Lessons Learned

The use of digital media in collection and disseminating information on various farming technologies and interventions has improved accessibility of information and feedback. It involves the collection and transmission of digitized content through the internet or computer networks and offline mobile applications (app). This includes text, audio, video, and graphics. The Agriv1(agriculture extension application) and Ulimi ndi Nyengo (web-based platform that transmits agriculture advisory services) were rolled out to perform stated actions. The agriculture extension applications and one of the social media platforms, Facebook were used in the dissemination of information through digital media. This form of technology through which information was shared provided end users or project beneficiaries’ easy access to vital information on interventions being implemented by the project.

In this video, documents the backstopping visit to Habu Community (Botswana) conducted by CCARDESA in early December 2022

This booklet is a compilation of APPSA stories published in the CCARDESA website from 2019 to 2022.

Duplication of efforts in research and development (R&D) work in the region costs millions of dollars every year. This is attributed to lack of coordination, limited research communication among R&D institutions and the beneficiaries. Knowledge exchange on developments in technologies, innovations, and management practices in agriculture need to be effectively disseminated if gains in research investments are to be realised.

In the Southern Africa region where agricultural productivity is far below potential, a key strategy to facilitate improved agricultural productivity is to increase investments in agricultural research and development (R&D) to levels required to sustain viable agricultural R&D programmes that address current and future priorities.  Given that groups of countries within the region share similar agro-ecological zones and farming systems, there is potential for finding shared solutions to common problems. Although technology spillover is already occurring within the sub-region, significant potential remains for expanding spillovers.

This book documents a decade of research, methodological innovation, and lessons learned in an eco-regional research-for-development program operating in the eastern African highlands, the African Highlands Initiative (AHI). It does this through reflections of the protagonists themselves—AHI site teams and partners applying action research to develop innovation as a means to enhance the impact of their research. This book summarizes the experiences of farmers, research and development workers, policy and decision-makers who have interacted within an innovation system with the common goal of implementing an integrated approach to natural resource management (NRM) in the humid highlands. This book demonstrates the crucial importance of “approach” in shaping the outcomes of research and development and distils lessons learned on what works, where and why. It is enriched with examples and case studies from five benchmark sites in Ethiopia, Uganda, Kenya, and Tanzania, whose variability provides the reader with an in-depth knowledge of the complexities of integrated NRM in agro-ecosystems that play an important role in the rural economy of the region. It is shown that the struggle to achieve sustainable agricultural development in challenging environments is a complex one, and can only be effectively achieved through combined efforts and commitment of individuals and institutions with complementary roles.
 

Fleming Chookole, 49, of Mwiinga village in Chinkankata district in Zambia has returned to farming after abandoning it for blacksmithing for several years. Today, he is a lead farmer and inspirational Conservation Farming Unit (CFU) farmer among villagers- thanks to the Agricultural Productivity Programme for Southern Africa (APPSA) which introduced the crop and soil improvement programme to Fleming and his community.

Agriculture remains the economic backbone of most developing countries in terms of gross domestic product, employment and rural livelihoods. This is especially true of many Sub-Saharan African countries where agriculture accounts for more than 50% of GDP output and employs around 70% of the population.

Access to and the provision of demand-driven financial services is key if agriculture is to grow and is to play a central and decisive role in reducing poverty and hunger and generating much needed jobs in rural areas. At the same time, it is also one of the main constraints holding back the development and professionalization of agriculture and the food sector. Access to financial services remains one of the key challenges for rural areas in general and for agriculture in particular.

Financing agriculture, or more broadly speaking providing access to and offering financial services for agriculture, is complex and requires not only a deep understanding of agriculture, but also of financial institutions.

In many parts of southern Africa, agricultural production is stagnant or even in decline, particularly in subsistence and smallholder agriculture. The reasons are many and debatable, but include lack of suitable inputs for production, environmental constraints and degradation, inadequate agricultural infrastructure, external shocks including volatile markets, and social stresses such as the impacts of HIV/AIDS and growing poverty. As an additional stressor, increasing climate variability and climate change are impacting on agricultural livelihoods since resource-poor farmers are unable to cope with multiple stressors or adapt to climate-related risks. The Kingdom of Lesotho is a typical example of a country considered highly vulnerable to climate-related challenges: as one of the least developed countries (LDCs), it is over-reliant on rainfed agriculture for food production and has a large poor rural population engaged in subsistence farming, which is relatively undiversified.

We began the year with the creation and announcement of a new strategic plan to take us forward through 2021 (page 2). This new plan sets goals for us both internally and externally to help us succeed as we carry out our mission to help smallholder farmers succeed.