Period
2021 - 2022
The absence of oilseed sunflower cultivation in West Minya and neighbouring areas, due to farmers' knowledge gaps and contractual issues, prompted the design and implementation of the ECIVC practice. A pre-test survey revealed farmers' reluctance towards oilseed sunflower, leading to the implementation of the programme among 531 selected farmers. ECIVC established ten demo plots and conducted extensive training and Farm Field Schools. Interventions included fair agreement meetings, earlier planting, organic manure, reduced density, proper harvesting and residue recycling. While 90 farmers accepted the oilseed contract, challenges remained, including delayed seed delivery and winter crop harvest, delayed payments and higher extension service costs. The success in West Minya led to the expansion of the programme to the New Valley governorate in 2023. The economic benefits of oilseed cultivation ensured stable incomes, reduced exploitation by middlemen, and provided domestic sources of oilseeds for farms. Socially, it created income opportunities from recycled cooking oil residues, particularly benefiting youth and women. The practice demonstrated technical feasibility, with varying productivity across regions. Recommendations focus on a unified contract system that accommodates different farmer cost structures, consolidates bargaining power, and integrates national refining companies to support extension services and residue recycling.
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Identification needs
Although oilseed sunflower is recommended for cultivation in the summer crop pattern in West Minya and the surrounding zone under salinity levels of 2000 to 3000 ppm, the 2021 statistics do not include either oil-type or non-oil type sunflower crops. The pre-test survey revealed that the shortage of farmers' knowledge, negative attitudes towards oil-type sunflower, and unfamiliarity with contract farming procedures due to legal terms were the main reasons for the lack of cultivated area. Additionally, unfair price negotiation, low price, delayed payment, and delayed delivery were also contributing factors. It was noted that the oil variety is not considered as profitable as the food variety, especially in adverse climatic conditions and drought.
Stakeholder change
ECIVC provided ten extension demo plots of oilseed sunflower to improve farmers' Knowledge, Attitudes, and Practices (KAPs) through training and farm field schools. KAPs involved Institutional support: holding meetings with the three parties involved (farmers, contract farming centre and buying company) to ensure a fair agreement; planting earlier to combat drought; adding organic manure and reducing density to improve plant growth; aerating heads in the open for a week during harvest; storing kernels in a dry place with a moisture level of 9-10%; installing beehives; recycling residues (stalks, leaves and empty heads) to make compost. A total of 531 farmers of summer field crops in West Minya (WM) and Middle Egypt (ME) zones, as well as food-type sunflower farmers in Bani Mazaar (BM) village, were selected. Out of these, only 90 farmers responded to the contract for oil-type crops: 15 investors in WM, 30 intermediate-scale farmers in ME, and 45 small-scale farmers in BM.
Change triggered
Due to the success of the ECIVC program in West Minya in 2021, the program will be implemented in the New Valley governorate in 2023. Simplicity and ease of implementation are the reason for its success. Economic factors: Contracting on oilseed ensures price stability for farmers' income, a diverse range of income sources from selling seeds (main crop), compost, and bee hives (secondary crop). The income from oilseed is 50% higher than that of food-type sunflowers, despite the seed costs being 5% higher. This helps to overcome intermediaries' exploitation and provides domestic sources of oilseeds to operate oilseed factories. Social factors: Recycling cooking oil residues instead of disposing in landfills provides an income source for youths and women while also helping to maintain the environment. Technical factors include high resource productivity but with some limitations, such as delays in seed supply, high cost of extension services.
Short description
The practice is technically feasible and easy to implement. On average, oilseed sunflower crop productivity ranges from 598.6 kg/Feddan in the WM zone to 1171.77 kg/Feddan in the ME zone, with an average productivity of 965.5 kg/Feddan. The productivity of oilseed sunflower crop in the BM zone is similar to that of the ME zone, at 950.35 kg/Feddan. These variations may be due to differences in socio-demographic factors among farmers' KAPs. The recommendation is to design a contract scheme that allows farmers with different cost structures to join together, reducing the marginal cost of extension services and ensuring coverage. The contract scheme should also include setting monopolistic bargaining power and mainstreaming national companies that refine and process vegetable oils to bear the cost of extension services and recycling residues.