Overview of the ATA and Priorities in the Soils Program

Overview of the ATA and Priorities in the Soils Program Sam Gameda Managing Living Soils Dec 5-7, 2012, Global Soil Partnership, FAO, Rome

Content Overview of ATA and the Soils program Overview of the Ethiopian soil sector Priorities and Challenges 2

The creation of the ATA is the result of a process that lasted nearly two years Prime Minster Meles meets with Melinda Gates and requests review of Ethiopia s agriculture extension systems. Seven Diagnostics and integrated report submitted to Prime Minister. Council of Ministers pass federal regulation establishing Agriculture Transformation Agency Jan 09 Sep 09 Aug 10 Oct 10 Dec 10 Aug 11 Recommendation of extension diagnostic endorsed by PM. PM requests support for additional diagnostics in seeds, soils, irrigation, agricultural finance and key value chains Government decision to create an independent organization modeled after Taiwan and Korean acceleration units First Board meeting with Prime Minister and Transformation Council 3

ATA fits within a set of complex partnerships ATA s partners ATA s principles Public sector Federal partners Regional partners Strengthen the Ministry of Agriculture as the ATA s primary partner Identify and strengthen the institutional capacity of partner organizations Private sector Inputs, outputs and service providers Ministry of Agriculture Dev t Partners RED-FS Multi / bilaterals, foundations Align objectives with national targets for poverty reduction, food security and growth Ensure a strong and equitable regional focus in strategies and implementation support Act as a high performance change agent defined by strong analytics and stakeholder engagement Civil society Local / intl. NGOs Local/intl. Research & academia Seek scalable solutions with tangible improvement in productivity and livelihoods of smallholder farmers Ensure an integrated approach to gender and the environment across all work areas 4

Integrated approach to the work Summary points Focus on systems change but must be grounded and benefit specific crops that are important to Ethiopia s farmers Integrated approach will facilitate integration and coordination to achieve sectoral transformation Prioritized focus areas to ensure long term effectiveness and achieve sustainable results Key issues such as Gender and Technology Access & Adoption must inform, influence and catalyze all program activities 5

Content Overview of ATA and the Soils program Overview of the Ethiopian soil sector Priorities and Challenges 6

There are various stakeholders related to the soils sector in Ethiopia Type Partner Name Role Federal Regional Higher Learning Institutions Dev. partners Ministry of Agriculture Ethiopian Institute of Agricultural Research (EIAR) and affiliated research centers National Soil Testing Centre Regional Bureaus of Agriculture (RBoAs) Regional Agricultural Research Institutes (RARIs) Regional Soil Testing Labs (RSTLs) Different Ag- centric universities IFPRI ILRI/IWMI AGP IFDC/AFAP Other private sector Soil sector stakeholders and roles Over all guidance, planning monitoring, evaluation and technical support Planning, monitoring, implementing and evaluation in the respective regions Research support and supply of human resources Studies on key topics (e.g., fertilizer value chain improvement) Research on soil and water resource management Financing inputs Fertilizer blending plant consultancy Potential implementation partners 7

There are two major types of bottlenecks related to improving soil health and fertility in Ethiopia: soil-level and systemic Description Bottleneck to achieve soil health and fertility in Ethiopia Soil-level bottlenecks Systemic bottlenecks There are major physical, chemical and biological issues in the current Ethiopian soils against health and fertility that need to be addressed Apart from the soil itself, there are also bottlenecks in the system (e.g., knowledge management, policy support) that requires interventions for resolution SOURCE: Team analysis 8

The soil-level bottlenecks have different levels of negative impact on the physical, chemical, and biological condition of soil health and soil fertility Relative magnitude of impact Direct influence with high magnitude of impact Direct influence with medium magnitude of impact Direct influence with low magnitude of impact Soil-level bottlenecks Negative impact to soil health Physical Chemical Biological Higher negative impact Negative impact to soil fertility Overall Organic matter depletion Soil fauna/flora depletion Nutrient depletion Limited biomass coverage Soil compaction Soil erosion Salinity/sodicity Acidity Waterlogging Low moisture availability Physical land degradation SOURCE: ATA, Expert Input

The systemic bottlenecks can be grouped into five categories, from information management to organization and management systems 1 Soil information management Lack of up-to-date information on soil fertility No shared soil information database 5 2 3 4 SOURCE: ATA Technology generation and dissemination, and linkage Lack of soil test-based fertilizer recommendations Lack of soil fertility and health management technology registry and release mechanism Low emphasis to soil fertility focused extension system Limited research emphasis on soil health and fertility Limited lab capabilities and capacity Inadequate use of, and inappropriate management for, irrigation Limited coordination between research, extension, and academia Input value chain Limited accessibility/affordability to inputs (e.g., fertilizer, soil amendments) Inefficiency in distribution and marketing of fertilizers Other inefficiencies in the value chain Limited financial support to farmers adoption of practices Strategic and regulatory framework Limited quality control mechanisms and regulatory system for inputs Lack of proper agricultural land use management strategy and implementation Organization and management systems Absence of an independent national soil research institute Lack of coordination among research institutions Limited coordination among soil laboratories 10

Content Overview of ATA and the Soils program Overview of the Ethiopian soil sector Priorities and Challenges 11

Soil information management is a key bottleneck: Ethiopian soil maps are outdated, lack detail, and have limited use in supporting soil conservation and land management interventions Extracted for Ethiopia at a scale of 1:2M from the world soil map of FAO/UNESCO The world soil map was published in 1970s by FAO and UNESCO at a resolution of 1:5M, which was then focused to 1:2M for Ethiopia by 1984 The soil map is based on soil surveys conducted in the 1930s to 1970s The map is generated using soil information and technology from the 1960s - spatial information technologies were not used SOURCE: Team analysis; FAO 12

Surveying the 97 lat-long confluence points will provide the granularity and detail needed to generate a comprehensive soil map for all of Ethiopia 15 N 35 E 37 E 39 E 41 E 43 E 45 E 47 E 13 N 11 N 09 N 07 N Each of the 97 confluence points will need to be surveyed to create a systematic grid system that covers the country ~16,000 sites will be visited within these confluence points and ~120,000 soil samples taken The results of all 97 points will generate a map with 100 meter resolution 05 N 03 N SOURCE: Team analysis 13

The digital soil map combining soil survey and remote sensing will provide a variety of soil properties and characteristics Data/Map Layers Vegetation Above surface vegetation Texture Erosion risk (wind and water) Soil particle size: % silt, sand, clay Infiltration Capacity Organic Matter Nutrient Amount Present (N, P, K, Sulfur, etc.) SOC ph and EC ph EC Mineralogy CEC Minerals SOURCE: Team analysis 14

Ethiopia s investment in fertilizer has not paid off; growth in fertilizer use has not resulted in commensurate increases in yield Total fertilizer applied for cereal crop 0000 tonnes from 2003/04-2010/11 22 25 34 36 39 35 34 44 Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) 2003/04-10/11 10% Blanket application of DAP and UREA is not considerate of crop need, soil nutrient dynamics and agroecological factors 03/04 04/05 05/06 06/07 07/08 08/09 09/10 10/11 Total cereal yield Qt/ht from 2003/04-2010/11 13 13 14 15 03/04 04/05 05/06 06/07 07/08 08/09 09/10 10/11 16 Source: CSA; Agricultural Sample Survey 2003/04-11, 16 17 18 Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) 2003/04-10/11 5% Recent soil tests show deficiencies in 6-7 nutrients, but DAP and Urea only supply 2 nutrients The government has resolved to address this issue by building fertilizer blending plants that can create blends specific to Ethiopia s soil needs 15

Various partners are interested to collaborate with EthioSIS to conduct additional surveys covering about 150 high potential woredas Partner 1 AGP Partner 1 Non-AGP CASCAPE AGP CASCAPE Non-AGP Partner 2 CASCAPE 5 AGP not yet decided As much as possible, the 150 woredas will be allocated on non-cp covered areas The woredas will split between partners as follows; CASCAPE: 30 woredas (22 AGP and 8 Non- AGP) Partner 1: 61 AGP and 22 Non-AGP woredas Partner 2: 37 Non- AGP woredas (concept note to be sent soon) 16

Key organizational and management bottlenecks in the research and extension system require reorganization and capacitation Limited capacity Shortage of highly-qualified experts Historically, research budgets for soil issues have been a fraction of those for crop and livestock research Limited capacity at soil laboratories Ineffective collaboration Regional and national research institutes often fail to coordinate Soil laboratories across the nation often fail to share data Research and extension are housed in separate organizations and often fail to collaborate, preventing new technology from being accessed by farmers A central independent soil research institute would ensure proper resources are dedicated to soil issues and ensure coordination between researchers New information sharing systems, equipment, and personnel will capacitate laboratories to conduct in-depth soil analysis 17

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