WIT: High-Value Crops

Development experts agree that poverty is the root cause of most hunger and vulnerability in the drylands. Most poverty is in the rural areas, where agriculture is the main income-earning option. But farming low-value grain crops on just a hectare or two does not earn enough to erase poverty.

Cereal grain prices have fallen for decades, which is good for consumers but puts pressure on dryland smallholder farmers. They cannot expand their cropped area, mechanize their operations or raise their input levels to compensate for falling prices, in the way that large-scale farmers can. Subsidies for foreign producers have also undercut local agriculturalists’ ability to earn a living from grain farming.

Dryland smallholders need additional options that work to their comparative advantages, generating high value from mostly manual labor on a small land area.

Urban demands, rural rewards

Urbanization is gaining momentum across the drylands of Asia and Africa. Urban centers create new markets, and with higher incomes demand more diverse diets. Fruits and vegetables are especially promising because of their high market volumes and value. Fruit and vegetable cultivation can multiply farm incomes severalfold compared to cereal grain cultivation.

Great gains

Adding watermelon to conventional maize-maize cropping systems with water harvesting triples net income in Vietnam; watermelon-mungbean-soybean adds another 70%.

Dry-season chickpea can be grown on one-third as much irrigation water as wheat in India and needs no nitrogen fertilizer, resulting in much higher profits.

By integrating fruit trees with crops and drought-hardy vegetables, the Dryland Eco-Farm system developed by ICRISAT in Sahelian West Africa quadruples the net income received from sole millet farming.

Ten trees of Pomme du Sahel (Ziziphus mauritiana) deliver as much value as an entire hectare of millet.

A single high-quality date palm tree yields $200 worth of fruit per year in the Sahel.

Rainy-season tomatoes, made practical by varieties with improved fruit-set selected by ICRISAT in West Africa, attract prices five times higher than during the main dry-season harvest period.

Vegetables nourish rural economies

Facing severe land constraints due to high populations, smallholder Asian farmers have much experience with high value vegetable and fruit crops. ICRISAT partners closely with the World Vegetable Center (AVRDC) in research to benefit Asia, and to build on that knowledge for Africa.

Asian smallholder vegetable farmers have devised ingenious solutions for pest and disease problems. Research and development can build on these innovations through integrated pest and disease management, and help share that knowledge with other developing countries worldwide.

African vegetable farmers face a different constellation of constraints, such as shortages of labor, water control and transportation infrastructure. Vegetables require more care and investment than grain crops, so yields need to be safeguarded against drought. Good options are available, such as water harvesting, low-cost drip irrigation, watershed management, and groundwater-sharing cooperatives.

Legume crops in ICRISAT’s domain of expertise yield high-value vegetable products. In Ethiopia, fresh green chickpea pods are prized in urban areas and are an important source of income at a time when other vegetables are in short supply. In Kenya, Tanzania, Malawi and Mozambique, early-maturing pigeonpeas capture off-season high prices for green peas consumed as a vegetable.

ICRISAT is finding that vegetable cultivation can especially benefit women through village self-help groups. Besides raising women’s incomes, this ensures better nutrition for their families.

Many indigenous fruits and vegetables in Africa have yet to be commercialized, and are at risk of being pushed aside by the dominant global species. ICRISAT has been countering this trend by encouraging the smallholder-friendly commercialization of leafy local vegetables by women’s groups such as Senna obtusifolia, popular for salads and sauces.

Money growing on trees

Fruit trees also hold high-value potential. Many tree fruits mature in the dry season, when other sources of income are few. This increases year-round employment and market value, reducing the need for young men to leave their homes in search of dry-season work.

Sloping areas are well-suited for fruit trees, which reduce erosion and add organic matter. Bunding across the slope enables water harvesting to reduce drought risk, made even more effective by trees’ deep, perennial root systems. Vegetables are cultivated between the tree rows to generate income for the initial years before the trees begin fruiting.

At our station near Niamey, Niger we’ve established a global collection of dryland fruit trees to assess their potential for the Sahel. Well-adapted varieties of mango, citrus, Pomme du Sahel, sweet tamarind, fig and grape have already been identified, and more will emerge in the coming years. Hundreds of people have been trained in nursery management techniques so that these trees can be multiplied by small-scale entrepreneurs for sale to farmers.

In addition to water-harvesting on rainfed lands, small-scale irrigation is feasible in many areas of dryland Africa. Unlike cereal crops, high-value trees and vegetables deliver enough income to pay for this investment.

As I described last year, we’ve developed a low-cost, water and labor-conserving gravity-drip irrigated system that we call the African Market Garden (AMG), accompanied by high-value crops and management techniques. The AMG increases tomato yields fivefold, and income is multiplied severalfold more by adding date palms and other remunerative species. Approximately 2,000 AMG units have been introduced in eight West African countries over the past four years, and the pace of expansion is accelerating.

Navigating markets

Poor smallholders are vulnerable to being squeezed by middlemen, especially when bulky, perishable fresh produce needs to be sold. But when farmers team up to face the market together, they gain clout. More research is needed on how farmer associations can protect the interests of the poor.

Women vegetable sellers in West Africa typically collaborate to prevent price competition within their neighboring market stalls. On a larger scale, formal institutions like the Onion Producers Association of Niger also ensure that farmers get a good deal. The Onion Producers dictate minimum prices to be paid for onions for each month of the year, and even compel buyers to pay a levy to fund Association activities. The Onion Producers run an effective market intelligence service in the major terminal points where their goods are sold. As a result, onion growers are the most prosperous farmers in the country.

As production volumes of high-value crops expand, the risks of glutting the market grow. Ways to process and preserve products for later sale, and export channels become crucial. As we identify promising new tree fruit species for the West African drylands we are also in dialogue with the private sector about processing the juice for year-round sales, including exports.

Quality pays

Good quality is rewarded with sharply higher prices. Citrus produced in the Air Mountains of Niger fetches three times higher prices than that produced in the south of the country. High-quality onion, tomato and lettuce varieties introduced by ICRISAT and others attract a 50% price premium in several West African countries. And tropically-adapted Kabuli-type (large-seeded Garbanzo type) chickpeas that we’ve bred are in demand worldwide; they attract twice the price of the smaller-seeded Desi grain types. Research can uncover more treasure troves of value to benefit farmers.

A richer future

I hope I have given you a glimpse of how we think we can hit poverty head-on through higher-value cropping systems suited to the needs and capacities of the poor. The entire CGIAR recently endorsed this area of work by including it in the new System Priorities, and is considering it for Challenge Programme status. We are also closely engaged with the Global Horticulture Initiative convened by our partner AVRDC.

We’d welcome your support and ideas on ways to deliver the highest possible value to those who most need it.