KENYA-UGANDA
Two universities are actively contributing to research aimed at consolidating agricultural productivity and resilience through sustainable, climate-smart agriculture for food and nutrition security in East Africa.
Kenya’s Egerton University and Uganda’s Makerere University are key players in a project that seeks to enhance sustainable production practices to help build smallholder farmers’ resilience as the climate crisis intensifies food insecurity across Sub-Saharan Africa.
Makerere and Egerton are conforming to initiatives across the world to establish institutes or centres of food security and the environment to help governments identify challenges and review food security problems.
“Such centres, which are part of our faculties, directorates and institutes, are expected to propose solutions to food systems problems and the challenge of feeding the exponentially growing population,” Egerton University Vice-Chancellor Professor Isaac Ongubo Kibwage said.
Centre of excellence to be set up
The two universities are active participants in learning events and field research activities for the Reduce, Reuse, Recycle Rice Initiative for Climate Smart Agriculture (R4iCSA) research project seeking to promote sustainable, science-based, market-led agricultural development in the Eastern African region.
Kilimo Trust, a not-for-profit organisation engaged in sustainable market-led agricultural development research in the region for the past 18 years, initiated the R4iCSA project with a pilot phase in 2020 at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Kilimo Trust is collaborating with several universities and is setting up a Centre of Excellence in Regenerative Agriculture at Egerton University’s main campus,” Kilimo Trust Kenya team leader Anthony Mugambi announced on 8 May 2024 at the Africa Fertiliser and Soil Health Summit organised by the African Union in Nairobi.
The second phase of the five-year, US$5 million R4iCSA project launched in October 2022 and funded by the IKEA Foundation, followed a two-year pilot that ended in July 2023, benefiting 5,000 smallholder farmers in Kenya and Uganda. It targets 10,000 households in the two countries.
Egerton University’s Agro Sciences Park Seed Unit hosts the Kampala-headquartered Kilimo Trust’s Kenya office. It was established in 2011 as a Kenya government Vision 2030 project to employ science, technology, and innovation to move technology out of the lab into the marketplace.
Flow of knowledge, technology and communication
Vision 2030 is the government’s national development programme aiming at raising the average standard of living in Kenya to middle-income by 2030. Egerton University is supporting the programme by contributing to the knowledge-based economic development of the country through research projects such as R4iCSA II.
The unit’s strategic activities include providing infrastructure to incubate agro-innovation for private- and public-sector partners and non-profit organisations such as Kilimo Trust, its main partner in the R4iCSA II project.
It also encourages and facilitates strategic partnerships in agro-value chain development, facilitating incubation and start-ups through stimulating and managing the flow of knowledge and technology between universities and communication between the private sector, entrepreneurs and technicians.
The unit owns 50 acres (20ha) of land at the university for demonstration purposes. This is a meeting point for academia, farmers, businesses, agro-processors and manufacturers in a one-stop shop to share information and innovative ideas, commercialisation, and wealth creation.
Successful trials point to high-yielding varieties
Professor Paul Kimurto, the unit’s director, is a dryland research and drought stress physiology breeding specialist experienced in dryland development and the validation of breeding and variety development techniques.
“My academic work includes the application of molecular breeding techniques, irrigation, fertility and water use, and management and seed systems in arid and semi-arid lands. Egerton University’s association with the R4iCSA II project has seen the introduction in Kenya and Uganda of high-yielding upland rice varieties following successful field trials,” Kimurto said.
This is the first time that upland rice has been grown in semi-arid higher grounds, leaving researchers in the project and agriculture authorities upbeat about its potential to significantly contribute to food and nutrition security in the region.
The groundbreaking initiative is a joint effort of Kilimo Trust and the Kenya Agriculture and Livestock Research Organisation (KALRO) as a segment of the second phase of the R4iCSA II project.
After a successful harvest from field trials in July 2023, farmers are now awaiting the harvest from the second season planted in December.
Multi-partner collaboration a must
East African Community (EAC) member states recognise the important role faculties of agriculture and agriculture-focused universities such as Egerton can play in helping governments address food and nutrition security challenges.
The EAC is committed to supporting research and development in building resilience and agricultural productivity by prioritising policies that best protect the poor amid financing and capacity constraints.
The R4iCSA project partnership involves EAC governments, Egerton and Makerere universities, the private sector, and research institutions such as KALRO, the National Agricultural Research Organisation (NARO), and the National Crops Resources Research Institute (NACRRI) in Uganda.
Makerere University has been contracted by the Buginyanya Zonal Agricultural Research and Development Institute (BugiZARDI), a semi-autonomous public agricultural research institute which is a key partner in the R4iCSA II project under the guidance of NARO.
Production increase essential
BugiZARDI is mandated to experiment on three out of four R4iCSA II protocols developed – biochar (soil amender) on rice, vermicast (the end-product of the breakdown of organic matter by earthworms) on rice, and rice-legume integration.
NACCRI focuses on intermittent watering and rice ratooning (using a sprout or shoot from the root of a plant for a second harvest). The sixth protocol on the use of rice by-products in livestock production has been put on hold.
BugiZARDI backed by Makerere conducts soil sampling, analysis and reporting. Its team of researchers includes Dr Frank Kagoda of Mayuge Centre, Bulambuli Centre director Dr Lawrence Owere, scientist Joseph Etyang, seed breeders-scientists Dr Moses Kaiira and NACRRI’s Dr Arthur Wasukira.
The EAC Secretariat is working with Kilimo Trust to drive the region’s agenda for agriculture and food security amid the growing challenges of climate change and water scarcity. A rising demand for rice, changing consumer patterns and high import costs have compelled researchers in the EAC to intensify efforts to increase production in a sustainable, safe and nutritious way.
Evidence for regenerative agriculture generated
Billed as the evidence-based phase of the project, R4iCSA II aims at building robust evidence of the economic benefits of innovations that utilise rice products tested in phase one of the project’s implementation.
“The objective of the project is to generate and verify evidence for the promotion of innovative technologies for regenerative and sustainable rice farming systems that lead to better livelihoods and environment,” Mugambi said.
The evidence generated will inform stakeholder engagement in the pursuit of creating an enabling environment to promote regenerative agriculture in the rice sub-sector.
R4iCSA II is expected to lead to the increased adoption of sustainable rice production practices, and increased awareness of wetlands conservation and protection using evidence obtained from the studies. Another expected outcome is the increased adoption of rice-legume integration (green grams, soya beans, chickpeas) among rice farmers.
The project also aims at increased access to inputs and output markets for rice products, by-products and legumes and the increased adoption and utilisation of products and by-products from rice and other complementary farm enterprises.
R4iCSA II will provide evidence-based knowledge products on circular and regenerative practices, documented and shared to influence policy shifts.
New strategy to tackle production
Climate events, which destroy crops and disrupt food transport, are disproportionately high on the African continent. The toll of extreme weather events such as drought and floods on crops underscores the region’s challenges and need for research and policies to save lives and livelihoods.
Food prices are especially vulnerable to climate change because of a lack of resilience to climatic events and food-import dependence. Targeted government involvement such as supporting research and development in building resilience and agricultural productivity helps alleviate the situation.
EAC partner states have recently developed a new strategy to address low and poor production of rice in the region. The new strategy is intended to mitigate the challenge of growing import dependence and to facilitate intra-regional trade.
Supported by the Coalition for African Rice Development, the EAC Rice Development Strategy (ERDS) endeavours to improve the consolidation of the EAC partner states’ rice sub-sector development efforts. The ERDS was adopted by the EAC Sectoral Council on Agriculture and Food Security in May 2023.