1. Putting nitrogen fixation to work for smallholder farmers in Africa Progress Report of N2Africa Activities Implemented by four Centers of EIAR ILRI-N2Africa Annual Planning & Public-Private Partnership (PPP) Validation Workshop 21-23 January 2015 ILRI Campus, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia Amare Fufa and EIAR Team Ethiopian Institutes of Agricultural Research (Melkassa, Pawe, Debrezeit, Jimma)

2. Putting nitrogen fixation to work for smallholder farmers in Africa Introduction  N2Africa’s main priority intervention area is Rhizobium inoculant as Integrated Soil Fertility Management (ISFM) to maximize the productivity of legume crops  N2 Africa activities implemented at four centers of EIAR (MAR, JARC, PARC and DARC)  This year project activities were based up on the previous bridging trials lessons and experiences  This year activities were well established at most trial sites  Data collection, analysis, interpretation is completed except Chick pea in which harvesting is under way

3. Putting nitrogen fixation to work for smallholder farmers in Africa Activities implemented N2Africa experiments in 2014 cropping season:- 1.Diagnosis experiment activity 2.Demonstration activity 3.Adaptation activity 4.Researcher-managed agronomy activity  Three crops (Common bean, Soybean and chick pea) were tested for their response to inoculant and phosphorus

4. Putting nitrogen fixation to work for smallholder farmers in Africa The response of grain yield, Biomass and Number of Nodules to inoculation at Shala  The analysis of variance for grain yield showed significant response to rhizobium/inoculant and phosphorus  The highest grain yield was obtained when both the rhizobium/inoculant and phosphorus were applied (2538.1kg/ha) followed by the application of phosphorus Result Achieved from Diagnosis trial

5. Putting nitrogen fixation to work for smallholder farmers in Africa Treatment s Grain yield (Kg/ha) Biomass (Kg/ha) Nodule (No/Plant ) Active Nodule (No/plant) Inactive Nodule (No/plant) +P+I2538.1 a 3634.4 a 108.81 a 15.22 a 4.78 b +P-I1861.9 b 3303.8 a 101.9 a 12.08 b 7.92 a -P+I1026.3 c 2169.4 b 79.08 b 10.18 b 9.66 a -P-I978.1 c 2105.6 b 63.85 c 11.04 b 9.12 a Mean1601.122803 88.4112.137.82 CV26.0838.5 29.2430.8917.42 Table1. Effects of Phosphorus and rhizobium on common bean yield and yield components  There was no significant response observed between –P+I and –P-I Indicated that further investigation about P rate should be required  With regards to biomass also the application of P is important  +P+I produced higher active nodules than other treatments

6. Putting nitrogen fixation to work for smallholder farmers in Africa Response of soybean to rhizobia inoculation in Jimma Zone

7. Putting nitrogen fixation to work for smallholder farmers in Africa Grain yield of common bean from diagnostic trial at Pawe

8. Putting nitrogen fixation to work for smallholder farmers in Africa Grain yield of soybean bean from diagnostic trial at Pawe

9. Putting nitrogen fixation to work for smallholder farmers in Africa +P+I +P-I -P-I -P+I Field Performance at Jimma

10. Putting nitrogen fixation to work for smallholder farmers in Africa -P-I +P+I +P-I -P+I Field performance at Shala

11. Putting nitrogen fixation to work for smallholder farmers in Africa Shala + P+I -P-I +P-I - P+I

12. Putting nitrogen fixation to work for smallholder farmers in Africa Shala +P+I

13. Putting nitrogen fixation to work for smallholder farmers in Africa Shala -P-I

14. Putting nitrogen fixation to work for smallholder farmers in Africa Result Achieved from Demonstration Activities

15. Putting nitrogen fixation to work for smallholder farmers in Africa Performance of Demonstration Activities at Shala

16. Putting nitrogen fixation to work for smallholder farmers in Africa

17. Pawe Soybean

18. Putting nitrogen fixation to work for smallholder farmers in Africa Pawe Common bean

19. Putting nitrogen fixation to work for smallholder farmers in Africa Field performance at Shala -P-I + P+I

20. Putting nitrogen fixation to work for smallholder farmers in Africa Progress on Chickpea Trials  All the activities were established well  Data collection was made using:  Straight forward using hard copies (manually), and  Digital data collection methods (using tablets and SMS using cell phones as pilot case study )  Five DAs and a research assistance received Google Nexus tablets, which has all the necessary data collection sheets as deemed by N2Africa project  Short Messaging service (SMS) Using farmers personal cell-phone

21. Putting nitrogen fixation to work for smallholder farmers in Africa Progress on Chickpea Trials  Currently chickpea was harvested from most experimental sites except Akako village which is relatively highland area  Data for harvested crop is not yet compiled it is on the process (threshing, cleaning and weighing)  All the socio-economic data was collected and being analyzed

22. Putting nitrogen fixation to work for smallholder farmers in Africa Progress on Adaptation Trials  This activity implemented at all locations as preplanned  Informal feedback of the farmers were good  Further assessment on the feedback from adaptation trials will be done at near future—waiting for financial support from N2 Africa-ILRI

23. Putting nitrogen fixation to work for smallholder farmers in Africa Progress on Adaptation Trials -P-I + P+I

24. Putting nitrogen fixation to work for smallholder farmers in Africa Field performance on Adaptation Trials -P-I + P+I

25. Putting nitrogen fixation to work for smallholder farmers in Africa Progress on Researcher managed agronomic Activities  One activity at two Location (Melkassa and Pawe) was established  Data was collected as per planned  Like yield and yield parameters  Agronomic data  Soil data analysis-under way in laboratory  Permanent plot was established

26. Putting nitrogen fixation to work for smallholder farmers in Africa Progress on Researcher managed agronomic Activities  Continuous Maize  Continuous Common bean  Maize-Common bean Rotation

27. Putting nitrogen fixation to work for smallholder farmers in Africa Progress on Researcher managed agronomic Activities

28. Putting nitrogen fixation to work for smallholder farmers in Africa  Agricultural experts and DAs from N2Africa villages and research staff obtained 5 days intensive training on both theoretical and practical training on how to operating the digital tablets for data collection o Each android tablet was installed with Open Data Kit (ODK) version 7 Hands-on on digital tableted Achievements on other evaluation and promotional Activities (DARC)

29. Putting nitrogen fixation to work for smallholder farmers in Africa o 50 farmers trained how to send information using SMS with cell-phone o The templates for sms use were prepared both in Amharic and Oromifa languages. o More than 85 % of these farmers were responded to the special stenciled questionnaires, Currently 3 way data base deposit is available (N2Africa /WUR/ DZARC ) SMS with cell-phone Achievements on other evaluation and promotional Activities (DARC)

30. Putting nitrogen fixation to work for smallholder farmers in Africa Achievements on other evaluation and promotional Activities (Jimma)

31. Putting nitrogen fixation to work for smallholder farmers in Africa Achievements on other evaluation and promotional Activities (Melkassa)

32. Putting nitrogen fixation to work for smallholder farmers in Africa Achievements on other evaluation and promotional Activities (Melkassa)

33. Putting nitrogen fixation to work for smallholder farmers in Africa Achievements on other evaluation and promotional Activities (Melkassa)

34. Putting nitrogen fixation to work for smallholder farmers in Africa Achievements on other evaluation and promotional Activities (Melkassa)

35. Putting nitrogen fixation to work for smallholder farmers in Africa Achievements on other evaluation and promotional Activities (Melkassa)

36. Putting nitrogen fixation to work for smallholder farmers in Africa Achievements on other evaluation and promotional Activities (Pawe)

37. Putting nitrogen fixation to work for smallholder farmers in Africa Challenges  Severe infestation of bean stem maggot and weed  Erratic rainfall/Drought problem at trial establishment  Budget scarcity  Vehicle

38. Putting nitrogen fixation to work for smallholder farmers in Africa  Flooding of experimental plots  Weed and pests

39. Putting nitrogen fixation to work for smallholder farmers in Africa Challenges -P+I +P+I -P-I +P-I Field damaged due to severe infestation of Bean stem maggot

40. Putting nitrogen fixation to work for smallholder farmers in Africa Way forward to 2015  P rates determination  Pest/weed Management  Assessment on perception of N2 Africa technologies  Need to establish an economic and impact assessment work  on the adaptation trial and later on market links  Wide adaptation of N2 Africa technologies  Establishing of Strong Partnership among different stakeholders

41. Putting nitrogen fixation to work for smallholder farmers in Africa THANKS FOR YOUR ATTENTION