Workshop Report and Synthesis. Plausible impact pathways for dryland crops: reaching the hard-to-reach

The long-running problems. Many of the most pressing challenges SubSaharan Africa (SSA) will face in this century will be disproportionately concentrated in the drylands and require nuanced climate-adapted development responses tailored to dryland characteristics (Mbow et al., 2021). For the impact of Dryland Legumes and Cereals (DLCs) to be enhanced, various strategic decisions must be made around processes, organizational models, and technological priorities. Crop varieties selected and promoted for farmers’ adoption need to align well with growers’ objectives, consumer preferences, and market demands in addition to capitalizing on the genetic gains built up over the years. Various schools of thought exist as to what order and priority the aforementioned elements should take, but at the minimum consensus is that each is important. This report presents a synthesis of some of the most promising impact pathways that the Dryland Crops Program can pursue to overcome the primary obstacles restraining the effective adoption of new varieties. The challenges identified are multifaceted and encompass critical domains. Firstly, weak collaboration presents a significant hindrance. Weak integration and collaboration between the multiple disciplines that work on these crops (breeders and social scientists) have been observed within national systems. This lack of synergy results in skewed trait selection and disjointed research workflow processes, ultimately impeding the development of optimal varieties and their successful dissemination. Secondly, data alignment issues prove to be a pivotal bottleneck hindering the ability to tailor new Dryland legume and cereal (DLC) varieties to match local conditions and requirements. Additionally, inadequacies in scaling strategies exacerbate the problem. Weak scaling approaches often result in new DLC varieties being introduced to farmers without a subsequent means of easy access or continuity thereby reducing the uptake of new varieties. It is also evident that breeding programs frequently lack a deep understanding of market demands and preferences, and this mismatch results in low adoption rates and undermines the potential impact of these newly introduced varieties. Additionally, a lack of national-scale data on the adoption rates of seeds for DLC makes it challenging to empirically understand the reasons behind low adoption rates and the characteristics of adopters, thereby hindering effective targeting. Finally, inadequate funding and resources allocated to national seed programs and government entities limit the extent of sustainable impact and the ability to effectively track the adoption of DLC varieties. Addressing these impediments necessitates a comprehensive approach.