Sole-cropped, unfertilized maize is the dominant cropping system throughout southern Africa. Yields have become stagnant and legumes are frequently advocated as an affordable option for resource poor farmers, to enhance productivity. Farmer participatory research was employed to test legume intensification as a means to improve maize-based systems in Malawi. A range of options were evaluated, from grain/legume intercrops of long-duration pigeonpea (Cajanus cajan) and groundnut (Arachis hypogaea) rotated with maize (Zea mays), to a relay green manure system of maize with Tephrosia vogelii (Fishbean). Two years of on-farm experimentation indicated that under on-farm conditions legume-intensified systems produced residues that contained about 50 kg N/ha per year, two-fold higher than sole-cropped maize residues. Grain yields from legume-intensified systems were comparable to yields from continuous sole maize, even in a dry lakeshore ecology. These preliminary findings were linked to farmer assessment, where farmers participating in the trials expressed strong interest in the technologies. Yet the probability of adoption remains uncertain. Associated surveys outlined constraints and trade-offs underlying technology choice, information that is not usually considered in conjunction with on-farm trials. Although the legumes were highly productive, farmers expressed worries about the marginal loss of maize production. While the trial performance was similar across regions, differences in market condition, farm resources and household composition appears to stimulate different technology choices. Farmers weigh the benefits of weed suppression and potential cash earnings, against the costs of seed, problems of seed access, labor requirements and problems of grain market access and price. Surveyed farmers commonly manage residues by burning. Promotion and experimentation with more efficient use of legume residues may offer higher short-term impacts than efforts to promote adoption of another cash crop. Ultimately, adoption and soil fertility benefits may depend on market returns to legume production. This study documents the value of researchers and farmers partnering in evaluation of technologies, adoption constraints and competing technology choices.

The commercial seed sector has been slow to develop in sub-Saharan Africa. The paper examines the major impediments and identifies areas in which seed policies can be strengthened. Seed enterprise development has been hampered by regulatory frameworks that favor parastatal enterprises and that inhibit commercial innovation. In addition, government and donor projects provide large amounts of free or subsidized seed that further discourages seed enterprise development. In addition to regulatory reform and the curtailment of many seed distribution projects, there are other policy changes that need to be implemented. National agricultural research institutes need to invest more resources in promoting their varieties and helping to stimulate commercial seed production. Greater emphasis is required on regional strategies for public plant breeding and private seed marketing. National policies need to strengthen input marketing capacity and infrastructure. Finally, donors, governments and NGOs should shift from trying to encourage village-level commercial seed production and instead strengthen farmers' capacities to assess new varieties and to be effective consumers of commercial inputs.

Next to drought, poor soil fertility is the single biggest cause of hunger in Africa. ICRISATZimbabwe has been working for the past 10 years to encourage small-scale farmers to increase inorganic fertiliser use as the first step towards Africa's own Green Revolution. The program of work is founded on promoting small quantities of inorganic nitrogen (N) fertiliser (micro-dosing) in drought-prone cropping regions. Results from initial on-farm trials showed that smallholder farmers could increase their yields by 30-100% through application of micro doses, as little as 10 kg Nitrogen ha -1 . The question remained whether these results could be replicated across much larger numbers of farmers. Wide scale testing of the micro-dosing (17 kg Nitrogen ha -1 ) concept was initiated in 2003/2004, across multiple locations in southern Zimbabwe through relief and recovery programs. Each year more than 160,000 low resourced households received at least 25 kg of nitrogen fertiliser and a simple flyer in the vernacular explaining how to apply the fertiliser to a cereal crop. This distribution was accompanied by a series of simple paired plot demonstration with or without fertiliser, hosted by farmers selected by the community, where trainings were carried out and detailed labour and crop records were kept. Over a 3 year period more than 2,000 paired-plot trials were established and quality data collected from more than 1,200. In addition, experimentation to derive N response curves of maize (Zea mays L.), sorghum (Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench) and pearl millet (Pennisetum glaucum (L.) R.Br.) in these environments under farmer management was conducted. The results consistently showed that micro-dosing (17 kg Nitrogen ha -1 ) with nitrogen fertiliser can increase grain yields by 30-50% across a broad spectrum of soil, farmer management and seasonal climate conditions. In order for a household to make a profit, farmers needed to obtain between 4 and 7 kg of grain for every kg of N applied depending on season. In fact farmers commonly obtained 15-45 kg of grain per kg of N input. The result provides strong evidence that lack of N, rather than lack of rainfall, is the primary constraint to cereal crop yields and that

A risk model based on multiple factors instead of p16 as single marker can define different risk groups to select patients for treatment deintensification in future prospective clinical trials.

Countries in West, Eastern and Southern Africa are pursuing the regional harmonization of their seed laws and regulations. Common regulatory frameworks are expected to reduce the costs of trading seed and encourage scale economies in seed production. As a result, commercial seed production is expected to expand, providing farmers with improved access to new varieties and stimulating productivity growth. The impact of these harmonization efforts will depend on the details of the regulatory agreements. Policy-makers are being asked to consider a complicated series of trade-offs between stricter measures for quality control and the need to encourage the multiplication and distribution of lower-cost seed. They are also being confronted with two possible views of sectoral development. One view entails the pursuit of better linkages between distinct national seed markets. The second involves the development of truly regionalized seed markets, where seed can be readily produced in one country and sold in any other country. This implies greater regional interdependence of seed supply. The paper compares the harmonization agreements being pursued in each of the three African regions and progress in implementing the accords. Efforts to adapt international seed market standards to the contingencies of African markets are discussed and priorities for further policy analysis are identified. #

In 2001, the Third Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change highlighted the potential impacts of a changing climate on global agriculture. The Report stated that rising temperatures and drought could lead to significant declines in yields for many of the world's poorest nations, including Africa. This stimulated a new set of global commitments to research and promote agricultural practices that are more climate-smart. Since then, almost USD 1 billion has been committed to climate-smart programming in Africa, with more likely to follow (Fig. 1.1). Most African governments have formed climate-smart agriculture task forces. New transnational partnerships, such as the East African Regional Climate-Smart Agriculture Alliance, have linked government efforts to support regional change. In 2015, these commitments were reinforced by the adoption of a Statement T.

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