Question to the Department for International Development:

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, whether her Department provides support to farmer networks and farmer-to-farmer training to promote good soil management.

DFID is supporting farmer networks and farmer to farmer training on soil management. For example we fund the International Fund for Agriculture Development’s Adaptation for Smallholder Agriculture Programme (ASAP). This is assisting farmers networks on the promotion of better land and soil management practices and technologies including those developed under our support by the international agriculture research organisation the CGIAR.

For example in Nigeria ASAP is supporting the establishment and strengthening of community development associations for 200,000 smallholder farmers to adopt agricultural practices that both reduce soil erosion and their risks to climate change.

We are also funding farmer to farmer training under our country programmes. In Zambia this is focussed on climate smart agriculture and better management of soils. While in Malawi our support on conservation agriculture has helped 60,000 smallholder farmers to increase their crop yields and incomes by 25% on average.