AR Research Framework Team

Research Framework Overview

Sustainable Intensification of Cereal-Livestock based Farming Systems in sub-Saharan Africa: M &E Meeting, Addis Ababa , Ethiopia, 5-7 September 2012

Research Design: Guiding Principles• Focusing on agricultural intensification• Applicable to all AfricaRISING countries• In line with the CRP 1.1 and 1.2 “systems” logic• Account for change at farm-level / “whole-farm

productivity”• Integrate multiple stakeholders (innovation delivery and

value chain linkages)• Focus on staple food intensification/productivity within

major farming systems but with consideration of nutrition and diversification

• Research that backstops other FtF investments• In line with USAID mission investments • Provide a logical structure for the AR research framework

Overview

• Context: Opportunities and constraints• Purpose• Objectives and Outcomes• Guiding Principles and Conceptual

Framework• Research Design

Constraints and OpportunitiesConstraints

Limited access to:- improved technologies;- input and output markets; - pro-poor policies and effective intitutions;- land and water resources

Environomental degradation

Climate change/variability (rainfed production)

Lack of knowledge and limited access to appropriate

technologies;

Overstocking and over-grazing

Low productivity

Biodiversity &

Land cover loss

Soil erosion

Increased food insecurity, risk, and vulnerability

of household livelihoods

Viable Pathways to

Sustainable Intensification

Constraints and Opportunities (cont’d)Opportunities

Community-based and participatory research:- identification and promotion of appropriate technological (production and post-harvest), institutional, and policy options;- agricultural productivity improvement; - better resource management;- alternative income generating activities;

Growth in food/feed demand and food diversification

Investment in input supply systems (seed and fertilizer);

Export markets and multi-stakeholder partnerships

Development of

sustainable

livelihoods

Community

capacity building

Own-food security (self-reliance), improved

nutrition, income security, conserved or

enhanced natural resource base

Sustainably Intensified Cereal-Livestock-based Farming Systems

Purpose

Provide pathways out of hunger and poverty for small

holder families through sustainably intensified farming

systems that sufficiently improve food, nutrition, and

income security, particularly for women and children,

and conserve or enhance the natural resource base.

Research Objectives

1. To identify and evaluate demand-driven options for

sustainable intensification that accelerate progress

toward rural poverty alleviation, improved nutrition

and equity, and ecosystem stability [H1, H2, H3]1.

2. To evaluate, document and exchange experiences

on processes and mechanisms for integrating and

delivering innovations for sustainable intensification

to facilitate their uptake beyond the Africa RISING

action research sites. [H4]

Development Objectives

1. To improve smallholder farm households’ livelihoods so

that they can move out of poverty and improve the

nutritional status, especially of young children and

mothers, while improving or maintaining ecosystem

stability within Africa RISING action research sites. [H4]

2. To facilitate partner-led dissemination of integrated

innovations for sustainable intensification beyond

the Africa RISING action research sites. [H4]

Research outcomes

1. Integrated innovations used for intensifying farming

practices of targeted types of households in a sustainable

manner within identified development domains.

2. Tools and approaches for identifying, evaluating and

disseminating integrated innovations for sustainable

intensification used for poverty alleviation and improving

nutritional status of young children and mothers, while

maintaining ecosystem stability.

3. The aggregated impact of integrated, innovative farming practices at the household level is used to improve the understanding of ecosystem stability (at the landscape level).

Development Outcomes1. Small-holder farming households sustainably increase the overall

productivity of their farms, and thus their agricultural output,

income diversity, and improve nutrition and welfare especially

young children and mothers, within the Africa RISING action

research sites.

2. Small-holder farming households experience increased resilience

of their farming systems, and thus reduced vulnerability to

adverse environmental and economic challenges within Africa

RISING action research sites.

3. The development community increasingly uses innovative

outreach and support approaches, and related data & knowledge

management systems to design integrated innovations for

sustainable intensification at the farm household scale.

Guiding Principles & Conceptual Framework

1. Farm household scale : Africa RISING investments and activities focal domain– Decisions scale: e.g. production, gender and nutrition issues,

household welfare, soil health, and productivity issues;– Decisions conditions: assets (e.g. land, labor, livestock, and

financial resource endowments), and livelihoods, production objectives and aspiration of households within a given regional and landscape context;

– Research activities focus: understanding household needs and incentives in order to better support evaluation, adoption and adaptation of the most relevant interventions.

Development domains: Condition SI challenges, opportunities, and potential impacts

Ag. Potential(Rainfall)

Hi-Hi

Lo-HiLo-Lo

Hi-Lo

Market PotentialPop. density

Geographic Stratification

Hi-Hi

Lo-HiLo-Lo

Hi-Lo

Sustainability Index

IntensificationIndex

Farm/Landscape Stratification

HHt0

HHti(C)

(A)

(B)

Physical accessibility

Potential market integration

Distance to roads

Availability of market institutions

Roads conditions Market Access

Soil type

Soil fertility

Soil Moisture availability

Local groundwater

Surface water

Formal irrigation scheme

Variability of water supply

Annual rainfall pattern

Annual rainfall

Seasonality and LGP

Water availability

Altitude

Topography

Temperature

Climatic

Crops

Livestock

Agricultural production

Agricultural Potential

Population density

Geographic Domains

Guiding Principles & Conceptual Framework

R4D Platforms: Trials Design

National Level

Regional Level

District

Platforms: SI innovations

District No intervention

“Counterfactual”

Village Village Village Village Village Village

TF1 TF2 No intervention

Limited /observation

Degree of intervention/ method

Limited /observation

Some /exploration

High/Fisher or classical experiment-ation: Mother-Baby; RCTS

Research HypothesesH1. Adoption and integration hypothesesAdoption hypothesis: Demand-driven innovations are adopted in preference to supply-

driven innovations.

Integration hypothesis: Innovations that mutually reinforce whole farm performance/productivity produce greater and more sustained benefits than the joint adoption of equally effective single use/purpose innovations.

H2. Trade-off hypothesisTailoring sets of innovation options to the constraints and opportunities encountered in specific development domain-by-household type strata enhances the win-win outcomes of innovation use (e.g. reduces the scale of negative trade-offs between farm productivity and environmental integrity).

H3. Innovation sequencing and sustainable intensification pathways hypothesis

The likelihood of innovation adoption resulting in sustainable intensification pathways over time is conditioned by the sequence in which those innovations are integrated and applied.

H4. Scalability hypothesisA stratified approach to targeting and evaluating SI-related innovations will increase the relevance and scalability of findings from action research sites to similar strata elsewhere.

Research OutputsRO 1: Situation Analysis and Programme-wide Synthesis:

activities include site characterisation and stratification as well as identification of promising technologies.

RO 2: Integrated Systems Improvement: participatory technology development and / or identification for wide propagation and adaptation.

RO 3: Scaling and Delivery of Integrated Innovation: generation of integrated technology combinations that are more effectively targeted on farmer’s real development needs.

RO 4: Integrated M and E Process: wrapping the three process-oriented outputs in a firm M and E framework that will ensure first two components will generate integrated technology.