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Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Collaborative Research on Sustainable Intensification

Tag: ASMC

Animal Traction is an Appropriate Technology for Cropping System Mechanization in Burkina Faso

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Figure 1. Administrative region map of Burkina Faso. The Appropriate Scale Mechanization Consortium zone of influence is the highlighted Hauts-Bassins region

Ninety-two percent of the population of Burkina Faso is involved in agricultural pursuits (Beal et al., 2015).  Agricultural production is labor intensive for smallholder farmers. Small landholders typically work less than 3.5 hectares, while mid-size farms are about 7 hectares and large farms are typically 10 hectares or larger. The rural population relies on subsistence farming, and nearly the entire rural population lives in poverty. Forty-five percent of the farms have an income of less than $1 per day.  The Appropriate Scale Mechanization Consortium (ASMC) has partnered with the Polytechnic University of Bobo-Dioulasso to improve management practices and technologies for maize cultivation in the Hauts-Bassins region of Burkina Faso. The main cash crops in this region are maize, cotton, soybeans, peanuts and sesame.  The mechanization practices developed for maize will be applicable and transferable to these other cash crops. These ASMC efforts will provide the smallholder farmers with improved agricultural techniques and technologies that will sustainably increase agricultural production, reduce labor and drudgery, increase socio-economic status, and improve the overall quality of life. Continue reading “Animal Traction is an Appropriate Technology for Cropping System Mechanization in Burkina Faso”

The Appropriate Scale Mechanization Consortium Kicks Off Field Hub Training with Workshop in Burkina Faso

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Dr. Millogo, Director of Appropriate Scale Mechanization Innovation Hub Burkina Faso and workshop participants with their new and improved yokes. Pictured Left to Right: Fankani Tchitchi, Millogo Vinsoun, Bognini Solange, Bonkian Thérese, Bognini Mark, Sanou Mariatou, Sanou Mazouma

Members of the Appropriate Scale Mechanization Consortium (ASMC) led the first hands-on training at their field training hub in Burkina Faso from September 5-16, 2016. It brought together smallholder farmers, local artisans and university students. The workshop was conducted by team members from Michigan State University in cooperation with Tillers International and was funded by the Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Collaborative Research on Sustainable Intensification.

In Burkina Faso, traditional yokes are still being used to team pairs of oxen. “These yokes are narrow, concentrating the pulling forces on a small area on the neck of the oxen, making long work days difficult and painful,” Elsa Kanner, Tillers International employee, said. Another problem facing farmers in this area is training. The animals are most receptive to training at a young age, but farmers are waiting until they are mature to begin the process. These factors combined make for uncooperative oxen, which require 2-3 workers to handle. The practice is, therefore, more labor intensive and expensive than it could be with improved training techniques and modern yokes. Continue reading “The Appropriate Scale Mechanization Consortium Kicks Off Field Hub Training with Workshop in Burkina Faso”

Feed the Future Innovation Lab’s Alliance Primed to Drive Sustainable Intensification in Ethiopia

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An Ethiopian farmer shows researchers how the rope and washer water-lifting technology works on his farm

The 24 innovation labs gathered under the U.S. Government’s Feed the Future initiative are strongly expected to collaborate and bring synergies to address the problems caused by climate change with the aim of increasing food production for a growing population in the countries where they work.

Ethiopia is one of the Feed the Future focus countries with nine active labs (see this fact sheet). The Sustainable Intensification Innovation Lab (SIIL) is one of these nine labs working in the country, through a sub-grantee, the Texas A&M Universityand its director Neville Clarke.

Clarke is also leading the Innovation Lab on Small Scale Irrigation (ILSSI), which has been active in Ethiopia for over two years. ILSSI and SIIL are collaborating in Ethiopia through a grant from SIIL known as ‘Sustainably intensified production systems impact on nutrition’ (SIPS-IN). This grant complements the ILSSI and involves the same partners as well as Tufts University School of Medicine in Boston and Bahir Dar University in Ethiopia.

Continue reading “Feed the Future Innovation Lab’s Alliance Primed to Drive Sustainable Intensification in Ethiopia”

Learning How to Mechanize Agriculture in Northwestern Ethiopia

DSC_0004How many simple technologies have been introduced to rural farming communities, only to fail miserably shortly after the nongovernmental organization (NGO) closes the project? Too many. The technologies were too complicated. Nobody was trained to use them. Materials could not be sourced locally and importation was prohibitively expensive. The list is long.

Speaking to Robert Burdick of Tillers International on the edge of a two-day workshop organized by the Appropriate Scale Mechanization Consortium at Bahir Dar University in Ethiopia on June 8-9, 2016, he outlined some of the factors which contribute to the success of mechanization interventions and why he is confident of the consortium’s success in the northwestern Amhara region. Burdick points out how past Tiller interventions have succeeded in reducing drudgery, increasing the incomes of small farmers and helping establish local service providers. Continue reading “Learning How to Mechanize Agriculture in Northwestern Ethiopia”