Support to agricultural research for development of strategic crops in Africa

About

The SARD-SC (Support to Agricultural Research for the Development of Strategic Crops in Africa) is a research, science and technology development project funded by the African Development Bank that has the overall goal of improving food and nutrition security and contributing to reducing poverty. The Project’s Wheat Component, managed by ICARDA, is one of the initiative’s four targeted efforts to improve the productivity and profitability of strategic crops (cassava, maize, rice and wheat).

Impact

Goals

ICARDA and its national partners are leading efforts to boost the production of wheat in: Eritrea, Ethiopia, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Sudan, Tanzania, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Kenya, and Lesotho. The goal is to enhance the income from the Wheat value chain on a sustainable basis; reduce food importation from other continents and offer farmers better access to markets in order to improve livelihoods and tackle poverty. All developed technologies will be available as international public goods.

Objectives

Higher domestic production is the key to solving Africa’s increasing dependence on wheat imports – imports account for 70% of the region’s needs. SARD-SC Wheat tackles this dependence through an integrated package of interventions: the development of high-yielding, heat-tolerant wheat; fast-track seed multiplication programs; the dissemination of proven technologies and farming practices; and promoting a ‘value-chain approach’ to support domestic producers.

Impact pathways

SARD-SC is a multi- national CGIAR- led project, targets strategic crops in selected Regional Membership Countries in Africa: Benin Republic, Cote d’Ivoire, DR Congo, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Lesotho, Madagascar, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe. The expected key outcome of the SARD-SC project is a twenty percent yield increase in cassava, maize, rice and wheat. This will be achieved by collaboration between three CGIAR centres, namely Africa Rice (focussing on the rice value chain), ICARDA (focussing on the wheat value chain) and IITA (focussing on the cassava and maize value chains). The project consists of four major components: the generation of agricultural technologies and innovations; the dissemination of agricultural technologies and innovations; local and national capacity building and improving project management efficiency. By focussing on those, the project aims to enhance the productivity of and income on a sustainable basis; reduce food importation from other continents; and offer farmers better access to markets, improve livelihoods and tackle poverty through enhanced capacities of beneficiaries in order to achieve sustainable development for the region. The project consists of four major components: the generation of agricultural technologies and innovations; the dissemination of agricultural technologies and innovations; local and national capacity building and improving project management efficiency. By focussing on those, the project aims to enhance the productivity of and income on a sustainable basis; reduce food importation from other continents; and offer farmers better access to markets, improve livelihoods and tackle poverty through enhanced capacities of beneficiaries in order to achieve sustainable development for the region. The expected key outcome of the SARD-SC project is a twenty percent yield increase in cassava, maize, rice and wheat. This will be achieved by collaboration between three CGIAR centres, namely Africa Rice (focussing on the rice value chain), ICARDA (focussing on the wheat value chain) and IITA (focussing on the cassava and maize value chains).The enhanced productivity of key commodity crops will increase the average annual household cash income from its present $370 to $600 and increase the food security by twenty percent (from 73% to 84%) at the end of the project. With the implementation of the various technologies for the strategic crops, SARD-SC will produce Regional Public Goods(RPGs) of public interest. The new crop varieties, crop management and practices, knowledge and other products from the CGIAR ‘s research work will be made widely available to individuals and organisations working for sustainable agricultural development in the world. This will strengthen the position of individual farmers, consumers and farmers' groups including youth and woman. Besides, transporters, traders, small-scale agricultural machinery manufacturers and other private sector operators next to policy makers and institutions (NGO's, NARES) will indirectly receive benefits from this project.