Deployment of Maize technologies in Western Kenya: An outcome case study report. TAAT MEL working document No. 002

Abstract

The Technologies for African Agricultural Transformation ( TAAT ) is a program initiated by the African Development Bank (AfDB) as part of its Feed Africa Initiative. The main objective of the program is to improve the business of agriculture across Africa by raising agricultural productivity and improving farmer livelihoods by mitigating risks and promoting diversification and processing across nine agricultural commodity value chains within eight identified Priority Intervention Areas (PIA). The program is implemented by IITA in close partnership with other CGIAR Centers, specialized technical centers (e.g. African Agricultural Technology Foundation (AATF), International Fertilizer Development Center (IFDC) etc), Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa (FARA), national agricultural research and extension systems (NARES) and private sector partners. TAAT is not a research program but is rather an initiative focused on scaling high-performance food production technologies to millions of farmers in a commercially sustainable way through a network of strategic partners. Technical coordination of the program is provided by the TAAT Clearinghouse, a semi-autonomous unit in the program's management structure serving as an honest broker in the identification and assessment of proven technologies and products that are ready for widespread dissemination, as well as linking these technical opportunities to wider national investment development agendas. The TAAT program increases agricultural productivity through the deployment at scale of and high-performance agricultural technologies along selected value chains. TAAT operates as a network of interacting with nine devoted to specific commodity value chains, and six others serving as Enablers that provide needed specialist services. The nine (9) value chain Compacts are rice, maize, cassava, wheat, sorghum & millet, orange-flesh sweet potato, high-iron beans, small ruminants & poultry, and aquaculture. The six (6) enabler Compacts are soil fertility management, water management, capacity building, seed policy, fall army worm control, and youth in agribusiness Compacts each of which provides enabling services to the nine commodity value chains. The TAAT Maize Compact is led by the African Agricultural Technology Foundation (AATF) in collaboration with the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA). The TAAT Maize Compact aims to disseminate water-efficient maize hybrids as a climate-smart option across the continent to improve the productivity of maize farmers. Included in the technology package deployed by the Maize compact is licensing of hybrids to seed producers that provide an avenue for mass dissemination. Through outreach campaigns and knowledge-sharing efforts, the Compact deploys across agro-ecological zones to reach the Compact's intended 2,000,000 million beneficiaries. The establishment of technology demonstrations in the fields stimulates interest by showing the positive impact of the technologies to the farmers and then used to leverage resources from African Countries for long-term implementation and sustainable national programs. Implementation through national agricultural investment programs is the only way to ensure the sustainability of technology delivery. It shall be noted that the TAAT Maize Compact technologies are supported by a very strong ecosystem of Public-Private Partnerships (PPP) seen through the participation of commercial seed companies working in partnership with farmer groups, commodity associations, and National Agricultural Research Systems (NARS). Primary beneficiaries of the maize technology dissemination efforts are smallholder farmers. The technologies deployed and promoted include: Elite Water Efficient Maize for Africa varieties (WEMA) Appropriate fertilizer blends Optimal maize planting density Efficient pest and weed management Post-harvest management Supportive marketing Mechanization Promoting good agricultural practices on the field. In Kenya, maize is the main staple food, yet it continues to face several challenges undermining its production to meet full self-sufficiency including drought, diseases, and pests such as the Fall Armyworm (FAW), Striga parasitic weed, and the Maize Lethal Necrosis Disease (MLND). In collaboration with its partners, the TAAT Maize Compact deployed several climate-smart maize technologies, optimal planting density, weed management, fertilizer blends, and pest and disease management technologies to facilitate the delivery mechanism of such technologies to farmers and scale them out across the country. The ground-truthing mission team observed that the intervention of the TAAT Maize Compact has benefited from a strategic ecosystem of partnerships that have contributed to increased yields for farmers that has, in turn, resulted in strong linkages and trust with local millers. Millers offer to farmers ready markets to sell out their produce When compared to maize landraces, farmers are also expecting to sell a bag of 90Kg of grains for 3,000KES giving them a marginal benefit (profit) of 1,000KES. This expected high price is due to the current maize shortages. To back up testimonials and information given by farmers during the TAAT Maize MEL mission in Western Kenya, the team opted to review journals from previous studies on the farmer adoption and on-farm performance of DroughtTEGOTM (We1101).