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SIMLESA Field Days Nudge East African Farmers towards Sustainable Intensification

Smallholder farmers in East Africa can attain food security and move from subsistence to commercial farming by sustainably intensifying their maize-based farming systems. This was revealed during the annual field days recently held in Kenya and Tanzania, which were jointly organized by CIMMYT’s Sustainable Intensification of Maize-Legume Cropping Systems for Food Security in Eastern and Southern Africa (SIMLESA) project and the two countries’ national research systems.

The objective of the field days was to examine how the new experiments under SIMLESA Phase II were progressing and gather farmers’ feedback on some of the sustainable intensification interventions. They also showcased SIMLESA’s farmer-tested improved maize-legume technologies.

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Pathways to sustainable intensification in Eastern and Southern Africa – Tanzania 2015

The Adoption Pathways project was part of a portfolio of projects that has contributed to the broader theme of sustainable intensification research led by the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) and made possible by the contribution of several teams from national and international research groups brought together by funding from the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR). The project was undertaken in the five Eastern and Southern African countries of Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique and Tanzania. 1. Gender disaggregated three wave panel data set (2010/11, 2013), building on a legacy dataset collected under a related ACIAR funded project (SIMLESA) is now being developed covering close to 3500 households in each data wave across the five project countries. The 2015/16 data will be available in due course. 2. Several empirical evaluations of the gender gaps in technology adoption, food security and market access have been completed and published. 3. These results have been shared in various policy forums including but not limited to annual project meetings. In order to achieve its full impact in the coming years; we propose that new projects and initiatives based on the work of the Adoption Pathways project be established. These should focus on capacity building for the analysis of panel datasets, continued work on studying intrahousehold input allocation and sharing of agricultural output and scaling up the findings from this project to influence next generation of sustainable agriculture policies.

5th Annual Review and Planning Meeting to Strengthen Phase II

Mr. Ringson Chitsiko (left),Permanent Secretary,Ministry of Agriculture,Zimbabwe, chats with Dr. Sikhalazo Dube, ILRI's Southern Africa Representative.
Mr. Ringson Chitsiko (left),Permanent Secretary,Ministry of Agriculture,Zimbabwe, chats with Dr. Sikhalazo Dube, ILRI’s Southern Africa Representative.

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.

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Report on the Sustainable Intensification of Maize Legume Based Cropping Systems for Food Security in Eastern and Southern Africa (SIMLESA) 5th Annual Review and Planning Meeting

56981.pdfFrom 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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SIMLESA Program Semi-Annual Report: July 2014-December 2014

semi-anual-report-2014The 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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