Looking back on 20 Years of ACT

by Kurt Steiner, co-founder of the network

First contacts with Conservation Agriculture or Direct Planting System

It was in 1996 when I was invited by a GTZ colleague to participate in a workshop held in Paraguay on “Direct Planting” for smallholder farmers and in a National Congress on Direct Planting in Parana State, Brazil. During these events and by visits of farms practicing direct planting through a soil cover, I came for the first time in contact with this subject. Most impressing for me was that when the visited farmers led me to their fields, showing me the dark soil under a ground cover of crop residues, and explained how water infiltration and soil fertility had improved, yields increased, production costs had declined, farming operations taking less time, giving way for other income generating activities. All of the farmers reported that they were at the edge of giving up their farms, but now their living conditions had improved, they could renovate their houses, etc. This was quite different from Europe or Africa where farmers usually complained about declining yields, higher input prices, low market prices, and so on.

The Study on the potential of Direct Planting in Africa

In Africa, GTZ and other development agencies had worked since seventies on strengthening food security through implementation of improved land management projects. Farmers were trained in controlling erosion, using farm yard manure and compost, mineral fertilizer and ploughing their fields with the help of oxen or tractors. But twenty years later we had to admit that all the efforts had failed, they were not sustainable. So, the question was, whether the Brazilian experience was a valid option for Africa? To find an answer we contacted many agricultural research stations in different agro-ecological zones, asked for experience with direct planting, and tried to identify conducive or hindering ecological, economic, social, and institutional factors. The results were published in a state-of-the-art report of 1998, entitled: “Conserving Natural Resources and Enhancing Food Security by Adopting No-tillage. An Assessment of the Potential for Soil-conserving Production Systems in Various Agro-ecological Zones of Africa”.

The First international workshop on Conservation Agriculture in Harare and “birth” of ACT network

The investigations had shown that in several countries researchers and development agencies were experimenting with different ways of reduced tillage or direct planting, but in an isolated way, not knowing of each other’s work, even in the same country. There was obviously a need for exchange of experiences and information. Based on these findings, in 1997 GTZ, joined later-on by FAO and supported by the Zimbabwe Farmers Union (ZFU), invited to a workshop on “Conservation Tillage” in Harare 25-30 participants initially but instead about 70 persons attended, indicating the high interest in the subject. During this workshop the idea of founding an Africa-wide network, based on national networks was born. In 1998 the “African Conservation Tillage Network” (ACT) was established with the support of GTZ, FAO and Agriculture Research Council (South Africa).

The “fathers” of the network were Richard Fowler, ARC; Kurt Steiner, GTZ; and José Benites, FAO. A steering committee was founded, composed of members of various national and international institutions and chaired by Edward Chuma of the University of Zimbabwe. In 2000 a permanent secretariat was established and based at the University of Zimbabwe and a secretary, Martin Bwalya from Zambia, was engaged with the support of a special GTZ project.

The main activities of the network were: collection and sharing of information, editing of a regular newsletter, a year book, national workshops to create national networks, and training workshops. In three countries pilot projects were started, also supported by the GTZ. The ACT Network attracted and engaged many highly qualified individuals. Conservation Tillage became known in most African countries, many national agricultural research institutions started experimenting, and ministries of agriculture and development agencies got interested in this way of sustainable agriculture.

Participation in CA World Congresses and other international events

Some early highlights were the participation of an ACT delegation in the First World Congress on Conservation Agriculture in Madrid in 2001, and the Second World Congress in Foz d’Iguazu in Brazil in 2003, both supported by FAO. Over 40 researchers and field practitioners from Africa met in Siavonga, Zambia to prepare for the Second World Congress.

The large number of papers and posters gathered for the second Congress gave birth to the idea of editing a manual for farmers and extension workers on Conservation Agriculture (CA) in Africa. With support of various national and international organisations a “write-shop” (an intensive, 2-week workshop) involving farmers, extension workers, researchers and developers, was held in Karen, Nairobi, in 2005. The manual was published within the same year and became a great success. At the congress in Brazil ACT bid to host the 3^rd World Congress and won. Thus the 3^rd World Congress was held in Nairobi in 2005. This became possible with financial and technical support from FAO, GTZ, Sida, the Government of Kenya and others. The Congress was a great success and impressed participants by the progress CA was making in several African countries, the summary of the proceeding of this congress were compiled and published for wider sharing.

Another important event was an international workshop on CA implements organized by ACT on behalf of FAO in Uganda in 2002. The driving force were the experienced engineers Theodor Friedrich and John Ashburner. Manufacturers from southern Africa and Brazil displayed their products, and engineers from various African countries presented prototypes of small, simple no-till seeders operated manually or with animal draught power. One objective was to explore the possibility of forming joint ventures between Brazilian and African manufacturers

Spread of CA throughout Africa

The result of all these events was that CA became more and more recognized by national governments as a solution for sustainable agricultural production and in some countries such as Zimbabwe and Zambia, it became part of agricultural policies. The acreage under CA increased from year to year, especially on commercial farms in southern African countries. But smallholder farmers were reluctant to change their production systems, despite positive results from on-farm experiments. Main reasons were: fear of risk incurred in changing the production system, and lack of access to CA implements and credit. Major technical reasons were: the use of crop residues as livestock forage leading to insufficient soil cover, insufficient crop diversification due to preference for maize, problems with weed management, and the time taken for soil improvement and yield increase. Nonetheless, with increasing support from international organizations, governments and NGOs, area under CA in small holder agriculture in Africa increased by some 750,000 ha from 2009 to 2013, indicating that it was possible to overcome constraints.

Need of public, private and civil sector involvement

CA has emerged as a major alternative approach to sustainable agricultural intensification in Africa and has already spread across many countries in Africa in the past decade, calling for increased support to farmers by the public, private and civil sectors. To mobilize and strengthen such support, the ACT Network in close liaison with partners convened the 1st Africa Congress on Conservation Agriculture (IACCA) in Lusaka, Zambia, in March 2014. The Congress focused on the theme Conservation Agriculture (CA): Building Entrepreneurship and Resilient Farming Systems. The purpose of the Congress was to share experiences and lessons and facilitate-alliances to unblock hindrances in order to facilitate the adoption and spread of CA, especially among the smallholder farming systems and related industry in Africa. The Congress reaffirmed that restoration of soil health through CA is set to become a cornerstone in transforming the way farming is done in Africa. The output of the congress was a declaration named Lusaka Vision 25 x 25 where ACT was tasked to establish a relevance and quality-assurance system for accredited “CA agricultural training“ and “best practising“ institutions. Furthermore ACT, in collaboration with FAO & Regional Economic Communities were called upon to support knowledge management by stakeholders, including the CA task forces.

ACT an internationally acknowledged pan-African institution

Looking back on nearly 20 years of the ACT Network, its activities and influence on agricultural development in Africa, as a co-founder, I am impressed and proud. When the Network was established, nobody could imagine that it would last so long without the steady financial and technical support of a development project, like the GTZ project in the early years. Today ACT is an internationally acknowledged pan-African institution, with a permanent, well-functioning secretariat in Nairobi, and regional secretariats for southern Africa in Harare (Zimbabwe), for eastern Africa in Dar-es-Salaam (Tanzania), and for West Africa in Burkina Faso. A sub-regional office for North Africa is being established in Morocco. The network is editing a regular digital newsletter which has a global circulation and it is a partner of a number of international research and development agencies and of national research institutions and universities.

Although the great breakthrough for CA in Africa is yet to happen, the impact of the Network is visible and recognized. Today CA is becoming generally accepted as a sustainable, climate-smart production system, enhancing soil health, increasing water use efficiency and improving yield stability, and food security in dry years which are becoming more and more frequent in many parts of Africa.

Editorial:

In its current strategic direction and Mission, the Network has identified six strategic results that are necessary and sufficient to address the identified Critical Strategic Issues and deliver on the Network’s purpose of “promoting conservation agriculture principles and practices in Africa” as illustrsted in the strategic plan 2012-2022. Guided by the auspices of the Lusaka Declaration, an International Conservation Agriculture Advisory Panel (ICAAP - Africa) has been formed which comprises a group of global Conservation Agriculture experts acting as a think tank to advise the ACT network on policy, scientific, economic and technical issues that may have a bearing on the Network’s priorities and strategies.