Innovation Lab For Small Scale Irrigation

Innovation Lab For Small Scale Irrigation

nutrition

Irrigation helps Ethiopian women make more of milk and other dairy products

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Ethiopian women have begun growing irrigated fodder crops to expand their opportunities in the dairy value chain, winning income, nutrition, and climate benefits. Coming up on this year’s International Day of Rural Women, we hear from a couple of these front-runners:

“I have been sharing my experiences with men and women farmers, and, over the past couple of years, I have given fodder planting materials to about 50 other farmers for free. I advise women that they can increase their incomes by selling milk and other dairy products if they upgrade their local cows and start growing irrigated fodder crops.”

This testimonial, given by Mulu Melese, a farmer who lives in Zato Shodera village, Kededa Gamela district in southern Ethiopia with her husband and children, captures many of the benefits springing from irrigated fodder cultivation. Not only can this practice boost farmers’ incomes, nutrition, and climate resilience, but it has also spurred rural women like Mulu Melese to engage in dairy value chains and improve their livelihoods.

Growing irrigated fodder crops has enabled Mulu Melese to start selling more dairy products. Photo: Tigist German/ILRI.

Since 2015, scientists from the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), the International Water Management Institute (IWMI), and the CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS)—working under the Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Small Scale Irrigation (ILSSI)—have collaborated with farmers in the northern and southern regions of Ethiopia and introduced them to irrigated fodder production. Since then, the number of farmers adopting the practice in the project sites has grown from less than 20 to more than 700.

Why women win when livestock productivity soars

In Ethiopia, farmers in rural areas both grow crops and raise livestock. Yet, despite the livestock sub-sector providing employment to 70 percent of rural dwellers, productivity has remained low. Shortage of good quality feed for livestock remains a major challenge.

The low performance of the livestock sector especially impacts women and children, who, traditionally, carry the responsibility of raising livestock around the home. Women are tasked with finding, preparing, and bringing feed to the animals, milking, and cleaning barns. Collecting adequate fodder and bringing it to the animals is what requires the most time and workload, particularly during the dry season when only poor-quality crop residues are available. As climate change impacts intensify, an even longer dry season could lead to crops failing and severe shortages of livestock feed.

However, women’s traditional responsibility for a family’s livestock also means that they stand to gain when livestock productivity increases.

Growing irrigated fodder crops, such as Napier grass, which ensures a steady supply of livestock fodder. Photo: Fikadu Tessema/ILRI.

ILSSI scientists found this to be true when working with farmers to introduce a combination of new practices. New irrigation technologies, such as solar-powered pumps, make it easier to grow irrigated fodder crops, such as Napier grass, which ensures a steady supply of livestock fodder all year round.

A project partner, the Andassa Livestock Research Center, has also provided farmers with crossbred cows that produce more and better milk than traditional breeds, enabling farmers to increase their profits. So far, the results have been very promising, not least for rural women.

Tales of two women show big benefits

Mulu Melese recalls when she started producing irrigated fodder. At that time, she reports, she owned two lactating cows, but was unable to feed them adequately due to lack of good-quality forage on her farm. She recounts that because there was not enough feed, the cows were unable to produce enough milk for her family and for sale.

After she started growing irrigated fodder crops and giving the new, higher-quality fodder to her animals, the milk production almost doubled immediately. This subsequently increased the income, nutritional health, and living conditions of her whole family.

Mogninet Fentea, who lives in Robit Bata village in Bahir Dar Zuria district in the northern part of the country, tells of a similar experience. She and her husband started producing irrigated fodder in 2017, when they were struggling to find feed for their lactating cows and draft oxen. Since then, they have seen a steady improvement in the productivity of their animals, with their cows giving more milk and their draft oxen keeping in good condition when used for preparing their land. As a result, their household income has increased, and they have been able to cover their children’s school expenses relatively easily.

Mogninet Fentea adds that she and her husband decided to expand their fodder plot by uprooting some of their Khat plants—a narcotic plant traditionally used as a cash crop—because they were convinced that the fodder crops are important for the household.

She said that the feed trough they constructed for their cattle, as recommended by ILSSI scientists, have helped them reduce the labor required and have given the children spare time to concentrate on their learning. Scientists estimated that improved feed troughs and fodder choppers reduced feed waste by more than 30 percent and increased animals’ feed intake. Finally, a solar-powered pump has also eased Mogninet Fentea’s water lifting and irrigation work.

Farmers cut, chop, and place the green fodder in the feed trough, mixed with other local feed resources, and leave animals to feed and rest without a need for frequent observation by the family. Photo: Fikadu Tessema/ILRI.

A robust market must underpin long-term gains

Mulu Melese, Mogninet Fentea, and many women like them are already enjoying the benefits of irrigated fodder production, but are also interested in expanding their practice and building further business opportunities. Indeed, the gendered norms, roles, and responsibilities within the livestock value chains present opportunities—but also challenges—for rural women.

First, women are traditionally the ones who handle the milk produced by the family’s livestock and manage the income generated from this activity. While they regularly supply fluid milk to a dairy cooperative to generate income, part of the milk is usually processed into butter, cheese, and buttermilk. Women sell the butter in the local market, while the cheese and buttermilk are wholly consumed by the household, improving the family’s nutritional health. In this way, engaging in the dairy sector offers women opportunities to gain control over income and power to influence their family’s health.

Second, in the fodder cultivation process, women are socially expected to fetch water and irrigate fodder plots. This means that new time- and labor-saving technologies, such as improved irrigation systems and forage varieties that require minimum water and nutrient input, benefit women in particular. They help reduce the demand on women’s time, allowing them the opportunity to explore other income-generating activities.

Lastly, helping women access improved breeds of livestock, which efficiently convert good fodder into good milk returns, is critical for the irrigated fodder practice to be lucrative and sustainable for rural women. Ensuring profitability is key for farmers to overcome some of the challenges standing in the way of further expanding irrigated fodder production, such as investing in improved climate-smart breeds and seeds as well as labor-saving technologies.

Now, ILSSI scientists are working to address these barriers by collaborating with dairy cooperatives and national partners to develop the fodder value chain and establish a reliable market for milk and dairy products, forage seeds, and irrigation technologies in the context of climate variability.

ILSSI and Texas A & M celebrated ten years of Feed the Future Innovation Labs

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Ten years’ worth of effort to end hunger and eliminate poverty were celebrated when Texas A & M AgriLife hosted a virtual get-together on September 17, 2020.

A virtual U. S. Congressional event, titled Cultivating Hope – Innovation Beyond the Decade, marked the tenth anniversary of the Feed the Future Innovation Labs. The Innovation Lab for Small Scale Irrigation (ILSSI) is one of those programs. ILSSI, hosted by Texas A & M Agrilife, is part of the Norman Borlaug Institute for International Agriculture.

This event recognized the latest U.S. university-led agricultural research and innovation, celebrated a decade of Feed the Future, and reflected on what lies ahead in the fight to end global hunger.

The event highlighted support from members of the U.S. Congress for international agricultural research and recognized champions through awards for Representative Kay Granger and Representative Nita Lowey.

The event’s keynote speaker was Julie Borlaug, vice president of external relations at Inari and granddaughter to Norman Borlaug. She emphasized the need to deliver research innovations to farmers.

Julie Borlaug, vice president of external relations at Inari.

A decade ago, Feed the Future was born out of a global food crisis. This U.S. Agency for International Development initiative set out to use science and innovation to solve the global challenges of producing food to meet rising demand, improving nutrition, and supporting those who rely on agriculture for a living to be more resilient.

Feed the Future established a network of twenty-four Innovation Labs, partnerships that involve more than 70 U.S. universities and colleges. Working directly with partner countries, the initiative has supported more than 23 million people to exit poverty and ensured that more than 5 million families achieved food security.

Today, as pandemics and other threats have persistent negative repercussions for rising global hunger, the Innovation Labs continue to play an ever more important role in building resilience and supporting food security.

Tapping into the potential for vegetable seed production in Mali

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by Pepijn Schreinemachers, World Vegetable Center

Vegetable consumption is generally low in sub-Saharan Africa, a factor that affects the health of many Africans. Raising vegetable consumption will benefit the health of consumers, but could also boost the livelihoods of smallholder farmers.

Today, many farmers in Mali produce staple crops, even though producing vegetables is generally more profitable. Yet, vegetable production faces many constraints, including limited access to water as well as poor quality and unavailability of vegetable seeds.

 Against this background, the Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Small Scale Irrigation (ILSSI) is partnering with the World Vegetable Center in Mali to develop a more reliable supply of vegetable seeds and promote the use of efficient irrigation methods.

Opportunities for growth

In Mali, the formal vegetable seed sector consists of local seed companies, foreign companies, and farmer cooperatives. Most seed companies have vegetables in their portfolio, but local breeding programs are mostly nonexistent. Seeds of economically important vegetables, such as onion, tomato, and chili pepper, are mostly acquired through imports, but imported varieties are not adapted to local growing conditions.

Certified onion seed production in Mali supported by World Vegetable Center. Photo: World Vegetable Center.

Seeds of traditional vegetables, such as African eggplant, okra, and jute mallow, are mostly produced by farmers themselves and distributed through informal channels. We are collaborating to assess opportunities for stimulating local vegetable seed production and improve seed quality of both exotic and traditional vegetables.

What’s more, lack of water appears to be a key constraint to seed production in Mali. However, the high value of vegetable seed is expected to make it more economical for farmers to invest in irrigation. We are therefore also investigating if improved irrigation methods, combined with capacity building in vegetable seed production and marketing, could contribute to strengthening local vegetable seed production and thereby create a more reliable supply of affordable vegetable seed.

Getting together to get started

Our joint project got started with an inception workshop held at the World Vegetable Center’s Regional Center for West and Central Africa – Dry Regions on July 2, 2020. The number of workshop participants was restricted in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. We brought together 16 key actors from the vegetable seed sector, including researchers and representatives of seed cooperatives and seed companies.

Key actors from the seed production sector in Mali were brought together for a workshop in July, 2020. Photo: World Vegetable Center.

Dr. Siaka Dembélé, seed consultant hired by World Vegetable Center, and Dr. Kabirou Ndiaye, Regional Director, chaired the meeting. The workshop provided an opportunity to discuss the constraints faced by the vegetable seed sector in Mali, and allowed local actors to comment on the study plan and improve the proposed survey tools.

Participants particularly emphasized the high production costs of irrigated vegetable seed and the unavailability of first-generation seed. The workshop participants also recommended that the study account for the important role of farmer cooperatives in supplying farmers with vegetable seed, and the need to address fake and counterfeit seed.

Next steps for knowing more

Data collection for the study started after the workshop in July, and was completed on August 20, just after political tensions culminated in a coup d’état in Mali on August 18, 2020. The survey included focus groups discussions with vegetable farmers and informant interviews with seed regulators, seed companies, seed cooperatives, seed traders, among others.

Study results are expected to become available toward the end of 2020, and will contribute to a plan of action on how to develop a more reliable supply of vegetable seed and promote the use of efficient irrigation methods.

Webinar: Market-based agricultural technology scaling in fragmented markets

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During a time when face-to-face meetings and trainings are temporarily suspended, experts from the Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Small Scale Irrigation (ILSSI) are turning to webinars to share research-based insights and recommendations on how to expand smallholders’ access to small scale irrigation.

One webinar, organized by Agrilinks.org, explored the complex process of market-based scaling of agricultural technology. This event took place on June 10, 2020, and it delved deep into the difficulties of scaling agricultural innovations in fragmented markets.

Nicole Lefore, ILSSI Director, presented in the webinar in partnership with Jean-Baptiste De La Salle Tignegre, Lead of the Allium Breeding Program at World Vegetable Center. They spoke of ongoing work in Mali, which is investigating how irrigated production of vegetables could improve farming households’ nutritional health.

View the webinar on market-based agricultural technology scaling in fragmented market settings.

Noting results from an initial study by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), Lefore said that irrigating households in Mali have higher consumption of nutrient-rich foods, which improve both household income and nutrition. However, weak market conditions, worsened by weather extremes and ongoing conflict, are significant barriers to farmers adopting irrigation and increasing vegetable production in Mali.

Under ILSSI, the World Vegetable Center is working to identify entry points to improve access to seed for Malian producers, including through farmer-led irrigation. Increased local irrigated production of seed could boost vegetable production, which previous research has linked with food security and health outcomes.

Tignegre said that farmers’ access to seed could be improved by decreasing the distance they need to travel to purchase seeds and by supporting the establishment of seed enterprises that can serve farmers locally. A number of regulatory reforms may also be needed to reduce barriers in the formal and informal market supply of seeds. In other words, supporting the production of seed through the private sector could, in combination with greater uptake of irrigation and increase vegetable production.

To conclude, Lefore underscored that the current fragmentation of the market in Mali decreases farmers’ resilience and increases their vulnerability, particularly in times of crises. These barriers currently limit options for addressing nutritional needs at a national level. Currently, existing and rising demands for fruits and vegetables, as well as seed, are being met through imports. ILSSI will, in its ongoing work in Mali, look to collaborate with private sector companies and cooperatives to increase farmers’ access to both irrigation equipment and seed.

Other invited presenters, who discussed how to address last-mile scaling challenges, included Suzan Bishop, Project and Technical Officer, Livestock Emergency Guidelines and Standards, who spoke about how private community animal health services in emergency contexts can be better supported, and Brett Rierson, Managing Director, African Harvest Ventures, who presented on how simple tools can help reduce post-harvest losses.

Student interview: Investigating how gender matters for irrigation and nutrition

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In 2014, Elizabeth Bryan joined ILSSI’s capacity development program for graduate students, and she investigated gender and small scale irrigation, as well as the linkage between irrigation and nutrition. Today, Bryan is a senior scientist in the Environment and Production Technology Division at the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), where she focuses on water resources management and climate change adaptation and gender.

What issues were you studying, while you were working with ILSSI?

With respect to gender and irrigation, we explored the barriers that women face to adopting, using, and benefitting from technologies for small scale irrigation. We also looked at how adopting small scale irrigation may influence various aspects of women’s empowerment, such as their level of participation in agricultural decisions, control over income and productive assets, and time burden.

Elizabeth Bryan, IFPRI.
Elizabeth Bryan, IFPRI.

The results across the countries we have worked in (Ethiopia, Ghana, and Tanzania) are varied, given different gender roles in agriculture, social norms, and available systems, technologies, and practices for small scale irrigation.

Our findings on irrigation and nutrition highlight two main pathways through which irrigation can improve diets and nutrition outcomes: through changes in production and increased income. Irrigation enables greater production and consumption of more nutrient-dense crops, such as vegetables, that improve diet quality. Being able to irrigate also enables production during the dry season, increasing availability of food during these times. Farmers use the income from selling irrigated crops to purchase foods that improve household diets, such as milk and eggs. Irrigating farmers appear to be more resilient to drought, thanks to their improved nutritional status. Findings on the links between irrigation and nutrition were summarized in a guidance note by The World Bank to support more nutrition-sensitive approaches to irrigation investments.

Gender matters for these linkages between irrigation and nutrition because women have different preferences for which crops are grown under irrigation, how these crops are used – whether for sale or consumption – and how income from the sale of irrigated crops is spent.

What was the most surprising thing you found?

The gender sensitivity of many irrigation interventions is low, meaning that they fail to consider the linkages between gender and irrigation. This is due to limited capacity on gender in many implementing organizations and agencies. However, there is interest, including from the private sector, in utilizing strategies to better reach and benefit women through irrigation.

Another surprising finding is that when households adopt modern irrigation technologies in northern Ghana, men tend to take over irrigation activities. Rather than feeling excluded, many women were relieved not have to participate in manual irrigation, which they considered a burdensome task, and to have more time to devote to other income-earning activities.

How did the work you did with ILSSI inform the next steps in your career? 

After I finish the remaining research papers on my plate, I hope to develop some guidance for implementing partners to adopt more gender-sensitive strategies. New modalities are emerging for how to expand small scale irrigation technologies, such as through group-based or rental arrangements, and the gender implications of these also need to be examined so that these interventions are inclusive and benefit women.

What is your advice to other students looking to work with ILSSI or other Feed the Future innovations labs?

The Feed the Future Innovation Labs are a great way to engage different partners, including cross-disciplinary researchers, development practitioners, policy-makers, and donors. I am grateful to have had the opportunity to collaborate with so many inspiring people, who are dedicated to tackling some of the greatest development challenges.

Texas A&M University System Member