Farm mechanisation and conservation agriculture for sustainable intensification (FACASI)

Project partners demonstrating two-wheeled tractors at project launch. Photo: CIMMYT

Two-wheel tractor in action at inception workshop. Photo: CIMMYT

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Project leader:

International Maize and Wheat Improvement Centre (CIMMYT) Dr Frédéric Baudron, System Agronomist

ACIAR project manager:

Dr John Dixon

Start Date:

1 March 2013

End Date:

28 February 2017

Partners:

• International Maize and Wheat Improvement Centre (CIMMYT)

• African Conservation Tillage network (ACT) – Kenya

• Agricultural Equipment and Technical Services SC

• Amio Engineering PVT – Ethiopia

• CARMATEC

• Charles Sturt University – Australia

• Ethiopian Institute for Agricultural Research (EIAR) - Ethiopia

• FAO

• Grownet Investments

• International Development Enterprise (IDE) – Bangladesh and Ethiopia

• International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) – Ethiopia

• Kenya Network for Dissemination of Agricultural Technologies (KENDAT) - Kenya

• Kilimo

• Ministry of Agriculture

Food Security and Cooperatives - Tanzania

• PSC

• Savannah Agricultural Research Institute (SARI)

• University Zimbabwe

• Zimbabwe Farmer Union

• ZIMPLOW

AIFSC Investment:

$3.9 million

Co-contribution:

$1.4 million

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Overview

Despite the need for sustainable intensification in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) being widely recognised, much of the Research for Development work is focused on increasing the efficiency with which land, water and nutrients are being used; farm power appears to be a ‘forgotten resource’. However farm power in SSA countries is declining due to the collapse of most tractor hire schemes, the decline in the number of draught animals and the decline in human labour (e.g. stemming from rural-urban migration and pandemics like HIV/AIDS). A consequence of low farm mechanisation is high labour drudgery, which affects women disproportionally (in, e.g. weeding, threshing, shelling and transport by head-loading). Undoubtedly, sustainable intensification in SSA will require an improvement of the farm power balance through increased power supply - via improved access to mechanisation - and/or reduced power demand via energy saving technologies such as conservation agriculture (CA).

The aim of this project is to identify appropriate small-scale machines (e.g. 2-wheel tractors) to improve farming practices (such as planting, harvesting, milling and transporting), and the commercial mechanisms needed to deliver these to smallholder farmers. The project will identify opportunities to create new markets for equipment and services, and supporting policies and networks.

Read more about the project on the FACASI project site.

Location

Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, Zimbabwe

Results

Click here for up to date progress reports

The inception workshop was held in Arusha Tanzania, 25-30 March 2013. Read the African Conservation Tillage Network newsletter (File Size: 1027 KB) with an article on the launch. Read CIMMYT’s Informa (File size: 868 KB) with an article on the launch.

From 29 April to 10 May 2013, 16 agricultural engineers, agronomists, machinery importers, and machinery manufacturers from Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, and Zimbabwe took part in a study tour in India organised by CIMMYT and the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR). Read all about the visit in CIMMYT’s Informa (File Size: 927 KB).

News from the field - Read an article about FACASI’s first year of activities

The Team

Project Leader:

International Maize and Wheat Improvement Centre (CIMMYT), Dr Frédéric Baudron, System Agronomist

Australian Collaborating organisation:

Charles Sturt University, Prof John Blackwell, Professor, Institute of Land, Water and Society

Collaborating international agencies:

Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations, Josef Kienzle, Agricultural Engineer (Mechanization & Institutions), Plant Production and Protection Division
International Development Enterprises (IDE), Mr. Rajiv B. Pradhan, Country Director, Bangladesh and Mr Kebede Ayele, Country Director, Ethiopia
International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), Dr Leonard Oruko, Senior Manager of Special ATA Projects
Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), Dr. M.M. Pandey, Deputy Director General (Agricultural Engineering)
Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute (BARI), Dr M Shirazul Islam, Director of Research

Collaborating National Agricultural Research Institutes and NGOs:

Ethiopian Institute of Agricultural Research, Dr. Solomon Assefa, Director General
Kenya Network for Dissemination of Agricultural Technologies (KENDAT), Dr. Pascal G. Kaumbutho, CEO and Secretary to the Board
Tanzania, Directorate of Research and Development (DRD), Dr. Fidelis Myaka, Director of Research and Development
Department of Soil Science and Agricultural Engineering, University of Zimbabwe, Dr. Emmanuel Manzungu, Chairman
African Conservation Tillage Network (ACT), Saidi Mkomwa, Coordinator