Description

The overall objective is to develop food production systems promoting Sustainable Intensification in representative farming systems of different agro-climatic areas of East (Ethiopia, Kenya and Tanzania) and West (Burkina Faso, Ghana, Sierra Leone) Africa through integrated participative researches and innovative tools (Farmers Field Research Units - FFRU, ICT, Integrated Pest and Disease Management - IPDM) and, consequently, to realize an interregional African “belt” able to promote Sustainable Intensification by assessing and exchanging best practices and experiences among different contexts. Particularly, EWA-BELT addresses key environmental conditions and food security/food quality issues related to low crop yield, livestock feeding and welfare, soil fertility decline and erosion, land degradation and overgrazing, nutrient depletion, inadequate crop varieties adapted to changing environment, pre and post-harvest losses, over exploitation of natural resources, water quality, weak market linkage, weak link between research extension and farmers, gender issues. The project will enhance the current scientific knowledge on adaptation and improvement of traditional crops in different agroecosystems and the impacts of traditional agricultural practices on soil health in terms of nutrients, water retention and organic matter content. EWA-BELT will also investigate the introduction of innovative and appropriate plant protection technologies in the IPDM for key crops and the identification of a set of indicators to be used in the assessment of the Sustainable Intensification approach impacts considering both the environmental health and, synergically, economic and social aspects