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Sustainable Food Security Systems Short Course
by ACTS at ICRAF Campus, Nairobi. 23rd - 27th January 2006
Report by
Patricia Karani and Nancy Rapando

ACTS (African Centre For Technology Studies) Institute of Science and Technology is an intergovernmental association that tries to give opportunity to various development stake holders like the NGOs, Government officials, state corporations, private sector and research bodies to learn on how to integrate science and technology into a national development policy. Food security in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) has become an issue of great concern with countries like Kenya being highly hit by hunger. Hunger persists primarily because food insecure people are unable to obtain access to the food that is available, which is now the situation in Kenya . This problem of hunger amidst plenty is a global one.

Around 40 participants were drawn from the government ministries and other state corporations, the private sector, NGOs, farmers' organizations, Research institutions, Universities and media house, from Kenya and Uganda ,. Presenters came from the institute, universities and consultancy agencies.

One of the factors that has triggered low food production in SSA is the small amount of land under production (arable land). Farmers are also facing a crisis of inadequate knowledge caused by slow technology adoption and low rates of knowledge dissemination by the researchers and extension agents. Selective and single sectoral food production also emerged to contribute towards food insecurity. Kenya has always advocated for maize production as food is always seen in terms of availability of maize products. This has made people to only select production of what they consume, not thinking of producing for the market, i.e., market oriented production. Farmers in SSA always farm as a tradition, and not as an enterprise, leading to land depletion problems and wasteful land use - since they do not carry out proper utility of land as a resource. Cash crop farming has dominated most arable areas, not giving room for subsistence farming of other crops, as there are no policies to encourage subsistence agriculture in places where cash crop farming is practiced.

Food insecurity as a result of poor nutrition (malnutrition and under nutrition) featured distinctively in our discussion. Nutritional problems, it was said, are related to nutrients availability and accessibility. These have been as a result of the government advocating for single sector production, where most communities depend on maize for their nutritional upkeep. Food selection habits brought about by socio-cultural factors and poor food preparation have also contributed to nutritional insecurity. Encouraging cultivation and consumption of indigenous foods is important, as these have acted as good and available sources of micronutrients. Coming up with a school feeding program was paramount in solving nutritional problems among school-going children, who are highest hit by malnutrition. Food insecurity problem at the nutritional level called upon developmental stake holders to take an active role on food fortification both at the production and processing levels.

Poor knowledge adoption by the end user was discussed as a prime factor contributing to food insecurity in Kenya . In the discussion, donor dictated research that did not take into account the demands of the end user (community) inhibited technological adoption. The issue of poor linkage between researcher's extension staff and the community has made knowledge availability to the end user inadequate. There is an aspect of community participation lacking from the time of project initiation to the time of project implementation and adoption by the end user. This made the bottom up approach to research and extension be encouraged so that the community participates fully, from the beginning to the end as these ends up making the project more sustainable. The case studies tackled during the seminar acted as an eye opener to the prevailing food insecurity issues in Sub Saharan Africa. Knowledge adoption by the end user was addressed using two case studies. One was the Earth University in Latin America , where university students gave practical answers to food insecurity through close linkage with the end users which is lacking in our Kenyan universities. The other was an example from India referred to as “Good Science Needs Institutional Innovation: The case of the Andhra Pradesh – Netherlands biotechnology program”. This case study explores a project designed to build and deploy biotechnological capacity, but to do so in participatory ways that are relevant to the resource-poor farmer. Researchers, NGOs, the community members, private sector and other stake holders were involved in this community development project from the initial stage of need identification, to coming up with the appropriate knowledge in the lab, to adoption.

Food production at the farm level was to be encouraged by increasing arable land through irrigation and availing credit facilities in terms of farm inputs and implements to the farming community, supporting the vulnerable groups (women and youths) in acquiring land use rights.

Post harvest losses have been approximated at 40%. There was need to a dress this issue as most farmers either handle the harvested produce poorly, or they lack proper storage facilities. Reduction of post harvest losses was advocated for through education on proper produce handling, carrying out co-operative or group produce storage. An example is the cereal banking where the farmer groups can make use of government storage facilities like warehouses.

Marketing and distribution of agricultural products was seen as a problem that contributed to food insecurity in some areas as was evident at the time when Kitale had a surplus production, whereas those in North Eastern had an extreme deficit. This therefore called upon the Government to improve infrastructure so as to reduce production and marketing costs. There is also need to reduce market barriers on the export market to allow small holder farmers to participate freely. Co-operative and group marketing was discussed as a marketing intervention by the communities.

During the training, participants came up with school feeding interventions as a solution to nutritional problems of school-going children, a comparison was also made between East African universities and the Earth university whose curriculum was based on solving food insecurity problems with the community by living in the community, and the possibility of coming up with the Earth model university in East Africa. At the end of the course participants came up with policy interventions that acted as a future strategy towards sustainable food security in SSA. It came out evidently that for any development to take place including sustainable food security systems must take into account political will as they are the policy makers. Women empowerment remains an important aspect since they are the rural people most affected by poverty; however women are efficient when involved in the whole food chain from production to the nutritional level.

Rural Outreach Program's Participation in the International Training Program on Competitive Agricultural Systems and Enterprises, Sogakope , Ghana

From 3 rd to 7 th April 2006, Rural Outreach Program (ROP) participated in an international training program on Competitive Agricultural Systems and Enterprises (CASE), in Sogakope , Ghana . ROP was represented by Shadrack Oiye, Fanuel Ashiembi and Margaret Achitsa. Other participants from Kenya were Philomena Chege from the Ministry of Agriculture and Steven Mutunga from the East African Farmers Federation (EAFF). They joined the ROP team because of the collaboration and good network that ROP has with the government and other NGOs. Other countries that were represented were Ghana , Nigeria , Togo and Malawi . The program was sponsored by the International Center for Soil Fertility and Agricultural Development (IFDC).

Agricultural production and related industries already are and will continue to be the backbone of economic growth and food security in most of the developing countries for the next coming decades. However, to support increasing rural and urban populations, agricultural production needs to intensify and become more market oriented, both domestically and internationally. To accomplish this, there is an urgent need to identify promising ‘‘bottom-up” pathways of intensification and agribusiness development.

The training's objective was to develop skills to analyze and improve the design and implementation of regional strategies on competitive agricultural production systems and enterprises involving multiple stakeholders. It targeted professional development and private sector specialists involved in agricultural and agribusiness development in developing countries. New knowledge, tools, and methods for agricultural intensification and agribusiness development, including institutional and policy issues, were presented by IFDC and invited guest lecturers. Participants were able to strengthen practical skills through the analysis and elaboration of real-life cases, and through group and simulation games.

The training was based on the CASE (Competitive Agricultural Systems and Enterprises) approach developed by IFDC and its partner institutions. The CASE approach is grounded in experiential learning theories, and fosters agricultural intensification and

market development by using a commodity chain approach. The central principle behind CASE approach is that the competitive advantages of particular regions can be greatly increased through a three- fold strategy: (1) Focusing on wee-targeted ‘industry' clusters( e.g., groups of enterprises and facilitating services involved in particular commodity value chains- located within the region) ; (2) Strengthening technical , managerial, and organizational capacities of the major stakeholders involved in input supply, crop and livestock production, post –harvest handling and marketing , and in related business development services; and (3) Facilitating efficient linkages among them. The training was composed of four inter-related modules;

• Development of competitive strategies at the enterprise level (including farm, processing enterprises, input dealers).

• Analysis of competitive and competitive advantages at the regional level by using Porter's diamond of competitiveness and the concept of industry clusters.

• Organizational Strengthening/ Institutional Development (OS/ID): When markets are thin and poorly developed, the focus needs to be on innovative institutional arrangements to improve coordination among all actors along the commodity chain.

• Communication for innovation: Facilitation of ‘experiential' and social learning, networking and lobbying.

After the training, participants were able to analyse opportunities and constraints for commodity chain development within specific target regions and to develop and implement plans to technical, managerial, and networking skills of the various stakeholders involved. The ultimate objective of this exercise was to develop proposals, (post-workshop) for agricultural intensification and competitive enterprise development. The group from Kenya chose to work on African Leafy Vegetables (ALVs).