• Quantification of input-output relations• Engage in an inform stakeholder / community discussions

Methodology

Survey

Rapid characteriz.

Detailed description

Explorationinnovations

Functional typology

Structural typology

Systems(re)design

Extrapolation

Farm diagnoses

Tradeoff analysis

Farm innovations

Potentialimpact

Ghana• Northern, Upper West and Upper East

Mali• Bougouni and Koutiala with ICRISAT

Malawi• Dedza and Ntcheu with MSU

Tanzania• Babati and Kongwa & Kiketo

Where?

Villages in Koutiala and Bougouni districts Three different groupings in total

Farmer types grouped on basis of:• Livestock numbers: tropical livestock units, TLU• (Active) farm family members• Farm area, and fallow area for Bougouni

Mali typology

Mali typology (example Koutiala)

Falconnier 2013

TLU>21

yes

no

Type 1:Large, high TLU

Actives>9

yes

no

Type 2:Large, avg. TLU

Land>5.8Tools

>2TLU>2.2

yes

no

Type 3:Medium sized

Type 4:Small sized farms

3 regions (North, Upper West, Upper East) 25 intervention communities 80 HHs surveyed per region, grouping per region

Farmer types grouped on the basis of:• Resource endowment (land, livestock, assets)• Production orientation (subsistence, consumption, market)• Source of income (on-farm vs. off-farm)

Ghana typology

Ghana typology

Arable landLivestockHH sizeAssets

Wealthindicators

Type 1

Resourceendowment

Productionorientation

Source ofincome

Type 2

Type 3

Type 4

Type 5

LRE

MRE

HRE

Subsistence

Consumption > market

Consumption = market

Consumption < market

On-farm only

On-farm> off-farm

On-farm= off-farm

On-farm< off-farm

Mali Ghana

Farm area

Livestock (TLU)

Persons/area

Koutiala Boug 1 Boug 2 North Upper West Upper East

Koutiala Boug 1 Boug 2 North Upper West Upper East

Koutiala Boug 1 Boug 2 North Upper West Upper East

Income sources Ghana

Food insecurity Ghana

Example farm in model (Ghana)

Exploration of system alternatives

Green = reconfiguration of the original farm componentsOrange = after adding Maize + Soybean and Maize + Cowpea

Entry points at system level

Entry points at system level

Sustainable development

Source: www.thenaturalstep.org

Continue and underpin the evaluation of entry points

Compare findings between countries, incl. Tanzania and Malawi

Strengthen relations with farmer- and community-oriented, on-farm and station research

Plans for continuation of systems analysis with two PhD students

Discussion

Africa Research in Sustainable Intensification for the Next Generation

africa-rising.net

The presentation has a Creative Commons licence. You are free to re-use or distribute this work, provided credit is given to ILRI.

Thank you for your attentionjeroen.groot@wur.nl

Sustainable development

Source: www.thenaturalstep.org

Category 1 Category 2 Category 3 Category 40%

10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%

100%

Series 3Series 2Series 1

Acknowledge partners here:project partners WA

Acknowledge partners here: Project partners ESA

Acknowledge partners here: Project partners Ethiopia

Africa Research in Sustainable Intensification for the Next Generation

africa-rising.net

The presentation has a Creative Commons licence. You are free to re-use or distribute this work, provided credit is given to ILRI.

Thank You