Prioritizing Agronomy Solutions in Changing Environments (PAiCE) for Sub-Saharan Africa Smallholder Farmers

Written by: Wuletawu Abera, Brendan Brown, Isaac Boatey Akpatsu, Yodit Balcha, Tesfaye Sida, Job Kihara

The looming threat of climate change is not a distant concern but a pressing issue that significantly jeopardizes smallholder farming in Sub-Saharan Africa. However, we can enhance resilience and productivity through targeted adaptation strategies. In collaboration with key stakeholders, the CGIAR’s Excellence in Agronomy (EiA) Initiative is at the forefront of identifying and prioritizing these strategies using the PAiCE tool. Recent PAiCE workshops across 13 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa have facilitated valuable knowledge sharing and collaboration, with outcomes set to inform sustainable agricultural development in the region.

Addressing Production Constraints and Climate Change

Agriculture in Sub-Saharan Africa is grappling with increasing challenges from production constraints and climate change. These challenges include poor-performing crop varieties, erratic rainfall, lack of storage facilities, soil compaction due to tractor operations, pest infestations, high chemical costs, low soil fertility, Striga infestation, crop disease outbreaks, and crop residue loss due to wildfires. The rapid changes in climate conditions highlight the urgent need to enhance the resilience of smallholder farmers.

Adopting effective adaptation strategies is necessary and a beacon of hope for optimizing crop yields, improving soil health, and mitigating the impacts of climate changes and variability. These strategies also encourage farmers to diversify their crops and reduce the risks associated with climate-induced failures. The CGIAR EiA Initiative, through its innovative tools and stakeholder engagements, is addressing challenges and empowering smallholders to improve their livelihoods and food security amidst these growing environmental challenges.

Introducing the PAiCE Framework

The PAiCE (Prioritizing Agronomy in Changing Environments) framework is not just a tool but a collaborative platform designed to bridge the gap between understanding agricultural constraints and implementing effective adaptation strategies. Developed by CGIAR’s EiA Initiative in collaboration with CSIRO, PAiCE combines expert insights with robust data to prioritize solutions tailored to specific local contexts. The PAiCE framework provides a structured process for stakeholders to collaboratively identify and prioritize adaptation options. By integrating expert opinions with data-driven analysis, PAiCE ensures that strategies effectively address the most pressing agricultural and climate challenges, making each stakeholder a crucial part of the solution. (Https://cgspace.cgiar.org/items/af15dc35-04da-4846-a4d6-543a2ee0048c)

Engaging Experts Across Multiple Farming Systems in Sub-Saharan Africa

In recent months, the PAiCE framework has been deployed in 13  workshops across diverse farming systems in sub–Saharan Africa, engaging with 147 experts who are knowledgeable about these respective systems. The workshops were held in regions across West Africa (Ghana, Nigeria, Mali, Burkina Faso, Senegal), Central Africa (Rwanda, Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo, Uganda), Southern Africa (Malawi, Mozambique, Zambia) and Eastern Africa (Ethiopia). Each session provided a collaborative platform for local experts and stakeholders to identify and prioritize key agricultural challenges. In Ghana, the focus was on cereal-legume systems. Nigeria’s discussions centered on various cropping systems through the AKILIMO platform.

Mali, Burkina Faso, and Senegal concentrated on rainfed rice systems, while the workshops in Rwanda, Burundi, and the DRC explored mixed farming systems. In Eastern and Southern Africa, the focus was on the Maize mixed systems in the Chinyanja Triangle and the mixed Highlands production systems in Eastern Africa. By involving a broad spectrum of stakeholders—from agronomists and climate scientists to local farmers and policymakers—PAiCE ensures that the solutions developed are both scientifically sound and deeply rooted in local realities.

Developing (Ecological and Institutional) Typology-Specific Adaptation Interventions and Prioritization Strategies

The PAiCE framework, a comprehensive and robust initiative designed for areas with similar farming systems, agroecology, and institutional and political boundaries, is a testament to our thorough approach. These commonalities lead to shared risks, challenges, and institutional mechanisms for adaptation. Therefore, the 13 PAiCE workshops across Africa were selected based on this philosophy: typical constraints, climate risks, and proposed strategies can be practical within these domains. This is crucial to ensure that risks, constraints, and adaptation strategies are targeted at specific spatial and stakeholder platform levels rather than offering general and broad recommendations.

For example, Northern Ghana focused on the cereal-legume mixed farming system, emphasizing the integration of cereals and legumes. The analysis was based on data and input from key stakeholders in these value chains. The primary production constraints identified include poor-performing crop varieties, erratic rainfall, lack of storage facilities, soil compaction due to tractor operations, pest infestations, high chemical costs, low soil fertility, Striga infestation, crop disease outbreaks, and crop residue loss due to wildfires. These bottlenecks account for an estimated annual yield loss of USD 12-35 million. Climate-related hazards, such as dry spells during crop establishment, in-season droughts, floods from Burkina Faso dam overflows, extreme temperatures during crop establishment, waterlogging, and untimely rainfall during harvest, contribute to additional annual losses estimated at USD 5-30 billion. To address these challenges, key adaptation strategies include:

• Minimum tillage.
• Adoption of short-duration maize varieties (e.g., Sanzasima).
• Optimal fertilizer rates and timing.
• Improved land preparation techniques (e.g., dibble stick, Mucuna in the dry season, minimum tillage, ripping, and ridging).

These interventions aim to mitigate both production and climate-related constraints.

In contrast, in the Central African country of Uganda, the focus was on the highland perennial mixed farming system, where key crops include maize, cassava, coffee, and beans. The production and climate-related challenges included poor land management, soil degradation, soil fertility, inefficient fertilizer use, and high planting costs, especially for perennial crops. Climate-related risks, such as heavy rainfall during harvest, heat stress, drought, and flooding, also devastate this farming system. To tackle these issues, strategies like climate-informed planting schedules, improved tillage techniques (e.g., introducing no-till and mechanized tillage systems), precision fertilizer application using the 4R principles, and the adoption of improved herbicide and pesticide management were proposed.

Ethiopia was the center for East African countries representing the highland mixed farming system. The system is dominated by maize farming, while crops like teff, wheat, sorghum, barley, fava bean, field pea, check pea, and Irish potato are also essential crops listed in their order of importance. Soil erosion is the major production constraint affecting the production system, followed by suboptimal input management, soil acidity, residue removal, recycled seeds, seed broadcasting, and post-harvest losses, with an estimated annual loss of 591 to 947 million USD. This system is not only under pressure from production constraints but also from climatic hazards affecting crop production. The dominant climatic hazards include:

• Late season water deficit.
• Increased seasonal temperature.
• Flash flooding.
• Early season water deficit.
• Disease outbreak.
• Reduced seasonal temperature.
• Intensive rainfall.

Of these, drought at planting is the leading climatic problem affecting production in the Ethiopian highland maize mixed farming system. The adaptation options for reducing the impact include changing fertilizer use, on-farm water capture, intercropping, stover management, tolerant varieties, CA, IPM, supplementary irrigation, adjusting planting dates, changing tillage practices, etc.

On the other hand, the Chinyanja triangle is a unique system that brings three political boundaries together (Zambia, Malawi, and Mozambique), sharing a similar system. Acknowledging the different political decisions in the different countries, experts from the three countries came together. They identified maize, sweet potato, Irish potato, common beans, ground nut, tobacco, soya bean, and sunflower as the major crops in the Chinyanja triangle, with the majority of the crops growing in all three countries. Still, some of the crops are unique for each of the countries. Similarly, they identified the major production constraints and climate hazards affecting the maize mixed system. The major production constraints include soil acidity, low soil fertility, suboptimal fertilizer use, suboptimal residue management, untimely operation, post-harvest losses, soil erosion, low potential cultivar, problems with rowing and spacing, poor management of pests, recycled seeds, and pest/diseases control. In addition, experts in the workshop identified major climate-related problems lurking in the regions, including increased heat events, total season water deficit, pest/disease outbreak, early/mid/ late season water deficit, and severe winds. The major adaptation options suggested include early planting-plating with the first rain, change in planting date, use of improved varieties, crop rotation, crop diversification, mixed cropping, bio-inoculants, CA, ISFM, windbreaks, supplementary irrigation, and liming. The workshop also examined adoption rates, challenges, and government/private sector perspectives on these practices to enhance resilience and drive significant change in the mixed farming system.

Next Steps: From Prioritization Insights to Guiding Investment

As we finalize and validate the results from these workshops, they will be reviewed and shared with a broader audience, including governments, experts, donors, NGOs, and other key stakeholders involved in agronomy, soil health, and agriculture. These strategic documents will guide investment strategies, addressing the most pressing challenges in African agriculture. We anticipate the outcomes will not only guide investment strategies but also offer a transformative foundation for future agricultural investments and interventions across the continent, instilling hope and optimism. The collaborative efforts of our expert network are poised to significantly impact agricultural resilience and sustainable development in Sub-Saharan Africa, ushering in a new era of prosperity and growth.

The PAiCE framework has been deployed through workshops across diverse farming systems in sub–Saharan Africa in Ghana, Nigeria, Mali, Burkina Faso, Senegal, Rwanda, Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo, Uganda, Malawi, Mozambique, Zambia and Ethiopia. See pictures of attendees below: