Improving Productivity and Farm Profitability of Major Staple Crops in Yemen through Good Agricultural Practices and Improved Varieties: Evidence from Participatory On-Farm Demonstrations

Abstract

Across multiple districts and major staple crops, participatory on-farm demonstrations were implemented with farmers and local extension confirm that Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) can significantly improve productivity, farm profitability with resilience in conflict-affected areas in Yemen. The evaluation was conducted in 2025 summer season (July to November 2025) in two major food crops producing governates, i.e., Taiz and Lahj in Yemen. The evaluation included three treatment combinations: Existing farmer practice, GAP applied with farmers’ own/local varieties, and GAP combined with improved varieties.

Overall, the result shows that GAP alone delivers major yield and economic gains, with substantial improvements over farmer practice by addressing common yield constraints such as sub-optimal plant population, untimely or poor water and weed management, and no/low fertilizer use, inefficient or blanket fertilizer application. Where feasible, incorporating major yield limiting factors (e.g., timely planting, maintaining proper plant population, precision fertilizer management, timely weed and insect pest management and limited supplemental irrigation during extreme dry spells) helped stabilize performance under variable rainfall. In most locations, GAP with farmers saved seed produced large, reliable increases in productivity (grain and biomass) and farm income, demonstrating that productivity and economic gains are achievable even without changing varieties—an important advantage in fragile contexts where access to certified seed may be limited. Adding improved varieties/seed on top of GAP consistently produced the highest outcomes, delivering additional productivity and economic gains beyond GAP alone and demonstrating the value of combining agronomy with seed-system support. Improvements were observed in all evaluated major cereals including maize, sorghum, millet and wheat, indicating broad applicability across farming systems. Biomass gains also suggest co-benefits for mixed crop–livestock households through improved fodder availability. Increase in profitability indicated that investment in precision fertilizer application, seed and timely crop management has economic benefits for the farmers. Taken together, the results provide strong, field-based proof that integrated packages Good Agriculture Practice + appropriate varieties can rapidly boost food production, improve farm income, reduce yield risk, and enhance resource-use efficiency. This approach offers a practical and scalable pathway for ICARDA and partners to support recovery and strengthen food security in conflict-affected areas through farmer-cantered demonstrations, extension engagement, and locally adapted innovation bundles.