Partners and institutions came together for the project close-out meeting

Project close-out meeting

The project working group

Project team members and county extension staff at a farmer's home in Murang'a

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Project Overview

So, what’s the problem

Smallholder farmers who do not have access to or knowledge of ecological pest management solutions have to invest in expensive inorganic inputs which affect food quality and if farmers cannot afford these or they are unavailable, crop losses occur. Indiscriminate use of pesticides also poses environmental threats, particularly water quality, diversity of beneficial organisms including pests’ natural enemies and pollinators, all of which affect crop productivity.

Implementation of the findings of this project, and projects which develop from it, will not only support sustainable increases in the production of nutritionally important food crops, but also have the potential to provide significant economic benefit to smallholder farmers, all in support of Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) two.

Furthermore, the majority of farmers in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) are women, and because of this, they are in the strongest position to benefit, financially, from the outcomes of this project. As a result, broader welfare improvements will occur because women are more likely to apply increased financial allocations to children, education, health and nutrition, helping to achieve, SDGs one and two.

What is this project doing?

This project will facilitate the formalization of an effective research partnership between key sustainable agriculture research organisations across SSA and University of Reading.

The aim is researchers from the UK and SSA to collaborate, to provide pilot data (both socio-economic and ecological) to inform the implementation of ‘Ecological Intensification’ (EI) for smallholder vegetable farmers.

EI is a novel approach to sustainable intensification which utilizes biodiversity-based ecosystem services to support greater yield and reduce reliance on agrochemicals. EI approaches are beginning to transform agriculture, globally, but little progress has been made in SSA. Considerable research investment is therefore required.

Working alongside other partners, CABI will lead socio-economic interviews of smallholder farms in Kiambu and Muranga counties, Kenya. The survey will gather data on the challenges facing farmers, considering primary pests (supported by information from CABI’s Plant Doctor network) and crop pollination, and identify possible EI management solutions including incentives and barriers to adoption.

Partners, will together, deliver:

• A biological survey which will gather baseline pilot data on the abundance and diversity of functionally important invertebrates that will underpin a future proposal
• Workshops that will engage other stakeholder and policy makers to review data gathered during the project and develop a ‘Policy Brief’
• Collaborative project proposals.

Key project outputs include:

• A list of candidate EI solutions to inform intervention strategies to be tested in a future proposal
• Baseline pilot data on abundance and diversity of functionally important invertebrates which will underpin a future proposal and publications

A ‘Policy Brief’ outlining the key challenges and opportunities facing smallholders in SSA and specific targeted EI practices.