Frederic Baudron is a Principal Scientist working for the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Centre (CIMMYT) based in Harare, Zimbabwe. Trained as a tropical agronomist in France, he specialized as a livestock scientist and started his carreer working for various international organizations (Cirad, WWF, etc) targeting the interface between people (mainly farmers) and wildlife in Zimbabwe (and neighboring countries). He then carried his PhD on plant production systems at the University of Wageningen (The Netherlands).
He is involved in a number of research projects in Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe. He has over 18 years of experience developing solutions with and for smallholders in East and Southern Africa.
PhD in Production Ecology and Resource Conservation, 2011
Wageningen University, The Netherlands
Diploma of Specialized Agronomy (Master of Science) in Animal Science, 2001
AgroParisTech, France
Diploma of General Agronomy, 2000
SupAgro Montpellier, France
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The objective of the “LIvestock Production System” (LIPS) project is to improve productivity and climate relevance of livsestock-based production systems in Zimbabwe’s agro-ecological regions IV and V through increased adoption of climate relevant innovations in livestock-based production systems, and increased capacity to implement surveillance and control of productivity diseases.
The “Sustainable Intensification of Smallholder Farming Systems” (SIFAZ) project aims at sustainably intensifying current smallholder farming systems affected by soil degradation, fertility decline and climate change with improved technologies and scaling approaches to increase productivity, income and facilitate commercial orientation of smallholder farmers while maintaining environmental resilience of the natural resource base for sustainable production in the targeted production systems.
The goal of the project “Validating Agro-ecological Control Options for Fall Armyworm (Spodoptera frugiperda J.E. Smith) in Zimbabwe” is to reduce the negative impact of fall armyworm on food security and livelihoods of smallholder farmers in Zimbabwe, by giving them more control options, based on the principles of agro-ecological management.
The “Programme on Growth & Resilience” (PROGRESS) uses a multi-tiered approach to address key causes of rural household vulnerability, improving the absorptive, adaptive and transformative capacities of at least 20,000 households in Nyanga and Beitbridge Districts.
The objective of the “Enhancing Smallholder Wheat Productivity through Sustainable Intensification of Wheat-based Farming Systems in Rwanda and Zambia” (SWPSI) project is to establish the potential of smallholder wheat production to increase food security and reduce wheat import bills in Rwanda and Zambia, and to draw lessons to inform wheat sector development for scaling-up of initiatives to increase wheat farm productivity.
The aim of the “The New Agrarian Change” project, implemented from 2014 to 2016, to use “an integrated landscape approach to explore the livelihood and food security implications of land-use change and agrarian change processes in multi-functional landscapes, focusing on the experiences of six landscapes that exhibit various combinations of agricultural modification, productivity, changing forest cover or forest use, and integration with global commodity markets.
The aim of the “Farm Mechanisation and Conservation Agriculture for Sustainable Intensification” (FACASI) project, implemented from 2013 to 2017 in Kenya and in Tanzania, and from 2014 to 2019 in Ethiopia and Zimbabwe, was to identify appropriate small-scale machines (in particular two-wheel tractors and their ancillary equipment) to improve farming practices (in particular crop establishment through direct seeding), and the commercial mechanisms needed to deliver these to smallholder farmers.
The aim of the “Improving Sustainable Productivity in Farming Systems and Enhanced Livelihoods through Adoption of Evergreen Agriculture in Eastern Africa” (Trees4Food) project, implemented from 2012 to 2017, was to enhance food security for resource-poor rural people in Eastern Africa through research that underpins national programmes to scale up the use of trees within farming systems in Ethiopia and Rwanda and then scale out successes to relevant agro-ecological zones in Uganda and Burundi.
While the world’s attention is focused on controlling COVID-19, evidence points at the biodiversity crisis as a leading factor in its emergence, and the outbreak of many past emerging infectious diseases. Agriculture is a major driver of biodiversity loss globally. Feeding a growing human population in ways that minimize harm to biodiversity is thus imperative to prevent the next COVID-19. Solutions exist, but the burden of implementing them should not be left to farmers alone, who are mainly small-scale family farmers. Supportive policies and markets are needed, but unlikely to bring about the required changes alone. A global concerted effort similar to the Paris Agreement for climate is probably required.
A diverse diet is important to address micronutrient deficiencies and other forms of malnutrition, one of the greatest challenges of today’s food systems. In tropical countries, several studies have found a positive association between forest cover and dietary diversity, although the actual mechanisms of this has yet to be identified and quantified. Three complementary pathways may link forests to diets; a direct pathway (e.g., consumption of forest food), an income pathway (income from forest products used to purchase food from markets), and an agroecological pathway (forests and trees sustaining farm production). We used piece-wise structural equation modeling to test and quantify the relative contribution of these three pathways for households in seven tropical landscapes in Bangladesh, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Nicaragua, and Zambia. We used survey data from 1,783 households and determined forest cover within a 2-km radius of each household. The quality of household diets was assessed through four indicators ;household dietary diversity and consumption of fruits, vegetables, and meat, based on a 24-h recall. We found evidence of a direct pathway in four landscapes (Bangladesh, Cameroon, Ethiopia, and Zambia), an income pathway in none of the landscapes considered, and an agroecological pathway in three landscapes (Bangladesh, Ethiopia, and Indonesia). We also found evidence of improved crop and livestock production with greater forest cover in five landscapes (Bangladesh, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Ethiopia, and Indonesia). Conversely, we found negative associations between forest cover and crop and livestock production in three landscapes (Cameroon, Indonesia, and Zambia). In addition, we found evidence of forest cover being negatively related to at least one indicator of diet quality in three landscapes (Indonesia, Nicaragua, and Zambia) and to integration to the cash economy in three landscapes (Cameroon, Ethiopia, and Nicaragua). This is one of the first studies to quantify the different mechanisms linking forest cover and diet. Our work illuminates the fact that these mechanisms can vary significantly from one site to another, calling for site-specific interventions. Our results also suggest that the positive contributions of forests to rural livelihoods cannot be generalized and should not be idealized.
Fall armyworm (FAW, Spodoptera frugiperda J.E. Smith) is an invasive lepidopteran pest established in most of sub-Saharan Africa since 2016. Although the immediate reaction of governments has been to invest in chemical pesticides, control methods based on agronomic management would be more affordable to resource-constrained smallholders and minimize risks for health and the environment. However, little is known about the most effective agronomic practices that could control FAW under typical African smallholder conditions. In addition, the impact of FAW damage on yield in Africa has been reported as very large, but these estimates are mainly based on farmers’ perceptions, and not on rigorous field scouting methods. Thus, the objectives of this study were to understand the factors influencing FAW damage in African smallholder maize fields and quantify its impact on yield, using two districts of Eastern Zimbabwe as cases. A total of 791 smallholder maize plots were scouted for FAW damage and the head of the corresponding farming household interviewed. Grain yield was later determined in about 20% of these fields. FAW damage was found to be significantly reduced by frequent weeding operations and by minimum- and zero-tillage. Conversely, pumpkin intercropping was found to significantly increase FAW damage. FAW damage was also found to be higher for some maize varieties, although these varieties may not be the lowest yielding. If the incidence of plants with FAW damage symptoms recorded in this research (32–48%, depending on the estimate used) is commensurate with what other studies conducted on the continent found, our best estimate of the impact of FAW damage on yield (11.57%) is much lower than what these studies reported. Although our study presents limitations, losses due to FAW damage in Africa could have been over-estimated. The threat that FAW represents for African smallholders, although very real, should not divert attention away from other pressing challenges they face.