Threats to food sufficiency among smallholder farmers in Choma,Zambia

Relationships involving maize (Zea mays) production, maize retained for household consumption, household maize requirement, household size, rainfall and temperatures were assessed in order to explain food insufficiency among smallholder farmers in Choma, Zambia. Post-harvest agricultural data for 1976 to 2014 were collected from the Central Statistics Office while a survey of 319 smallholder farmers and eight key informants provided data on mean annual household maize requirements and crop preference. Despite maize production in Choma increasing at an annual rate of 230.8 t/year, maize insufficiency persisted as maize retained for household consumption could not sustain the 185.2 kg per capita maize requirement by farmers in the area. While extending the maize area planted was responsible for increasing annual maize production by 1.8 t for each additional ha planted, Choma’s annual percentage population increase was larger at 2.6%, requiring an increase of 821 t/year for maize sufficiency. Maize produced was usually enough for annual consumption before sales. However, farmers sold about 50% of what they produced making the amount of maize retained for household consumption insufficient. Government incentives attached to maize production and marketing encouraged a maize-centric farming culture among farmers. Maize which had a guaranteed market from the Zambia Food Reserve Agency was allocated 73.4% of the available land over the study period. The maize centric system has encouraged mono-cropping of maize. Farmer preference for maize, rooted in cultural norms, further encouraged maize mono-cropping at the expense of food sufficiency. In conclusion, government incentivising production and marketing of other agronomically suitable crops for the region could reduce food insufficiency.     

Farmers’ response to soaring food prices in the Arab region

Sharp increases in food commodity prices in 2007–2008 led to impacts on food security and poverty worldwide. This paper discusses the impacts on smallholder farmers in six Arab countries that all suffer, to varying degrees, from water scarcity, poverty and food insecurity. The analysis is based on a survey covering more than 1000 rural households in Egypt, Jordan, Morocco, Sudan, Syria and Yemen. It examines government responses to the price spike, price transmission from international to local markets, and farmers’ production decisions in response to these price changes. It also discusses how smallholder farmers, given the right policy support, could benefit from new opportunities offered by higher commodity prices. Higher international prices were transmitted to domestic markets in all six countries. The price transmission was high and immediate in countries with the least intervention in food markets. In countries with more interventions on imports and/or domestic food prices, the connection between international and domestic prices was generally low. The ability of smallholder farmers to benefit from higher domestic prices was limited by various factors: drought, higher input prices (especially fertilizer), and the timing of the price increases in relation to the crop cycle. The study makes several recommendations to enable smallholder farmers to better respond to market signals. These include better timing of announcement of policy decisions regarding price supports, better access to credit, safety nets to protect the poorest households, improved management of water resources, and simple financial instruments to protect against price volatility.     

Exploring the profitability of improved storage technologies and their potential impacts on food security and income of smallholder farm households in Tanzania

This study assesses the profitability of selected improved grain storage technologies and the potential impact of their adoption on food security and income of smallholder maize producers in Tanzania. We used on-farm experiment data, time series maize price data, and household survey data to address the objectives. For the improved technologies, we considered Purdue Improved Crop Storage (PICS) bags, metallic silos of different sizes, and polypropylene (PP) bags treated with Actellic Super®. We compared them with PP bags without insecticide treatment as the control. Results show that PICS bags and PP bags plus Actellic Super are profitable in all locations and not significantly different. While the feasible period varies by location, profit is most likely negative if farmers sell their maize in the first two months after harvest and in the last two months before the next harvest. There are mixed results with regards to the profitability of metallic silos; bigger silos are profitable for farmers who have economies of scale to use them while smaller ones are profitable only within the context of higher grain price and bigger seasonal price gap. The results also show that PICS bags (or PP bags plus Actellic Super) are useful to address food security and income objectives among poor rural households whereas metallic silos with bigger storage capacity can increase the income of those farmers who have bigger surplus grain to sale.     

Impact of improved maize adoption on household food security of maize producing smallholder farmers in Ethiopia

In recent years, maize has gained prominence as an important staple crop in Ethiopia second only to teff in terms of acreage. Most of this is grown by semi-subsistence farm households whose livelihoods are tied to crop production and some livestock keeping. Therefore, an important policy question concerns the impact that the reported maize revolution has had on household food security. This paper answers that question by examining the empirical regularities that explain the adoption of improved maize varieties (IMVs) and how this has impacted household food security in a sample of 2327 maize producing households in 39 districts of Ethiopia. An endogenous switching regression model supported by the dose-response continuous treatment effect method was used to empirically assess the impact of IMV adoption on per capita food consumption expenditure and perceived household food security status. Results show that IMV adoption has a robust and positive impact on per capita food consumption and also significantly increases the probability of a smallholder being in food surplus. The advances in the adoption of improved maize has thus contributed significantly to the food security of maize producing smallholders, confirming the role of crop improvement in contributing to food security of agrarian households.     

Crops that feed the world 6. Past successes and future challenges to the role played by maize in global food security

Maize is one of the most important food crops in the world and, together with rice and wheat, provides at least 30% of the food calories to more than 4.5 billion people in 94 developing countries. In parts of Africa and Mesoamerica, maize alone contributes over 20% of food calories. Maize is also a key ingredient in animal feed and is used extensively in industrial products, including the production of biofuels. Increasing demand and production shortfalls in global maize supplies have worsened market volatility and contributed to surging global maize prices. Climatic variability and change, and the consequent rise in abiotic and biotic stresses, further confound the problem. Unless concerted and vigorous measures are taken to address these challenges and accelerate yield growth, the outcome will be hunger and food insecurity for millions of poor consumers. We review the research challenges of ensuring global food security in maize, particularly in the context of climate change. The paper summarizes the importance of maize for food, nutrition and livelihood security and details the historical productivity of maize, consumption patterns and future trends. We show how crop breeding to overcome biotic and abiotic stresses will play a key role in meeting future maize demand. Attention needs to be directed at the generation of high yielding, stress-tolerant and widely-adapted maize varieties through judicious combination of conventional and molecular breeding approaches. The use of improved germplasm per se will not, however, be enough to raise yields and enhance adaptation to climate change, and will need to be complemented by improved crop and agronomic practices. Faced with emasculated state extension provision and imperfect markets, new extension approaches and institutional innovations are required that enhance farmers’ access to information, seeds, other inputs, finance and output markets. Over the long-term, large public and private sector investment and sustained political commitment and policy support for technology generation and delivery are needed to overcome hunger, raise the incomes of smallholder farmers and meet the challenges of growing demand for maize at the global level.     

Relative severity of aflatoxin contamination of cereal crops in West Africa.

Aflatoxins are a common contaminant of cereals that can cause cancer, liver disease, immune suppression, retarded growth and development, and death, depending on the level and duration of exposure. Maize is an introduced crop to Africa and there have been efforts over the last 20 years or so to replace traditional cereal crops, such as sorghum (Sorghum bicolor) and pearl millet (Pennisetum glaucum), with maize. We found that maize was significantly more heavily colonized by aflatoxin-producing Aspergillus spp. than either sorghum or millet, with overall aflatoxin levels being correspondingly higher. On average, Nigerians consume 138 kg cereals annually. If the primary cereal is sorghum instead of maize, then the risk of aflatoxin-related problems is reduced 4-fold; if it is pearl millet, then the risks are reduced 8-fold. Development programs and other ventures to increase maize production in marginal cropping areas of Africa should be reconsidered and, instead, efforts to improve/maintain traditional crops encouraged.     

The evaluation and adoption of annual legumes by smallholder maize farmers for soil fertility maintenance and food diversity in central Malawi

We studied the process of assessment and adoption of 10 grain- and green-manure legumes by smallholder maize farmers differing in resource endowment in Chisepo, central Malawi. The legumes had been promoted with the farmers from 1998 to 2004, primarily as a way to diversify food production and maintain the fertility of their soils. Farmers (n?=?136) were surveyed in 2004 at the end of the period of promotion to assess the degree of awareness and uptake of the legumes and the reasons for adoption. A follow-up survey was conducted in 2007 among a broader sample of Chisepo farmers (n?=?84) to measure the persistence of adoption. An Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) was used in 2004 to create scales of priority and as a tool to compare predicted with actual legume uptake. Actual adoption of food grain legumes reflected predictions by the AHP but it over-predicted uptake of the non-food legumes. The AHP helped us understand how farmer perceptions and needs influence adoption, as well as limitations with the legumes. Suitability for food was the most important criterion that farmers identified for adoption, followed by contribution to soil fertility and suppression of weeds. Over 75 % of the farmers surveyed in 2004 were aware of most of the legumes. Frequent use of the grain legumes was reported in 2004 (79 % for CG7 groundnut, 77 % for soyabean and 47 % for pigeonpea) by both the better-resourced (wealthier) and less-well-resourced (poorer) farm households. Awareness rose to over 90 % of farmers surveyed in 2007 but adoption fell somewhat to 67 % for soyabean, 57 % for CG7 groundnut and 43 % with pigeonpea among the wealthier farmers, while Bambara groundnut rose to 38 %. Fifty-two percent of poorer farmers reported adoption of CG7, 46 % soyabean, 35 % Bambara groundnut and 27 % pigeonpea in 2007. There was greater uptake by the wealthier farmers than those with fewer resources. Overall, although the legumes were promoted for maintenance of soil fertility, farmers were largely interested in and mainly adopted those legumes they considered most useful for food diversity and security, and with potential for market sale. Only a few wealthier farmers used mucuna and tephrosia among the green manure legumes. Improving the food value of vigorous and productive multi-purpose legumes, particularly mucuna, may help raise the farmers’ interest, with secondary benefits for soil fertility.     

Evergreen Agriculture: a robust approach to sustainable food security in Africa

Producing more food for a growing population in the coming decades, while at the same time combating poverty and hunger, is a huge challenge facing African agriculture. The risks that come with climate change make this task more daunting. However, hundreds of thousands of rain fed smallholder farmers in Zambia, Malawi, Niger, and Burkina Faso have been shifting to farming systems that are restoring exhausted soils and are increasing food crop yields, household food security, and incomes. This article reviews these experiences, and their broader implications for African food security, as manifestations of Evergreen Agriculture, a fresh approach to achieving food security and environmental resilience. Evergreen Agriculture is defined as the integration of particular tree species into annual food crop systems. The intercropped trees sustain a green cover on the land throughout the year to maintain vegetative soil cover, bolster nutrient supply through nitrogen fixation and nutrient cycling, generate greater quantities of organic matter in soil surface residues, improve soil structure and water infiltration, increase greater direct production of food, fodder, fuel, fiber and income from products produced by the intercropped trees, enhance carbon storage both above-ground and below-ground, and induce more effective conservation of above- and below-ground biodiversity. Four national cases are reviewed where farmers are observed to be applying these principles on a major scale. The first case involves the experience of Zambia, where conservation farming programmes include the cultivation of food crops within an agroforest of the fertilizer tree Faidherbia albida. The second case is that of the Malawi Agroforestry Food Security Programme, which is integrating fertilizer, fodder, fruit, fuel wood, and timber tree production with food crops on small farms on a national scale. The third case is the dramatic expansion of Faidherbia albida agroforests in millet and sorghum production systems throughout Niger via assisted natural regeneration. The fourth case is the development of a unique type of planting pit technology (zai) along with farmer-managed natural regeneration of trees on a substantial scale in Burkina Faso. Lastly, we examine the current outlook for Evergreen Agriculture to be further adapted and scaled-up across the African continent.     

Traditional maize post-harvest management practices amongst smallholder farmers in Guatemala

Much of the maize that is produced in Guatemala is planted, harvested and handled via subsistence-oriented agricultural practices, strongly connected to Mayan heritage. This post-harvest assessment study was done to characterize the current practices used in the region of Huehuetenango, Guatemala, in order to identify the different grain handling practices in the region as well as possible factors contributing to post-harvest losses of maize. A total of 280 families representing 14 rural communities were surveyed through interviews. Survey revealed that most (88%) of interviewed farmers prefer to dry the maize cobs after harvest by laying them in stacks exposed to direct sunlight. After drying, harvested maize is stored until consumption along with purchased maize kernels from the market. Among storage practices, 62% of surveyed families store the maize as shelled kernels; while 38% store it on cobs. When storing shelled maize, bags are the preferred containers among 81% of farmers, while only 14% use metal silos. Among farmers who stored maize on cobs, 74% use the tapanco as the preferred storage structure. Forty-one percent of farmers indicated storing the maize for at least 4 months. During the storage time, 61% of farmers perform grain quality checks once a week. Moreover, 65% perform pest control during storage; however, in most cases, the control is not preventive but corrective. For 49% of farmers, the main cause of loss between harvest and consumption is the mishandling of grain moisture, leading to insect and fungal infestation. With this data, it was possible to identify diverse maize harvesting, drying, storage and consumption practices within the studied communities. Understanding the traditional post-harvest practices will help better design intervention steps to improve these practices and to increase food security and food safety for smallholder farmers in the Guatemalan Highlands.     

Preferences for legume attributes in maize-legume cropping systems in Malawi

Adoption rates of leguminous crops remain low in sub-Saharan Africa despite their potential role in improving nutrition, soil health, and food security. In this study we explored Malawian farmers’ perceptions of various legume attributes and assessed how these perceptions affected allocation of land to legume crops using a logit link model. We found high regional variation in both consumption- and production-related preferences, but relatively consistent preferences across samples. While scientific understanding and farmer perceptions were aligned on some topics and for some legumes, there were discrepancies elsewhere, particularly in terms of soil fertility and nutrition. Understanding why these discrepancies exist and where there were potential biases are critical in explaining the extent of adoption. In many cases perceptions of legume attributes may be influenced by the cultural role of the crop in the household, particularly in terms of food security or market-orientation. The findings also suggest that researchers need to look beyond both the agronomic properties and farmers’ preferences to fully understand the extent of adoption. Socioeconomic factors, biases, and marketing concerns may also influence integration of legumes into maize-based cropping systems.     

Development of disease management recommendations for the durian and jackfruit industries in the Philippines using farmer participatory research

Promoting the adoption of improved technologies among smallholder farmers is a challenge faced by agricultural scientists and extension personnel around the world. In the southern Philippines, Phytophthora diseases severely affect the yields of durian and jackfruit. A limited understanding of these diseases among farmers and extension professionals compromises their effective management and significantly reduces yields. Recommended management interventions were rarely validated in field trials. A participatory research approach was used to collect information on current farming practices, identify industry constraints, and to develop and promote management strategies for smallholder durian and jackfruit growers. Farmers identified the development of effective disease management strategies as the highest priority so information on the biology, epidemiology and management of the suspected pathogen, Phytophthora, and other pests and diseases, was presented and discussed. Participants were then asked to propose and design research trials to diagnose the pathogen and to test simple management interventions on their crops. The trials were established and managed by participants and monitored by the group of growers, researchers and extension staff over 3 years. Responsibility for the on-farm trials encouraged participants to become directly involved in the research process, improving their skills in developing and critically assessing solutions for management of their orchards, and in decision-making processes. Results from the Participatory Action Research (PAR) trials were subjected to simple benefit-cost analyses and used to formulate a series of low-, medium- and high-input disease management packages. The low-input options included sanitation and manual pruning and weeding, and other activities requiring relatively low levels of time and financial investment. Medium- and high-input options required greater investment of time, resources and finances and included application of soil amendments, water management through construction of drainage channels and mounding, and the application of pesticides. The availability of a range of options facilitates the adoption of improved management by farmers from diverse backgrounds, resources and capacity.     

浅析生物有机肥中功能微生物对食品质量安全的影响

随着经济的快速发展和人们生活水平的不断提高,食品安全问题越来越受到人们的关注。在现代农业生产中,化学肥料的使用,为保证粮食稳产、高产等做出了重要的贡献,但粮食品质下降、生态污染、食品安全等一系列问题也随之显现。发展有机农业,生产安全、健康的绿色食品成为我国乃至世界农业发展的趋势。作为一种新型肥料,生物有机肥在粮食作物、经济作物、林业生产和园林绿化等领域均受到人们的重视。本文主要介绍了生物有机肥的功能微生物,论述了生物有机肥检测方面的问题和对食品质量安全等的影响,希望生物有机肥在减少化肥污染、改善生态环境、确保食品质量安全等方面发挥更好的作用。     

Synergies and tradeoffs between cash crop production and food security: a case study in rural Ghana

Despite dramatic improvements in global crop yields over the past half-century, chronic food insecurity persists in many parts of the world. Farming crops for sale (cash cropping) has been recommended as a way to increase income that can, in turn, improve food security for smallholder farmers. Despite long-term efforts by development agencies and government to promote cash cropping, there is limited evidence documenting a relationship between these crops and the food security of households cultivating them. We used a mixed methods approach to build a case study to assess these relationships by collecting quantitative and qualitative data from cacao and oil palm farmers in the Ashanti region of Ghana. Three dimensions of food security were considered: food availability, measured by the months in a year households reported inadequate food; food access, indicated by the coping strategies they employed to secure sufficient food; and food utilization, gauged by the diversity of household diets and anthropometric measurements of child nutritional status. We found significant negative relationships between each of these pillars of food security and a household’s intensity of cash crop production, measured by both quantity and area. A qualitative assessment indicated community perception of these tradeoffs and identified potential mechanisms, including increasing food prices and competing activities for land use, as underlying causes. The adverse relationship between cash crop production and household food security observed in this paper calls for caution; results suggest that positive relationships cannot be assumed, and that further empirical evidence is needed to better understand these tradeoffs.     

Evaluating the impact of improved maize varieties on food security in Rural Tanzania: Evidence from a continuous treatment approach

This paper investigates impact heterogeneity in the adoption of improved maize varieties using data from rural Tanzania. We used a generalized propensity-score matching methodology, complemented with a parametric econometric method to check the robustness of results. We found a consistent result across models, indicating that adoption increased food security, and that the impact of adoption varied with the level of adoption. On average, an increase of one acre in the area allocated to improved maize varieties reduced the probabilities of chronic and transitory food insecurity from between 0.7 and 1.2 % and between 1.1 and 1.7 %, respectively. Policies that increase maize productivity and ease farmers’ adoption constraints can ensure the allocation of more land to improved technologies and, in doing so, enhance the food security of households.     

Impact assessment of push-pull pest management on incomes,productivity and poverty among smallholder households in Eastern Uganda

The paper evaluates the impact of adoption of push-pull technology (PPT) on household welfare in terms of productivity, incomes and poverty status measured through per-capita food consumption in eastern Uganda. Push-pull is a habitat management strategy for the integrated management of stemborers, striga weeds and poor soil fertility involving the use of a natural repellent (push) and an attractant (pull). This biological technology simultaneously reduces the impact of three major production constraints to cereal-livestock farming in Africa ? pests, weeds and poor soil. Cross sectional survey data were collected from 560 households in four districts in the region (Busia, Tororo, Bugiri and Pallisa), in November and December 2014. Generalized propensity scoring (GPS) was used to determine the intensity of adoption of the technology (i.e., land area allocated to PPT) and also to estimate the dose-response function (DRF) relating intensity of adoption and household welfare. Results revealed that with increased intensity of reported adoption of PPT, the probability of being poor declined through increased maize yield per unit area, incomes, and per capita food consumption. However, its impact varied with the intensity of adoption. With an increase in the area allocated to PPT from 0.025 to 1 acre, average maize yield per unit area increased from 27 kg to 1400 kg, average household income increased from 135 US$ (Uganda Shilling (USh) 370,000) to 273 US$ (USh 750,000) and per capita food consumption increased from 15 US$ (USh 40,000) to 27 US$ (USh 75,000). The average probability of a household being poor (below a rural poverty line of US$ 12.71) declined from 48% to 28%. These findings imply that increased investment in the dissemination and expansion of PPT is essential for poverty reduction among smallholder farmers in Uganda.     

Post-harvest food losses in a maize-based farming system of semi-arid savannah area of Tanzania

An assessment of post-harvest handling practices and food losses in a maize-based farming system in semi-arid areas of Central and Northern Tanzania was carried out in 2012. Seventeen crops were mostly cultivated by the farmers in the surveyed areas; maize (32%), sunflower (16%) and pigeon peas (12%) were the most cultivated while maize was the most stored. There are at least 7 months between two harvest seasons of each crop; while farmers sold the crops soon after harvest to cater for household expenditure (54%) and school fees (38%), the market prices increased significantly (P ≤ 0.05) within six months of storage. Most processing activities (winnowing, dehulling, drying, sorting and shelling) were carried out manually, almost entirely by women, but mechanized processing for maize, sunflower, millet, and sorghum were commonly practiced. Quantitative post-harvest losses of economic importance occur in the field (15%); during processing (13–20%), and during storage (15–25%). The main storage pests responsible for the losses are larger grain borers (Prostephanus truncatus), grain weevils (Sitophilus granarius) and, the lesser grain borer (Rhyzopertha dominica). Most of the farmers considered changes in weather (40%), field damage (33%), and storage pests (16%) as the three most important factors causing poor crop yields and aggravating food losses. However, survey results suggest that the farmers' poor knowledge and skills on post-harvest management are largely responsible for the food losses. 77% of the surveyed farmers reported inadequate household foods and 41% received food aid during the previous year. Increasing farmers' technical know-how on adaptation of the farming systems to climate variability, and training on post-harvest management could reduce food losses, and improve poverty and household food security.     

Assessing the value of diverse cropping systems under a new agricultural policy environment in Rwanda

In Rwanda, farmers’ traditional farming systems based on intercropping and varietal mixtures are designed to meet a variety of livelihood objectives and withstand risks associated with fluctuation in market and agro-climatic conditions. However, these mixed systems have been disappearing since 2008 when government mandated intensification strategies. In this paper we use a mixed methods approach to evaluate intercropping and sole cropping systems against farmers’ criteria for success: yield, market value, contribution to nutritional quality, and land-use efficiency. We used qualitative interviews to understand the criteria by which farmers evaluate cropping systems, and data from crop trials to assess common bean ((Phaseolus vulgaris L.) and maize (Zea mays L.)) sole crops and intercrops against those criteria. We found that an improved intercropping system tends to outperform the government-mandated system of alternating sole-cropped bean and maize season-by-season, on all four of the criteria tested. Although Rwanda’s agricultural intensification strategy aims to improve rural livelihoods through agricultural modernization, it fails to acknowledge the multiple and currently non-replaceable benefits that diverse cropping systems provide, particularly food security and risk management. Agricultural policies need to be based on a better understanding of smallholders’ objectives and constraints. Efforts to improve farming systems require innovative and inclusive approaches that enable adaptation to the socio-ecological context.     

Social relationships impact adoption of agricultural technologies: the case of food crop varieties in Timor-Leste

Factors related to adoption of new agricultural technologies have been given increasing attention, especially in developing countries where such technologies offer opportunities to increase food production. One of the most immediate ways to improve food production significantly is through the adoption of high yielding varieties of food crops, but rates of adoption are often low, especially among the rural poor. In Timor-Leste, improved varieties of food crops with yield advantages across all agro-ecological zones have been introduced. However, despite yield advantages, suitability and high levels of food insecurity, discontinuance occurs and adoption rates are low. To identify factors related to adoption of the improved varieties across agro-ecological zones, binary logistic regression was performed on data collected from 1511 rural households. The results identified several factors related to adoption and showed that their impact varied across agro-ecological zones. The factor most strongly related to adoption was having a relationship to a grower of an improved variety of food crop and the closeness of this relationship. Furthermore, the following factors were related to adoption with variation across agro-ecological zones: age; education; size of farming plots; travel time between household and farming plot; involvement with the programme developing the improved varieties of food crops and participation in groups and training programmes. Overall, the findings of this study emphasize that dissemination strategies should embrace social relationships and be sensitive to agro-ecological zones.     

Moving in the right direction? The role of price subsidies in fertilizer use and maize productivity in Ghana

Despite major maize programs in the last two decades and costly investments in a price subsidy program in Ghana, maize productivity remains very low. Utilizing cross-sectional data on 645 maize plots in Ghana, this paper provides empirical evidence on the responsiveness of maize yield to fertilizer application, profitability of fertilizer use, and how the economics of fertilizer use have changed with the subsidy program. There was a statistically significant maize yield response to increased fertilizer application (i.e. 1-kg of nitrogen leads to a yield increase of 22–26 kg per hectare), higher than those estimated in other countries in Africa. Value-cost ratio shows that maize production with fertilizer is profitable both at market and subsidized prices in different locations and with different farming practices, even after incorporating risk into the estimation and analysis. However, despite subsidized prices and profitable fertilizer use, the actual application rate (at 44 kg/ha of nitrogen on average) is much lower than research institute’s and government recommendation and far off the computed economically “optimal” levels (at 225 kg/ha of nitrogen; where the fertilizer price intersects the value of marginal physical product derived from the yield response model). Results suggest that fertilizer prices do not seem to be the binding constraint in greater fertilizer application and productivity increases in maize; other factors appear to be major bottlenecks to greater fertilizer application and productivity increases including accessibility to modern varieties, mechanization, and hired labor. This result shows the limits to fertilizer subsidy as the focus strategy and suggests a more integrated and holistic approach to encourage greater fertilizer application, productivity and income among maize farmers in Ghana.     

Improving food security through agricultural research and development in Timor-Leste: a country emerging from conflict

Timor-Leste is a small, poor and predominantly-agricultural nation of less than 1 million people. Most families suffer from chronic food insecurity practising food rationing 1–6 months of the year. The small size of Timor-Leste, its recent birth as a nation and conflict history, together with little previous research on staple crops make it a unique crucible to test the effect of a major post-conflict initiative of agriculture research on national food security. Research started in 2000 with the introduction of germplasm of staple crops (maize, peanut, rice, cassava and sweet potato). Replicated trials confirmed by extensive evaluation in farmer-managed trials revealed significant yield advantages over the local cultivar in maize of 53%, in peanut of 31%, in rice of 23% and in sweet potato of 80%, accompanied by improvements in size and eating quality. Cultivars of maize (2), peanut (1), rice (1) and sweet potato (3) were released in 2007. One year later an early adoption study of 544 farmers involved in on-farm trials showed that 73% had re-grown new cultivars. Cultivar adoption not only increased household food security but often produced surpluses for sale in the market—sometimes for the first time. The project is planning to increase seed production and dissemination to move from a highly positive pilot-scale impact in six Districts to impact food security nationally.