Overview of the ifad funded clca project

Overview of the IFAD-Funded CLCA Project

Hichem BEN SALEM

Director DSIPSPICARDA Focal Point CRP DS

Annual Consultation MeetingIFAD - ICARDA AmmanOctober 21-22, 2014

Integrated Crop-Livestock Conservation Agriculture for Sustainable Intensification of Cereal-based Systems in North Africa and Central Asia

Outline

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1. Briefs on Integrated farming systems and CA

2. Presentation of the CLCA project

3. Achievements

4. Strengthening partnership

5. Concluding remarks

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Integrated Crop-Livestock?

Production• Farms operating on marginal profit• Economic vulnerability with specialized production• High cost of fuel and nutrients• Pests become greater with monocultures• Yield decline could be overcome with rotation

Environment• Nutrient recycling could be improved in both systems

(Conventional Agric. and CA)• Conservation of soil and water possible with sod-based

management systems

Why Conservation Agriculture?

Economic advantages

Environmental advantages

Stubble retention

Minimal soil disturbance

Crop• early sowing• higher yield potential• savings - time,

machinery, fuel

Soil• better soil structure (OM)• better soil-water dynamics (porosity)• better nutrient recycling (NPK)• improved trafficability

Environment• less pollution• less erosion• C sequestration

(1%C = 33t/ha)

High production, profit, sustainability benefits

CA cropping

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Stubbles• for livestock feeding• to increase OM level in the soil

Take ???? Leave ????

• Can the different components of the farming system (crop, livestock) be efficiently integrated?

• Livestock and no-till cropping farms may co-exist?

Global challenges

• Are the farmers willing to grow forage legumes or change their crop rotation pattern?

IFAD-CLCA Project– Countries: Algeria, Tunisia, Tajikistan– Period: Jan. 2013- Jan. 2016 (3 years)– Budget: US$ 1,500,000 – Source of Funding: IFAD

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CLCA project

Objective - Through integrated and participatory research with farmers, NARES will develop and test innovative approaches (i.e. reduced tillage) and management (i.e. improved cropping options) options and practices (i.e. residue management through restricted grazing) for the adoption of integrated CLCA by small holder farmers

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Among the originalities• CA introduced for the first time in Tajikistan• Crop-Livestock integration• Crop-Livestock integration under CA• CA in small/medium farms• CA in semiarid areas

Originalities & Challenges

Challenges• No research data on CA in semiarid areas• No research data on integrated crop-livestock under CA• Target areas experience short and long term drought• Changing rainfall patterns

Participatory Approach in This Project

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M’Sila – SetifChouarnia – LaroussaRasht ValleyFergana ValleyGissar Valley

Communitiesfarmers

Research ICARDAINRAT, INAT, ESAMITGCTRIF, TRISS, TRV, TRIE

DonorIFAD

CRDA-SilianaINGC

Administ.

Informal local institution

Population

- Governorate/district

- Ministry of Agric.- Etc.

Policy makers

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2

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Project agenda

Part 1 - Understanding and responding to the trade-offs, constraints and opportunities for the adoption of the crop-livestock CA systems in project areas of CWANA

Outputs1. Ex-ante evaluation for CA based technologies in CWANA,

proposed activities and milestones

2. Enhanced crop-livestock integration in CA through optimized stubble grazing strategies and increased fodder availability from forages or fodder shrubs

3. Site-specific conservation agriculture technology packages fine-tuned and disseminated for enhanced farm productivity, resource use efficiency and profitability 9

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Project agenda

Enhanced capacity development, co-learning, knowledge and information dissemination in the target areas and across CWANA

Part 2 - Knowledge management and dissemination

4. Enhanced capacity development, co-learning, knowledge and information dissemination in the target areas and across CWANA

Output

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Achievements – Output 1 Ex-Ante evaluation

Output 1 Summary TasksProgress Progress

Status -2014 Outputs

Ex-Ante

Development of baseline data on farming and tillage practices, crop choices, and farmer perceptions, in the target regions. New farm surveys will be conducted

using a representative random sample of the

farming community including data on crop residue management,

feeding strategies, resource flow maps for ex-ante

analysis. The survey will cover about 400 farms by

country per target area giving a total survey of 1200

farms.

Collect relevant secondary data Completed Completed by the countries

Design and piloting of household level (farmer) questionnaires Completed Original copy of the questionnaire

English (Tajik, Russian, French) translation of questionnaires CompletedQuestionnaires in English, French,

Russian and Tajik are available

Recruitment & training of enumerators Completed Several trainings in each platform

Pre-test questionnaires Completed -

Actual data collection, entry and cleaning (1164 surveys)• Tunisia: 364• Tajikistan: 400• Algeria: 400

completed Three databases available on CD

Workshop methodological training• Tajikistan team (2 trainees – 1 female)• Algerian team (10 trainees – 7 females) Completed Minutes available

12 trainees (8 females)

Preparation of descriptive statistics and reporting Completed Three reports available (one per

country)

Capacity Building Completed Two reports completed

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Achievements – Output 2: Enhanced Crop-Livestock

On-station and on-farm stubble grazing experiments

Country 2013-2014 Achievement %

Algeria 1 farm 20 %

Tunisia 8 farms 60%

Tajikistan N/A N/A

• Biomass uptake by the animal• Variation of the nutritive value of stubbles• Body weight change• Amounts of feces/urine excreted by the animal

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0 10 20 30 40 50 60 700

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

f(x) = − 1.37831968296858 x + 84.3266319126332R² = 0.769544234656477

f(x) = − 1.4265457444086 x + 87.0460556593588R² = 0.830450657089206

Biomass Conv AgriLinear (Biomass Conv Agri)

Sampling day

Yie

ld (

%)

About 25 days

50%

Take half and Leave half – Grazing period 25 days

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Grazing strategies will be evaluated with regard to meeting the ewe’s nutritional requirementsCountry 2013-2014 Achievement %

Algeria 2 on station trial 100%

Tunisia 4 on station trials 60%

Tajikistan N/A N/A

• Agronomic package • Soil fertility

Integration and development of integrated crop-livestock under CA

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The effect of nutrient recycling (fecal excretion) on soil fertility will be assessed


Algeria 2 on station trials 30%

Tunisia 1 on station trial 30%

Tajikistan N/A N/A

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Fast growing high biomass and quality fodder species will be tested on-station and on-farm for compatibility with annual crops


Algeria 7 on farm and 1 on station

70%

Tunisia 7 on farm -1 on station trials

70%

Tajikistan 5 on station 4 on farm trial

70%

Vetch, double purpose barley, shrub species (Cactus, Atriplex num., etc.)

Achievements – Output 3: Fine-tuned CA package

Conduct adaptive trials integrating CA technologies (ZT, crop rotations, and stubble management) with weed and nutrient management, and the integration of fodder/grain species in at least 45 on-farm trials (multi-year, 15 initiated in year one and an additional 15 initiated each in years two and three), spread across the three target countries (Tajikistan, Tunisia & Algeria).


Tunisia 4 on-farm trials2 on-station trials

60%

Algeria 12 on-farm trials1 on-station trial

80%

Tajikistan 10 on-farm trials 30%

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Achievements – Output 3: Fine-tuned CA package

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Country CA Package Status Uptake

Algeria Weed control x rotation x Livestock

Planting date 100 %Rotation 30 %Fertilizer management 80%Herbicide 50%Livestock management 40%13 farmers are testing

Not ready

Tunisia Tillage x rotation x Livestock

Planting date 100%Tillage 75%Rotation 20%Fertilizer 80%Herbicide 100%Livestock management 60%50 farmers are testing

Not ready

Tajikistan Tillage x rotation

Planting date 100%Tillage 10%Rotation10%Fertilizer15%Herbicide 10%Livestock 0%12 farmers are testing

Not ready

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Achievements – Output 4: Enhanced Capacity development

• Training courses: 15 courses and 280 trainees• Field days: 8 events targeting 357 farmers• Students: 4 PhDs and 4 undergraduate

students• Media: 2 Movies• Movie on no-till drill broadcasted on National

TV (Tajikistan) • Publications: 6 conference papers and 1

manuscript (in progress)• 3 Flyers and 2 posters

Achievements – Output 4: Enhanced Capacity development

Topic Place No Participants Female OutputsMachinery and ZT technologies Algeria 20 0 1Socio-Economic survey Algeria 23 5 1Data management and data analysis using SPSS Algeria 10 7 1

Socio-Economic survey Tajikistan 25 10 1Socio-Economic Jordan 2 1 1Socio-Economic Algeria 10 7 1New techniques for sustainable sheep and goat production Jordan 16 3 2

Agro-ecological monitoring Jordan 20 5 2Alley Cropping Jordan 20 5 2Feed Assessment Tool - FEAST (Conducted by Jane) Tunisia 21 14 2

FEAST (Conducted by national team) Tunisia 40 0 2Desgning experimental protocols Tunisia 10 0 2Weed management, No-till equipment and forage production Tajikistan 26 2 and 3

Crop production under Conservation Agriculture Tajikistan 17 3 3

Crop rotation Tunisia 20 0 3

Total 280 60

Training courses

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TradeoffsItem Gains LossesKeeping stubble on soil

Soil cover Source of animal feeding

Water UE

Enhance soil bio-physico and chemio caracteristics

Eliminate plowing

Time

energy More use of herbicides

Enhance soil bio-physical and chemical characteristics

Rotations Enhance soil bio-physical and chemical characteristics

Guaranteed market for cereals

Less weeds Less income

Less diseases

Diversity of food/feed staple

Livestock integration

Product diversification More labor

Crop diversification (forge crops) More time

Sub products valorization (bales of straw) Management Risks

Manure resource

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Strengthening partnership

National and International institutions/Projects • CANA PROJECT (ACIAR, ICARDA, INAT, INGC, INRAT, …)• CRP 1.1 Program• INGC (a network of fields under CA, even in the targeted zone of

CLCA)• GIZ and FAO

Linkage with IFAD Development Projects• Tunisia – IFAD funded development project in Siliana (CLCA

involvement to start in the current cropping season)

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Concluding remarks

• This project will be a reference for the integration of crop and livestock under CA context

• In the absence of literature data, on-station trials are needed to determine the optimum conditions (e.g. grazing duration and stocking rates)

• Two cropping seasons are not enough to move from discovery phase of the technologies/practices (on-station trials) to pilot phase (on-farm trials, 30 or more farms)

• Linkage with IFAD or other donors funded projects for the up-scaling phase

• Revise the WP2015 as per the comments of SC members and IFAD representative

Thank you!