Participatory Assessment of Climate Smart Agriculture (CSA) Practices

By: Joaquim Waite

The Resilient Agriculture and Market Activities Project in the Beira Corridor (RAMA_BC), in partnership with the Centro Zonal Centro (CZC) of the Institute of Agricultural Research of Mozambique (IIAM) in Mozambique, has been introducing and promoting various practices of climate-smart agriculture (CSA) aimed at reducing the vulnerability of small producers and dealing with climate change and its impact.

In the last four agricultural campaigns, several CSA demonstration fields were established in the provinces of Manica (districts of Sussundenga, Vanduzi, Gondola, Báruè, and Macate) and Sofala (districts of Nhamatanda, Buzi and Dondo), reaching about 20 thousand beneficiaries.

As a result of the use of intercropping of maize with new crops such as Canavalia and lab-lab, and intercropping of maize and pigeon peas, the producers involved in the RAMA-BC program have observed many advantages and feel motivated to use conservation agriculture. Producers face some challenges in implementing these practices. Still, with each campaign, there are sufficient reasons for replicating these practices on the producers' farms, as the demonstration fields have shown higher yields. Each year of project implementation, there is an increase in producers' awareness of the advantages and effectiveness of the main practices, including the use of improved seed. RAMA-BC has established partnerships and MoUs with seed companies, allowing access to improved seed in communities sold at subsidized prices.

One of the ways to increase the dissemination of CSA practices is the participatory evaluation of the different CSA practices promoted through the demonstration fields. Field days were held between March 15 and 18, 2022, in 4 communities in Báruè, Chimoio, Sussundenga and Nhamatanda. Among other objectives, the events aimed to showcase the advantages of climate-smart agriculture practices in farmer fields, show climate-resilient practices and show climate change resilient practices and encourage the use of seeds of tolerant and high-yield varieties by producers.

During the field days, IIAM highlighted the participatory evaluation of the practices promoted. In the evaluation, the participating producers had the opportunity to vote for their preferred treatment among the four options (maize and Canavalia intercropping, maize and lab-lab intercropping, maize and pigeon pea intercropping, and peasant practice) and evaluate the performance of the treatments in the different plots of the demonstration fields.

During the field day, the producers showed their preferences according to local needs, considering that weather conditions tend to change their crop production habits. However, one of the project's technicians assigned to the district of Nhamatanda said that of the four treatments they tried, the intercropping of maize and Canavalia is the most sought after by local farmers because it is more drought tolerant.

Maria da Luz, the socio-economist and Head of the Training, Documentation and Dissemination Department of the CZC, says that variations were observed in the preferences of the producers and performers of the treatments between the districts. It was possible to notice that producers of some districts prefer intercropping maize with pigeon peas while others prefer intercropping maize and Canavalia.

Delayed rains characterize the agricultural season. According to the producers, it affects the performance of crop yields and also leads to anxiety among community members.

Despite the lack of rain during the agricultural season, the producers confirm that production remains good due to the implementation of intercropping between maize and Canavalia and maize and pigeon pea in the demonstration fields, thus demonstrating their satisfaction with CSA practices.

It is worth noting that the producers call for their assistance in implementing techniques to ensure the proper use of technologies in their fields and access to inputs that have been one of the challenges in their day-to-day agricultural production. However, RAMA BC is already making great strides towards solving the problem.

Joaquim Waite is a Communication Officer at the Central Zonal Center of the Mozambique Agricultural Research Institute