Quarterly Progress Monitoring Report: 2 CLIMATE VARIABILITY AND CHANGE RISK ASSESSMENT AND MANAGEMENT: DEVELOPMENT OF DECISION SUPPORT SYSTEMS FOR DRY LAND SMALL SCALE FARMERS IN BAROLONG AND KGALAGADI SOUTH SUB-DISTRICT JANUARY - MARCH Q1- 2017 Quarterly Progress Monitoring Report: 2 CONTENTS 1.0 PROJECT BASIC INFORMATION ................................................................................................. 2 2.0 MONITORING ACTIVITIES ............................................................................................................ 3 3.0 PLANNED ACTIVITIES: ................................................................................................................ 10 1 | P a g e 1.0 PROJECT BASIC INFORMATION Project Number: BOT/SGP/OP5/STAR/CC/15/02 Project Title: Climate Variability and Change Risk Assessment and Management: Development of Decision Support Systems for Dry land Small Scale Farmers in Barolong and Kgalagadi South Sub-Districts.” Name of the Local Botswana Institute for Technology Research and Innovation (BITRI) [NGO][CBO]: Project Director: Grant recipient’s Plot 50654, Machel Drive, Maranyane house, Private Bag 0082, Gaborone Address: Location of project: Southern District (Borolong sub) and Kgalagadi South Total Amount of P500,000.00 (USD 50,000) Funds Under the Agreement: Date of signature of For The Period Covering From 12 December 2015 To 12 December 2018 the Agreement Disbursement Request Local Currency (Pula) US $ Equivalent SGP Grant Amount 500.000.00 50,000.00 SGP funds received to 489,284.00 40.000.00 date for this grant SGP funds spent to date 437,617.76 Funds balance 51,666.24 SGP Grant TBA 10,000.00 disbursement required N.B See itemized expenditure in Appendix Date of the next request for funds: June 2017 Certified by K.Motlopi Name and signature of the Representative of the Local [NGO][CBO]: Date: 13/4/2017 2 | P a g e 2.0 MONITORING ACTIVITIES The quarterly monitoring progress report covers activities planned under the project to gauge, progress and achievement of Goals and Objectives. Objective Activities Achieved Observations/indicators Project Presentation at Presentations on the project were Project received very Advocacy District made to Kgalagadi District well and support pledged. and Committees’ Disaster management awareness Committee, which comprises of Attendance at these creation district plan managers, another forums differs, and doses presentation was made to not consist of the most Southern district Full Council in Kanye. relevant people to support project. However the District agricultural office as a partner was represented. Facilitate 1 field day was held in Attendance in Borolong sharing of Thareseleele- Borolong was good, as indicated by lessons and attendance of more than practices The project participated in a 150 people. through field Letsema activity facilitated by and farm walks Kgalagadi South and another Attendance of filed days filed day at Mmathethe at kgalagadi South was organised by our very low, owing to stakeholders. distances between the participating villages and scarcity of transport Media coverage- Field days held in Goodhope The news on the project Press Release and Kgalagadi south were implementation is there covered by print and for known to have television media respectively reached more people than the participating farmers or villages. This is expected to increase awareness on climate change and adaptation in crop production 3 | P a g e Farm walk Thareseleele 4 | P a g e Farm walk Maubelo Objective Activities Achieved Observations/indicators Improve household Provide inputs Procured foliar fertilizer, Farmers had no food security and for weed and glyphosate weed killer protective clothing to build resilient pesticide handle the agro livelihoods management chemicals. through Create the use Field visit and The emergence of army Implementing of herbicides consultation with ball worm, late spraying Decision support and pesticides individual farmers, Farm of glyphosate resulted in, tools to manage soil tours) and field too much rain combined fertility and demonstrations. to make it difficult for reduce weeds farmers to weed, as most and pests. The demonstrations fields were inundated were led and conducted with water. by Ramogomana Field visits Visits were made to all Crop emergence was the fourty farms.. generally fair, with 5 farmers in Borolong and 3 farmers in Kgalagadi south having a good crop. 5 | P a g e The rest of the farmers fields were infested with weeds. The farmers decried too much rain and late intervention with wed control measures. It emerged that labour was a problem as it was either reported to be expensive or lacking. Promote climate Carry out farm Demonstrations on the Some farmers had not smart alternative demonstrations calibration of ripping ripped because of lack of production and of CSA machines, fertilizer and tractors. conservation Practices and pesticide application, methods/ practices technologies cover crops and the among dryland potential for fodder farmers. demonstrated in field at both Kgalagadi South and Borolong (Southern districts. 30 farmers attended the demonstrations. 6 | P a g e Demonstration of foliar, glyphosate application Borolong Demonstration of lablab as promising income generaing crop in Kgalagadi South 7 | P a g e Objective Activities Achieved Observations/indicat ors Weather forecasting Arrange for periodic No forecasting The next weather outlook for tactical and Weather Forecasting undertaken this outlook to be strategic decision- Outlook for season for facilitated for farmers making Agriculture farmers in September 2017 Knowledge Produce a fully- The manual The manual will Management and fledged project will be serve as reference Communication Document for small informed by material for farmers. strategy holder farmers to project reports assist awareness and activities creation by Extension and will Officers. document these for reference Produce Fliers were IEC material will Information ,Educati developed and continue to be on and distributed produced under the Communications during project materials’ such as, training, farm Fliers, Posters , news and field walks. briefs Project awareness To be held Scheduled for just and advocacy early before next campaigns (Walks, September. ploughing season. To Stakeholder set the tone for adoption of CSA practices Problems & Risks: Too much rain This gave rise to emergence of weeds of all kinds. The fields were also flooded for some weeks, which meant farmers could not weed during that time. The flooding resulted in nutrient leaching as most of the maize in the flooded portions were turning yellow. Farmers exhibited dependency characteristics. The project had not made arrangements to provide farmers with personal protective clothing, because it was expected thy could afford to buy it. Because they did not buy PPE, there were delays in controlling both the ball worm and weeds in time. 8 | P a g e Failure to identify a contact person between BITRI and District Stakeholders This resulted in miscommunication, late responses and poor planning to procure and deliver inputs effectively. Lack of transport Shortage of transport and distances between farms, makes it difficult for Extension Officers to visit farms and offer agronomic advice as necessary, which causes things to became worse before they are addressed. Lack of equipment Shortage of certified sprayers also caused delays. In Kalagadi due to lack of implements and machinery, only 8 of the 20 farmers managed to get their fields ripped. Staff turnover Three Extension Officers were transferred during the reporting period from Kgalagadi South to other districts. This delays in actually having their vacated offices filled affected programming and implementation. Proposed Solutions or Mitigation To deal with flooding, Farmers should be encouraged to construct drainage furrows to deal with water ponding. To address loss of nutrients, farmers were encouraged to use foliar feed that was provided. To curb dependency, and for adaptation projects to succeed farmers should be taught the importance of self-reliance. And how much they can produce just by doing things for themselves. The Districts will be engaged to select a coordinator, who will manage information between BITRI and the district. To go around the problem of lack of transport, Farmers should visit the district agriculture offices to lodge complaints and emerging issues and get assistance. To go around the problem of shortage of certified sprayers farmers should be trained to handle sprayers and certified. Shortage of tractors is a national problem. It will benefit small holder farmers if they can be taught to undertake ripping using animal draft power, this will avoid disappointments. 9 | P a g e 3.0 PLANNED ACTIVITIES: The project activities that are going to be carried out in the next quarter (April to June 2017) are as follows; 1. Monitor crop outputs. 2. Identify and promote climate-resilient alternative income sources (Preservation, Storage and preparation) 3. Identify Non-functional committees 4. Train new committee members’ 5. Arrange benchmarking trips 6. Select and develop farmers’ profiles 10 | P a g e APPENDICES Field visit (consultation with individual farmers, Farm tours) and field demonstrations. The demonstrations were led and conducted by Ramogomana FARMERS VISITED No. NAME AND SURNAME SEX LOCATION 1. Piet Kgathile Male Tsabong 2. Sophy Letsholo Female Tsabong 3. Jacobus Barlie Male Khawa 4. Mmoloki Moteki Male