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SIMLESA I Launch and Planning Meeting Eastern Africa (Kenya and Tanzania)

Written by rllopez on . Posted in Meeting reports.

56980.pdfThis report summarizes SIMLESA 2 launch and planning meeting held in Arusha, Tanzania, to launch and plan SIMLESA 2 for Kenya and Tanzania.

Representatives from the Australian Center for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR), Queensland Alliance for Agricultural and Food Innovation (QAAFI), the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT), the national agricultural research systems (NARS) of Kenya and Tanzania, and CIMMYT scientists from Ethiopia, Kenya and Zimbabwe met between 14-17 October in Arusha, Tanzania, to finalize activities to meet the objectives of the second phase of CIMMYT’s Sustainable Intensification of Maize-Legume Cropping Systems for Food Security in Eastern and Southern Africa (SIMLESA) project.

The joint meeting for the Kenya and Tanzania country teams was the third and last launch and planning meeting. It was also a follow-up of two previous operational meetings held in Lilongwe, Malawi, and Hawassa, Ethiopia.

SIMLESA Program Annual Report July 2013–June 2014

Written by rllopez on . Posted in Reports.

semi-anual-report-2014This report present some of the key achievement made in the previous annual reporting period, July 2013 to June 2014. It illustrates the key results per objective, as well as aggregation of contribution from the five SIMLESA implementing countries, that is Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, Malawi and Mozambique.

The main activities carried out are surveys (adoption monitoring, market, partial analysis, completion of baseline and topology analysis) and marketing trainings. QAAFI continue with the preparation of journal articles for publication on households’ typology across five SIMLESA countries of operation. Objective 1 achievements and scaling out plans were discussed at Annual Review Planning Meetings (ARPM) which were held between October and December 2013 in respective countries. Mozambique and Malawi meetings were combined as a cost cutting measure as well as enhancement of partner to partner collaboration and information sharing.

The period July 2013 to June 2014, has been mainly devoted to establishment of trials, technology analysis and implementation of identified scalable technologies under objective 2 of SIMLESA program. Activities carried out during this period include proper planning for effective scaling out of SIMLESA technologies to many farmers in all 5 core countries. Selection of scalable technology was conducted based on statistical results and target farmer’s preference using participatory methodologies. Minimum tillage-maize-legume intercropping was identified as best-bet technology by farmers in most regions. Exchange visit, field days, trial evaluation, IP meeting and farmer training were conducted in all SIMLESA countries during the reporting period.

To ready full report click here

Tanzania mother takes charge of change

Written by rllopez on . Posted in Stories.

Through their own determination, and with support from local researchers, CIMMYT, ICRISAT, and organizations in Australia, sub-Saharan African farmers are applying improved maize-legume cropping systems to grow more food and make money.

On a hot August day near the village of Kilima Tembo, and amid the sounds of barking dogs and clucking chickens, Felista Mateo stepped out of the house she built by hand, walked into her fields, and proudly admired her maize crop. The plants reached toward the sun, verdant and strong. Her plot stood in stark contrast to neighboring fields, which were pocked by brittle, knee-high plants.

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Pathways to sustainable intensification in Eastern and Southern Africa – Tanzania 2013

Written by rllopez on .

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.

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