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This paper describes why inter- and trans-disciplinary research, accompanied by innovation platforms, is essential in the context of agricultural development in West Africa. The institutional context in West Africa can become a trap for smallholder farmers and for society at large. Therefore, we argue that an enabling institutional context is necessary to achieve an increase in agricultural production. This will have consequences for setting priorities of agricultural research and the way research should be organized in order to have impact. Within the framework of two consecutive programmes, attempts were made to create such an enabling context. The first programme, focusing on participatory technology development, showed that smallholders can capture only limited benefits from technologies because of their constrained opportunities. The point of departure for the second programme was that institutions explain a large portion of variance in agricultural output and that multi-stakeholder innovation platforms at local, district, and national levels are needed to create change. The paper concludes with an overview of this special issue, which provides nine case studies of institutional factors that influence smallholder innovation. Each of these case studies identifies and analyses institutional mechanisms at aggregation levels higher than the household, farm, or village. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper compares lessons learned from nine studies that explored institutional determinants of innovation towards sustainable intensification of West African agriculture. The studies investigated issues relating to crop, animal, and resources management in Benin, Ghana, and Mali. The constraints addressed were agronomic or economic (e.g. low production, yield, quality, prices) and institutional (e.g. poor access to resources and constraining regulations) and were analysed using an array of research approaches. The studies showed that political ambitions to foster institutional change were often high (restoring the Beninese cotton sector and protecting Ghanaian farmers against fluctuating cocoa prices) and that the institutional change achieved was often remarkable. However, flexibility of institutions, co-evolution of technical and institutional change, and increased transparency are needed to make institutional change successful. The programme Convergence of Sciences – Strengthening Agricultural Innovation Systems encouraged interventions where needed and enabled researchers and stakeholders to acquire thechange capacitiesrequired to identify the need and potential for change and to make change happen. More research is needed to design pathways towards sustainable intensification based on social and technological innovation. Policy-makers should create space for institutional experimentation and empower smallholder farmers in West Africa to create resilient, local food systems to feed burgeoning urban populations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Connecting science with policy has always been challenging for both scientists and policymakers. In Ghana, Mali and Senegal, multi-stakeholder national science-policy dialogue platforms on climate-smart agriculture (CSA) were setup to use scientific evidence to create awareness of climate change impacts on agriculture and advocate for the mainstreaming of climate change and CSA into agricultural development plans. Based on the platforms' operations and achievements, we used semi-structured questionnaire interviews and reviewed technical reports produced by the platforms to analyse how their modes of operation and achievements improve understanding of the science-policy interfaces between agricultural and climate change decision making. Results showed that these platforms constitute an innovative approach to effectively engaging decision-makers and sustainably mainstreaming climate change into development plans. Effective science-policy interaction requires: (a) institutionalizing dialogue platforms by embedding them within national institutions, which improves their credibility, relevance and legitimacy among policymakers; (b) two-way communication, which contributes substantially to the co-development of solutions that address climate change vulnerabilities and impacts; and (c) relevant communication products and packaging of evidence that aligns with country priorities, which facilitates its uptake in policy-making processes. We conclude with a framework of sustainable operation for such platforms based on lessons learnt in the three countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports on how the farmer field school (FFS) approach has been used to successfully catalyse important changes among stakeholders in the savannah zones of West Africa. Improved agronomic practices, better decision-making skills and diversification of smallholder farms in developing countries are shown to provide farmers the opportunity to rebuild soil fertility, optimize input use and introduce new sources of food and nutrition and marketable products for local populations. This is a knowledge-intensive endeavour best addressed through community-based processes of education. By the end of 2010, approximately 116,000 rice, vegetable, cotton and other farmers would have been involved in season-long FFS in four West African countries, resulting in improved yields and incomes and ushering substantial progress in both reducing the use of chemical pesticides and improving the use of fertilizers and organic amendments. The programme is increasingly being successfully integrated into local, provincial and national structures. Experienced personnel are being employed to initiate similar programmes in nearby countries. The evolving network of experienced actors and committed countries provides a platform for collaboration by a growing set of partners and represents a large-scale, long-term programmatic approach to helping sustainably intensify and develop agriculture in Africa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The impact of agricultural research on the livelihoods of resource-poor farmers in West Africa has been disappointing. This article reports on research on agricultural research that sought to identify an alternative pathway of science that would lead to greater impact. It is based on the analysis of the work at eight pilot learning sites in the Convergence of Sciences (CoS) programme. Each site featured research for development with resource-poor farmers and other stakeholders. On the basis of literature review, we first built a perspective on the mix of research outcomes that seems necessary for agricultural research to be demand-driven and client-oriented. This perspective then served as the framework for analysis of the work at the eight learning sites. Adapted and consolidated on the basis of this empirical work, the framework represents a set of preliminary ideas for designing an effective pathway for agricultural science. The analysis shows that CoS has, in a number of diverse contexts and with respect to different crops, demonstrated that it is possible to establish vibrant multi- stakeholder learning coalitions at the local and programme levels that generate a great deal of enthusiasm and drive. It is further possible to identify promising opportunities that can be effectively addressed by agricultural research, if that research is multi-disciplinary, refrains from making constraining pre-analytical choices, pays attention to institutional aspects, and uses procedures that ensure that research is not only supply-, but also demand-driven. The study fills a gap in defining the nature of the components of a meaningful agricultural innovation system. The institutional dynamics at the macro level remain to be addressed in CoS' second phase. The present paper reports on the social dimensions and methodological issues of the first phase of the programme. The outcomes of the agronomic experiments with farmers will be reported elsewhere. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An introduction is presented in which the editor discusses various reports within the issue on topics including sustainable agriculture in West Africa, smallholder farming, and food security in the region.

Climate smart agriculture (CSA) has been promoted by governments and international development institutions as an intervention to address climate change and deliver triple wins. Yet, the trade-offs and synergies associated with CSA practices have not been explored. This study develops composite indices for prioritizing CSA practices to better inform policy about their trade-offs, synergies and acceptability. The aim of this study was to examine smallholder farmers' uptake of CSA practices, the drivers of such uptake and the benefits (positive and negative) of CSA practices on agriculture, livelihoods and the environment. We employed the Analytic Hierarchy Process with workshop participants across two study districts in Ghana's transitional and Sudan savannah agroecological zones. Results showed differences in CSA practices prioritized for achieving the productivity, adaptive capacity and mitigation goals between the two agroecological zones. Results also showed synergies and trade-offs associated with the implementation of CSA interventions, for example, irrigation may increase farm productivity (synergy) while contributing to the emission of greenhouse gases (GHGs) simultaneously (trade-off). Additionally, there are various perceived acceptance and efficiency levels of CSA practices by smallholder farmers and agricultural development officers. These results have implications for the implementation of future CSA action plans in vulnerability hotspots in dryland farming systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Semi-arid West Africa faces challenges to increase sorghum and pearl millet production to meet food needs for a growing human population while increasing soil carbon (C), nutrient levels, and water holding capacity that are documented benefits of conservation agriculture. This review focuses on the wealth of research on cropping systems, tillage, crop residue, nutrient, and weed management as related to conservation agriculture. It also identifies needs for multidisciplinary, integrative research to assist the transition from current production systems to conservation agriculture. Crop residue use as livestock feed, or fuel are major constraints to adoption of conservation agriculture, which could be reduced by wood production in agroforestry systems, alternate energy sources, and increased forage supply. Crop residue and grain yields are related, thus improved crop, soil, water, nutrient, and weed management to increase grain yield would also increase the supply of crop residue with potential for ‘left over’ crop residue being available for soil mulching. Incorporating indigenous shrubs and/or cover crops could also increase crop residue supply. Species diversity can be increased through crop rotation, agroforestry, cover crops, and intercrops. Higher grain and stover yields and increased profit potential for resource-poor farmers in West Africa will be required before wide-scale adoption of conservation agriculture will be possible. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Systems of urban and peri-urban agriculture (UPA) take many forms in terms of integration of different activities, production intensities and production orientations. The present study is aimed at a refined characterization of the diversity in terms of production orientation, resource endowments and production strategies of the different types of farm households involved in urban and peri-urban agriculture in three West African cities. A total of 318 UPA households were surveyed using a standardized semi-structured questionnaire in the West African cities Kano (Nigeria), Bobo Dioulasso (Burkina Faso) and Sikasso (Mali). Through categorical principal component analysis and two-step cluster analysis, six distinct household clusters were identified based on resource endowments and the degree of integration of vegetable, field crop and animal production. Three clusters appeared in all three cities; the remaining three were specific for one of the cities each and comprised (i) commercial gardening plus field crop–livestock (cGCL) keeping, (ii) commercial livestock plus subsistence field cropping (cLsC), (iii) commercial gardening plus semi-commercial field cropping (cGscC), (iv) commercial gardening plus semi-commercial livestock (cGscL) keeping, (v) commercial field cropping (cC) and (vi) commercial gardening (cG). Production constraints were similar across the cities, that is, high costs of inputs, water shortages and lack of fertilizers in the garden and field crop production systems, while feeding constraints and animal diseases were the main constraints in livestock production. UPA remains an important economic activity to livelihood strategy for urban and peri-urban farmers. Appropriate policies should be formulated that efficiently target the site-specific constraints for improving the quality and sustainability of UPA production systems. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

An international multi-disciplinary team of scientists, led by the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), tackled the problem of bovine trypanosomosis and the development of drug resistance in West Africa, inter alia, by the promotion of rational drug use (RDU) principles. These principles had been brought to farmers by practical training and by the provision of information leaflets. This study aimed to evaluate the impact of RDU training at smallholder level with respect to advances in farmers' knowledge and farm productivity before research outputs could be scaled up. Therefore, 508 cattle farmers attended a disease-specific knowledge test and provided information about farm production. Results show that farmers who participated in the training are more likely to identify signs and causes of the disease and to correctly administer drugs. Allocating scores to each question in the knowledge tests and scrutinizing the differences between trained and untrained farmers by matching procedures shows that participating farmers reach higher scores in all knowledge categories. Moreover, the acquisition of additional knowledge and the application of improved control strategies significantly increase farm performance. Additionally, an allocative effect was identified since trypanocide expenditures were saved by less expensive inputs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]