Work Made Possible Through a $1,350,000 USAID-Backed Grant

MANHATTAN, Kan. – A team of Kansas State University scientists will soon use their knowledge of agronomy, agricultural economics, biology and plant pathology to improve food security through work with scientists and farmers in Mali and Ghana in West Africa.

“The challenges to increase yields, improve ecosystem services, and increase farm profitability in West Africa largely revolve around environmental and economic restraints,” said P.V. Vara Prasad. Prasad, who is an associate professor of agronomy and director of the Great Plains Sorghum Improvement and Utilization Center at K-State, is the lead principal investigator on the team. “Improving ecosystem services, with a focus on soil quality and water quantity will require the adoption of crop rotations that employ conservation agriculture practices (CAPs) such as reduced tillage, crop residue, legume cover crop, and integrated nutrient, water and pest management practices.”

Sub-Saharan Africa is the only region in the world where the number of undernourished people, as well as poverty and hunger, are on the increase, Prasad said. Because agriculture is the backbone of most African economies, investment in agriculture is key to reducing poverty, providing food security and supporting  economic growth and peace in that region.

The goal in this research, he said, is to provide food security by increasing economic returns to “smallholder” farming households who depend on rain-fed agriculture. “Smallholder” farms are typically a few acres on which a family grows crops. Most of the crops typically would be used to feed the family.

The research is made possible through a $1,350,000 grant from the Sustainable Agriculture and Natural Resource Management Collaborative Research Support Program (SANREM CRSP), which is funded by the United States Agency for International Development, also known as USAID.

To reach the goal, Prasad said, the team will determine which conservation agricultural practices contribute to productivity. The team will study positive and negative aspects of various conservation agricultural practices. Outreach, networking and capacity building will be part of the project.

The K-State team will collaborate with scientists at Savanna Agricultural Research Institute in Ghana and Institute d’Economic Rurale in Mali.

“This project will improve food security by increasing economic returns to small farm households using rain-fed production systems in western Africa,” said Fred Cholick, dean of K-State’s College of Agriculture and director of K-State Research and Extension. “In addition, we will gain knowledge about a production system that will benefit the citizens in the U.S., making it a win-win.”  

 

“K-State’s College of Agriculture has a long and distinguished history of involvement in international research, education, and development programs throughout the world, especially in Africa,” said Nina Lilja, director of International Agricultural Programs at K-State, and one of the co-principal investigators on the project. “Our past efforts in Africa include, in addition to educating agricultural leaders from many countries, several major ‘institution building’ projects and often in partnership with USAID.

An important objective today is to build on these past investments and institutional linkages,” she added. “The agricultural research capacity has remained relatively less developed on the African continent. This represents a major constraint to future development of the agricultural sector. In recent years, our efforts in West Africa particularly have been through our participation in INTSORMIL CRSP (International Sorghum and Millet Collaborative Research Support Program). K-State agriculture can provide additional support to training future generations of African agricultural researchers, and they can contribute to research of major agricultural development constraints on the continent through collaborative programs, such as this new SANREM CRSP.”

Lilja said that improving capacity building of national agricultural research programs in Ghana and Mali is an important component of this project: “We will provide long-term training to African scientists by enrolling them in master and doctoral degree programs at K-State.”

Challenges facing the K-State team include low soil fertility in parts of Ghana and rainwater runoff in Mali.

“In fact 50 to 60 percent of rainfall during the months of March to May is lost to runoff,” Prasad said. “Runoff often causes sand sedimentation which is detrimental to crops and the environment, plus the runoff takes away about 40 percent of nutrients applied to soil through organic and mineral sources of fertilizer.”

The researchers will work with farmers on discovering new crop rotations for their area and to determine the appropriate use of cover crops to improve crop productivity in West Africa. 

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