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Community impacts

During the design phase, the program set targets and adoption pathways to achieve scaling out processes in terms of the number of research communities covered, number of farmers reached out and the number of adopters (these being the farmers who have learned, embraced and started practising sustainable intensification technologies).

Based on analysis from the adoption monitoring surveys in 2018, results showed that the average rate of adoption in SIMLESA sites across the region was 3% per year (for adoption of full CA or adoption of at least 2 practices). If these adoption growth rates are sustained to 2030, the economic impacts of SIMLESA can be seen from the fact that by the end of 2018, farmers who had adopted at least at least minimum tillage combined with maize-legume diversification, mulching or both (i.e. at least two practices) were 484,000. On average, these farmers had adopted full CA (or at least minimum tillage with maize-legume diversification or mulching) on 0.4 hectares of their farm. Ex-ante analysis by CIMMYT shows that the number adopters by 2023 of zero or minimum tillage in combination with at least one other recommendation (maize-legume diversification, mulching) would be 562,000 households and 693,000 households would be adopting at least one recommended practice. Furthermore the financial returns to adopting at least two CASI practices (with minimum tillage as a basic practice) showed that for every dollar invested in CASI farmers can generate and average of four dollars in return per hectare.

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