By Johnson Siamachira and Gift Mashango
Sustainable intensification through conservation agriculture (CA) is not only necessary but urgent. This is the key message and approach that SIMLESA is focusing on, in collaboration with its international partners and national agricultural research systems (NARS) in Africa.
From 16-19 March 2015, the Sustainable Intensification of Maize-Legume Based Cropping Systems for Food Security in Eastern Africa (SIMLESA) organized a review and planning meeting in Harare, Zimbabwe, with the objective of utilizing and building upon the results of the project’s phase (2010‐2013), to produce a work plan, and to get feedback about the plans formulated from partners.
About 120 SIMLESA partners, stakeholders and invited guests met to review activities to date and to plan for the 2015/2016 season. The second phase of the project (2014–2018) started in July 2014. Like Phase I, it is funded by the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR) and managed by CIMMYT.
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Fifty-year – old lead farmer Catherine Kariza lives in one of drought –ravaged village in Ntcheu district , , Malawi. Kariza has been growing maize since 1985, but without water for irrigation and using traditional farming practices, her yields were very low. With erratic rainfall, she harvested less than 1 ton of maize per hectare, forcing her to register for government food relief services.
The Sustainable Intensification of Maize-Legume cropping systems for food security in Eastern and Southern Africa (SIMLESA) is a multi-stakeholder collaborative research programme managed by the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Centre (CIMMYT) and implemented by national agricultural research systems (NARS) in Kenya, Tanzania, Ethiopia, Malawi and Mozambique with backstopping inputs from other partners. The programme focuses on leveraging science and technology to develop and deliver technological and institutional innovations in relation to maize-legume production systems. In turn it is envisaged that these will make significant measurable positive changes in the livelihoods of all categories of smallholder farmers.
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By Johnson Siamachira
CIMMYT’s Sustainable Intensification of Maize‒Legume Cropping Systems for Food Security in Eastern and Southern Africa (SIMLESA) project held two workshops to extract, document and package key messages and lessons learned, as well as experiences gained from the first phase of the SIMLESA (2010‒2014). Using appropriate channels, these will be disseminated to wider audiences and partners under the guidance of CIMMYT’s Communication Team.
