CGIAR Initiative on Diversification in East and Southern Africa

Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://hdl.handle.net/10568/117911

Part of the CGIAR Action Area on Resilient Agrifood Systems.

Primary CGIAR impact area: Climate adaptation and mitigation

https://www.cgiar.org/initiative/21-ukama-ustawi-u2-water-secure-and-climate-resilient-agricultural-livelihoods-in-east-and-southern-africa/

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    Mucuna pruriens-based feeds that improve sustainability of communal goat farming during the dry season in semi-arid savannah of southern Africa
    (Conference Paper, 2025-06) Manyawu, Godfrey J.; Rukuni, T.; Kapembeza, C.; Baleni, T.; Sisito, G.; Chakoma, I.; Hlatshwayo, A.; Musendo, B.; Dube, Sikhalazo
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    A review of organic inputs to inform soil health advice for African smallholder farmers: localization matters
    (Journal Article, 2025) Weldesemayat, S. Gudeta; Stewart, Zachary P.; Odhong, Jonathan A.; Mhlanga, Blessing; Amede, Tilahun; Aynekulu, Ermias; Thierfelder, Christian; Marenya, Paswel P.; Dittmer, Kyle M.; Kamaluddin Tijjani Aliyu; Chikowo, Regis; Chiduwa, Mazvita S.; Ngoma, Hambulo; Snapp, Sieglinde S.
    African smallholder farming systems are complex, diverse and locally adapted, but guidance is lacking on how farmers can make informed choices of the type of organic inputs to suit their farm conditions. In this review we aimed to provide a synthesis of actionable information on ex situ and in situ organic resources and decision support tools to facilitate evidence-based choices by smallholders in cereal production systems in sub-Saharan Africa.
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    Changing the decision context to enable social learning for climate adaptation
    (Journal Article, 2025-05) Colloff, M. J.; Gorddard, R.; Munera-Roldán, C.; Locatelli, B.; Lavorel, S.; Allain, S.; Bruley, E.; Butler, J. R. A.; Dubo, T.; Enokenwa Baa, Ojongetakah; González-García, A.; Lécuyer, L.; Lo, M.; Loos, J.; Palomo, I.; Topp, E.; Vallet, A.; Walters, G.
    1. Successful adaptation often involves changes to the decision context to enable new ways of thinking and acting on climate change. Using 16 adaptation initiatives the authors were engaged with, we analysed how and why decision contexts changed to identify ways to improve adaptation as a process of collective deliberation and social learning. 2. We used the scope of the adaptation issue and governance arrangements to classify initiatives into four types and scored changes in the decision context using three frameworks: (1) the values, rules and knowledge (VRK) perspective to identify changes to adaptation decision-making; (2) the five dimensions of futures consciousness to identify the building of adaptation capabilities and (3) the social learning cycle to reveal evidence of reflexive learning. 3. Initiatives using novel governance arrangements for discrete problems (‘problem governance’) or complex, systemic issues (‘systems governance’) scored highest for influences of VRK, futures consciousness and the social learning cycle on the decision context. Initiatives using existing management for discrete problems (‘problem management’) scored moderately for change in the decision context, while those using existing management for systemic issues (‘systems management’) scored low because change was often impeded by existing rules. 4. All three frameworks influenced decision contexts in systems governance initiatives. Problem governance initiatives revealed interactions of VRK and futures consciousness but limited influence of VRK on the social learning cycle. Scope and governance arrangements differ with the adaptation issue and initiatives adapt over time: some small-scale ones became more systemic, developed novel governance arrangements and changed the decision context. 5. Our findings do not show that some adaptation initiatives are better or more transformative than others; just that their scope and appropriate governance arrangements are different. This questions the notion that successful adaptation requires building generic transformative adaptation approaches and capabilities. There is a diversity of arrangements that work. What is important is to align the approach to the adaptation problem. We suggest two directions for improving adaptation initiatives: first, by influencing how they can shift between problem and systems focus and between standard management and novel governance, and secondly, by using methods to diagnose and direct change in the decision context.
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    CGIAR Research Initiative on Diversification in East and Southern Africa: Annual Technical Report 2024
    (Report, 2025-04-15) CGIAR Initiative on Diversification in East and Southern Africa
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    Creating an enabling environment for agricultural innovation in emerging markets
    (Report, 2025-04-10) Ires, Idil
    Market is the structure for the development and delivery of innovations that are able to address environmental, societal, and economic challenges. The lack of enabling conditions for market development has resulted in low investment levels and economic stagnation, impacting livelihoods in Africa. Although there have been efforts to implement market-driven reforms, challenges such as inadequate policies, weak legal frameworks, transparency issues and bureaucratic inefficiencies pose significant risks for public and private investments and for their potential to reach the target beneficiaries. This situation also discourages development partners and businesses from investing in the region.Technical assistance is crucial to improve the investment climate. This paper presents a framework to help governments create a more conducive environment for agricultural market development and the private sector to navigate through the existing challenges. Traditional technical assistance practices have faced criticism for adopting a one-size-fits-all approach that overlooks local contexts. Recently, however, there has been a shift towards more context-based and adaptive assistance, which informs this framework. This framework emphasizes key elements that contribute to an enabling environment, including institutions, such as policies, regulations, and legal frameworks, as well as clear market and regulatory information that help reduce transaction costs. The framework is theoretically based on new institutional economics and political economy approaches. It focuses on assistance in three areas with three categories of delivery partners: policy support to governments, institutional capacity strengthening (especially of National Agricultural Research and Extension Systems) and (agri)business acceleration support to small- and medium-scale enterprises. Through such assistance, this framework seeks to help create an enabling environment for the delivery of innovations that offer solutions to emerging climate, societal and economic crises. These solutions, especially those developed and scaled by the private sector, are targeted toward recipients such as farmers (including women and the youth), marginalized groups, displaced communities, refugees and migrants. The framework utilizes value chain and market development as the primary delivery structures. This framework has guided several recent enabling environment assistance practices under CGIAR’s International Water Management Institute (IWMI). This paper explores these practices and positions CGIAR as a strong technical assistance partner. While this framework offers a systematic approach to analyzing the enabling environment, the technical assistance driven by this framework promotes collaboration and co-creation. It actively engages governments, national research and extension offices, farmers and other stakeholders in influencing policies and business transaction advisories that directly benefit them. Furthermore, it aims to strengthen their capacities to diagnose and overcome enabling environment challenges as they arise. By helping to create an enabling environment for the private sector—especially small- and medium-scale enterprises that innovate and scale—and derisking the investment climate, this framework seeks to strengthen agrifood market systems to foster food security and alleviate poverty.
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    Ukama Ustawi (UU)- Annual Project report CGIAR Initiative on Diversification in East and Southern Africa 2024 in Ethiopia
    (Report, 2025) Biratu, Gizachew Kebede; Markos, Daniel; Yemataw, Zerihun; Olika, Bikila; Bekele, Niguse; Abdulkadir, Birhan; Sida, Tesfaye Shiferaw
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    Impacts of climate smart agriculture on livelihoods in sub-Saharan Africa: A meta-analysis
    (Journal Article, 2025) Simutowe, Esau; Ngoma, Hambulo; Thierfelder, Christian
    Sub-Saharan Africa is grappling with increasing food demand amid a growing population amidst a surging climate crisis. Climate Smart Agriculture (CSA) emerges as one option to address these challenges and enhance livelihoods. However, evidence of the impacts of CSA on livelihoods remains thin and mixed. We used a meta-analysis with 19 studies to assess the impacts of CSA practices on crop and household income, poverty, and food security in sub-Saharan Africa. Based on the literature, adoption of CSA is positively correlated with crop and household income, and food security. We do not find statistically significant effects on poverty and food security results. These results signify the need to integrate CSA with other complementary measures such as access to extension services, markets, climate-related risk insurance, and finance to improve food security and reduce poverty. We can conjecture that the positive effects on incomes are not sufficient to significantly drive up food security and poverty alleviation.
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    Applying citizen science to water security challenges in Ethiopia: a structured approach
    (Brief, 2025-03-03) Haile, Alemseged Tamiru; Tedla, H. Z.; Mengistie, G. K.; Gebre, E. S.; Nigussie, Likimyelesh; Haileslassie, Amare; Nicol, Alan
    Citizen science (CS) is an important approach to involve the public in scientific research and contribute to addressing water security issues. CS programs, led by the International Water Management Institute (IWMI) and local partners in Ethiopia, meaningfully engage communities in data collection and knowledge co-generation. However, challenges such as limited resources, data quality issues and lack of awareness among decision-makers highlight the need for training, sustained funding and alignment with local problems. The technical brief emphasizes the importance of leveraging CS to fill hydrometeorological monitoring gaps, ensuring data accuracy and community engagement, and developing frameworks for expanding CS programs. By aligning with community needs and fostering inclusive participation, CS can strengthen water security initiatives in Ethiopia, creating a foundation for sustainable and locally relevant solutions to water management.
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    Creating safe spaces for decision-making in conservation agriculture: using the Gender Action Learning System methodology
    (Report, 2024-12-30) Enokenwa Baa, Ojongetakah; Chinyopiro, A.; Nortje, Karen
    The CGIAR Initiative on Diversification in East and Southern Africa also known as Ukama Ustawi (UU) Initiative’s goal is to empower millions of vulnerable smallholder farmers to transition from maize mixed systems to sustainably intensified, diversified, and de-risked agrifood systems is well underway. The initiative is being implemented in 13 African countries using coordinated transformative change interventions driven by an understanding of the unique multidimensional challenges and the opportunities they present in the different local and national contexts. Gender Action Learning System (GALS) is a powerful household Gender Transformative Approach (GTA) that guides people toward the desired development and growth within the household and communities. The methodology helps to nurture and grow the desire and passion of those involved to invest their efforts and resources towards sustainably achieving realistic desired futures, the vision. It brings satisfaction to household members by encouraging togetherness and united focus to coordinate their work energies and share equitably their material and financial resources. When GALS users experience challenges, the methodology builds their resilience by addressing them appropriately before seeking external assistance. This brings about a mindset change in people to see leadership responsibility as an opportunity and not a challenge. GALS provides an effective means for planning as well as for monitoring the implementation of the planned individual or household activities and for evaluating the attainment of results. It helps all people involved to generate lessons that guide future planning, monitoring, evaluation, and learning (PM&E). The flexibility in adapting the GALS methodology tool allows for use across age groups, genders, ethnicities, educational levels, and other social classification criteria. The CGIAR Initiative on Diversification in East and Southern Africa, therefore recruited the expertise of MERAMO Consulting through Work Package Five (WP5) to facilitate the implementation of GALS in the communities of two of its implementing partners namely Machinga Agricultural Development Division (MADD) and Total LandCare Malawi (TLC). The implementation of this activity was delivered to 4,095 beneficiaries surpassing the planned target of 4,000 households. UU WP5 managed to sensitize and involve the stakeholders of TLC and MADD in the respective communities of Nkhotakota and Balaka on GALS as a household gender transformative methodology. The process imparted GALS knowledge and its facilitation skills to the 40 selected ‘GALS Champions’ 1 and 404 household trainers as well as training 3,651 household members. It has mobilized the communities to work together as households in pursuit of their jointly developed visions, enabling them to analyze their household gender division of roles and find ways of addressing their anticipated challenges while creating ways of creating valuable networks and relationship building. A summary of the GALS implementation has been captured in this GALS YouTube video from across different communities with participants sharing key insights and lessons learned. The main recommendation emanating from this work is that UU and future CGIAR Science Programs consider delivering its other community programs using adapted GALS tools to achieve adequate mobilization of communities, active participation, and effective utilization. By embarking on participatory GALS impact monitoring and evaluation, UU will not only motivate the communities to achieve more using the methodology but also expand the initiatives’ ability to provide coaching, ensure continued GALS momentum, and co-create, and co-design participatory research with local households and communities.
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    Agricultural productivity of solar pump and water harvesting irrigation technologies and their impacts on smallholder farmers’ income and food security: evidence from Ethiopia
    (Journal Article, 2025-02) Negera, M.; Dejen, Z. A.; Melaku, Dagmawi; Tegegne, Desalegn; Adamseged, Muluken Elias; Haileslassie, Amare
    Irrigation plays a crucial role in enhancing food production, increasing land productivity, and improving the livelihoods of smallholder farmers in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Solar pumps and water harvesting ponds have emerged as promising technologies for sustainable agriculture for smallholders in SSA and beyond. The socio-economic impacts of these systems are less studied in the existing literature. This study examined the agricultural productivity of solar pump and water harvesting irrigation technologies and their impacts on income and food security among smallholder farmers in the Central Rift Valley, Lake Hawassa, and Upper Awash sub-basin areas in Ethiopia. Data were collected from 161 farming households that were selected randomly from woredas where solar pump and water harvesting pond irrigation systems had been implemented. The sample size was determined using the power calculation method. Bio-physical observation and measurements were also conducted at field levels. The benefit–cost ratio (BCR) and net water value (NWV) from the use of solar pump and water harvesting pond irrigations were analyzed to assess the viability of these systems. The household food consumption score (HFCS) and household dietary diversity score (HDDS) were calculated to measure food security, while the revenue from crop production was used to measure crop income. An endogenous switching regression model was applied to address the endogeneity nature of the adoption of the irrigation technologies. The counterfactual analysis, specifically the Average Treatment Effect on the Treated (ATT), was used to evaluate the impacts of the irrigation technologies on income and food security. Results indicate that the ATT of crop income, HFCS, and HDDS are positive and statistically significant, illustrating the role of these irrigation systems in enhancing smallholder farmers’ welfare. Moreover, smallholder farmers’ solar pump irrigation systems were found to be economically viable for few crops, with a BCR greater than 1.0 and an NWV ranging from 0.21 to 1.53 USD/m³. It was also found that bundling agricultural technologies with solar pump irrigation systems leads to enhanced agricultural outputs and welfare. The sustainable adoption and scale-up of these irrigation systems demand addressing technical and financial constraints, as well as input and output market challenges.
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    Rainfall forecasts, learning subsidies and conservation agriculture adoption: Experimental evidence from Zambia
    (Journal Article, 2025-04) Ngoma, Hambulo; Simutowe, Esau; Silva, João Vasco; Nyagumbo, Isaiah; Kalala, Kelvin; Habeenzu, Mukwemba; Thierfelder, Christian
    Adapting smallholder rainfed farming systems to climate change requires adoption of technologies that build resilience to climate shocks. One such technology is conservation agriculture, yet its adoption by smallholders in Southern Africa is not widespread. We use incentivized economic field experiments in Zambia to test, ex-ante, whether providing rainfall forecasts and a time-bound learning subsidy can help increase the adoption of conservation agriculture. We found that providing rainfall forecasts predicting low rainfall significantly increased the probability of adopting conservation agriculture by 8 percentage points, while offering a subsidy increased the chances of adoption by 11 percentage points. Bundling rainfall forecasts and subsidies did not significantly influence adoption, perhaps because these were not complementary. Having experienced normal rainfall in the previous experiment round (cropping season) was associated with 6 percentage points higher odds of adopting conservation agriculture, while past exposure to low rainfall significantly reduced the probability of adoption by 6 percentage points. These results suggest that farmers do not expect two subsequent seasons to be the same given the increase in rainfall variability in the region. Other important drivers of adoption are hosting demonstration plots and education level of the participant. These findings provide evidence that providing rainfall forecasts and time-bound learning subsidies may be effective ways to enhance the adoption of conservation agriculture in Zambia and imply a need to reframe conservation agriculture as means to address low and erratic rainfall. Future research can evaluate the persistence of such effects using randomized controlled trials.