1. Frédéric Baudron
CIMMYT Ethiopia
f.baudron@cgiar.org
Promoting CA amongst the largest livestock
population in Africa: does it make sense?

2.  Long-term
sustainability
(e.g. SOC)
 Short-term
productivity
(e.g. WUE)
 Animal traction
 Nutrient cycling
 Income generation
 Saving / Insurance
 Display of status
Feeding the soil vs. livestock

3. 1. Understanding trade-offs
2. Using biomass more
efficiently
3. Increasing cereal
productivity
4. Making CA work
5. Producing more biomass
6. Increasing the productivity
of livestock
7. Providing incentives to
reduce livestock number
What can be done?

4. 1. How much biomass is needed
by the soil?
(from Scopel et al., 2005)
for runoff & erosion control
(from Giller et al., 2009)
for SOC increase & maintenance

5. 1. How much biomass is
required for herd maintenance?
(Source: SIMLESA baseline)
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
Type 1 Type 2 Type 3
Numberofheads
Bulls
Heifers
Calves
Oxen
Cows
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
50
Type 1 Type 2 Type 3
Minimumbiomassrequiredto
keeptheherdalive(tones)
Resource-endowment

6. 0
10
20
30
40
50
0 50 100 150
Waterconveff
(kgmm-1)
Total water transpired
mm)
0
20
40
60
80
100
0 100 200
Nitrogenuptake
(kgha-1)
Total water transpired
(mm)
0
20
40
60
80
0 50 100
Nitrogenconveff
(kgkg-1)
Total nitrogen uptake
(kg ha-1)
0
50
100
150
0 100 200
Totalwater
transpired(mm)
Total mineral
nitrogen (kg ha-1)
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
0 10 20
TotalSOCinthe0-20
cm(tha-1)
Time since forest clearance
(years)
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
Type 1 Type 2 Type 3 Type 4
Surfacearea(ha)
Total cultivated
area
Cotton area
Cereal area
FARMSIMAPSIM

7. Plot-level:
« It depends… »
-20%
-15%
-10%
-5%
0%
5%
10%
15%
20%
100 150 200 250
Yieldincreasecomparedtobaresoil
-20%
-15%
-10%
-5%
0%
5%
10%
15%
20%
100 150 200 250
-20%
-15%
-10%
-5%
0%
5%
10%
15%
20%
100 150 200 250
Early rainfall (mm)
100 kg ha-1 1000 kg ha-1 3000 kg ha-1
1. « What is the optimum allocation? »
(Baudron et al., in prep)

8. Plot-level:
« It depends… »
Farm-level:
« All for livestock… »
1.5
1.8
2.0
2.3
2.5
2.8
3.0
3.3
3.5
0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%
Grainyield(tha-1)
0
1
2
3
4
5
0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%
Cattlenumber(headsha-1)
0 kg ha-1
20 kg ha-1
40 kg ha-1
60 kh ha-1
80 kg ha-1
100 kg ha-1
Retention of sorghum residue as surface mulch
1. « What is the optimum allocation? »
(Baudron et al., in prep)

9. Plot-level:
« It depends… »
Farm-level:
« All for livestock… »
Village-level:
« Half-half… »
0
20
40
60
80
100
0 20 40 60 80 100
Low-endowed
farmerswinning
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
0 20 40 60 80 100
High-endowed
farmerswinning
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
0 20 40 60 80 100
Low-endowed
farmersloosing
420
440
460
480
500
520
0 20 40 60 80 100
High-endowed
farmersloosing
Retention of sorghum residue as surface mulch (%)
1. « What is the optimum allocation? »
(Baudron et al., in prep)

10. 2. « EXRATION » : a simple Excel program
to formulate feed rations for dairy cows
EXRATION
…etc…
Set of available ingredients characterized by their ME, CP, NDP and $
OPTIMIZATION
Characteristics
of the cow
(weight, pregnacy
stage, etc)
+
production
objective
Cheapest ration satisfying the cow requirements

11. 2. « Managing » grazing
PERENIALS CROPLAND
FUEL
LIVESTOCK MANURE
+
+
-
+
-
+ -
0
1
2
3
4
Enclosed farmland Open Farmland
SOM(%)
0
0.05
0.1
0.15
0.2
Enclosed
farmland
Open Farmland
TN(%)
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
Enclosed
farmland
Open Farmland
CEC(meq/100g)
(from Mamo et al., 2011)

12. 3. Stress Tolerant and Resource-
Efficient Maize
Improved
Maize for
African Soils
Drought
Tolerant Maize
for Africa
Insect
Resistant
Maize for Africa

13. 3. Precision Agriculture:
when, where, how much?
Ciudad Obregon, 6 sites, 2001 and 2002
y = 506.42e175.91x
R2
= 0.78
0
1000
2000
3000
4000
5000
6000
7000
8000
9000
10000
0 0.002 0.004 0.006 0.008 0.01 0.012 0.014 0.016 0.018
INSEY
Grainyield,kg/ha
O226, 2001
P209, 2001
P227WR, 2002
P227, 2002
P226, 2002
Q212, 2002
(from Freeman and Sayre, pers. com.)
5000 USD
200 USD

14. 3. Maximizing tree-crop
facilitation
 Micro-climatic effect
 Reduced
evaporation, hydraulic lift
 N fixation and recycling, P
mobilization
What variety traits? (e.g. heat resistance, root
system)
What management? (e.g. tillage, N&P fertilization)

15. 3. Dual purpose maize
90%
95%
100%
105%
110%
115%
120%
Type 1 Type 2 Type 3
Fulfilmentoftheenergy
requirementoftheherd
SC 403 BH 140 Melkassa 2 MHQ 138 MH 130
0
2
4
6
8
Type 1 Type 2 Type 3
Maizestovertobeusedas
surfacemulch(tha-1)
BH-140 Mulch MH 130 MHQ-138 SC-403 Melkassa 2

16. 4. Water use efficiency
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
0 100 1000 3000
Waterusebysorghum
Surface mulch (kg DM ha-1)
Transpiration Runoff
Soil evaporation Drainage
 CA: increased infiltration and reduced evaporation
 Is this extra moisture being used?

17. 4. Nitrogen Management
 Crucial in CA:
o N leaching (increased
drainage)
o N immobilization (retention
of residues with a wide C:N
ratio)
o Reduced SOM
mineralization (reduced
tillage)
 Split application of N?
 Micro-dosing?
 Precision Agriculture?

18. 4. Genotype × Management
 No tillage (early
vigour)
 Intercropping (erect
leaves)
 Water use efficiency
 Low N
 Disease resistance
(e.g. fusarium crown
rot)

19. 5. When is the feed shortage?
Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar
Bodycondition
Rangeland Cropland
Maize stover Teff straw

20. 5. Producing more biomass
0
1
2
3
4
5
Residueproduction(tDM
ha-1)
Intercropping
Forages and pernenials in
unexploited farm niches

21. 6. Increasing livestock productivity
 Market pull: animals with higher productivity produce milk and meat
at a lower cost…
 … and require feed sources that are more concentrated in energy than
maize stover
0
40
80
120
160
200
0 10 20 30
Energyrequirementandprovision
(MJ/d)
Milk production (L)
Sweet potato vine
Groundnut hay
Faidherbia leaves
Leucaena
Lablab
Vetch
Calliandra
Cow pea hay
Desmodium
Soybean straw
Bean straw
Napier
Maize stover
0
10
20
30
40
50
0 20 40
Productioncost(MJ/L)
Milk production (L)

22. 7. Providing substitutes to the
function livestock plays
 From animal manure to
mineral fertilizers
 From large herds to credit
and insurance facilities
 From animal traction to
mechanization

23. ???
Is SSA Ready for Small-Scale
Agricultural Mechanization?
> 4 tones per year

24. Farm power: the « forgotten
resource » for SI in SSA
 Increasing reliance of African
agriculture on human muscle
power
 65% power in SSA
 Collapse of tractor hire schemes
 Decreasing ADP in the 1990s
 Labour constraints
 Ageing population, rural-urban
migration, HIV/AIDS
 Labour drudgery
 Unattractive sector
 Gender implications
Trend in cattle population owned by
smallholder Zambian farmers (from
Haggblade & Tembo, 2003)

25. Power
demand
Powersupply
4WT,
2WT
Animal
traction
Manual
systems
e.g.
Western
Kenya
e.g.
Ethiopia, Zi
mbabwe
e.g.
India, Bang
ladeshDesirable
space
CA systems Conventionnaly-tilled systems

26. CA-2WTs Synergies
The suppression of inversion tillage reduces power
requirements by 50%, allowing for the use of smaller and
cheaper sources of power

27. Thank you!