Feed the Future USAID Mali Cooperative Agreement Fertilizer Deep Placement and Micro-Dosing Scaling Up Project
Date
2019-06
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Abstract
The Fertilizer Deep Placement and Micro-Dosing Scaling Up Project (FDP MD) was a U.S. government initiative funded by the United States Agency for International Development
(USAID). Implemented by IFDC in Feed the Future (FTF) areas, the project aimed to intensify fertilizer deep placement (FDP) and micro-dosing (MD). The objective was to sustainably increase the productivity and production of rice, millet, sorghum, and irrigated vegetable value chains to improve food security and incomes of smallholder farmers and rural agro entrepreneurs in Mali.
The FDP MD project:
• Covered four regions: Timbuktu, Mopti, Segou, and Sikasso. Technology adoption efforts were intensified through the implementation of appropriate strategies designed to achieve results and impacts beyond the life of the project.
• Duration was five years from 2014 to 2019.
• Covered vegetables, irrigated rice, and lowland rice under FDP in the four regions and dry cereals (millet and sorghum) under MD in Mopti and Sikasso. The overall goal was to improve the food security and incomes of smallholder farmers and rural agro-entrepreneurs in Mali. Intermediate Results (IR):
• IR 1: Increased adoption of FDP and MD in the FTF targeted areas of Mopti, Segou, Sikasso, and Timbuktu regions for rice, vegetables, millet, and sorghum.
• IR 2: Increased fertilizer supply and distribution in the FTF targeted areas of Mopti, Segou, Sikasso, and Timbuktu regions, based on private sector needs.
• IR 3: Capacity building of key stakeholders (organized producers, including women and youth, agro-input dealers, research and extension agents, non-governmental organization agents)operating in the targeted areas of Mopti, Segou, Sikasso, and Timbuktu.
The project was organized around the following activities:
• Large-scale dissemination of FDP and MD technologies through the implementation of demonstration trials and FDP (rice and vegetable) diffusion plots in Sikasso, Mopti, Segou, and Timbuktu, and MD in Mopti and Sikasso.
• Capacity building of farmers on FDP MD technologies by farmer leaders in each of the FTF areas.
• Capacity building of briquette manufacturers to produce homogeneous fertilizer samples of correct composition.
• Facilitation of linkages between manufacturers of fertilizer briquettes and agricultural input dealers and producer cooperatives (in Sikasso, Mopti, Timbuktu, and Segou).
• Results-sharing and sensitization of decision-makers through technical meetings and workshops and existing regional or national platforms and forums.
• Mobilization of public and private investments in the process of deploying FDP and MD technologies to match the funds provided by USAID.
This report describes the cumulative achievements under each IR and is organized as follows: Introduction, Implementation Strategy, Project Activities and Results (FDP Rice/Vegetable
Technology, MD Millet/Sorghum Technology), Cross-Cutting Issues (Gender, Local Implementing Partners), M&E, Communications, Project Management,) Lessons Learned, Success Factors, Sustainability Factors, Analysis of Main Strengths and Weaknesses of the Project, and Conclusion.
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Keywords
Fertilizer technology, Food security, Deep placement