Periodic Reporting for period 3 - EWA - BELT (Linking East and West African farming systems experience into a BELT of sustainable intensification)
Reporting period: 2023-10-01 to 2025-09-30
African countries suffer from high levels of food and nutrition insecurity exacerbated by an increasing impact of climate change on agricultural production. The Sustainable Intensification (SI) approach offers practical ways to increase agricultural yield, while preserving natural resources (water, soil, biodiversity and land) and flow of ecosystem services. SI requires fitting interventions according to local needs and contexts. Based on these assumptions, EWA-BELT project aims at promoting food production systems through SI in representative small holder farming systems of different agro-climatic areas of East (Ethiopia, Kenya and Tanzania) and West (Burkina Faso, Ghana, Sierra Leone) Africa and, consequently, to realize an interregional African “belt” able to promote SI by assessing and exchanging best practices and experiences among different contexts. Research activities on SI technologies are based on a multi stakeholder approach that foresees the direct involvement of farmers and other relevant actors at different levels along the value chain through Farmer Field Research Units. Particularly, EWA-BELT addresses key environmental conditions and food security issues related to low crop yield, livestock feeding and welfare, soil fertility decline and erosion, land degradation and overgrazing, nutrient depletion, inadequate crop varieties adapted to changing environment, pre and post-harvest losses, over exploitation of natural resources, water quality, weak market linkage, weak link between research extension and farmers and gender issues.
23 Farmer Field Research Units (FFRUs) and more than 30 case studies were established across 6 African countries. The FFRUs served as the core of the EWA-BELT research approach, providing a space for co-learning, testing, and assessing sustainable intensification technologies. They brought together research teams, reached more than 9000 farmers, extension agents, local authorities, and other key stakeholders to jointly develop, evaluate, and validate and learn about the proposed innovations. Key achievement include:
•Neglected and Underutilized Species (NUS): 13 drought- and/or pest-resistant NUS relevant to local food cultures were identified and validated through surveys and field trials. Genomic studies and sequencing were completed to improve knowledge on environment-based selection and guide future breeding and conservation strategies, as follow: Fonio (Ghana), Ensete and Lima bean (Ethiopia), Lablab bean and Cocoa (Tanzania), and Finger Millet (Kenya, Tanzania, Ethiopia).
•Sustainable soil management: Trials combining inorganic fertiliser with different organic inputs demonstrated consistent yield gains of 30–40% across multiple case studies, particularly for maize, fonio, groundnut and several short-cycle crops.
•Sustainable water management: In 3 pilot sites (Burkina Faso, Ghana, Tanzania), a detailed assessment of water-harvesting techniques impact on water soil retention and crops yield was carried out, providing a robust evidence base for scaling.
•Agri-livestock integration: Practices promoting natural grazing, recycling of crop residues for draft animals, and on-farm manure production were tested and validated, confirming both animal and crop productivity benefits.
•Integrated pest management: Traditional methods, biopesticides and repellent plants proved effective in managing major pests and diseases in pre- and post-harvest phases. Biopesticides such as neem oil extract and Cassia nigricans extract increased yields of crops like maize and cowpea in Burkina Faso and Ghana. Mixed plant extracts (e.g. pepper, Tephrosia vogelii, neem) showed solid performance against lablab and cowpea pests in Tanzania, offering viable, lower-toxicity alternatives to synthetic pesticides.
•Post-harvest protection: Experiments at lab scale using food-grade preservative bags with slow-release sulphur dioxide were completed and extended testing was carried out in collaboration with selected African partners.
Aflasafe trials in Ghana and Kenya resulted in low contamination levels for groundnut, finger millet, sorghum and maize.
•Digital tools for crop pest and pathogen detection were designed and validated. The Planthead platform was launched and a mobile app for both Android and iOS was released with enhanced user-friendliness and automation, streamlining diagnosis and prognosis for farmers. A dataset of 3,000 images of disease symptoms in six key crops was developed. The foundations were laid for future partnerships with similar platforms to ensure the long-term sustainability of the tool.
The Q3-Plus portable qPCR tool for early diagnosis of mycotoxin contamination is fully operational, supported by rapid, user-friendly low-equipment DNA extraction protocols, making this tool potentially suitable for simple laboratories.
•Assessment of Sustainable Intensification: A harmonised set of indicators was defined and applied to assess agronomic, economic, social and environmental dimensions of sustainable intensification across sites of the main groups of technologies proposed:
A full analysis of the value chain of selected practices such as Fonio in Ghana, groundnuts and finger millet in Kenya was completed, providing evidence for future upgrading and market opportunities.
•International and regional events were organised to disseminate results and promote the exchange of practices between East and West Africa and Europe, at the United Nations and African Union level. Synergies with other Horizon projects working on similar topics were also established.
•Neglected and Underutilized Species (NUS): 13 drought- and/or pest-resistant NUS relevant to local food cultures were identified and validated through surveys and field trials. Genomic studies and sequencing were completed to improve knowledge on environment-based selection and guide future breeding and conservation strategies, as follow: Fonio (Ghana), Ensete and Lima bean (Ethiopia), Lablab bean and Cocoa (Tanzania), and Finger Millet (Kenya, Tanzania, Ethiopia).
•Sustainable soil management: Trials combining inorganic fertiliser with different organic inputs demonstrated consistent yield gains of 30–40% across multiple case studies, particularly for maize, fonio, groundnut and several short-cycle crops.
•Sustainable water management: In 3 pilot sites (Burkina Faso, Ghana, Tanzania), a detailed assessment of water-harvesting techniques impact on water soil retention and crops yield was carried out, providing a robust evidence base for scaling.
•Agri-livestock integration: Practices promoting natural grazing, recycling of crop residues for draft animals, and on-farm manure production were tested and validated, confirming both animal and crop productivity benefits.
•Integrated pest management: Traditional methods, biopesticides and repellent plants proved effective in managing major pests and diseases in pre- and post-harvest phases. Biopesticides such as neem oil extract and Cassia nigricans extract increased yields of crops like maize and cowpea in Burkina Faso and Ghana. Mixed plant extracts (e.g. pepper, Tephrosia vogelii, neem) showed solid performance against lablab and cowpea pests in Tanzania, offering viable, lower-toxicity alternatives to synthetic pesticides.
•Post-harvest protection: Experiments at lab scale using food-grade preservative bags with slow-release sulphur dioxide were completed and extended testing was carried out in collaboration with selected African partners.
Aflasafe trials in Ghana and Kenya resulted in low contamination levels for groundnut, finger millet, sorghum and maize.
•Digital tools for crop pest and pathogen detection were designed and validated. The Planthead platform was launched and a mobile app for both Android and iOS was released with enhanced user-friendliness and automation, streamlining diagnosis and prognosis for farmers. A dataset of 3,000 images of disease symptoms in six key crops was developed. The foundations were laid for future partnerships with similar platforms to ensure the long-term sustainability of the tool.
The Q3-Plus portable qPCR tool for early diagnosis of mycotoxin contamination is fully operational, supported by rapid, user-friendly low-equipment DNA extraction protocols, making this tool potentially suitable for simple laboratories.
•Assessment of Sustainable Intensification: A harmonised set of indicators was defined and applied to assess agronomic, economic, social and environmental dimensions of sustainable intensification across sites of the main groups of technologies proposed:
A full analysis of the value chain of selected practices such as Fonio in Ghana, groundnuts and finger millet in Kenya was completed, providing evidence for future upgrading and market opportunities.
•International and regional events were organised to disseminate results and promote the exchange of practices between East and West Africa and Europe, at the United Nations and African Union level. Synergies with other Horizon projects working on similar topics were also established.
Throughout 5 years of project implementation involving 6 African countries from East and West and 4 European countries, EWA BELT promoted a science-driven, farmer-centered, and regionally led approach to sustainable intensification. The project has advanced beyond the current state of the art by providing evidence-based, farmer-validated knowledge that is directly accessible to local stakeholders and decision-makers and context specific. Key advances include:
• Transdisciplinary approaches and co-development and co-learning: EWA-BELT has engaged farmers, extension agents, local authorities, and researchers in Farmer Field Research Units (FFRUs), which serve as living laboratories where innovations are designed, tested, and validated. This approach strengthened farmers’ capacity for innovation, promoted knowledge exchange, and increased ownership and adoption of sustainable intensification practices.
• Bridging traditional knowledge and innovation: By combining indigenous and traditional knowledge based practices with innovation and modern agronomic tools, the project has enhanced resilience and productivity of smallholder farms.
• Enhanced food security and yield stability: Targeted interventions on soil, water, crop-livestock integration, and pest management contribute to reduce yield gaps and post-harvest losses, strengthening livelihoods at the farm level.
• Innovation in diagnostics and digital tools: Platforms like Planthead and Q3-Plus V2 have introduced accessible, field-ready crop health diagnostics, empowering farmers to make timely management decisions.
• South-South and regional cooperation: Cross-country collaboration has promoted knowledge exchange between East and West Africa, supporting scalable solutions and regional capacity building.
• Transdisciplinary approaches and co-development and co-learning: EWA-BELT has engaged farmers, extension agents, local authorities, and researchers in Farmer Field Research Units (FFRUs), which serve as living laboratories where innovations are designed, tested, and validated. This approach strengthened farmers’ capacity for innovation, promoted knowledge exchange, and increased ownership and adoption of sustainable intensification practices.
• Bridging traditional knowledge and innovation: By combining indigenous and traditional knowledge based practices with innovation and modern agronomic tools, the project has enhanced resilience and productivity of smallholder farms.
• Enhanced food security and yield stability: Targeted interventions on soil, water, crop-livestock integration, and pest management contribute to reduce yield gaps and post-harvest losses, strengthening livelihoods at the farm level.
• Innovation in diagnostics and digital tools: Platforms like Planthead and Q3-Plus V2 have introduced accessible, field-ready crop health diagnostics, empowering farmers to make timely management decisions.
• South-South and regional cooperation: Cross-country collaboration has promoted knowledge exchange between East and West Africa, supporting scalable solutions and regional capacity building.