Farming reboot could lay seeds for prosperity in poor and food insecure regions

Date:
October 27, 2021
Source:
Australian National University
Summary:
An irrigation re-think in sub-Saharan Africa is improving food
security, reducing water waste and lifting people out of poverty.



FULL STORY ========================================================================== Agriculture experts from The Australian National University (ANU) have
teamed up with government bodies and NGOs in sub-Saharan Africa to
improve irrigation schemes and boost crop production.


==========================================================================
The researchers' work is improving food security, reducing water waste
and lifting people out of poverty.

"This simple reboot of irrigation schemes made up of small farms
could help stamp out poverty in farming communities around the world," Professor Jamie Pittock, from the ANU Fenner School of Environment and
Society, said.

The 'transforming irrigation in southern Africa' project is empowering
farmers by giving them the knowledge and tools needed to consistently
grow high- yielding and profitable crops while minimising water usage. The research is published in Nature Food.

"Hundreds of millions of dollars have been invested in infrastructure
to support irrigation systems and grow crops that return a profit,
but unfortunately crop yields in Africa are very low and often not much
better than the dry land farms around them," Professor Pittock said.

"Africa has one of the largest populations living in rural areas that
depend on agriculture for their livelihoods but sadly irrigation schemes
have traditionally been somewhat of a failed sector across the continent.



==========================================================================
"Our interventions have been directed at rebooting these failed irrigation schemes so that they do produce food reliably, they are profitable, and
they bring people out of poverty." This system reboot involves providing farmers with simple-to-use tools - - developed by CSIRO -- to help them
measure whether the soil in their fields is wet enough and has sufficient nutrients to grow a high-yielding crop. This empowers the farmers to
make their own decisions rather than relying on government help.

This new intervention has proven to be more successful than past
government-led methods used to grow crops in which farmers were advised to apply specific amounts of fertiliser to grow crops such as maze or corn.

"What we found was governments weren't helping farmers do a simple cost
and profit loss assessment of the crops they were growing, so we have
provided the farmers with basic field books to help them calculate what
it'll cost to grow a crop and the necessary labour required and figure
out how much income they'll get from growing that crop," Professor
Pittock said.

Professor Pittock says these simple but effective interventions have
proven "revolutionary" because farmers are minimising their water usage.



========================================================================== "Prior to this they were putting too much water on their fields and
actually drowning their crops. Knowing how much water they need to grow
their crops means the farmers are conserving water and saving up to two
days of labour a week, which can instead be spent on other livelihood activities," he said.

"There is also more water available to support other farmers and the
rivers.

"Because the farmers are no longer clashing over water, they're starting
to work together to share resources and help one another maximise food production in the region. In the process, we're seeing farmers employ
those in their community resulting in a much-needed boost to the economy." While this intervention has been "extremely successful" in helping farmers
grow food, Professor Pittock says producing high-yielding crops means
nothing if farmers are flooding the market with product and driving down
the price of that food so much so that it's not very profitable for them
to grow it.

To address this issue, the ANU researchers facilitated conversations
between the farmers and buyers to give them insight into the market and
inform their farming decisions.

"When the farmers start to have that dialogue with the buyers, they can
then work together to negotiate a planting schedule so they're continually producing crops that are in demand," Professor Pittock said.

"Once the farmers know what quality of product the buyers want and expect,
all of a sudden they're getting much higher prices for their product.

"We've also introduced the farmers to seed and fertiliser suppliers and
since they're now cooperating with one another, the farmers are starting
to buy quality inputs in bulk, which is driving down their overheads
because they're paying less than what they were when they were buying
only for themselves.

"We've since surveyed the farmers we've worked with who've told us that
with the extra money they now have, they are buying more nutritious
food for their family, investing in healthcare and are paying for their children to have an education.

"These sorts of techniques used to empower farmers with knowledge
could make a tremendous difference in terms of supporting
more sustainable development and will be critical in helping the
poorest members of society in rural areas achieve better livelihoods." ========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by Australian_National_University. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.


========================================================================== Journal Reference:
1. Andre' F. Van Rooyen, Henning Bjornlund, Jamie Pittock. Beyond
fertilizer
for closing yield gaps in sub-Saharan Africa. Nature Food, 2021;
2 (10): 756 DOI: 10.1038/s43016-021-00386-7 ==========================================================================

Link to news story: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/10/211027122117.htm

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