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Project Record

Objectives:

Promotion of strategies to reduce the impact of pests and stabilise yields in semi-arid cereal-based cropping systems, for the benefit of poor people.

Background:

Poor households in Eastern Uganda face two serious problems in groundnut production, the first is inadequate seed supplies and the second is lack of cash to purchase chemicals to protect the crop from rosette. Through the multiplication of rosette and vector resistant varieties, this project addresses both constraints. Four new rosette and vector resistant varieties are nearly ready for release, but seed availability for the recently released Serenut2 is still a serious limiting factor in its adoption. The performance of these varieties has been extensively tested in the on-farm trials conducted by the crop protection programme under R7445 and AT(Uganda) has been extensively involved in this process. These varieties address a clearly identified need expressed by local communities not only in the NARO-DFID needs assessment exercise in 1998 but also in the LIFE project baseline which was conducted in 2000. The intended beneficiaries are poor but able rural households in 16 sub-counties in the Districts of Kumi, Pallisa, Mbale, Sironko, and Tororo in Eastern Uganda where AT(Uganda) is implementing the DFID funded LIFE Project. These households are actively engaged in small-scale agriculture and depend on agricultural production for the majority of their income. The ongoing process of participatory poverty assessment which AT(Uganda) is pursuing to identify the poorest households in these communities, and to track the extent to which poor households are benefiting from project interventions, will form the basis for identifying households to participate in this multiplication effort. As a result of the intervention, participating households will have learned how to select and preserve groundnut planting-seed for the resistant varieties that are identified by the farmers as being most appropriate to local production conditions and market demands. Over 9,000 households will have received seed for multiplication and will have produced a surplus for sale.

Intended Outputs:

Extension staff, local authorities and farmers trained in groundnut production, multiplication and storage.

Foundation seed for the new varieties (including Serenut 2) obtained and multiplied by farmer group members.

Multipliers return double the amount of planting materials received for redistribution and further multiplication.

Process of collection and redistribution of multiplied seed effectively handed over to local leadership for management.

Progress and Impact:

4 Programme staff, 16 extension staff with their 15 field assistants, 960 community leaders (PC's and PDC's from 320 groups in 16 parishes) and more than 6,000 farmers from 320 groups were trained in groundnut production, storage and multiplication. 4,000 copies of simplified groundnut production guides/ pamphlets were distributed, thus enhancing dissemination of production practices.

Foundation seed of 3 new varieties, namely Serenut 2, 3 and 4, sufficient to plant 187.5 hectares was obtained and given to farmers to multiply. These varieties were evaluated for 3 seasons and were highly accepted for being rosette resistant, drought tolerant, high yielding and short and medium duration.

Records from PDC registers indicate that 4,342 farmers benefitted directly from formal distribution, however, some records were not submitted by the PDCs. In addition, many farmers received seed as gifts, payment in return for labour during harvest and through sale of the surpluses by beneficiaries.

An impact survey conducted in September 2004 estimated that 17,154 people have accessed the seed through the formal project arrangements, sales and gifts by individuals. This is 8,154 more than the projected target of 9,000 recipients. 3,634 beneficiaries received seed directly from the project. 5,910 purchased seed from beneficiaries and 7,610 got seed through gifts or payments in kind. The survey also indicated that enough seed to plant 3,275.6 hectares had been given out, of which 1,092 hectares was direct from project and 2,183.6 hectares were projected from seed sales and gifts. Estimated production from 2004 alone is sufficient to plant 4,725.8 hectares if all was committed to seed. However, even if only half was planted the total is more than the original target of 2,500 hectares. Seed availability for the introduced varieties has increased substantially and large quantities are being sold, enabling other non-participating farmers to benefit and thus disseminating the new varieties. Use of home saved seed and purchase from other farmers is the most reliable way groundnuts farmers ensure seed availability and is being widely practised by beneficiary farmers. This is the reason so many farmers accessed this seed. 52% of beneficiaries are women who are benefitting by accessing the seed and from the resultant production. Benefits are evenly spread between men and women.

93.6% of the beneficiaries i.e. 3,402 people, were trained by the project, this is a lot more than the targetted 2,000 farmers. Training capacity is now well established among the local leaders and extension staff, and ideas from the training were widely adopted.

Redistribution of the varieties is continually increasing under the guidance of local leadership, but at a somewhat less than expected repayment rate. Local leaders i.e. Parish Development Committees (PDCs) and group level Production Committees (PCs) were involved in the whole process of training and redistribution and have the capacity to continue with the process with minimum support.

The project purpose has largely been met with the poor farmers accessing and utilising: new rosette resistant varieties, improved production practices and knowledge, resulting in increased groundnut productivity and production contributing to increased food and income availability in the project area.

Project Conclusions:

Introduction and multiplication of the new groundnut varieties which are both vector and disease resistant eliminates the need for chemical control and the losses due to rosette disease, thus guaranteeing good stable yields and availability of seed. The project has greatly increased access to rosette resistant varieties and ensured that the seed reaches the hands of the poor farmers. The varieties were highly rated and appreciated for being rosette resistant, tolerant to drought, and high yielding among other qualities. This in the long run contributes to stable yields and results in increased production, hence sustainably enhancing production and productivity of the crop and therefore improving the livelihoods of the poor who are dependent on this crop for food and income. The project has also helped further test an approach that can be effectively be replicated by others, successfully to promote dissemination of research outputs.

General Notes:

See also the TECA Records Development and promotion of community-led seed production of groundnut rosette disease-resistant varieties in Uganda and Diagnostic tool for Groundnut Rosette Assistor Luteovirus (GRAV), Groundnut Rosette Umbravirus (GRV) and its satellite (satRNA) in Sub-Saharan Africa using reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction

Publications:

GRACE, T. (2004) Farmer led multiplication of rosette resistant groundnut varieties. Uganda Journal for Agricultural Sciences, 9 (1): 578-582. ISSN 1026-0919.