CIMMYT’s role in developing the GAIA dashboard has played a pivotal role in guiding both public and private sector stakeholders to strategically allocate investments within the agricultural lime value chains in Tanzania, Ethiopia, and Rwanda.
Read the full story.
Balancing the application of fertilizers based on the characteristics of soil leads to increased crop productivity, income, and fertilizer use efficiency unlike former “one size fits all” recommendations, said Bedu Ram Bhushal, Nepal’s Minister of Agriculture and Livestock Development (MoALD) during a press briefing earlier this month in Nepal’s capital Kathmandu.
The site-specific recommendations applicable to maize, wheat, and rice were jointly launched with the Nepal Agricultural Research Council (NARC) and National Soil Science Research Center (NSSRC). They were implemented in collaboration with the Department of Agriculture (DoA) and led by the Nepal Seed and Fertilizer (NSAF) Project at the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT).
“I congratulate NARC for this historical work on updating the fertilizer recommendations after 46 years,” Bhushal said. “Now, we should support the large-scale adoption of these new recommendations by farmers for sustainable soil fertility management.”
Earlier recommendations developed by the Agricultural Chemistry and Soil Science Service Section under the Department of Agriculture (DoA) in 1976 did not take into account soil diversity, biophysical conditions, and agronomic management. Nutrients recommended for a particular crop were the same for terai lowlands, hills, and mountains.
In general, soil fertility changes over time due to deployment of continuous intensive cropping systems. The new recommendations consider the indigenous nutrient supply of soils, target yields, and the amount of nutrients removed by crops at harvest.
It took six years for NSSRC of NARC in partnership with NSAF, to update the recommendations through nutrient omission and optimum nutrient rate trials in various locations. By using advanced analytical methods and machine learning tools for extrapolating data across different agroecological zones and domains, they were able to make them site-specific.
Other factors considered, included attainable yield at a particular farm, soil fertility status, agro-climate, crop management practices, and the amount of nutrients to be supplied to fill the gap between crop nutrient removal and soil nutrient supply of nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium. Micronutrients and organic inputs were also considered.
These recommendations were presented to leading soil scientists and agronomists from NARC and MoALD and were validated at national meetings in July and October 2022.
The new recommendations were included in the DoA’s agriculture extension guidelines in 2023, to achieve potential yield at the farm level and to link with the extension system through the three-tier of governments for its extensive use throughout the country. The new approach is part of CIMMYT’s efforts to support the NARC, MoALD, provincial agriculture ministries, and farmers to build indigenous soil fertility management resources and capabilities and promote locally adapted strategies for long-term resilience by using integrated soil fertility management approaches.
Achieving greater food security requires a continued increase in global wheat yields, which the developing world plays a central role in meeting. Newly published research covering 60 years of wheat yield trends in the Yaqui Valley, Mexico, provides insights into how farmers can increase yields to address this need.
By dividing the 60-year interval into three 20-year periods between 1960-2019 and correcting farm yield for the strong influence of inter-annual variation in January to March minimum temperature, scientists from Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) and the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) have taken steps towards advancing the sustainability of the Valley’s wheat cropping system by studying farm yield for the irrigated spring wheat production environment.
Total yield increase, corrected for temperature and CO2 rise, relative to average yield in each period, was 4.17%, 0.47%, and 1.59% p.a. for 1960–79, 1980–99, and 2000–19, respectively. The breeding component, estimated by the increase in the Varietal Yield Index in farmers’ fields, rose at 0.97%, 0.49%, and 0.71% p.a., respectively. The remaining yield change (3.16, -0.02%, and 0.87% p.a., respectively) comprised the net effect of improved crop management (agronomic progress), plus that of off-farm changes.
In the first period, off-farm developments were bolstered by strong government financial support whereas developments in the second period were hindered by the breakdown of the traditional smallholder land system and withdrawal of government support. The final period experienced better prices and improved access to technical advice.
Wheat is likely to continue playing a dominant role in the Yaqui Valley for the next 20-year period, especially from potential yield increase through breeding. However, closing the yield gap is becoming more challenging due to fluctuations in energy price, goals to achieve net zero CO2 and environmental signals. The biophysical sustainability of the Valley’s wheat cropping system requires urgent actions through better fertilizer management, greater cropping diversity, integrated management of biotic threats, acceptance of no-till, residue retention and controlled traffic.
Lessons from the Yaqui Valley bear importance for global wheat security given that without area increase and new technologies, food security will increasingly depend on developing countries.
Read the full publication here: Sixty years of irrigated wheat yield increase in the Yaqui Valley of Mexico: Past drivers, prospects and sustainability
Cover photo: Workers sowing wheat into sorghum residue. (Credit: CIMMYT)
From chemical fertiliser shortages to lack of irrigation, farmers in Nepal have been facing a multitude of human-induced problems every year. The most urgent concern is the climate crisis.
Erratic weather patterns, untimely and uneven rainfall and rapidly rising temperatures have got farmers by the scruff of their necks.
For the farmers, such dramatic climate change manifests in the form of floods, droughts and landslides, directly hitting their agriculture-dependent livelihoods. For the nation as a whole, the climate crisis worsens food insecurity.
The tales of the climate crisis are petrifying. However, not all hope is lost.
Interventions such as climate resilient seeds that are tolerant to extreme climatic stresses like drought, flooding or submersion have been discovered and implemented in phases, according to scientists, to help sustain agricultural productivity.
“Due to the increasing climate change impacts, farmers are facing challenges to produce traditional seeds used during normal situations,” says AbduRahman Beshir Issa, seed systems lead at the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Centre, South Asia Office.
“In Nepal, farmers are witnessing both drought stress and excess moisture during the summer cropping season. In the spring season, high temperatures, coupled with drought stress, make it difficult for normal seeds or varieties to grow.”
With an increasing number of mouths to feed, and more pronounced effects of climate change yet to present themselves, climate-resilient seeds can help sustain Nepal’s agricultural productivity, according to crop development experts.
“Climate resilient seeds are crucial for food security. In addition, these crops are nutritionally important,” said Prakash Acharya, a senior crop development officer at the Seed Quality Control Centre. “With changing climate, not all crops and seeds can endure even two-three days of drought or submergence or extreme heat.”
Approximately 3 million hectares of land is cultivated in Nepal, which is 21 percent of the total land area. Rice, maize and wheat constitute more than 80 percent of cereal acreage and production.
The overall cereal yield in Nepal is 2.6 tonnes per hectare, which is far lower than the regional and global average of 4.1 tonnes per hectare, indicating an overall low productivity.
Paddy constitutes the highest production, commanding a 20.8 percent share in the agriculture gross domestic product (AGDP).
Nepal’s economic wellbeing is intimately linked with the monsoon. Water from the skies is the lifeblood of Nepal’s Rs4.85 trillion economy which is farm-dependent, as nearly two-thirds of the farmlands are rain-fed.
A large part of the country gets nearly 80 percent of its annual rainfall during the four months—June to September.
The production of food grains, mainly rice, depends on the amount and distribution of monsoon rainfall over the country. The monsoon rains also replenish ground water and reservoirs critical for drinking and power generation.
Analysing data from the past 33 years of minimum and maximum temperatures and rainfall, scientists predict drought to be the most important limiting factor for crop production, including paddy.
As paddy is sensitive to drought due to its high water requirement, scientists say there is a need for promoting “climate change-ready rice” that can tolerate drought for up to months.
For instance, research in Nawalparasi in the central Tarai found that the existing paddy varieties would not sustain the yield potential of the present level after 2020.
In October 2021, unusual weather patterns led to a torrential downpour lasting three days, causing massive loss of agricultural harvests and physical infrastructure across many parts of Nepal.
In 2020, in East Rukum, continuous rainfall from January to September decreased maize yield. The drought that followed then destroyed the wheat crop. Right after, the heavy rains also wiped out potatoes and maize.
Climate projections further suggest changes in precipitation during the monsoon period (with variations from 14 percent to 40 percent), as well as the increased likelihood of heavy precipitation events.
Experts are concerned that such unpredictable changes in weather patterns will lead to a decline in agricultural productivity, further worsening food insecurity in the region.
“We aren’t food secure right now as well. And with climate change, it is only getting worse. In the long run, the condition of food security in Nepal will be alarming,” says Yamuna Ghale, agriculture and food security policy analyst who is also research director at the Nepal Centre for Contemporary Research.
Around 65 percent of Nepal’s population depends on agriculture for its livelihood, which accounts for 25 percent of the GDP.
With the increasing population and declining agricultural productivity, experts say that Nepal could sooner or later face food insecurity.
“Everyone has the right to food. But the current situation indicates that a food shortage is looming,” said Ghale, who is also an expert at the Food Security Coordination Committee under the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development. “We have to focus on climate-smart alternatives now, beginning with climate-resilient seeds.”
Climate-resilient seeds can withstand extreme conditions brought about by climate change. For example, drought-tolerant seeds can sustain periods of dry conditions, and submergence-tolerant seeds can withstand flood stress.
For example, improved varieties like Sukkhaa Dhan 4, Sukkhaa Dhan 5 and Sukkhaa Dhan 6 have an average yield of 4-4.5 tonnes per hectare, and under good irrigation conditions, the output can go up to 5.5 tonnes per hectare on an average.
Sukkhaa 6 has the ability to re-grow even two weeks after submergence.
Swarna Sub-1, Sambha Mansuli Sub-1, Cherang Sub-1, Gangasagar-1, and Gangasagar-2 are submergence-tolerant paddy varieties.
Rice varieties like Bahuguni-1 and Bahuguni-2 are both drought and submergence tolerant.
Similarly, maize varieties that are drought tolerant, such as Deuti, Manakamana-5 and Manakamana-6 are also available. Rampur hybrid-10 and Rampur hybrid-12 are heat-tolerant varieties.
Seto Kaguno is a promising variety of foxtail millet that is drought-tolerant and extremely climate-resilient.
Paddy varieties which possess the “Sub1A” gene remain dormant during submergence, and conserve energy until the floodwaters recede. Paddy plants with the “Sub1A” gene can survive more than two weeks of complete submergence. The plant recovers well from drought by growing new shoots.
“A character is incorporated into existing rice varieties to make them stress-tolerant or climate-resilient. This makes them fare better than traditional crops,” said Acharya.
“In very recent years, because of climate change, we have begun researching drought- and submergence-tolerant seeds,” said Acharya.
These climate-smart varieties, which can survive under stress and retain desirable grain qualities, can create positive impacts on the lives of farmers, scientists say.
Since 1966, Nepal has released and registered 144 varieties of paddy seeds, according to the Agriculture Ministry.
Scientists say that a majority of these stress-tolerant varieties do not demand excess fertilisers or tillage methods.
The Nepal Agriculture Research Council (NARC) is spearheading various projects for producing and popularising drought- and submergence-tolerant seeds.
“Under USAID’s support, Nepal Seed and Fertiliser Project, paddy seeds which are drought and submergence tolerant are being produced and marketed in Nepal in partnership with the government and the private seed companies,” Issa said in an email.
The National Maize Research Programme of NARC has released heat stress-tolerant maize hybrids that can survive at high temperatures compared to traditional varieties.
Likewise, under the National Grain Legumes Research Programme of NARC, field testing of waterlogging-tolerant lentil varieties is being done to come up with varieties that can withstand excess moisture from unusual winter rains during the lentil growing season, according to Issa.
Despite the availability of stress-tolerant seeds, farmers are not much aware of the new varieties and are hesitant to adopt such seeds easily.
Due to lack of awareness, farmers hardly adopt new varieties and they prefer traditional varieties. Local governments too have failed to create awareness.
According to experts, Sukhaa Dhan 3, Samba Mansuli Sub-1 and Cherang Sub-1 are popular among farmers in the Tarai and mid-hills.
However, varieties like Bahuguni-2 have been rejected by farmers because “Nepali consumers prefer non-sticky, fluffy rice as opposed to sticky varieties,” experts say.
Despite being both drought and submergence tolerant, such varieties are not adopted by farmers.
“Farmers are enthusiastic about using new ways and techniques of farming, but local governments have completely ignored investing in agriculture,” said Ujjal Acharya, freelance researcher on climate change and environment economics.
“They have been more focused on building infrastructure, roads, bridges, temples and so on. Food security, climate resilient agriculture, organic farming—all do not fall within the priorities of local governments,” he said.
However, scientists acknowledge that climate resilient crop varieties are only a part of the solution of the bigger climate-resilient agricultural system.
“It is extremely important to develop climate-resilient crop varieties that can withstand extreme weather conditions, but seeds are just one part among the various solutions,” says Issa.
This piece by Aakriti Ghimire, was originally posted on The Kathmandu Post.
An international team of scientists has found that eco-friendly practices such as growing a range of crops, including legumes such as beans or pigeonpea, and adding plant residues or manure to soils can raise food crop yields in places such as rural Africa, where small-scale farmers cannot apply much nitrogen fertilizer.
Published in the science journal Nature Sustainability and examining data from 30 long-running field experiments involving staple crops (wheat, maize, oats, barley, sugar beet, or potato) in Europe and Africa, this major study is the first to compare farm practices that work with nature to increase yields and explore how they interact with fertilizer use and tillage.
“Agriculture is a leading cause of global environmental change but is also very vulnerable to that change,” said Chloe MacLaren, a plant ecologist at Rothamsted Research, UK, and lead author of the paper. “Using cutting-edge statistical methods to distill robust conclusions from divergent field experiment data, we found combinations of farming methods that boost harvests while reducing synthetic fertilizer overuse and other environmentally damaging practices.”
Recognizing that humanity must intensify production on current arable land to feed its rising numbers, the paper advances the concept of “ecological intensification,” meaning farming methods that enhance ecosystem services and complement or substitute for human-made inputs, like chemical fertilizer, to maintain or increase yields.
Boosting crop yields and food security for far-flung smallholders
The dataset included results from six long-term field experiments in southern Africa led by the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT). Africa’s farming systems receive on average only 17 kilograms of fertilizer per hectare, compared to more than 180 kilograms per hectare in Europe or close to 600 in China, according to Christian Thierfelder, a CIMMYT cropping systems agronomist and study co-author.
“In places where farmers’ access to fertilizer is limited, such as sub-Saharan Africa or the Central American Highlands, ecological intensification can complement scarce fertilizer resources to increase crop yields, boosting households’ incomes and food security,” Thierfelder explained. “We believe these practices act to increase the supply of nitrogen to crops, which explains their value in low-input agriculture.”
The CIMMYT long-term experiments were carried out under “climate-smart” conservation agriculture practices, which include reduced or no tillage, keeping some crop residues on the soil, and (again) growing a range of crops.
“These maize-based cropping systems showed considerable resilience against climate effects that increasingly threaten smallholders in the Global South,” Thierfelder added.
Benefits beyond yield
Besides boosting crop yields, ecological intensification can cut the environmental and economic costs of productive farming, according to MacLaren.
“Diversifying cropping with legumes can increase profits and decrease nitrogen pollution by reducing the fertilizer requirements of an entire crop rotation, while providing additional high-value food, such as beans,” MacLaren explained. “Crop diversity can also confer resilience to weather variability, increase biodiversity, and suppress weeds, crop pests and pathogens; it’s essential, if farmers are to improve maize production in places like Africa.”
Thierfelder cautioned that widespread adoption of ecological intensification will require strong support from policymakers and society, including establishing functional markets for legume seed and for marketing farmers’ produce, among other policy improvements.
“Dire and worsening global challenges — climate change, soil degradation and fertility declines, and scarcening fresh water — threaten the very survival of humanity,” said Thierfelder. “It is of utmost importance to renovate farming systems and bring us back into a safe operating space.”
Click here to read the paper, Long-term evidence for ecological intensification as a pathway to sustainable agriculture.
For more information or interviews:
Rodrigo Ordoñez, Communications Manager
Email: r.ordonez@cgiar.org
Tel: +52 55 5804 2004, ext. 1167
The International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) and the Rwanda Agriculture and Animal Resources Development Board (RAB) recently held a mid-term review and planning meeting on the Guiding Acid Soil Management Investments in Africa (GAIA) project.
The meeting aimed to track the progress made in the first year of the project’s implementation, identify challenges, document lessons learned, and develop an action plan for the following year, based on identified gaps and priorities.
In his welcoming remarks, RAB Director General Patrick Karangwa highlighted the close partnership between the two institutions.
“The workshop is not only about reviewing the progress but also about creating a strong partnership and interaction with each other to form a lasting togetherness that can later be useful for supporting each other in running the program’s activities of GAIA in the region,” he said.
Karangwa also noted the dynamism and enthusiasm of the GAIA team and partners, who made “remarkable successes” during a challenging period due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Along with plant nutrition and improved land management, healthier soils contribute to more productive and profitable smallholder enterprises. The GAIA project uses scalable innovations to provide reliable, timely and actionable data and insights on soil health and crop performance, at farm and regional levels.
The workshop brought together about 49 participant including regional program implementing partners, key stakeholders, and scientists from Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, and Zimbabwe to participate in more than 20 face-to-face and virtual presentations, breakout sessions, and team-building exercises.
“The key to project success is a strong partnership and collaboration with national and regional partners, particularly with private and public sectors ‘’ said Sieglinde Snapp, the director of the Sustainable Agrifood Systems (SAS) program at CIMMYT.
The participants addressed the work undertaken around eight work packages: spatial ex-ante analysis, adoption research on lime value chains, agronomy research for lime recommendations, support to the lime sector, policy support, coordination and advocacy, data use and management, and communication.
“We are encouraged by the progress made so far and expect to have a measurable impact in the next years. Let us feel comfortable to identify new area of research, based on the work conducted so far and national priorities” said Frédéric Baudron, GAIA project lead at CIMMYT.
GAIA is funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and implemented by CIMMYT in partnership with the Centre for Agriculture and Bioscience International; Dalberg; national agricultural research systems in Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, and Tanzania; the Southern Agricultural Growth Corridor of Tanzania; Wageningen University; and the University of California – Davis. The project aims to provide data-driven and spatially explicit recommendations to increase returns on investment for farmers, the private sector, and governments in Africa.
Once a world leading lentil producer, Nepal is now having to import them as farmers struggle with low productivity and warmer, wetter weather.
This could have serious implications in a country where lentils provide an important source of protein, especially for poor families.
Read more: https://www.thethirdpole.net/2020/11/25/climate-change-adds-to-woes-of-lentil-farmers-in-nepal/
Agriculture is largely feminized in Nepal, where over 80% of women are employed in the sector. As a result of the skills gap caused by male out-migration, many women farmers are now making conscious efforts to learn techniques that can help improve yields and generate greater income — such as balanced fertilizer application — with support from the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT).
Studies have shown that many farmers lack knowledge of fertilizer management, but balanced fertilizer application using the right ratio of nutrients is key to helping crops thrive Through the Nepal Seed and Fertilizer (NSAF) project, CIMMYT researchers are working towards promoting precision nutrient management through multiple trials and demonstrations in farmers’ fields.
Through this initiative, Dharma Devi Chaudhary, a smallholder farmer from Kailali district, has been able to increase her annual earnings by adopting balanced fertilizer application in cauliflower cultivation — a key cash crop for the winter season in Nepal’s Terai region.
Her inspiration to use micronutrients such as boron came from the results she witnessed during a CIMMYT-supported demonstration conducted on her land in 2018. During the demonstration, Chaudhary learned the principles of the four ‘Rs’ of nutrient stewardship: the right rate, the right time, the right source and the right placement of fertilizers. She became familiar with different types of fertilizer and the amount to be used, as well as the appropriate time and place to apply urea top-dressing, diammonium phosphate (DAP) and muriate of potash (MoP) for optimal utilization by the plant.
Chaudhary also learned how boron application can increase crop yields while helping prevent plant diseases, especially in cauliflower, where boron deficiency can lead to a disorder known as ‘dead heart’ and cause significant yield loss. This is particularly useful knowledge for farmers in Nepal, where the boron content in soil is generally low.
Benefitting from best practices
Cauliflower is cultivated on 615 hectares of land across Kailali and produces a yield of 15 tons per hectare — far less than the potential yield of 35-40 tons. As a standard practice, farmers in the area have been applying nitrogen, phosphorous and potassium (NPK) at a ratio of 27: 27.6: 9 kilograms per hectare and three tons of farmyard manure per hectare. During a CIMMYT-led demonstration on a small parcel of land, Chaudhary observed that balanced fertilizer application yielded about 64% more than when using her traditional practices, fetching her an income of $180 that season compared to her usual $109.
Following this demonstration, Chaudhary decided to independently cultivate cauliflower on a plot of 500 square meters, where she applied farmyard manure two weeks before transplantation and then used DAP, MOP, boron and zinc as a basal application during transplanting. She also applied urea in split doses, first at 25 days and then 50 days after transplantation. Using this technique, Chaudhary was able to yield 46 tons of cauliflower per hectare, nearly twice as much as was yielded by farmers using traditional practices. As a result, she was able to generate an income increase of $800 for her household, compared to the previous season’s earnings.
“I was able to buy education resources, clothing and more food supplies for my children with the additional income I earned from selling cauliflower last year,” said Chaudhary. “Learning about the benefits of using micronutrients is essential for smallholder farmers like me who are looking for ways to improve their farming business.”
Smallholder farmers tend to be risk averse, which can make technology adoption difficult. However, on-farm demonstrations help reduce the risks farmers perceive and facilitate new technology adoption easily by exhibiting encouraging results.
Chaudhary now serves as a lead farmer at Janasewa Krishak Multi-purpose Cooperative and supports the organization by disseminating knowledge on balanced fertilizer management practices to hundreds of farmers in her community. After seeing the impact of adopting the recommended techniques, the use of balanced fertilizer is reaping benefits for other farmers in her district, helping them achieve better income from higher crop yields and maintain soil fertility in their area.
Masuriya, a rural village in Nepal’s Gauriganga municipality, was one of the villages affected during the country’s civil war which ran from 1996-2006. Since 2012, Bandana Joshi, chairperson of a local cooperative, has been encouraging women in her village to optimize fertilizer application to maximize plant growth and profitability, and improve livelihoods. However, her journey to this day was not an easy one.
In the years of the civil war, women in the villages like Masuriya faced the burden to make ends meet for their children and elderly family members, as most men fled in fear of war or migrated to earn income. It was during this time that Joshi and a group of 24 women who were operating a savings and credit firm realized that more women in their village needed monetary support to carry out their livelihood activities. They decided to expand their services and formed a cooperative to empower rural women and make finance available in the village. Their cooperative, Sana Kisan Sahakari Sanstha Limited, now has 1,186 women members, more than half of whom belong to marginalized communities – 514 Janajatis and 154 Dalits.
Many of the members are small commercial farmers, owning about 1.4 ha of land for farming as their sole source of income. Most have traditionally grown cereals such as rice and wheat alongside a few vegetables and had limited knowledge on cash crop farming and soil fertility management. They would produce and sell their surplus rice and wheat when they needed cash to buy groceries or pay household bills.
In October 2016, researchers from the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center’s (CIMMYT) Nepal Seed and Fertilizer (NSAF) project and the International Fertilizer Development Center (IFDC), launched an integrated soil fertility management (ISFM) program and worked alongside the cooperative to disseminate and encourage the use of ISFM technologies among its members. The purpose was to show farmers the benefits of ISFM – an integration of organic inputs and inorganic fertilizers with improved seeds – for rice, wheat and cauliflower cultivation, that includes balanced fertilizer application to increase yield. The project team conducted research trials and on-farm demonstrations on these crops as part of the initiative and built capacity through farmer field days and trainings on best management practices.
As a strategic entry point, the cooperative in coordination with female community volunteers helped implement the ISFM program. Women received training on the right source and amount of fertilizer that matches crop needs, and the right time and place to apply these fertilizers to maximize nutrient uptake and improve crop yields. NSAF researchers engaged with lead farmers and the cooperative’s leadership to influence their acceptance of the new fertilizer application practices, and they in turn motivated the members to use balanced fertilizer application. In 2020, these activities have been critical in building awareness on balanced fertilizer application for more than 800 farmers on over 700 ha of land, with each household able to raise their crop productivity by at least 50% for vegetables and 25% for cereals.
Better soil, better harvest
So far, the use of balanced fertilizer application has benefited more than a hundred members of the cooperative by gaining an average income of $219 in a season from cultivating cauliflower – a cash crop in Nepal’s Terai region. This additional return has helped farmers to adequately feed an average family of 4.5 people for the entire year.
Dutrani Chaudhary, a cooperative member, said that she was able to raise cauliflower production by 64% by applying balanced fertilizers that supplied all the essential nutrients – nitrogen, phosphorus, potash and micro-nutrient boron. She earned about $238 from 0.033 ha of land, which is a much larger gain for any farmer from a single season. As well as boosting her pride and confidence, she can now contribute for her children’s school fees and household expenditures.
After witnessing positive results, many other farmers in the village started applying major nutrients using urea, DAP (Di-ammonium Phosphate) and MoP (Muriate of Potash) to increase crop productivity. In 2017, Joshi and her members noticed a sharp rise in fertilizer procurement from the cooperative among farmers resulting in almost double the sales compared to 2015. Prior to the project’s agronomic literacy programs on soil fertility management, she sold merely 15 tons urea and 10 tons of DAP. Thereafter, fertilizer sales increased to 32.6 tons and 27.9 tons, for urea and DAP respectively, in just two years.
“For the first time in 2018 we sold 500 kilograms of MoP since the cooperative established,” explained Joshi. MoP was never considered a priority by the farmers before and they rarely purchased it from the cooperative.
On the rise
Now more organized and well-equipped, the cooperative has started organizing programs this year on off-seasonal and seasonal vegetable cultivation on crops such as tomato, cauliflower and cucurbits that have aided around 150 member households. “We have prioritized balanced fertilizer application in our vegetable production program,” says Madhuri Chaudhary, manager of the cooperative.
The woman-led rural institution has achieved remarkable success over the years by learning and adopting best agronomic practices including fertilizer application, planting and cultivation methods that helped increase crop productivity and household income. Having seen the benefits, male family members now encourage them to participate in agronomic literacy programs to acquire advanced knowledge and skills.
Joshi and her team of visionary women have been successful in setting up an inclusive new movement in Masuriya village, which has led to their active participation in development activities and decision-making roles not only at the household level but also in societal issues around women’s rights. Passionate to learn new skills and grow financially independent, these rural women are confident in making their own decisions for themselves, their family and for the wider society. Although it started small, the cooperative has now boomed towards improving rural women’s economic empowerment and sparking better livelihood opportunities in the area.
Cover photo: Balanced nutrient management helps farmer Dharma Devi generate better household income from cauliflower cultivation. (Photo: Uttam Kunwar/CIMMYT)
