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main/part_1/0001085184.json

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+{"metadata":{"gardian_id":"c9e0171260f52ab044695facae72920b","source":"gardian_index","url":"https://cgspace.cgiar.org/rest/bitstreams/5dd429f4-d871-48c5-9b99-ffa8ac4f49bd/retrieve","id":"-367050118"},"keywords":[],"sieverID":"647efd30-5c65-462e-9343-61eaac7a8a65","content":"The Nairobi Declaration was a key outcome of the Africa Fertilizer and Soil Health (AFSH) Summit hosted by the African Union (AU) in Nairobi, Kenya, from the 7 th to 9 th May 2024. The Nairobi Declaration outlines commitments to enhance agricultural productivity by improving soil health across Africa.To reverse land degradation and restore soil health on at least 30% of degraded soil by 2034 through:Deploying innovative incentive mechanisms, including repurposing current subsidy programmes, to encourage soil health investments by smallholder farmers.Promoting integrated soil and water conservation, planning, and management practices across agricultural sub-sectors and landscapes/watersheds.Strengthening national, regional and international collaborative research and extension systems to tackle soil health challenges and improve the quality of support to smallholder farmers.Promoting investments in irrigation as part of integrated soil and water resource management for enhancing nutrient-use efficiency and climate change resilience.Promoting organic agriculture practices to improve soil health alongside conventional agriculture."}

main/part_1/0006152479.json

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+{"metadata":{"gardian_id":"bde9ccd71c141cfb103ba63ca70e9551","source":"gardian_index","url":"https://cgspace.cgiar.org/rest/bitstreams/06c94b05-ac9a-4a7e-876e-0ea5915fabcf/retrieve","id":"1536502263"},"keywords":["Angiotensin-converting enzyme gene","frequency","genotype","hypertension","I/D polymorphism"],"sieverID":"c81f045e-2d73-4396-9a27-dd73ad3274bf","content":"Background: Hypertension is a public health challenge due to its high prevalence, and is a major risk factor for cardiovascular diseases. This study was designed to determine the frequency of the I/D polymorphism of the angiotensin-converting enzyme gene and its association with hypertension in a sample population of Calabar and Uyo, South-South Nigeria. Materials and Methods: A population-based case control design consisting of total of 1224 participants, 612 each of patients and controls, were randomly recruited from hypertension clinics and the general population. The I/D polymorphism was investigated using polymerase chain reaction. Multiple regression and odds ratio (OR) was applied to test whether the ID genotypes were predictors of hypertension. Results: The I/D genotype frequencies were 73(12%), 262(43%) and 277(45%); 74(12%), 303(50%) and 235(38%) for the II, ID, DD genotype in patient and control groups, respectively. A higher frequency of the ID genotype was observed in controls of which 208(61%) were females. By multiple regression analysis, age was a predictor for SBP in patients, r = 0.596, and DBP in controls, r = 0.555. Gender, Body mass index, I/D genotypes were not significant predictors for hypertension but the I/D polymorpism was associated with an increased risk for hypertension with an OR of 1.15 95%CI (0.924-1.456).Angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) a key enzyme in the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone pathway is found in the kidneys. It catalyzes the conversion of angiotensin 1 to a physiologically active angiotensin 11 that controls fluid electrolyte balance and systemic blood pressure. [1] The ACE gene has been mapped to chromosome 17q23. The Insertion/Deletion (I/D) polymorphism was Advanced Biomedical Research | 2014 discovered in 1990 and was as a result of the presence of (insertion) or absence (deletion) of a 287-AluYa5 element inside intron 16 producing three genotypes: II homozygote, ID heterozygote, DD homozygote [2] Though the polymorphism is located in a non-coding region of the ACE gene, several investigators [3][4][5][6][7] have observed that the polymorphism is not silent but the DD homozygote is associated with increased activity of ACE in the serum and several diseases including hypertension.The ACE gene was also implicated in the etiology of hypertension. The gene-coding area carries an ID polymorphism within intron 16. Several studies have associated the ACE I/D polymorphism with elevation in blood pressure in the Japanese and other ethnic groups. [8][9][10] Some studies have shown that this polymorphism is strongly associated with increased blood pressure in males; [11][12][13] however, a negative association was also detected in some linkage and association studies . [14,15] Gupta et al. [16] reported a negative association between the ACE polymorphism and hypertension in a rural population in India. The relationship between ACE and environmental factors predisposing to EH has been investigated in 1099 subjects from one Mongolian population. This study showed evidence for an interaction between the ACE DD (deletion/deletion) and ID polymorphism and cigarette smoking, alcohol drinking and BMI -body mass index. [17] No such studies have so far been reported for the residents of Calabar and Uyo, Nigeria. Hence, this study was carried out to identify the I/D polymorphism in the population and its possible association with hypertension.Calabar and Uyo are the capital cities of Cross River and Akwa Ibom states, respectively. These states are sister states that are part of the old Calabar Kingdom. The major ethnic groups in Calabar are Efik, Ejagham and Bekwara. In Uyo, the major groups are Ibibio, Annang, Oron, Ibeno and Eket. These different groups though distinct bear striking similarities in their culture and there is a lot of human migration between the two cities.A population based association-case control-study was used to determine the frequency of ACE I/D allele and its relationship with hypertension status in Calabar and Uyo. A total sample population of 1224 adult men and women from different ethnic groups were included in this study. Of this number, 612 were patients attending the hypertension clinics in the University of Calabar Teaching Hospital, Calabar, the University of Uyo Teaching Hospital, Uyo and the General Hospital, Calabar. The other 612 individuals served as the controls whose blood pressure was below 140/90 mmHg, who were not taking hypertensive drugs and not below the age of 20 from the same population.Venous blood (3 ml) was collected from each participant and DNA was extracted from the blood for genotyping of the polymorphism. Subjects included in the study gave informed consent and ethical approval for the study was obtained from the joint UI/UCH ethical review committee and each of the health establishment concerned. All information obtained was treated as confidential. The wall in the collection center was calibrated in meters. Individuals stood without foot or head wear facing the investigator, looking straight ahead and the investigator placed a ruler on top of the head of the individual and the reading in meters was recorded. Readings was taken using a sphygmomanometer in millimeters of mercury by certified medical personnel for the patients in the clinics and a certified nurse for the controls in the general population. Systolic and diastolic BP values were recorded. Before taking the measurement, the respondent was advised to sit quietly for 5 min, with the legs uncrossed and the right hand free from clothing. The right hand was placed on the table with the palm facing upwards. The cuff was wrapped and fastened securely. The cuff was kept at the same level as the heart during measurement. The upper reading, the systolic blood pressure (SBP), and lower reading, the diastolic blood pressure (DBP) were recorded; the first and second readings were taken twice and the average of the two used for the analysis.DNA was extracted as previously reported in Kooffreh et al. [18] The DNA was re-suspended in 50 μl of Tris-EDTA (T.E) buffer and stored in the freezer as a stock solution until further use. The Chi-square analysis. Multiple regression analysis was also carried out using SBP or DBP as dependent variable, then sex, age, BMI were used as independent variables. Odds ratio was calculated; P > 0.05 was considered statistically significant. There were a total of 1,224 subjects recruited into the study, consisting of 612 hypertensives-225 males and 387 females and 612 normotensives-272 males and 340 females [Table 1]. The Efiks and the Ibibios (34.2; 32.4% respectively, n = 612) were the main ethnic groups among the patients. The Ibibios (37.1%, n = 612) were the predominant ethnic group among the controls.For the I/D allele of the ACE gene, the deletion was 45% and 38% (homozygous), the carriers of the deletion were 43% and 49% in the patient and control population, while the insertion allele was 12% in both control and patient populations. Among the Efiks which are the predominant ethnic group in Calabar town, the genotype frequency was 11%, 43%, 46% and 16%, 45%, 39% for the II, ID, DD genotypes among patients and controls, respectively. Among the Ibibios who also happen to be the predominant ethnic group in Uyo town, the genotype frequencies were 11%, 40%,    2 and 3]. The observed genotype frequencies did not conform to the frequencies predicted by the Hardy-Weinberg theory. There were no significant differences between the genotype frequencies of hypertensive and the control the D allele frequency was between 62% and 69% while the I allele was between 31% and 38%. Rotimi et al. [19] reported the frequency of the D allele among African Americans as 63% while Morshed and Akhteruzzman [20] reported 69.3% for the D allele in hypertensives and 45.7% in controls. He also observed a higher frequency of the I allele in the controls (54.2%) than the hypertensives (50%). Wang et al. [21] reported the D allele frequency to be 40.8% which is lower than what was obtained by O'Donnell et al. [11] in European samples (55.3%). Kario et al. [22] reported a frequency of 34% for Japanese individuals. Dankova et al. [23] reported 0.53 frequency for the mutant D allele in Slovak subjects and 0.447 in Romany subjects.A frequency of 52.9% for patients and 56.3% for controls was reported for the D allele in a Lebanese diabetic cohort by Chmaisse et al. [24] Ismail et al. [25] reported a significantly higher frequency (0.55) of the ACE II genotype in the hypertensive group than in the control group of the same age but no overall significant differences were observed between the II, ID, DD ACE genotypes. The D allele has been associated with hypertension in some studies in White American and Japanese men but not in women. [11,26] Sagnella et al. [27] observed a significant association between the D allele and hypertension in women of African descent. Many studies have failed to establish an association between the D allele and hypertension. [14][15][16]28] However, a strong association of the I allele was found in an Australian population with familial hypertension. [29] The conflicting results of the I/D polymorphism of the ACE gene in hypertension has been attributed to gender and ethnic differences. [6] In this study, the I/D allele of the ACE gene is associated with an increased risk for hypertension with an odds ratio of 1.15 (95% CI, 0.924 -1.456). Ji et al. [30] observed a higher odds ratio of 1.61 (95% CI, 1.32-1.98) for the ACE gene among the Han Chinese population. Sagnella et al. [27] reported an odds ratio of 1.65 (95% CI, 1.04-2.64) in women of African descent (OR = 2.54; 95%CI = 1.38-4.65) but not in men of African descent (OR = 0.79; 95% CI, 0.36-1.72). Bhavani et al. [31] reported a significant association of the ACE I/D allele with hypertension in men with age adjusted OR of 2.25 (95% CI, 1.14-4.42) and 2.20 (95% CI, 1.22-3.80) for DD and ID, respectively. In women there was no significant association of ACE genotype with hypertension, age adjusted odds ratio being 1.20 (95% CI, 0.38-3.92) and 0.44 (95% CI, 0.17-1.06) respectively for the DD and ID genotypes. Das et al. [10] observed that the odds of being hypertensive in a population of Asian Indians of Calcutta was 7.48 (95%CI, 1.75-30.190) in the DD homozygous individual suggesting a very strong association of groups by χ 2 analysis. By multiple regression analysis, age was a predictor for SBP in patients r = 0.596 and DBP in controls r = 0.555. Gender, body mass index, I/D genotypes were not significant predictors for hypertension. The I/D polymorphism was associated with an increased risk for hypertension with an odds ratio (OR) of 1.15 95%CI (0.924-1.456).In the control population, a higher frequency was observed for the ID genotype (51%) in females than their male counterparts (48%). In the patient population, the genotype frequencies were 12%, 43%, 45% in females and in males for the II, ID, DD genotype, respectively [Table 4].For patients the mean diastolic blood pressure was 93.25 ± 13.768, the mean systolic blood pressure was 161.14 ± 23.247. For the controls, the mean systolic blood pressure was 116.76 ± 9.19; the mean diastolic blood pressure was 72.181 ± 8.41.The frequency of the I/D polymorphism of the ACE gene was determined and its association with increased risk for hypertension was investigated in a sample population in Calabar and Uyo cities. ACE genotype frequencies were 12%, 43% and 45% and 12%, 50%, 38% for the II, ID, DD respectively in the patient and the control groups respectively. A higher frequency of the ID allele was observed in controls of which 172 (51%) were females. Among the major ethnic groups residing in the two towns, the ACE polymorphism with essential hypertension in Asian Indians. Samper et al. [7] observed a strong association between the ACE polymorphism and hypertension among the peoples of Kashmir, India.World distribution of the D allele according to Salem [4] suggest that the I/D polymorphism in the human ACE gene is of African origin. The allele is believed to have moved out of Africa with Paleolithic (second part of the stone age that began about 750,000 to 500,000 BC and lasted until the end of the ice age about 8,500BC) migrations 100.000 years ago. The ACE I/D polymorphism is due to an insertion of a 287bp AluYa5 element into intron 16 of the gene. [2] This insertion is believed to have occurred a few million years ago during the evolution of primates. [32] Although an insertion or a deletion event is implied in the I/D polymorphism, only an insertion event occurred. This makes the D allele without an insertion the ancestral state of the gene. Primate specific Alu elements have been reported to be the most abundant transposable elements in the human genome making up more than 10%. [33] The mechanism by which D allele leads to blood pressure elevation is not clearly documented in literature.The genotype frequencies observed in this population did not conform to the Hardy-Weinberg theory suggesting the action of evolutionary mechanisms on this gene locus. Future research would be to search for other genes that act in concert with the ACE gene to produce disease in the study population.The Insertion/Deletion polymorphism of the angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) gene was associated with an increased risk for hypertension. Thus, the ACE gene polymorphism is a molecular marker for hypertension in the study population. This research will form baseline information for subsequent molecular studies in this population."}

main/part_1/0018533467.json

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+{"metadata":{"gardian_id":"db2df9bf408bcbd4daa5cef8d2c05753","source":"gardian_index","url":"https://cgspace.cgiar.org/rest/bitstreams/cb7e0eeb-22a5-4cab-b44a-11ab0c9dd90f/retrieve","id":"-550896167"},"keywords":["Gender","Seed system indicators","Performance indicators","Gender frameworks","Empowerment","Food security","Income","Policy"],"sieverID":"bb2de708-ffa6-41c8-bb0a-69ddf91e2a8a","content":"Context Food insecurity in Sub-Sahara Africa hinges on addressing salient gender inequities within the seed system. While efficient seed system promises reduced systemic inefficiencies to fast-track seed delivery to the smallholder farmers, a dearth of standardized industry metrices to understand the intersectionality of seed system and gender issues exist. Specifically, metrices on guaranteed seed access, reach, benefit, women's empowerment and ultimate transformation of women, youth and vulnerable people's livelihoods are less understood. The existing metrices are aggregated at very high levels and limit the ability of policymakers and industry stakeholders to effectively address gender-based inequities for an optimized seed system.Objective Our objective is to challenge the status quo industry metrics used by seed industry players and apply a gender framework that strikes a balance between the needs of women, youth and vulnerable peoples in the system, vis-a-vis the need of public, private, and civil society actors. Therefore, the study seeks to evaluate how seed system metrics can be effectively tailored to address gender gaps for enhanced agricultural productivity and food security in Sub-Sahara African context. It also refines the proposals of Kennedy and Speilman and introduce genderspecific metrices that may hold promise to address women and youth's challenges within the seed system.Methods A systemic review of current industry metrices was conducted and the newly developed reach, benefit, empower and transform (RBET) framework was applied to synthesize the responsiveness of current seed industry indicators on gender issues. Online databases and repositories with key search words that returned 204 results including some gray literature.Agriculture is the primary economic activity in many developing countries, employing nearly half of the Sub-Saharan Africa's working-age populations, of which women, youths and other vulnerable groups are disproportionately represented (FAO 2021). The sector is also riddled with systemic challenges and structural inefficiencies despite numerous steps taken towards improving crop productivity and reducing hunger and malnutrition for the rapidly growing population. One critical pathway for improving productivity is establishment of a robust and gender responsive seed system that delivers improved seed varieties tailored to the diverse needs of client groups, particularly women, youths and the vulnerable individuals. These seeds also need to have high-yielding potential, be market relevant and resilient to climate change regimes such as drought. The significance of this approach stems from the intersectionality of gender roles with the needs of these groups. For example, some innovations that include delivery to last miles and using point-of-sale tracking apps have achieved seed access in remote areas, but the persistent challenge remains on specific metrics that may be used in the seed system to address peculiar traits of women and youth differentiated requirements (Ojiewo et al. 2018a, b). Therefore, the study seeks to evaluate how seed system metrics can be effectively tailored to address gender gaps for enhanced agricultural productivity and food security in Sub-Sahara African context.From the above discussion, it appears that there are significant industry-level improvements, but reliable metrics that can be used to measure seed is understudied (Spielman and Kennedy 2016a). Perhaps, there is an urgent need to relook at robust seed system metrics that apply gender-responsive frameworks and within crops that appeal to women and youths such as common beans (see Nakazi et al. 2017;Nchanji et al. 2021a, b;Ojiewo et al. 2018a, b). As a positive outcome, some new framework that tracks whether these vulnerable demographics are reached, whether they benefit, empowered and have achieved sustainable transformation, i.e. Reach, Benefit, Empower, and Transform (RBET) framework has been developed (Puskur et al. 2021). However, limited research exists on how to align some of the previously developed seed system metrics with the RBET framework and particularly with regards to gender issues. Besides, new industry metrics on seed system functions, actors and seed security need to be integrated for a robust seed system (McGuire 2007;Sperling et al. 2020a, b).Traditionally, seed systems fall into two main categories, namely; the formal and the informal seed system depending on the involvement or absence of official regulatory authorities (Abdi and Nishikawa 2017;McGuire and Sperling 2016;Sperling et al. 2021). The formal seed system is ladened with systemic inefficiencies and weak oversight (system \"corruption\") (Kapran et al. 2021;Wineman et al. 2020). The informal seed sector predominantly has low-yielding, genetically inferior germplasm that results in suboptimal agricultural productivity. In recent years, however, an intermediate seed system has emerged to bridge the gap between the two and promises access to quality seed for farmers at last miles within the informal set-up and at lower costs (Argaye 2019;Louwaars and De Boef 2012). In the context of crops with limited commercial viability such as common beans (the primary focus of this study), the intermediate seed system plays a critical role in bringing seeds to the communities. Despite intermediary seed system's promises, the informal seed system is still the most dominant seed access method in most developing countries, supplying more than 90% of the farmers' seed needs in Sub-Saharan Africa (Mekbib and Deressa 2016;Paudel et al. 2013;Shiferaw et al. 2010;Sperling et al. 2020a). On the other hand, formal channels supply less than 3% of the seeds in Sub-Saharan Africa (Sperling et al. 2020a).Over the years, various studies have highlighted the benefits of each system and for various crops (Bishaw et al. 2012). Other studies have highlighted the need for coexistence and synergy between the three seed systems to ensure delivery at scale for women-preferred legumes such as common beans (Maereka and Rubyogo 2020). However, these mixed models involve enormous complexity in assessing performance to help stakeholders improve access to seeds. The recently developed seed access indices and seed system performance indicators and associated system category classifications serve as a blueprint towards better metrics but they require innovative ways of integrating other new seed system indicators such as seed actors and seed security (Spielman and Kennedy 2016b). The main challenge is gathering the required information at the appropriate time to support decisions and policy and having a system that collects and analyses this information in a cost-efficient manner and on a continuous basis. Several indices, such as the African Seeds Access Index (TASAI), access-to-seed index, and SeedSAT, among others, have also been proposed, but these indices rely only on formal seed system metrics, which are often highly aggregated with no gender indicators (Mabaya et al. 2021).These \"easy to obtain\" and highly aggregated indicators, such as seed demand and supply, guide industry players and policymakers on the seed industry's performance; however, they offer little analytical value because only broad assumptions and conclusions may be drawn from them (Spielman and Kennedy 2016b). Using these general aggregated indicators is a sharp contrast to modern day consumer business models that seek a better understanding of diverse customers, their preferences, and their experiences at value chain touch points. Locallevel indicators such as the number of farmers (and their demographic characteristics such as age, gender and race or socioeconomic characteristics such as landholding and income) accessing seeds of a specific variety in a given season are rarely and/or poorly captured. Current seed system performance indicators are incapable of capturing the dynamics of gender (women, men and youths-young men and young women) in seed access. There is a need to develop and explore how these indicators measure how and who seeds reach, benefit, empower and transform the livelihoods of farmers, especially women and youths.While Spielman and Kennedy (2016a) developed several seed system performance indicators, gender was never considered, and this is a gap that urgently needs to be filled. This study is also the first to assess such indicators in line with the Reach, Benefit, Empower, and Transform (RBET) Framework developed by Johnson et al. (2018), Kleiber et al. (2019) and Nchanji (2022) integrated in the already existing Spielman-Kennedy framework. This approach will provide practitioners with the knowledge and missing links in efforts to align the seed system's performance with gender outcomes in a measurable manner. Thus, the study seeks to evaluate how seed system metrics can be effectively tailored to address gender gaps for enhanced agricultural productivity and food security in the Sub-Saharan African context.As alluded above, common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) is regarded as a \"women's crop\" due to women's preeminent contribution to its production and processing activities at the smallholder subsistence level (Mugisha et al. 2019;Nakazi et al. 2017). For example, women have been reported to contribute up to 90% of the labor in common bean plots in Malawi and have greater access to bean varieties; thus, they have improved decision making concerning such varieties (Njuki et al. 2011). Other findings, such as those of Mujaju et al. (2017), concur that at the household level, women are more likely to make decisions on multiple crop varieties to grow, field sizes, and field allocations. Similarly, in Cameroon, women carry out bean production operations, while men engage in regional and international marketing of the produce (Siri et al. 2020). A recent study on the yellow bean corridor in Tanzania showed women's involvement in the upper/ lower echelons of the bean grain retail trade, but their participation was more likely to be limited by their localities and type of trade (export or local aggregation) (Kalb 2020). Additionally, women dominate the small informal seed markets in most rural towns (ISSD 2013). Puskur (2021) indicated that most projects reach women, but few benefit or get empowered from them. Even though access to seeds and training in seed production sometimes improve women's social status, this does not necessarily lead to their empowerment.Despite these contributions, societal norms and values have also historically limited the participation of women in the governance of seed systems (Adam and Muindi 2019;BenYishay et al. 2020;Ojiewo et al. 2018b;Puskur 2021;Siri et al. 2020). It can be anticipated that the formal seed system should overcome such longstanding and ubiquitous inadequacies by involving more women in the formal seed system through transformations led by women (African Biodiversity Network and GAIA 2015). The critical contribution of women and youths in creating pathways to achieving food and income security has recently been recognized as a strong indicator of seed system performance (De Schutter 2010;Galiè et al. 2017). Women, youths and other disadvantaged groups are being empowered through active participation in seed system governance via participatory plant breeding (PPB) and participatory varietal selection (PVS) activities that address varietal and trait preferences, especially for women (Karimi et al. 2019;Mukankusi et al. 2018;Ojiewo et al. 2018b). These approaches serve as a paradigm shift in ensuring that women's varietal preferences are considered in breeding that translates to a genderresponsive seed system. The newly developed triadic comparison of technology options (tricot) approach further promises lowered costs compared to the two approaches, easy to scale-up and promises to identify and integrate consumers' preferences and market demands (de Sousa et al. 2024).Varietal attributes such as seed color, seed size, maturity time and cooking time are said to be more appealing to women than to men (Abate et al. 2018;Puskur et al. 2021), even though men and women often want the same traits to be prioritized differently (Nchanji et al. 2022a, b;Tufan et al. 2018;Weltzien et al. 2019). PPB offers highly localized instant access to seeds of preferred varieties, while other approaches, such as demand-led breeding (DLB), are expected to disseminate seeds at scales beyond the testing localities. Like in the case of PPB and PVS, DLB is recommended for combining local traits, varietal preferences and market insights from various value chain actors (Mukankusi et al. 2019). However, DLB requires re-thinking how to integrate gender as a political strategy through which crop breeders and donors, not only hold much decision-making power but let in gender specialists to be at the forefront in informing the women and youth needs. (Tarjem et al. 2023).However, DLB may not provide precise avenues for assessing spatial seed system performance and outcome comparability across genders. Recent women's empowerment approaches, including gender-responsive PVS approaches, gender-responsive demand-led breeding approaches and gender + customer and product profiles, have been designed to sporadically generate evidence on gendered breeding (Nchanji et al. 2021a(Nchanji et al. , b, 2022a, b) , b) that contributes to gendered seed system performance. These new approaches require modified or new indicators that measure how seeds reach women and youths, how they benefit and empower them, and how they transformational capacity (breaking gender norms and cultural and institutional barriers) (Beck 2007;Malapit et al. 2020). This is particularly important for crops that women prefer, especially legumes such as common bean, which are not well studied or reported in mainstream literature.This research focuses on common beans, a women-preferred legume in Sub-Sahara Africa (shortly-discussed) and also a the focus crop of the Pan-Africa Bean Research Alliance (PABRA) (Buruchara et al. 2018;PABRA 2018). The study acknowledges the limitations of focusing on a singular crop while it could potentially benefit the heterogeneity in seed system and nuances on open-pollinated varieties. Despite this \"loss\", the concentration on common beans is strategic and the findings are generalizable given that the seed industry players sometimes deal with more than one specific crop (Cromwell et al. 1992). Notably, the Pan-Africa Bean Research Alliance (PABRA) works across 31 countries with National Agricultural Research Systems (NARS) partners in SSA and has systematically developed and released improved common bean varieties using conventional and market-responsive seed systems (Buruchara et al. 2011). It promotes genderresponsive approaches, seed system metrics and seed delivery approaches such as seed credit models, seed revolving funds, digital payment solutions, and use of small packs (2-5 Kgs) for women and youths with limited capita (Onyango 2020). Similarly, the RBET framework is developed within the CGIAR system, which deals with other legumes, among which common beans are valued. Briefly, the RBET framework assesses how agricultural development investments and interventions empower women to stimulate rural revitalization and promote women's empowerment (Quisumbing et al. 2019). In the seed system, the framework reflects how the seed industry is positioning its products within the seed value chain to respond to men, women and youth needs across the value chain. Also, CGIAR initiatives such as SeedEqual seek to address demand and supply challenges in the seed sector, with proposals of reaching more than 2.5 million women producers with high-yielding, climate-smart and fast cooking crops and cereals and legumes such as common beans (CGIAR 2021). The idea is to revolutionize the thinking and implementation of gender issues and the transformation of livelihoods within the oneCGIAR initiatives.Furthermore, common bean seed systems are underdeveloped in SSA (Maereka and Rubyogo 2020). Seed companies often perceive legume seeds, in general, as low business products due to inconsistent repeat sales because farmers use informal channels to access legume seeds and because they are open-pollinated crops (Birthal et al. 2011). Despite recent government incentives to encourage private sector investment in the legume seed business in general, only a limited number of private companies cultivate common bean seeds in SSA. For instance, PABRA seed expert data indicate that countries with no more than three private seed companies are Zimbabwe, Mauritius, Madagascar, the DRC and Zambia, as shown in Table 1, out of 11 countries (Rwanda, Uganda, Madagascar, Kenya, Mauritius, Tanzania, the DRC, Lesotho, Malawi, Zambia and Zimbabwe). For example, only 3% of the bean growing areas in Kenya use certified common bean seeds (Kariuki 2015).Seed companies have therefore invested very little in understanding and developing the bean seed value chain, especially when compared to the maize subsector. There is often a mismatch between a private company's seed production and supply and between its seed production and farmers' varietal preferences. This disconnect often stems from the focus on farmer and breeder's varietal and trait preferences (Abate et al. 2011), not including preferences of other value chain actors such as traders, processors, consumers, etc. (Nchanji et al. 2022a, b). Such highly aggregated findings often obscure gender aspects, which are key ingredients in evaluating seed system performance. Even though this has improved in recent years, especially with the gender-responsive demand-led breeding approach, it is still very low for a continent where legumes form the central part of staple diets (Bosch et al. 2017).It is within these confines that this study evaluates seed system responsiveness to gender, and it applies the RBET framework to further build on Sperling-Kennedy seed system performance metrics.Historically, seed volumes produced and sold have been used as indicators of seed sector performance (Cromwell et al. 1992). This is associated with bias in reporting due to highly aggregated and minimal reporting of socioeconomic welfare indicators for seed users. However, there is a consensus that seed system performance indicators developed on an ad hoc basis serve only specific evaluation purposes (Spielman and Kennedy 2016b). The identification of holistic indicators that cater to seed systems and include gender dynamics has been slow in development and has evolved over time since the proposal of Costanza et al. (1992) in the field of environmental management. The adoption of their work in a Ugandan workshop, as expressed in Sperling (2001), perhaps paved the way for conceptualizing the components of a seed system within farmers' seed systems, including propositions of some generic indicators. At that time, it was perceived that direct measurement of smaller parts of the seed system through indicators such as pricing was more precise, easier, relevant and fast to model or integrate. It was also important to move beyond the farmer and investigate seed system properties with components such as equity in seed access with moderate precision. In their final analysis, Sperling (2001) argued that evaluating the value of a seed system in terms of evaluating its overall performance or \"health\" is important but less precise, difficult to measure, less relevant and cumbersome to model or integrate. The other seed security literature has focused on four priority areas, namely, seed availability, quality, access, use and control, to elaborate on the gender dynamics of the seed system (FAO 2016). These parameters are based on the Food and Agricultural Organization's definition of seed security and only indicate how the supply and demand dynamics of seed systems address these four issues (ibid). Thus, the subsequent work of Spielman and Kennedy (2016a) seems very relevant because it traces a pathway of well-researched and easy-to-integrate methods that would be relevant for measuring seed system performance.Contemporary developments have witnessed rejuvenated efforts and attempts to redefine the seed system metrics, with a focus on gender issues. One such framework focuses on seed actors such as farmers, producers, government agencies and other private sector players, seed system function (from variety development to how it drives the food system outcomes) and food security that focuses on seed access, availability, quality and varietal suitability among others (RTB 2016;Westengen et al. 2023). While the framework is at its development stage and may be valuable to add to other frameworks, this study focuses on the CGAIR RBET framework but integrates important elements of the above framework. The recent development of the RBET framework as a tool for evaluating gender responsiveness in CGIAR programs and projects provides a pathway for building evidence on gender dynamics within seed systems (Puskur et al. 2019). While Spielman and Kennedy (2016a, b) provided an avenue for quantifying, tracking and reviewing seed systems and seed industry responsiveness to end-user needs, the conventional but ad hoc household survey data and the data generated by seed companies, distributors, retailers and experts such as breeders have been systemized with the shortcoming that data are very limited or difficult to collect in most cases due to missing information on indicators of focus.Several sources of data that track seed system performance indicators have been provided by the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR and NAR partners for 20 crops in more than 30 countries (CGIAR DIIVA 2021) (Table 2). Seed system performance indicators are often intertwined with breeding indicators because breeding leads to better quality seeds that are sold to smallholder farmers. Previously, several of the indicators used in measuring seed system performance were developed from an integrated breeding and seed system approach; these indicators were year of variety release, years for the first to last variety released in the country, the number of breeders and the number of varieties released thus far. However, these datasets do not contain gender information. For example, they do not reflect the number of varieties that women could access, use or benefit from after adoption. Additionally, these datasets are aggregated at the national level. The data are missing from the private industry and other seed value chain actors, such as seed companies, distributors, community seed banks, donorfunded seed providers, and emergency seed providers. Nonetheless, such databases are important for evaluating and tracking some indicators that can be used to measure seed system performance.Despite these efforts, little is known about the real-time indicators that measure how women, men and youths are reached and how they benefit, are empowered, and transformed by the seed system and vice versa. While sporadic data exist on the number of women affected at several small, localized levels, nationwide data are lacking on how the seed industry tailor-makes its products to cater to women's needs. There is an urgent need to develop quantifiable indicators that show the performance of the seed system and how it responds to gender issues such as women's empowerment within the RBET framework. Indeed, the lack of data in these areas in seed systems was highlighted in Puskur et al. (2021).In this study, we review several of these indicators proposed by Spielman and Kennedy (2016a, b) modify them and add new ones to fit within the RBET framework. Using this framework, we developed gendered performance indicators that provide a realistic and measurable way of reviewing how the seed system addresses gender issues. The RBET framework is augmented by performing a systematic review to find studies that report some gender elements in seed systems and how they fit within both the RBET and Spielman and Kennedy (2016a, b) proposed framework. Such a review is important for generating evidence on industry practices to quantify how the seed system responds to gender needs or a lack of responsiveness. This study contributes to the literature by reviewing studies that have reported indicators that quantify seed system performance with respect to gender and developing gender-responsive seed system performance indicators.According to Johnson et al. (2018), Kleiber et al. (2019) and Nchanji (2022), the RBET framework aims to classify projects in terms of their gender approaches and evaluates whether they are designed to reach, benefit, empower and transform the situations of women, youths and men. It reflects the evolution of gender integration and practices over time and is very consistent with empirical evidence on transformative gender approaches in development-oriented projects. The reach domain aims to identify women, youth and men's participation through training, demonstrations, markets, and product testing, among other activities, as shown in Fig. 1. The benefits domain aims to evaluate access to resources and consider gender-specific needs and preferences in technology, such as improved variety adoption and resource use efficiency. The empower domain looks at gender-strengthening interventions that enhance decision making within households and at the community level, especially for women and youths, while addressing gender-disempowering activities and issues. Finally, the domain of transformation aims to move beyond just empowerment and into changing gender norms by creating an enabling environment that addresses norms and taboos and culturally underpins gender-disempowering activities and issues (Nchanji 2022).The approach of the present paper is to use the RBET framework and evaluate how it fits within the seed system performance indicator matrix developed by Spielman and Kennedy (2016a, b). This provides a wider angle for re-examining the propositions of Spielman and Kennedy (2016a, b) to develop a new matrix that integrates seed industry domains such as industry performance, innovation, structure, intellectual property rights and regulations into gendered and measurable units. For example, under the reach domain, one may want to measure how industry performance indicators such as the number of seeds sold, seed packaging, and seed prices correspond to gender issues. The critical question may be whether men' , youth's and women's seed access and preferences differ across different packaged quantities and whether there are any price differences between the genders. Critically examining and attempting to answer such questions will help develop new seed system measurement metrics that address both industry performance and gender. Another example is when tracking how seed industry structure, measured by the Herfindahl-Hirschman Index (HHI) and CR4/8 (four and eight-firm concentration rate), corresponds to seed market/distribution concentration and if the seed industry structure caters to gender differences in terms of reaching farmers (Deconinck 2019). This approach may provide a way of evaluating how seed distribution systems, seed companies and other industry players configure their reach to men, youth and women in rural-urban settings. Finally, it may be interesting to provide evidence on how the number of intellectual property rights or seed regulations affects women's access to and rights to purchase, use and control seeds. Developing a seed system metric would help seed regulatory authorities establish policies that address women's seed access rights. The list is not exhaustive but gives examples of a dire need to reassess the Spielman-Kennedy seed system metrices and propose gender-sensitive metrices that are applicable within the seed system.The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) is a standard tool used for systematic reviews and meta-analyses (Page et al. 2021). This approach was applied here to select studies from two major repositories of interest. In this case, only a systematic review and not a meta-analysis was conducted. The data were collected from publications from 1990 to 2022. The first was a quick Google Scholar ™ search with the following phrases: \"gender\" AND \"seed system\" AND \"seed system indicators\" AND \"common beans\" OR \"Phaseolus\". This process yielded 167 results. The second search used an all-in-text search with the phrases: allintext:\"gender\" AND \"seed system\" AND \"common beans\" OR \"Phaseolus AND \"women\". It yielded 33 results among which the previous 167 results were part of. Another search was conducted on the CGIAR repository with the search phrases \"seed system\" AND \"gender\" AND \"indicators\" AND \"common beans\" AND [publication date: 01/01/1990 TO 12/31/2022], which yielded only 28 results. We purposively included a few gray studies (documents produced by organizations with non-commercial publishing), especially reports from the PABRA and CGIAR Gender Platforms, as the basis for our research. By searching for gray literature, we maximized the comprehensiveness of our literature and mitigated publication bias, as discussed in Gusenbauer and Haddaway (2020).Peer-reviewed journal articles from reputable journals and reports from other organizations promoting common bean in Sub-Saharan Africa were included based on the following criteria: (1) the study reported on legumes with a focus on common beans; (2) the study attempted a disaggregated analysis, preferably by gender;(3) it was written in English; and (4) it was a review or instructive article. Blogs, web pages, opinion pieces, and magazine articles were excluded due to a lack of scientific rigor. A total of 36 (including gray literature) of the 195 studies were included in our final analysis. The data extracted from each article included the author's name, year of publication, study interventions, gender issues addressed, and seed industry indicators, among others. The summarized documents detailing the seed system and gender indices used are shown in the section summarizing the results and conclusions (Fig. 2).In this section, the current study examines current attempts to assess seed system performance with respect to gender by using literature that defines some of the proposed indicators. By considering peer-reviewed evidence and the ongoing policy discourses around SSA seed industry development, this study provides examples of the deliberate use of the seed system in order to include gender dynamics in terms of the Reach, Benefit, Empowerment and Transform frameworks (for women, men and youths). It also aims to highlight the shortcomings of key indicators that industry players use in different countries. In the discussion section, the study discusses what evidence is missing or a set of alternative indicators that may enhance innovative approaches that make seed systems gender responsive.In the reach domain, strategies for reaching women through capacity development and metrics showing participation in seed systems (such as training and meetings), access to seeds, and extension services were evaluated (Johnson et al. 2018;Nchanji et al. 2022a, b).To track these participation indicators, the study mapped them to measurable indicators as proposed by Spielman and Kennedy (2016a, b). First, with regard to seed access indicators, a recent cross-country (Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania) study by Marimo et al. (2021) revealed the informal seed system to be the dominant system and was accessed by 69% of women (own seeds and seeds from neighbors). In Rwanda, women were more likely to access seeds through informal channels; thus, a more cost-effective and inclusive strategy to reach them was leveraging their social networks (Vaiknoras et al. 2019). In Kenya, NGOs seem to work more with women (78%) than men (58%) in the seed system to balance the formal/improved seed access dominated by men (ibid). This implies that seeds promoted by NGOs seem to be accessed more by women because they are intentional. In Madagascar, women participate in seed production and attend demonstration plots in the same way men do, resulting in nondiscriminatory pricing that does not favor any gender; the willingness to pay is 171% (Bosch et al. 2017). However, the study showed that, irrespective of price discrimination or the free provision of seed and farming information, the willingness to pay more for improved seeds was low.In Kenya, PABRA and the Catholic Relief Services develop and use the Point-of-sale (PoS) app to track real-time seed distribution. The goal of this study was to determine whether the PoS application could shed light on new varietal dissemination and farmers' preferences so that seed companies and agro-dealers could use this information to improve their sales, targeting future seasons. The results showed that more males (62%) accessed more varieties than did their female counterparts. A study also revealed that high-iron bean (HIB) varieties retail between 2.20 and 2.50 US dollars per kilogram (Onyango 2020). However, there was no gender disaggregation; thus, the evidence of the effect of gender-based seed cost/pricing was inconclusive. Gender-disaggregated price indicators could be important for understanding price discrimination among men and women. Looking at the seed packaging indicator, it was found that packet sizes between 2 and 5 kg dominated the market. This was confirmed by the Tropical Legumes II program, which sold 943,170 small seed packs of common bean and other legumes in 13 African countries (McGuire and Sperling 2016). This implies that smaller seed packages may be preferable to smallholder farmers, especially women (Gichangi et al. 2012). On the other hand, Rubyogo et al. (2016) reported that 76.4% of farmers were satisfied with Malawi's 1.5 kg package, but no gender data are available to determine whether this approach works for men and women. Gender disaggregation was not presented in the study above but was presented in (Gichangi et al. 2012).Another indicator within the reach domain is the number of niche varieties/bean products tailored toward a certain group using nontraditional methods to improve seed access and delivery. The legume seed industry in Kenya and Uganda is developing rapidly, and new biofortified varieties high in iron and zinc (Nyota, Angaza and Metameta in Kenya; NAROBEAN 1, NAROBEAN 2 and NAROBEAN 3 in Uganda) have recently been released (Ugen et al. 2021). Seed access for these varieties has been enhanced for women through the Seed Credit Model (SCM) and Community Production and Marketing System (COPMAS) (ibid). While these models have yet to be scaled up, a study in Kenya found that women have dense seed networks that could be utilized to scale the models. In addition, these networks heavily rely on \"informal sources\" rather than men's networks (Otieno et al. 2021). This implies that even if we decide to focus only on formalized seed models, farmer-to-farmer seed exchange (informal) should be addressed within the seed system because it is the main source/risk for misinformation. Minimizing such risks of misinformation could occur through community-led seed banks harmonized within national policies. An example is the community seed bank of Kiziba in Uganda (Wilkus 2016). This allows for the reliable transfer of seeds and other materials from the local to the formal seed sector, thus eliminating informal linkages and resulting in lower seed quality. In Ethiopia, farmer-led seed delivery organized around Local Seed Businesses (LSBs) to produce and market quality seeds that were not attractive to private companies seemed to solve the challenge of accessing seeds for women (Ojiewo et al. 2018a, b).As proposed by Spielman and Kennedy (2016a, b), studies assessing the use of the Hirschman-Herfindahl Index (HHI), which measures firms' market shares in the seed market disaggregated by main seed/grain source for farmers, are presented in Table 4. In Kenya, the largest 4 and 8 retailers shown by the four-firm concentration (CR4) ratio (%) and eight-firm concentration (CR8) ratio (%), respectively, were 19.29% and 33.92%. Thus, the informal seed industry may be described as 'low moderately concentrated' , as indicated by the HHI of 5321 in the country. The largest 4 and 8 largest wholesalers in Kenya controlled 34.76% and 59.84%, respectively, and had an HHI of 9460 (Kibiego et al. 2003). This indicates a nearly pure competitive market structure for the seeds. On the other hand, Ethiopian market concentration seems oligopolistic, as there are few value chain actors in each of the nodes, especially exporters. The HHI of the aggregators, who are at the local level, is 5582, indicating that the common bean seed/grain market is moderately concentrated, similar to retailers in Kenya (Palencia 2017). According to these analyses, women were positioned as traders in bean grains, but the seed industry was dominated by males (Kibiego et al. 2003).In the benefits domain, the main aim is to highlight how the common bean seed system enhances the welfare of a bean farmer, especially in terms of hunger reduction, increased income and improved resilience among women (Johnson et al. 2018;Nchanji et al. 2022a, b). It is possible to quantify how these indicators improve women's welfare by measuring factors such as nutritional benefits, adoption practices, tracking time use, seed certification procedures, and community seed systems. First, adopting improved varieties is important for improving income and nutritional status. Farmers who buy seeds of improved varieties have been demonstrated to have better welfare (Walsh and Sperling 2019). An integrated impact-driven seed systems trial resulted in a 20% to approximately 68% increase in common bean adoption and improved seed production and delivery in Ethiopia (Tumsa et al. 2017). Farmers were able to obtain improved yields that resulted in surplus sales to cater to household expenditures.In Rwanda, it was demonstrated that adopting ironbiofortified beans was successful because of women's variable preferences, with longer-lasting benefits for women (Vaiknoras et al. 2019). However, some studies indicate that males adopt improved seeds more than females do, as they have access to resources and lead in most household decision-making. This was demonstrated by (Wambua et al. (2018), who also found that households in Kenya where the main decision maker was a woman had lower yields.On the other hand, a participatory breeding program in Uganda found women groups motivated by commercial goals, resulting in the diversification of their seeds (Wilkus et al. 2018). This implies that seed systems that improve incomes are desirable and may help improve community-level nutrition. Not integrating women's roles as decision makers in seed systems may result in disproportionate resource allocation and use. A study in Kenya indicated that female household heads made fewer decisions on incomes from common bean farming using improved variety seeds (Wambua et al. 2018). As such, PPB and PVS can be avenues for motivating women who want to commercialize bean production and move out of poverty, as they include gender training modules on farm and household decision-making.While financial welfare is important, improved nutritional status and improved cognitive abilities through bean consumption using high-iron beans have been documented (Murray-Kolb et al. 2017). Through PABRA high-iron bean breeding, access to HIB seeds may change the nutritional status of women positively. In Ethiopia and Uganda, women were more involved in labor-intensive activities such as weeding and threshing but had little decision to sell grains (Abera et al. 2020;Katungi et al. 2019). Studies have demonstrated that even attending training and farm demos are limited by their radius of movement and society's definition of a 'good wife/ woman' (Njuguna et al. 2016).To benefit women, the seed system should be designed to be responsive across the value chain, offer more training and extension services, and give women more autonomy in decision-making. An example is CGIAR's Excellence in Breeding program, which recognizes reallife seed choices as tradeoffs or competitive events with other livelihood farmer needs but recognizes chain-wide trait prioritization that may help overcome such tradeoffs and incentivize farmers to buy seeds (McEwan et al. 2021). It recognizes women as leading informal seed traders and local intermediaries in the seed value chain, as they sort grains as \"potential seeds\" (Sperling et al. 2020a, b).In this domain, we track seed system studies in common bean value chains that measure empowering actions such as women's leadership, agency, skills and factors that inherently disempower them, such as drudgery, time use, decision-making power or control over resources. Most formal seed systems involve pro-men, who are designed to attract them as farmers who own land and as household heads (Paris and Rola-Rubzen 2019). Women are not recognized formally as seed users (Brearley and Kramer 2020). Thus, gender inequalities constrain women's access to and participation in seedrelated decision-making processes. In the common bean seed system in Ethiopia, 30% of the seed producers were widowed, divorced, or separated women who lacked opportunities to network or participate in community meetings that discussed seed issues (Geleta et al. 2017). This limited their participation in leadership or vying for seed-bank leadership positions. In Zimbabwe, the design of agricultural extension services, especially training workshops, was reported to be a disempowering factor, as women were excluded from distant agricultural training despite women playing a dominant role in seed processing, preservation and storage (Matsa and Manuku 2013).Seed systems have seen community seed banks engaging women and furthering their decision-making in accessing quality seeds. In Zambia, women were more active in variety selection at the local level (USAID/Afri-caLead 2016). They also belonged to groups that made regular weekly payments that enabled them to purchase seeds. They also held leadership positions, giving them a voice in seed system activities. In contrast, in Tanzania, ownership and upper-level management of the surveyed seed companies revealed that women accounted for only 3% of the population (AGRA 2016). Women held clerical and smaller positions that did not put them in a position to voice their concerns, inherently disempowering them in seed system activities.Apart from leadership, seed networks managed by women were found to create space for improved decision-making among women in Kenya, as women prefer to exchange seeds with other women (Otieno et al. 2021). Along the value chain, especially in terms of distribution, sparse markets and poor road infrastructure prolong journeys and prohibit women from obtaining bean seeds (McGuire and Sperling 2016). In Kenya, this problem is being overcome by using nontraditional means of transport, such as motorbikes, to reach last-mile female farmers (Onyango 2020).In bean breeding, the number of female scientists working on improving legume research has been reported to be limited (Ojiewo 2018b). The CGIAR datasets also showed that the number of breeders in terms of Full-Time Equivalent (FTE) was close to zero in countries such as Burundi, a manifestation of the decreased likelihood of finding even a single female bean breeder in such countries (CGIAR DIIVA 2021). This implies that even within research, there exists a gender gap in breeders who could point out that missing traits are preferred by women but that there are no differences. It should be noted that trait preferences are also strongly determined by an individual's socioeconomic and cultural situation and not just by gender (Table 3).In the reach domain, 10 studies from both peer-reviewed articles and gray literature, with a particular focus on common bean crops, were included. These studies are used to provide evidence on reach and participation (such as training and meetings), access to seeds and extension services, among other indicators, within the seed system (Johnson et al. 2018;Nchanji 2022). To track these participation indicators, the study mapped them to measurable indicators as proposed by Spielman and Kennedy (2016a, b). First, with regard to seed access indicators, a recent cross-country (Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania) study by Marimo et al. (2021) revealed the informal seed system to be the dominant system and was accessed by 69% of women (own seeds and seeds from neighbors). The study looks at the seed industry's innovation and particularly focuses on indicators such as seed access. In Rwanda, it was found that women were more likely to access seeds through informal channels; thus, a more cost-effective and inclusive strategy to reach them was leveraging their social networks (Vaiknoras et al. 2019). The study highlights the seed system's industry performance indicators, innovation, and structure. In Kenya, NGOs seem to work more with women (78%) than men (58%) in the seed system to balance the formal/improved seed access dominated by men (ibid). This implies that seeds promoted by NGOs seem to be accessed more by women because they are intentional. The seed system indicators tracked here include seed access, innovation to reach millions, and social capital, among others. In Madagascar, women participate in seed production and attend demonstration plots in the same way men do, resulting in nondiscriminatory pricing that does not favor any gender; the willingness to pay is 171% (Bosch et al. 2017). However, the   study showed that, irrespective of price discrimination or the free provision of seed and farming information, the willingness to pay more for the improved seeds was low.In Kenya, PABRA used the Point-of-Sale (PoS) app to track real-time seed distribution and found that males (62%) accessed more varieties than did their female counterparts (38%). A study also revealed that high-iron bean (HIB) varieties retail between 2.20 and 2.50 US dollars per kilogram (Onyango 2020). With regard to pricing and packaging, no gender-disaggregated data were collected; thus, the evidence of the effect of gender-based seed cost/pricing was inconclusive. Gender-disaggregated price indicators could be important for understanding price discrimination among men and women. Looking at the seed packaging indicator, it was found that packet sizes between 2 and 5 kg dominated the market. This was confirmed by an experimental Tropical Legumes II program in which 943,170 small seed packs of common bean and other legumes were sold in 13 African countries (McGuire and Sperling 2016). This implies that smaller seed packages may be preferable to smallholder farmers, especially women (Gichangi et al. 2012). On the other hand, Rubyogo et al. (2016) reported that 76.4% of farmers were satisfied with Malawi's 1.5 kg package, but no gender data are available to determine whether this approach works for men and women. Gender disaggregation was not presented in these studies, so conclusions were impossible from a gender lens.A cross-country comparison study also revealed that women are disadvantaged in terms of access to seed information. In Tanzania, 81% of men accessed seed information from experts, whereas 53% and 56% accessed seed information from Kenya and Uganda, respectively.Another indicator within the reach domain is the number of niche varieties/bean products tailored toward a certain group using nontraditional methods to improve seed access and delivery. The legume seed industry in Kenya and Uganda is developing rapidly, and new biofortified varieties high in iron and zinc (Nyota, Angaza and Metameta in Kenya; NAROBEAN 1, NAROBEAN 2 and NAROBEAN 3 in Uganda) have recently been released (Ugen et al. 2021). Seed access for these varieties has been enhanced for women through the Seed Credit Model (SCM) and Community Production and Marketing System (COPMAS) (ibid). While these models are yet to be scaled up, a study in Kenya found that women have dense seed networks that could be utilized to scale the models. In addition, these networks heavily rely on \"informal sources\" rather than men's networks (Otieno et al. 2021). This implies that even if we decide to focus only on formalized seed models, farmer-to-farmer seed exchange (informal) should be addressed within the seed  system, as it is the main source/risk for misinformation.Minimizing such risks of misinformation could occur through community-led seed banks harmonized within national policies. An example is the community seed bank of Kiziba in Uganda (Wilkus 2016). This allows for the reliable transfer of seeds and other materials from the local to the formal seed sector, thus eliminating informal linkages and resulting in lower seed quality. In Ethiopia, farmer-led seed delivery organized around Local Seed Businesses (LSBs) to produce and market quality seeds that were not attractive to private companies seemed to solve the challenge of accessing seeds for women (Ojiewo et al. 2018a, b).As proposed by Spielman and Kennedy (2016a, b), studies assessing the use of the Hirschman-Herfindahl Index (HHI), which measures firms' market shares in the seed market disaggregated by main seed/grain source for farmers, are presented in Table 4. In Kenya, the largest 4 and 8 retailers shown by the four-firm concentration (CR4) ratio (%) and eight-firm concentration (CR8) ratio (%), respectively, were 19.29% and 33.92%. Thus, the informal seed industry may be described as 'low moderately concentrated' , as indicated by the HHI of 5321 in the country. The largest 4 and 8 largest wholesalers in Kenya controlled 34.76% and 59.84%, respectively, and had an HHI of 9460 (Kibiego et al. 2003). This indicates a nearly pure competitive market structure for the seeds. On the other hand, Ethiopian market concentration seems oligopolistic, as there are few value chain actors in each of the nodes, especially exporters. The HHI of the aggregators, who are at the local level, is 5582, indicating that the common bean seed/grain market is moderately concentrated, similar to retailers in Kenya (Palencia 2017). According to these analyses, women were positioned as traders in bean grains, but the seed industry was dominated by males (Kibiego et al. 2003).In the benefits domain, the main aim is to highlight how the common bean seed system enhances the welfare of a bean farmer, especially in terms of hunger reduction, increased income, and improved resilience among women (Johnson et al. 2018;Nchanji et al 2022a, b). It is possible to quantify how these indicators improve women's welfare by measuring factors such as nutritional benefits, adoption practices, tracking time use, seed certification procedures, and community seed systems. First, adopting improved varieties is important for improving income and nutritional status. Farmers who buy seeds of improved varieties have been demonstrated to have better welfare (Walsh and Sperling 2019). An integrated impact-driven seed systems trial resulted in a 20% to approximately 68% increase in common bean adoption and improved seed production and delivery in Ethiopia (Tumsa et al. 2013). Farmers were able to obtain improved yields that resulted in surplus sales to cater to household expenditures.In Rwanda, it was demonstrated that adopting ironbiofortified beans was successful because of women's variable preferences, with longer-lasting benefits for women (Vaiknoras et al. 2019). However, some studies indicate that males adopt improved seeds more than females do, as they have access to resources and lead in most household decision-making. This was demonstrated by Wambua et al. (2018), who also found that households in Kenya where the main decision maker was a woman had lower yields.On the other hand, a participatory breeding program in Uganda found women groups motivated by commercial goals, resulting in the diversification of their seeds (Wilkus et al. 2018). This implies that seed systems that improve incomes are desirable and may help improve community-level nutrition. Not integrating women's roles as decision makers in seed systems may result in disproportionate resource allocation and use. A study in Kenya indicated that female household heads made fewer decisions on incomes from common bean farming using improved variety seeds (Wambua et al. 2018). As such, PPB and PVS can be avenues for motivating women who want to commercialize bean production and move out of poverty, as they include gender training modules on farm and household decision-making.While financial welfare is important, improved nutritional status and improved cognitive abilities through bean consumption using high-iron beans have been documented (Murray-Kolb et al. 2017). Through PABRA high-iron bean breeding, access to HIB seeds may change the nutritional status of women. In Ethiopia and Uganda, women were more involved in labor-intensive activities such as weeding and threshing but had little decision to sell grains (Abera et al. 2020;Katungi et al. 2019). Studies have demonstrated that even attending training and farm demos is limited by individuals' radius of movement and society's desire for a 'good wife/woman' (Njuguna et al. 2016).To benefit women, the seed system should be designed to be responsive across the value chain, offer more training and extension services, and give women more autonomy in decision-making. An example is CGIAR's Excellence in Breeding program, which recognizes reallife seed choices as tradeoffs or competitive events with other livelihood farmer needs but recognizes chain-wide trait prioritization that may help overcome such tradeoffs and incentivize farmers to buy seeds (McEwan et al. 2021). It recognizes women as leading informal seed traders and local intermediaries in the seed value chain, as they sort grains as \"potential seeds\" (Sperling et al. 2020a, b).In this domain, we track seed system studies in common bean value chains that measure empowering actions such as women's leadership, agency, skills and factors that inherently disempower them, such as drudgery, time use, decision-making power or control over resources. Most formal seed systems involve pro-men, who are designed to attract them as farmers who own land and as household heads (Paris and Rola-Rubzen 2019). Women are not recognized formally as seed users (Brearley and Kramer 2020). Thus, gender inequalities constrain women's access to and participation in seed-related decisionmaking processes. In the common bean seed system in Ethiopia, 30% of the seed producers were widowed, divorced, or separated women who lacked opportunities to network or participate in community meetings that discussed seed issues (Geleta et al. 2017). This limited their participation in leadership or vying for seed-bank leadership positions. In Zimbabwe, the design of agricultural extension services, especially training workshops, was reported to be a disempowering factor, as women were excluded from distant agricultural training despite women playing a dominant role in seed processing, preservation, and storage (Matsa and Manuku 2013).Seed systems have seen community seed banks engaging women and furthering their decision-making in accessing quality seeds. In Zambia, women were more active in variety selection at the local level (USAID/Afri-caLead 2016). They also belonged to groups that made regular weekly payments that enabled them to purchase seeds. They also held leadership positions, giving them a voice in seed system activities. In contrast, in Tanzania, ownership and upper-level management of the surveyed seed companies revealed that women accounted for only 3% of the population (AGRA 2016). Women held clerical and smaller positions that did not put them in a position to voice their concerns, inherently disempowering them in seed system activities.Apart from leadership, seed networks managed by women were found to create space for improved decision-making among women in Kenya (Otieno et al. 2021). Along the value chain, especially in terms of distribution, sparse markets and poor road infrastructure prolong journeys and prohibit women from obtaining bean seeds (McGuire and Sperling 2016). In Kenya, this problem is being overcome by using nontraditional means of transport, such as motorbikes, to reach last-mile female farmers (Onyango 2020).In bean breeding, the number of female scientists working on improving legume research has been reported to be limited (Ojiewo 2018b). The CGIAR datasets also showed that the number of breeders in terms of Full-Time Equivalent (FTE) was close to zero in countries such as Burundi, a manifestation of the decreased likelihood of finding even a single female bean breeder in such countries (CGIAR DIIVA 2021). This implies that even within research, there exists a gender gap with fewer women who could point out the missing traits preferred by women, even though many nuances exist here, as women breeders or researchers might not tell traits pf individual women due to different socioeconomic and cultural situations that condition the choice of traits.Transform goes beyond just empowering women within the seed system. The aim is to create an enabling environment to identify and address gender barriers that are deeply embedded in societies, especially gender norms, inequalities, and governance structures (Cole et al. 2018;Johnson et al. 2018). Thus, studies that analyze the paradigm shift of gender barriers tuned toward optimized opportunities to realize gender equality, equity and women's empowerment are considered. According to Puskur et al. (2021), gender-transformative evidence is under researched and under profiled across all crops. However, some studies, such as Cole et al. (2018), have documented how participatory testing of postharvest technologies in Zambia led to significant gender-equal attitudes among men. It gave women control over income, made them exercise choice and voiced their concerns more freely. In southern Ethiopia, the management of small-seed enterprises was reserved for women who make all decisions regarding seeds, including sales and the management of profits (Habte et al. 2010).Intentional digital inclusion has been proposed to overcome seed access barriers and transform the seed system (Shrader 2021). An example of the use of digital technology is the use of the point-of-sale approach by the Pan-Africa Bean Research Alliance and its partners to track seeds from seed companies to distributors (agrovets and small shops) and to use nontraditional transport methods such as motorbikes, which are cheaper and adaptable to different terrains and able to reach women farmers at the last miles (Onyango 2020). This transformative approach to the seed system would ensure that people at the last mile, especially women who incur substantial transaction costs accessing seeds, are reached.Toward gender-transformative seed system metrics and seed system policies When seed system indicators are not put through the RBET framework and gender lens, they fall short of measuring critical seed industry characteristics. For example, while Spielman and Kennedy (2016b) provided a framework with seed system indicators with higher resolution at-spatial, social, household, farm, plot and varietal levels, the nuances in gender never came out clearly. It presented a first stab at what would need methodical re-analysis to determine industry players needs against the youth, women and vulnerable people's needs. On the other hand, while studies such as Louwaars and De Boef (2012;and Westengen et al. (2023) have developed a holistic approach that integrates seed actors (partnerships and networks) and seed security elements, gender issues have just been employed to some extent. It is agreeable that a gender-transformative system needs institutional and technical innovations using an integrated seed system approach that involves public-private sector partnerships and critically overcoming farmerbased seed production barriers through digital means and supply initiatives (Ojiewo et al. 2018a, b).The current analysis takes into consideration the metrics that can inform the seed system players to engage meaningfully and address the salient gender issues such as women's varietal preferences for certain varieties. Such analysis can be used to shape national agricultural growth strategies, set public research priorities, design private innovation incentives, construct public input provision programs, and encourage maize seed industry development and productivity.From the evidence above, it is safe to argue that areas of action in an integrated seed system would be significantly captured in the reach domain by advocating for increased total seed production and availability. Women have increased access to better-quality seeds of common bean, even though issues such as lack of small and affordable seed packages, access to seed credit and lack of extension services seem to reduce the benefits for women and young people. Women's empowerment through leadership in village seed banks, value chain support, PPB and PVS, and capacity development for postharvest handling, including seed and creating market linkages, are believed to springboard women from just reaching and benefiting more empowered decision making in the seed system. In Ghana, only 1 out of the 31 seed companies are led by women, while out of 92 management positions, only 3-23% are held by women, revealing low levels of gender integration within the whole seed industry (Mabaya et al. 2021). This can be overcome by national policies such as the National Seed Policy of the Republic of Ghana, the Plants and Fertilizer Act, 2010 (ACT 803), and Act 803, which seem not to address the gender aspects of women in the seed system directly. A low score for Genetic Resources reflects a lack of disclosure and corporate positions related to conserving genetic resources and benefit-sharing.Most seed companies expressed a high level of satisfaction with the quality of seed policy instruments, including seed policy, seed acts, seed regulations, and seed strategies. However, in most cases, they also expressed a high level of dissatisfaction with the level of enforcement and implementation of these instruments. This was also the case in countries such as Ethiopia, Ghana, Malawi and Madagascar. In the worst cases (e.g., in Senegal), weak enforcement at all stages of the seed value chain leads to poor-quality seeds on the market (Mabaya et al. 2021).The cost of seeds remains a pain-point for farmers in seed systems. A recent survey of seed companies in 13 countries revealed that the government and agro-dealers control 68% of seed sales(Agri-Experience 2018). Decentralizing such seed sales to the local level would reduce transaction costs because last-mile farmers would easily have timely and less expensive access. The fact that the cost of releasing a variety is high and averaged at US$ 3,000 in Kenya, US$ 4,000 in Mali in 2018 and US$ 27,000 in Nigeria in 2018, as posited by Mabaya et al. (2021), is a cause for concern for industry practitioners.There have been efforts to register farmers' varieties, which will greatly change the variety of commercialization systems (De Jonge et al. 2021). Research organizations such as the Pan-Africa Bean Research Alliance (PABRA), in collaboration with the Kenya Agriculture and Livestock Research Organization (KALRO), and private seed companies in Kenya have already taken advantage of the fast-tracked improved bean registration and release system to obtain high iron beans for smallholder farmers (Mabeya et al. 2020). These were based on the niche attributes, uniqueness and promise of solving chronic and hidden hunger within the rural farming families.While evidence is very thin for truly gender-transformative seed systems, leveraging public policy and international treaties are possible avenues. Such policies would reduce market concentration from the hands of few players and systematically restructure the seed system for equitable and gender-aware distribution system as suggested in (Otieno et al. 2021;Sperling et al. 2022). Using metrics such as women's networks and villagelevel farmer-to-farmer seed distribution systems solve the reach for the masses but also catalyze transformation from relative isolation of women and youths to being part of the seed system. What of digitally enhanced delivery systems? Reaching farmers at the last mile by bundling seeds with other agro-inputs using non-traditional methods and piggybacking on existing product supply channels or using digital point-of-sale mobile apps would be transformative and eliminate cultural barriers to seed access. A salient gender issue overcome here are the culturally limiting information access gaps that would hinder performance of the seed system. Seed companies may need to invest in these efforts and strengthen community seed banks, for example.This study sought to identify gaps in seed system metrics and highlight gender issues that need to be integrated as indicators to monitor the seed system's performance. By examining this through the RBET framework, it emerged that gender biases exist in the seed system and very few literatures has reported on specific metrics that industry players can use. We proposed a series of metrics that integrate youth and women's issues in the seed system.For example, the analysis explored disparities in access to quality seed for women versus men, considering factors such as use of digital tools, seed voucher programs in the hope that these would be empowering to the women and youth within households. The study suggests public-private facing interventions that could make the seed system more efficient. For example, while policy reforms in the early 1980s have impacted seed industry growth, limitations still exist in laws that properly govern seed system relations. This means that even with DLB kind of approaches, the impact may only be partially attributable to good seed laws. With the proposed gender metrics and subsequent adoption of such or deliberate inclusion by private and public seed industry, it would be easy to enhance formulating and communicating policies that enhance seed system efficiency.Finally, our recommendation is that thin literature exists to prove gender as part of a dynamic seed system. Therefore, use of enhanced datasets and more deliberate gender-based research is needed. On the other hand, specific interventions are needed to evaluate the community-led seed banks, provide training and extension services that are specifically designed for women farmers, and advocate for gender-responsive policies and programs that support women's participation in the seed system. It is time to take advantage of new developments, especially frameworks that cover actors within the seed system, seed system functions and seed security issues as suggested in Louwaars and De Boef (2012) and Westengen et al. (2023). However, such frameworks may also need to consider the gender nuances and framed within the Sub-Sahara African farmer needs.In conclusion, the seed system has the potential to be a powerful tool for improving the welfare of women, youth and other vulnerable farmers, and measuring women's indicators using the RBET framework provides gaps and opportunities to close the gender gap in the seed system by making it a more equitable and inclusive system that benefits all farmers, regardless of gender.See Table 5.  "}

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+{"metadata":{"gardian_id":"2a249c88dffb4e0b166386c9ebbb56e1","source":"gardian_index","url":"https://cgspace.cgiar.org/rest/bitstreams/c1612c0c-8e2e-4c68-8950-e76435738cfb/retrieve","id":"33085800"},"keywords":[],"sieverID":"fadbd39c-7403-4f70-bb1c-a13d372e1f83","content":"The Project Fostering evidence-based IWRM in the Stung Pursat Catchment (Tonle Sap Great Lake), Cambodia (also known as MK16) was collaboratively implemented by the Ministry of Water Resources and Meteorology (MOWRAM), Tonle Sap Authority (TSA), Supreme National Economic Council (SNEC), Hatfield Consultants Partnership (HCP), and the Culture and Environment Preservation Association (CEPA) between December 2012 and December 2013. MK 16 is an initiative of the Challenge Program for Water and Food (CPWF), supported by funding from the Australian Aid program.This project examined the linkages between population and demand for food and water. Cambodia, in general, and Pursat Province in particular, have a complex and interesting mosaic of demographic attributes and development issues. The Tonle Sap basin and Pursat catchment possess the country's largest potential water resources. These resources have the ability to support on-going economic development, including irrigation and agricultural production, fisheries and aquaculture, energy and forest products, navigation and other modes of transport, domestic and industrial water use and tourism (Pech and Sunada 2008).MK16 is implemented in a single sub-catchment of Tonle Sap basin in western Cambodia, the Stung Pursat. The project sought to address and/or improve three inter-related aspects of water management: (a) cross-sectoral collaboration; (b) use of data and scientific analyses to inform water management in Cambodia; and, (c) institutional mechanisms for inter-sectoral management, and interpretation and use of existing or new scientific data.This working paper examines population growth in Pursat and its potential impact on food demand and land and water resources in a systematic and integrated manner. The main purpose of the paper is to kick-start a policy debate on population dynamics and food and water security in Pursat. The paper provides background information, observations and empirical analysis of resource demand (real or perceived) associated with population growth and policy decisions related to food and water security.We present a constructive analysis to obtain a clear overview of demographic trends in Pursat, explore mechanisms for changes in population over time, as well as the complex relationships between demographic changes and natural resources in Pursat.Population growth, food and water demands, and their impacts on water resources in the Mekong region and other parts of the world have been well documented (Borberg 2005;Molden et al. 2001;Rosegrant et al. 2002;Hoanh et al. 2003;Davis 2003). While these studies provide some background information about annual food and water demand at a broad scale, there is less information available at smaller temporal and spatial scales, such as during critical dry season months or around water storage infrastructure sites. Such information can be critical for understanding water resource requirements for meeting food demand and other basic human needs. This paper also reviews population trends in Pursat through both quantitative and qualitative analysis. The report also explores the complex relationships between demographic changes and natural resources, including: relationship between population growth and demands for food and water; impacts of infrastructure and economic developments (hydropower, irrigation expansion, etc.) on water, land and other related natural resources, as well as on sustainable livelihoods of local communities.The MK 16 project focuses on the Stung Pursat, a tributary of the Tonle Sap Great Lake and one of its main catchments. The Stung Pursat catchment is 5,965 km 2 in area, and discharges an average of 2,818 million cubic meters (MCM) a year into the Great Lake along its western shore (JICA 2011). Pursat is the fourth biggest province in Cambodia (in terms of land area). It is located in the western part of the country and borders Battambang Province to the north, the Tonle Sap Lake to the northeast, Kompong Chhnang to the east, Kompong Speu and Koh Kong to the south, and Thailand to the west. Pursat offers ideal access to both the Tonle Sap and the Cardamom Mountains (to the west). Like the rest of the country, Pursat is predominantly an agrarian province.The majority of people in Pursat province and in adjacent catchments rely on the Pursat River and its associated floodplains for their livelihoods. Stung Pursat is listed as one of Cambodia's priority catchments due to its rich natural resources and wildlife sanctuaries (CNMC 2012). Competing water users/uses necessitate integrated and equitable management of the water resources.Annual average population growth between 1998 and 2008 in Cambodia was 1.54%, while in Pursat it was estimated to be 0.77% (NIS 2008). The discrepancy between the two growth rates is due to a number of factors, such as a lack of surveying in 1998 and emigration from Pursat to other provinces (Battambang, Phnom Penh) and/or Thailand. The total number of households in Pursat in 2008 was 83,515, yielding an average household size of 4.7 persons (NIS 2008). The people of Pursat Province live in six districts composed of 49 communes and 501 villages (CNMC 2012). The population density in the province, as shown in Figure 1 below, is 33 persons/km 2 compared to an average population density for Cambodia of 75 persons/km 2 (CPWFa and CPWFb 2013;WFP 2005).As shown in Figure 1, settlements are mainly along the Pursat River and within 50 km of both sides of the National Road 5 and the Pursat City, the provincial capital (also referred to as Pursat town). The city is located on the riverbanks of the Stung Pursat, directly between the Tonle Sap and the Cardamom Mountains.The province is characterized by high migration (mainly out of province), competition for natural resources, and variation in population density. These issues pose some uncertainty in terms of planning and development (CNMC 2012).With a poverty ranking of 13 out of 24 provinces, Pursat has achieved some level of prosperity compared to other Cambodian provinces (USAID 2010). Pursat's economy is diverse and growing fast. Major economic activities include agriculture, fishing, livestock production, brick manufacturing, agriculture machinery, and handicrafts. Rice is the chief agricultural product, and other main crops include sugar palm, sweet potatoes, sesame, beans, mixed vegetables, corn and cassava. In total, there are about 1,000 private small and medium enterprises in Pursat, including manufacturing industries, ice factories, drinking water companies, a soft drink producer and horticulture (USAID 2010). Parts of the province have been allocated to a range of concessions, including agricultural concessions, economic land concessions and social concessions, by which land is granted to poor or landless farmers for farming or residential purposes (CNMC 2012). Land is also provided for mining through leases and possibly exploitation agreements (CNMC 2012). Pursat is attracting many private companies to invest in the agriculture sector; some new companies growing cassava and rubber in Hatfield Natural Resources Pressures in Pursat Catchment Pursat have invested between $1 and $2 million each on 800-1000 ha parcels of land (USAID 2010). Pursat has a young population (see Figure 2) and a falling Total Fertility Rate (TFR). As is the case for the entire country, Pursat is experiencing the beginning of a major transition in the population and human resource base, which creates both opportunities and challenges. With relatively few elderly or very young people, the economic ratio for dependency (workers to dependents) is low; in other words, the population is heavily weighted towards a population of productive workers (NIS 2008). However, with the opening up of the labour market, free movement of the labour force will encourage more Cambodian and Pursat workers to move across international borders in search of jobs. This could result in a labour shortage in the country, including Pursat. Moreover, with wages rising in neighbouring countries and the strengthening of their currencies, there are opportunities for Cambodia (including Pursat) for attracting relatively low-skill, labour-intensive industries (NIS 2008). The implications of population growth become clear when considering that more food items are required which in turn typically puts pressures on land, water, and other resources (Pech and Sunada 2008).Projections of population growth in Pursat are varied due to poor reporting and lack of verified data. The population of Pursat is over 397,161 (NIS 2008) and is expected to increase rapidly in comparison to the national average rate of 1.54% and the provincial average of 0.77%, respectively (NIS 2008).For the purposes of this working paper -of generating a debate about population changes and their impacts on natural resources -three population scenarios were created for Pursat based on estimates from the United Nations (UN) and Cambodia National Institute of Statistics (NIS):  Scenario 3: The rate of r is constant (exponential increase) at 1.54%, which was estimated as the national average growth rate (NIS, 2008).Table 2 illustrates that the population growth rate for Scenario 2 is decreasing over time. For Scenario 2, the rate of natural increase for Pursat was estimated by considering birth rates per 1,000 people minus death rates per 1,000 people, and assuming that rate of out-migration is 1.5% until 2020 and 1% thereafter.  According to Scenario 3, where the national population growth rate remains constant at 1.54%, the population of Pursat is expected to grow by 123% -more than double its 1998 values.Scenarios 1 and 2 are more probable and favorable options for future population growth in Pursat. The rate of population increase peaked around 1990 and has since declined for the more populous Mekong countries, such as China and Thailand, due to the decline in TFRs (Pech and Sunada 2008).Scenarios 1, 2 and 3 point to the complexity of estimating population growth trends, and planning for its impacts on natural resources. In order to fulfill the resource requirements of a growing population (perceived or real), ultimately some form of water and land-use change can be expected.For decades, experts have debated about the relationship between population growth and economic development (Boberg 2005). Expert views range from: \"Pessimistic\" theory -insists that high fertility and rapid population growth inhibit development. This was dominant in 1960s; \"Optimistic\" theory -argues that rapid population growth and large population size promote economic growth by supplying abundant human and intellectual capital and increasing market size; and \"Population neutralism\" -maintains that population growth has some impact on economic performance only in combination with other intervening factors. This viewpoint has become the dominant view in current population policy (RAND Population Matters 2004).Higher population numbers require more homes, factories, workplaces and manufacturers in order to house, employ, and feed a growing number of people (Bloom et al. 2003). However, population growth can also generate a \"demographic dividend\" (See Box 2), which can be understood as a window of economic opportunity associated with a drastic decline in the number of people not in the labour force. As a result, to derive a meaningful conclusion from analysis of population and economic growth relationships, one has to focus not only on the population size and growth and their age structure dynamics, but also on the policy and institution context (Boberg 2005).Box 3 presents case studies from three different world regions undergoing a demographic transition. As illustrated by these case studies, the demographic dividend itself provides no guarantee of prosperity without an appropriate enabling policy environment. Without it, countries are too slow to adapt to their changing age structure, and miss an opportunity to secure high growth. To reap opportunities presented by the demographic dividend, nations need effective policies in key areas, such as improvements in public health, effective population policy and family planning, proper policies in education, the economy, and governance (Bloom et al. 2003;Rand Population Matters 2004).Box 2 What is The Demographic \"Dividend\"?The demographic dividend is delivered through a number of mechanisms. The most important are labour supply, savings, and human capital.Labour Supply: The demographic transition affects labour supply in two ways. First, when a baby-boom generation is between 15 and 64, it is more likely to be working, thus lowering the ratio of dependents to non-dependents. During the peak working years of 20 to 54, this effect is especially strong. The number of people who would like to work (labour supply) therefore gets bigger and, provided the labour market can absorb the larger numbers of workers, per capita production increases. Second, women are more likely to enter the workforce as family size declines. In small families, children are more likely to be better educated. This increases their productivity in the labour market.Savings: Working-age people tend to have a higher level of economic output and also a higher level of savings. Furthermore, people tend to save more between the ages of 40 and 65.Human Capital: A longer life expectancy causes fundamental changes in the way that people live. People become more valuable assets.All these mechanisms are heavily dependent on the policy environment. A growing number of adults will only be productive if there is sufficient flexibility in the labour market to allow its expansion and proper education. Finally, the demographic transition creates conditions where people will tend to invest in their own and their children's health and education, offering great economic benefits, especially in the modern world's increasingly sophisticated economies.Source: Bloom et al. (2003) Hatfield Natural Resources Pressures in Pursat CatchmentThe relationship between population and the environment is complex (Hunter 2001). Population is a multidimensional concept that can relate to the size, distribution, density or composition of an area's inhabitants, as well as their level of income (Boberg 2005). In addition, the relationship is also influenced by other \"mediating\" factors, including technological (e.g., forms of energy production and consumption), political (e.g., policy environment), and cultural factors (e.g., ways of life and attitudes toward nature) (Boberg 2005).As far as the relationship between population growth and natural resources in Pursat Province is concerned, two points can highlight the implications of population size and growth on natural resources. Fulfilling the resource requirements of a growing population ultimately requires some form of land-use change, be it to fill augmented food demand, or to develop infrastructure necessary to support increasing human numbers (Davis 2003). Secondly, the increase in agricultural production (expansion of agricultural areas and/or increase of land and water productivity) along with urbanization and industrialization can lead to an overall increase in demand for water and impacts on water and related resources (Pech and Sunada 2008). Kristensen (2001) estimated that food demand from the Mekong River Basin would increase between 20% to 50% by 2030, alongside an increase in water demand. He stated that food production in the last 50 years has been roughly matched by a proportional increase in the use of water, fertilizers and other agrochemical products, and with relatively slow increase in grain yields.The following sections describe the potential impacts of population growth on: (i) food demand and production potential; (ii) land use and forest cover;(iii) trends in water demand and water balance; and, (iv) fishery resources.East Asia: South Korea, Taiwan, and Hong Kong have been able to reap the demographic dividend produced by reduced fertility rates to produce robust economic growth between 1965 and 1990. As a result, the working-age population grew four times faster than dependent (youth and elderly) population. A better education system, and trade liberalization policies enabled national economies to absorb the \"baby boom\" generation into the workforce that fueled a spectacular economic boom -real per capita income grow an average 6% per year between 1965 and 1990.Latin America: Latin American demographic changes have been favorable for growth since 1970. In spite of a fairly sharp demographic transition, Latin America has not capitalized on it because of a weak policy environment -such as weak governance and a lack of openness to trade. Total food demand projections usually depend on three factors: (i) population size; (ii) increase in per capita consumption and lifestyle; and (iii) changes in the composition of diet (Pech and Sunada 2008). Data on the Pursat population size is available, as discussed above, and the changes in per capita consumption can be estimated from the food balance sheet developed by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO 2000).Data on the composition of average daily diet for the years 1990, 1995 and 2000 in Cambodia shows that more than 65% of the daily calorie supply is provided by cereals (rice and wheat), both directly as cereal products and indirectly through animal products (FAO 2000). It is assumed in this study that this dietary composition will be maintained for the next 35 years, i.e. cereal products and rice will remain major staple food in Mekong River Basin (MRB) in the coming decades.A study by the World Food Program confirmed that rice is the primary staple food-crop for Pursat province (WFP 2005) 1 . Most rural households in Pursat grow crops, most commonly rice, which is produced for personal consumption and for cash income at least for one season per year.Some early studies calculated food demand based on an assumption for per capita demand of 300 kg/year of paddy or equivalent for all Mekong countries (e.g., Rosegrant et al. 2002). However, the analysis of the FAO Food Balance Sheet for the years 1990, 1995 and 2000 shows that this method was over-generalized, as food composition and availability vary from one country to another (FAO 2000). FAO (2000) provides information about the average per capita food supply, which can help in measuring long-term trends in national food demand and dietary composition. In this study, domestic food demand is defined as the sum of demand for food for personal consumption and for other uses of food, like seed use, livestock feed, food manufacturing, and farm and market waste (postharvesting, transport and retail losses).The per capita demand for cereal and rice varies from one Mekong country to another (Table 3) (FAO 2005). This working paper presents a more detailed assessment of the paddy rice needs, because rice cultivation dominates agriculture for a number of physical, biological, social and economic reasons. Food demand in Pursat is estimated by multiplying the per capita rice demand with the population (p) at a particular point in time.   In 2004, the minimum milled rice demand in Pursat was estimated to be around 80,000 metric tons compared to over 88,000 metric tons reportedly produced the same year (WFP 2004). Using this information, the MK 16 team made a simple assessment of future rice demand in Pursat. Assuming that food demand increases proportionally to population growth, projections for rice demand can be estimated using the same growth rates as population increase. Figure 4 presents the growth in rice demand based on the growth rates for Population Scenario 1Hatfield Natural Resources Pressures in Pursat Catchment (constant natural increase rate of 0.77%), Population Scenario 2 (UN natural increase rate and out-migration), and Population Scenario 3 (constant growth rate 1.54%). Assuming the 2004 rice productivity level in Pursat (80,000 metric tons), Figure 4 below illustrates that Pursat can produce enough rice to feed its population (rice sufficiency) until 2020 or 2025. After this, the total white rice demand in Pursat will increase by 43% to 45%, up to around 100,000 tons by 2050 (Scenarios 1 and 2). If Pursat population grows at the national rate of 1.54% (Scenario 3), the rice demand will more than double the 2004 level and exceed the current production level well before 2015.Projections of Rice Demand in Pursat Based on Population Scenarios.The World Food Program (WFP 2004) reports that the incidence of malnutrition persists in the Mekong river basin due to imbalanced distribution of food. Other studies corroborate this finding, adding that malnutrition may occur from an insufficient cash income (or its equivalent in kind) to purchase rice, rather than an absolute lack of food (Pech and Sunada 2008).At the provincial level, overall rice production in 2004 exceeded the minimum rice needs of the population; however, only 73% of the communes in Pursat produced enough rice to meet their minimum food needs, while 27% were not able to meet their minimum requirements (WFP 2004). Small-holder farmers (possessing land holdings between 0.1-< 1.0 ha) were only able to produce enough rice to meet 74% of their minimum rice consumption needs. Furthermore, landless households, who do not produce rice at all, must meet their demands by renting or sharing crop/rice land, bartering, fishing, selling non-timber products, or finding employment in the province or other places in the country or overseas (WFP 2004).Food insecurity is also caused by the vulnerability of rural people to various natural and socio-economic shocks and stresses (economic crises, political turmoil, and floods, droughts, and other natural disasters), which can reduce their food supply or access. Substantial agro-ecological risks also exist, including damage or destruction to crop production, livestock morbidity and mortality, and changes to common property such as fisheries and forest resources; in 2004, 15% of wet season cultivated area was destroyed, mainly as a result of drought (WFP 2004).The change in age structure (greater proportion of people over 15 years) in Cambodia and Pursat accounts for 7% of the expected increase in food requirements (Davis 2003). Urbanization, too, can result in requirements for larger quantities of food and more dietary variety as incomes rise. Figure 4 is a simplified interpretation of the impact of demographic changes on food demand; it serves to urge the policy-makers and planners in Cambodia and Pursat to consider the importance of proper planning for, and close monitoring of, demographic change. The projections also illustrate the importance of planning on how to maximize agricultural production. These results were presented at the 2 nd multi-stakeholder platform (MSP) session (September 10-11, 2013) -organized by the MK 16 project to convene key stakeholders in Stung Pursat -to generate meaningful discussion on this topic.The relationship between demographic factors, mediating forces and deforestation is complex and not fully understood in Cambodia, especially in Pursat. As seen in Figure 5, the analysis of long-term population trends (United Nations 2005) and cropping-area changes in all Mekong countries during the past four decades  does not reveal a correlation between population growth and land-use change (ADB 2000;Pech and Sunada 2006). This suggests that agriculture expansion to meet a growing population is just one of the key causes of deforestation. Other factors include logging (illegal and legal), domestic and international market demand, infrastructure development, fuel-wood collection, and human settlement (ADB 2000;Pech and Sunada 2006). There are other factors that underlie deforestation as shown in Figure 6, including: institutional and policy changes (ban on logging combined with poor enforcement); lack of alternative energy supplies; poverty; small-area landholding; demographic changes and migration; and threats posed to arable lands by land mines and unexploded ordnance (UXO).There are many opportunities and challenges facing food production in Pursat. Opportunities include the potential to increase irrigated land area, increase dry season rice production, diversify crops, increase nonagricultural income generation opportunities, and improve trade. On the other hand, challenges for food production stem from environmental constraints -like dry season water shortage, natural disasters, and soil availability and quality -and ineffective planning and resource governance  Studies point out the major influence of land and water productivity on overall food production. Papademetriou et al. ( 2000) applied a Crop Area Production Model to evaluate crop area demands by taking into account not only food demand and population change, but also levels of land and water productivity.In 2008, land allotted for paddy rice cultivation was 66,582 ha (CNMC 2012). The MK 16 team estimated the increase in crop area demand for rice cultivation based on population changes and agriculture yield, defined in the scenarios below: Scenario 1+: Population growth rate specified in Scenario 1 (0.77%) and the annual yield growth rate is 1.20%; Scenario 2+:Population growth rate specified in Scenario 2 and the annual yield growth rate is 1.20%; Scenario 3: Population growth specified in Scenario 1 and constant yield at 1612 kg/ha; and  Scenario 3-2: Population growth rate specified in Scenario 3 and constant yield at 1612 kg/ha.Figure 7 shows the increase in crop area demand in Pursat based on these scenarios. In a moderate Scenario 1+, demand for harvested area in Pursat will increase to around 60,000 ha by 2050 (an increase of 22%). In an extreme Scenario 3-1, demand for harvested area will exceed the reported land area suitable for paddy rice production by 2020. This scenario also predicts that by 2050, an additional 31,000 ha (32% increase compared to 2008 figure) will be required to produce the amount of rice needed for domestic consumption alone.Projected increase in paddy field area in Pursat as compared against reported paddy area in 2008.Rice expansion is constrained by the availability of appropriate land. Figure 8 shows the distribution of land in Stung Pursat. Whereas the total land area of the catchment is around 595,449 ha, only 13% of the land in Stung Pursat is considered arable (land suitable for agriculture, including areas cultivated for rice, annual crops, perennial crops, and village garden crops) (CNMC 2012).  Major Land Use and Ecosystems in Stung Pursat (CNMC 2012).Pursat has some potential for paddy area expansion and production intensification. However, more substantial investments in affordable and reliable irrigation, extension services, transport infrastructure, and market access are required in order to meet Pursat's growing needs.A number of other factors can influence the land area required for agricultural growth, including agricultural practices, climate variability and change, ecological constraints, remoteness, poor soil quality, land titling issues, water access, zoning laws/ limits (for economic and social concessions and infrastructure development), and human habitation (CNMC 2012;Pech and Sunada 2006). About 75% of the Stung Pursat catchment is covered by mountains and hilly areas with a land elevation of 30 m or more; these conditions may not be suitable for paddy rice production (Ashwell et al. 2011).Barren land occupies about 6.2% of the total Stung Pursat land area. More than 99% of barren land consists of infertile soil, while rock-outcrop, saline soil, and sand bank round up the remaining portion (CNMC 2012). Therefore Pursat's potential for agricultural expansion is low in barren land.  There are few studies about the quality and quantity of forests, while the existing ones contain different definitions of forest and vegetation types. Even less work exists on the rate of forest decline and degradation, which makes it extremely challenging to quantitatively assess future trends in forest cover (Lang Ch 2001;ADB 2000;MRC 2003). According to JICA (2011), evergreen forest covers over 238,478 ha of the land area in Stung Pursat. However, some forest areas and vegetation covers within the catchment have been awarded to large-scale agricultural and mining resource exploration and economic land concessions.The Land/Forest-use and Trends Analysis report prepared as part of the \"Fostering evidence-based IWRM in the Stung Pursat Catchment (Tonle Sap Great Lake), Cambodia project\" discusses some of the trends, causes and consequences of land use changes in Pursat. This report provides Landsat images of five locations along the Stung Pursat in 1993Pursat in , 2003Pursat in and 2013   According to the CNMC study (2012), the total area of land concessions in Pursat catchment is 143,509 ha. Amongst those catchments surrounding the Tonle Sap Basin, Pursat is second in terms of total area awarded to land concessions, as highlighted in Figure 11.The pressures on land from population change and other factors are important to consider for planning and development work. The information presented here was also presented at the 2 nd MSP session in Pursat. Compared to other river basins around the world in term of actual renewable water resources per capita, Cambodia is not yet experiencing water stress.According to the World Resource Institute, a basin reaches \"water stress\" when per capita water supply is less than 1,700m 3 /year (Revenga 2000). Cambodia's per capita water availability was about 8,374 m 3 /year in 2000 (World Resource Institute 2006).Theoretically, an average flow of 2,818 MCM/each year in Stung Pursat can serve the water requirements for all of Pursat (CNMC 2012 andJICA 2011). Based on population scenarios defined in Section 2.2, the MK 16 team estimated long-term trends in per capita water availability (Figure 12). As apparent from the figure below, Stung Pursat's per capita water availability for 2008 was similar to the average national per capita water availability (over 6,650 m 3 /year). For Scenario 3 (constant population growth at the national average rate), Pursat will come closer to a \"water stress\" situation when per capita water supply reaches approximately 3,400 m 3 /year.  The situation depicted in Figure 12 does not take into account the variation in the distribution and access to water in Pursat. Several issues of concern exist, including: Water shortages exist in downstream parts of the catchment and high turbidity during dry season, especially during drier years for most downstream stretches; Most parts of the catchment experience floods and drought; and  Intensification of competition for resources within and across the catchments (1 st MSP, January 24-25, 2013).Water issues are closely related to the unequal spatial and temporal distribution of flow. The issues are likely to intensify or escalate further in the future as population and water use/diversion increases in Pursat.Many large-scale economic activities are at various stages of planning and development in the Stung Pursat. Development and operation of major hydropower, infrastructure, and increased irrigation systems and water diversions exert numerous positive and negative impacts on the communities and natural resources.This section examines the scope for balancing water availability and demand for water for food production under different assumptions about demographic trends and related food demand in the Stung Pursat. We attempt to describe the irrigated agriculture water demand and its likely impacts on hydrological changes. Focus on irrigation water demand for paddy production is kept, because rice is the most  water-intensive crop and will remain the stable food source for most of the population -rich or poor -in the Mekong River Basin (FAO 2005).At present, agriculture across the basin consists mainly of subsistence production. Gradually, however, commercialized agriculture production and an increased dependence on market inputs, such as fertilizers and pesticides, machinery and advanced seed varieties, can be expected. Agricultural expansion and intensification, especially for dry season irrigation, will mean higher demand for water (CNMC 2012).Understanding actual irrigation water use is difficult, given the gaps in required data. An estimate can be made based on water requirements for producing a certain quantity of food (called water unit requirements). This includes not only the blue water (irrigation water withdrawal), but also water from soil moisture. Estimated irrigation water demand is based on the projected growth in food demand due to population growth, divided by the assumed water unit requirement for producing a kilogram of paddy rice or irrigate one hectare of paddy field during different cropping seasons (Papademetrieu 2000).Table 5 lists the irrigation water demand for an average production of 1 kg of paddy rice or equivalent, using current irrigation techniques, and based on crop yield in 2000 for various Mekong countries. This water and rice production ratio is modest compared to our findings 3 . In this study, we use the average water demand of 4.7 m 3 /kg of paddy.In 2000, irrigated agriculture use accounted for around 16% of the annual average discharge of 2,818 million MCM (JICA 2011). This number agreed with the Mekong River Commission (MRC) study that estimated approximately 80-90% of the total water abstraction for irrigation from the Mekong River is two forms: blue water -receding flood water storage, diversions from streams and from ground water sources; and, water from precipitation (soil moisture) (BDP 2003).Figure 13 presents the projected irrigation water demand in Stung Pursat calculated by the Mk 16 team. The figure shows that in Population Scenario 3, the irrigation water use will account for significant annual discharge of the Stung Pursat by 2030 and 2050.Projected Total Irrigation Water Demand in Stung Pursat.However, this figure neglects the uneven distribution of water flow over time (wet and dry seasons, wet years and dry years, critical dry months, etc.) and space (upstream, downstream, location near or far from water sources, etc.). There are severe fluctuations between: flow in wet and dry seasons; flow in wet and dry years; water quality and suitability for beneficial water use; and, water availability in one geographic area or another. In addition, a portion of total runoff needs to be retained for other uses, like for aesthetic/recreational and ecological purpose (Revenga 2000). Demands for other water uses, such as domestic water supply and sanitation and industry will also increase in the coming years.During dry years, the need for irrigation is especially important. Withdrawal of water by upstream communities and other catchments will decrease water availability in downstream communities, especially in critical dry season months.There is a need for proper maintenance and release of the flow from upstream, flow regulation and storage, and optimization of dry season irrigation (through raising water productivity, increased utilization of less water-consumptive crop types, adapting cropping calendars, etc.). All these initiatives will require stronger cooperation for water and benefit-sharing and securing flow.Cambodia's national strategic development objectives include alleviation of those experiencing poverty, economic growth, and development of water and waterrelated resources, amongst many others (NDSP 2009(NDSP -2013)). A number of largescale development projects are at various stages of planning in the Mekong Sub- region. This warrants a closer look at the demands and valuations (benefit and cost) for key water-related economic activities such as irrigated agriculture, hydropower, fisheries, wetlands, flood mitigation, navigation, tourism, and municipal and industrial water supply.Figure 14 takes into account the acceleration in food and energy production (water-based), which is required not only for meeting growing domestic needs, but also for meeting growing export targets for economic development.  Assessing cumulative effects is an approach which allows for the impacts of several policies, plans, programmes or projects to be assessed in a systematic manner. Individual developments on their own are perhaps insignificant in terms of impacts, but when they are considered in conjunction with impacts from other developments in past, present and future scenarios, this may result in significant incremental effects. It is important to focus on the effects -individual or cumulative -on water levels, flows and other characteristics at different downstream stretches of the river mainstream due to hydropower development, expansion of agricultural irrigation, and water diversions.The activities and developments examined in this study are those that are of most relevance/concern to the sustainable development and protection of the water and related resources of the Stung Pursat. Based on the hydrology of the Stung Pursat, where water demand is higher in the dry season and water availability is far below the average flow, it is important to adopt approaches in assessing water demands and availability at time-scales more refined than annually (monthly) and at key locations of the river.The Water Demand Analysis within Pursat river catchment report, prepared for the MK 16 project, assesses the impacts of existing and planned hydropower and irrigation expansion projects in Stung Pursat catchment. Figure 15 presents a flow chart for the main developments in the Stung Pursat catchment.In the Water Demand Analysis within Pursat river catchment report report, water balance calculations were conducted using two water development scenarios: Dam scenario: In 20-years, all simulated flows were used directly as input flows to the three dams -Dam 1, Dam 3, and Dam 5 -and the computed outflows from the dams were used as input flows to the systems. Whereas Dam 1 is in the planning stages and will provide hydropower only, Dams 3 and 5 are multi-purpose and have been under construction since 2010. Natural scenario: In 20-years, all simulated flows were treated as natural flows. The three dams existing and planned dams described below were excluded.The Water Demand Analysis within Pursat river catchment report used information related to: Water demands for irrigation and other purposes; River runoff taking into account the three dam development projects (dams No. 1, 3, and 5, which are all in existence or planned); Available water used by existing and planned water resources facilities and irrigation systems in the basin; and  Areas defined as vulnerable and prone to flooding.Water resources development in the Stung Pursat Catchment (JICA 2011).Results from the water balance simulation revealed that water supply under natural flow conditions (i.e., absence of Dams No. 1, 3, and 5) would support 55,509 ha of irrigation schemes in the Stung Pursat. In this scenario, flow would not support additional irrigation schemes in the neighboring catchments of the Svay Donkeo and Beung Khnar rivers. When Dams No. 1, 3, and 5 were introduced in the simulations the additional water stored in these impoundments would be sufficient to support all existing and planned irrigation schemes in the Stung Pursat, Beung Khnar, and Svay Donkeo catchments.In the Stung Pursat, floods are an annual phenomenon. Flood season in both the mainstream and tributaries is between June or July and Oct or Nov, during which 85-90% of total annual water volume flows through the rivers. Although providing many benefits, abnormal floods can cause severe damage to the economy, people's lives and their livelihoods. In recent years, abnormal flooding occurs at a higher frequency and its devastating effects are greater. The risk of devastating floods is on the rise, due to both man-made and natural causes. At the same time, environmental benefits from floods are better understood and documented, particularly in terms of environmental conservation, fisheries and other natural resources (Pech, 2003).Fish and rice are essential elements in food security for Cambodia and the Mekong region. The Tonle Sap Basin (TSB) supports one of the most productive freshwater fisheries in the world, with annual yields of 230,000 metric tons (1995)(1996), equivalent to about 60% of the country's total annual fish catches (Van Zalinge, 2002) Over 500 fish species have been described for the Mekong system in Cambodia, and about 200 species are reported to be found in the TSB (Pech et al., 2008) Some of the species found in the Tonle Sap Great Lake remain there permanently, while many other species use the Great Lake and its floodplains only temporarily and migrate back to the Mekong River at the end of the rainy season. From over 200 fish species in the TSB, only about 10 of them dominate the annual fish catches (Van Zalinge et al., 2003 andVan Zalinge, 2002). The photos below (Figure 16) show some examples of different fisheries resources in Pursat.Fisheries in Pursat Province.(From left): snake head representing \"black fish species\"; # 2 and 4: Trey Real (also known for Cambodian currency) the main migratory fish species, and # 3: \"white fish species\" (Pech et al. 2008) The fisheries resources available to villagers in Pursat are dependent upon the local topography -mainly in the floodplain from the main road (National Road 5) down towards the Tonle Sap Lake. There have been numerous debates about whether current fisheries resources will be enough to meet the growing demand for affordable protein and income generation. by 28 to 48% depending on the population growth scenarios applied (Population Scenarios 1, 2, or 3). The substantial reduction in this highly affordable source of animal protein would have drastic effects on low-income and subsistence populations. While aquaculture is expected to make up for some of this shortfall, aquaculture development is limited by available technology and extension services, financial constraints, and environmental issues. For example, expansion of aquaculture can contribute to environmental degradation when mangroves are cleared for pond systems, as is currently the case in the Mekong Delta (CEMARE, 2002). From a food security perspective, and given the high dependency of large numbers of people on aquatic resources for their livelihoods, declining fish availability per capita is likely to have a severe impact on the poorest households. Figure 18 illustrates some of the many factors influencing fish stocks in the Mekong. According to various studies (Baran 2005;Sarkkula & Koponen 2003;Ian et al. 2003), the high productivity level of Mekong fisheries depends on a combination of different factors, including: Hydrology (water level and quality, flood duration and extent, flood timing and natural fluctuation); Habitat (type of inundated forest/vegetable, land cover, dry season refuge and turbidity); Biology (fish migration route/access); and Fishing practices and management.Among the threats that can be listed are (Pech and Sunada 2006): The destruction of spawning grounds or dry-season refuges by habitat alterations (for example, river bed blasting, dredging, removal of rapids or siltation, and removal/alteration of vegetation); The construction of dams, weirs or diversions, which act as physical barriers to fish migrations, and substantially affect natural flow patterns and flood extent; and  Changes in the quantity and quality of water available for sensitive habitats and the timing of hydrological events, and pollution from industry, agriculture and urban development (Pech & Sunada 2006). A study by World Fish Center and Fisheries Administration (FiA) (Arthur et al. 2006) found that Pursat was the site of many proposed developments, including irrigation canals, roads and construction projects that intend to divert or retain water. These developments could have significant hydrological effects on natural river systems.However, the hydrological regime is the most important mechanism affecting fish ecology and productivity (Baran 2005;Pech et al. 2008). Evidence underlines the importance of a cross-sectoral and cross-boundary management of the fishery and other sectors both in Cambodia and other riparian countries. Any river basin development measures that would substantially lower or even delay annual flooding will have negative impacts on the TSB and MRB fish production (Pech & Sunada 2006).Pursat has sizable water and related resources to support current livelihood needs and economic development. Anticipated demographic changes in Pursat will create opportunities and challenges for the province in meeting the rising water and food demands from various stakeholders. The role of policy makers and institutions is critical in allocating water fairly and adequately in the province to achieve food and water security. In doing so, the factors presented in Table 6 are important to consider.Important considerations for policy making in Pursat Province, Cambodia.Demographic change in Pursat is creating challenges related to meeting greater resource demands, as well as solutions (e.g., increasing youth demographic, increasing human resources available to address issues). Policies can help in capitalizing on the opportunities resulting from predicted population dynamics in Pursat.Socio-economic factors (income, land possession) that distribute risks of water and food security Unequal resource distribution and lack of affordability experienced by some low-income groups prevent them from meeting basic livelihood needs, not necessarily and as clearly defined as a lack of food. Policy makers must identify and address the needs of vulnerable community members.Climate change, variation and natural disasters are contributing to temporal and spatial changes in water availability in Pursat and in the country. These changes must be studied in more detail, and their impacts factored into decision-making regarding development and use of water resources.Due to population growth, demand for food, land, water, and fisheries will increase in the Pursat catchment. Demographic change can be managed by resource policies that meet the demands of the growing population in an ecologically sustainable manner.Hatfield Natural Resources Pressures in Pursat Catchment Temporal and spatial variation in water availability throughout the province Seasonal (temporal) and spatial changes in water availability affect livelihoods in Pursat. For example, in the dry season, downstream communities are greatly affected by alterations in the flow of water upstream. Water allocation policies must consider the inter-dependencies and the potential conflicts among the downstream and upstream water communities. This study also recommends that modeling of water flow during dry season (and other critical periods) should be conducted covering water storage, diversion and release to plan for water allocation along certain stretches of the Pursat.Changes in land use and the limits of arable land expansion Since 2000, land-use change in Pursat has been considerable (Land Use and Trends Analysis report). Furthermore, factors like remoteness, poor soil quality, land title issues, distance from water access and markets, infrastructure expansion, and industrial land concessions constrain the area of land that is available for agricultural expansion. A study of land suitability, irrigation viability (cost and access), and market price and access should be completed in order to guide policy makers. This study found that Pursat will have to increase paddy production and develop an effective food security policy to meet future predicted population growth. While there is potential for paddy area expansion and intensification, substantial investment in affordable and reliable irrigation, extension services, transport infrastructure and market access is needed.Hatfield Natural Resources Pressures in Pursat CatchmentWe trust the above information meets your requirements. If you have any questions or comments, please contact the undersigned.Approved by: December 19, 2013 "}

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+{"metadata":{"gardian_id":"63d33633778d6a78b3e9648ed3db205b","source":"gardian_index","url":"https://cgspace.cgiar.org/rest/bitstreams/09935bab-185e-44b2-b740-d1da23694fb4/retrieve","id":"-1910422892"},"keywords":["Afrique du Sud","Allemagne","Australie","Autriche","Belgique","Brésil","Bulgarie","Canada","Chine","Croatie","Chypre","Danemark","Espagne","Estonie","Etats-Unis","Finlande","France","Grèce","Hongrie","Inde","Irlande","Islande","Israël","Italie","Japon","Lettonie","Lituanie","Luxembourg","Macédoine (R.F.Y.)","Malte","Mexique","Norvège","Pays Bas","Pérou","Philippines","Pologne","Portugal","R.F. Yougoslavie (Serbie et Monténégro)","République de Corée","République Tchèque","Roumanie","Royaume-Uni","Slovaquie","Slovénie","Suède"],"sieverID":"09e55e8b-88d3-4c36-aaab-035df32dec88","content":"Réseau de recherches sur Musa en Afrique Centrale et de l'Ouest (MUSACO) 5 ème réunion du Comité de Pilotage Rapport de synthèse Cotonou, Bénin 11-12 février 2002 Edité par Ekow Akyeampong L'INIBAP est un programme de l'Institut international des ressources phytogénétiques (IPGRI), un centre \"Future Harvest\"L'IPGRI est un organisme scientifique autonome à caractère international fonctionnant sous l'égide du Groupe consultatif pour la recherche agricole internationale (GCRAI). Le mandat de l'IPGRI consiste à promouvoir la conservation et l'utilisation des ressources phytogénétiques au profit des générations actuelles et futures. Il fonctionne sur la base de trois programmes : (1) le programme des ressources phytogénétiques, (2) le programme des ressources génétiques du GCRAI (3) et le Réseau international pour l'amélioration de la banane et de la banane plantain (INIBAP). Le statut international a été conféré à l'IPGRI au titre d'un accord d'établissement qui, en janvier 2000, a été signé par les gouvernement des pays suivants: Algérie,MUSACO (Réseau Musa pour l'Afrique centrale et occidentale), qui opère sous les auspices du CORAF (Conseil ouest et centrafricain pour la recherche et le développement), a été crée en 1997 par les Systèmes nationaux de recherche agricole du Cameroun, de la Côte d'Ivoire, du Gabon, du Ghana, de la Guinée, du Nigeria, de la République Centrafricaine, de la République démocratique du Congo et du Sénégal et des représentants de l'Institut international d'agriculture tropicale (IITA), du Centre africain de recherches sur bananiers et plantains (CARBAP) et du réseau international pour l'amélioration de la banane et de la banane plantain (INIBAP) La 5ème réunion annuelle du Comité de pilotage du Réseau de recherches sur Musa en Afrique Centrale et de l'Ouest (MUSACO) s'est tenue du 11 au 12 février 2002, s'est tenue dans la salle des conférences de l'IITA-Bénin. Y ont participé les représentants du Bénin, Cameroun, Congo, Côte d'Ivoire, Gabon, République Démocratique du Congo, Ghana, Guinée et Sierra Leone. Les représentants du CARBAP, de l'IITA et de l'INIBAP étaient également présents. Le Togo a été officiellement accueilli comme membre de MUSACO, le treizième. Le SNRA du Togo sera représenté par M. Dogbe Sélome, Directeur du Centre de recherche agronomique, zone forestière de l'Institut togolais de recherche agronomique (CRAF-ITRA). La liste des participants se trouve en annexe.Après l'ouverture de la réunion par Mme Adèle Sambo, Présidente du Réseau, des allocutions ont été prononcées par le Dr. Tamo représentant le Directeur de l'IITA-Benin, Dr. J.V. Escalant représentant le Directeur de l'INIBAP, M. le Directeur du Centre de Recherches Agricoles du Sud Bénin, Dr. Kodjo Tomekpe, Directeur du CARBAP et M. David Arondokoun, Directeur scientifique de l'INRAB, représentant le Directeur Général empêché.Le rapport ayant été préalablement envoyé pour amendements à tous les membres du réseau (deux mois avant la tenue de la 5 ème réunion), l'adoption du rapport de la 4 ème réunion du Comité de pilotage a surtout consisté à la vérification de l'exécution de chaque recommandation. Recommandation 4 : Enquête sur les données de base sur les bananiers et plantains Tous les pays ont recueilli les données secondaires disponibles. Un rapport sur ce sujet a été rédigé par un jeune professionnel de la FAO embauché en appui à la coordination régionale de l'INIBAP. MUSACO attend le rapport final de cette étude. MUSACO, par le biais de l'INIBAP, recherche des financements pour entreprendre et finaliser les enquêtes sur les données primaires.Recommandation 5 : Envoi de la liste des chercheurs pouvant participer aux différents groupes de travail de PROMUSA à M. Adiko, représentant de MUSACO dans PROMUSA Seuls le Bénin, la Côte d'Ivoire, le Gabon et le Ghana se sont acquittés de cette tâche. Les autres pays sont invités à envoyer le nom des participants aux différents groupes de travail, et chaque chercheur est invité à actualiser son adresse électronique pour les informations à venir.Recommandation 6 : Vulgarisation des actions de MUSACO dans Coraf Action Ceci n'a pas encore eu lieu, mais une note sera préparée sur le cours de formation qui a eu lieu à Njombé en décembre 2001 et envoyée à Coraf Action pour diffusion.Des discussions supplémentaires ont eu lieu sur les sujets soulevés pendant la réunion d'Accra tels que :Projet régional sur la lutte intégrée contre les ravageurs (IPM) soumis au FIDA: Ce projet conjoint IITA-INIBAP n'est pas beaucoup avancé à cause du manque de fonds correspondants dont le FIDA a besoin pour ce genre de projets.Projets soumis au CORAF Les huit initiatives de projets n'ont toujours pas reçu de suite Bourses d'études de l'IITA Les membres ont été informés que M. Ben Banful, ex représentant du Ghana au comité de pilotage de MUSACO a reçu une bourse de l'IITA pour un Doctorat.Après ces discussions, le rapport de la réunion d'Accra a été adopté à l'unanimité.Ci-dessous sont brièvement listées les nouvelles activités qui ont cours dans chaque pays.-Les pépinières et les parcelles de démonstration ont été établies dans quatre districts et sont programmées pour quatre autres districts. -Caractérisation du matériel végétal local.-Les projets de recherche à moyen terme sont en cours d'exécution -Des hybrides de l'IITA et du CARBAP sont actuellement distribués aux agriculteurs -Relance de la culture de banane en Guinée Littoral et plantain en Guinée Forestière : Les pépinières seront établies pour produire du matériel végétal sain qui sera distribué aux paysans.-Introduction de la culture in vitro dans le Laboratoire Central de Biotechnologies : 116 accessions actuellement en culture. -Pratylenchus sp. semble avoir remplacé Radopholus comme principal nématode de Musa.L'équipe programme des études pour comprendre pourquoi. -La technologie haute densité de plantation sera testée en accord avec les conditions ivoiriennes, dans un essai en champ avec l'ANADER. -Trace Nutrient Fertiliser (TNF) a été reçu d'un fabricant basé en Hollande. TNF est censé contrôler la cercosporiose noire et les nématodes.-Forte collaboration entre Crops Research Institute (CRI) et l'Université.-Travaux en cours sur l'amélioration variétale.-Utilisation du lait de coco dans la culture in vitro.-Evaluation post-récolte.-Projet périurbain financé et en cours d'exécution.-Sevrage des vitroplants reçus du laboratoire Du Roi.-Mise en place à l'IRAF d'un Laboratoire de Biologie Végétale avec Unité de Vitroculture.-Recherches sur les nématodes du bananier en collaboration avec le CARBAP.-Cartographie de l'épidémie de BBTV et appui à son éradication (projet commun avec le Congo).-Projet péri-urbain financé par le Ministère des Affaires Etrangères (MAE, France) et en cours d'exécution. -Fourniture d'une enquête/diagnostic effectuée au niveau des ménages.LeTogo prenant part pour la première fois à la réunion, le représentant togolais a présenté l'état de la recherche sur les bananiers et bananiers plantain dans son pays. La culture bananière se pratique dans la zone café/cacao et sert d'ombrage pour les cultures de rente. La problématique de la mise en place de cette culture repose sur deux questions : 1) Quels types de bananiers et bananiers plantain faut-il cultiver pour faire ombrage au café/cacao et barrer la route aux nématodes du caféier, et 2) Comment avoir des semences de bonne qualité. Le programme a une collection de 32 accessions dont plusieurs proviennent du Ghana.Les rapports du Congo et de la République Démocratique du Congo n'ont pas été présentés, leurs représentants n'étant pas encore arrivés.Toutes ces informations ont donné lieu à une discussion et à des recommandations dont les points principaux sont les suivants:Par rapport à la fertilité de certaines accessions reçues du CARBAP ou de l'IITA (en particulier le 'Cachaco' qui est fertile mais n'a pas de graines au 1 er cycle et '4479-1', hybride tétraploïde), il a été rappelé à l'assemblée que l'apomixie est un phénomène important chez les bananiers plantain.Le responsable du programme à l'IITA a informé l'assistance que cet institut international a l'intention de se tourner vers la création d'hybrides triploïdes, pour s'affranchir des problèmes créés par les tétraploïdes. Cette ligne de conduite a déjà été adoptée par le CARBAP.Par rapport à la pression parasitaire, contrairement à ce que pensent les chercheurs du Togo, plusieurs études montrent que le nématode du bananier et du bananier plantain n'est plus uniquement Radopholus similis. Le glissement dans plusieurs pays s'est fait en faveur de Pratylenchus coffeae. Quelle en est la cause ? Le problème doit être étudié car jusqu'alors R. similis était considéré comme LE nématode du bananier et du bananier plantain dans cette région d'Afrique.Afin de répondre à ce problème l'IITA met une bourse à la disposition d'un chercheur (doctorant) en collaboration avec la Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (KULeuven).Il faut réactualiser toutes les bases de données sur les nématodes en Afrique du Centre et de l'Ouest, en mettant par exemple en place des enquêtes avec l'appui de l'INIBAP, dans les pays membres du réseau, afin de savoir si les espèces de nématodes dans les différents pays sont toujours les mêmes.Les représentants de la Sierra Leone et de la Côte d'Ivoire ont présenté une mise à jour des essais d'évaluation de matériel génétique qui ont lieu dans leurs pays, pendant que ceux du Ghana et du Bénin faisaient le rapport du projet péri-urbain.Sierra Leone : Les plants sont encore en phase végétative. Avant même d'avoir vu de quoi les régimes ont l'air ou d'avoir goûté les fruits, la curiosité pour les variétés FHIA a conduit les gens à dérober quelques jeunes plants.Parmi les bananiers en cours d'évaluation en Côte d'Ivoire, 'FHIA-23' est le plus productif, mais aussi le plus long à produire les fruits à maturité. La pression d'inoculum de la cercosporiose noire était si élevée qu'à la récolte, 'Orishele', la variété de plantain susceptible n'avait pratiquement aucune feuille fonctionnelle. Par conséquent, le poids des régimes d'Orishele' étaient faible.Ghana : Le projet péri-urbain n'a pas véritablement démarré, l'Institut qui était censé fournir le matériel végétal n'ayant pu le faire. Le matériel importé d'Afrique du Sud a été sevré et sera délivré aux agriculteurs en début de saison de pluies.Bénin : Le projet péri-urbain fait de bons progrès dans ce pays. La survie des plants au sevrage a été de 89%. Une enquête sur la production péri-urbaine a révélé que 56% d'agriculteurs de Musa cultivent le plantain. La taille moyenne des parcelles est de 0.8 ha. Le manque de matériel végétal est un frein à l'expansion de la production.Quelques remarques et questions ont suivi ces quatre exposés. Concernant le fait que l'évaluation IPM de la Côte d'Ivoire fait une comparaison de 'CRBP-39' avec 'FHIA-23' alors qu'il aurait pu la faire avec 'Orishele', réponse a été donnée que les bananes n'étaient pas comparées avec les plantains. C'est la réaction de l'hybride en rapport avec 'Orishele', variété susceptible, qui était comparée.Il a été confirmé que les tests des consommateurs sont actuellement conduits en Côte d'Ivoire. Les résultats ne sont pas encore disponibles.Toujours à propos de l'évaluation IPM, certains participants ont regretté que les méthodologies d'évaluation utilisées ne soient pas identiques. Il a été indiqué que, selon les objectifs du projet, les données recueillies n'étaient pas toujours les mêmes. Cependant l'assistance a unanimement souhaité qu'une harmonisation dans les évaluations ait lieu pour que ce soit toujours la même chose qui soit évaluée.Un participant a exprimé l'espoir qu'à la fin des essais d'évaluation, les experts se rencontrent pour discuter les résultats de tous les pays.Après une brève présentation du CARBAP, le Directeur M. Kodjo Tomekpe a donné quelques explications sur le devenir financier de son institution. En bref, depuis le 1 er novembre 2001, le CARBAP fonctionne sur fonds STABEX qui sera relayé par le 8 ème FED sur 3 à 4 ans. En avril 2002, Il y aura une évaluation scientifique et institutionnelle par un audit extérieur à la suite de quoi le 8ème FED sera débloqué si le rapport de l'audit est positif. En juin 2002, un forum des partenaires (bailleurs de fonds, centres internationaux de recherche agricole, instituts avancés de recherche, etc.) sera organisé pour la mise en place des nouveaux organes préconisés par l'audit.Le CARBAP a présenté six exposés qui ont fait le tour des axes et programmes de recherche de cette institution:Des enquêtes de diagnostic ont été conduites pour identifier les contraintes. Les activités de recherche sont menées dans trois domaines : production, caractérisation et évaluation des bananiers plantain et bananiers, pratiques culturales améliorées et collecte de données à partir des observatoires permanents dans les champs des paysans. Les réalisations comprennent le développement des techniques de multiplication in vivo en vue de la production d'importantes quantités de matériel végétal sain. Des études ont été menées sur la culture associée et les rotations. Les observatoires sont régulièrement examinés pour obtenir l'information sur ce que les agriculteurs font et pourquoi.Les trois maladies des Musa en cours d'étude sont la cercosporiose noire, la maladie du bout de cigare (cigar rot) et cylindrocladium. Font partie des activités entreprises dans ce programme la caractérisation de la résistance/tolérance génétique et la création des nouveaux hybrides résistants à la cercosporiose noire. La durabilité de la résistance des hybrides est en cours d'étude ainsi que la structure des populations naturelles des pathogènes. Le contrôle de la cercosporiose est développé pour la subsistance des systèmes (de culture) intensif et extensif. Les méthodes culturales de contrôle des maladies, y compris l'assainissement du matériel végétal, sont en cours d'étude.Les travaux sur les nématodes (R. similis, P. goodeyi, Helicotylenchus et Meloidygyne spp.) et les charançons (Cosmopolites sordidus) sont en cours. Des systèmes de jachère et de rotation (usage d'Amaranthus et patates douces) en vue du contrôle des nématodes ont été développés. Les sources de la résistance génétique aux nématodes ont été identifiées et l'usage de mycorrhiza pour contrôler les nématodes est en cours d'étude.Les études sur P. goodeyi sont programmées, aussi bien que celles sur la biodiversité de R. similis et P. goodeyi au Cameroun et dans la sous-région. Des investigations seront faites sur l'impact des nématodes sur les plantains au Gabon.Les méthodes de contrôle des charançons en cours de développement comprennent l'utilisation de biopesticides (neem), la lutte biologique (usage de Beauveria bassiana) et la résistance de la plante-hôte.Les technologies IPM telles que le parage (paring), le traitement à l'eau chaude, l'usage de matériel végétal sain et les cultures rompues ont été transférées à travers les Farmer field schools.La collection en champ du CARBAP est constituée de 133 plantains, 30 cultivars de bananes à cuire (AA) de Papouasie Nouvelle Guinée et 80 cultivars banane à cuire (ABB et AAA).Un hybride, CRBP-39, a été livré et est en train d'être largement testé. Quelques triploïdes secondaires ont été créés. Ils sont en cours de test en champ. Les hybrides courts et à rendement précoce sont en phase d'évaluation.Dans le cadre de la recherche sur la transformation des plantains et bananes, des «casse-croûte», formules pour bébés et farines ont été développés. En vue d'appuyer le travail de sélection du CARBAP, le programme détermine les caractéristiques physiques et chimiques et l'acceptabilité par le consommateur des fruits des hybrides nouvellement créés. Les études sur la manipulation post-récole du plantain pour l'exportation en Europe sont achevées.Les activités ont porté sur les études de marché, le diagnostics des facteurs limitants, la validation de certaines des technologies développées au Centre, le transfert des méthodes d'IPM et des technologies de multiplication des rejetons, ainsi que sur les analyses des déterminants de la diversité variétale.Dans ses exposés, l'IITA a mis l'accent sur la recherche participative, la lutte intégrée, l'amélioration variétale, et l'agronomie.Les évaluations participatives conduites à l'Est du Nigeria montrent que les agriculteurs ont préféré 'PITA-14', hybride IITA de type plantain à la variété locale 'Agbagba'. 'PITA-14' a apporté des rentrées financières plus importantes qu'Agbagba'. L'importance pour le paysan de participer à la parcelle sous la tutelle d'un chercheur a été soulignée.L'USAID finance un projet pilote dans lequel les hybrides développés au CARBAP, à l'IITA et à la FHIA sont évalués dans les champs des agriculteurs au Nigeria. L'on espère que, dans le cas de résultats positifs, le projet, actuellement exécuté par la FHIA, l'IITA et l'INIBAP, s'étendra aux autres pays d'Afrique de l'Ouest et du Centre.Amélioration variétale L'IITA continue de développer des plantains présentant une résistance ou une tolérance aux maladies, et dont les caractéristiques agronomiques telles que la précocité, la petite stature et l'enracinement sont bonnes.Trois rapports ont été présentés dans ce domaine. Au Sud Cameroun, le traitement à l'eau chaude a apporté un meilleur rendement, amélioré par la suite par l'application de fertilisants. Les rejetons traités à l'eau bouillante ont des rendements plus importants que ceux qui ont été enduits de cendre, ceux traités aux nématicides et ceux soumis au traitement à l'eau chaude (non bouillante). Les études sont en cours pour déterminer l'efficacité des plants traités aux anti-nématodes à l'instar de Flemingia planté entre les plantains.Les travaux de criblage révèlent que 13 hybrides de Musa ('PITA-14' inclus) ont montré une résistance potentielle à R. similis à Onne au Nigeria. D'autres méthodes de contrôle d'insectes et de maladies en cours d'étude comprennent l'usage des méthodes culturales (fertilité du sol, paillage, jachère), et du matériel végétal sain (traitement à l'eau chaude). Les dynamiques de population des insectes sont en cours d'études, de même que la distribution des espèces, la variabilité et l'agressivité génétiques. Au Sud-Ouest Cameroun, la variété et le fertilisant n'ont eu aucun effet visible sur les dégâts causés aux racines par les nématodes, mais le traitement à l'eau chaude a réduit de façon significative le dégâts causés aux racines de plantain.Réseau international pour l'amélioration de la banane et de la banane plantain (INIBAP) L'Organisation des Nations unies pour l'agriculture et l'alimentation forme une interface entre l'INIBAP et MUSACO en aidant à la collecte et l'échange d'information et au transfert des technologies. Elle a recruté un jeune professionnel pendant 11 mois, pour appuyer MUSACO dans la collecte de données de référence. Les résultats sont compilés dans un pré-rapport de synthèse sur les données secondaires de référence des pays membres de MUSACO, une liste actualisée des chercheurs sur les Musa, une note de synthèse sur les activités horticoles urbaines et périurbaines à Yaoundé et une initiative de projet sur deux pays membres de MUSACO.La FAO s'engage à assister deux pays de MUSACO dans la mise en forme de projets de valorisation de plantains par les petits producteurs (plantation avec matériel sain), aider au renforcement des capacités pour la propagation et la multiplication de matériel sain, soutenir les transferts de technologie. Elle est également prête à assister dans la collecte et la caractérisation de matériel génétique, l'acquisition de collection de base de matériel génétique hybride, le renforcement ou l'actualisation des laboratoires de culture in vitro et la mise en place de pépinières, la formation à la gestion des vitroplants, à l'indexation pour les virus, à la multiplication rapide dans le cadre de projets permettant de renforcer la production et le protocole de distribution en masse de matériel végétal.Les exposés des institutions ont été suivis de deux compte-rendus sur la formation à la gestion des vitroplants, et le voyage d'étude de quelques membres de MUSACO en Amérique latine.En décembre 2001, les scientifiques et les techniciens de tous les pays francophones membres de MUSACO (à l'exception du Sénégal et de la RCA) ont assisté à une semaine de cours de formation sur la manipulation post-laboratoire des vitroplants et sur la multiplication rapide du matériel végétal de Musa. Le cours a eu lieu au CARBAP à Njombé au Cameroun. Ce cours répondait à une demande exprimée par les membres du Comité de pilotage pendant la réunion d'Accra en 2001.Dix scientifiques, agriculteurs et vulgarisateurs de l'Afrique de l'Ouest et du Centre se sont rendus en République Dominicaine et au Costa Rica en vue d'étudier les technologies de production de plantain en plantation à haute densité qui y sont utilisées. Le plantain 'False Horn ('Faux corne') est géré comme une culture annuelle à des densités allant de 2500 à 5000 plants par hectare. Des augmentations de rendement allant jusqu'à 60% ont été obtenues avec une augmentation proportionnelle du revenu du champ.Une discussion très animée a eu lieu sur les points suivants :Une question a été posée, demandant des précisions sur les densités de plantation et les systèmes culturaux valorisant le mieux la banane ; les associations culturales profitables ; les temps de mûrissement. La densité habituellement recommandée est 1600 à 2000 pieds/ha. Par rapport au compte-rendu du voyage d'étude en Amérique latine, il ne faut surtout pas faire croire aux paysans qu'il est possible, sans conséquences, de produire 4000 pieds à l'hectare.Attendre les résultats de la recherche sur la technique de plantation à haute densité avant de la diffuser auprès des producteurs.Près de 30% de rejets qui ne «prennent» plus après le traitement à l'eau bouillante, mais ceux qui reprennent sont plus vigoureux.L'aspect genre a-t-il été pris en compte ; l'harmonisation des recherches en milieu paysan.Certains participants ont noté qu'il y avait confusion entre recherche participative et vulgarisation participative. Les paysans représentés à cette réunion ont affirmé haut et fort que ce dont a besoin le paysan, ce sont des résultats immédiats et comparables. En outre, ils estiment que le travail individuel fonctionne mieux.L'assistance a préconisé que les chercheurs utilisent la technique du Farmer Field Schools pour les options IPM non encore utilisées par les paysans.Une question de biosécurité a été soulevée (y a-t-il des recherches dans ce domaine ?) Un membre a informé l'assemblée que les règles de transfert des organes génétiquement modifiés (OGM) existent pour les autres cultures, mais qu'il n'en est pas sûr pour les Musa. Il a été suggéré de vérifier dans les travaux de l'Agence africaine de biosécurité l'existence d'éventuelles informations et directives. Jean Vincent Escalant a clairement expliqué que les OGM de la banane ne sera distribué par l'INIBAP qu'après que les règles de biosécurité soient mises en place dans le pays destinataire.Le réseau fonctionnera désormais comme suit :-c'est au sein des groupes de travail que sont déterminées les priorités de recherche.-le Comité de pilotage ratifie les recommandations de la base et les inscrit comme priorités du réseau MUSACO.-Le Coordonnateur régional de l'INIBAP, secrétaire du réseau, se charge de trouver les différentes personnes-ressource à même d'animer les différents groupes de travail.-Le Comité de pilotage vérifie que les recommandations sont suivies et cherche les moyens pour qu'elles le soient ; sinon, le Comité de pilotage recherche les causes du blocage.-multiplication rapide du matériel végétal de plantain sain, -systèmes rentables de production de plantains, -interaction chercheurs/paysans Les thèmes sur les maladies et les viroses et sur l'information sur les marchés seront mis en place ultérieurement. 1. Il faut réactualiser toutes les bases de données sur les nématodes en Afrique du Centre et de l'Ouest, en mettant par exemple en place des enquêtes avec l'appui de l'INIBAP, dans les pays membres du réseau, afin de savoir si les espèces de nématodes dans les différents pays sont toujours les mêmes. 3. Attendre les résultats de la recherche sur la technique de plantation à haute densité avant de la diffuser auprès des producteurs.La réunion recommande que le réseau recherche des financements pour la tenue d'un atelier de formation à la collecte des données pour l'IPM, ceci afin d'harmoniser les méthodes de recherche participative.5. Création de groupes de travail au sein du réseau sur les thèmes prioritaires suivants: -multiplication rapide du matériel végétal de plantain sain, -systèmes rentables de production de plantains, -interaction chercheurs/paysans Les thèmes sur les maladies et les viroses et sur l'information sur les marchés seront mis en place ultérieurement.Pour faciliter la communication (souvent difficile) entre membres du Comité de pilotage, le réseau doit élaborer un projet convaincant en vue d'obtenir des financements pour l'accès de ces derniers aux NTIC (micro-ordinateur portable, connexion Internet). Le programme agronomie du CARBAP fait également des recherches sur les aspects pédoclimatiques des zones de production de plantain dans le cadre du suivi de la fertilité en vue d'un affinage du conseil sur la conduite de la plante, les techniques culturales et plus particulièrement la fertilisation. Un observatoire de la production de plantain a été mis place en appui à ces recherches en vue d'aboutir à la définition d'un référentiel technico-économique de la production bananière en fonction des écologies, des sols et du type de production envisagé (traditionnel, semi-intensif, intensif).Le programme agronomie est ouvert à un partenariat dynamique avec les instituts et projets nationaux (IRAD, PNVRA, …) ainsi qu'avec les organismes internationaux (INIBAP, CIRAD, IITA, pays de la sous-région, etc.).Nematodes and the banana borer weevil (Cosmopolites sordidus) are the major soil pests of bananas and plantains in Cameroon. These pests are present in all the banana and plantain producing areas in the country. Damages caused on the root system induce a significant reduction in water and nutrient uptake, plant anchorage and yield. This brief summary presents activities carried out at CARBAP on nematodes and C. sordidus.Nematodes are associated with banana roots both in commercial plantations and in small scale farming systems. In Cameroon, 33 different species from 18 genera have been reported from banana and plantain rhizosphere. The major nematode species associated with bananas in large scale plantations in Cameroon are Radopholus similis, Helicotylenchus multicinctus, Hoplolaimus spp. and Meloidogyne spp. In extensive cropping systems, the major crop found is plantain (Musa AAB). The dominant species vary with the region. In area at elevation below 700 m, R. similis is dominant whereas at higher elevation (>1000 m) Pratylenchus goodeyi is dominant. Between these two elevations, both species can be encountered. Other nematode pest species are H. multicinctus, Hoplolaimus spp, Meloidogyne spp, and P. coffeae.Investigations on yield loss due to R. similis have been carried out on Cavendish (Musa AAA) and Plantain. This nematode was found to induce a yield reduction varying between 20 to 50% depending on the crop cycle. The most significant impact was observed on the percentage of toppling. Tip-over was 2.5 and 57% in treated and untreated plots respectively. Yield loss studies are ongoing for the nematode P. goodeyi.The planting material is one of the most important sources of dissemination of nematodes. In small scale farming systems, paring, hot water treatment, and the use of plants from excised corm have been introduced to farmers in the Centre and Southern Cameroon. This technology transfer will soon start in the other production zones.Fallow and crop rotation are highly adopted by commercial banana plantations because replantation is frequent. Studies undertaken in Cameroon have shown that an infested land fallowed for 10-12 months results in a considerable reduction of R. similis populations. In some commercial plantations the fallow period is extended to 15 months. When tissue cultured plants are used after fallow, very low populations of R. similis are recorded two years after planting. Crop rotation with non-hosts of R. similis such as sweet potato and pineapple is also recommended to farmers.Studies have been initiated on the efficacy of Chromoleana odorata and Thitonia diversiflora against nematodes. These two plants are known to have a nematicide effect. The application as mulch in a plantain plot at a rate of 10 tonnes/ha indicated a slight reduction in R. similis populations.Collection of indigeneous strains of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) from Cameroon to set up in vivo and in vitro cultures for future studies on their possible effect to alleviate nematode constraints in banana plantations have also been initiated. Preliminary results indicate that one local strain (Glomus sp.) can reduce R. similis and P. goodeyi populations of more than 50%.Nematicides trials are carried out mostly for commercial banana plantations. Several nematicides are now available to farmers.Since 1989, more than 200 accessions from different genomic groups have been screened at CARBAP to look for sources of resistance and for plantains with lower susceptibility level to R. similis. Results indicated that all the plantains and cavendish are susceptible to nematodes. 'Yangambi Km5'and other clones of the Ibota subgroup and clones of the Pisang jari buaya subgroup are resistant to R. similis. 'Selangor', 'Calcutta 4' and most Musa balbisiana are significantly less susceptible than cavendish, plantains and East african banana. Some of these resistant or tolerant clones are already being used in breeding programmes and the derived hybrids are being tested for resistance to R. similis.The banana borer weevil C. sordidus is the only weevil of economic importance in banana and plantain plantations in Cameroon. The insect is found in all banana and plantain producing areas in Cameroon. Studies on the population dynamics of the weevil in two of the most important production zones indicate that higher populations are observed between August and September.Trials are carried out regularly on request by chemical companies to test new chemicals or formulations for their efficiency against C. sordidus. Four new insecticides from different chemical were selected recently, these are fipronil, athiametoxam, imidacloprid and cartap.Research on biological control method using the entomogenous fungus Beauveria bassiana started in 1994 with the discovery of local strains in Cameroon. Studies have been carried out under controlled conditions to test the efficient of the strains and possibility of mass production for field trials. Three strains of B. bassiana isolated from infected weevils caused 92% mortality after 9 days under laboratory conditions. Research is on-going on maintenance of viability in relation to delivery systems and mass production feasible for farmers or economic agents in Cameroon. Entomopatogenous nematodes have been isolated from soil samples collected in Cameroon using C. sordidus larvae.Dipping suckers in a 20% neem (Azadirachta indica) seed solution at planting protects the young suckers of weevil attack for several months, but crown application at 100 g three times per year is not effective in reducing weevil damage. This can be explained by reducing oviposition through its repellent effect on adult weevils and by blocking the hatching of the eggs.Testing of a mass trapping system with ramp traps baited with sordidin indicated that the traps are not attractive enough to constitute a viable control option for industrial banana plantations. Additional research is needed to assess whether the attractiveness can be improved with another type of trap and kairomones (e.g. adding pseudostem or corm pieces).Techniques for early screening in the field and under controlled conditions are being developed. More then 80 varieties have been screened. Several varieties, including CARBAP hybrids, have been selected for enhanced screening in the field. Results of preliminary screening indicate that a large variety of responses to weevil attack exist between and within genomic subgroups and that no genotypes are more susceptible to weevil attack than the ones in the plantain subgroup. Preliminary results indicate that this is due to differences in larval development. If results are confirmed in the field, it will be possible in the short or medium term to develop hybrids, which are partially resistant to C. sordidus.L. Temple et A. BikoiLes objectifs :-Quantifier les flux inter régionaux de plantain : entre les provinces et entre les pays de la sous région et localiser les zones de concentration spatiale de la production.-Suivre et analyser l'évolution des prix à la production et à la consommation pour identifier leurs déterminants et les dysfonctionnements des marchés.-Analyser les modes de coordination dans les filières principalement dans l'interface entre grossistes et producteurs, et entre chercheurs et producteurs.-Produire et diffuser de l'information sur les marchés pour les opérateurs des filières : producteurs, commerçants, transformateurs, consommateurs.-Un dispositif de suivi permanent des prix sur les marchés de production.-Une méthode de collecte d'information sur les prix utilisée au niveau national.-La publication d'info plantain.-La construction de cartes de quantification des flux et localisation de la production.-La mise au point d'un logiciel de décomposition des séries de prix.-L'élaboration de la politique sectorielle sur plantain avec le MINAGRI.Les objectifs :-Identifier et hiérarchiser les facteurs limitants agronomiques à la parcelle.-Analyser les pratiques culturales (systèmes de culture) et leur évolution.-Produire des référentiels technico-économiques pour le conseil de gestion.-Préciser les conditions de rentabilité financière d'une intensification.-Un observatoire de 15 parcelles en milieu paysan dans 4 zones agro-écologiques -Des enquêtes sur les pratiques culturales et des suivis de comptabilité d'exploitation.-La mise en évidence du caractère prioritaire des problèmes liés au complexe parasitaires (nématodes et charançons) par rapport à la cercosporiose.-La production de données sur les coûts de production/itinéraires techniques.-La caractérisation des différents types de producteurs et de leurs besoins spécifiques.-Un protocole méthodologique pour hiérarchiser les facteurs limitants.  Plantain constitutes a crucial component of the farming system in Sub-Saharan Africa where more than 70 million people depend on it for their livelihood. In many cases, it provides the sole source of income to rural dwellers, thereby playing important role in poverty alleviation.Since the early 1980s, the production of plantain in the region has been under serious threat from black Sigatoka disease, which reduces yield by more than 50% and in some severe instances, wiping entire field. To address this problem and safeguard the livelihood of millions of people in the region, the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) embarked on a strategic research programme that involved breeding for black Sigatoka (BS) resistant host plantain and banana. Within a short period, the Institute has made significant break-through in its efforts against the disease by successfully developing several plantain and banana hybrids, which are resistant to black Sigatoka and out-yield the best landraces by about 100%. These hybrids have successfully undergone several on-station and researcher-managed on-farm tests including early evaluation, preliminary yield, multilocational, and advanced yield trials, preparatory for introduction to the farmers. However, before introducing these hybrids to the farmers, their performance at the smallholder-managed environment has to be established. This is because technologies are only successful when they are accepted and used by the clients for whom they are designed. Hence this study was carried out to assess the performance of the hybrids under farmer-managed systems, using 'PITA-14' (hybrid) and 'Agbagba' (most preferred landrace) so as to enable the institute determining the potential adoption of the hybrids by farmers and to aid in directing future breeding work on plantain and banana.The study was carried out within IITA's benchmark area located in the degraded forest zone of southeastern Nigeria comprising of three blocks namely Abakiliki, Port-Harcourt and Umuahia, which lie between longitude 6.33°E to 7.50°E and latitude 4.83°N to 6.33°N. Three villages were selected within each block while four farmers were selected from each village based on previous knowledge on plantain farming, willingness to participate, good past record on field trials/demonstrations and availability of compound fields/plots. There was no formal field layout or design and planting was done in the normal way the farmers plant their plantain crop. The plants were established in compound and nearby fields so as to provide opportunity for regular manuring and care.Five tissue-culture plantlets each of 'PITA-14' and 'Agbagba' were planted in each farmer's field. To ensure that farmers treat the plants equally, they were informed that all the suckers were hybrids; and, they were not informed of any varietal difference. This was done in order to avoid managerial bias towards the IITA hybrid ('PITA-14'), or among the cultivars. The cultivars were however labelled to aid identification by researcher and field staff.Planting was done between July and August 1998, while field monitoring and data collection was carried out monthly up to May 2000. Relevant agronomic and yield data were collected using data sheet designed for the study. Some of the major results showed that 'PITA-14' had a reduced cropping cycle compared to the landrace. The average number of days from planting to flowering ranged from 179 to 661 with a mean of 376.4 for 'PITA-14' and 186 to 638 with a mean of 420.44 for the landrace, giving an average of 10.5% reduction in flowering period by 'PITA-14'. Apart from breeding for disease resistance, IITA aimed at shortening the cropping cycle through reduced flowering period, thereby increasing the food and income inflow for the farmers. This result, which was consistent in all the locations, is in consensus with earlier results, and the ratoons took about half that number of days.Average BS resistance index ranged from 70 to 100% with a mean of 96% for 'PITA14', and 30.8 to 100% with a mean of 48.6% for Agbagba, showing a very high level of BS resistance by the hybrid against the very low level by the landrace. Earlier results from on-station and on-farm (researcher managed) trials have all showed very high level of BS resistant by the hybrid. The high level of BS resistance by the hybrid was maintained in all the locations in spite the relatively low level of management index of 46%.Bunch weight ranged from 4.2 to 19.2 kg with a mean of 13.34 kg for 'PITA-14' and 3.5 to 12 kg with a mean of 7.03 kg for the 'Agbagba'. The bunch weight of 'PITA-14' was therefore about twice that of 'Agbagba', and this was consistent in all the locations. The mean number of hands was 7 for 'PITA-14' and 5.7 for 'Agbagba', while the mean number of fingers was 91.3 and 22 respectively for 'PITA-14' and 'Agbagba'. The bunch weight was reflected in the number of fingers and hands, showing that fruits, rather than stalk accounted for the superior bunch weight of the hybrid. The relatively bigger bunch size of the hybrid has great positive implication for its market potential because plantain/banana producers and consumers prefer cultivars with big bunches.The yield indices had insignificant (though positive) relationship with management index, showing that the superior yield performance of the hybrid is primarily the result of its inherent genetic composition and attributes. The yield indices were positive and significantly related to the level of BSI, implying that the high level of BSI recorded by the hybrid reflected greatly and positively on the yield. A total of 124 bunches were harvested from 82 mats of 'PITA-14' by 83.3% (30) of the farmers, giving an average of 2.7 mats, and 4.1 bunches per farmer. On the other hand, 62 bunches were harvested from 52 mats of 'Agbagba' by 55.5% (20) of the farmers, giving an average of 2.6 mats and 3 bunches per farmer. In some of the locations, 100% of the farmers have harvested fruit from 'PITA-14'. The above translates to 2499 bunches per hectare of 'PITA-14' (at 2m x3m spacing), giving 33.34 tons/ha (i.e. 13.34kg/bunch) and 1833 bunches per hectare of 'Agbagba', giving 12.89 tons/ha (i.e. 7.04kg/bunch).While harvests were made from 'PITA-14' in all the locations, harvests were recorded in 7 of the 9 locations from 'Agbagba' as at the time collection of data was stopped. Therefore, apart from yielding higher bunch weights, the hybrid gave more number and frequency of harvests than the landrace, resulting to higher yield per hectare, which may have resulted from the reduced cropping cycle exhibited by the hybrid. Each farmer earned an equivalent of US$8.62 from 'PITA-14' (i.e. from 4.1 bunches per farmer), while US$3.05 was derived from each mat, givingRéseau MUSACO an estimate of $5081.30 per hectare. The corresponding figures for 'Agbagba' were US$4.33 per farmer and US$1.58 from each of the mats where harvest was made, giving an estimate of $2632.28 per hectare. This implied that the farmers obtained more cash income equivalent from 'PITA-14' than from 'Agbagba'. This is achieved through reduced cropping cycle and increased yield by the hybrid, relative to the landrace.The farmers evaluated the consumption and market potential of the cultivars by giving an overall post-harvest assessment of the varieties through 17 attributes, ranging from growth habit to cooking time. On the average, 'PITA-14' was assessed as best in all the attributes by 82.2% of the farmers, relative to 'Agbagba'. Apart from fruit size and texture, 'PITA-14' was assessed as best in all the attributes by greater proportion of the farmers. Maturity period, resistance to diseases and pests as well as cooking time of 'PITA-14' was assessed best by 100% of the farmers. Eating quality, cooking attributes of the fruit, as well as bunch size are among the important determinants of consumption and market potentials. The high post-harvest assessment recorded by the hybrid ('PITA-14') is an indication of high and favourable consumption and market potentials since plantain and banana producers and consumers prefer cultivars with big bunches.The combination of disease resistance, increased yield and high consumption and market potentials by the hybrid 'PITA14' demonstrates its high adoption potential since relative advantage and economic viability are critical factors that positively influence the adoption of new technologies by farmers, apart from compatibility with existing systems.A. Tenkouano, J. Lemchi, B. Faturoti, J. Okoro, M. Ebitu and E. UchenduPlantains have long been a traditional staple food in Nigeria until the advent of black Sigatoka (BS), a devastating leaf spot disease epidemic that reached the country in the early 1980s and reduced yields by more than half. Improved hybrids that are high-yielding and resistant to BS have become available, which constitutes a significant scientific achievement in recent history in terms of the impact they could have on the alleviation of hunger in Africa.Several of these improved hybrids have been evaluated in multilocational on-station trials, as a prelude to the widespread distribution of those that best meet the ecological and local food processing needs. What is now needed is to introduce these hybrids into farmers' fields in sizeable quantities.To this effect, IITA organized, in collaboration with NIHORT and PBDP, a two-day workshop (11-12 September 2000) to identify mechanisms for rapid and sustained delivery of improved hybrids to enhance plantain and banana production in Nigeria. Subsequent contacts with FHIA, INIBAP and USAID resulted in the inclusion of varieties not yet available in Nigeria in the distribution scheme with financial support from USAID.From the workshop and subsequent discussions with FHIA and INIBAP, it was resolved that the project will concurrently run on-farm demonstration plots (OFDP) backed by rapid sucker multiplication plots (RSMP) and multilocational evaluation trials (MET) as follows:-OFDP/RSMP: Hybrids that have already undergone multilocational evaluation trials will now form the core of on-farm validation tests, consisting of field demonstration plots backed by rapid sucker multiplication plots in anticipation of demand for planting materials. 'BITA-3', 'PITA-14', 'PITA-17', 'FHIA-21', and 'FHIA-23' had been identified during the September workshop. -MET: New hybrids that are in the pipeline will undergo in-depth evaluation at a few but representative locations (research stations strictly). Those that perform well will be fed into the farmer evaluation phase. Initially, this will include 'PITA-21', 'PITA-22', 'PITA-23', 'PITA-24', 'PITA-25', 'PITA-26', 'BITA-7', 'FHIA-17', 'FHIA-18', 'FHIA-20', 'FHIA-21', 'FHIA-23', 'FHIA-25' and 'CRBP-39'. Two controls ('PITA-14', 'Agbagba') will be included in the MET. New hybrids from other breeding programmes will be identified in the course of the project.Varieties that have undergone substantial testing elsewhere (e.g. 'PITA-24', 'PITA-26', 'FHIA-17', 'FHIA-18', 'FHIA-20', 'FHIA-25' and 'CRBP-39') will be included in the demonstration and multiplication plots as well as in the MET plots in order to have all the indicated varieties planted in the OFDPs at the same time while concurrently carrying out the required MET evaluation. The trials commenced at the onset of the rainy season in year 2001 with the available varieties. Sixty farmers were selected in collaboration with the ADPs, using criteria related to their experience in growing plantain, their leadership status in their community, and the location and biophysical quality of their farm. By mid-November, OFDPs had been established at 22 of the targeted sites. By the same time, METs had been established at seven sites located at the Abia state ADP, Akwa-Ibom state ADP, Cross-river state ADP, Delta state ADP/MOA, Imo state ADP, the research farm of the Faculty of Agriculture, University of Nigeria in Enugu state and NIHORT, Ibadan. These were in addition to three sites located within IITA stations at Ibadan, Onne and Abuja. The remaining OFDPs as well as some RSMPs will be established in 2002. RSMPs will depend on the choice of varieties made by farmers from the pool of those tested under the OFDPs. We have begun fertilizer procurement from our IITA central stores, since fertilizers are not readily available from the market (or the quality may be questionable when they are found). However, to ensure sustainable supply, we will devolve this activity to State ADPs in 2002 onwards. Farmers from the host community as well as neighboring villages will be brought to the test sites so that they can observe and select the varieties they like. Each visit will bring at least 50 farmers. At least two visits can be organized at the sites per site per crop season. Thus, approximately 5000 farmers will be directly exposed to the new varieties in the first crop season, becoming themselves spreaders of the varieties in the second crop season. The same number of visitors (albeit from villages not sampled in the first season) can be brought to the initial 50 sites in the second season, yielding another 5000 farmers that would have been exposed to the new varieties. In addition to this project-sponsored visit scheme (with expected direct exposure of more than 10 000 farmers), more people will have access to the test sites since they will be located in relatively high traffic areas. Finally, excess production is expected to reach the market place, further expanding the number of project beneficiaries to an estimated 15 000-20 000 people over the lifetime of the project. In anticipation of increased demand for planting materials of the new varieties beyond levels that IITA could supply, and to ensure that farmers have access to such varieties without having to travel long distances, we have divided the NBP into four project operational zones (POZ) and we have begun establishing pilot multiplication centers (PMC) strategically positioned at lead centers of each POZ. The PMCs will provide seedlings for establishment of rapid sucker multiplication plots in collaboration with individual farmers, community based organizations, schools, churches, from next season. The PMCs will also serve as training centers for farmers and extension personnel. So far, two PMCs have been established with the Abia State ADP in Umuahia and the Green River Project (GRP) at Obrikom in Rivers State. Three more will be established next year: one in Benin City (Edo State ADP), one in Uyo (Akwa-Ibom State ADP) and one in Ibadan (NIHORT research farm, Oyo State). The GRP is the agricultural extension branch of the Nigerian Agip oil company. It is not considered as a lead POZ center, but is well known by farming communities for multiplication and distribution of improved varieties. We intend to work with other companies such as the Shell Petroleum Development Corporation that also have active agricultural development branches. Producing and getting plants to the sites as well as procuring and distributing fertilizers have been quite challenging. We have covered nearly 65 000 km with our research vehicles between March and November 2001. This situation not only means a considerably shortened lifetime for the vehicles, but their non-availability for the routine operations of the IITA breeding programme. However, we are happy that a fully operational multi-institutional collaborative effort has been set up for farmer participatory evaluation of improved materials. This hybrid delivery scheme is a most tangible product of the project that is likely to last beyond the duration of the project and will serve as a model for other countries.A. Tenkouano and J. HughesThe genetic improvement of bananas and plantains has focussed on breeding for resistance to black Sigatoka. This has been quite successful, but the distribution of the improved hybrids has been impeded by the outbreak of banana streak virus (BSV). Breeding for resistance or tolerance to BSV is a complex proposal, given the genomic and serological heterogeneity of the virus, its intimate association with the Musa genome and the complex nature of environmental factors triggering BSV expression. We describe here three components of the physiological-genetic approach to controlling BSV in IITA breeding populations, namely: 1. selecting for field tolerance in multilocational trials, 2. assessing propagation methods that reduce BSV incidence, and 3. reducing the propensity for episomal BSV expression through genome and ploidy manipulation.The short-term strategy of breeding programs at IITA was to address the BSV issue through a practical approach based on identification of genotypes with low expression of BSV symptoms and low concentration of BSV antigens under natural field conditions. BSV symptom expression depends on virus isolate, host cultivar and environmental conditions. Hence, field resistance or tolerance is best assessed when genotypes are evaluated at several geographically different locations that may also have different isolates of the virus. Powerful statistical tools may be used to discriminate among genotypes and unambiguously assign them to different reaction classes with respect to BSV. For example, the additive main effects and multiplicative interaction (AMMI) statistical approach may be used to classify Musa genotypes with no symptom expression or low symptom incidence across locations as resistant to BSV under natural conditions. We found that non-genetic factors accounted for less than 5% of the variation in symptom expression and relative concentration of BSV antigens. In contrast, genetic effects accounted for 66.4% of the variation in symptom expression and 62.6% of differences in the relative concentration of BSV antigens. Interestingly, similar levels of symptom expression were observed between some triploid plantains and their tetraploid offspring, e.g. 'Obino l'Ewai' vs. 'PITA-7' or 'Agbagba' vs. 'PITA-9', although the relative concentration of BSV antigens was higher in the offspring compared to the parents. Thus, ploidy level may regulate the relationship between viral load and BSV symptom expression. Considerable differences were also observed for symptom expression of accessions which had similar relative concentration of BSV antigens. These data suggest that specific genetic factors (nature of integrated BSV sequences?) and ploidy level (number of integrants) may be key factors in the expression of BSV symptoms.Natural spread of BSV is by vegetative propagation of infected plant material and by mealybug vectors. Symptom incidence is particularly high when fields are established using seedlings from tissue culture compared to fields established with suckers. However, the basis for such differential expression is not fully understood. Current evidence suggests that Musa clones have DNA sequences that hybridize to BSV probes, an indication that BSV-specific segments are integrated into Musa genomes. It is hypothesized that the tissue culture media may trigger mitotic recombination during retro-transcription of BSV-specific sequences, leading to the formation of a functional BSV episome. In contrast, macropropagation could reduce the recombination frequency and the propensity for BSV expression, since macropropagation is thought to be less stressfull than propagation by tissue culture. Therefore, researchers should assess the relative risk of transmitting BSV through vegetative propagation. Research is undergoing to determine the relative incidence of BSV in plants obtained through meristem culture vs those derived from ex-vitro propagation methods. Currently, hybrid seedlings resulting from artificial cross-pollination are produced by axenic embryo culture. Like meristem culture, embryo culture is carried out using media that may be responsible for increased frequency of BSV expression. An alternative approach for regenerating hybrid seedlings is by ex vitro germination of the seeds, a method that gives lower germination and seedling regeneration rates but is convenient when large number of seeds is available. An interesting feature of the ex vitro approach is the lower frequency of plants showing BSV symptoms compared to the in vitro approach. Alternative plant propagation methods to reduce the incidence of BSV upon field establishment of seedlings were investigated.The longer-term strategy involves ploidy and genome manipulation to reduce the probability for transcriptional recombination of BSV sequences dispersed in the Musa genomes, thereby reducing the propensity for BSV expression in improved hybrids.It is likely that Musa genotypes may show differences in the nature and copy number of integrated BSV-specific sequences, explaining the apparent genotype-specific response in virus expression. Thus, one working hypothesis is that progeny from biparental crosses may express BSV more frequently than the parents, particularly if the progeny has a higher ploidy status than the parents due to higher numbers of copies of BSV sequences, giving more opportunities for recombination in the hybrid compared to the parent with lower ploidy status. Based on this hypothesis, one would predict that secondary triploid hybrids derived from tetraploid parents in 4x-2x crosses may be less prone to BSV expression than their 4x parent. Circumstantial evidence in support of this hypothesis has been obtained with the selection of 'PITA-26', a highyielding triploid plantain hybrid derived from 'PITA-2' that is highly susceptible to BSV. In addition to its high yield (bunch weight > 25 kg at Onne), this secondary triploid hybrid has retained resistance to black Sigatoka with the added feature of excellent field resistance to BSV. Also supporting this hypothesis is the performance of 'PITA-16', a secondary triploid hybrid which expressed low symptom incidence, less virus titre, and suffered no yield loss compared to its tetraploid maternal parent 'PITA-17'. Both triploid hybrids have now been included in farmer participatory trials across the plantain-growing belt of southeastern Nigeria.There is some evidence suggesting the occurrence of activatable BSV sequences in B genome and activator sequences in A genome. Therefore, it is possible that interspecific hybridization may trigger genome interactions that are favourable to the transcriptional recombination of dispersed BSV sequences into a virulent episomal form. Thus, breeding emphasis would be on avoiding bringing compatible genomes together in hybrid varieties, which constitutes our second working hypothesis. Currently, several activatable BSV integrants (isolates) have been described, some of which are 'BSV-Obino l'ewai', 'BSV-Cavendish', 'BSV-Goldfinger', 'BSV-Mysore', and 'BSV-IRFA'. Screening Musa genomes for the presence of these strains as well as the complementary activators is likely to become a major activity of breeding programs at IITA and elsewhere, once specific diagnostic tools have been developed. Clearly, either working hypothesis would lead to the identification of genotypes with consistently low propensity to BSV expression, which would significantly enhance the prospects of solving the BSV problem through conventional cross-breeding.L. Tripathi, J. Hughes and A. TenkouanoBananas and plantains (Musa spp.) are staple food for rural and urban consumers in the humid tropics and an important source of rural income, particularly in some locations where smallholders produce them in home gardens. Many pests and diseases have significantly affected Musa cultivation. Amon these, the banana streak virus (BSV), genus badnavirus is becoming a major constraint to production and exchange of improved germplasm. Development of virus-resistant banana by conventional breeding is hampered by long generation times, various levels of ploidy, sterility of most edible cultivars and lack of genetic variability. Genetic engineering may offer an alternative solution to these problems. The introduction of transgenes into the desired plant species for the development of stable transgenic plants require an efficient regeneration system amenable to genetic transformation and stability of transgene under field conditions.Rapidly multiplying cultures were established from excised apical meristems of various cultivars having different ploidy level (diploid, triploid and tetraploid). Shoot apices cultured in liquid Murashige and Skoog medium supplemented with 5mg/L BAP for 3-4 weeks followed by culturing on semi-solid medium produced clusters of shoots. Shoots multiplication was induced by longitudinally splitting a young shoot through the apex and culturing on semi-solid medium. Culturing single shoot on medium supplemented with auxins produced rooted plants.The complete plants were then transferred to soil. This procedure is cultivar independent and can produce thousands of clonal plantlets in a short period of time.The shoot tips were used for Agrobacterium-mediated transformation. The Agrobacterium strain EHA105 harbouring the binary vector pCAMBIA 1201 having hygromycin resistance gene as selection marker and GUS-INT as reporter gene was used for transformations. Transient expression of β-glucuronidase (uid A) gene was achieved in transformed apical shoot tip. Many putative transgenic shoots have been regenerated on selection medium and genetic analysis was performed to confirm the integration of transgenes. The integration of uid A gene was confirmed with PCR using GUS primers and Southern blot analysis with a probe for the GUS gene. Transformed plants were transferred to soil in the containment house. The stability of the transgene in the plants transferred to soil has to be confirmed by genetic analysis. Presently we are working on this aspect. Screening for nematode resistance is an ongoing process, particularly as newly developed hybrids become available. Screening is currently restricted to searching for resistance against the aggressive Radopholus similis, although other nematodes present in the region (Pratylenchus coffeae, Helicotylenchus multicinctus, Hoplolaimus pararobustus) will be added as nematode cultures are developed. IITA developed a cost-effective early screening method based on the inoculation of individual roots, which is proving to be fast and reliable. Wooden boxes, filled with sawdust contain three suckers each. Three suckers per hybrid (cultivar) are used and assessed against two reference cultivars 'Yangambi km5' (resistant) and 'Valery' (susceptible). Three roots on each sucker are inoculated with 50 female R. similis, and the reproduction rate (Rr) of the nematode is assessed eight weeks later. To date 13 plantain hybrids have shown potential resistance (Rr not different from the one of 'Yangambi km5') and 7 promising resistance. The hybrid 'PITA-14' (TMPx7152-2) is a very promising hybrid, currently being distributed to farmers in Nigeria.Much of the work currently being undertaken in this sphere involves the assessment and dissemination of technologies to provide clean planting material to farmers. Farmers are fully aware of the problems of nematode damage from toppled plants. Yet they are unaware of what causes the situation and how to manage the problem (in general). Dissemination of clean planting material is a simple technique that prevents the spread of nematodes to newly cultivated and non-infected fields. Methods currently being evaluated are paring to remove the infected tissue, hot water to kill the nematodes, inexpensive suspensions (i.e. salt solution) to kill the nematodes, resistant hybrids, tissue culture derived plantlets and a combination of methods. The use of paring, largely unknown to farmers, is a simple technique, which is in the early stages of being popularized to manage nematodes. Using salt solution appears to be promising, but requires further investigation to establish a suitable concentration and exposure time. Furthermore, the interaction between soil fertility and the application of mulch is being explored. Mulching improves production and appears to suppress nematode densities (and Réseau MUSACO damage). The reason behind this is little understood and is being investigated.Currently, most work focus on the aggressive nematode R. similis. However, it is important to understand how species interact, and how, for instance, the development of cultivars resistant to R. similis will react to other nematode species. IITA is also involved in capacity building of nematological expertise within the region to develop nematology programmes within national programmes, especially regarding those plants with significant nematode problems, such as Musa. This includes degree-oriented training at graduate (PhD and MSc) and undergraduate levels as well as bench training support to NARS staff.was excavated adjacent to the corm. All roots were divided into dead and alive classes and counted. Ten roots were randomly selected, cut to 10 cm length and examined for nematode damage. The root necrosis index was calculated as:RNI=(the surface of necrotic cortical tissue/total surface of cortical tissue) x 100 %The non-damaged root index was calculated as follows:NDRI=number of functional roots x (100 -RNI)A composite sample (five plants) was taken back to the laboratory for analysis. The time between sampling and extraction was never more than two days; roots were kept cool until processed in the lab. Roots were washed and chopped into 1 cm pieces and mixed thoroughly before taking a 5 g sub-sample. Extraction was done using the maceration-sieve method and left for 48 hours before examination. The nematode extract was reduced to 25 ml before three 2ml aliquots were counted per sample. Analysis of the data was done with the help of SAS (GLM) after log (x+1) transformation of the data.Variety and fertilizer application had no significant effect on nematode numbers encountered.In the short fallow system significantly lower numbers of R. similis and H. multicinctus and total nematode numbers were found if the suckers had been hot water treated before planting. In the long fallow system, variability between plots was high, giving no significant effect of hot-water treatment on individual species populations, although the total nematode population numbers were significantly lower.With respect to nematode related root damage parameters, no significant effect could be ascribed to either variety or fertilizer application. Long fallow plots showed significantly increased root necrosis indices (RNI) compared to short fallow plots. Hot water treatment had a highly significant effect in reducing the RNI in long fallow plots, although no significant effect was observed in the short fallow system (due to sucker treatment before planting). Root numbers were also influenced by the fallow type, giving a significantly larger root system (number of functional and dead roots) in the long fallow system. The NDRI indicates an overall better root system health in the long fallow, due to a higher number of functional roots, compared to the short fallow system. Hot-water treatment significantly increased the NDRI in both fallow types.Hot-water treatment can be recommended as a method to reduce nematode population buildup and increase overall root system health.Long fallow systems produced a larger, relatively more undamaged root system.The observed root necrosis indices resulted of a combination of nematodes and secondary pathogens.L'Afrique de l'Ouest et du Centre constituent les principales régions productrices de plantain dans le monde avec 4 % de la production (Frison et Sharrock 1998). Les systèmes de cultures sont de type traditionnel avec des rendements faibles, 5 à 10 t/ha. La consommation par tête d'habitant est importante et varie entre 15 à 153 kg/an (FAO 1999). Près de 82% des 9,4 millions de tonnes de plantain produits dans ces sous-régions y sont consommés.Second producteurs mondiaux de plantain (40%), l'Amérique Latine et les Caraïbes pourraient devenir les plus importantes zones de productio, en raison de récents développements de la recherche agronomique.En effet, les travaux de recherche sur de nouvelles techniques culturales (Belalcázar 1999, Belalcázar et Cayón 2001), la vulgarisation de ces techniques et leur adoption effective par les producteurs, ont abouti à amener le plantain du rang de culture vivrière peu productive à celui de culture de rente à haut rendement et économiquement rentable. Le matériel végétal Généralement, les rejets dits baïonnettes sont recherchés pour la réalisation des plantations. S. Belalcázar a mis en évidence que la production dépend plus du suivi agronomique que du type de matériel végétal planté.En effet, avec des rejets de 0,25 à 1,95 m de hauteur, bénéficiant du même suivi agronomique, la durée du cycle végétatif et la production n'étaient pas significativement différentes.Accroissement de la densité de plantation Augmentation du nombre de plants/emplacement L'accroissement de la densité de plantation par l'augmentation du nombre de plants par emplacement (2 à 3) présente des avantages et des inconvénients, par rapport à la densité standard de 1666 plants/ha (1 plant/emplacement).En effet, cette modification de la densité se traduit par un accroissement notable du rendement, 72 à 123%. Cependant, le cycle végétatif est plus long, 2 à 4,5 mois supplémentaires.Par ailleurs, à forte densité, la baisse de rendement au cours des cycles successifs est plus importante (39-57%) qu'à la densité standard (14 à 21%).A la lumière de ce qui précède, S. Belalcázar a ramené le nombre de plants par emplacement à l'unité et réduit les distances de plantation. Au terme de ses études, il a recommandé les densités de plantation de 1900 à 3000 plants/ha sur un seul cycle.En sus de l'accroissement de la production, la plantation à forte densité présente d'autres avantages:la réduction significative de l'enherbement la réduction significative de l'infestation de cercosposriose la disponibilité de matériel végétal.Les visites de terrain ont permis de constater l'adoption effective des nouvelles techniques culturales par les producteurs. Ces derniers parlaient des innovations culturales avec autant, sinon plus d'enthousiasme que les chercheurs et les vulgarisateurs. Cet enthousiasme devenait débordant quand il était question de la rentabilité de la culture annuelle de plantain à forte densité.Au cours de la restitution finale qui a regroupé tous les participants, la nécessité de réfléchir aux moyens d'expérimenter et d'adopter ces techniques culturales aux conditions pédo-climatiques de l'Afrique de l'Ouest et du Centre a été clairement exprimée et admise."}

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+{"metadata":{"gardian_id":"f6d1ed2524b64bbeb7f7b5568688d243","source":"gardian_index","url":"https://repository.cimmyt.org/server/api/core/bitstreams/e771ae65-b642-4c40-970f-7ada92371946/content","id":"738587619"},"keywords":[],"sieverID":"86cbbfbe-8b82-4613-a019-495a20c69d0d","content":"Key message Among the qhir11 and qhir12 sub-regions of a major QTL qhir1, only qhir11 has significant effect on maternal haploid induction, segregation distortion and kernel abortion.within the qhir1 QTL region, named qhir11 and qhir12; qhir12 was proposed to be mandatory for haploid induction because the haplotype of qhir11 was also present in some non-inducers and putative candidate genes coding for DNA and amino acid binding proteins were identified in the qhir12 region. To characterize the effects of each sub-region of qhir1 on haploid induction rate, F 2 recombinants segregating for one of the sub-regions and fixed for the other were identified in a cross between CML269 (noninducer) and a tropicalized haploid inducer TAIL8. To quantify the haploid induction effects of qhir11 and qhir12, selfed progenies of recombinants between these subregions were genotyped. F 3 plants homozygous for qhir11 and/or qhir12 were identified, and crossed to a ligueless tester to determine their haploid induction rates. The study revealed that only the qhir11 sub-region has a significant effect on haploid induction ability, besides causing significant segregation distortion and kernel abortion, traits that are strongly associated with maternal haploid induction. The results presented in this study can guide fine mapping efforts of qhir1 and in developing new inducers efficiently using marker assisted selection.Large-scale production and utilization of doubled haploid (DH) lines has become common practice in maize breeding programs during the last decade owing to the associated acceleration and cost reduction in development of inbred lines and deployment of hybrid varieties (Melchinger et al. 2013). In vivo maternal haploid induction (HI) is the backbone of DH line production in maize (Prigge et al. 2012b), which involves pollination of desired populations with special genetic stocks called haploid inducers that induce relatively high frequencies of haploid seeds in the progeny (Coe 1959;Chaikam 2012;Prigge and Melchinger 2012). The phenomenon of in vivo maternal HI is unique to maize and has not been reported in other plant species so far (Hu et al. 2016), although its physiological and molecular bases are still elusive. Elimination of inducer chromosomes after fertilization (Zhang et al. 2008;Li et al. 2009;Xu et al. 2013a;Qiu et al. 2014) and single fertilization followed by parthenogenesis (Sarkar and Coe 1966;Bylich and Chalyk 1996;Barret et al. 2008;Swapna and Sarkar 2012) were proposed to be involved in the production of seeds with haploid embryos and normal triploid endosperms.To understand the genetic basis of HI, several studies have been conducted. HI was determined to be a quantitatively inherited trait, controlled by a small number of genes and improvable through selection (Lashermes and Beckert 1988). It was also suggested that additive and epistatic gene action affect the HI process (Prigge et al. 2011). In first QTL mapping studies on HI with segregating progeny of crosses between non-inducers and inducers, a major QTL on chromosome 1 was identified in bin 1.04 (Deimling et al. 1997;Barret et al. 2008). An extensive QTL mapping study with four bi-parental populations involving inducers CAUHOI and UH400 detected two major QTL, named qhir1 and qhir8, and several minor QTL (Prigge et al. 2012b). The major QTL qhir1 on chromosome 1.04 was the same as reported in the previous studies and explained 66% of the genotypic variance. Besides its effect on HI, qhir1 has also been associated with segregation distortion (SD) and has a strong selective disadvantage (Barret et al. 2008;Prigge et al. 2012b;Dong et al. 2013;Xu et al. 2013a). It was also noted that in vivo HI is associated with embryo and endosperm abortion (Prigge et al. 2012b;Xu et al. 2013a). Less pronounced than the effect of qhir1 was the effect of the second major QTL found by Prigge et al. (2012b), qhir8, which maps to chromosome 9 and explained only 20% of the genotypic variance. However, all these linkage mapping studies resulted in large support intervals for the detected QTL.To delineate the map position and to identify closely linked markers more useful for marker-assisted selection in development of new inducers, qhir1 was fine-mapped to a 243 kb region (Dong et al. 2013) and qhir8 to a 789 kb region (Liu et al. 2015). Considering the confirmation of qhir1 in multiple studies, qhir1 may be considered mandatory for HI ability (Prigge et al. 2012b), while other loci like qhir8 may enhance the function of qhir1 to increase the HIR (Liu et al. 2015).Recently, the large qhir1 support interval described by Prigge et al. (2012b) was dissected by Hu et al. (2016) into two closely linked regions, named qhir11 and qhir12, using a novel type of genome wide association study (GWAS) to detect selective sweeps and address the problem of perfect confounding between population structure and trait expression, as in the case of inducers (cases) and non-inducer (controls). Sub-region qhir11 harbored the 243 kb interval fine-mapped by Dong et al. (2013) and had one major haplotype present in the majority of the inducers and one minor haplotype present only in two inducers studied. The latter occurred also in several non-inducers whose HIR was similar to spontaneous occurrence of haploids. Hence, the minor haplotype of qhir11 was deemed to be neither diagnostic for differentiating inducers and non-inducers nor effective for conditioning HI ability in maize. However, no conclusions were drawn about the major haplotype of qhir11 based on this study. By comparison, qhir12 had a single haplotype allele found in all the 53 inducers and absent in all 1482 non-inducers included in the study and was proposed to harbor three candidate genes related to putative functions involved in HI. To further determine the effects of the qhir12 and qhir11 haplotypes, the authors suggested testing the effect of these haplotypes on HI in near-isogenic lines or selfed progenies of recombinants that segregate at one locus while the other is fixed.The main objective of our study is to adopt this strategy and test the effects of qhir11 and qhir12 haplotypes on HIR using selfed progenies of recombinants in a huge F 2 population derived by crossing a non-inducer with a tropically adapted haploid inducer. In addition, we examined which of the specific sub-regions of qhir1 is specifically associated with segregation distortion and kernel abortion, traits associated with maternal haploid induction.We denote henceforth the qhir11 and qhir12 sub-regions as A and B, respectively. We use the following notations for the various genotypes possible for each sub-region: AA = homozygous for the putative inducer allele at all markers assayed in the qhir11 sub-region; aa = homozygous for the putative non-inducer allele at all markers in the qhir11 sub-region; BB = homozygous for the putative inducer allele at all markers assayed in the qhir12 subregion; bb = homozygous for the putative non-inducer allele at all markers in the qhir12 sub-region; Aa = heterozygous at all markers assayed in the qhir11 sub-region; and Bb = heterozygous for all markers assayed in the qhir12 sub-region.One tropically adapted inducer, TAIL8, and one tropically adapted non-inducer, CML269, were used as parents in this study. TAIL8, harboring the A and B alleles in homozygous state has a mean HIR of 9.9% (Chaikam et al. 2016). CML269 has no HI ability and harbors the a and b alleles in homozygous state. The non-inducer (CML269) x inducer (TAIL8) cross was made in the winter season of 2011 at CIMMYT's experimental station at Agua Fria, Mexico (20.26°N, 97.38°W) to generate the F 1 generation. From the F 1 , 100 seeds were planted and selfed to generate the F 2 generation in the summer season of 2011. A total of 7160 F 2 seeds of good quality were genotyped as described below. Recombinants between the qhir11 and qhir12 subregions identified on the basis of the marker assays were grouped into four F 2 genotype classes: AABb; aaBb, AaBB, Aabb, and used for further assays.From each of the four F 2 genotype classes of recombinants, 10 individual plants were randomly selected for selfing to obtain F 2:3 families segregating for the heterozygous sub-region. Only F 3 seeds homozygous for the segregating sub-region were planted in the field at Agua Fria in the winter season of 2016. Hybrid (PDH3 × PDH8), homozygous for liguleless gene lg2 (Prigge et al. 2012a;Chaikam et al. 2016;Melchinger et al. 2016), was used as a female tester to produce testcross seed for evaluating the HIR. The tester was stagger-planted four times at weekly intervals to synchronize flowering with the F 3 plants. Each F 3 plant that produced pollen was crossed on to 10-15 tester plants (based on pollen availability) and was also self-pollinated. Some F 3 plants were found to be haploids based on their weak plant stature, narrow and erect leaves and sterile tassels (Prigge et al. 2011;Chaikam et al. 2016) and were therefore not pollinated. Some plants could not be used for testcrossing because of severe virus infection. Testcross seed was bulked from all the tester plants pollinated by the same F 3 plant. A graphical representation of the scheme followed for developing the genetic material is shown in Fig. 1.According to Hu et al. (2016), the physical boundaries for qhir11 are between SNPs PZE-101,081,177 (physical co-ordinate: 1: 68,134,633) and SYN25793 (physical co-ordinate 1: 68,670,617). For qhir12, the borders are between SYN4966 (physical co-ordinate 1: 71,795,509) and PZA00714.1 (physical co-ordinate 1: 75,768,235). All the physical co-ordinates of the SNPs assayed are with reference to B73 AGP V2 (http://ensembl.gramene.org/ Zea_mays). Sets of six markers covering the qhir11 subregion and eight markers covering the qhir12 sub-region were used to genotype each sub-region (Supplementary table 1). Based on the selected SNPs, the haplotypes of TAIL8 and CML269 at each sub-region were compared with the large set of non-inducers and inducers reported by Hu et al. (2016) and verified. All markers used in this study were genotyped using KASP assays (LGC Genomics, UK) developed from the Illumina MaizeSNP50 BeadChip Fig. 1 Strategy used for genetic delineation of qhir1 and analysis of the effects of qhir11 and qhir12 sub-regions on HIR in maize (Ganal et al. 2011), except for one SNP developed from HapMap V.2 (Suppl. Table 1).DNA was extracted from 7160 individual seeds of the F 2 population of cross TAIL8 × CML269 following standard procedures (Gao et al. 2008) and genotyped with the abovementioned SNPs. Among the polymorphic SNPs between the two parents available to CIMMYT for the qhir11 and qhir12 sub-regions, two SNPs (PZE0166290049 and PZE0166357949) were selected to represent qhir11 and two SNPs (SYN26730 and PZE101085336) to represent qhir12 in the genotyping of the F 2 seeds. Based on the results, 428 recombinant F 2 seeds in the four F 2 genotype classes described above were selected and planted in the field. Leaf DNA of these plants was extracted at the four-leaf stage following CIMMYT's laboratory protocols (CIMMYT 2001). Because the two SNPs of each sub-region in the seeds did not cover the respective physical interval entirely, we analyzed additionally four SNPs for qhir11 and 10 SNPs for qhir12, which were part of the SNPs on the MaizeSNP50 BeadChip polymorphic between the two parents. This assay was also used to ascertain the classification of the recombinant F 2 plants; plants showing any discrepancy were discarded. Moreover, some F 2 plants did not survive or failed to produce selfed seed. Thus, selfed ears were harvested from 21 AABb, 72 aaBb, 56 AaBB, and 44 Aabb genotypes in the F 2 generation, adding up to a total of 193 ears.Ten ears were randomly selected from each of the four afore-mentioned F 2 genotype classes for raising F 2:3 families. DNA was extracted from ~45 individual seeds from each of the 40 F 2:3 families and genotyped with three SNP markers for both qhir11 and qhir12, covering the entire physical interval of the sub-regions as identified by Hu et al. (2016). From each family, only the seeds homozygous for the qhir11 and qhir12 sub-regions were selected as male parents for pollination of liguleless tester PDH3 × PDH8. Among the 756 F3 plants that were test-crossed, 83.7% resulted in more than 1000 seeds, 12% resulted between 500 and 999 seeds, and 4.2% resulted in less than 500 seeds. For each F 3 plant with more than 1000 testcross seeds, 1000 seeds were germinated in styrofoam trays in a shade house at the Agua Fria experimental station. Each tray accommodated 100 seeds. After 14 days of germination, each tray was evaluated for the number of germinated seedlings and the number of seedlings with and without ligule. For the F 3 plants with less than 1000 testcross seeds, all seeds were germinated. The HIR was calculated as HIR = N L /(N L +N NL ), where N L and N NL refer to the number of plants with and without ligule, respectively.We refer here to endosperm abortion as kernel abortion, because most endosperm aborted seeds in our study lacked an embryo similar to the observation by Xu et al. (2013a). Selfed ears obtained from the F 3 plants in each of the four genotype classes were visually rated for a kernel abortion score (KAS) on a scale of 1-5, where 1 represents no aborted seed visible on the ear, and 5 represents complete abortion with no seed set on the ear. To measure the extent of kernel abortion quantitatively, the number of normal seeds and number of kernel aborted seeds were counted on each ear from the AAbb and aaBB genotype classes as suggested by Xu et al. (2013a). Kernel abortion rate (KAR) for each entry was calculated as KAR = N a /(N a + N n ), where N a refers to the number of aborted seeds and N n to the number of normal seeds.The HIR for each F 3 genotype within each F 2 genotype class was calculated as the least-squares means in the following generalized linear model assuming a binomial distribution:where Y ijk is the ith observation in the jth genotype class for the kth F 2:3 family, µ is the general mean, g j is the effect of the jth genotype, f k is the effect of the kth family and e ijk the residual error. The model was fitted using the glm function in the R software package, version 3.3.0. Least-squares means and corresponding confidence intervals were calculated with the lsmeans package, version 2.23-5, and compact letters displays were produced with the multcompView package, version 0.1-7, at significance level α = 5%. We used an over-dispersion factor to account for variance in the data in excess of the binomial sampling variance that may result in an inflation of the standard errors.For each of the four recombinant genotype classes selected from the F 2 , we tested the following hypotheses: (i) H 0 : ḡaabb = ḡAAbb vs. H A : ḡaabb ≠ ḡAAbb (from F 2 genotype class Aabb); (ii) H 0 : ḡaabb = ḡaaBB vs. H A : ḡaabb ≠ ḡaaBB (from F 2 genotype class aaBb); (iii) H 0 : ḡAABB = ḡaaBB vs. H A : ḡAABB ≠ ḡaaBB (from F 2 genotype class AaBB); and (iv) H 0 : ḡAABB = ḡAAbb vs. H A : ḡAABB ≠ ḡAAbb (from F 2 genotype class AABb).F 3 plants heterozygous for either of the sub-regions were not tested in this experiment. Significant differences1 3in these tests determine whether the qhir11 or qhir12 sub-region alone is sufficient to exhibit HIR equivalent to qhir11 and qhir12 together. KAS for each F 3 genotype was calculated with the same generalized linear model as for HIR except that a Poisson distribution was assumed and KAS was used as response variable. KAR for the two F 3 genotype classes AAbb and aaBB was calculated with the same generalized linear model but without the family term because of confounding between family and genotype.Segregation distortion (SD) in the F 2 generation was investigated with a G-test for goodness-of-fit to the segregation ratios expected under Mendelian inheritance and applying a significance level α = 5%. The G-test of goodness of fit to expected segregation ratios and the expected allele frequencies was carried out with the R software function GTest from the DescTools package, version 0.99.17.The gene annotations by the MAKER gene annotation pipeline (Cantarel et al. 2008) in the physical interval of qhir11 in the B73 genome sequence (V2) available in http://ensembl.gramene.org/Zea_mays was used to search for putative candidate genes in the studied interval.A total of 475 recombinants in the F 2 generation falling into different genotype classes were identified between qhir11 and qhir12 based on the segregation analysis of 7154 F 2 seeds (Table 1). No recombination was observed between the two sub-regions in most of the F 2 seeds (93.4%), which had the same genotype as the F 1 cross or the parent lines. Single recombination events between qhir11 and qhir12 were observed in 6% of the F 2 seeds, and double recombination events between qhir11 and qhir12 were observed in 0.1% of F 2 seeds. In addition, 0.6% of F 2 seeds had recombination events which occurred within either of the sub-regions. Based on the recombination observed between the distal SNP of qhir11 and the proximal SNP of qhir12, the recombination rate between the qhir11 and qhir12 sub-regions was 3.1%. From the 428 single recombinant F 2 plants between qhir11 and qhir12, a total of 193 plants remained for further analyses, with the following numbers in the four F 2 genotype classes: 72 aaBb, 56 AaBB, 44 Aabb and 21 AABb. Among F 3 plants, highly significant (P < 0.001) segregation distortion against the homozygous inducer genotype was observed for the qhir11 sub-region (Table 2). The segregation distortion observed for the qhir12 sub-region was also significant (P < 0.01) but against the non-inducer genotype. The same trends were observed for the allele frequencies at both sub-regions.F 3 plants with genotype AAbb, derived from F 2 plants in genotype class Aabb, revealed on average a significantly (P < 0.01) higher HIR (6.45%) than aabb plants having a mean HIR = 0.12% (Table 3). Thus, the AA genotype showed a strong positive effect on HIR. In F 3 plants of F 2 genotype class AABb, HIR was significantly (P < 0.01) higher in AAbb plants (7.16%) than in AABB plants (5.92%). Thus, a relatively small negative effect on HIR was observed for the BB genotype in the presence of the AA genotype. This negative effect was not observed in the absence of the AA genotype, because in F 3 plants from F 2 genotype class aaBb, the mean HIR of the aaBB genotypes (0.12%) was not significantly different from the mean HIR of the aabb genotypes (0.09%). In F 3 plants of the F 2 genotype class AaBB, the HIR of AABB genotypes was also significantly (P < 0.01) higher than the HIR of aaBB genotypes.Regarding the HIR of all F 3 plants irrespective of their origin from the four F 2 genotype classes, the highest HIR (5.96%) was observed for genotype AAbb, followed by a significantly (P < 0.05) smaller value (HIR = 5.02%) for genotype AABB (Table 4). A large decrease in HIR was found in the aaBB genotype (HIR = 0.19%) and a further significant (P < 0.05) decrease in the aabb genotype (HIR = 0.12%). Thus, in the presence of AA at qhir11, BB had a reducing effect on HIR but in the presence of aa, it had an increasing effect on HIR, whereas no significant effect was observed in the analysis of means in F 3 genotypes derived from individual F 2 genotype classes.Most ears harvested from AAbb and AABB genotypic class F3 plants showed some level of kernel abortion while most ears of aaBB and aabb classes did not record any abortion (Suppl. Figure 1a and 1b). Regardless of the genotype at the other sub-region, F 3 plants of genotype AA had a significantly (P < 0.01) higher KAS than the aa genotype.Quantitative evaluation of kernel abortion in the F 3 generation showed that genotype AAbb had a six-fold higher KAR than the genotype aaBB (Table 4).Genetic delineation of the qhir11 and qhir12 sub-regions required large population sizes in the F 2 generation considering that they are physically located very close to each other on chromosome 1.04 (Hu et al. 2016). Regarding the incomplete penetrance of qhir1 for HIR (Prigge et al. 2012b), the choice of the parents for this study was critical to guarantee sufficient variation in HIR of progenies recombinant for the qhir11 and qhir12 sub-regions. The non-inducer parent CML269 had shown highly significant difference in HIR values between progeny selected for qhir1 in combination with multiple haploid inducers (CIM-MYT, unpublished data). Therefore, CML269 was chosen as non-inducer parent to develop a large F 2 population with the selected tropicalized haploid inducer TAIL8. The 14 SNP markers selected for our analyses provided good coverage of the qhir1 region and were sufficient to delineate the sub-regions qhir11 and qhir12. The recombinants observed in the F 2 generation showed a genetic distance of   1 3 3.1 cM between them, which is consistent with the estimate for qhir11 and qhir12 reported by Hu et al. (2016). We did not study the effect of qhir11 and qhir12 in homozygous recombinants (AAbb or aaBB) of the F 2 generation because they were too few to make valid inferences. Given the huge efforts required in phenotyping for HIR, we had to restrict the number of individuals analyzed from each F 2 genotype class to 10 F 2 plants, resulting in 40 F 2:3 families which could be analyzed within and among the four genotype classes. Seed DNA was genotyped for each of these F 3 families to eliminate heterozygotes before planting and conducting testcrosses and selfings with the F 3 plants. A liguless tester was used in testcrosses for measuring HIR because this method was recommended for accurate measurement of HIR in comparison to other methods (Melchinger et al. 2016) and has been reliably used for determining the HIR in previous studies (Prigge et al. 2012a;Melchinger et al. 2013;Chaikam et al. 2016). Staggered planting of the liguleless tester multiple times allowed achieving synchrony in flowering with the majority of the F 3 plants differing widely in anthesis date (data not shown).For the majority of F 3 plants (83.7%), we could evaluate HIR based on the recommended number of testcross seed (1000) and for only less than 1% of the F 3 plants we had to measure HIR with fewer than 200 testcross seeds, which was the lower limit suggested by Prigge et al. (2012a).The F 3 progenies, which were homozygous recombinants for the qhir11 and qhir12 sub-region, showed unambiguous differences in HIR (Table 3). HIR is known to be a trait with incomplete penetrance and hence, has a tendency to show highly variable expression in different genetic backgrounds (Prigge et al. 2012b). In the population studied here, there appeared to be no alleles masking the HIR trait, because HIR ranged from normal inducer levels to non-inducer levels. In contrast to the hypothesis put forward by Hu et al. (2016), the 535 kb segment of the qhir11 sub-region was in our study the only sub-region of qhir1 mandatory for HI ability. The inducer qhir11 allele (A) increased the HIR significantly in the presence of inducer (B) or non-inducer (b) alleles at the sub-region qhir12. The inducer qhir12 allele alone, in the absence of the inducer qhir11 allele did not cause a HIR higher than the spontaneous occurrence of haploids observed in normal noninducer maize lines (Chase 1969). Actually, qhir12 significantly decreased HIR in the presence of the inducer allele at qhir11 but significantly increased HIR in the presence of the non-inducer allele at qhir11. In both cases, the significant differences due to the qhir12 allele were not strong enough to change the overall expression of HI due to the qhir11 allele, but merely modified the HIR.A genome-wide study on 53 haploid inducers publicly available and 1,482 normal maize lines provided strong evidence that qhir11 and qhir12 were fixed in all the inducers and this was exclusively attributed to selection for HI (Hu et al. 2016). The qhir11 sub-region, also found significant in the study by Hu et al. (2016), revealed two haplotypes, where the minor haplotype was shared by two non-inducer lines, which did not have HI ability. Additionally, Hu et al. (2016) identified qhir12 as the most probable genomic segment carrying gene(s) responsible for HI, as this region had a single haplotype that was unchanged in all the inducers. In contrast, the results of our validation study clearly show that the major haplotype of qhir11 found by Hu et al. (2016) is mandatory for HI and that the presence or absence of inducer qhir12 did not affect the HIR significantly. Our study cannot make any inference on the effect of the minor haplotype of qhir11 that was present only among two publically available inducers analyzed. Also, our study cannot make any specific conclusion regarding the 243 kb finemapped genomic region for HIR (Dong et al. 2013), as we have not studied this region in particular, but rather a larger genomic region harboring this fine-mapped region.Various authors suggested investigating segregation distortion as a means to further fine-map the qhir11 sub-region influencing maternal haploid induction in maize (Barret et al. 2008;Prigge et al. 2012b;Dong et al. 2013). Strong segregation distortion was reported against the haploid inducer allele in many genetic studies (Barret et al. 2008;Prigge et al. 2012b;Dong et al. 2013). Xu et al. (2013) studied segregation distortion in regard to HI and mapped a major QTL associated with segregation distortion, sed1, on chromosome 1, overlapping with the fine-mapped qhir1 QTL. It is not clear yet, if segregation distortion is due to the same gene causing HI, or if another gene reducing fitness is closely linked to the gene(s) in qhir1 causing HI. It is also not clear exactly what type of reduction in fitness is linked to HI. Barret et al. (2008) suggested impediments in male gametic transmission associated with HI, while Xu et al. (2013) proved that there is both gametic and zygotic selection responsible for segregation distortion associated with HI. Our study did not aim to distinguish whether segregation distortion was caused by the same gene responsible for HI, or by another tightly linked gene. However, we observed in this study that both HI ability and strong segregation distortion against the inducer qhir11 allele, both of which were not observed for qhir12. For qhir12, the observed segregation distortion was significantly smaller, and in the opposite direction, favoring the inducer allele, while a much smaller effect was found on the HIR.In addition to SD, high maternal HI also is strongly associated with the formation of defective kernels, including embryo and endosperm abortion (Xu et al. 2013) and reduced seed set (Satarova and Cherchel 2010). Similar to its effects on SD, the qhir11 sub-region in our study strongly increased kernel abortion while qhir12 had negligible effect on this. It is possible that the same gene(s) conditioning the HIR or another tightly linked gene within the qhir11 region can condition kernel abortion. One hypothesis for this relationship is that one of the sperm cells from the inducer pollen could be defective while the other sperm cell is normal (Geiger 2009). When the defective sperm cell fertilizes the central cell, endosperm abortion can result, and when the defective sperm cell fertilizes the egg cell, a haploid embryo or aborted embryo can result. This hypothesis was supported by the occurrence of morphologically different sperm cells (Bylich and Chalyk 1996), aneuploid microsporocytes which may produce aneuploid sperm cells (Chalyk et al. 2003), and an increase in heterofertilization when haploid inducer pollen is used (Kraptchev et al. 2003;Rotarenco and Eder 2003). Another hypothesis involves epigenetic, dosage-dependent modification of the chromosomes exerted by the sed1 locus which overlaps with the qhir1 locus resulting in incomplete penetrance of the sed1/qhir1 locus (Xu et al. 2013). It was proposed that expression of the sed1 locus can differ between the pollen grains resulting in some pollen grains having strong epigenetic modification while others are less modified. A strong modification of the sperm cell chromosomes may lead to kernel abortion or haploid formation while less epigenetically modified pollen leads to normal kernel formation. Further studies are required to understand the exact mechanism(s) behind kernel abortion associated with HI, for which cloning the gene(s) underlying these loci could be critical.The physical interval of qhir11 in the B73 genome sequence (V2) has 13 protein-coding genes annotated by the MAKER gene annotation pipeline (Cantarel et al. 2008) as available in http://ensembl.gramene.org/Zea_mays (Suppl. Table 2). Out of these genes, 11 are predicted to have protein domains with known functions. Among these, gene Zm00001d029411 is predicted to have a protein which falls into the CULLIN family of ubiquitin ligases.CULLIN-dependent ubiquitin ligases form a class of structurally related multi-subunit enzymes that control the rapid and selective degradation of important regulatory proteins involved in cell cycle progression and development (Thomann et al. 2005). In mice, knocking out a cullin-RING ubiquitin ligase leads to infertile male mice, due to fewer numbers of mature spermatozoa, most of which exhibit morphological defects, rendering them immotile and unable to fertilize eggs. In addition to the morphological abnormalities, chromosomal defects were also observed which may also contribute to infertility (Yin et al. 2011). The gene Zm00001d029411 in B73 had maximum similarity to AtCUL1 in Arabidopsis thaliana, based on a BLAST N alignment (E = 0.0012). CUL1 forms part of the SCF (SKP1-CUL1-F-box) complex in plants and animals, where SCF-dependant ubiquitylation plays a critical role in the control of the cell cycle (Thomann et al. 2005). Consistent with such a role, Arabidopsis cul1 lossof function mutants arrest early during embryogenesis at the zygote stage (Shen et al. 2002). Genetic analysis also indicated a reduction in transmission of the atcul1 mutation through both male and female gametes. Considering the specific roles the protein domain plays in cell cycle and gametophyte development and transmission, this gene could be an interesting putative candidate gene for HI ability. Several recent studies indicate that manipulation of Centromere Histone CENH3 could lead to in vivo haploid induction in Arabidopsis (Ravi and Chan 2010;Seymour et al. 2012;Ravi et al. 2014), and in maize- (Kelliher et al. 2016). However, native CENH3 may not have any role in in vivo HI using maternal haploid inducers in maize. CENH3 is localized on chromosome 6.06 (Prigge et al. 2012b) and no mapping study has so far detected a major QTL for HI in this region. Also, study by Kelliher et al. (2016) showed that altered CENH3 when introduced into maize showed a maximum of 3.6% HIR, which is significantly lower than the high HIR (~10% or more) obtained using the improved maternal haploid inducers (Röber et al. 2005;Prigge et al. 2012a;Chaikam et al. 2016). Our study also showed that none of the annotated genes at qhir11 are related to CENH3. Therefore, cloning of the gene(s) responsible for maternal haploid induction, underlying qhir11, may provide a better insight into the genetic mechanism underlying gynogenesis in maize. It also needs to be explored whether CENH3-mediated HI can be synergistic to the qhir1 mediated HI in maize.In this study, the qhir1 region was genetically delineated, and the haploid induction ability of qhir11 and qhir12 subregions was dissected through analysis of recombinants from a large F2 population derived from a non-inducer x haploid inducer cross. The study clearly revealed that qhir11 is the only sub-region with a strong effect on HIR, whereas qhir12 had a negligible effect on HIR, in contrast to the hypothesis of Hu et al. (2016) based on a selective sweep based GWAS approach. Furthermore, our study proved that qhir11 is more strongly associated than qhir12 with segregation distortion and kernel abortion, two traits that are associated with maternal haploid induction. The results of this study give direction in further fine mapping and cloning of the gene/s underlying qhir1. The molecular markers delineating qhir11 can be used for more efficient development of new inducer lines adapted to diverse agro climatic zones using marker assisted selection.Author's note When this publication was in production, three articles (Kelliher et al. 2017;Gilles et al. 2017;Liu et al. 2017) were published about cloning the gene underlying qhir1 QTL that codes for a sperm specific phospholipase and triggers haploid induction.Author contribution statement AEM, SKN, VC and PMB designed the experiments. VC, ML and LLA coordinated the field trials and phenotyping. SKN and VC coordinated the sample collection, DNA extraction and genotyping. WM, SKN, VC and AEM analyzed the data. SKN, VC and WM wrote the manuscript. AEM and PMB edited the manuscript."}

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+{"metadata":{"gardian_id":"03b0f8fda6eddef8355f3225c6d2534f","source":"gardian_index","url":"https://cgspace.cgiar.org/rest/bitstreams/638d5b46-ee5c-4dcf-ae9b-89844720a71a/retrieve","id":"332664203"},"keywords":[],"sieverID":"45679598-1231-43f0-b114-3ad3f6a4ce44","content":"Any reflection on 2020 will likely dwell on the magnitude and impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Yet, our enduring memory will be of the ICARDA family of staff, farmers, partners, and donors, among others, who came together to overcome the challenges of lockdowns, travel restrictions, labor shortages, and supply issues. Their commitment enabled ICARDA to remain on track with our objectives across the Central and West Asia and North Africa (CWANA) region.We were also grateful for the exceptional flexibility and adaptability of donors, such as the Arab Fund for Economic and Social Development (AFESD) and the Secretariat General of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) who were key to our ongoing capacity building activities, bestowing additional support and leadership during these challenging times. Furthermore, our strong networks with country stakeholders, including the National Agricultural Research System (NARS) partners, enabled swift action and contingencies to continue our work and keep our staff and family farming communities safe.Our work on climate-smart crops, genebanks, and international nurseries continued largely unaffected due to the vital support of donors and partners. Research, delivery, and training packages meant new and past improved crops varieties continue to flourish under climate change to boost yields and income throughout the region.Our sustainable crop and livestock programs, again with the support of our donors and partners, gained strength across Ethiopia, Sudan, and beyond. Our research delivered hardier, more productive community herds, the means to grow forage sustainably, and the social and economic insights needed to create more employment opportunities.Our land, soils, and water teams continue to restore soil quality and biodiversity throughout the region by upscaling pioneering and innovative approaches that protect and sustainably manage valuable water sources.More than anything, the pandemic made us determined to help drive CGIAR's ongoing transition to a streamlined, integrated, and dynamic One CGIAR that delivers a greater impact and more robust food systems efficiently -both across the dry areas where we work and globally. After officially joining the One CGIAR in late 2020, our restructured science teams were already in place for a much higher degree of integration. Across the CGIAR, and alongside our partners, donors, and other CGIAR Centers, we began developing the multi-stakeholder initiatives that will frame One CGIAR's future work. We are also reaching out to relative newcomers, non-CGIAR countries, and bilateral donors to ensure that ICARDA continues to serve them either bilaterally or within One CGIAR. Above all, 2020 highlighted our long-term host country arrangements and the trust we have built with partners and donors over four decades in the Central and West Asia, and North Africa (CWANA) region and beyond. Under a united One CGIAR, we will be uniquely placed to improve food and water security for dryland family farmers and progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals. Regardless of the 2020 challenges, we see a bright and unified future.Foreword: joint message from CGIAR Regional Director of CWANA and ICARDA Director General, Mr. Aly Abousabaa, and ICARDA Board Chair Mr. Michel AframThroughout 2020, we continued digitalizing our research to facilitate faster, better, and more accurate data collection, knowledge sharing, analysis, and decisionmaking. Global developments in technology, digital analytics, remote sensing, networks, and software, especially on now-ubiquitous smartphones, make data collection, analysis, reporting, and knowledge sharing easier and more efficient, even in the most isolated and fragile dry areas where we work.Our unique and growing pool of big data -based on four decades of drylands research -helps to model and analyze new approaches, climate variability, assessment of new crop varieties and livestock improvements, socioeconomics, and decision-making at all levels. When consolidated with other Centers under the ongoing One CGIAR reformulation, our data will constitute a formidable resource that will contribute significantly to the battle against global climate challenges.In 2020, our Geoinformatics for sustainable Agro-Ecosystems (GeoAgro) Team led by Dr. Chandra Shekhar Biradar ramped up the digitalization of research through its geo-big data-driven platform to leverage the latestDigitalizing research for a level playing field cutting-edge technological innovations. Selected ICARDA projects contained GeoAgro pilot elements while staff and partners were trained on geotagging tools. The implementation of geo-referenced field data collection with geotagging tools led to collection of over 2,500 datasets for mapping farming systems across dry region in 2020.We were also thrilled when 4 GeoAgro-related projects made it to the final 15 (out of 120 entries) of the CGIAR Big Data Inspire awards. Two projects went on to win -one helps farmers monitor locust activity, and the other, supported by the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) alongside ICARDA's Dr. Mounir Louhaichi, facilitates accurate decision-making in rangelands health by pooling data and satellite imagery.ICARDA's Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning (MEL) Team, led by Dr. Enrico Bonaiuti, developed tools such as the WOCAT digital explorer and the Central Asia Climate Portal. These tools pool valuable data and knowledge such as climate information and global agricultural innovations from official international sources to support organizations, policymakers, and researchers in decisionmaking, monitoring, and learning.MEL also developed tools such as the Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning Quality Assurance Processor, or 'M-QAP', which pools large data sets from mainstream research databases to simplify and support research and encourage standardization across global databases. These tools have been adopted by the Partnership for Research and Innovation in the Mediterranean Area (PRIMA) to strengthen the extent and complexity of their knowledge frameworks.Also in 2020, the Partnership for Research and Innovation in the Mediterranean Area (PRIMA) began using ICARDA's Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning (MEL) as its prime monitoring and evaluation tool, to strengthen the extent and complexity of its intervention framework. PRIMA is a joint program undertaken by its 19 participating states aimed at creating a competitive environment for solutions development in research and innovation across the Mediterranean area.Through its Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning (MEL) Team, ICARDA also became the official AGROVOC editor in Arabic, in addition to its contribution to the English AGROVOC version, vastly increasing the integration of online tools and systems, which are available in multiple languages. It also improves the discoverability of knowledge from the Central and West Asia and North Africa (CWANA) region in line with the recent Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Reusable (FAIR) policy approved by CGIAR.Another exciting, digital-focused initiative is ICARDA's involvement through Dr. Filippo Bassi, in the Activated Genebank Network (AGENT) project, funded by the European Union and launched in 2020. It standardizes and pools phenotype information from global genebank networks within a single database and revolutionizes plant genetic resource information sharing. Our Genetic Resources Team is also accelerating research digitalization through tools such as the CGIAR Breeding Program Assessment Tool, which aids design and analysis, and helps the breeding management system centralize breeding data.Our Query the Breeding Management System (QMBS) initiative was developed and published in 2020 to offer scientists and researchers easy ways to access knowledge from a wide range of analytics, visualization, and data transformations from within the Breeding Management System -an established tool that helps breeders manage their processes.Finally, ICARDA also embraces low-cost digitalization for services to stakeholders with a low technology, affordable approach. The ICT2Scale project uses cell phone-based services to offer e-learning and extension services for crop and small ruminant production, beekeeping, and conservation agriculture to farmers in Tunisia, and farmers in our community-based livestock projects in Ethiopia use the DTREO app to capture and share details about productive animals.Read about digitalization in detail in the appendix.The The ICARDA-South Asia &  To find out about our 2020 work in climate-smart crops, click below:The DIIVA-PR Project ICARDA also works across the Arabian Peninsula to improve date palm, an important crop for the region where 90 percent of global date production is concentrated. Funded by the Secretariat General of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), the project improves date palm production systems in GCC countries, employing modern technology to increase crop management, post-harvest seed operation, and market and value chain development. Major project milestones in 2020 include applying drone technology to monitor pests, applying new liquid pollination techniques, and post-harvesting monitoring and control. Liquid pollination resulted in cost reductions of 80 percent, savings of 70 percent in pollen grains, and a profitability ratio of 1:9 when compared to conventional methods.Nurseries.ICARDA's International Nurseries Team implemented seed production and distribution for 1,295 sets of 28 International Nursery trials, covering 1,566 genotypes spread over the 7 ICARDA crops, to 114 cooperators in 43 countries.From ICARDA-generated germplasm under development, distributed to national counterparts through the International Nursery system, we released 2 barley and 14 wheat varieties for crop production in 4 countries.We also distributed three tons of quality seed of ICARDAoriginated varieties of its six mandated crops to Syria and Lebanon for further multiplication and distribution. And we produced 160 kg of seed from 200 genotypes, selected from 1,300 accessions of dryland forages, for distribution to livestock-based livelihood communities in Lebanon, accompanied by a training video.As demand for wheat rapidly grows across Africa, Asia, and the Middle East, ICARDA is urgently addressing growing climatic challenges, pests, and diseases that hinder domestic production. We do this by generating an effective wheat-breeding strategy and new wheat varieties, alongside the training needed to help them flourish, and new technologies and tools. Our improved varieties deliver high-yield potential, resistance and tolerance to abiotic and biotic stresses, and acceptable end-use qualities. We also develop diversified wheatpulse cropping systems that boost soil biodiversity while improving wheat's nutritional value.The African Development Bank (AfDB)-funded Technologies for African Agricultural Transformation Wheat Compact project expansion in Ethiopia and Sudan, the fantastic Crop Science Society of America (CSSA) Award for outstanding paper, and our work on wheat in fragile states and territories, can all be found on our highlights page.Our Crop Breeding Teams are also working alongside other CGIAR Center Research Teams to develop the new initiatives that will define future approaches to wheat breeding across the globe under the One CGIAR reformulation.Other 2020 developments in wheat include:Our disease and pests research in Turkey is supported by TAGEM (General Directorate of Agricultural Research and Policy, the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry of Turkey) and the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) and is headed by Dr. Kumarse Nazari. In 2020, we helped the Regional Cereal Rust Research Center identify new stem and yellow rust races for the first time in some countries in the region. These rust races are resistant to current rustresistant breeds in Central and West Asia, and North Africa (CWANA) countries, and research is underway to monitor their movement and find new rust-resistant traits to combat the ever-evolving threat. Funded by the Swedish Research Council and CIMMYT, and headed by ICARDA's Dr. Filippo Bassi, the area along the Senegal River cultivated with new durum wheat varieties that can withstand up to 40°C heat exceeded 8,000 ha, benefitting some 50,000 farmers. Seeds of durum wheat varieties identified in Senegal were provided to farmers' associations and non-governmental organizations across Africa.In addition to our Arab Peninsula Regional Program (see highlights), in 2020 we implemented over 1,100 demonstrations in farmers' fields in the region, led by Dr. Science for resilient livelihoods in dry areas COVID-related challenges, the outstanding efforts of NARS partners enabled over 5,800 farmers to benefit.A project led by ICARDA's Dr. Rachid Moussadek, funded by one of the largest mills in Morocco and supported by CIMMYT, aims to improve cereal quality and productivity by offering farmers the right choice of varieties adapted to different production areas. In 2019, in collaboration with L'Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique du Maroc (INRA-M), local varieties were tested under different agroclimatic conditions including under drought, and local wheat germplasm was identified and multiplied in an irrigated area to secure the germplasm material to be tested next season with selected farmers.Read about wheat in detail in the appendix.ICARDA implemented numerous research projects in 2020 to deliver climate-smart food legumes for family farmers in dry areas to increase their income and household nutrition. ICARDA improves the productivity, nutritional quality, and yield stability of legume crops such as faba bean, grasspea, kabuli chickpea and lentil by developing elite germplasm, resistant to key diseases and insect pests and adaptive to rising temperatures, and water stress. We also look at ways to intercrop these varieties into staple crop systems such as wheat, barley and rice.Our elite food legume lines are made available to the National Agricultural Research System (NARS) partners through ICARDA's International Nurseries. ICARDA's Food Legumes Team is also working alongside other CGIAR Centers to develop the One CGIAR initiatives that seek to unify efforts in crop improvement globally and across Central and West Asia, and North Africa (CWANA) countries.Our projects receive funding from the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), the Government of Odisha, the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), the European Union, the Ashutosh Sarker and Nigamananda Swain also looked at intercropping faba bean, grass pea, Kabuli chickpea, and lentil into rice fallow, durum wheat, and barley systems and examined the use of remote sensing images to identify suitable fallows for such diversified crop systems.We also develop early-maturing food legumes to fit within short maturing windows, and for a project in South Asia funded by the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and led by Ashutosh Sarker, our early-maturing lentils used between rice harvests increased system productivity by 25-30 percent where adopted, for over 23,845 farmers.And with the support of the Global Crop Diversity Trust and the Templeton World Charity Foundation, and in partnership with the John Innes Center, we generated the genomic resources required to deliver varieties of grass pea with low ODAP (a natural toxin) accurately and efficiently, to make this hardy and nutritious crop safeICARDA can now produce up to five generations of barley, chickpea, grass pea, lentil and wheat crops per year through rapid generation advancement following speed breeding protocols that shorten the period for new variety releases from 10 to 6 years. The new screening and breeding infrastructure, which will be completed by the end of 2021, will increase capacity from 3,000 to 100,000 plants.for human consumption. Research by Dr. Zewdie Bishaw also identified grass pea mutants with low ODAP that were suitable and safe options for farmers.Read about food legumes in detail in the appendix.Barley is the ultimate multipurpose crop in the drylands of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, covering 3.3 million ha, mainly in Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia. Providing food, feed, forage and/or malt, barley increases food and feed security by intensifying animal and crop production per unit area. For many traditional subsistence farmers, barley is the only and often last option to feed their livestock, especially in drier years. Yet making a profit on produce is a challenge even when conditions are optimal. Climate change is expected to reduce rainfall by up to 50 percent and increase temperatures up to 4ºC in the region by the end of the century. Therefore, new technologies need to be developed and deployed to increase the productivity per unit area in a scenario of worse climatic conditions.The ICARDA Global Barley Breeding program has developed new barley genotypes, producing 10 percent more grain and straw under severe drought conditions than commercial checks (conventional varieties). New wild relative-derived genotypes with consistently higher B-glucan content for increased nutritional value have also been developed, together with new genotypes with 30 percent more forage production In 2020, ICARDA's Dr. Miguel Sanchez-Garcia assembled four Global Barley International Nurseries and distributed new varieties to 23 countries.These trials/nurseries are targeted to global lowinput production conditions for rainfed agriculture, or in areas of drought and other challenges. The yield trial constitutes of 25 lines, including one local/ national check, and with genotypes that have proven performance and adaptation from typical to severe dry regions of the world. These are coupled with disease resistance and they target different products and uses (especially food, feed, and fodder). The observation nursery has approximately 120 diverse, advanced barley lines, which combine climate smart, pest, disease, and yield traits, to deliver variability to national breeders for use in their own programs.The ICARDA barley nurseries for high-input environments provide materials targeted for areas where barley is grown under more favorable conditions and with the use of near-optimum level of inputs. The yield trial contains 25 lines including one local/national check and is constituted by elite barley genotypes with proven grain yield performance and adaptation across high-input testing sites around the world (India, Lebanon, Morocco, among others), coupled with disease resistance and targeting different products and uses (especially food, feed, malting, forage and fodder). The observation nursery has approximately 120 diverse, advanced barley lines, combining traits of interest to deliver variability to national breeders to make selections and use in their own program.Our innovations reduce the environmental footprint of dryland agriculture and aim for Land Degradation Neutrality through restoration measures that adapt to climate change. We also deliver knowledge and skills to rural households to ensure product safety and maximum benefits from value addition. To ensure that CGIAR Resilient crop-livestock systems ICARDA's integrated approach towards more productive and sustainable crop-livestock systems focuses on farmer-and communitybased solutions for improving sheep and goat production, sustainable management and restoration of rangelands, producing water-efficient dryland forages, and better integration of crop and livestock in mixed dryland systems. The agricultural future of global dry areas is at grave risk from intensifying climate change, land degradation, and diminishing resources, especially water. To build livelihoods resilience and diversify cereal-based irrigated, rain-fed, and conservation agriculture food systems, ICARDA carries out sustainable land, soil, and water management research-for-development on diversified and sustainable practices for family and large-scale farming. We also develop sustainable desert agriculture and promote the safe use of treated wastewater to produce feed, forage, and trees.In 2020, ICARDA's Soil, Water, and Agronomy Team collaborated with other CGIAR Centers on the new frameworks that will define CGIAR's future water management and soil health approaches across the globe under the One CGIAR reformulation.Other In 2020 core activities included developing and applying best practices for acquisition, pre-breeding, regeneration, conservation, distribution, and documentation of genetic resources. The Genetic Resources (GRS) Team also continued reconstructing active base collections in Lebanon and Morocco, regenerating and characterizing accessions in 2020. Further collection missions were carried out in countries.As well as this, to ensure that CGIAR harnesses ICARDA's expertise and genetic resources under the One CGIAR reformulation, the Genetic Resources (GRS) Team is also working with other CGIAR Centers on the new frameworks that will define CGIAR's future genebank approaches.Efforts to improve performance in 2020 means that the ICARDA genebank system now responds faster to genetic resources research requests by intensifying the Focused Identification of Germplasm Strategy approach and ensuring safety duplications at two levels, as targeted by the CGIAR Genebank Platform. The Moroccan dryland agrobiodiversity genebank facility was also completed in November.High on our 2020 agenda was strengthening prebreeding activities for ICARDA mandate crops such as grass pea and accelerating pre-breeding for drought, heat, and salt tolerance/resistance for barley.ICARDA was also proud to lead a multi-nation project, funded by the Grains Research and Development Corporation, (GRDC), to develop sets of germplasm which allows characterization of virulences of the Aschocyta blight pathogen and identify good sources of resistance.We also contributed to the Activated Genebank Network (AGENT) project funded by the European Union and launched in 2020. It standardizes and pools phenotype information from global gene bank networks within a single database and will revolutionize plant genetic resources information sharing. Improving rural livelihoods ICARDA's Social, Economic, and Policy (SEP) Research Team plays a crucial role in analyzing our innovations' socioeconomic viability, adoption, scaling up, and impact on poverty alleviation, food security, systems resilience, and social inclusiveness. Our solutions aim for more inclusive markets and value chains, better natural resource management and governance, and optimization of sustainable land and livestock management options. Our approaches also include socioeconomic evaluation and gender transformative approaches, as well as context-sensitive targeting.In 2020, the Social, Economic, and Policy (SEP) Team carried out several studies to analyze factors that can drive transformations in farmers' livelihoods and inform decision-makers and institutions on effective policies and strategies for improving agricultural productivity.In  As more men migrate to urban areas and more research is carried out into gender inequalities and the potential of women in agriculture, CGIAR Centers such as ICARDA step up their support. We prioritize research that enhances access to land, water, seeds, credit, knowledge, and innovation, and we empower women through capacity development that facilitates their role as leaders and active agents of change. We also help them engage in more lucrative economic activities through agricultural diversification, intensification, and value addition.In addition, we advocate for improvements in wages and working conditions and the eradication of genderbased inequality. We also investigate promising formal and informal institutional arrangements that enhance women's voice and power in dry area communities, and we promote proven technologies that reduce agriculture-related drudgery.In 2020, we published several important studies and organized numerous workshops:A workshop organized by the London School of Economics (LSE) in 2019 drew experts from all over the world, including LSE professor of Gender and Development, Naila Kabeer, to discuss the continued limited access to labor market opportunities for women in South Asia and the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). The subsequent report published in 2020 featured recommendations and methodologies for greater recognition of women as workers rather than helpers, property ownership perceptions, pay equality, and the revitalization of agriculture as a valuable occupation in society.Throughout much of 2020, ICARDA's Gender Scientist Dina Najjar carried out gender-focused studies such as one that investigates the vital contribution women make to livelihood resilience. The study uncovered women's undervalued and hidden contributions to rural dryland farming practices and examined domestic issues. It suggests that building women's resilience to the impacts of COVID-19 and life afterward through better transport, digital access, consistent and affordable feedstock supplies, and other agricultural inputs will strengthen the resilience of households and whole communities.Dr. Najjar also published a critical study revealing, among other data, how women in Egypt, who are generally disadvantaged compared to men with regards to land management, are reluctant to pass land on to their daughters. This is most probably for fear of the daughters then being unable to protect ownership from extended family.Another of Dr. Najjar's studies showed how intensifying male outmigration in dryland areas affects women's roles in agriculture and related activities, with broader implications for productivity and gender equity. The findings reveal that women are performing more farm labor in agricultural communities due to the increasing outmigration of men. Furthermore, many socio-cultural and economic factors influence migration-related agricultural feminization in drylands, with ongoing negotiations of these happening at different societal levels.South Asian women trained in value additionwomen-owned demo sites in Egypt planted with improved wheat and faba bean 1Safaa Kurari named as one of the BBC's '100 Inspiring Women 2020'Science for resilient livelihoods in dry areasIn 2020, ICARDA was thrilled for our staff, partners, and students to win several prestigious awards for their research and fieldwork. Here is a list of our 2020 highlights.ICARDA projects won two out of seven CGIAR Big Data Inspire Challenge Awards.ICARDA scientist, Safaa Kumari, was recognized as one of the world's '100 inspiring women 2020' by the BBC for her work in protecting globally important crops from destructive pests and viruses.Chair Find out more about our Board of Trustees.To ensure CGIAR can harness our unique knowledge assets for better decision-making and global knowledge sharing, we continued to digitalize our research across disciplines in 2020, in preparation for the One CGIAR reformulation. The future combined strength of this pooled data and tools from all CGIAR centers will constitute a formidable resource that will contribute significantly to the battle against global climate challenges. Through its Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning (MEL) Team, ICARDA became the official AGROVOC Editors for Arabic in addition to its contribution to the English language version, vastly increasing integration among ICARDA's online tools and systems. These are now accessible in multiple languages, which has helped to improve knowledge discoverability from the Central and West Asia, and North Africa region -in line with the recent Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Reusable (FAIR) policy approved by CGIAR.In 2020, our Geoinformatics for sustainable Agro-Ecosystems (GeoAgro) Team led by Dr. Chandra Shekhar Biradar ramped up the digitalization of research through its geo-big data-driven platform to leverage the latest cutting-edge technological innovations driven by geo big-data, earth observation, citizen science and ICTs. The GeoAgro Team also developed a number of Geotagging and Agrotagging tools to assist digitalization of research and outreach. Selected ICARDA projects contained GeoAgro pilot elements while staff and partners were trained on geotagging tools. The implementation of georeferenced field data collection with geotagging tools led to the collection of over 2,500 datasets for mapping farming systems across dry regions in 2020.We were also thrilled in October 2020, when 4 of our Geoinformatics for sustainable Agro-Ecosystems Another exciting, digital-focused initiative is the Activated Genebank Network (AGENT) project funded by the European Union and launched in 2020. Working with ICARDA's Dr. Filippo Bassi, AGENT standardizes and pools phenotype information from global gene bank networks, including those of CGIAR, within a single database. The project will revolutionize the sharing of plant genetic resource information and uncover a rich collection of genetic resources.Working in a different area is our ICT2Scale project. Funded by German development agency Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit GmbH (GIZ), this project aims to enhance access to e-learning and cell phone-based services to strengthen extension for smallholder farmers in Tunisia. In 2020, ICT2Scale sent out technical SMS to 1,000 farmers concerning crop and small ruminant production, bee-keeping, and conservation agriculture. The market prices for 10 agricultural commodities were also made available to the beneficiary farmers via cell phones.Led by ICARDA's Khaled Al-Shamaa, and funded by the Breeding Modernization project, the Query the Breeding Management System (QBMS) enables scientists to retrieve their experiment data from the standard Breeding Management System (BMS) database for further use within the 'R' context. QBMS provides coverage of a wide range of analytics, visualization, data transformations, and manipulations that could not have been delivered within the BMS itself. The interface combining all the flexibility of an R environment with the referential integrity, persistence, and cohesion of a centralized database like the BMS. QBMS fits with the CGIAR strategy expectation set by the Excellence in the Breeding initiative.ICARDA's durum and bread wheat breeding programs make extensive use of wild relatives to develop elite germplasm well adapted to the drastic and frequent droughts that affect the region in which ICARDA operates. In the last 10 years alone, more than 60 ICARDA-originated bread wheat varieties have been released across the Central and West Asia, and North Africa (CWANA) region, and sub-Saharan Africa by national programs in these regions.Significant 2020 developments in our work on wheat were:As well as our work on the Arab Peninsula Regional Program (see highlights), ICARDA works across Arab countries on the Enhancing Food Security in Arab Countries project to improve food security in the region. Headed by Dr. Habib Halila, phase III of the project is funded by the Arab Fund for Economic and Social Development (AFESD) and the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries Fund for International Development (OFID). The project helps to improve food security and the growth of the agricultural sector by improving wheat production and training young scientists and national agricultural support staff.As part of its third phase, the project continued to build on the results achieved during the previous phases, by verifying and fine-tuning recommended technology packages (wheat and food legume cultivars, agronomic and water management technologies). Working in Algeria, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Morocco, Palestine, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, and Yemen, the project expanded the number of pilot sites to other agro-ecologies thereby out-scaling the technologies to more end-users and strengthening the capacity of national research and extension systems to promote the technologies for wider adoption.In the 2020 season, the project implemented activities in 28 pilot areas distributed in the participating countries. These pilot sites represent the wheat-based production systems followed by farmers in the concerned countries. The project implemented more than 1,100 demonstrations in farmers' fields covering various improved technologies for wheat and legumes production. The results of the demonstrations showed that improved production technologies can lead to an increase in wheat yield varying, from 15 to 97 percent depending on the country and the production systems.The average increase across all countries was 30 percent and the maximum average increase was 69 percent, indicating that higher potential and greater room exist for further improvement in wheat yield in all countries.Concerning the project's capacity-building activities, these were affected during the 2020 season by COVID-19 due to confinement and shutdowns. However, the National Agricultural Research Systems' (NARS) partners stepped up their efforts in implementing the planned capacity-building activities, while taking obligatory safety measures into account. Due to these efforts, more than 5,800 farmers benefited from field days and farmers' field schools in the project countries.The ICARDA-coordinated Technologies for African Agricultural Transformation (TAAT) wheat compact project, funded by the African Development Bank (AfDB), International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), and Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF), continued to significantly strengthen production capacity and seed systems across Africa, including in ICARDA-led programs in Ethiopia and Sudan.Led by ICARDA's Dr. Zewdie Bishaw, collectively about 80,191 tons (670 t basic seed; 77,150 t certified seed, and 2,367 t of quality declared seed) were produced in 6 target countries, which is sufficient to plant around 1 million ha.In 2020, Sudan's bumper harvest produced 1.15 million tons of wheat and ICARDA and its partners are working to improve the sustainability of wheat production with proper input management and diversified rotations. In 2020/21, Sudan reached 375,000 ha with expected productivity of 3.6 tons ha -1 and production of 1.35 million tons -a wheat area expansion of 87 percent, productivity increase of 26 percent, and production increase of 135 percent, respectively, from a 2017/18 cropping season baseline. Similarly, Ethiopia continued expansion of irrigated wheat production (180,000 ha) in Amhara and Oromia States spearheaded by the government. The average productivity of irrigated wheat is 4.4 tons ha -1 , 50 percent higher than rainfed wheat. As a result of its irrigated wheat land area expansion, Ethiopia is now harvesting an additional 0.8 million tons of wheat, accounting for 52 percent of the imported wheat of 1.7 million tons.Funded by the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), ICARDA's team headed by Dr. Kumarse Nazari, supported identification for the first time in Turkey, and Tunisia, by the Regional Cereal Rust Research Center (RCRRC), of stem rust races TKTTP and TKKTP that are virulent even on rust-resistant wheat cultivar Sr24. The stem rust Ug99 race TTKTT was It is likely that most of the wheat cultivars and breeding germplasms in Central and West Asia, and North Africa (CWANA) countries are protected from wheat stem rust by the presence of stem rust genes SrTmp, Sr24 and Sr31. If the environmental conditions favor the spread of these races, they may cause a significant threat to wheat production. A new yellow rust race with a combination of virulence for Yr10 and Yr24 was also identified in Turkey, Egypt, Lebanon, Jordan, and Syria by the Regional Cereal Rust Research Center (RCRRC). Preliminary research shows that previously resistant durum wheat is particularly susceptible to this new variant. Resistant sources of durum germplasms within ICARDA's and CIMMYT's trials and durum wheat landraces from ICARDA genebank are available. The varieties are also resistant to yellow rust disease, which causes significant yield loss in the region.Funded by the Swedish Research Council and CIMMYT, and headed by Dr. Filippo Bassi, the Senegal River Basin initiative uses non-genetically modified molecular breeding techniques to develop a set of durum wheat varieties that can withstand up to 40°C heat along the Senegal River basin.In 2020, the area cultivated with durum wheat along the Senegal River exceeded 8,000 ha benefitting some 50,000 farmers, and seeds of the varieties identified in Senegal were provided to farmers associations and non-governmental organizations in, Benin, Cameroon, Chad, Gambia, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Kenya Mali, Nigeria, Somalia, South Africa, Togo, and Zambia. In Ghana and Nigeria, local government support is quickly pushing durum cultivation, with several farmers already adopting the technology.ZAR3i, a project led by ICARDA's Dr. Rachid Moussadek, funded by one of the largest mills in Morocco (Forafric) and supported by CIMMYT, aims to improve cereal quality and productivity by offering farmers the right choice of varieties adapted to different production areas. The project improves the grain quality of 200,000 tons of bread and 50,000 tons of durum wheat being produced under rain-fed conditions in Morocco to reduce grain imports. The project will help in developing a digital platform, with the support of a private Portuguese and Moroccan company (named Deepface) for cereals that will help to set up incentives for grain quality in Morocco.In 2020, in collaboration with L'Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique du Maroc (INRA-M), local varieties were tested under different agroclimatic conditions and with different management (conventional tillage and no-tillage). Quality analyses were carried out at INRA-M and ICARDA's technical laboratories.Trials were increased at L'Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique du Maroc (INRA-M)/ICARDA experimental stations and farm sites in Meknes, Zaer, and Chaouia to assess drought-tolerant wheat varieties tested during this cropping season. The result of the effect of crop management, such as conservation agriculture, on yield was obtained, the preliminary study on the grain quality was implemented, and promising local wheat germplasm was identified and multiplied in an irrigated area to secure the germplasm material to be tested next season with selected farmers.The ICARDA bread wheat breeding program, headed by Dr. Tadesse Degu, applies classical and molecular breeding tools with a modified shuttle and speed breeding scheme, which enables the completion of the whole breeding cycle in an average of 4 years.In 2020, the elite high-yielding and drought tolerant wheat genotypes from ICARDA's bread wheat breeding program showed 50 percent yield levels higher than the commonly grown wheat cultivars in Morocco. Furthermore, using molecular markers and inter-country shuttle and hotspot screening, ICARDA developed yellow rust-resistant, high-yielding bread wheat genotypes distributed to National Agriculutral Research Systems (NARS) in the Central and West Asia, and North Africa (CWANA) and sub-Saharan Africa regions from which, in the last 7 years alone, more than 60 varieties of ICARDA-origin have been released.ICARDA team. The project is under the European Union's Horizon 2020, a consortium of 25 partners that develops collections of chickpea, common bean, lentil, and lupin to generate a pool of genetic and genomic resources for accelerated improvement of the crops. In 2020, we multiplied genetically pure chickpea seed and lentil germplasm through the single seed descent method for multilocation phenotyping in the next crop season.Under the Global Crop Diversity Trust and the Templeton World Charity Foundation-funded project on grass pea, the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and ICARDA (led by Dr. Shiv Kumar), are researching 384 grass pea genotypes, while developing a speed-breeding protocol and interspecific hybridization with crop wild relatives, to widen the genetic base and optimize useful traits in cultivated species. In 2020, 27 7 introgressed lines were advanced using the speed breeding protocol and the diversity panel of 384 grass pea germplasm was phenotyped and genotyped for establishing marker-trait association.In 2020, the CGIAR Research Program on Grain Legumes and Dryland Cereals (CRP-GLDC) and Grains Research and Development Corporation (GRDC)-funded research optimized the protocol of genome editing in chickpea, intending to apply this technology to improve chickpea production. The research also optimized the genomic selection method for improving chickpea improvement accuracy by developing an efficient single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) genotyping for genome-wide association study, to associate specific genetic variations with biotic and abiotic stresses. We also evaluated MAGIC (an innovative technique to increase the speed and efficiency of breeding) population in chickpea for Ascochyta blight and drought tolerance using field screening and multilocation testing. As part of ICARDA's UPGRADE project with funding from the John Innes Centre, the Legume Team screened grass pea germplasm against major abiotic stresses, including drought, heat, waterlogging and salinity. ICARDA's Dr. Zewdie Bishaw headed the research to assess the effects of drought and heat on the concentration of the grass pea natural toxin ODAP. In 2020, the research identified grass pea mutants with low ODAP (a natural toxin) that were suitable and safe options for farmers. In 2020, the program expanded to 3 major regions of Ethiopia (Amhara, Oromia, and South) with a total of more than 60 legal breeders' cooperatives now leading day-to-day operations. An upscaling operation, undertaken with financial support from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) in Konso, Ethiopia, involved more than 2,000 households, the purchasing and dissemination of 479 goat bucks from existing Community-Based Breeding Programs (CBBPs), and mass synchronization and artificial insemination to disseminate improved genetics.Farmers were also linked with one of the biggest export slaughterhouses in Ethiopia (Allana), and the purchase of 100 goats was facilitated, which were slaughtered and exported to Dubai. Results on meat quality and consumer evaluations were very positive. The program is now being replicated in Burkina Faso, Iran, Liberia, Malawi, South Africa, Sudan, Tanzania, and Uganda.As well as being an income-generating fodder for livestock, which requires minimal agronomic inputs, cactus pear is also packed with nutrition and ideal for human consumption. In 2020 Funded by the CGIAR Research Program on Livestock (CRP Livestock), and led by Dr. Mounir Louhaichi and Dr. Mouldi Gamoun, the indigenous ranglands plants research in Tataouine, Tunisia investigates indigenous rangelands plants in Tataouine, Tunisia for their human health benefits and their attributes as feed for livestock and wildlife. Tataouine rangelands accommodate 27 percent of the country's total rangelands, making it the top region for pastureland for an estimated 1.3 million head of sheep, goats, and camels. Despite all the restoration and protective efforts, overgrazing, overharvesting, and recurrent droughts continue to degrade these rangelands. In addition to their pastoral value, Tataouine's rangelands are home to countless valuable medicinal and aromatic plants.In Ethiopia, a team led by ICARDA's Dr. Jane Wamatu, under the Sheep Fattening Project, and with the support of the CGIAR Research Program on Livestock (CRP Livestock), the Southern Agricultural Research Institute, and the Amhara Regional Agricultural Research Institute in Ethiopia, has been expanding opportunities in agribusiness to youth as a means to advance rural livelihoods and economic development across three regional states in Ethiopia.In 2020, a survey on forage options and perceptions of forage utilization revealed that farmers select forages based on biomass yield and acceptability by animals.ICARDA also researched sweet lupin, a multi-purpose forage with immense potential for feed, food, and soil fertility maintenance. The study revealed varying effects of different processing procedures of the alkaloidladen sweet lupin grain on ram fattening. Participant farmers were later champions in the demonstration and promotion of processing techniques of sweet lupin grain before supplementation. The demonstration aimed to enhance the performance of Doyogena rams, in a farmer exposure and learning field day.Meanwhile, youth members continue to undertake sheep fattening, with Doyogena and Bonga successfully registering five youth cooperatives; each cooperative is an amalgamation of several youth groups. An entrepreneurial skills development training manual was also translated into Amharic and Keficho for use across rural areas. These services included the installation and repair of drip systems, the sale of Biozote (biofertilizer) and gypsum, planting of crops on ridges and beds, laser land levelling, soil testing for accurate and balanced use of fertilizers, andwheat planting with zero till drill.The Happy Seeder (a tractor-mounted machine that cuts and lifts rice straw) and a banana residue chopper, reduced residue burning to prepare land after crops.Our scientists conducted 45 surveys with the agriculture service providers (ASPs) to document the impact of the technologies through assessing income generation rates and sustainability. All the ASPs reported that they are satisfied with their business and that they would continue it after the end of the project. The study showed almost 50 percent of the ASPs earned between 100,000 rupees ($1,300USD) to 300,000 rupees ($3,900USD) in one season.In Using a sample of 621 farmers in Syria, the study (El-Shater, Mugera and Yigezu, 2020) assessed the impacts of the adoption of zero tillage (ZT) technology on productive efficiency, input-specific resource use efficiency, and production risk. Model results showed that adoption of ZT proved to be an effective risk management strategy in dryland production systems, where it led to 95 percent and 33.3 percent reductions in the risk of obtaining wheat yield levels below 1,000 kg/ha and 1,500 kg/ha, respectively. A clear indication that using ZT leads to improvements in productive efficiency is a 93 percent reduction in the risk of obtaining efficiency levels below 40 percent among users of ZT. Future research will be needed to clarify whether coupling ZT with the other components of conservation agriculture will reverse some of these effects.Another study by Drs. Mina Devkota and Yigezu Atnafe Yigezu, funded by the CGIAR Research Program on Wheat (CRP Wheat), showed how substantial scope exists for improved agronomic practices that increase wheat yields and gross margins for farmers in Morocco.It identified tillage methods and fertilizer rates as important causal factors of the yield gap in rainfed systems, followed by the quantity of phosphorus and nitrogen fertilizer, seed quality, and the type of preceding crop. In the irrigated environment, the preceding crop was the most important variable in explaining the yield gap, followed by variety, seed quality, and quantities of nitrogen and phosphorus fertilizers. Grain yield and grain price were the most important variables explaining gross margins.A research team that included ICARDA Drs. Aymen Frija and Boubkaer Dhehibi studied the impact of investment in alternative agricultural research and development investment across 14 African countries. The aim was to investigate how these investments can mitigate future challenges like climate change and population pressure on national economies. Results showed increased investments in agriculture could generate higher overall employment and reduce gender disparities in labor participation. Further, in 8 out of the 14 countries, female employment increased more than male employment in response to agricultural investments, and infrastructure investments had a higher impact on female employment growth than productivity scenarios.Another study from the Social, Economic, and Policy (SEP) The Center of Excellence project, funded by the Arab Fund for Economic and Social Development (AFESD), and led by Dr. Seid Kamal, strengthens technology innovation and scaling by improving the skills and knowledge of researchers. In 2020, two in-country trainings were organized for the Agricultural Research Centers of Egypt and Sudan to improve the skills and knowledge of young researchers in classical and modern crop breeding tools and methods. The aim was to enable the researchers to modernize their breeding programs to increase genetic gains in wheat and food legume breeding, for wheat-based irrigated cropping systems.In Egypt, 15 young researchers working in wheat and legume improvement participated in field and lab training covering major crop breeding topics; methods, and strategies; breeding tools (speed breeding, genomic selection, marker-assisted selection); breeding for quality; genotype x environment interactions, and statistical analysis and seed systems.A similar module was carried out in Sudan for accelerated genetic gains in wheat and food legumes in irrigated wheat-based production systems. A total of 24 trainees (37 percent female) from 8 research stations across Sudan were trained in experimental designs and data analysis using Genstat; breeding methodologies and genetic gain; genetic resource utilization; biotechnology and speed breeding; product profile; mainstreaming nutritional quality in breeding, and variety maintenance.All trainees completed the course and received certificates from ICARDA.As part of the SemiArid project funded by ERANET ArimNet 2 (an agri-research group from the Mediterranean region), with the support of ICARDA and the Faculty of Agriculture of the Lebanese University, a group of lecturer-researchers from Mediterranean institutions held an international training course dedicated to the design of sustainable farming systems in dry areas. Around 40 students were trained on integrated analysis methods to explore the role that diversity can play (i.e., crop variety and cropping systems, access to resources, etc.) to design more efficient agricultural systems. The course also taught students how to guide and help farmers and local decision-makers to reflect on strategic production choices concerning climatic, technical, or socioeconomic constraints.In "}

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+{"metadata":{"gardian_id":"68cd40fc0e0feb70d4b2c42afc86a186","source":"gardian_index","url":"https://cgspace.cgiar.org/rest/bitstreams/73a7e87a-ee24-4045-ba45-36afe5e2efe2/retrieve","id":"1998411298"},"keywords":["organic farming","shoot biomass","root biomass","root:shoot ratio","allometric root estimation"],"sieverID":"7e839a01-64a4-4494-8c98-9abc1f5da855","content":"The International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT) believes that open access contributes to its mission of reducing hunger and poverty, and improving human nutrition in the tropics through research aimed at increasing the eco-efficiency of agriculture.CIAT is committed to creating and sharing knowledge and information openly and globally. We do this through collaborative research as well as through the open sharing of our data, tools, and publications.Soil fertility in agricultural systems is sustained through inputs of organic matter from plant residues and from applied manure and compost (Lal, 2004a, b). These inputs contribute to carbon (C) storage and sequestration in soils, which in some cases may help to mitigate other greenhouse gas emissions (Powlson et al., 2011). The plant inputs of C from both aboveground and belowground components are generally calculated from their plant biomass by multiplying with specific transfer (humification) coefficients (Chirinda et al., 2012;Kätterer et al., 2011). However, unlike aboveground plant biomass, root biomass is difficult to sample and quantify. The C originating from roots can represent an important source for soil C storage (Warembourg and Paul, 1977), not least because they may contribute more to stable soil organic C (SOC) pools than aboveground inputs (Kätterer et al., 2011). Such considerations suffer from the fact that the amount of belowground C inputs is mostly not well quantified under field conditions (Smucker, 1984;Taylor, 1986). The difficulties in measuring belowground C inputs means that other approaches have to be taken to estimate this component. Therefore, simple estimation methods have been proposed for estimating belowground C inputs, and these are used for accounting purposes and in many cases also for soil C modelling (Keel et al., 2017).Allometric estimation of root C inputs, where a certain (often constant) proportion of plant dry biomass is allocated to the root, is a commonly used method, for instance in national inventories of soil C changes (Johnson et al., 2006). Estimating root biomass using fixed allometric ratios is based on the assumption that for specific species and environmental conditions, growth of roots and shoots are closely associated (Pearsall, 1927;Poorter and Nagel, 2000). This assumes that the biomass allocated to roots is proportional to shoot biomass with a ratio determined by plant species and environmental conditions. As a consequence, the proportion is often a key parameter to estimate root biomass of crops under similar conditions. However, the ratio between the root and aboveground biomass varies between species and depends on environmental conditions (Bolinder et al., 1997;Campbell et al., 2000;Bolinder et al., 2007).Many studies have shown that the proportion of the net primary productivity that is allocated to the belowground part is sensitive to the environmental conditions, e.g. nutrient and water availability and tillage (Hodge et al., 2000;Muñoz-Romero et al., 2009). Increasing N application will increase the growth of shoots, while N fertilisation has little effect on root biomass (Jenkinson, 1981;Anderson, 1988;Huggins and Fuchs, 1997). Thus shoots and roots respond differently to particular environmental conditions. Even though the allometric ratio has been shown to vary considerably (Johnson et al., 2006;Gyldenkaerne et al., 2007), it is widely used to estimate root biomass, e.g. in models of soil carbon inputs (Kätterer et al., 2011;Berti et al., 2016). Although there is some evidence showing that root biomass seem to be constant for a certain species in a particular environment rather than varying if estimated from shoot biomass using a fixed allometric relationship (Chirinda et al., 2012), this assumption has not been thoroughly tested.Given the large uncertainties in current methods for estimating root C inputs, our objective was to compare methods for root biomass estimation, in particular the fixed allometric functions versus fixed root biomass. In this analysis we also explore which environmental and management factors affected shoot and root biomass of cereals, catch crops and weeds.Published and unpublished shoot and root biomass data from several field experiments in Denmark were collected. Mean values of each treatment were used to obtain statistically equal weight between treatments, and the data covered both cereal crops (Table 1) and catch crops and weeds (Table 2).Data for cereal crops (winter and spring wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) and spring barley (Hordeum vulgare L.)) was collected from studies conducted at Foulum (56°30′N, 09°35′E) in western Denmark. Organic and conventional farming systems at Foulum showed no overall differences in topsoil (0-25 cm) properties, which was loamy sand soil (Typic Hapludult) with clay content of 88 g kg -1 . The soil pH was 6.5. Organic matter content was 38 g kg -1 . Soil bulk density was 1.42 g cm -3 . Average annual temperature and precipitation during 1961-1990 were 7.3 °C and 704 mm. More information on soil properties was provided by Olesen et al. (2000).Data from 2008 and 2010 were sampled in a long-term crop rotation experiment initiated in 1997 (Olesen et al., 2000). Briefly, the experiment included two rotation systems, one inorganic fertiliserbased conventional system and one organically managed system in two replicates. All treatments were ploughed (Table 1). More information on field management is given in Chirinda et al. (2012).Data from 2013 and 2014 were sampled in a field experiment established in 2002 under conventional management with four replicates. Generally, there were two factors: nitrogen fertiliser rates and tillage (ploughing and no tillage) (Table 1). In 2013, nitrogen rates were 50 and 250 kg N ha -1 , while in 2014 they were 65 and 265 kg N ha -1 for the same sub-plots. More details on the experiment are given in Munkholm et al. (2008) and Hansen et al. (2011).The mean climatic conditions during the spring period (March to May) are shown for these experimental years in Table 3. The potential evapotranspiration was calculated using a modified Makkink method (Hansen, 1984) using temperature and global radiation as determining variables.Shoot biomass was sampled at maturity, and root biomass was sampled at anthesis as this is the growth stage expected to have maximum root biomass. Plant samples of aboveground biomass were taken by cutting plants at 1-2 cm height within two 0.5 m 2 frames. Samples were oven dried at 60 °C for 48 hours for dry matter (DM). Three soil cores (5 cm diameter) were collected within the rows and three between the rows for root biomass. Root sampling reached 30 cm depth in 2008 and 2010, and 20 cm in 2013 and 2014. Samples to 60 cm depth were also taken in 2008, 2013 and 2014. The root samples were washed out using tap water and collected on a sieve with a mesh size of 0.425 mm. Samples were oven dried at 70 °C for 48 hours and weighed for dry matter. A part of the root sample was heated at 650 °C for five hours to determine the ash content, and final root dry matter was expressed as ash-free dry matter (Chirinda et al., 2012).Data on catch crops (fodder radish (Raphanus sativus L.), perennial ryegrass (Lolium perenne L.), red clover (Trifolium pratense L.), white clover (Trifolium repens L.), winter vetch (Vicia villosa Roth.), winter rape (Brassica napus L.), phacelia (Phacelia tanacetifolia Benth.), rye (Secale cereale L.), oats (Avena sativa L.), Italian ryegrass (Lolium multiflorum Lam.), Malva sylvestris L., Agrostemma githago L. and chicory (Cichorium intybus L.)) were collected from Mutegi et al. (2011) in four replicates, Chirinda et al. (2012) in two replicates, Li et al. (2015) in three replicates sampled at Foulum (56°30′N, 09°35′E), from Thorup-Kristensen et al. (2001) in three replicates at Aarslev (55°18′N, 10°27′E), and from Wahlström et al. (2015) in four replicates at Flakkebjerg (55°19′N, 11°23′E) (Table 2). Topsoil (0-25 cm depth) at Foulum is described above for cereals crops. Topsoil of the same depth at Aarslev and Flakkebjerg were both classified as sandy loam (Typic Agrudalf) with clay content of 147 g kg -1 at both sites, and pH 7.0 and 7.4, respectively (Thorup-Kristensen et al., 2001;Olesen et al., 2000). The average annual temperature and precipitation were 8.1 °C and 719 mm (during 1986-1998) at Aarslev (Mueller and Thorup-Kristensen, 2001), and 7.8 °C and 626 mm (during 1961-1990) at Flakkebjerg (Olesen et al., 2000).Published data from Foulum (Chirinda et al., 2012;Li et al., 2015) was sampled from cropping systems under organic farming, except for weeds sampled in the inorganic fertiliser-based rotation system in Chirinda et al. (2012). The data from Li et al. (2015) included two legume-based catch crops. Data from Aarslev was from a cropping system with vegetables under organic farming, where catch crops were sown after the harvest of green pea crops. Two of the treatments included legume-based catch crops with winter vetch (Thorup-Kristensen., 2001). The data from Flakkebjerg were from fodder radish sown after the harvest of spring barley in a conventionally managed cropping system (Wahlström et al., 2015).At Foulum, Mutegi et al. (2011) sampled fodder radish in December by clipping the aboveground biomass at the soil surface from four subplots of 0.64 m 2 , and by extracting root from three soil cores in each replicate to 100 cm depth. Samples were then sub-divided at 20 cm, 35 cm and 60 cm depths. Chirinda et al. (2012) used the method for cereal crops also to measure catch crops in early November. Li et al. (2015) sampled catch crop roots in small frames (35×24 cm) down to 18 cm. The area covered two rows of catch crops. The root washing procedure was the same as in Chirinda et al. (2012). At Aarslev, aboveground parts of catch crops were sampled in 1 m 2 just below ground level, and roots were washed out from two excavated soil blocks of 30×12 cm 2 area and 20 cm depth in November (Thorup-Kristensen., 2001). Only visibly live roots were retained. At Flakkebjerg, aboveground parts of catch crops were sampled at soil surface in two 0.25 m 2 areas in November, and roots were sampled from three soil cores (8.6 cm diameter) vertically down to 100 cm depth, and subdivided at 20 cm, 35 cm, 55 cm and 80 cm depths (Wahlström et al., 2015).To supplement these data, additional data were collected from catch crops and weeds sampled in December 2014 in the aforementioned long-term organic crop rotation experiment at Foulum (Olesen et al., 2000) in two replicates. Three types of catch crops following potato and spring wheat were sampled for shoot and root biomass. These catch crops were mixtures of species, i.e. fodder radish + rye, fodder radish + rye + vetch, chicory + perennial ryegrass + red clover + white clover.Also sampling was made in plots without catch crops, but with weeds. Shoots were separated on the basis of species, while roots were analysed as a pooled sample. A square of 0.5 m 2 was used for sampling of aboveground material in each plot. Inside the 0.5 m 2 square, an area of 35×24 cm 2 was chosen from within and from midway between crop rows. Aboveground plants inside the 35×24 cm 2 area were cut with scissors at the soil surface and collected in a plastic bag, whilst the remaining sample inside the 0.5 m 2 was collected in a second bag. Each samples was separated according to species groups and dry matter was determined after oven drying at 60 °C for 42 h.Belowground biomass was determined for the 35×24 cm 2 area to a depth of 20 cm in each plot. The soil samples were stored at 2 °C before root washing.The roots were first separated from the soil by passing through a 1-cm sieve. Large visible roots and those retained on the 1-cm sieve were collected, termed 'large roots'. The bulk soil passing the 1cm sieve was mixed and subdivided into a subsample of 350-450 g, which was washed on a 0.425 mm sieve. The roots collected on this sieve are termed 'small roots' (Rasmussen et al., 2010). Roots were further washed with tap water to remove minerals and collected on a set of sieves with mesh sizes of 2 mm, 1 mm and 0.425 mm. Subsequently, the collected roots and debris were placed in a tray, where white living roots were separated from dead organic matter (including decayed roots) based on colour and physical appearance (Muñoz-Romero et al., 2009). Living roots were ovendried at 60 °C for 42 h and weighed. A part of each root sample was heated at 650 °C for five hours to determine the ash content, and final root dry matter was expressed as ash-free dry matter (Chirinda et al., 2012).Different farming systems and N managements showed little impact on vertical root biomass distribution of either cereal crops or catch crops and weeds (Supplementary Materials Table S1), and similar results were also reported in Hirte et al. (2017). Since roots were sampled to different depths in the various studies, we applied two different functions for the depth correction, one for cereals (equation ( 1)) and another for catch crops and weeds (equation ( 2)). This choice was based on previous studies and on available data. This was as far as possible validated against root biomass data from different depths reported in Supplementary Material. Root dry matter measurements of cereal crops were converted to 25 cm depth according to the Michaelis-Menten function of root distribution with depth (z; cm) as used in Kätterer et al. (2011) for root depth distribution of small-grain cereals in southern Sweden.(1)Rm(z) is the fraction of total root mass to the soil depth of z (cm), zr is maximum root depth (zr was set at 150 cm), z50 is the depth of 50 % of the root mass (z50 was for cereals in Sweden set at 10 cm). This means that 76, 80 and 91 % of the roots are allocated to 25 cm, 30 cm and 60 cm soil depth, respectively. In this function, 88 % of root biomass in 0-60 cm depth was estimated for 0-30 depth, which was close to the root vertical distribution of cereals in years 2008 and 2014 (Table S1).Roots of fodder radish sampled in Flakkebjerg were classified into 5 depths: 0-20, 20-35, 35-55, 55-80 and 80-100 cm (Wahlström et al., 2015). Within 100 cm depth, recoverable root dry matter of catch crops in different depths was well described as (Fig. S1):According to equation ( 2), in soil depths of 25, 30 and 60 cm, root dry matter accounted for 62, 66 and 86 %, respectively, of total root biomass in the upper 100 cm soil. This meant that 78 % of the root present in 0-60 cm depth was recovered in 0-30 cm layer. This corresponded well to the root distribution observed for catch crops (with mainly ryegrass) and weeds, where the proportion of recoverable root biomass from 0-30 cm depth compared to biomass in 0-60 cm was between 68-77 % (Chirinda et al., 2012). Thus, the equation was assumed suitable and was used to convert root dry matter of catch crops and weeds from the measured depths to 0-25cm depth.The MIXED procedure of SAS (SAS Institute, 1996) was used to test which factors influence crop shoot, root and the allometric ratios (root/shoot, shoot/root, shoot/(shoot+root) and root/(shoot+root) ratio): year, species (wheat or barley), seeding time (spring or autumn), tillage (ploughing or no tillage), farming system (organic or conventional management) and nitrogen fertilisation rate, where shoot biomass, root biomass and nitrogen fertilisation rate were used as continuous variables and other variables were categorical. We thus assumed that allometric ratios would depend on plant type and management. These allometric functions essentially assume linear relations of root biomass to either shoot or total biomass. For catch crops and weeds the following factors were considered: location, catch crops or weeds, legume based or non-legume based catch crops, undersowing catch crops or sowing these after harvest of the main crop, and farming system.A manual procedure with backward elimination was used to remove variables that did not contribute significantly based on the Akaike Information Criterion (AIC). The best model was thus selected according to the lowest AIC and significant (P < 0.05) effect of independent variables.Different approaches (allometric functions and various determining factors) for estimating root biomass were tested by leave one out cross validation (LOOCV) based on mean bias error (MBE)and root mean squared error (RMSE). The models chosen for testing were based on the selected models using the stepwise procedure described above. Specific equations are shown as below:where MBEP and RMSEP means MBE and RMSE of prediction for the selected models for LOOCV with total population of samples as n, Pi is the predicted root dry biomass of sample i through the selected model trained by all other samples, and Oi is the observed root dry biomass of sample i.Shoot biomass of cereals was strongly influenced by the quantity of nitrogen applied in mineral fertiliser or manure. The shoot biomass varied between spring and winter cereals, while root biomass varied between years and depended on farming system (organic or conventional) and cereal crop species (Table 4). Thus shoot and root dry biomass was not closely associated, but influenced by different factors. In addition, the different allometric ratios responded differently to determining factors. Root/shoot ratio was sensitive to the type of farming system, while shoot/root ratio, shoot/all and root/all were influenced by several factors, i.e. year, species, sowing time, farming system and nitrogen rate. Therefore, the most reliable estimates of root biomass depend on farming system and species with higher root biomass in organic compared with conventional systems (Table 5).When pooling data over all years and cereal species, the root biomass only responded significantly to farming system, whereas shoot/root ratio as well as shoot/all and root/all ratios depended mostly on farming system and nitrogen rate.There were significant differences between catch crops and weeds for both shoot and root biomass (Table 6). Root biomass was affected by type of farming system. Root/shoot ratio depended on location and farming system, while shoot/root ratio varied between catch crops and weeds. Shoot/all or root/all ratios were not significantly affected by any factors.Different methods for estimating root biomass were tested by cross validation and evaluated in terms of MBEP and RMSEP using cross validation (Table 4). The most reliable predictions of soil root biomass were obtained for cereals using fixed root amount with mean biomass values depending on year, farming system and species giving an RMSEP of only 33 g m -2 (Table 4). The second best method was using fixed root biomass depending on farming system and cereal species with RMSEP of 38 g m -2 . Fixed root estimation which only considered farming system provided the simplest estimation, but with a RMSEP of 40 g m -2 . Grouping data according to species, or species and sowing time (autumn or spring) reduced the performance of root biomass prediction (i.e. higher RMSEP of the cross-validation). Estimation of root biomass based on shoot biomass with allometric relations according to root/shoot, shoot/root or even shoot/all (root/all) ratio showed either poorer prediction performance and/or was more complex than using fixed root biomass.The most reliable estimates of root biomass in catch crops and weeds were obtained by using fixed root biomass for catch crops and weeds separately for different farming systems (Table 6). Adding factors such as catch crop characteristics (e.g. legume based) did not improve predictions. Similar to the cereal crops, using allometric relationships reduced the prediction accuracy for root biomass in catch crops and weeds.According to the results above, we suggest using fixed root biomass classified by farming systems and species for cereals, and by farming systems for catch crops and weeds (Table 5). Table 7 shows the estimated root biomass by least square means taking into account the most influential factors for cereals (farming systems, species and year), and for catch crops and weeds (farming systems, catch crops or weeds). The root biomass of wheat and barley varied between years from 118-199 g m -2 ; however, there was consistently higher root biomass in wheat compared with barley (Tables 5 and   7). The difference in cereal root biomass between organic and conventional farming was 79 g m -2(Table 5) and 58 g m -2 (Table 7). Considering the small difference between the arithmetic means (Table 5) and the least square means (Table 7) for catch crops and weeds, the unbalanced data collected did not appear to have caused much difference to the estimated root biomass.Root biomass of cereal crops, catch crops and weeds was affected by both environmental and management factors (Tables 4 and 6). The results showed significant effects of year, species and farming systems on root biomass in cereal crops. For catch crops and weeds, significant differences in root biomass were observed between catch crops and weeds and also between organic and conventional farming systems. We acknowledge the existence of confounding data, which with imbalanced data could lead to biased estimates of influential factors on root biomass. However, the analyses clearly pointed to differences in root biomass between farming systems, where data from the same site and year was included for both farming systems.The reason for the observed factors influencing root biomass may be found in how photosynthesized products are allocated between shoots and roots. During the growing period, shoots and roots interact closely to allocate the photosynthesized material from shoots and the absorbed nutrients from roots (Thornley, 1972). The relative allocation between shoots and roots changes over time in response to the relative need of photosynthesized material and nutrients (Thornley, 1972;Poorter and Nagel, 2000). Less below-ground resources (e.g. nutrients and water)supply would induce allocation of more photosynthates to roots, while less aboveground resources (e.g. less light) could cause more allocation to shoots (Thornley, 1972;Poorter and Nagel, 2000).Thus for any given species, it is the environment and the soil conditions that determines how much can be photosynthesized and how much is allocated to shoots or roots. The ratio between shoot and root biomass is therefore the result of changing allocation patterns during the growing period. The dynamic association between shoots and roots means that allometric ratios are not well suited for calculating root biomass, since the final allometric ratios can be quite variable, especially under stressed environmental and soil nutritional conditions.Environmental conditions (e.g., radiation, precipitation and temperature) varied between the experimental years (Table 3). Therefore, the total carbon assimilation, the fraction allocated to roots and root distributions within the soil profile could also differ between years. In our data, the lowest root biomass for cereals in 0-25 cm was observed in 2013, whereas a higher level of root biomass was found for the other years. The spring of 2013 was characterized by drier conditions than for the other years, which may have caused plants to develop deeper roots and less dense roots in the upper soil layer in 2013. This was also indicated by the observed root biomass (data not shown) that showed less difference in root biomass between 2013 and 2014 for the depth 0-60 cm than for 0-20 cm. Genotypic variation between species could cause different specific allocation strategies (Fakhri et al., 1987;Clark et al., 2003), and thus cause root biomass differences among species. From the aspects of species, catch crops were also different from weeds, because catch crop species were chosen to fit the growing conditions after main crops (Snapp et al., 2005).As to farming systems, nutrients, especially nitrogen, in organic farming are less readily available, even though the total input is not always less than in the conventional systems (Stockdale et al., 2002). This lower availability of nutrients is one of the major causes of relatively higher allocation of photosynthates to roots (Poorter and Nagel, 2000;Lonhienne et al., 2014).The main objective of this work was to compare root biomass estimation methods, particularly the use of fixed allometric relations versus fixed root biomass. The results showed that using fixed root biomass based on the most influential factors provided the most robust estimation with MBEP close to 0, and generally the lowest RMSEP. Using allometric relations for estimating root biomass resulted in higher MBEP and RMSEP than using fixed root biomass, in terms of both most influential factors and commonly used factors (factors in brackets in Tables 4 and 6). Generally, shoot/root ratios provided negative MBEP and lower RMSEP than other ratios. Shoot/all or root/all ratios generally provided positive MBEP and higher RMSEP. Root/shoot ratios generally had a higher positive MBEP and the highest RMSEP.As discussed above, root biomass of a certain species depends on environmental and management factors. A robust and unbiased estimate of root biomass requires that the MBEP is close to zero and the RMSEP from cross validation is as small as possible. In root/shoot, shoot/root, root/(shoot+root)or shoot/(root+shoot) ratios, either one part (shoot or root) or the total biomass appears as the denominator. The allometric ratios for individual measures may vary greatly due to the variation in either above-or belowground biomass, which may cause biases in the estimation of the mean allometric ratio. Furthermore, with allometric ratios root biomass will be estimated only from observed shoot biomass, and any uncertainty in observed shoot biomass will be translated to uncertainty in root biomass amplified by the uncertainty in the allometric relationship.Generally, we observed the following relations between organic farming and conventional farming:1) more shoot biomass associated with less root biomass was found in conventional farming, and the opposite in organic farming; 2) more total (shoot+root) biomass associated with less root biomass in conventional farming, and a relatively more equal distribution between shoots and roots in organic farming; 3) the difference in root biomass between the two farming systems (highest root biomass in organic farming) is generally smaller than that in shoot biomass (highest shoot biomass in conventional farming). If we estimated root biomass with the existence of all these three relations, root biomass would be highly overestimated when using root/shoot ratios, less underestimated when using shoot/root ratios, and less overestimated using root/(root+shoot) ratios.Thus, the highly dynamic relations between shoot and root biomass is affected by the type of farming systems as well as by the actual management. Therefore, root biomass can for the climatic conditions of northern Europe more reliably be estimated using fixed values depending on farming system and plant species rather than assuming a dependency on shoot biomass.Our results from Denmark show that the most practical and accurate estimates of root biomass are obtained by using fixed root amounts that depend on farming system and species ( As corrected by equation ( 1) to a depth of 0-25 cm: Van Noordwijk et al. (1994) in the Netherlands measured root of winter wheat as 133-154 g m -2 ; Kätterer et al. (1993) reported winter wheat root biomass in Sweden of 79-90 g m -2 ; Braim (1992) reported barley root biomass in Britain of around 107-116 g m -2 ; Pietola et al. (2005) reported root biomass for barley and oats at anthesis in Finland of 98 and 215 g m -2 , respectively; Głąb (2014) reported triticale root biomass of 94-160 g m -2 .These values are comparable with our results of 142±30 g m -2 for wheat, 129 ± 19 g m -2 for barley.In other parts of the world, we would also recommend use of fixed root amounts for estimation for root biomass, because estimate root biomass with allometric ratios from our results are not only inaccurate, but also biased (Tables 4 and 6). However, there are also limitations for fixed root estimation, because roots are inadequately sampled across the world. Therefore, in cases where no root biomass observations are available and where climate and soil conditions differ substantially from reference sites, the use of allometric ratios may become inevitable. In such situations, we would recommend use of shoot to root ratio for root biomass estimation (Tables 4 and 6), even though shoot to root ratio may induce underestimation of root biomass. In any case, our results clearly point to the need for improving the globally available data on root biomass, and ideally these data should be made available in an open repository for use by both experimentalists and modellers.Soil carbon sequestration plays a potential role in mitigation of climate change and root biomass contributes with a significant carbon input (Gattinger et al., 2012). Our results indicate that roots in organic farming systems may contribute more to soil carbon sequestration than in conventional systems. Taghizadeh-Toosi et al. (2016) similarly reported that the root carbon input can be considered constant across different nitrogen fertiliser rates. The estimates of fixed root amount (Table 5) can be used to improve calculations of belowground carbon input in modelling. Assuming the percentage of carbon in roots as 45 % (Chirinda et al., 2012), organic farming would then bring in roughly 0.6 Mg ha -1 more C input than conventional farming from both cereals and catch crops.A statistical analysis of root biomass data from field experiments in Denmark showed that the use of fixed root biomass provided lower error of prediction for estimation of root biomass than the use of fixed allometric ratios. The most robust estimation of root biomass was found with fixed root biomass depending on farming system and plant type. However, there was some variation between years in root biomass of cereals. There was consistently greater root biomass of cereal crops in organic compared to conventional systems, and there was greater root biomass in wheat compared to barley. The results also showed greater root biomass in catch crops compared with weeds. "}

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+{"metadata":{"gardian_id":"403dba6800aade86c8e49e736847991f","source":"gardian_index","url":"https://cgspace.cgiar.org/rest/bitstreams/c9d054ad-28c7-40f2-bee9-ecdceb28d470/retrieve","id":"1537953403"},"keywords":[],"sieverID":"0cde7050-20f7-442b-a690-9380f9e49968","content":"En la preparación del presente capítulo se aprovechó la base provista por otros autores, a quienes se reconocen sus valiosos aportes.De la publicación de yuca: Investigación, producción y utilización, se utilizaron el capítulo \"Morfología de la planta de yuca\", escrito por Carlos E. Domínguez, Luis F. Ceballos y Cilia Fuentes; \"Genética, citogenética, estructura florar y técnicas de hibridación de la yuca y germoplasma de yuca: evolución, distribución y colección\", escrito por Clair Hershey y Alvaro Amaya, y \"Aspectos fisiológicos del crecimiento y desarrollo de la planta de yuca\", escrito por James H. Cock.Del libro: \"La yuca frente al hambre del mundo tropical\" (Alvaro Montaldo, ed.) se extrajo información de los capítulos \"Algunos aspectos relacionados con la fisiología de la planta de yuca\", escrito por Jocelyne Ascencio, y de \"Notas sobre histología foliar y radical de yuca\", escrito por J. J. Castilloa, Alicia Castillo y L. T. Pino.El origen de la yuca y el sitio donde tuvo lugar su domesticación aún no ha sido establecido definitivamente. A pesar de que se ha sugerido que la yuca se habría originado en lugares tan diversos como Africa, Asia, islas del Pacífico, Mesoamérica y América del Sur (Renvoize, 1973), existe un reconocimiento, muy generalizado, de que este cultivo se originó en América tropical, específicamente en el nordeste del Brasil.En la cuenca amazónica es donde el género botánico al que pertenece la yuca muestra su mayor variabilidad genética. También se observa en Mesoamérica un centro secundario de diversidad genética.Numerosas evidencias apuntan a que el área de domesticación de la yuca comprende una vasta región desde México hasta Brasil. Esta especie se habría cultivado desde hace, por lo menos, 5000 años (Simmonds, 1976).La yuca pertenece a la familia Euphorbiaceae, constituida por unas 7200 especies que se caracterizan por su notable desarrollo de los vasos laticíferos, compuestos por células secretoras llamadas galactocitos. Esto es lo que produce la secreción lechosa que caracteriza a las plantas de esta familia.Existe una gran variabilidad de arquitecturas de la planta dentro de esta familia, desde los tipos arbóreos (caucho, Hevea brasiliensis) hasta los arbustos, también de importancia económica (ricino, Ricinus comunis).También representan a esta familia numerosas malezas, plantas ornamentales y otras de valor medicinal. Un género muy importante de esta familia es Manihot, al que pertenece la yuca, y se encuentra distribuido desde el suroeste de Estados Unidos (33º N) hasta Argentina (33º S). Naturalmente, sólo se encuentran especies del género Manihot en las Américas.Todas las especies del género pueden cruzarse entre sí, pero existen evidencias de que en la naturaleza se encuentran reproductivamente aisladas. Se han descrito alrededor de unas 98 especies asignadas a este género, de las que sólo la yuca (Manihot esculenta Crantz) tiene relevancia económica y es cultivada.Se puede hacer una lista con los numerosos nombres vulgares para esta especie. En la lengua española se conoce, principalmente, como yuca o mandioca. En Brasil se distingue la yuca dulce (aipi) de la amarga (mandioca). Otros nombres en otros idiomas son: cassava, manioc, manioca, tapioca, suahili, mhogo y omowgo.El nombre científico de la yuca fue dado originalmente por Cranzt, en 1766. Posteriormente, la yuca fue clasificada (Pohl, 1827, y Pax, 1910) como dos especies diferentes, dependiendo de si se trataba de yuca amarga M. utilissima o dulce M. aipi. Sin embargo, el italiano Ciferri (1938) reconoció que para el nombre científico de la yuca debía dársele prioridad al trabajo de Crantz en el que se propone su nombre actual M. esculenta. Allem (1994) propone que la especie M. esculenta sea dividida en tres subespecies: M. esculenta, M. flavellifolia y M. peruviana. Este autor sugiere que las dos últimas subespecies son formas silvestres de la versión cultivada M. esculenta subesp. esculenta.Es muy poco lo que se conoce tanto de la genética como de la citogenética de la yuca.En la familia de las Euforbiáceas, usualmente, el número cromosómico básico es 8, aunque el rango de variación oscila entre 6 a 11. Aproximadamente, 50% de las especies son poliploides (Martín, 1976).Todas las especies de la tribu Manihoteae (incluyendo M. esculenta) contienen 36 cromosomas (Perry, 1941) y en la mayoría de los casos el apareamiento de los cromosomas forma bivalentes, sugiriendo que esta especie sería diploide. Sin embargo, existe cierta divergencia por parte de los investigadores en cuanto al grado de ploidía de esta especie. Para algunos autores, se trata de una especie diploide (2n=36 cromosomas), mientras que otros la consideran un poliploide, posiblemente un alopoliploide (ya sea tetra o hexaploide).Toda descripción botánica se basa en el análisis de caracteres morfológicos que, cuando son constantes, permiten tipificar a la especie. Sin embargo, la expresión de muchas características es variable y profundamente influida por el ambiente. El efecto de interacción variedad por ambiente es muy notable en el caso de la yuca, y resulta, por ejemplo, en que la arquitectura típica de una determinada variedad, en un ambiente específico, cambie drásticamente cuando la misma variedad es plantada en otra localidad. Esta interacción variedad por ambiente dificulta la descripción morfológica de la especie, así como la descripción varietal.La yuca es un arbusto perenne. Es monoica, de ramificación simpodial y con variaciones en la altura de la planta que oscilan entre 1 y 5 m, aunque la altura máxima generalmente no excede los 3 m.Los tallos son particularmente importantes en la yuca, pues son el medio que se utiliza para la multiplicación vegetativa o asexual de la especie.Porciones lignificadas del tallo, comúnmente llamadas estacas o cangres, sirven como \"semilla\" para la producción comercial del cultivo. El tallo maduro es cilíndrico y su diámetro varía de 2 a 6 cm. Se pueden observar tres colores básicos de tallo maduro: gris-plateado, morado y amarillo verdoso. Tanto el diámetro como el color de los tallos varía significativamente con la edad de la planta y, obviamente, con la variedad.Los tallos están formados por la alternación de nudos y entrenudos. En las partes más viejas se observan unas protuberancias que marcan en los nudos la posición que ocuparon inicialmente las hojas. El nudo es el punto en el que una hoja se une al tallo, y el entrenudo es la porción del tallo comprendida entre dos nudos sucesivos.En el nudo se insertan el pecíolo de la hoja, una yema axilar protegida por una escama y dos estípulas laterales. El largo de los entrenudos en el tallo principal es muy variable y depende no sólo de la variedad, sino también de otros factores como la edad de la planta, la ocurrencia de una sequía, un ataque severo de trips, fertilidad disponible para la planta, etc. En cierto sentido, el tallo es un registro perdurable de la historia del desarrollo de la planta que permite deducir las condiciones y eventos que lo influyeron (Figura 2-1).La presencia de las yemas axilares en cada nudo es importante, ya que a partir de las mismas una estaca puede producir una nueva planta. En teoría, una estaca puede producir, a partir de la yema de cada nudo, el brote de un nuevo tallo primario. Sin embargo, el número de tallos producidos depende mucho de la forma como es plantada la estaca (cuando se entierra horizontalmente todos los nudos tienden a brotar, pero si se entierra en posición vertical, por lo general, sólo la yema apical se activa).El número de brotes de una estaca depende también de la dominancia apical que caracteriza cada variedad. Cuando es fuerte, sólo la yema superior genera un tallo primario. Las condiciones generales de la estaca, particularmente de las yemas axilares, también determinan el número de tallos que una estaca produce.La filotaxia típica observada en los tallos de yuca es de 2/5, esto quiere decir que las hojas se ubican en espiral, alrededor del tallo. Si se parte de una determinada hoja (la número 1) y se cuentan sucesivamente las hojas hacia arriba, la sexta hoja estará exactamente en la misma posición, pero más arriba en el tallo que la hoja número 1. La fracción 2/5 implica que se tienen que dar dos vueltas al tallo hasta encontrar una hoja perfectamente superpuesta con la hoja 1, y en el proceso se cuentan 5 hojas.El tallo primario, luego de cierto período de crecimiento, produce eventualmente ramificaciones que pueden ser reproductivas (inflorescencias) o vegetativas (ramas laterales).Las ramificaciones laterales \"vegetativas\" son importantes, pues constituyen una característica muy estable para la descripción varietal y además determinan, en gran medida, la arquitectura propia de la planta. Esta última, como se verá más adelante en otros capítulos, es un elemento importante para definir el valor agronómico de cada material, pues influye en la cantidad de \"semilla\" o estacas que la planta produce, la facilidad para realizar las tareas de limpieza y cuidado general del cultivo, etc. La ramificación lateral \"reproductiva\" es inducida por la floración del eje principal, y de allí su nombre. Sin embargo, debe destacarse que las ramificaciones \"reproductivas\" pueden ocurrir sin la presencia de inflorescencias. No es claro cuáles son los factores que determinan el momento en que ocurrirá el inicio de la producción de ramas reproductoras, siendo un evento que es influido drásticamente por el ambiente.La ramificación \"vegetativa\" puede dar origen a 2, 3 y hasta 4 ramas secundarias, las que a su vez podrán eventualmente producir ramas terciarias, y así sucesivamente (Figura 2-1). El número y la prontitud con que se producen estas ramificaciones influye de manera notable en la arquitectura de la planta. Una floración temprana resulta en que las primeras ramas están ubicadas en una posición relativamente baja de la planta. Muchas ramificaciones con un inicio temprano, por lo tanto, tienden a producir plantas de porte más bien bajo, que dificultan los trabajos de limpieza y cuidado del cultivo, pero que cubren rápidamente el suelo, protegiéndolo de la erosión, en particular la hídrica. Una ramificación reducida o tardía tiende a producir plantas erectas, con buena producción de estacas que facilitan el cuidado del cultivo, pero que dejan más expuesto el suelo a los factores de erosión.Además del número de ramificaciones reproductoras, el ángulo de las mismas también afecta considerablemente la arquitectura general de la planta (Figura 2-2). Cuanto mayor sea el ángulo de incidencia de las ramas, más abierta será la arquitectura de la planta y más bajo su porte. En general, este tipo de arquitectura es indeseable desde el punto de vista agronómico.Las otras ramificaciones laterales en el mismo nudo, conocidas como \"chupones\", son esporádicas y dependen de la densidad de siembra, las condiciones climáticas, la fertilidad del suelo y el cultivar. Estas se originan en las yemas axilares del tallo principal, y generalmente son más delgadas que este último, con entrenudos largos y hojas más pequeñas. Las heridas o daños en la zona apical (por ejemplo, daño de la mosca del cogollo, Silva pendula, o ataques de trips) inducen la activación de yemas laterales que originan ramificaciones que pronto asumen el papel del tallo principal al que remplazan.La estructura interna del tallo de la yuca es la típica de las dicotiledóneas. La capa más externa en tallos jóvenes es la epidermis, Figura 2-2. Variación en el número y ángulo de ramificación de la yuca.seguida hacia el interior por el tejido cortical. La pigmentación presente en estas dos capas definirá el color que asuma en definitiva el tallo; internamente se encuentra la capa leñosa.El centro del tallo está ocupado por una médula prominente, compuesta de células parenquimatosas. A medida que el diámetro del tallo aumenta, se acumulan grandes cantidades de xilema que le dan al tallo maduro una consistencia leñosa, al generar el suber o corcho en remplazo de la epidermis.Las hojas son los órganos en los cuales ocurre, principalmente, la fotosíntesis que permite la transformación de la energía radiante en energía química. Las hojas son caducas, es decir, se avejentan, mueren y se desprenden de la planta a medida que ésta se desarrolla. El número total de hojas producidas por la planta, su longevidad y capacidad fotosintética son características varietales, profundamente influidas por las condiciones ambientales.Las hojas son simples y están compuestas por la lámina foliar y el pecíolo. La lámina foliar es palmeada y profundamente lobulada. El número de lóbulos en una hoja es variable y por lo general impar, oscilando entre 3 y 9. Los lóbulos miden entre 4 y 20 cm de longitud y entre 1 a 6 cm de ancho; los centrales son de mayor tamaño que los laterales.Se puede clasificar la forma de los lóbulos de distintas maneras y con un número variable de categorías. Una clasificación simple distingue tres tipos de lóbulos: lineal o recto, abovado y en forma de guitarra ('pandurado'). Pero existen tipos intermedios que han motivado otras formas de calificar dicha característica (Figura 2-3).El tamaño de la hoja es una característica típica de cada cultivar, aunque depende mucho de las condiciones ambientales. Las hojas producidas en los primeros 3-4 meses de vida de la planta son más grandes que las producidas luego del cuarto mes. Por ejemplo, en la variedad MCOL 72, el tamaño promedio en área de las hojas a los 4 meses de edad fue de aproximadamente 250 cm 2 , a los 7 meses de 130 y en la cosecha (a los 10 meses) de sólo unos 90 cm 2 . Figura 2-3. Dos genotipos contrastantes para tipo de lóbulo en hojas.El color de las hojas también es una característica varietal, pero que puede variar con la edad de la planta. Las hojas maduras pueden ser desde púrpura, verde oscuro, hasta verde claro. Es común observar cogollos púrpuras que, eventualmente, a medida que las hojas crecen y se desarrollan, cambian a una coloración verdosa. El color del cogollo es una característica muy útil para la identificación varietal, pues es relativamente constante. El color de la nervadura oscila entre el verde y el morado, y también puede ser utilizado en la descripción varietal. Este color puede ser igual o diferente en los dos lados de la hoja.El pecíolo de la hoja puede tener una longitud entre 9 y 20 cm, es delgado y de pigmentación variable (verde a morada), dependiendo de la variedad. No siempre el color del pecíolo coincide con el de la nervadura.Las hojas maduras son siempre glabras, es decir, que carecen de pubescencia; las hojas del cogollo, sin embargo, pueden o no ser pubescentes y éste es un aspecto relevante, pues la pubescencia en las hojas del cogollo está estrechamente relacionada a la resistencia a trips.La haz de la hoja está cubierta por una cutícula cerosa brillante, mientras que el envés es opaco y en él se encuentran localizados la mayoría de los estomas, aunque algunas variedades también presentan abundantes estomas en la haz.En el punto de inserción del pecíolo al tallo se pueden observar dos estípulas de 0.5 a 1.0 cm de largo. Estas estípulas pueden o no permanecer adheridas al tallo una vez que la hoja se ha desarrollado completamente.Si bien el principal producto económico de la yuca son sus raíces, las hojas tienen también importantes usos. En varias regiones de Africa y Asia, éstas son procesadas y utilizadas en el consumo humano. Las hojas de yuca tienen un valioso contenido nutritivo con altos niveles proteicos que oscilan entre 18%-22% en base seca (Buitrago, 1990).El follaje tierno de la yuca tiene, además, buena disponibilidad de vitaminas y minerales. En el Cuadro 2-1 se describen los contenidos de ácido ascórbico y carotenos en raíces y hojas de la yuca. Los datos fueron extraídos, principalmente, a partir de evaluaciones de más de 500 genotipos pertenecientes a la colección base del Banco de Germoplasma de Yuca del CIAT. También se presenta información sobre el contenido de los principales minerales desde el punto de vista de nutrición humana y animal (Cuadro 2-2), extraídos de una muestra representativa de 20 variedades.No todas las variedades de yuca florecen en las mismas condiciones ambientales, y entre las que lo hacen hay marcadas diferencias en cuanto al tiempo de floración y la cantidad de flores que producen. El ambiente influye considerablemente en la inducción de la floración. Como todas las del género Manihot, la yuca es una planta monoica, es decir, con flores unisexuales masculinas y femeninas en una misma planta y, generalmente, en la misma inflorescencia.La polinización de la yuca es cruzada, por lo que cada individuo es naturalmente un híbrido con altos niveles de heterocigocidad. Esta es realizada típicamente por acción de los insectos. La autopolinización se ve desfavorecida por el hecho de que las flores femeninas de un racimo abren primero que las masculinas, fenómeno conocido como protoginia. Sin embargo, es posible, ocasionalmente, que flores masculinas y femeninas de distintos racimos, pero de una misma planta, abran de manera simultánea, y cuando ello sucede es posible la ocurrencia natural de autopolinizaciones.Las flores de la yuca se producen en inflorescencias. La estructura básica del arreglo de las flores es el racimo (Figura 2-4), en el que las flores femeninas ocupan las posiciones basales y las masculinas las distales. Estas últimas son más pequeñas y generalmente más numerosas que las femeninas. Es frecuente que se produzcan también panículas que, desde el punto de vista botánico, pueden definirse como un racimo de racimos. En este caso existe un racimo principal, compuesto a su vez de racimos secundarios.Cada flor, sea masculina o femenina, tiene una bráctea primaria y una bracteola, órganos foliáceos que se presentan en las inflorescencias y permanecen o no adheridos una vez que las flores se desarrollan.En la generalidad de los casos, las inflorescencias se forman de yemas en el punto de inserción de las ramificaciones reproductoras. Ocasionalmente, se pueden encontrar inflorescencias desarrolladas a partir de las yemas, en las axilas de las hojas de la parte superior de la planta.Flores masculinas y femeninas. Las flores de la yuca son muy modestas y sencillas. No presentan ni cáliz ni corola, sino más bien una estructura indefinida, denominada perianto, compuesto de cinco tépalos (algo intermedio a los sépalos y pétalos en las flores completas). Los tépalos pueden ser amarillos, rojizos o morados, y en las flores femeninas se encuentran totalmente separados el uno del otro hasta su base, cosa que no sucede en las masculinas.La flor masculina es esférica, con un diámetro de aproximadamente 0.5 cm. Presenta un pedicelo recto y muy corto, mientras que el de la flor femenina es más grueso y largo. La flor femenina es ligeramente más grande que la masculina, sobre todo en su eje longitudinal (Figura 2-5).En el interior de la flor masculina se encuentra un disco basal dividido en 10 lóbulos; en el centro de éste se puede observar un rudimento de ovario. En los puntos de separación de los lóbulos del disco basal (dispuestos en dos series) nacen los 10 filamentos que sostienen las anteras, de los cuales 5 son externos, separados y más largos que los internos, y al unirse forman el conjunto de anteras; sobre cada filamento se encuentra una antera que tiene forma elongada, y está inclinada hacia la parte central de la flor; ésta se abre por hendiduras longitudinales. El proceso de liberación del polen se inicia 2 a 3 horas antes de que la flor se abra y puede finalizar antes de que ésta termine de abrirse completamente. Los granos de polen son grandes, esféricos y se producen en poca La flor femenina tiene en su interior un disco menos lobulado que el de la flor masculina, el cual descansa sobre la pared central del ovario. En algunas variedades se observan estaminoides provenientes de los lóbulos glandulares del disco basal. El ovario es súpero, dividido en tres carpelos que contienen cada uno un óvulo individual, penduloso, anátropo con una rafe ventral y el micropilo dirigido hacia arriba. Sobre el ovario se encuentra un estilo muy pequeño que da origen a un estigma compuesto de tres lóbulos ondulados y carnosos (Figura 2-5).Las flores masculinas y las femeninas no polinizadas, generalmente, se desprenden una vez se inicia el proceso de maduración de los frutos.Debido a que la yuca tiene la posibilidad de una reproducción vegetativa, las disfunciones reproductivas no son, desde el punto de vista evolutivo, tan negativas como en los cultivos de reproducción exclusivamente sexual. Por lo tanto, es posible encontrar con frecuencia, por ejemplo, casos de androesterilidad que puede ser de dos tipos: cuando las flores abortan antes de alcanzar madurez o cuando las flores maduran pero las anteras no producen polen. La genética de la esterilidad, sin embargo, aún no ha sido completamente estudiada.Una vez que la flor femenina ha sido polinizada comienza la formación del fruto a partir del ovario. La maduración del fruto requiere entre 3 y 5 meses para ser completada.El fruto es una cápsula dehiscente y trilocular, de forma ovoide a globular, de 1.0 a 1.5 cm de diámetro, con seis aristas longitudinales, estrechas y prominentes (Figura 2-6). Al hacer un corte transversal del fruto en desarrollo se observan una serie de tejidos claramente discernibles: epicarpo, mesocarpo y endocarpo.Al madurar la semilla, el epicarpo y el mesocarpo se secan. El endocarpo, que es de consistencia leñosa, se abre bruscamente cuando el fruto está maduro y seco, para liberar y dispersar, a cierta distancia, las semillas.Figura 2-5. Flores masculina (derecha) y femenina (izquierda) de la yuca.Figura 2-6. Fruto de la yuca.La dehiscencia del fruto de la yuca es biscida, con separación de los tejidos tanto a lo largo del nervio medio de cada lóculo del fruto, como entre las separaciones entre los mismos.La semilla es el medio de reproducción sexual de la planta. No es importante en reproducción y multiplicación habitual, pero tiene un incalculable valor para el fitomejoramiento, pues es a través de la reproducción sexual como se pueden producir nuevos cultivares genéticamente superiores.La semilla es de forma ovoide-elipsoidal y mide alrededor de 1 cm de largo, 6 mm de ancho y 4 mm de espesor. La testa es lisa, de color café, con moteado gris. En la parte externa, especialmente si se trata de semilla nueva, se encuentra la carúncula, estructura que se pierde una vez que la semilla ha caído al suelo. El extremo opuesto a la carúncula termina en una pequeña cavidad. De la carúncula sale una sutura que termina en esta cavidad basal. En la Figura 2-7 puede observarse un diagrama de la estructura típica de la semilla de yuca.La testa es la parte más externa de la semilla. Inmediatamente después de la testa se encuentra el endospermo, formado por células parenquimatosas poliédricas y que tienen por función proteger y nutrir al embrión, ubicado en el área central de la semilla. En el interior del endospermo se encuentran los cotiledones y el eje embrionario, que darán origen a la nueva planta luego de que la semilla germine. El embrión está constituido por las dos hojas cotiledonares, la plúmula, el hipocótilo y la radícula. Las hojas cotiledonares ocupan casi todo el interior de la semilla; son blancas, elípticas y carnosas.Si bien en la actualidad la semilla no juega un papel preponderante en la multiplicación de la yuca, podría tenerla en el futuro. Existe un fenómeno en la naturaleza, muy común en pastos, llamado apomixis, que consiste en la producción de semilla botánica sin que haya mediado la reproducción sexual ordinaria. En otras palabras, el embrión de la semilla producida por apomixis es genéticamente idéntico a la planta madre, por lo que al crecer da origen también a un individuo idéntico al que la produjo.El fenómeno de apomixis ha sido reportado en el género Manihot (Nassar et al., 2000) y podría incorporarse a sistemas comerciales por sus apreciables ventajas:• Permitiría el almacenamiento de semilla por más tiempo (mayor al mes o 2 meses) de lo que la semilla vegetativa puede mantenerse.• La tasa de multiplicación de un material podría incrementarse de manera muy significativa.La principal característica de las raíces de yuca es su capacidad de almacenamiento de almidones, razón por la cual es el órgano de la planta que hasta el momento ha tenido un mayor valor económico. Sin embargo, no todas las raíces producidas eventualmente se convierten en órganos de almacenamiento.Cuando la planta proviene de semilla sexual, se desarrolla una raíz primaria pivotante y varias de segundo orden. Aparentemente, la raíz primaria siempre evoluciona para convertirse en una raíz tuberosa y es la primera en hacerlo.Si la planta proviene de estacas, las raíces son adventicias y se forman en la base inferior cicatrizada de la estaca, que se convierte en una callosidad y también a partir de las yemas de la estaca que están bajo tierra. Estas raíces al desarrollarse, inicialmente, forman un sistema fibroso, pero después algunas de ellas (generalmente menos de 10) inician su engrosamiento y se convierten en raíces tuberosas. El número de éstas se determina, en la mayoría de los casos, en las primeras etapas de crecimiento de la planta.El sistema radical presenta una baja densidad de raíces, pero una penetración profunda. Esta es una característica muy relevante, pues contribuye a que la planta tenga la capacidad de soportar períodos prolongados de sequía. Las raíces fibrosas de la yuca pueden alcanzar profundidades hasta de 2.5 m. La planta absorbe el agua, y los nutrimentos por medio de las raíces fibrosas, capacidad que pierden cuando se transforman en tuberosas.En un principio morfológica y anatómicamente no existe diferencia entre las raíces fibrosas y las tuberosas. La diferencia radica en que en el momento en que se inicia la acumulación de almidones, el sentido del crecimiento de la raíz cambia de longitudinal a radial. Sin embargo, esto no implica necesariamente que la raíz detiene su crecimiento longitudinal de manera absoluta.Como se mencionó, las raíces tuberosas de la yuca provienen del engrosamiento secundario de las raíces fibrosas. Esto significa que la penetración al suelo del sistema radical la efectúan las raíces delgadas y solamente después de esa penetración se inicia el engrosamiento de las mismas.Externamente, las partes que se distinguen en las raíces tuberosas de una planta adulta de yuca son: la porción tuberosa, propiamente dicha, que en su extremo distal puede mantener aún su carácter fibroso (Figura 2-8) y en su extremo superior o proximal, el cuello o \"pedúnculo\", mediante el cual las raíces tuberosas permanecen unidas al tallo.Desde el cuello hasta el inicio de la raíz tuberosa la raíz permanece fibrosa. El tamaño del cuello varía, desde ser ausente o muy corto (menos de 1 cm), hasta muy largo (con más de 8 cm de longitud). La profundidad a la que se entierra la estaca afecta la longitud del pedúnculo, que tiende a ser más largo cuando la profundidad de siembra es mayor.El largo del cuello es una característica de interés comercial. Cuando es muy corto, dificulta el proceso de separación de las raíces tuberosas del tallo, resultando lesiones en la zona de corte, que aceleran el proceso de deterioro fisiológico poscosecha. Cuando el \"pedúnculo\" es demasiado largo, resultan mayores pérdidas, pues en el proceso de extracción de las raíces éste se rompe más fácilmente y la raíz de interés comercial permanece en el suelo.Las raíces pueden adquirir forma y tamaños muy variables (Figura 2-9), siendo estas Figura 2-9. Diferentes formas y tamaños de raíces tuberosas de yuca. características dependientes tanto de la variedad como de las condiciones ambientales en que la planta crece. Existen, sin embargo, claras diferencias cuando las variedades se evalúan en numerosos experimentos, algunas de ellas con una tendencia a producir raíces grandes y otras variedades, con raíces consistentemente más pequeñas que el resto. Las raíces pueden ser cilíndricas, fusiformes o cónicas, con frecuentes formas intermedias como la cilíndrico-cónica.La distribución de las raíces en el suelo depende tanto de factores genéticos como culturales. Variedades con tendencia a producir raíces con cuellos o pedúnculos largos tienen sus raíces distribuidas de manera más bien dispersa, cubriendo un área mayor de suelo que aquellas variedades de raíces sésiles (cuello ausente o muy corto) (ver Figura 2-10). La forma como se realiza la siembra de las estacas también afecta la manera en que las raíces se distribuirán. Cuando la estaca es plantada de manera vertical, éstas producen raíces alrededor de la callosidad que se forma en el extremo inferior de la estaca. Algunas raíces provenientes de yemas laterales de la estaca, también pueden convertirse en raíces tuberosas.Las raíces tuberosas tienden a explorar y ubicarse en estratos más profundos del suelo; cuando la posición de siembra es inclinada, también tienden a formarse en la callosidad, pero como en el caso anterior, otras raíces pueden emerger de las yemas laterales que están bajo tierra.Si la estaca se ubica de manera horizontal, las raíces tuberosas se distribuyen a lo largo de la estaca, porque se forman en las yemas laterales y en ambos extremos de la misma. La ubicación de las estacas tiende a ser más superficial y dispersa; por lo tanto, la cosecha puede facilitarse con este método de colocación de la estaca en el suelo.Los tejidos que componen una raíz tuberosa son, sucesivamente, de la parte externa hacia el interior, la cáscara, la pulpa y las fibras centrales (Figura 2-11).Uno de los aspectos más relevantes en la utilización de la yuca es la presencia del glucósido cianogénico llamado linamarina. Este glucósido, en presencia de una enzima (principalmente, la linamarasa) y de ácidos, se hidroliza produciendo ácido cianhídrico en dosis que pueden ser desde inocuas hasta mortales. Esta reacción ocurre de manera espontánea en los tejidos descompuestos de la planta o en el tracto digestivo de los animales.La producción del ácido cianhídrico es particularmente alta en la cáscara de la raíz; otros tejidos de la planta (incluyendo las hojas) también tienen potencial cianogénico, pero menor al de la cáscara de las raíces. Dependiendo de los niveles del glucósido cianogénico, en algunas publicaciones se puede observar que la yuca dulce (bajo potencial El potencial cianogénico de los distintos tejidos de una planta de yuca es considerablemente afectado por las condiciones ambientales donde ella crece y su edad al momento de la cosecha. Las raíces de un determinado cultivar pueden ser dulces cuando son producidas en una localidad, y más amargas en otros sitios. Sin embargo, el potencial cianogénico de las variedades amargas, a lo largo de numerosas evaluaciones, tiende a ser consistentemente mayor (hasta 1000 mg de ácido por kg de raíces frescas) que el de las variedades dulces (20 mg/kg de raíz). No se conoce alguna variedad de yuca que carezca de cianógenos.La cáscara. Este tejido está a su vez compuesto por la peridermis y la corteza. La peridermis está compuesta por células de corcho (súber o felema) muertas que envuelven la superficie de la raíz (Figura 2-11).A medida que la raíz aumenta en diámetro, la continuidad de las capas celulares se rompe, lo que causa fisuras longitudinales que caracterizan la superficie de la raíz de la yuca. La forma como se producen estas fisuras y el aspecto resultante son utilizados con frecuencia en la identificación de cultivares en el proceso de mercadeo de las raíces. Por debajo de estas fisuras se forman nuevas células de corcho a partir del felógeno, restableciendo la continuidad de este tipo de tejido en toda la superficie de la raíz.Además de la textura de la peridermis, que puede ser de rugosa a más o menos lisa, su color también es utilizado en la identificación de cultivares, pues es una de las características más estables en el orden morfológico. Las raíces pueden presentar una coloración que va desde el blanco o crema, hasta el café claro y el marrón oscuro.Por debajo de la peridermis se encuentra la corteza o capa cortical (felodermis); éste es un tejido de 1 a 2 mm de espesor, cuyo color varía desde el blanco, el crema, hasta el rosado. Esta característica también es utilizada, incluso, por las amas de casa para identificar cultivares. En la corteza se encuentran comprimidos los tejidos del floema, que contienen las más altas concentraciones del glucósido cianogénico; en esta capa también es posible observar los canales laticíferos, especialmente en las raíces jóvenes.La pulpa. Constituye la parte utilizable de la raíz, y por lo tanto, es el tejido de mayor relevancia económica. Es una masa sólida compuesta, principalmente, por tejido secundario del xilema derivado del cambium, cuyas células contienen almidón en abundancia en forma de gránulos redondos de tamaño desigual. La pulpa también es conformada por células parenquimáticas que, en el caso de la yuca, adquieren un desarrollo de tal magnitud que los tubos conductores del xilema quedan reducidos a pequeños conjuntos aislados a lo largo y ancho del parénquima reservante. El cambium, del que se derivan los tejidos de la pulpa, se encuentra en su parte más externa separando la pulpa de la corteza: éste también genera células del floema secundario hacia el exterior.Las células del parénquima que conforma gran parte de la pulpa de la raíz de la yuca contienen de 1 a numerosos amiloplastos. Dentro de los mismos se va acumulando el almidón en formas de gránulos más o menos esféricos, aunque existe gran diversidad de formas como la cupuliforme, bicóncavo-convexa, mitriformes, etc. (Castilloa et al., 1982).El tamaño de los gránulos de almidón es variable y, en cierta medida, determinado genéticamente por cada clon, oscilando entre 2 y 30 micras. La forma y tamaño de los gránulos de almidón son una característica de gran relevancia práctica para la industria, como se describe más adelante.En el centro de la raíz hay filas de vasos duros de xilema y esclerénquima, los cuales forman las fibras centrales de la raíz, cuya dureza, longitud y anchura son características varietales de relevancia económica, pues afectan, principalmente la calidad culinaria y el aspecto de las raíces cuando son cocinadas para el consumo humano.Aproximadamente, 80% del peso fresco de la raíz corresponde a la pulpa. El contenido de materia seca de la raíz de yuca fluctúa entre 30% y 40%, aunque ocasionalmente se observan casos que exceden este rango de variación. La materia seca del parénquima está constituida, en su mayor parte (90% a 95%) por la fracción no nitrogenada, es decir, por carbohidratos tales como almidón y azúcares. El resto de esta materia seca corresponde a fibra (1% a 2%), grasas (0.5% a 1.0%), cenizas o minerales (1.5% a 2.5%) y proteína (alrededor de 2%).Finalmente, cabe destacar que el almidón representa la mayor parte de los carbohidratos (96%) y es, por tanto, el principal componente de la materia seca de la raíz.Sin duda alguna, el principal valor económico del cultivo de la yuca depende de sus raíces. La raíz de la yuca, por ser el órgano de almacenamiento de energía, tiene diversos usos en la alimentación humana, animal y en la extracción de almidones. En el Cuadro 2-3 se presenta un resumen de las principales características químicas de las raíces de yuca, una vez que han sido picadas, secadas y procesadas para producir una harina seca.Una gran proporción del contenido de las raíces lo constituyen los carbohidratos disponibles. Comparada con otras fuentes de energía, como el maíz, las raíces de yuca tienen relativamente un menor contenido de proteínas (2%-3% contra 8%-10% del maíz). Esta diferencia en el contenido de proteínas es lo que justifica que la harina de yuca, cuando es utilizada para la formulación de alimentos, deba tener un costo de, aproximadamente, 70% del maíz.Cuadro 2-3.Composición química de la harina de yuca de la raíz completa y de la raíz sin cáscara (base seca).  Buitrago, 1990.Una característica de las raíces de yuca es que sufren un rápido deterioro luego de ser cosechadas. Este proceso es llamado \"Deterioro Fisiológico de Poscosecha (DFP)\", y es poco lo que se conoce del mismo. Como resultado, las raíces de yuca deben ser consumidas pocos días después de la cosecha; durante los primeros 3 días comienzan a observarse manchas azuladas, concentradas en la periferia de la raíz, las que luego se extienden a la totalidad del tejido y tornan a una coloración café o marrón, en forma de estrías vasculares que se pueden observar en secciones longitudinales de las raíces (Wheatley et al., 1982).La ocurrencia de DFP está directamente asociada a los daños mecánicos que ocurren con la cosecha, pero también depende de la variedad. Hay evidencias que sugieren que variedades con menor contenido de materia seca son más tolerantes. También las raíces con altos contenidos de caroteno (raíces tipo \"yema de huevo\") tienden a mostrar un menor grado de DFP (CIAT, 1999). Una de las prácticas culturales utilizadas para reducir la incidencia de DFP, ha sido la poda de las plantas con varios días de anticipación a la cosecha de las raíces (Oirschot et al., 2000).Esta práctica tiende a reducir, en efecto, los niveles de DFP o, lo que es lo mismo, los retrasa. Además, se observa que la poda reduce notoriamente el contenido de materia seca y, por lo tanto, el contenido de almidones; pero aumenta el contenido de azúcares totales. Estos resultados ilustran la forma como estas variables pueden ser afectadas de acuerdo con las condiciones en que la planta crece y las prácticas culturales a las que está sujeta.El almidón, una de las sustancias de reserva dominantes en la naturaleza, puede hallarse como pequeños gránulos depositados en semillas, tubérculos y raíces de distintas plantas. El almidón es una mezcla de dos polímeros: la amilosa, que es lineal, y la amilopectina, que es ramificada. En el Cuadro 2-4 se presentan algunas de las características más relevantes de estos polímeros, a partir de almidón de maíz.Si bien las propiedades de las amilosas y amilopectinas, extraídas de distintas fuentes de almidón, presentan variaciones, los datos presentados ilustran las principales diferencias entre ambos polímeros.La proporción relativa de amilosa/ amilopectina en cualquier almidón, así como el peso molecular específico de estos polímeros en dicho almidón, determinan las propiedades físico-químicas y, por lo tanto, industriales del mismo.El análisis de estas propiedades es fundamental para lograr un total aprovechamiento de la variabilidad genética existente dentro del género Manihot. Por otra parte, las características típicas del almidón de yuca son diferentes a las obtenidas a partir del maíz o la papa, lo que crea un nicho en el que ciertos procesos industriales pueden preferir la utilización de un almidón respecto a otro (Figura 2-12).Las principales propiedades físico-químicas de un almidón son: composición proximal, características del grano (tamaño y forma), naturaleza cristalina, peso molecular, poder de hinchamiento, solubilidad, contenido relativo de amilosa y características de la pasta que produce.El contenido de proteína del almidón de yuca (0.1%) es muy bajo comparado con el de los almidones de arroz y de maíz (0.45% a 0.35%, respectivamente). La proteína residual de estos almidones puede dar un sabor harinoso y una tendencia a producir espuma. Los gránulos del almidón de papa y yuca contienen un pequeño porcentaje de sustancias grasas, comparado con los almidones de los cereales (maíz y arroz), los cuales contienen, respectivamente, 0.6% y 0.8%. Esta composición favorece el almidón de yuca, ya que estos lípidos forman un complejo con la amilosa, la cual tiende a reprimir el hinchamiento y la solubilización de los gránulos del almidón, y por esta razón se necesitan temperaturas altas (>125°C) para romper así la estructura amilosa-lípido y solubilizar la fracción de amilosa. La presencia de sustancias grasas puede crear problemas por la tendencia a ranciarse en el almacenamiento.Los gránulos del almidón de yuca son redondos con terminales truncados y con un núcleo bien definido (hilo), y su tamaño varía de 5-35 nm, con promedios de 20 nm. Los gránulos de los almidones de arroz, maíz y maíz ceroso tienen forma poliédrica, mientras que los gránulos del almidón de papa son ovoides y presentan los gránulos de mayor tamaño (5-100 nm), con promedio de 33 nm. El tamaño de los gránulos de maíz y maíz ceroso es intermedio entre 3-26 nm, con un promedio de 15 nm, similar al de los gránulos del almidón de yuca (Figura 2-12).Los gránulos más pequeños corresponden a los de arroz, que varían de 3-8 nm y son considerados como los más resistentes a procesos con altas temperaturas, como la esterilización; además, poseen mayor digestibilidad.Los patrones de difracción a los rayos X de los gránulos del almidón nativo de yuca han sido reportados como intermedio (tipo C), entre los patrones característicos de los almidones de los cereales (tipo A) y los almidones de frutas y tubérculos (tipo B). El nivel de cristalización en el almidón de yuca está por el orden de 38% (Rickard et al., 1991). La cristalinidad del gránulo se debe esencialmente a la amilopectina.Cuando una suspensión en agua de almidón es sometida a calentamiento, los gránulos lentamente comienzan a absorber agua y a aumentar de tamaño. Inicialmente, los gránulos retienen sus propiedades ópticas, incluyendo la habilidad para refractar la luz polarizada (birefringencia), lo cual se debe a la alineación de las moléculas sin los gránulos de almidón. Se ha observado que los gránulos de almidón de yuca tienen baja birefringencia a temperaturas entre 58-64°C, comparados con los gránulos de maíz que la poseen a temperaturas entre 62-68 °C.Los gránulos de almidón están compuestos por dos polisacáridos con enlaces glucanos: amilosa y amilopectina. La amilosa es, básicamente, un polímero lineal de unidades α (1-4); la amilopectina es el mayor componente, un polímero ramificado de unidades α (1-4) y α (1-6).En algunos almidones, el tamaño de los gránulos de almidón muestra relación con su proporción amilosa/amilopectina (Delpeuch y Favier, 1980). El promedio del contenido de amilosa en el almidón de yuca es de 17%; en el de maíz, de 26%, en el de papa, de 24%; en el de arroz, de 17%, y en el de maíz ceroso, de <1%.El contenido de amilosa de los almidones está relacionado muy fuertemente con algunas de sus propiedades. Por ejemplo, es conocido que el maíz ceroso, el cual es 100% libre de amilosa, es altamente estable y resistente a la retrogradación (reorganización de las moléculas de amilosa y amilopectina en una estructura cristalina cuando las pastas de los almidones son enfriados). En contraste, almidones con alto contenido de amilosa presentan una retrogradación muy rápida.Aunque hay diferencia varietal en las propiedades reológicas o funcionales de los almidones de yuca, las curvas del amilograma Brabender siguen un patrón similar a los almidones que poseen alto contenido de amilopectina.El almidón de yuca gelatiniza como el almidón de arroz y el de maíz ceroso a temperaturas relativamente bajas (60-67 °C); el pico máximo es alcanzado rápidamente, lo que implica que es un almidón fácil de cocinar y requiere menor consumo de energía durante su cocción. Además, tiene una tendencia baja a la retrogradación y produce un gel muy claro y estable.El almidón de yuca gelatiniza en agua a temperaturas por encima de 60 °C; aunque la viscosidad de la pasta es inicialmente alta, ésta decae bruscamente con solubilización continuada y agitación por encima de 90 °C; con un subsecuente enfriamiento no hay formación de gel. Este comportamiento del almidón de yuca lo hace conveniente tecnológicamente como sustrato para procesos hidrolíticos, pero inapropiado como sustituto para los almidones de cereales en procesos que requieren retrogradación.Las propiedades de claridad y baja retrogradación del almidón de yuca pueden ser utilizadas en muchos productos alimenticios. Sus características reológicas se asemejan bastante al almidón del maíz ceroso.Las propiedades de calidad de las pastas de almidón son modificadas durante el proceso de congelación, aumentando, generalmente, la exudación de agua o \"sinéresis'', lo que deteriora la estructura de la pasta. Algunos almidones nativos, como la yuca y la oca, han sido considerados resistentes a este proceso (Rurales, 1995).También se ha encontrado que las pastas de almidón de yuca son estables a medios ácidos por debajo de pH 2.4, medio en el cual hay destrucción del gránulo y del aspecto físico de la pasta, debido a una hidrólisis parcial o total de las pastas."}

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+{"metadata":{"gardian_id":"c750285c108f7ef4eb6d672cc0c91aed","source":"gardian_index","url":"https://cgspace.cgiar.org/rest/bitstreams/7a97a49e-ed20-46ba-af59-34d6c56094f0/retrieve","id":"1758681881"},"keywords":[],"sieverID":"041741dd-0b3e-498e-a69c-c2a43948d58c","content":"This report is a summary of outcomes achieved during 2023.Throughout the past year, our commitment to advancing in evidence-based decision-making has been fundamental in transforming the management of research integrity, quality, and value at the cluster level within the AICCRA project. We have cultivated a culture focused on results in project monitoring and evaluation (M&E), leveraging the capabilities of MARLO to streamline our planning and reporting processes. This strategic approach has significantly enhanced accountability and transparency, enabling informed strategic decision-making across the project.Moving forward, our emphasis will shift towards operationalizing the Data Management Plan according to the additional financing and the new results framework. A keystone of our unit's responsibility. This plan is designed to ensure that all project outputs are publicly accessible, and that each performance indicator is backed by high-quality evidence for strong project management. Our goal is to foster an environment where open data and thorough evidence-based practices underpin the entirety of our project's lifecycle. By prioritizing the Data Management Plan, we aim to set a new standard for data accessibility and quality, ensuring that every piece of information we generate is a step towards achieving our mission of catalyzing positive change within the agricultural sector.This report summarizes a series of activities and enhancements we pursued over the year to improve the MARLO system and our planning and reporting processes. It reflects our commitment to enhancing efficiency, user experience as well as aligning ourselves with open data and evidence-based decision-making principles. In this document, we share our journey towards more effective and transparent project management.The image below (Figure 1) illustrates an architecture diagram of the key components hosted on AWS that support the MARLO system's operation. This cloud-based infrastructure ensures that MARLO remains online and fully functional, highlighting our integration with CGNET for email services and our testing environment. The diagram is designed to be straightforward, providing a clear overview of how these components interconnect to maintain the system's reliability and performance. a. The operating system of the application server hosted in Amazon Web was updated from Ubuntu 18.04 to Ubuntu 20.04.6. This update improved the site's stability and security. b. The database service kept the same characteristics as a Relational Database Service (RDS) in Amazon Web Services using MySQL. c. AICCRA digital certificate is valid until May 26 2024 (Annex 1) and it is scheduled to be renewed for another year. d. We have operationalized a backup strategy for MARLO-AICCRA Data:• We have established an automated backup process as plan B in case there is a critical situation on the site. All files are being placed on the cloud and they are regularly transferred automatically to the Alliance File System located in Palmira, Colombia. • We implemented an automated process that moves all backups into an S3 bucket in AWS (Annex 2). • The Amazon Web Service also takes a full snapshot of the database server every 8 hours which is stored in the data center in Virginia (USA). This snapshot contains the data of the AICCRA database and its server configuration. (Annex 3).a. The following JAVA libraries were updated in order to improve the site's security and performance:• Struts 2 library. It was updated in the different environments where the application is deployed: production, testing and local environments. This update was necessary as a way to correct the vulnerability it represented as a deprecated library. This case was directly reported by the alliance's infrastructure team, and thanks to the library's update we can guarantee software security. In Annex 4, you can see the vulnerability Alliance Team notification email for more details. • An alert was sent by GitHub indicating that the current version of the minify library was deprecated, that one was updated on the system from version 1.7.4 to 1.7.6 and was configured to work with CSS files. (Refer to the code commit associated with this upgrade for more details). • The Closure-Compile plugin was implemented to process JS files due to its support for the latest JavaScript versions and formats. Previously, the minify library was used for this approache, but it did not process the latest JS´ versions and formats correctly. Closure-Compile ensures effective processing of JS files, even with the latest technologies in web development. (Refer to the code commit associated with this upgrade for more details).b. The deliverable synchronization service was updated in order to adjust it to a new API release. For more information refer to the code commit with this update here.a. In January 2023, we became part of the Alliance IT ticketing system as a way to manage our support in accordance with the Service Level Agreements (SLA). In the Annex 5, it shows the email screenshot announcing the use of the alliance´s ticketing system. b. The MARLO Team has resolved 86 support tickets for the AICCRA community in 2023 (from Jan 01 to Dec 31). (See tickets 2023 report).We have guided the different planning and reporting processes that have emerged in the system throughout the year. We have also provided technical assistance as requested.As part of our objectives as a unit and as a complement of the AICCRA Data Management Plan´s implementation, we aim to offer a comprehensive project management process that ensures the success and efficiency of our processes (planning and reporting).Each year of the parent project has helped us improve the implementation of our process which begins with the development of a detailed schedule that includes every task and milestone, along with specific start and end dates. Through regular meetings with CL, PMC, and CT members, we ensure compliance with these dates proactively addressing challenges or delays and seeking solutions in order to keep the process on track. We also monitor the plan regularly as a way to guarantee success in relation to previously established objectives. Our methodology ensures detailed planning and effective communication and tracking. This facilitates informed decision-making and the achievement of optimal results. You can consult our communication plan with AICCRA members here.a. PMC will be able to go through a preliminary process before entering comments into the system. They will be allowed to write an initial comment in \"Draft\" mode. Subsequently, a PMC member will be in charge of reviewing all comments to ensure that there are no duplicates or inconsistencies (Annex 6). b. The search field in the MARLO deliverable section was enhanced (see release note). c. A guide button was included on all MARLO sections where users will be able to see what is expected from them in each section at the planning and reporting level (see release note).We developed three (3) sections modules where we can manage: a. Messages: Any admin user can add messages to communicate our users significant events occurring within the system. This feature is used to transmit important information such as the unavailability of the technical team to provide support on national holidays or system update processes. This ensures that users can plan and coordinate their planning and reporting activities accordingly. b. Feedback: We developed a module that allows assigning a field as part of the QA process, enabling an icon for providing feedback. This is because not all fields in MARLO have the option to receive feedback. We created a system for administrators to manage these fields within the admin section, eliminating the need to go through a developer to enable or disable comments for a field (Annex 7). c. Guide button: Admin users can change the information displayed on each section based on the process and/or any updates on the PIM (see release note). d. Timeline: Admins can change the information displayed on the timeline component.In our commitment to enhancing the usability of the system and to reduce the need for excessive clicking and navigation between sections, we updated the homepage to allow direct access to various MARLO items, including clusters, deliverables, OICRs, and Innovations. This update is expected to help users find the sections they need more quickly (Annex 8).We have introduced two key enhancements and business rules to our platform in relation to our Key Performance Indicators.The first is a new feature for reporting on the IPI 1.2 indicator, designed to streamline the reporting process for our users (see release note). The second improvement focuses on the IPI 2.3 indicator, allowing users to break down the number of trainees to avoid double counting and to maintain accurate records of their contributions (see release note). This functionality is especially useful in the context of the 2023 Mid-year and Annual reporting cycles, offering a more detailed and efficient way to manage and report on training activities.a. We released a functionality in the system to help users identify duplicate deliverables by checking the dissemination section for previously reported URLs, handles, or DOIs. This enhancement aims to streamline the process and ensure accuracy in reporting deliverables, offering solutions for duplicates and facilitating coordination to avoid redundancy (see release note). b. We have enhanced the deliverables tables with improved keyword search and customizable viewing options, enabling users to swiftly navigate and personalize their data management experience. These upgrades facilitate the efficient organization and retrieval of deliverable information (see release note). c. We aligned the deliverables sub-categories in MARLO with the OneCGIAR vision, ensuring interoperability among digital products like MARLO, MEL, PRMS, CG Core, and CGSpace. This update facilitates consistent reporting across platforms for deliverables from 2021 onward, enhancing confidence in data management and reporting processes (see release note).We have enabled the feature in MARLO to export the information entered about a specific cluster into a PDF report format. This functionality is accessible through the \"Summaries\" section, which is already available in the system on the horizontal menu (Annex 9).a. We have integrated the qualification metrics for OICRs and MELIAs into the dashboard for internal use (see release note). b. We launched the MARLO Innovations Dashboard to efficiently map AICCRA Innovations to clusters, IPIs, and PDOs, based on insights from Cluster leaders (see release note). "}

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+{"metadata":{"gardian_id":"53c118c6f8cf520015a7648621e29833","source":"gardian_index","url":"https://cgspace.cgiar.org/rest/bitstreams/deebf66b-55b3-444f-a43d-48f3ebddc5a2/retrieve","id":"-604046569"},"keywords":["Small ruminants","revenues","cost of production","climate change","growth performance"],"sieverID":"c57b7eb1-80ae-407c-ad82-9bcdedf69649","content":"The productivity of small ruminants in developing countries remains low although the animals play an integral role in the livelihoods of smallholder farmers. Current information on their productive performance and contribution to the household incomes of smallholder farmers in Eastern Africa is limited. This study was implemented as part of an on-going small ruminant improvement project by the Climate Change Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS) and the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) in Kericho and Kisumu Counties of the Lake Victoria basin of Kenya. The objective of this study was to evaluate productive performance and contribution to the household incomes of introduced improved small ruminants to the smallholder Climate Smart Villages of Lower Nyando. The information will contribute to knowledge on the productivity and costs of producing small ruminants and their roles in enhancing livelihoods of smallholder farmers grouped into \"Climate Smart Villages\"(CSV). Data collated from 162 farms on growth performance of improved indigenous small ruminants (Red Maasai and Red Maasai-Dorper cross sheep, and Galla goat) introduced in the CSV from 2014-2019 was analyzed. Additionally, a cross sectional survey and community focus group discussions were carried out to collate information on the costs and revenues from small ruminants on the smallholder farms.Results showed that land holdings and demographic characteristics of households in the CSV have not changed since 2013, however, the number of improved sheep and goats reared by the farmers had doubled. The introduced improved indigenous breeds and their crosses with local breeds (non-descript Blackhead Persian sheep and Small East African goat) had superior growth performance and were >15 Kg heavier at one year of age compared the local breeds resulting in a three-fold increase in sale prices (from 2014 to 2018) for the animals.The highest revenue was from the sale of both sheep and goats in Kericho and Kisumu representing 82% and 75.1% of the income from the animals respectively. Farmers sold both male and female animals depending on their availability, the anticipated sale price and the existing need for cash in the household. Milk was only obtained from the goats, and this contributed to 5.7% and 5% of the total revenue from the animals in Kericho and Kisumu respectively. Households headed by farmers with non-formal education earned >55% of the returns from their animals compared to those with formal education. In both counties, the net returns from goats (KSH 91,675.90) contributed 70.5% of the total returns compared to that of sheep (KSH 39,790.10). The introduced indigenous breeds had adapted well to the climatic conditions of Nyando and were able to maintain their productivity despite the change in xiv location. Production of improved indigenous sheep and goats in the CSV of Nyando has contributed to higher returns from small ruminant production and should be expanded within the region.Firstly, I thank the Almighty God for seeing me through this academic journey. I wish to express my gratitude to my supervisors; Prof. Charles Gachuiri and Dr. Julie Ojango for their guidance and timely feedback throughout the journey. I also acknowledge Dr. John Recha from Climate Change Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS) for his contribution to the conceptualizing of this project work. This work would not have been complete without your insights and feedback. God bless you.I also wish to thank ILRI for giving me the opportunity and hosting me in an environment conducive to research. Ultimately, I'm much grateful to the funders of my project, the CGIAR Livestock Genetics flagship and Climate Change Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS) Programme for their support and facilitation in my project work. Very special thanks to the CCAFS project field partners and farmers in Nyando for their cooperation throughout the period of data collection. Many thanks to James Audho, a research assistant at the Livestock Genetics Programme, for his guidance in data collection and analysis. I'm also grateful to the Capacity Development Unit of International Livestock Research Institute for the graduate fellowship. I will forever be grateful for your support.         Worldwide, sheep and goats, jointly referred to as small ruminants comprise more than 50% of the domesticated ruminants and are an important source of livelihood to farmers, especially those in developing countries (Wodajo et al., 2020). In Kenya, small ruminants comprise a significant proportion of the livestock population, estimated at 19 million sheep and 28 million goats (KNBS, 2019). These livestock are key resources to the keepers for their role in the provision of food, socio-economic needs, and cultural activities (Herrero et al., 2013;Alary et al., 2015;Fantahun et al., 2016). They also support income generation through sales of live animals, and their products of meat, milk, and manure which is used to promote crop production (Alilo et al., 2018). Small ruminants have unique attributes that attract smallholder resource-constrained farmers, these include flexible feeding habits, high reproduction rates, adaptability to extreme climatic conditions, and efficient utilization of low agriculturally productive lands ( Kosgey et al., 2006;Monteiro et al., 2017).In Kenya, small ruminants are kept under different production systems as outlined by Muigai et al., (2017), namely, smallholder mixed crop-livestock systems, smallholder intensive systems, extensive pastoral and transhumance systems, and, large scale ranching systems.Management practices differ across the systems and within systems depending on the resource endowment of the livestock keepers. In arid and semi-arid areas occupied by pastoral livestock keepers, small ruminants are reared in large numbers, herded in the open pasture alongside cattle, and at night confined in temporal structures or kept outside the homestead.In the mixed crop-livestock systems, the animals are either grazed or confined within temporal structures depending on the available landholding but, in some instances, they may graze on communal resources, crop residues, cultivated forages, or naturally grown bushes and shrubs (Tadesse et al., 2014). Smallholder intensive systems and large scale ranching systems are more commercially oriented, targetting the production of specific products of good quality for the markets (Muigai et al., 2017).Changing climatic conditions manifested by prolonged periods of dry weather and extreme temperatures pose a major challenge to smallholder farmers compelling them to change their farming practices to be more sustainable (IPCC, 2014). The Lower Nyando area in the Lake Victoria basin of Kenya is one of the fifteen areas selected by Climate Change Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS) programme for the implementation of \"Climate Smart Agricultural practices\" (Kinyangi et al., 2015). In this area, food security and agriculture have been adversely affected by unfavorable climatic events of drought, floods, and unpredictable rainfall patterns (Thorlakson & Neufeldt, 2011). Improving the small ruminant production is one of the mitigation measures used owing to the role of the animals in improving the livelihoods of farmers affected by climate change (Ojango et al., 2016).Productivity is a crucial aspect of livestock production as it forms the basis for the survival of stock populations as well as creation of income through sales of breeding animals (Lamy et al., 2012). In non-wool and low milk producing small ruminant breeds, productivity is measured by the number of lambs/kids per ewe/doe in a year (Bosman, 1995). Lamb/kid production is also a key measure of farmers' income from the small ruminants, thus there is a need to maximize reproduction if returns through sales of animals are to be optimized (Cloete et al., 2000). The productivity of small ruminants in rural mixed crop-livestock systems has been very low (Salem & Smith, 2008;Ayantunde, 2016). In these systems, farmers keep indigenous breeds, although there have been some efforts to upgrade the existing breeds in different regions (Mbuku et al., 2015;Haile, 2017;Haile et al., 2019). Despite their low productivity, the indigenous small ruminants continue to be retained in moderate numbers.Interventions for improving productivity within these systems include improved breeding management practices, feeding, and disease control strategies (Kosgey et al., 2008;Salem, 2010;Mayberry et al., 2018;Haile et al., 2019). In order to determine the impact of improving the productivity of small ruminants in targeted farming environments affected by climate change, it is important to understand the contribution of the small ruminants to the incomes and livelihoods of the livestock keepers.Agriculture is the main means of livelihood for smallholder resource-constrained farmers in developing countries (Chambwera & Stage, 2010;Harvey et al., 2014). However, climate change has become a big threat to the sustainability of agricultural productivity (Nelson et al., 2010;Williams et al., 2017;Fadairo et al., 2020). Small ruminants comprise an important pathway for the establishment of constant and regular food and income for smallholder farming families in the climate-challenged areas (CIAT, 2015). The productivity of small ruminants especially in developing countries remains low although there is potential for improvement (Ådnøy, 2014;Monteiro et al., 2017). Information on the current productivity levels of sheep and goats in the changing production systems affected by adverse climates in Eastern Africa is limited.Information on the economic contribution of small ruminants to smallholder farmers' livelihoods in climate constrained areas is also scarce. Studies undertaken on smallholder farming systems have dealt with the more general economic contribution of rural communities to the national economy (Kumar et al., 2010;Adams, 2015) and in pastoral systems (Omondi, 2008). Gaps in information greatly impact the potential planning of interventions for improvement of flock productivity and profitability. The paucity of information on costs and returns results in undervaluation of small ruminants in comparison with large ruminants such as cattle despite their enormous contribution to the livelihoods of smallholder farmers (Panin, 2000). To better guide intervention options for improving small ruminant productivity, there is need for information on the current productivity levels, costs of achieving different productivity levels, and economic viability of the small ruminant enterprises.Farming systems and their ability to provide food and improve livelihoods in the tropics is challenged by climate change stresses (Singh & Singh, 2017). There is, therefore, a need to adopt farming practices suitable for the changing climatic conditions. Small ruminant production in the smallholder systems support the socio-economic livelihoods of the communities living in climate challenged areas and has been acknowledged as one of the mitigation measures to climate change (Monteiro et al., 2017). Studies have focused on the productivity of small ruminants especially those raised under smallholder farming systems in resource-constrained environments (Chikagwa-Malunga & Banda, 2006; Tibbo, 2006;Ahuya et al.,2009;Mhlanga et al., 2018). However, there is little documentation on the current productivity levels of small ruminants in climate constrained environments. This gap in information is restrictive to undertaking new initiatives to improve the livelihoods of smallholder farmers using small ruminant improvement programs.Adequate information on the current levels of productivity of small ruminants is key in addressing the challenge of improving the livelihoods of smallholder farmers. Enhanced small ruminant productivity translates to improved livelihoods through increased incomes from the sale of products. Information on the economic returns to small ruminant production under changing climatic conditions is also required. This study contributed to information on the productivity and costs of producing small ruminants, and the role small ruminants play in enhancing livelihoods of communities in the climatically challenged smallholder systems of Nyando in the Lake Victoria basin of Kenya.To evaluate the productivity and contribution of small ruminants to household incomes in smallholder farming systems under the \"Climate Smart Villages\" of Nyando.i.Investigate and document the contribution of small ruminants to household incomes of smallholder farmers in \"Climate Smart Villages\" of Nyando.ii.Evaluate the growth performance of improved small ruminant breeds introduced to the smallholder farming systems in \"Climate Smart Villages\" of Nyando.i. Small ruminants do not contribute substantially to the household incomes of smallholder farmers in the climatically challenged environments of Nyando.ii. The growth performance of improved small ruminant breeds introduced to the smallholder farmers in \"Climate Smart Villages\" is not different from that of existing breeds.Small ruminants form an integral part of nutritional, economic, and ecological niche in the agricultural systems of rural communities in developing countries (Oluwatayo & Oluwatayo, 2012). They play a key role, especially to the smallholders, in the provision of products such as milk, meat, wool, and skin which are important sources of food and income (Wodajo et al., 2020). Small ruminants are valued livestock species due to their unique attributes including short reproductive cycles, multiparous nature, feeding behavior, innate resistance in different breeds to gastrointestinal parasites, and their ability to thrive in large numbers per unit area of land compared to larger ruminants such as cattle ( Baker et al., 2001;Devendra, 2002). Some small ruminant breeds are reported to be resistant to intestinal nematodes, thus reducing their rearing costs (Baker et al., 2001;Baker & Gray, 2004).Small ruminants have lower initial capital requirements making them less costly to rear and manage when compared to the large ruminants (Pollot & Wilson, 2009). They have also been shown to enable smallholder farmers recover and re-establish herds faster after challenging periods due to their high rate of reproduction (Peacock, 2005). Their small bodies have economic, managerial, and biological advantages making them the first-choice livestock species to be sold for emergency household needs (Oluwatayo & Oluwatayo, 2012). For instance, their small carcasses can be easily handled and consumed by a household without spoiling (Alarcon et al., 2017). Moreover, in many households, during dry seasons, goats are the sole milk providers as cattle tend to be severely hit by drought (Tulicha, 2013). Small ruminants do not compete with human beings and other livestock for grain-based feeds as they can exclusively thrive on natural pastures and shrubs (Duku et al., 2010;Salem, 2010).Currently, small ruminants are widely distributed in pastoral and smallholder production systems in Africa (Muigai et al., 2017).The livestock sub-sector plays a significant role in the Kenyan economy as it contributes approximately 4.9% of the national GDP, 19.6% of agricultural GDP and employs 50% of the total agricultural labor force (CSA, 2018). The total population of small ruminants in Kenya is estimated to be 19 million sheep and 28 million goats, which supply about 84,074MT of the national meat (KNBS, 2019). According to FAO, (2016) worlds small ruminant populations have been increasing and are projected to continue to rise in numbers by 60% by 2050.In Kenya, small ruminants are produced under four main production systems-smallholder Mixed crop-livestock production systems are mainly found in the humid/sub-humid zones of Kenya, classified as Agro-ecological zones I to III (Jaetzold & Schmidt, 1983) covering areas of the central highlands, Rift Valley, Western Kenya and a narrow strip along the Coastal lowlands (Njarui et al., 2016). In the high potential areas of Kenya (Agro-ecological zones I-II), small ruminants are raised in smaller numbers under either medium or smallholder mixed crop-livestock production systems (Kosgey et al., 2008). In these systems, farmers practice integration of crops with livestock farming where one enterprise supports the other (Gizaw et al., 2015). The small ruminant production enables diversification in land use and provides an additional source of income when crop production is negatively impacted by adverse climatic effects (Oluwatayo & Oluwatayo, 2012). These areas are characterized by small land holdings and high population densities leading to competition in land use (AU-IBAR, 2019).The small ruminants are raised alongside other livestock species with minimal husbandry practices and low use of inputs. A large proportion of the farmers practicing mixed croplivestock production keep small ruminants for subsistence rather than commercial purposes, thus very little attention is given to profitability (Muigai et al., 2017). The farmers rear a mixture of exotic breeds and their crosses with the indigenous (AU-IBAR, 2019). Crop residues, cultivated forage, and naturally grown bushes and shrubs are the main feeds for the small ruminants in these production systems, with some provision of supplements in the form of industrial by-products such as molasses. During cropping seasons, the animals are carefully herded or tethered in pastures far from the cultivated farms.Extensive pastoral and transhumance systems are found in arid and semi-arid areas where potential for crop farming is very low (Muigai et al., 2017). Arid and semi-arid areas comprise 80% of Kenya's land providing a livelihood to about 20 million people (Amwata et al., 2015). In these systems, livestock comprise the essential livelihood asset for the communities ( Animals in these systems are kept in structures built on small land parcels in close proximity to urban centres. Both intensive and semi-intensive management practices are adopted as the animals are kept for both milk and meat production (AU-IBAR, 2019). The animals are fed on natural pastures, planted fodder, and crop residues and commercial feeds. Farmers generally keep exotic or improved indigenous breeds, and their crossbreds (Muigai et al., 2017).Small ruminant production in smallholder farming systems is influenced by several factors that are greatly dependent on the resource endowment of the livestock keepers (Salem, 2010;Ayantunde, 2016). Key factors reported to influence productivity achievable include feed and water resources, endemic disease and parasites, housing facilities provided, breed-types available for rearing, and the market and marketing system for products (Salem & Smith, 2008;Joshi et al., 2018;Teklebrhan, 2018).Unavailability of adequate feed all year round is a major constraint in small ruminant farming (Salem & Smith, 2008 Addressing water and feed challenges in small ruminant production is a critical element in improving the offtake achievable from animals in smallholder systems (Omondi et al., 2008).The smallholder farmers need to grow fodder in addition to crops. Introducing droughtresistant fodder cultivars and supplementation of the small ruminants with agro-industrial byproducts and mineral salts especially during the dry seasons will enable more optimized growth of the animals and reduce nutritional deficiency related mortalities (Salem, 2010).Diseases and parasites threaten small ruminants as they lead to losses due to poor growth rates and mortality (Zvinorova et  Improved management practices with careful attention to animal hygiene would greatly reduce the challenge of diseases in small ruminant production.Most smallholder farmers rear indigenous breeds of small ruminants or crosses between the indigenous and exotic breeds ( Markets and marketing systems for small ruminants tend to be quite diverse ( The small-scale production of small ruminants often results in unavailability of their products in informal markets (Ogola et al., 2010). A large number of intermediary market actors each seeking to make an income from sales of animals results in very low producer prices (Mtimet et al., 2014). In many areas, there is need for improvement of infrastructure such as roads and water supply in markets to enhance their operability (Katiku et al., 2013). Livestock keepers need a better understanding of the market demand and the strengths of marketing animals as communities rather than individuals (Haile et al., 2019). Adoption of technologies such as mobile phone messaging services could help in dissemination of marketing information for farmers thereby limiting exploitation by middlemen (Krell et al., 2020).Smallholder farmers in many regions have limited access to credit facilities hindering the development of small ruminant enterprises (Anang et al., 2015). In most scenarios, smallholders adopt low input and low return production options over technology intensive ones as they are guaranteed greater stability (Kebebe, 2015;Oyinbo et al., 2019). As noted by Omonona et al., (2010), access to credit enhances the production efficiency of small-scale farmers thereby reducing rural poverty and food insecurity. Access to credit influences farm productivity since credit-constrained farmers are more likely to use lower levels of inputs in production compared to those who are well endowed. Improving access to credit, therefore, has the capacity to facilitate optimal input use leading to a positive impact on productivity.To enhance productivity and address constraints to production, there is a need for a multidimensional approach incorporating technical and policy measures. Improvement in productivity makes a valuable contribution to resource-poor farmers (Assan, 2015). The integration of nutritional, breeding and appropriate management practices is important in promoting small ruminant productivity (Deribe & Taye, 2013;Lado et al., 2015). Proper linkage between market, workable regional and national policies, community breeding programmes, and collaborative research work with government are key in minimizing productivity constraints.Changing climatic conditions resulting in significant fluctuations in the global temperature, precipitation, and wind patterns over long periods have a significant effect on livestock production (Nardone et al., 2010). The fluctuating climates adversely affect communities that rely entirely on natural resources with limited development interventions (Sejian, 2013).In addition to negatively affecting the available feed resources for livestock, climate change affects animal growth, reproduction, and health of animals resulting in economic losses The value of a species in livestock production increases in relation to its ability to make a socio-economic contribution and its potential for improving productivity (Devendra, 1999).Productivity can be measured by the animal's reproduction, growth, and the quantity and quality of products. The increasing human population coupled with changes in eating patterns is likely to increase demand for livestock products that will be met through an increase in productivity (Herrero & Thornton, 2013). There exists a gap in demand and supply of livestock products that needs to be bridged (Kebebe, 2019). Livestock productivity is affected by both genetic and environmental factors (Greyling, 2000). Several studies have proposed the improvement of small ruminant productivity, especially in smallholder systems as a means of safeguarding the livelihoods of communities facing environmental challenges Livestock production efficiency is to a large extent dependent on the reproductive performance of the livestock populations (Chukwuka et al., 2010). Reproductive performance in small ruminants entails parameters such as conception rate, litter size, weaning rate, and mortality rate (Cloete et al., 2000;Song et al., 2006). It is a composite of several processes that are influenced by environment, development, genetic and management factors (Greyling, 2000). Reproductive traits such as age at first conception, age at first lambing/kidding, and lambing/kidding interval vary greatly due to non-genetic or environmental factors (Joshi et al., 2018).Fertility, reflected by the number of ewes/does lambing/kidding per lambing/kidding opportunity (Hunter, 2010) is influenced by among other factors good feeding which resultsin increased egg shedding and a higher lambing/kidding percentage. The inherent genetic potential of the animals also affects their fertility, as some animals may be naturally infertile (Petrovic et al., 2012) Conception rate is defined as the number of pregnant ewes/does per ewe/does mated is influenced by management and environmental factors which account for up to 96% of the variation seen (Mufti et al., 2010). Environmental factors if not well managed result in metabolic disorders, challenges in reproductive health, heat detection and insemination practices (Kathy, 2004). Balanced feed rations have been shown to improve reproductive efficiency as feed directly affects body mass which in turn affects conception rates and overall lifetime productivity (Kolachhapati, 2005; Delgadillo & Martin, 2015;).A study in Horro sheep showed that animals with very low weights had low conception rates, however as body weight increased, conception rates tended to improve (Abegaz et al., 2002).Animals also tend to have higher weights in the second to fourth parity, and as a result have a higher rate of ovulation from the well-developed reproductive system (Khan et al., 2015;Segura-Correa et al., 2017). This however declines as the dams grow older. Flock management practices that enable producers retain a larger proportion of dams in the second to fourth parity at mating should receive due consideration in order to improve conception rates (Abegaz et al., 2002). Assisted technology such as oestrus synchronization and artificial insemination can be adopted as options for improving conception. Seasonal breeding in small ruminant flocks may increase conception rates as the dams are given more time to be in good body condition prior to mating.An early age at first lambing/kidding and short lambing/kidding interval translate to better lifetime productivity (Shrestha & Pokharel, 2012). Small ruminants lambing/kidding early in life are reported to have longer lactations and higher milk yields compared to those lambing/kidding for the first time when they are older (Mioč et al., 2008). The availability of sufficient feed for growing animals results in early sexual maturity and adult female animals that are well fed cycle faster following lambing (Parajuli et al., 2015). The number of lambs/kids born per ewe lambing/kidding (litter size) is highly influenced by the breed of the animal and the weight at mating and age of the of the dam (Abegaz et al., 2002). The average litter size increases with age and parity due to increased ovulation rate and uterine capacity, traits that constitute the reproductive ability of the dam (Fahmy, 1990).Like other reproductive traits, litter size in indigenous sheep breeds of Ethiopia is reported to have a low heritability making genetic improvement for this trait through direct selection to be very slow. The average litter size reported for local goats in extensive production systems in the Arid areas of Northern Kenya is 1.02 kids per doe (Warui et al., 2007). In semi-Arid environments of Kenya, the average litter size for exotic Toggenburg goats, indigenous Galla goats, and their crosses is reported to be 1.00, 1.291±0.03, and 1.255±0.02 respectively (Ndeke et al., 2015).The number of lambs/kids weaned per lambs/kids born in a year (weaning rate) depends on the average litter size and the mortality rate in a given flock. Small ruminant production in the traditional extensive production systems is characterized by very low weaning rates (Sebei et al., 2004). Weaning rate is affected by genetic, environmental, and management practices (Peacock, 1996;Joshi, 2018).High mortality among lambs/kids and slow growth among those that survive are the critical constraints to small ruminant production (Sebei et al., 2004). High mortality has been reported to be greatly influenced by the environment (Merkine et al., 2017). In Ghana, Sahelian lambs born in the dry season have been reported to have higher mortality rates (35%) compared to those born in the rainy season (25%). This is due to shortage and poor quality of feed hindering the ability of ewes to produce adequate milk for lambs leading to malnutrition, and stress (Turkson & Sualisu, 2005). Pre weaning mortality rates of 3.8% have been reported in Gabra and Rendille goats raised under extensive production systems in Northern Kenya (Warui et al., 2007) Growth, described as a change in volume, size, and shape over time is an important characteristic in the production of meat sheep and goats (Lupi et al., 2015) Interventions to help improve the incomes from small ruminants should emphasize measures that improve efficiency in productivity rather than keeping larger numbers of animals (Muigai et al., 2017).The study was carried out in Kisumu and Kericho Counties of Lower Nyando (Figure 1) located in the plains of Lake Victoria. The study site covered an area of 100km  Data was collated using a cross-sectional survey that was conducted in the months of November and December 2018. A detailed questionnaire was developed and used to obtain information from farmers through enumerators engaged by the CCAFS project on sheep and goat production. The questionnaire developed is presented in Appendix 1. The information from the farmers was obtained using the \"Open Data Kit\" (ODK) information technology platform (https://opendatakit.org/) for paperless data capture. This enabled direct entry of information provided by each household in an electronic format to a central database.Information was obtained from either the head of the household, spouse or a household member above 18 years. The sheep and goats reared in Nyando were housed in elevated wooden structures for the night and left to graze in fields once crops were harvested or were tethered within the farmers premises. Details on the differential management practices adopted by the farmers in Kisumu and Kericho counties were obtained. The main goat breeds reared were indigenous Small East African, introduced Galla, and crosses between the two breeds, while the sheep breeds comprised local non-descript animals, indigenous Blackhead Persian, introduced Red Maasai and Red Maasai Dorper crosses, and crossbreds among the various breeds. The introduced sheep and goats with their offspring were identified using ear-tags. All kids/lambs born within the flocks following the introduction of new breed-types were tagged and their growth performance was monitored by weighing using a portable 100kg hanging scale at birth and subsequently every 3 months until the age of one year. The weights were monitored from 2014 to 2019. The data were collated using a paperless data capture tool developed for ODK (Appendix 2) and stored in a MySQL database.Analysis to characterize the sheep and goat production systems was carried out using STATA The data collected on weights at different stages of growth on animals born for a period of The resultant least square mean weights at different stages of growth for the different breedgroups were used to plot growth curves for the different breeds of each species.Costs of production and revenue streams for the farmers from sheep and goats over a 12 month period were determined from responses in the questionnaire (Appendix 1). Costs of production were based on prices for inputs supporting sheep and goat production in 2018, while revenues comprised income from the sales of sheep and goats and their products, and home consumption in the same year. New born lambs and kids on the farms provided a potential revenue stream, but as they were reared on the farms for the period of the study, they contributed to the costs of production.Costs were categorized as either fixed or variable (Table 1). Fixed costs are the costs incurred at the outset of an enterprise and do not vary with production levels, while variable costs fluctuate over time. The farmers provided information on the prices at which they sold their animals in 2018 in addition to details on animals consumed at home. The value of animals consumed at home was assumed to be equivalent to the farm gate price for the given animal. Land holdings in Nyando were very small (0.1-3ha), and thus there was no land set aside specifically for sheep and goat production. Costs of factors with low-input demand in traditional production systems are generally assumed to be negligible (Turkson & Naandam, 2011). In this study, the costs associated with land, depreciation of tools, equipment, and sheep and goat housing were assumed to be negligible.Feed resources for sheep and goat production in the study area comprised of natural pasture, crop residues, and household waste. There were no feed purchases within the study area and a common feeding cost was assumed across the farms. Feeding cost was therefore not included in the model. Costs for water provision included costs incurred in the purchase and transportation of water as noted by the livestock keepers. Animal health costs were computed from the actual costs of veterinary inputs and services provided for sheep and goat production. Animal replacement costs were derived from reported statistics on mortality within the flocks (Ojango et al., 2016), and animals purchased purposely for flock replacement within a year. Estimation of the value of dead animals was based on farm gate prices depending on the age of an animal. Breeding costs entailed costs incurred in the purchase and hiring of animals for mating.Majority of the households (99%) did not have hired labour for the management of their sheep and goats as these animals were mostly managed by family members. The costs related to hired labour were therefore found to be negligibly and was therefore excluded from the study. The opportunity cost of family labour was computed as a fixed cost. Family labour costs for an adult family member was valued as half of the casual wage. This was based on the assumption that the opportunity cost of family labour is below the wage rate since offfarm employment was not constantly readily available (Staal et al., 2003;Legesse et al., 2010). Labor by children was mainly for herding sheep and goats and was calculated as a quarter of the waged labor as proposed in a study by Zegeye et al., (2000).The milk produced by the goats was primarily for household consumption with small quantities sold at the farm gate. All the milk produced was valued at the farm gate price.Manure from the animals was mostly used on the farms with minimal sales. There was, however, no specific price for a given quantity of manure, ranging from 0.05 to 0.25USD per wheelbarrow. The income was therefore assumed to be negligible.Net income from sheep and goats was segregated by land holdings, flock size, and flock structure and was calculated as total gross revenues minus total costs;Equation 3The impact of different factors within the systems on the costs and revenues of production of sheep and goats was evaluated using regression analyses. The model incorporated fixed effects and their interactions as follows;Yijkmn=µ+Ci+Gk: i+Sk:i+ Fl:i+ Hm: i + (GF)jl:i + (GH)jm:i +eijklmn Equation 4Where:  The education levels achieved by household heads were higher in Kisumu than in Kericho County (P<0.01), with a greater proportion having at least secondary education. Education levels affect livestock production in that, farmers with higher education levels are more likely to adopt advanced agricultural technologies when compared to those with low education levels. The average household size for Kericho (4.9±1.7) and Kisumu (4.1±2.3) did not differ significantly. A study conducted in Abia Estate in Nigeria revealed productivity of small ruminants to be highly affected by the age of the farmer and household size. Large sized households and those with young members had energetic and readily available labour force for their animals therefore high productivity (Offor et al., 2018). Further, they reported small ruminant enterprises to be a laborious activity especially to the elderly leading to a negative effect on the output.The integration of crop, livestock, and poultry production was the core economic activity for household heads in this study (Figure 2). Farmers, especially in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), adopt agricultural diversification approaches as a way of strengthening resilience and improving food production (World Bank, 2019). According to Gollin, (2014) agriculture practices incorporating sheep and goat production in addition to other enterprises are a key source of livelihood to the smallholders.Off-farm activities such as non-agricultural formal employment and business activities (formal and informal) served as an alternative economic activity for the household heads in Nyando.In Kisumu, a significantly greater proportion of men heading households participated in alternative economic activities than women who headed households (P<0.01) as compared to Kericho (Figure 2). In the community focus group discussions, it was reported that fewer women had the opportunity to engage in non-agricultural income-generating initiatives. In  The sizes of land owned disaggregated by gender of the household head, and the allocation of land to different farming activities by households in Nyando is presented in Table 3. In both Counties, 75% of the land was reported to be owned by men, and differences in land size owned depending on the gender of the household head were not significant. This is because in most scenarios the land owned by women was inherited from their spouses after their death. Other studies have reported that in African settings there may be biases against women, restricting them from owning and inheriting land ( Sources of water for both the household and livestock use in Nyando are presented in Figure 3. Water for livestock was mainly obtained from the rivers in Kericho County, and either from a water company or harvested from rainwater in Kisumu County (Figure 3).Availability of water is vital for sustainable livestock production as it plays a crucial role in physiological and reproduction processes. There were significant differences in access to water depending on the season (P<0.01). Masese et al., (2008) reported that water availability was a challenge in Nyando area due to increased drought occurrences resulting from climate change. Restricted water intake in livestock leads to limited feed intake affecting their productive potential (Beede, 2012). The livestock keepers in both Counties walked for longer distances in search of water for their livestock during drier seasons (1.3±0.9 Km) than rainy seasons (0.8±0.5Km). Sejian et al., (2012) reported that long walking distances by animals lead to weight loss, and in the long run, may affect market weight. The worst scenario occurs when in addition to limited water there is limited feed intake as the animal tends to utilize body reserves on the physical activities.The proportion of different species of livestock reared by the farmers in Nyando differed significantly (P<0.01) between the two Counties as shown in species as a food security measure due to their provision of a wide variety of products including milk, meat, and eggs. The livestock also serves as a store of wealth, income generation, and enable the producers to spread their risks across assets (Perry et al., 2002).In Nyando, sheep and goats were the second most frequent livestock reared after poultry (Figure 4). Several studies have elaborated on the importance of sheep and goats as a resource for poor smallholders through their adaptation to various climate risks, ability to maintain productivity even in extreme climatic conditions, emitting less methane, and resistance to parasites (Peacock, 2005 The difference in species reared between the two Counties could be related to the diverse vegetation cover where the greater shrub vegetation found in Kericho County favors goat production, while the area with fewer shrubs and more grass vegetation of Kisumu County is more favorable for sheep production. The grazing behavior of sheep and goats is such that sheep tend to feed on grasses in a more controlled manner while goats are browsers and tend to spread out in search of shrubs, thus roam over larger areas (Agrawal et al., 2014).Different values were also attached to sheep and goats by the two communities. In Kisumu County, the community has been reported to prefer sheep to goats (Ojango et al., 2016) as part of their culture. However, farmers in Kisumu appreciate goats for their ability to control bush encroachment on the land and produce milk for household consumption. Goats provide both milk and meat in diverse ecosystems and sustain lactations over long periods. This makes them an important asset in the climate challenged environments (FAO, 2017).The structure of the flocks kept by the farmers is presented in Table 5 (sheep) and Table 6 (Goats). There were significant differences in animal numbers by age and sex, with mature female animals dominating the flocks for both species in the two Counties (P<0.01). The population structure of a flock is a key indicator of its production potential. Flocks with larger numbers of breeding females indicate good opportunities for multiplication of animals unlike flocks with a large number of mature males (Taye, 2008).  Farmers in Kericho County kept a significantly higher proportion of rams (p<0.01) compared to those in Kisumu County (Table 5). In Kisumu County, more farmers castrated young male animals that were not earmarked for breeding (Table 5 and Table 6). These would be raised for sale in the markets as meat animals. During the FGD, farmers in Kericho County indicated that they raised mature male animals for sale to other farmers who would use them as breeding males. The movement of breeding males across the Counties was one way in which the farmers were able to reduce inbreeding within their flocks.Notably, in Kericho County, female headed households did not have rams within their sheep flocks. Since the animals in the flocks from different households tended to meet at watering points, the farmers indicated that their sheep would be mated at the watering points. The farmers were however more specific in identifying bucks to mate their does, and in most cases kept their own breeding bucks (Table 6).This demonstrated that farmers in this area value goats than sheep.The number of both male and female immature sheep and goats were low compared to other age and sex structures in both Counties (Tables 5 and 6). During the FGD, farmers reported that they sold younger animals, and there was also some mortality in the young animals due to diseases and undernutrition as the mothers were not well fed due to recurrent droughts.Other studies (Alam, 2000;Amankwah et al., 2012) have reported low proportions of young animals as a result of high offtake rates either through sale, or mortality. This has a negative effect on flock growth as it leads to a lower overall reproductive rate (Amare et al., 2018).The flock structures and species composition on the smallholder farms in Nyando differed with the culture of the two different communities of Kisumu and Kericho and depending on the quantity of land owned.The different breeds of sheep and goats reared by farmers in Nyando are presented in Table 7. The Red Maasai and their crosses with Dorper sheep and Galla goat breeds introduced through the CCAFS project since 2014 have been widely adopted in the two Counties. The farmers also had other improved breeds and crosses of goats such as Alpine, Toggenburg, and Saanen although these were kept in small numbers (Table 7). More than 70% of the households kept improved breeds and their crossbreds (Table 7). Kristjanson et al., (2010) reported that men are more likely to own improved breeds than women as they have better resources and are well equipped to handle them, however, results from this study show that both men and women equally adopted the improved breeds. The results also reflect that there has been a great increase in improved breeds and their crosses from 50% in 2014 and 2015 Ojango et al., (2014Ojango et al., ( , 2015) ) to 80% in 2018 with a resultant decline in unidentified and local breeds. Productivity in small ruminants like other livestock is determined by both genetic and environmental factors (Gizaw et al., 2010). The improved breeds introduced were noted to have desirable characteristics such as fast growth rate, resilience, and prolificacy, hence they were well received by the farmers. From the FGD, it was established that the improved breeds had adapted well to Nyando and took a shorter time to reach desirable market weight.New sheep and goat breeds introduced in Nyando through the CCAFS project were able to thrive and were thus well accepted and adopted by both male and female farmers.Sheep and goat flock sizes in Nyando expanded and contracted during specific periods through the natural process of birth of young animals or when animals were either sold or died. However, the livestock keepers did not have any specific optimum flock size for their land holding.Within the period of study, there were more kids/lambs born in Kisumu than in Kericho (Table 8). A comparison in births between sheep and goats showed more kids born to goats (54%) relative to lambs born to sheep (46%). Sheep and goats purchase also contributed substantially (16%) to the flock size in both Counties. Animals were mostly bought during the drier months of the year followed by wetter periods which enabled the farmers to fatten animals prior to sale and avail them in good body condition. The availability of more animals in the markets meant that farmers seeking to improve their flocks would be able to choose from more animals and negotiate the prices.  (Ojango et al., 2018). The farmers reported that the improved breeds had faster growth rates and higher dressing percentage and thus fetched better market prices. During the FGD farmers reported improved breeds to be animals of choice when purchasing animals for their flocks.In the FGD, farmers mapped the main breeding and lambing/kidding seasons for their sheep and goats as illustrated in Figure 5. In Kericho County, lambing occurred mostly in the drier months of July, September and December (85.7%) while the rest of the mating occurred in the rainy season March, while kidding took place over several months from January to August with drier months constituting 54% of the kidding. In Kisumu, most lambing and kidding in occurred from April to June with more lambing taking place in rainy than the dry seasons (54.3%) while approximately 70% of the kidding took place in dry seasons (Figure 5). The birth of young animals was in the drier periods of the year (December-February and June-September). When asked if lambing/ kidding was planned, the farmers indicated that there was no planning. Female animals left to graze in fields or meeting at watering points would be mated if on heat by the nearest male. Knowing the good potential of the improved animals that had been introduced in the area, farmers would graze their animals in close proximity to the improved males to increase the mating opportunities. Through the FGD it was noted that some supplementary feeding of the female animals would be required to enable nourishment for young animals born in the drier seasons. Results from the questionnaire tool and monitoring of animals on the farms showed that the primary modes of outflow of animals from the flocks in both Counties were through sales of live animals (90.0%) followed by death (7.7%). Other means of outflow were animals being given away, lost, or stolen (2.3%). In Kericho County, 74% of animals leaving flocks were female, while in Kisumu 57.6% were male animals. The monthly sales for sheep and goats from the farmers in the two Counties in 2018 are illustrated in Figure 6.  There were significant differences (p<0.01) in the species of animals sold between the two counties. In Kericho County, farmers sold more goats (88.5%) than sheep, while in Kisumu County, farmers sold more sheep (76.0%) than goats. Eighty-one percent of animal sales were by male headed households. In the FGD, farmers indicated that goats attracted higher market prices than sheep in both counties.The proportional mortality of sheep and goats in the study area in 2018 is shown in Figure 7. In both Counties, farmers reported the main causes of mortality in their sheep and goats to be diseases, old age, injury, and accidents, contributing to 89.3%, 6.1%, and 4.6% of the losses respectively. There was a significant difference in disease related mortalities between the Counties (P<0.01). Kisumu County lost more animals to diseases than Kericho as represented by 46.6% and 42.8% of all deaths in 2018 respectively. Contagious Caprine Pleuropneumonia (CCPP), sheep and goat pox, and diarrhea were the main diseases reported and contributed to 48.3%, 16.4%, and 9.5% of the deaths respectively. Sixty-five percent of all deaths were of immature animals. The farmers indicated that most deaths of immature animals took place during or immediately after rains due to helminthiasis and environmentally related diseases such as pneumonia which could be a challenge to manage.In both Counties, mortality was reported to be significantly higher in sheep (60%) than in the goats (40%). Lower Nyando has poor drainage due to recurrent floods. The farmers built elevated housing structures to contain their sheep and goats over the wet months of the year in order to prevent environmental related diseases such as foot rot and pneumonia. The housing structures comprise either fully or semi-enclosed sheds which are attached to or separated from the main residential housing. The structures were mostly constructed of wooden floors with iron sheet roofs, and sticks, wood or wire mesh on the walls. A substantial number (59.3%) of households in both counties had structures purposefully for housing sheep and goats while rest of the farmers housed the animals within their living premises. Lack of proper housing facilities for sheep and goat production in smallholder systems has been reported to be a major challenge (Dossa, 2007;Fikru & Omera, 2015). The proportion of farmers with different housing structures differed significantly between the Counties (P<0.01). More farmers had temporary housing structures in Kericho (52.5%) than Kisumu (47.5%) where more farmers had semi-permanent and permanent housing structures. Through the FGD, farmers in Kericho reported that it was costly to build the semi-permanent to permanent structures for their flocks which were much larger than the flocks in Kisumu as presented in Table 4.Tools and equipment used in sheep and goat management comprised spraying pump, burdizzo, ear tag applicators, hoof clippers, machete, hoe, and Scythe. Eighty-seven percent of households in Kericho owned either a tool or equipment compared to Kisumu (73%).Tools and equipment owned were used by the farmers to carry out routine management activities such as hoof trimming, identification, and operations related to the production of fodder for the animals.The feed sources and feeding systems for sheep and goats in the study are presented in Table 9. The farmers reported feed to be a major challenge to livestock production in Nyando as the small land holdings owned were used for both subsistence food crop farming and fodder production. Crop residues and grasses growing alongside roads and in communally owned areas were the principal sources of feed for the sheep and goats. Crop residues comprised maize, sorghum and millet stover, and legume haulms. These feed resources have however been reported to be of low nutritional value and result in slow growth of animals (Duku et al., 2010). Less than 2% of farmers provided additional feeds such as improved fodder, concentrates, and mineral blocks for their animals (Table 9). Only 2% and 3% of the farmers interviewed reported that they grew improved fodder in Kericho and Kisumu Counties respectively. Fodder species grown included; Napier grass, Rhodes grass, Leucaena, and Calliandra. Less than 5% of all the farmers supplemented their animals with minerals. These were provided in very small portions irrespective of the animals' age and reproductive stage. Minerals are very crucial nutrients in physiological processes and in maintaining good health status ( Most of the farmers in the two counties grazed their animals in open fields (Table 9). The animals were either left to roam in the fields or tethered to restrict movement. When grazing in farmer owned land , the animals were tethered to prevent from destroying the planted crops. During the wet seasons when crops were still in the fields, fodder was provided to animals in stalls (for enclosed flocks). Once crops were harvested, animals would be left to graze in the fields. A combination of grazing with some stall feeding was mainly adopted in Kisumu by 17.7 % of the households. This type of feeding system affects selling age as animals tend to have a slow growth rate therefore take a long time to attain market weight (George & Tsiplakou, 2011). A balanced and economical feeding of livestock is important for optimum productivity. Lower livestock productivity is often due to feed scarcity and unbalanced feeding practices (Beigh et al., 2017). Young animals born under stall feeding had higher growth rates and intramuscular fat (De Brito et al., 2017). Animals raised under extensive production systems tend to have slower growth rate leading to low production efficiency (Carrasco et al., 2009). There is, therefore, need for supplementation for optimal growth and carcass production (Turner et al., 2014).Helminth and tick control were the main sheep and goat disease control interventions adopted by 76.6% and 73.7% of the households in Kericho and Kisumu counties respectively. Control of ticks and worms in sheep and goats was initiated in the farms through the CCAFS project and supported by the livestock extension services. The farmers noted that the practices had improved the health and body condition of their animals hence the high rate of adoption. Diseases and parasites in livestock populations affect growth, result in mortality, and thus reduce productivity and profitability (Charlier et al., 2014). Disease control is important in livestock production due to its role in improving productivity through lowering mortality and improving reproductive rates (Wolff et al., 2019;Robertson, 2020). In relation to other diseases, the farmers indicated that they seek treatment for their animals when they fell ill.The sources of breeding males for the farmers in the study area are presented in Figure 8. The main source of breeding males was their own bred ram/ buck as adopted by 46.3% of the households (Figure 8).The farmers stated that they replaced breeding males after one year of use, and they practiced some form of animal rotation in order to prevent inbreeding. Once culled from a flock, breeding male animals would either be castrated and sold for meat or sold to other farmers for use as mating animals. Two breeding systems were practiced in this area, pure breeding, and cross breeding. Pure breeding was adopted by 9.1% and 28.6% of households, while crossbreeding was adapted by 90.9% and 71.4% of the households in Kericho and Kisumu County respectively. In both Counties, 12.9% of farmers were willing to spend extra resources on purchasing breeding male animals as this was noted to be a way of improving productivity of their animals. Previous studies on small ruminant production practices in Kenya highlight a lack of adoption of standard breeding programmes by smallholder farmers (Kosgey et al., 2006;Wurzinger et al., 2011). This is mainly noted to result from the failure of those introducing new practices to directly involve farmers in making critical decisions related to the breeding. In the CCAFS project areas, the farmers are key implementers of the breed improvement practices introduced (Macoloo et  Smart Villages\" of NyandoKericho and Kisumu Counties are presented in Table 10  The County and the year in which the animals were born did not significantly affect the weights of animals at different stages (Tables 10 and 11). The interaction between the year of birth and the breed-type was also not significant for all the parameters. The lack of significant differences in growth traits across the years for the different breed-types was an indication that the introduced breeds had adapted well to the climatic and environmental conditions of Nyando and were able to maintain their productivity despite the change in location.The weights and growth rates of the introduced and local sheep and goat breeds in Kericho and Kisumu Counties from birth to one year of age are presented in Table 12 and Table 13 respectively. Within the two counties, the different breed types of both sheep and goats exhibited significantly different levels of performance for the different growth traits (P<0.001, Table 12 and Table 13).  Birth weights of lambs ranged from 2.5 kg for the local indigenous sheep to 3.8 kg for the introduced Red Maasai x Dorper animals (Table 12). Differences in lamb birth weights of were not significant between counties. In both Counties, the kids from the indigenous Small East African breed had the lowest birthweight while the introduced purebred Galla goats had the highest (P<0.01). The average birth weights for goat breeds in Kericho and Kisumu were 3.3±0.2Kg and 3.0±0.2Kg respectively (Table 13).Birth weight is strongly correlated with the mature size and weight of an animal (Fasae et al., 2012). It also has a strong influence on the survival of animals, as animals with low birth weights tend to have low survival rates in the early stages of their life compared to heavier ones (Morel et al., 2008). Birth weights reported for lambs and kids from different sheep and goat breed types in other countries of Africa are similar to those of this study. In Tanzania, local Pare white goats are reported to have birth weights of 2.5 to 2.7 kg (Hyera et al., 2018). Lower birth weights have been reported in South and West African Dwarf goat breeds (Fasae et al., 2012;Birteeb et al., 2015). Boer goats and their crosses with indigenous breeds are reported to have moderate birth weights when compared with pure indigenous breeds (Deribe et al., 2015). The improved breeds had heavier newborns as weight at kidding/lambing have been reported to be highly correlated with kids/lambs birth weight (Asmad et al., 2014;Paten et al., 2017).The pre-weaning growth of animals is greatly dependent on the animal's inherent genetic potential and the mothering ability of its dam (Yiheyis et al., 2012). During growth from birth to weaning at three months of age, animals have high nutritional requirements and are also highly vulnerable to the infestation of external and internal parasites (Singh et al., 2017). It is therefore important to ensure that the young animals are well-nourished. Among all the breeds of sheep in Nyando, the indigenous animals had the lowest weight gain (P<0.01, Table 12). In Kericho, the Red Maasai x Dorper cross and pure-bred Red Maasai sheep had the highest pre-weaning growth rate, while in Kisumu, the Red Maasai x Dorper sheep had a significantly higher (P<0.01) preweaning growth rate than the other breeds (Table 12).In both Kericho and Kisumu, the introduced pure-bred Galla goats and their crosses with indigenous breeds had significantly (P<0.01) higher growth rates from birth to weaning than the indigenous Small East African goats. The improved breeds were selected based on their fast rate of growth and early attainment of market weight (Ojango et al., 2018).In both Kisumu and Kericho Counties, the local indigenous sheep had significantly lower weights at all stages of growth (P<0.01) compared to the introduced breeds and their crosses with the local indigenous breeds (Table 12). Differences in weaning weights for the Red Maasai x Dorper crosses and the pure Red Maasai breed were not significant. Among the goat breeds, the indigenous Small East African had a significantly lower weaning weight (P<0.01) than the Galla x Small East African crossbred and the purebred Galla (Table 13). In Kericho, the pure Galla goats were significantly (P<0.01) heavier than all the other breeds at weaning. The weight of animals at weaning is of high relative economic importance for livestock keepers as it indicates the adaptability of the animals (Fasae et al., 2012). Both high and low weaning weights have been reported for indigenous sheep breeds in Ethiopia, Nigeria, and Tanzania (Muhammad et al., 2008;Mengistie et al., 2010;Lakew et al., 2014). In Ethiopia, indigenous Begait goat breeds raised in semi intensive and extensive production systems were reported to have weights ranging from 10.3 to 11.1Kg, and 20.6 to 24.1Kg at weaning and yearling stages respectively (Abraham et al., 2018). Reports from studies on crossing indigenous goats in Tanzania, Uganda, and Ethiopia with Boer goats from South Africa indicate that animals that have low weaning weights also tend to have lower weights at one year of age (Ssewannyana et al., 2004;Hango et al., 2007;Deribe et al., 2015;Girma, 2016).It was notable that in both Kisumu and Kericho County, the pure-bred Red-Maasai sheep had the highest rates of growth post-weaning, resulting in the animals having a significantly higher (p<0.01) yearling weight than the Red-Maasai x Dorper animals in Kisumu county (Table 12).The growth rates in Red Maasai and Red Maasai Dorper crosses was not different from that reported for sheep raised under the semi-arid environments (König et al., 2017), an indication that the breeds were adaptable to the Nyando environment.The pure-bred Galla goats were heavier at weaning in Kericho County than in Kisumu County (Table 13), however, the animals had good potential for growth resulting in larger animals at one year of age. The pure-bred Galla goats were significantly (p<0.01) larger at one year of age in Kisumu county than in Kericho county (Table 13).Breed type and sex of an animal were the most important factors influencing yearling weights in both sheep and goats. The sex of the animal had a significant effect on the yearling weight of sheep and goats and male animals were heavier than the female animals. Several studies have reported differences in the growth rate between male and female animals (Bela & Haile, 2009;Tabreze, 2018;Ampong et al., 2019). The growth rate in indigenous Sokoto sheep breed in Nigeria was also reported to be affected by the breed and sex of the animals (Muhammad et al., 2008). The differences in growth rate between the male and female animals can be attributed to the male sex hormones secreted from gonads and which have an anabolic effect (Joshi et al., 2018).The growth rates of the sheep and goats in Nyando from birth to yearling are presented in Figure 9 and Figure 10   The improved sheep and goat breeds introduced in the two counties had superior growth rates compared to the indigenous breeds. Among the sheep breeds, both the pure bred Red Maasai and the Red Maasai x Dorper animals demonstrated superior growth rate (Figure 9). Crosses between the introduced animals and the indigenous animals also outperformed the indigenous breeds for both sheep and goats (Figure 9 and Figure 10). For all the animals, immediately after weaning there was a decline in the rate of growth up to 9 months of age. Between 9 and 12 months of age, the rate of growth tended to increase. The crosses between the introduced breeds and the local breeds were heavier, had a faster growth rate, a larger body size, and good body conformation compared to the local breeds. At one year of age, the introduced Red Maasai sheep were 61% heavier than the indigenous breeds, while the crosses between the Red Maasai and indigenous breeds were 55% heavier than the indigenous animals (P<0.01).The yearling weight is very important in small ruminant production in Nyando as it is normally at this stage of growth that animals are sold. The weight attained by an animal at this age thus Galla Pure Galla*SEA determines the amount of income that can be obtained. The Red Maasai x Dorper breed introduced in Nyando had a large frame and was able to produce offspring with a large frame in the new environment. Studies of improved small ruminant breeds introduced in different environments have shown good adaptability of their crosses with the indigenous breeds. For instance, the Boer goats when introduced in different environments are able to maintain good growth rates (Browning & Browning, 2011;Teklebrhan, 2018). Dorper sheep have also demonstrated good adaptability in the introduced environments in the Eastern Amhara region in Ethiopia (Lakew et al., 2014). Cross breeding initiative in Uganda showed that crosses between the improved and the indigenous breeds had better growth rates and weights than the indigenous breeds (Ssewannyana et al., 2004). Moreover, a study by Farm Africa in Kenya showed that crossing the Toggenburg with indigenous Small East African goats resulted in offspring with a significant improvement in growth rates and meat production potential relative to pure bred Small East African goats (Murithi et al., 2002). Overall, the crosses between the local breeds of sheep and goats and the improved breeds in Kericho and Kisumu has resulted in animals with large body sizes which in turn lead to better prices for animals at market points (Mtimet et al., 2014).Factors contributing to the costs of sheep and goat production in Nyando, classified as either fixed or variable costs are presented in Table 14. The costs of production increased relative to flock size with flocks of 10-30 animals having the highest costs. Labour for herding sheep and goats was mostly provided by children and adult female household members. Children alone provided 75% of the small ruminant family labour in both Counties. During school hours the animals would be tethered then herded in the evening after school. Labour cost accounted for 49.3% and 33.2% of the overall total costs in Kericho and Kisumu respectively (Table 14). Other studies have highlighted the role played by women and children in the provision of labour for small ruminant production (Oluwatayo & Oluwatayo, 2012). Kumar & Deoghare, (2003) reported family labour to be an important contributor to costs in livestock production.Variable costs comprised costs for water, animal health services, flock replacement, and breeding (Table 14). These accounted for a higher share of the overall total costs in both counties, Kericho (50.7%) and Kisumu (66.8%) compared to the fixed costs. Other studies in smallholder systems have described variable costs to be the foremost contributor to production Costs for water differed significantly (P<0.01) between the two counties, accounting for 6.8% and 32.5% of the variable costs in Kericho and Kisumu respectively.In relation to the overall costs of production water accounted for 2.7% and 22.9% of the costs in Kericho and Kisumu Counties respectively (Table 14). The high costs of water in Kisumu can be attributed to the high dependance of piped water which was primarily the main source of water (Figure 3). Water availability is a great challenge in Nyando area due to increased drought occurrences resulting from climate change (Masese et al., 2008).Animal health costs did not differ significantly between the two counties but accounted for a large proportion of costs, 69% and 50% of the total variable cost and 37.7% and 34.3% of the overall total costs of production in Kericho and Kisumu respectively. Disease control rather than treatment should be emphasized as a strategy of lowering production costs. Other studies have recommended enhanced disease management strategies as a way of improving productivity as manifested in growth (Delia et al., 2015;Ayantunde, 2016;Gitonga et al., 2016).Flock replacement costs included costs for additional animals purchased for improving the flock performance. These accounted for 22.2% and 10.4% of the total variable costs and 9.7% and 7.6% of the overall total costs in Kericho and Kisumu respectively (Table 14). Farmers aimed at improving their flocks in terms of increased milk production in addition to increasing the number of animals owned. The farmers were also keen on replacing the indigenous small sized animals with the improved larger sized animals as this improved their potential for marketing products.Farmers in Kericho retained few breeding males continually within their flocks compared to those in Kisumu (Table 4&5). They therefore hired supplemental animals over short periods to mate their female flock when required. Costs for mating animals were thus higher in Kericho than in Kisumu County. Mating costs accounted for 2% and 7.1% of the variable costs and 0.6% and 2.0% of the overall total costs in Kericho and Kisumu respectively. The willingness of farmers in Nyando to pay for mating services for their animals reflected their ability to implement breeding management within their populations. Earlier studies indicated little interest in the adoption of small ruminant breeding programmes especially in low income countries (FAO, 2009). However, in the recent past, community based breeding programmes have been shown to be very successful under production systems in Ethiopia and are being extended to other countries (Karnuah & Dunga, 2018;Haile et al., 2019). The feasibility of a breeding programme must be assessed in partnership with the livestock keepers prior to its implementation. Adoption of rotation of breeding males among farmers could be implemented in Nyando as a strategy for improving productivity (Kosgey et al., 2006;Lobo, 2019).Evaluating of costs within an enterprise enables farmers to better plan for interventions that could enable them to achieve better returns from their investments (Al-Khalidi et al., 2013).Results from the regression analysis of socio-economic factors of households influencing the costs of production are presented in Table 15. It was evident that the costs of production did not differ significantly depending on the gender of the household head or their level of education, but mainly due to the number of animals owned. The price of animals was higher for larger mature animals than smaller and young animals (Table 16). It was noted that the animals attracted better prices (Table 16) compared to those reported for animals in the same region in 2016 by Ojango et al., (2018). During the FGD, the farmers attributed the higher prices to cross breeding of the local animals with the improved breeds which yielded a larger sized animal which attracted much higher market prices.Revenue streams from sheep and goat for farms in the two counties are presented in Table 17 and Table 18 respectively. Revenues from sale of stock were the primary contributor to the total income from both sheep and goats in Kericho and Kisumu, representing 82% and 75.1% of the incomes respectively (Table 17 and 18).  The sale price for animals in Nyando depended on age, sex, body weight, and the season in which animals were sold. Households owning goat flocks earned greater returns compared to those owning either only sheep or and both sheep and goat flocks. Seventy percent of the animals sold were mature (Tables 17 and 18). During the FGD farmers indicated that animals were sold to generate income for specific needs. Both male and female animals were sold depending on their availability and the anticipated sale price. Though a higher number of mature female animals (39.3%) were sold than male animals (30.5%) in both counties, the difference was not significant. The farmers indicated that they desired to retain the female animals, however, if there was no other animal ready for sale at the time of need, they would sell the female one. The farmers in both counties sold significantly (P<0.01) more animals of improved breeds of both sheep and goats than the indigenous breed-types. The improved breeds were reported to have faster growth rates and larger mature body size.Though the farmers tended to sell their animals when cash was needed for specific purposes at any time of the year, peak marketing times for the small ruminants were during festive seasons: Easter (April) and the Christmas & New year (December) holidays as illustrated in Figure 6. During the FGD, farmers indicated that better prices were offered for animals during the wet season relative to the dry season. A study on marketing practices for small ruminants in Ethiopia also reported peak sale times for sheep and goats during festive seasons (Legesse et al., 2008). The farmers in Nyando noted through the FGD that they sell animals in the event of need rather than for making a profit. In the study by Legesse et al., (2010) it was also noted that smallholder rural farmers tend to dispose animals in times of need or climate challenges rather than to provide a regular household income or for profit.Sheep and goats consumed at home represented 7.2% and 13.8% of the total revenues in Kericho and Kisumu respectively. In the FGD it was established that farmers tended to consume more of the local breeds at home as culled animals since they had lower mature weights than the introduced breeds. Animals granted as gifts contributed 5.1% and 6.1% of overall total revenues in Kericho and Kisumu respectively.It was notable that in both Kericho and Kisumu counties revenues from goats were higher compared to those from sheep (Table 17 and 18). In both counties, the higher prices for goats relative to sheep (Table 16) could have influenced the higher number of goats sold in the areas.Revenues from milk consumption and sales are presented in Table 19. Goats were the only milk producers in the two Counties. Revenues from milk differed significantly between the Counties (P<0.01) and represented 5.7% and 5.0% of overall total revenues in Kericho and Kisumu respectively. Variations in milk revenues can be attributed to differences in flock size between the two Counties. The farmers indicated that though the average milk production per day for improved breeds was higher than that for indigenous animals (1.5kg vs 0.25kg), the improved breeds tended to have a shorter lactation length of 3-5 months compared to the indigenous breeds which would produce milk over 5-8 months. Investment in milk production from the goats needs to be enhanced as the current production in the traditional extensive systems is low. Milk from small ruminants can provide a more regular source of income for rural households (Kumar et al., 2010). Goat milk can contribute substantially to household income with intensification and proper husbandry and marketing strategies. Several studies have acknowledged the role played by goat milk in the economic, nutritional, and health wellbeing of the consumers (Ahuya et al., 2009;Turkmen, 2017).The impact of the household socio-economic factors on returns from sheep and goats combined reflected through the regression analyses are presented in Table 20. The goodness to fit for the model was 0.35 and 0.41 for Kericho and Kisumu respectively. In addition to the number of animals owned and the species kept as presented in tables 17 and 18, the gender of the household head and their level of education contributed significantly to the revenue from sheep and goat production (Table 20). Households headed by men attained higher revenues from livestock than households headed by women. Other studies have reported that men in households tend to be the key decision makers when it comes to animal sales and mostly control the incomes (Njuki et al., 2013;Wanyoike et al., 2015). It was notable that in this study, farmers with non-formal education earned higher revenues from their animals compared to those with more formal of education (Table 20). Most farmers in Kericho and Kisumu Counties who had no formal education were elderly and had vast experience in small ruminant trading. They were thus better at targeting traders and negotiating prices for their animals.The net returns from rearing sheep and goats were calculated based on the costs and revenues from each enterprise are presented in Table 21. Returns differed within each county depending on the average flock size owned. Generally, farmers owning less than 4 animals received the lowest returns. "}

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+{"metadata":{"gardian_id":"0f248c0a06647cf21470cf2f6843b42a","source":"gardian_index","url":"https://cgspace.cgiar.org/rest/bitstreams/9fe819ab-91a0-40da-9ef2-594905260522/retrieve","id":"1769840229"},"keywords":[],"sieverID":"869e88aa-74fc-47a6-afeb-2ebad7529b0c","content":"All proposals for CGIAR Research Programs (CRPs) and Platforms comprising the 2017-2022 CGIAR Portfolio, which were approved by the System Council in 2016, incorporate effective intellectual assets management strategies designed to maximize global access and impact.Strategic management of intellectual assets by Centers and their partners is essential for realizing CGIAR's global access and impact. The 2017-2022 CGIAR Portfolio seeks to promote more effective intellectual assets management practices through better integration and planning. Specifically, CGIAR Research Programs (CRPs) and Platforms address the following: In 2016, CGIAR representatives actively participated in a variety of international fora addressing the access to and use of plant genetic resources for food and agriculture and Farmers' Rights. This primarily involved the various working groups and committees of the International Treaty pursuant to which CGIAR manages the materials in its genebanks and breeding programs.In 2016, Bioversity published a number of articles highlighting its initiatives to promote and strengthen Farmers' Rights; 4 to support community seedbanks; 5 and in relation to community-based agricultural biodiversity management. 6 The International Potato Center (CIP) organized decentralized meetings in potato growing communities in support of a national consultation by the Peruvian government to ensure that farmers' interests were directly taken into account in the review process. Additionally, a number of webinars were organized by the System Organization to raise awareness of Farmers' Rights under international treaty frameworks, including perceived tensions and sui-generis options for regulatory systems that allow greater flexibility to accommodate informal seed systems, and regarding the rights of farmers to save seed. 7Article 3 of the CGIAR IA Principles recognizes the indispensable role of farmers, indigenous communities, agricultural professionals and scientists in conserving and improving genetic resources. Furthermore, Centers are required to respect national and international efforts to protect and promote Farmers' Rights, as envisaged by the International Treaty, and toThe International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (International Treaty) creates a framework for farmers, research organizations, NGOs, plant breeding and seed companies and governments to coordinate activities conserving, improving and sustainably using Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (PGRFA) and to equitably share benefits derived from the use of those resources. CGIAR is committed to fully implementing and complying with the International Treaty. 3 The Genebank Platform of the 2017-2022 CGIAR Portfolio contains a policy module, which is co-led by senior staff of Bioversity International (Bioversity) and the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), which is responsible for coordinating CGIAR activities concerning genetic resource policy issues in international fora, including the activities discussed in the subsections below.At its 6 th meeting in 2015, the Governing Body of the International Treaty extended the terms of reference of an Ad Hoc Open-ended Working Group to Enhance the Functioning of the Multilateral System of Access and Benefit-sharing (WG-EFMLS), and expanded its mandate to consider issues concerning genetic sequence information and access and benefit-sharing.The WG-EFMLS's ongoing deliberations -which were further discussed at the 7 th meeting of the Governing Body of the International Treaty on 30 October -3 November 2017 and will continue into the next biennium -could profoundly affect the day-to-day operations of the CGIAR genebanks and breeding programs.3 At its 6 th meeting in 2015, the Governing Body issued a resolution instructing the Meetings of the WG-EFMLS in 2017, leading up to the Governing Body's 7 th meeting, have been particularly important for CGIAR, and submissions by CGIAR to the WG-EFMLS are anticipated to focus on a number of evolving issues being discussed in this fora, including: legal certainty and transaction costs associated with modifications to the SMTA; expansion of the coverage of the MLS; elements of a subscription system including termination of subscription and obligations; viability of a subscription system with upfront payment obligations alongside an accessed-based system with deferred payment obligations; differentiated mandatory payment rates and exemptions from payment obligations; access and benefit-sharing concerning genetic sequence information.Development, and to explore ways of facilitating implementation of the obligation under Article 6.5 of the SMTA to identify material received from the MLS in Annex 1 to the SMTA. The Secretariat has since conducted a survey to gather this information from Centers and submitted a report 9 of their observations to the 7 th meeting of the Governing Body of the As these income-generating activities continue to be considered by Centers as an additional source of funding, and as they potentially increase, it will be important to ensure that the Centers have a mutual understanding of the conditions under which fees or royalties can be charged, and that communications in this respect are carefully managed.The SC IP Group recommends that the net income derived from Centers' business activities continue to be used in a way that is consistent with the CGIAR vision, and recommends general increased vigilance and monitoring by the System Management Board of the Centers' commercial activities to ensure that:1.1 Net revenue from commercial activities is used to further the CGIAR vision;1.2 Centers provide dissemination plans demonstrating how commercial activities reach poor, smallholder farmers, and that their access to the technologies is not limited in any way; and 1.3 Potential reputational risk issues are appropriately anticipated if possible, and proactively addressed.The topic of resource mobilization is particularly relevant at this time, given the uncertain budgetary environment in some donor countries. Consistent with the CGIAR IA Principles, the SC IP Group does not consider the Centers' intellectual property (IP) related commercial activities to be mutually exclusive with the CGIAR vision. The Centers' ability to generate revenue arguably furthers the CGIAR System's sustainability, if that revenue is used strategically to continue funding CGIAR activities. However, commercial activities should not limit poor farmers' access to and use of CGIAR technology, or detract from Centers' primary missions. In addition, resource mobilization may trigger reputational risks, depending on the nature of the activity and the sensitivity surrounding the intellectual assets at issue. This may particularly be the case for Centers seeking patent protection related to the collections of PGRFA that Centers hold in-trust for the benefit of the international community, which is discussed in more detail below in Section 2.The CGIAR IA Principles require that Centers carefully consider whether to register/apply for (or allow third parties to register/apply for) patents and/or plant variety protection ('IP Applications') over the Centers' respective Intellectual Assets. The CGIAR IA Principles state that \"IP Applications shall not be made unless they are necessary for the further improvement of such Intellectual Assets or to enhance the scale or scope of impact on target beneficiaries, in furtherance of the CGIAR Vision\".In the 2015 CGIAR Intellectual Assets Management Report, the former Fund Council Intellectual Property Group made several recommendations on the justifications to be provided by Centers with regard to their patent applications. Centers followed up on these in their 2016 intellectual asset reports, as furtherOf the six provisional patent applications reported in 2016, the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) reported one PCT application, ICRISAT reported one provisional patent application in India, and IRRI reported two provisional patent applications in the USA 18 and two PCT applications. 19 In addition, IRRI reported non-provisional applications in the form of two PCT applications advancing to national filings (one in USA and Australia; 20 one in USA and Brazil 21 ). Furthermore, IRRI reported on the discontinuation in 2016 of a provisional patent application, two PCT applications and a US utility patent application, each of which had been previously reported by IRRI with accompanying justifications.The justifications for the patent applications reported by Centers in 2016 were deemed acceptable. However, as experienced in previous years, follow-up was required by the System Organization in some instances detailed in the section Implementation of recommendations from the 2015 CGIAR Intellectual Assets Management Report below. 15 In their 2016 intellectual asset reports, Centers reported a total of six provisional patent applications 16 and two non-provisional patent applications. 17 No plant variety protection applications or registrations were reported. These are consistent with the number of filings observed in recent years, as illustrated in Diagram 1.to obtain sufficient information to reach this conclusion. This was in part due to different views on the extent to which Center justifications in support of patent applications should include development, dissemination and communication plans for the technology in question, particularly regarding technologies that are at an early stage of development.There was also a difference of opinion as to the extent to which such reports are required to include coverage of patent filing costs and actual and anticipated research and/or commercial licenses, irrespective of whether they are non-exclusive, as well as ongoing yearly updates on such licenses and costs. The System Organization is working with the SC IP Group and Centers to clarify expectations in this respect, and to set a precedent for reporting that strikes an appropriate balance between the priorities and needs of Centers and CGIAR's funders.The SC IP Group recommends that Centers:Publicly disclose all published patent applications on their website once they are registered in the applicable patent database(s), including information on how the patent protection will further the CGIAR vision.Provide the required justifications for any patent application to the System Management Office and SC IP Group, including information on: the nature of the technology; the purpose of filing for patent protection, pursuant to the requirements in Article 6.4 of the CGIAR IA Principles; a. b.2)Track the scope of impact of the technology and sharing of benefits to advantage the poor, especially farmers in developing countries.Flag potential reputational risk issues for patents that move into the national phase for the Management Board, so that they are proactively addressed.3) 4)In line with the CGIAR IA Principles, the SC IP Group takes the position that Centers should only seek patent protection strategically when it furthers the CGIAR vision, and that prompt public disclosure should follow the publication of non-provisional patent applications. Patent protection, particularly if related to the collections of PGRFA that Centers hold in-trust for the benefit of the international community, triggers issues of reputational risk, which are particularly sensitive given the range of funders' policies and stakeholders' interests and views. Such timely public disclosure is in line with the Open Access policy and global access principles, and furthers CGIAR's commitment to transparency. By getting ahead of funder and public scrutiny and telling the compelling story of how the patent protection will further the CGIAR vision, it also raises public awareness of the strategic importance of IP and mitigates the potential reputational risk to the System.Overall, the SC IP Group is satisfied with the justifications provided by the Centers in support of their patent applications filed in 2016. It has, however, notified IRRI that future reporting related to some of its four 'early stage' provisional and PCT patent applications (specifically the provisional patent applications, when moving into national applications), will warrant further justifications and a proactive public communications strategy, in light of the sensitive nature and potential reputational risks, and taking into account the nature of the technology involved. An example is the patenting of traits derived from wild species. Reputational risks only increase over time, as a Center decides to continue with national phase applications for specific country patents, and as a patent protection become more robust.The two national phase patent applications relate to GM/gene editing technologies. IRRI explained that these patent applications protect GM/genome editing applications and allow for future revenue generation in the countries where the patents are filed (i.e. Brazil and the USA). Given that these patents are entering the national phase, the SC IP Group expects more detailed justifications and information on dissemination strategies (as per the Fund Council IP Group recommendations in the 2014 and 2015 CGIAR Intellectual Assets Management Reports). This information has, so far, not been received. In response to the SC IP Group's follow-up questions, IRRI has indicated that it is presently working to establish a strong proof of concept and is not able to provide more detailed information at this stage, given that there are still many unknowns about the technology and its potential market penetration. In an effort to accommodate the SC IP Group's requests, IRRI has also shared its draft Intellectual Property, Commercialization and Communication Policy. The SC IP Group has reviewed this draft and supports its current contents. 22 c. the foreseen dissemination and global access strategy to ensure that they are consistent with the CGIAR IA Principles for national patent applications and, where possible, for provisional and PCT applications.System Organization 2016 reflections Centers and their partners typically disseminate the outputs of their research and development activities as international public goods. Use by Centers of the dissemination pathways permitted under the CGIAR IA Principles, which involve limited restrictions to global accessibility designed to maximize impact, remain relatively infrequent.In 2016, only four Limited Exclusivity Agreements were reported, and no Restricted Use Agreement was reported. These small numbers are consistent with the equally small numbers observed in the years 2012 through 2015, as illustrated in Diagram 2.The justifications for the Limited Exclusivity Agreements reported by Centers in 2016 were deemed acceptable by the System Organization. However, as experienced in previous years, follow-up was required by the System Organization in some instances to obtain information to reach this conclusion. The SC IP Group is pleased to note that the Centers provided appropriate justifications and comprehensive information with respect to the four Limited Exclusivity Agreements signed in 2016, including descriptions of the project, the exclusivity arrangement, and the rationale for how the target beneficiary markets were reached. It is important to note that some of the Limited Exclusivity Agreements reported include options to grant limited exclusivity in the future if the improved technology is commercially viable. The SC IP Group also welcomes the Centers' reporting of these 'conditional' Limited Exclusivity Agreements. While at this stage, these agreements do not directly limit exclusivity, they do include contractual terms that may govern future use, license and exclusivity. The SC IP Group therefore commends the Centers for reporting on these more indirect limitations on exclusivity. In any event, Centers also need to ensure that the terms of any options they grant comply with the CGIAR IA Principles, i.e., limited scope of the exclusivity in terms of geography, duration, etc.The System Council is pleased to see that some Centers have increased IP capacity. However, the IP capacity of the System Organization appears to have decreased to one part-time IP lawyer in 2016, apparently as a result of the legal demands created by the transition. The SC IP Group is concerned whether this decreased IP capacity may affect future work at the System Organization in support of the IA Principles and System-wide IP leadership. This section provides updates on the five recommendations of the SC IP Group presented in the 2015 CGIAR Intellectual Assets Management Report.Part 1: \"That all Centers -and IRRI in particulardevelop and report on their market and dissemination strategy plans in line with the CGIAR Vision as part of the 'justifications' for any patent application and, where possible, for any provisional or PCT patent application in the future.\"The System Organization updated the Q&A tool that provides best practice guidance to Centers to clarify expectations regarding the justifications to be provided by Centers in support of patent applications. All Centers that reported patent filings or registrations in 2016 included information concerning their market and dissemination strategy plans as part of their justifications.In its 2015 report, IRRI reported national stage filings in 7 countries on its previously reported PCT application regarding a method for producing a rice plant with improved grain yield, specifically replicating the gene SPIKE 24 -a gene that IRRI identified from a rice landrace. While the 2015 CGIAR Intellectual Assets Management Report explained why IRRI's justification was satisfactory at that early stage of patent protection, the report strongly encouraged IRRI to pursue a transparent and proactive communication strategy with respect to this patent, given the sensitivities surrounding the protection of a method related to a 'native trait'. In response to this, IRRI initiated discussions at senior management and board level to consider an appropriate balance between disclosures for transparency and operational needs for managing confidential or commercially sensitive information. As part of this process, it established a specialized committee of IRRI's board of trustees to develop policies and protocols governing IRRI's management of IP and commercialization. In addition, after IRRI's patenting of the SPIKE gene triggered questions from donor countries, members of FAO and civil society organizations, representatives of IRRI, the System Organization and Bioversity coordinated a response which satisfactorily addressed the issues raised, and IRRI posted information on its general approach to intellectual asset management on its website. 25 This was recently updated to include an Intellectual Property, Commercialization and Communication Policy approved in October 2017 by IRRI's board of trustees. 26 In its 2016 report, IRRI provided the following updates regarding the SPIKE gene patent: IRRI shared the final executed agreement with JIRCAS concerning the ownership and management of the IP involved in the SPIKE trait. Additionally, IRRI provided updates regarding the development of the technology, including the research and commercial license agreements that it had concluded, or was in the process of negotiating.Management Agreement with the Japan International Research Center for Agricultural Science (JIRCAS), its co-owner on the technology and IP, was signed in February 2017. IRRI decided to a) pursue the SPIKE gene patent application only in Japan (JIRCAS), India, the Philippines and the USA because those countries provide better environments in which to conclude commercial licensing agreements; and b) let the patent applications lapse in Thailand and Vietnam. IRRI signed several non-exclusive R&D licensing agreements with third parties.2)3)The SC IP Group is pleased to confirm that the terms of IRRI's IP Management Agreement with JIRCAS protect dissemination pathways of the technology to reach target beneficiaries and preserve ample latitude for IRRI to advance the CGIAR vision and strategy of providing broad access to IRRI's intellectual assets. The SC IP Group regrets that IRRI, despite the recommendations given in the 2015 IA report, did not pursue a pro-active communication strategy regarding this patent given the sensitivities surrounding the protection of a method related to a 'native trait'. The SC IP Group continues to insist that IRRI provide more public information on how this patent will further the CGIAR vision, and to share with the System Office and SC IP Group a more detailed dissemination plan and/or global access strategy.\"That as part of the annual reporting process, the System Organization provide in its consolidated report a section on all patent protection sought by Centers.\"The System Organization provided the SC IP Group with access to a register that it maintains and periodically updates, which tracks patent applications, registrations and updates reported by Centers.\"That Centers continue to share their IP related policies, best practices and effective IP strategies and models with the System Organization and other Centers.\"The System Organization continued to update the online portal and repository it maintains to facilitate sharing by IP Focal points of their Center's IP related policies, best practices, templates, models, etc.\"That the System Organization's report include a section on how the Centers and System Organization have implemented the SC IP Group's recommendations included in the prior year's review.\"The inclusion of this section in the current report addresses this recommendation.\"That Centers are strongly encouraged to include in their annual Center IA Reports, a status report of their IP Portfolio, material updates concerning the progress of the Limited Exclusivity Agreements, Restricted Use Agreements and patents/PVPs they have previously reported (i.e. as part of their Part 1 general reporting concerning partnerships or dissemination pathways, or in Part 2 if the update contains confidential information). Such updates should include progress against any development, dissemination, risk management and/or communications plans (or other material attribute) that forms part of the justifications approved by the System Organization and the SC IP Group, and should also include public communications made in this regard.\"The System Organization updated the Q&A tool to clarify expectations on the provision by Centers of updates regarding previously reported arrangements. Some Centers included updates in their 2016 reports. The System Organization is currently developing a tool to assist Centers in providing periodic updates in a more consistent manner.The CGIAR IA Principles have recently been the subject of a review carried out by the Independent Evaluation Arrangement (IEA), the purpose of which is \"to assess whether the [CGIAR] IA Principles and their implementation is advancing the achievement of their intended purpose to maximize the global accessibility and impact of CGIAR research\". 27 The review assesses the appropriateness and effectiveness of the policy, as well as the efficiency and transparency of its implementation. It also assesses the oversight exercised by the System Organization, the SC IP Group and the System Council. The System Organization looks forward to considering and responding to the findings and recommendations of this review in consultation with Centers.There is an opportunity to look into, and potentially adjust, the role of the SC IP Group, taking into account the revised governance structure of the CGIAR System and, in particular, the function of the standing committees of the System Council and System Management Board. In this respect, it will be important to understand how oversight of compliance with the CGIAR IA Principles fits into the Risk Management Framework which is being developed for the CGIAR System. This is particularly relevant considering the reputational risks involved in IP commercialization or patent protections, and the appropriate linkage of the SC IP Group within the principle of providing 'combined assurance'.These potential adjustments to the oversight role of the SC IP Group should be done in consultation with the SC IP Group members and more importantly with donors, and should adhere to the principles of independence and access to Centers' information. These principles guided the donors' creation of the SC IP Group to ensure proper oversight and transparency. The SC IP Group welcomes the opportunity to provide comments on alignment of the SC IP Group's oversight function with the CGIAR System Risk Management Framework.The role of the System Council Intellectual Property Group (SC IP Group) is to facilitate coordination between the System Council and the CGIAR System Organization (System Organization) by working in cooperation with the System Organization with regard to implementation of the CGIAR IA Principles, and advising the System Council in order to enable it to provide adequate oversight of intellectual asset management in CGIAR.The SC IP Group receives all 15 Centers' intellectual asset reports, which include information and justifications about the Centers' Limited Exclusivity Agreements, Restricted Use Agreements, and patent and plant variety protection applications.In order to safeguard the sensitive or confidential nature of the material contained in these reports, or of additional information requested by the SC IP Group, this information is received on an in-confidence basis by the SC IP Group. The SC IP Group then filters this internal information to produce high level observations and strategic recommendations to both the System Organization and the System Council.Through to 31 December 2017, the SC IP Group comprises the following three members, who serve in their personal capacity and not as representatives of their affiliated organizations:-Paul Figueroa, USAID (Chair) -Aline Flower, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation -Bram De Jonge, Wageningen University SC IP Group members are appointed by the System Council for a two-year term on the basis of demonstrated expertise and practical experience in the management of intellectual assets and IP rights. They may serve for more than one term.the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (International Treaty). Pursuant to these agreements, Article 15 Centers hold and manage these collections in trust, for the benefit of humanity.Center (full name) Working Group to Enhance the Functioning of the International Treaty's MLS Further information regarding these activities is available in a CGIAR report submitted to the Governing Body for its 7th meeting on 30 October -3 November 2017, in Kigali, Rwanda.The findings, opinions and recommendations discussed in more detail hereafter represent the SC IP Group members' professional views in their advisory role to the System Council and do not necessarily reflect the views of the organizations or entities with which the members are affiliated.Article 7 of the CGIAR IA Principles.The agreement concerns a joint breeding project where both parties contribute their gene pool and know-how to develop new varieties adapted to sub-tropical conditions. The objective is to have new varieties available to farmers via commercialization, with a benefit-sharing scheme which will involve monetary returns to HZPC, CIP as well as the Benefit-Sharing Fund of the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture. A press statement about the collaboration is available at https://cipotato.org/press-room/blog/experts-link-improve-south-asias-potatoes/.See Recommendation 1.Provisional patent applications lock in a priority date and require an additional filing to mature into a patent registration (e.g. PCT applications and national level provisional applications as are available in certain countries such as USA and Australia).  given the sensitive nature of the patent, i.e., seeking protection of a method related to a native trait derived from a landrace, the FC IP Group strongly encourages IRRI to a) share its final agreement with JIRCAS with the Consortium upon execution, along with any other licensing agreements concerning the patented method that may be signed in the future; b) promote and track the scope of impact of the technology and sharing of benefits to advantage the poor, especially farmers in developing countries; and c) pursue a transparent and pro-active public communications strategy with respect to its IP management in this regard\".The application sought to patent a method described as follows: a) providing a first rice plant comprising a gene SPIKE; b) transferring a nucleic acid encoding gene SPIKE from the first rice plant to a second rice plant; c) analyzing the second rice plant for the gene SPIKE; d) identifying and selecting a second rice plant comprising the gene SPIKE and exhibiting improved grain yield when compared to the second rice plant prior to the transfer.Available at http://irri.org/our-impact/technology-transfer Available at http://irri.org/images/downloads/Approved-IPC-Policy-291017.pdfThe terms of reference of the IEA's review are available at http://iea.cgiar.org/evaluating/review-ofintellectual-assets-principles-of-cgiar/"}

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+{"metadata":{"gardian_id":"21d60961192832da0a03619285872786","source":"gardian_index","url":"https://repository.cimmyt.org/server/api/core/bitstreams/579f5190-a952-42b3-b8c1-a2ff6b3f195f/content","id":"-942044254"},"keywords":[],"sieverID":"e193e894-5e05-4a51-ab4c-9c19d3b387c0","content":"Genomic selection (GS) has become a tool for selecting candidates in plant and animal breeding programs. In the case of quantitative traits, it is common to assume that the distribution of the response variable can be approximated by a normal distribution. However, it is known that the selection process leads to skewed distributions. There is vast statistical literature on skewed distributions, but the skew normal distribution is of particular interest in this research. This distribution includes a third parameter that drives the skewness, so that it generalizes the normal distribution. We propose an extension of the Bayesian whole-genome regression to skew normal distribution data in the context of GS applications, where usually the number of predictors vastly exceeds the sample size. However, it can also be applied when the number of predictors is smaller than the sample size. We used a stochastic representation of a skew normal random variable, which allows the implementation of standard Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) techniques to efficiently fit the proposed model. The predictive ability and goodness of fit of the proposed model were evaluated using simulated and real data, and the results were compared to those obtained by the Bayesian Ridge Regression model. Results indicate that the proposed model has a better fit and is as good as the conventional Bayesian Ridge Regression model for prediction, based on the DIC criterion and cross-validation, respectively. A computing program coded in the R statistical package and C programming language to fit the proposed model is available as supplementary material.(e.g., an SNP), and b j is the additive effect of the reference allele at the j th marker, j ¼ 1; . . . ; p. In matrix notation, the model is expressed as y ¼ b 0 1 þ Xb þ e, where y ¼ fy i g, b ¼ fb j g and e ¼ fe i g are vectors of phenotypes, marker effects and Gaussian zero mean errors, respectively, and X ¼ fx ij g is a matrix of marker genotypes of dimensions n•p. However, when the data are not normal, the normal regression methods generate inconsistent estimates with the natural distribution of the data and, therefore, the estimation of the conditional mean given the covariates is also inconsistent (Bianco et al. 2005).With dense molecular markers, the number of markers exceeds the number of records in the reference population (p . .n) and, therefore, penalized regression estimation methods and their Bayesian counterparts are commonly used. Penalized estimation methods produce regression parameter estimates that are often equivalent to posterior modes. The literature on GS offers a long list of Bayesian models whose main difference is the prior distributions assigned to marker effects, which leads to what is known as the Bayesian Alphabet (Gianola 2013;de los Campos et al. 2013). The above-mentioned models assume that the response follows a normal distribution. Several phenotypic traits have distributions that are skewed, for example, female flowering, male flowering, the interval between male and female flowering, categorical measurements of diseases such as ordinal scale, counting data, etc. In these cases, either a normalizing transformation for the response variable (e.g., using Box-Cox transformation) or a model that deals with skew responses may be used. Varona et al. (2008) proposed using linear mixed models with asymmetric distributions in the residuals to tackle the problem in the context of animal breeding when pedigree information is available. Nascimento et al. (2017) proposed the Regularized Quantile Regression as a way to overcome the issue of non-symmetric distributions when marker information is available.If a population is selected based on one trait ðYÞ and another trait of interest ðOÞ results that exceeds (does not exceed) some threshold, then the conditional distribution of Y j O . o, for a fixed o; leads to a distribution that is skewed (Arnold and Beaver 2000), such as the skew-normal (SN) distribution, which is of particular interest in this research. This distribution is a generalization of the normal distribution (Azzalini 1985) with a shape parameter added to adopt skewed forms. It has the advantage of being mathematically tractable and shares properties with the normal distribution; for example, the density of the SN is unimodal (Genton 2004). Varona et al. (2008) argues that the asymmetric distributions observed for the phenotypes are the result of environmental factors and that data can be modeled using non-symmetric residual distributions.Based on the previous considerations and motivated by the fact that a great deal of traits in plant breeding have skew normal distributed, such as flowering time in most crop species, as well categorical traits such as diseases (ordinal, binomial, or counting data), in this study we propose a general Bayesian genomic regression model for skew-normal phenotypic traits with skew-normal random errors. The model uses a stochastic representation of the response variable (Arnold and Beaver 2000) in order to ease computations and it also works in the case that when n.p. It should point out, however, that the aim of the paper is not to describe and study the causes of the skew distribution but rather we assume that the skew data are given and thus the objective is to propose a robust statistical model that deals with the skew-normal distribution of the phenotypic and residuals.The structure of this paper is as follows. In section 2, we present the statistical models and describe the latent variable model used in the regression. In section 3, we describe a simulation experiment that is performed to evaluate the predictive power of the proposed model. In section 4, we present an application with real data; section 5 includes the discussion and concluding remarks.In this section we introduce the statistical models to be used in the manuscript. We begin by giving a brief review of the skew normal model. Then we introduce the concept of data augmentation and we use this concept in order to generate a skew normal random variable. After that we introduce the \"centered parameterization\" in the skew normal model, regression with skew random errors. Finally, we present the pior, posterior and full conditional distributions for the regression model with skew normal residuals.Skew-normal model: A continuous random variable U is said to follow the skew-normal law with shape parameter l 2 ℝ, denoted by SN D ðlÞ if its density function is:(1)where fðÁÞ and FðÁÞ denote the density and cumulative distribution functions of a standard normal random variable, respectively. The subscript D indicates the use of \"direct parametrization\" (Azzalini 1985). Note that the skew normal distribution reduces to the normal case when l ¼ 0. The mean and variance of U are given by:The coefficient of skewness of U is:If Y is a random variable defined by Y ¼ j þ vU, then Y is said to have a skew-normal distribution with location (j), scale (v), and shape (l) parameters, and is denoted as SN D ðj; v; lÞ. The density function of Y is given by:It can be shown that the coefficient of skewness of Y corresponds to the skewness coefficient of U.Hidden truncation: Let V and W be two random variables whose joint distribution is given as follows:where MN 2 ðm; ΣÞ denotes a bivariate random variable with mean m and variance-covariance matrix Σ and r 2 ð21; 1Þ; the random variable U is defined as follows: Arnold and Beaver 2000;Hea-Jung 2005;Liseo and Parisi 2013). The above representation allows writing an augmented likelihood function (Hea-Jung 2005;Liseo and Parisi 2013), \"as if\" we had observed the latent variable Z ¼ V . 0. The conditional distribution of UjZ ¼ z is Nðrz; 1 2 r 2 Þ and Z $ TNð0; 1; 0; NÞ, which is a truncated normal random variable with location parameter 0, scale parameter 1, lower truncation bound 0 and upper truncation bound N. Therefore, the joint distribution of U and Z is f UjZ ðujz; rÞf Z ðzÞ ¼ f U;Z ðu; z rÞ, that is:Note that the density function of U can be obtained by integrating f U;Z ðu; z rÞ with respect to z; that is, f U ðujrÞ ¼ R N 0 f ðu; z rÞdz. Estimating the parameters in the direct parametrization is troublesome, so \"centered parametrization\" is more appropriate for parameter estimation and interpretation (Azzalini 1985;Pewsey 2000;Azevedo et al. 2011, among others) 1 shows the density function of U for several values of the shape parameter l and the corresponding values of r. The random variable:is said to be a skew normal random variable with parameters m 2 ℝ, s e . 0 and g 1 , where g 1 is Pearson's skewness coefficient given by, and the range of g 1 is (-0.99527, 0.99527). In this case, EðYÞ ¼ m, VarðYÞ ¼ s 2 e . The usual notation is Y $ SN C ðm; s 2 e ; g 1 Þ. If we consider the following transformations:it can be shown, using Jacobians (Casella and Berger, 2002, Chapter 2), that the joint density of Y and Z is given by: Regression with skew normal random errors: Azzalini and Capitanio (1999) and Rusell and González (2002) proposed a simple linear regression model where the error terms are independent and identically distributed as SN D ð0; v; lÞ. The proposed model is:from the properties of the skew normal distribution, it follows that y i $ SN D ðb 0 þ b 1 x i ; v; lÞ. The model can be easily extended to include more covariates; that is:Azzalini and Capitanio (1999) and Rusell and González (2002) used the maximum likelihood method to estimate the parameters in the model. These ideas can be extended to the case of errors that are independent and identically distributed as SN C ð0; s 2 e ; g 1 Þ.Bayesian regression with skew normal random errors (BSN): LetThen, the likelihood function is given by:Let u ¼ ðb 0 ; b t ; s 2 e ; g 1 Þ t and pðujVÞ the prior distribution of u and V a set of hyper-parameters that index the prior distributions. Then, by Bayes' theorem, the joint posterior distribution of pðujyÞ is as follows:Neither the joint posterior distribution nor the full conditional distributions of the parameters of interest have a closed form; therefore, the implementation of this model within the Bayesian framework is computing intensive. We propose using hidden truncation together with two standard MCMC techniques in Bayesian analysis: (i) Gibbs Sampling (Geman and Geman 1984) and (ii) Random Walk Metropolis Sampling to alleviate some of the computing burden.Prior, posterior and full conditional distributions: Consider the joint distribution of Y and Z given in (5). In the regression context, we setthen the augmented likelihood function is:In order to fully specify the Bayesian model, prior distributions for the unknown parameters must be defined.  Sorensen and Gianola, 2002, p. 85, for details about the parametrization used in this paper). The joint prior distribution isBy combining equations 6 and 7 throught the Bayes' theorem, the posterior distribution of pðb 0 ; b; s 2 e ; s 2 b ; rjdataÞ is given by:The  2014). In this paper, we set the hyper-parameters as follows:MSx , where V y is the sample phenotypic variance andWe set s 2 b 0 ¼ 1 • 10 6 in order to reduce shrinkage and because in practice it mimics a non informative but proper distribution. To sample from the full conditionals of r and s 2 e , we implemented a Random Walk Metropolis Sampler whose parameters are tuned so that the acceptation rate is about 0.23 (see Appendix A for details).The BSN can be re-parametrized by replacing x t i b with t i ¼ x t i b; if the prior distribution of marker effects is normal with mean 0 and variance s 2 b , then the prior of t is t $ MN n ð0; s 2 b XX'Þ, which leads to a G-BLUP model (see de los Campos et al. 2013, for details about G-BLUP) but with skew normal residuals, that is,which is a skew linear mixed model, a particular case of the model proposed by Arellano-Valle et al. (2005, 2007), who relaxed all normality assumptions in a standard mixed model. Bayesian ridge regression With random normal errors (BRR):Regression with random normal errors is a special case of the proposed model when r ¼ 0. The model is widely used in the GS selection literature (e.g., de los Campos et al. 2013). In the GS context, the model is given by:where e i 's are independent and identically distributed as Nð0; s 2 e Þ. The prior distributions for the unknown are: b Thus, the posterior distribution of pðb 0 ; b; s 2 e ; s 2 b jdataÞ isThe required full conditional distributions of the parameters for implementing a Gibbs sampler can be found elsewhere (e.g., de los Campos et al. 2013). We set the hyper-parameters using the same rules as in the BSN model. The BRR model can be fitted easily using the BGLR statistical package (Pérez and de los Campos 2014).In this section, we use simulated data using marker genotypes from a wheat dataset made publicly available by Crossa et al. (2010). The dataset includes genotypic information for 599 wheat lines which were genotyped for 1279 DArT markers coded as 0 and 1. We simulated the phenotypes using the following additive genetic model:where e i $ SN C ð0; 1:5r 2 f0; :5; :75; :90; :95; :99g, which leads to different degrees of skewness. The intercept parameter, b 0 ; was set equal to 3; 10 marker effects were sampled from a normal distribution with mean 0 and variance 0.5/10 (Pérez and de los Campos 2014), and the rest were set equal to 0, that is:The idea here is to verify, through simulation, whether the proposed model works satisfactorily. We therefore obtained point estimates for b 0 , b, s 2 e and r. We also fitted the Bayesian Ridge Regression model and compared the estimates of regression coefficients, predictions and estimates of genetic values of both models. Let b be the vector of posterior means for regression coefficients. Pearson's correlation between the observed (y) and predicted values ( b0 1 þ X b) is a goodness-of-fit measure; Pearson's correlation between the \"true\" genetic values (Xb) and the predicted values (X b) is a measure of how well the genetic values are estimated; finally, Pearson's correlation between the \"true\" marker effects (b) and the estimated effects ( b) is a measure that indicates how good a model is at uncovering marker effects (de los Campos et al. 2009). We also computed the effective number of parameters (pD) and deviance information criterion (DIC) for the two fitted models (see Spiegelhalter et al. 2002, for more details).The algorithm used in this simulation experiment is described briefly below.1. Set b 0 , b, s 2 e and r. 2. Simulate the phenotypes using equation ( 9). 3. Fit the regression model with skew normal random errors and obtain point estimates for b 0 , b, s 2 e and r, that is, b0SN , bSN , ŝ2 eSN and r. The point estimates correspond to the posterior means of the posterior distribution of the parameters of interest. 4. Fit the Bayesian Ridge Regression model and obtain point estimates for b 0 , b, s 2 e , that is, b0N , bN , ŝ2 eN . 5. Compute the correlation between observed and predicted phenotypes, \"true\" and predicted genetic values, and \"true\" and estimated regression coefficients with both regression models. 6. Compute the effective number of parameters (pD) and deviance information criterion (DIC) for the two fitted models. 7. Repeat steps 1 to 5 one hundred times and obtain the averages of correlations, intercept (b 0 ), s 2 e and r.This dataset is from the Drought Tolerance Maize (DTMA) project of CIMMYT's Global Maize Program (http://www.cimmyt.org). The dataset comes from a large study aimed at detecting chromosomal regions affecting drought tolerance. The genotypic data consist of information from 300 tropical inbred lines that were genotyped using 1,152 SNPs (Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms). The analyzed trait is Gray Leaf Spot (GLS) caused by the fungus Cercospora zeae-maydis, which was evaluated at three different sites, Kakamega (Kenya), San Pedro Lagunillas (Mexico) and Santa Catalina (Colombia) (see Supporting information). Crossa et al. (2011) analyzed a subset of these data; the response variable was transformed using Box-Cox transformation (Box and Cox 1964). Figure 2 shows density plots for GLS rating at the three sites. Kernel density was estimated using a Gaussian kernel, and the bandwidth for the kernel was estimated according to Venables and Ripley (2002). Figure 2 also shows the sample skewness index, ĝ1 ¼ m 3 =s 3 , where m 3 ¼ n 21 P n i¼1 ðy i 2 yÞ 3 , y is the sample mean and s is the sample standard deviation (see Joanes and Gill 1998); in the three cases, the distribution is skewed to the right, so most of the distribution is concentrated around small values of the response variable. ; 190; 317; 444; 571; 698; 825; 952; 1079; 1206g; 0 otherwiseWe propose using the regression model with skew normal random errors to predict disease resistance. We fitted two models: (1) the standard Bayesian Ridge Regression, where the errors e i $ NIIDð0; s 2 e Þ; i ¼ 1; . . . ; n, where \"NIID\" stands for \"normally, independent and identically distributed\"; and (2) the proposed model with skew normal random errors. The Bayesian Ridge Regression was fitted using the BGLR package (Pérez and de los Campos 2014), whereas the proposed model was fitted using the algorithm described in Appendix A. The models were first fitted using the full data, and subsequently 100 random partitions with 80% of observations in the n Table 1  training set and 20% of observations in the testing set were generated. The two models were fitted for each of these random partitions; then the phenotypes of the individuals in the testing set were predicted and the ability of each model to make predictions was evaluated using Pearson's correlation between observed and predicted values. Inferences for each fit were based on 100,000 samples obtained after discarding 50,000 samples that were taken as burn-in. Convergence was checked by inspecting trace plots of the parameters.The data and programs are available as File S1 which corresponds to a compressed zip folder. The zip folder also contains a description of the data and commands to read it into the R statistical software.Table 1 shows point estimates for b 0 , b, s 2 e and r for the BSN and BRR models for different values of r. It also shows an estimate of u ¼ s 2 e =s 2 b , a regularization parameter that is widely used in Bayesian Ridge Regression. Higher values of the parameter are associated with more shrinkage; note that the estimates of s 2 e are very similar in both models, so small values of s 2 b could be associated with more precise estimates of b. It is also clear from this table that the point estimates for b 0 and s 2 e are very close to the real values used in the simulation. The correlation between observed and predicted values and the mean squared error is quite similar for both models and there is no clear winner. Finally, the algorithm is not able to estimate precisely the parameter r for distributions that are slightly asymmetric.Table 2 shows the effective number of parameters pD, the deviance information criterion (DIC), the correlation between \"true\" and estimated marker effects and the correlation between \"true\" and estimated signals. The table also shows that in general the pD and the DIC (small is better) favored the BSN model. The correlation between \"true\" and estimated marker effects is slightly better for BSN and the difference between the two models becomes clearer as r increases. The same pattern is observed for the correlations between true and estimated genetic signals.Full data: Table 3 shows estimates of the posterior means of parameters s 2 e , s 2 b and r, as well as the effective number of parameters ðpDÞ and the deviance information criterion (DIC). From Table 3 it is clear that the estimation of marker effects is more precise for the BSN model than for the BRR model; the pD and the DIC also favored the BSN model. The estimated r parameter also supports the assumption that the skew normal random error is correct, and that the point estimate is not around 0, except in the case of San Pedro Lagunillas.Figure 3 shows scatterplots of the predicted GLS using the BSN and BRR models. As expected, Pearson's correlation between both predictions is very high (higher than 0.95). That implies that even when the data are skewed, if a BRR model is fitted in order to obtain candidates for selection, we can expect to obtain about the same individuals. Two models were fitted for each site by BRR and BSN.Cross-validation: Figure 4 shows scatterplots for Pearson's correlation between observed and predicted values for individuals in the testing set obtained after fitting the BSN and BRR models for the three locations. When the correlations are higher for BSN than for BRR, this is represented by a filled circle, and by an open circle otherwise. The figure also shows the number of times Pearson's correlation is higher for the BSN than for the BRR model. From this figure, it is clear that the BSN model predicts slightly better than the BRR model. Figure 5 shows a scatterplot for the mean squared errors in the testing set for the three locations. When the MSE in BSN is smaller than the MSE in BRR, this is represented by an open circle and by a filled circle otherwise. The number of times n Table 2 True and estimated posterior mean of r, effective number of parameters (pD), deviance information criterion (DIC), correlations between \"true\" and estimated marker effects and correlations between \"true\" and estimated genetic signals; standard deviations in parentheses. Phenotypes were simulated under model ( 9) with r 2 f0; :5; :75; :90; :95; :99g and then regression models with skew normal (BSN)  that the MSE in BRR is greater than the MSE in BSN is also shown in the plots. From this figure, it is clear that in general, the MSE for BRR is greater than the MSE for BSN. Table 4 shows the average Pearson's correlation and mean squared error (MSE) between observed and predicted values in the testing set. The averages and the standard deviations are very similar for both models and the  differences between the models are non-significant, but the figures suggest that the BSN model predicts slightly better than the BRR model.We have proposed a Bayesian regression model for skewed responses with applications when p . .n in the GS context, but it can also be employed in other cases and, of course, when p , n. In addition, to generalize linear whole genome regression models for various discrete distributions (ordinal, binomial, etc.), this study further completes the Bayesian toolbox for whole genome regression. The proposed model uses a stochastic representation of a skew normal random variable in order to facilitate the computations; it also allows using standard MCMC techniques to fit the proposed model. Results of the simulation and of applications with real data suggest that the proposed model fits the data better and also predicts slightly better than the standard Ridge Regression model. The Ridge Regression model is a particular case of our model when r ¼ 0. On the other hand, our results also suggest that BRR is a very robust model, although in the simulations data we already knew that it was the wrong model to fit; still, the predictive power of the model was very good. Although the conventional Bayesian whole-genome regression is robust, it does not correctly deal with skew phenotypic data, and this can decrease its genomic-enabled prediction accuracy and its goodness of fit to the data. Thus, the advantages of the proposed Bayesian whole-genome regression compensate its complexity and possible increases in computational time as compared to the conventional Bayesian ridge regression. The model proposed in this study is conceptually and operationally different, and presumably simpler than the skew-normal linear mixed model of Arellano-Valle et al. (2005) that uses a multivariate skew-normal distribution in order to relax normality.Despite the fact that skewness is a major concern for breeding data analyses and may often be a result of uneven sampling of \"high\" and \"low\" performing individuals, selection, environmental effects, etc., the theoretical developments presented in this study are also applicable to many other areas of research in agronomy and in agriculture in general. For example, most crop flowering time data are indeed skewed, as well as categorical data representing different types of diseases as those presented in this research. So, skewness in phenotypical response can be the result of an artificial phenomena, the aim of this study was to propose a statistical model that will be more appropriate to deal with that problem.Results of this study can be compared to results of two other studies, Crossa et al. (2011) andGonzález-Camacho et al. (2012). Crossa et al. (2011) included one site in Mexico (San Pedro Lagunillas) that was also analyzed by transforming the original GLS ordinal scale using Box-Cox transformation; the prediction accuracy of different models (e.g., Bayesian Lasso and Reproducing Kernel Hilbert Spaces) ranged from 0.416 to 0.462. Although strict comparison with the results obtained in this study is not possible because other random cross-validations were generated, the prediction accuracies of BSN (0.5489) and BRR (0.5450) models were higher than those previously reported by Crossa et al. (2011) for the same site.Stochastic representation can be used to extend Reproducing Kernel Hilbert Space (de los Campos et al. 2010) models that in many empirical studies have led to more accurate predictions than Bayesian Ridge Regression models and Bayesian LASSO, among others (e.g., Pérez-Rodríguez et al. 2012), so this is a topic for future research. Further studies to extend the model proposed in this study to include genotype • environment interaction should not be complicated. The proposed model can also be extended by assigning different prior distributions to the marker effects, for example, to induce variable selection. This could potentially lead to a new Bayesian alphabet with skew normal random errors.whereNote that the right-hand side of the last expression is the kernel of a normal distribution with mean2. Regression coefficients ðb j ; j ¼ 1; . . . ; pÞ Here we obtain the conditional distribution of each of the elements of the vector b, i.e., pðb j elseÞ, j ¼ 1; . . . ; p.where y Ãà i ¼ y i 2 b 0 2 x t i;2j b 2j 2 s e SU rz i þ s e SU E U , x t i;2j is the i-th row of X without the j-th column and b 2j is the b vector without the j-th element. After some algebraic manipulations, it can be shown that the right-hand side of the above expression corresponds to the kernel of a normal distribution with mean c 2 =c 1 and variancewhereAfter simplifying some terms, the right-hand side of the above equation can be written as:The above expression is the kernel of a truncated normal distribution with location parameter ry ÃÃà i and scale parameter 1 2 r 2 , lower truncation bound 0 and upper truncation bound N. In this work, we used the R library truncnorm (Trautmann et al., 2014)  ;Note that pðs 2 e elseÞ is a very complex function of s 2 e and its kernel does not correspond to any known univariate density function, so we have to sample this parameter by Metropolis algorithm or another MCMC technique. Following Hea-Jung (2005), we considered the Random Walk Metropolis Algorithm with a de-constraint transformation to sample s 2 e . Given the fact that s 2 e . 0; let j ¼ logðs 2 e Þ so that j has support in ℝ. Note that the density function of j can be obtained by using the transformation method (Casella and Berger, 2002, Chapter 2), which is given by: pð jjelseÞ } p À s 2 e jelse Á • expðjÞ:In the Random Walk Metropolis Algorithm, we generated j by choosing a proposal transition kernel to add noise to the current state. Assuming that the actual value of j is j k , and that we wanted to update its value so that in the next iteration we had j kþ1 , we followed steps a-c below. a. Sample j, j ¼ j k þ Z, where Z $ Nð0; h 2 Þ. b. Sample u, U $ Uniformð0; 1Þ. c. If u , pð jjelseÞ=pð j k jelseÞ; then j kþ1 ¼ j; otherwise j kþ1 ¼ j k .Once j kþ1 has been obtained, compute s 2 e;kþ1 ¼ expðj kþ1 Þ. The parameter h 2 can be modified so that we have an optimal acceptation rate (Roberts et al., 1997).b )q ¼ 1 2 log 1þr 1 2 r ¼ tanh 21 ðrÞ, so that q has support in ℝ. Note that the density function of q can be obtained using the transformation method (Casella and Berger, 2002, Chapter 2), which is given by pð qjelseÞ } pðrjelseÞ • sech 2 ðqÞ:In the Random Walk Metropolis Algorithm, we generated q by choosing a proposal transition kernel to add noise to the current state. Assuming that the actual value of q is q k and that we wanted to update its value so that in the next iteration we had q kþ1 , we followed steps d-f below. d. Sample q, q ¼ q k þ Z, where Z $ Nð0; n 2 Þ. e. Sample u, U $ Uniformð0; 1Þ. f. If u , pð qjelseÞ=pð q k jelseÞ, then q kþ1 ¼ q; otherwise q kþ1 ¼ q k . Once q kþ1 has been obtained, compute r ¼ tanhðq kþ1 Þ. The parameter n 2 can be modified so that we have an optimal acceptation rate (Roberts et al., 1997).The samples from the posterior distribution can be obtained using the Gibbs Sampler (Geman and Geman, 1984) and the Random Walk Metropolis algorithm. In the algorithm, we sampled each of the fully conditional distributions until we obtained a sample of the desired size. We implemented the algorithm in the R Statistical package (R Core Team, 2016). In order to speed up computations, the routines that sample from pðb j elseÞ, j ¼ 1; . . . ; p were implemented in C programming language (Kernighan and Ritchie, 1988), a shared library was generated and then the compiled routines were used in R. The R script and the C source code are available upon request from the first author.The hyper-parameters can be set using a set of default rules similar to those used in the BGLR software (de los Campos et al., 2013; Pérez and de los Campos 2014). With these rules we assigned proper but weakly informative prior distributions so that we partitioned the total variance of the phenotypes into two components: (1) the error and (2) the linear predictor, that is:where g i ¼ P p j¼1 x ij b j . A priori, the total genetic variance isx 2 ij and the a priori average genetic variance is:where MSx ¼ 1 n P n i¼1 P p j¼1 x 2 ij . So from (B.1) and (B.2), the partition of the phenotypic variance is given by: . From the definition of heritability, h 2 ¼ V g =V y , so that V g ¼ h 2 V y ; then:"}

main/part_1/0112532036.json

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+{"metadata":{"gardian_id":"f2be8942b974cd6e5781cc00fea1b200","source":"gardian_index","url":"https://cgspace.cgiar.org/rest/bitstreams/7419ff6e-59a5-4c9b-ba9a-ed2f8a9e1ba0/retrieve","id":"377459594"},"keywords":[],"sieverID":"1f626b61-77c9-4b71-afb9-dda6de98b312","content":"Pessimistic views are often advanced about the future of agricultural development in subSaharan Africa, where rapid population and declining food production growth trends have been observed. This has especially been the case with regard to semiarid Africa where rainfall is low and irregular, and soils fragile and with low fertility. Such views ignore the fact that there have been successful technological break throughs in the semiarid region which have resulted in substantial agricultural productivity gains. Successful technology introductions have addressed principal constraints of water availability and soil fertility in the semiarid region. A strategy for the rapid introduction of inorganic fertilisers, combined with techniques that increase water availability and increased organic fertiliser use, is proposed here for semi arid Africa.Two principal constraints to increased crop yields in semiarid subSaharan Africa can be hypothesised to be low levels of soil nutrients and lack of enough water at critical stages in the crop production cycle. Because of low and irregular rainfall, semiarid regions usually lack sufficient water for sustained crop production increases. This is aggravated by soil crusting which leads to reduced water infiltration.Under such circumstances, making water available when soil nutrients are very low will result in low crop yield. Similarly, applying fertilisers when water is inadequate will lead to low yield and also prove economically risky. Combined technologies to increase soil water availability and crop nutrient levels through, for example, water retention devices, have been shown to increase crop yields substantially and to be highly profitable. Under conditions of soil degradation and falling marginal productivity of farm labour, these technologies are land substituting and increase labour use.An important question in terms of technology development is whether newly introduced agricultural technologies in semiarid West Africa have been consistent with identified constraints of water availability and soil nutrient levels.In the SudanoGuinean zone, which has sufficient rainfall in most years, the introduction of new cotton and maize cultivars, combined with increased organic fertiliser use and improved agronomic practices, appears to have resulted in substantial yield increases.In the Sudanian and SaheloSudanian zones, where rainfall is much lower, contour dikes have been introduced to slow soil erosion and water runoff. Combined with organic fertiliser application and improved early varieties of cereals and cowpeas, these dikes have increased yields under adverse rainfall conditions. Dikes have been especially popular in severely degraded regions where they have been constructed during the slack season when opportunity costs of family labour are generally low.Given that water retention devices tend to be extremely labour intensive, they have first been adopted in those regions with severe soil nutrient depletion and high population pressure. In regions with lower population pressure and sufficient resources, other technologies to increase water retention can be expected to be adopted as the available crop area for expansion decreases and the value of agricultural products increases.Apart from the dikes/organic fertiliser combination, there are many other highyielding water retention/soil fertility techniques. These include the combination of tied ridges and inorganic fertiliser, and the digging of small holes (zia) around which to plant, introduced in the degraded Sudanian region of Burkina Faso.According to model predictions from this study, higher population pressures leading to decreasing land availability will induce more rapid shifts to combined technologies in the semiarid region. Another critical factor affecting technology introduction in this region is the profitability of agriculture. As the profitability of agriculture increases with changes in output and input prices, model results indicate that farmers shift to more intensive production practices, extending the area in tied ridges and increasing the use of fertilisers.These model results are confirmed by numerous field observations which show that adoption of dirtand stone dikes, organic and inorganic fertilisers, supplementary irrigation for outofseason vegetable and fruit production, ridging on animal traction farms, improved crop varieties etc has rapidly increased in the Sudanian and SaheloSudanian regions.Overall, the model results for potential technology introduction in the semiarid zone are consistent with the proposed strategy of technology development. The difficulty of simultaneously introducing a water retention technique, fertilisers and new animaltraction implements may explain previous failures in technology introduction. But with reduced land availability, increasing population densities and donor pressure, African governments have been encouraged to pursue policies promoting the adoption of yield increasing technologies.The proposed strategy challenges the conventional view that semiarid subSaharan Africa is a land surplus region with seasonal labour availability being most limiting for increased output. It argues that the principal constraints to higher yields in semiarid subSaharan Africa are low soil fertility and lack of water at critical stages in the crop production cycle.Failure to identify the above constraints has had important implications for both agricultural research and policy in subSaharan Africa. Indeed, many argue that increased organic fertiliser use would enable African governments and farmers to save foreign exchange and costly input purchases. Notwithstanding the numerous alternatives identified through research, however, inorganic fertiliser remains the most viable technology component for increasing yields in semiarid regions. This is despite the fact that the removal of fertiliser subsidies and currency devaluation which occurred in many African countries in the late 1980s as part of structural reform programmes, have significantly reduced the relative prices of organic to inorganic fertilisers. While this has led to some increase in manure production technology, supply of organic fertilizers is generally limited by the size of animal herds and the transformation technologies available in most African production systems.Given such limits to substitution potential, organic and inorganic fertilisers need to be considered as complements in semiarid regions. Further research to find lowcost complementary practices to inorganic fertiliser should not preclude more rapid adoption of inorganic fertilisers. Inorganic fertilisers need to be combined with increased water retention techniques and improved cereal cultivars to lead to higher returns and yields in the semiarid region. African farmers need to take advantage of the yield increases possible with inorganic, and to some extent organic, fertilisers. For this to occur substantially more public and private investments supporting the fertiliser and seed industries, and research on organic fertilisers are required.For further information on this issue see: Sanders "}

main/part_1/0125262902.json

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+{"metadata":{"gardian_id":"fa3070336c7b9e3047c2d99a819d41ad","source":"gardian_index","url":"https://cgspace.cgiar.org/rest/bitstreams/1d341a38-4112-4e40-8908-b735b1bea8e1/retrieve","id":"-1610332028"},"keywords":[],"sieverID":"a9772191-bba3-45d9-a867-bff006de2be3","content":"African Agriculture and Climate Change: A Comprehensiv e Analysis examines the food security threats facing eight of the countries that make up southern Africa -Through the use of hundreds of scenario maps, models, figures, and detailed analysis, the editors and contributors of Southern African Agriculture and Climate Change present plausible future scenarios that combine economic and biophysical characteristics to explore the possible consequences for agriculture, food security, and resources management to 2050. They also offer recommendat ions to national governments and regional economic agencies already dealing with the vulnerabilities of climate change and deviations in environment.Decisionmaker s and researchers will find Southern African Agriculture and Climate Change a vital tool for shaping policy and studying the various and likely consequences of climate change.Sepo Hachigonta is a programme manager of the Climate Change, Food, Agriculture, and Natural Resources Policy Analysis Network (FANRPAN) in South Africa. Agriculture accounts for a relatively low percentage of the region's gross domestic product (GDP): about 14 percent, on average. National percentages vary widely, with agricultural GDP making up 34 percent of Malawi's GDP and 2 percent of Botswana's. For those who do farm, the region presents farmers with diverse opportunities: lands suitable for growing crops can be found in South Africa, Zambia, and Zimbabwe, for example, while the climate in Botswana and Namibia makes those countries more congenial to raising livestock.One obstacle to southern African food security is the state of the transportation infrastructure. The region's transportation system is generally good in urban areas, but most of the rural districts are poorly accessible. This reduces rural dwellers' access to markets (and competitive prices) and makes it difficult to transfer food to areas suffering from scarcity. Furthermore, continuing population growth in developing countries will worsen food insecurity across the region. In 2008, southern Africa had an estimated population of 135 million people; a moderate estimate has overall regional population increasing roughly 70 percent between 2010 and 2050 to about 241 million.Another important demographic trend is urbanization. Since southern African nations have become independent states, people in the region have migrated to urban areas for economic opportunities. A decrease in rural population could result in reduced agricultural production in rural areas, affecting food security at both the national and household levels.Projections for southern African countries show that the temperature will increase 1 to 2°C, perhaps rising by as much as 3.5°C by 2050 in some areas. Predictions of precipitation change vary widely. One model predicts the region will generally become drier, while others offer   differing scenarios that predict parts of southern Africa becoming drier or wetter or staying the same-with the precise distribution of these conditions depending on the climate model used.Projections based on a combination of possible GDP and population values show per capita GDP increasing in southern Africa by 2050. Using a combination of per capita GDP, population, exogenous productivity and climate change scenarios, crop production projections are made. The region's major crops-maize, millet, and sorghum-are projected to see both increased production and yields. These increases are the result of both an expansion of production areas and improved productivity, in spite of the negative effects of climate change.Increased production will not necessarily translate into food security. For some countries, increased maize production will not meet local demand, resulting in an increase in net maize imports. Moreover, the world price of maize is likely to rise by around 70 percent between 2010 and 2050, which would have serious affordability implications for the majority of the population living below the poverty line. Also, higher temperatures, together with a rapidly growing population, will put pressure on the region's water resources, possibly increasing the rate of rural-urban migration.Specific policy initiatives for adapting southern African agriculture to climate change include the following:X Develop and promote drought-tolerant and heattolerant crop varieties and hardy livestock.X Promote intersectoral linkages and develop closer collaborations between research and extension institutions for easier and more rapid transmission of weather, climate, and agricultural information to farmers.X Incorporate climate change adaptation into longterm planning and developmental programs; this process includes making budgetary allocations for climate change adaptation strategies.X Provide irrigation for smallholder farmers, particularly those in economically vulnerable communities.X Build capacity in skills and tools for technical assessments, planning, and policy development in the context of climate change.X Raise awareness about climate change issues to build support for action on the part of governments, NGOs, the private sector, and the public.Some southern African nations are already adopting these approaches to counter the impacts of climate change on agriculture. For instance, Botswana, a country presently ill-suited for crop production, has introduced National Vision 2016, which calls for irrigation, drought-resistant crops, and selective breeding of drought-tolerant livestock. Lesotho is taking important steps toward increasing climate change awareness through outreach programs, creating institutional frameworks for action, and adapting drought-resistant crop varieties. "}

main/part_1/0149257010.json

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+{"metadata":{"gardian_id":"b2fbffd0928ebc284b8e49cf9dc40a34","source":"gardian_index","url":"https://cgspace.cgiar.org/rest/bitstreams/c1994f39-d021-4907-b764-8a741a81fe10/retrieve","id":"-1499698818"},"keywords":[],"sieverID":"5012a908-f342-4f0a-94de-327c0bfdd8d2","content":"Requires us to make our data, publications, code, software and other products accessible through robust repositories hosted by ILRI or other reputable platforms.Under the terms of CGIAR and ILRI policies on open access and data management, \"best efforts\" shall be used to make all information products and other intellectual assets produced by ILRI open access, \"subject always to the legal rights and legitimate interests of stakeholders and third parties, including intellectual property rights, confidentiality, sensitivity, farmers' rights and privacy.\"The CGIAR policy defines open access as the immediate, irrevocable, unrestricted and free online access by any user worldwide to information products, and unrestricted re-use of content subject to proper attribution.To implement such open access, ILRI subscribes to the 'FAIR Guiding Principles' that provide guidelines and metrics to improve the findability, accessibility, inter-operability, and reuse of digital assets. "}

main/part_1/0182872755.json

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+{"metadata":{"gardian_id":"37a984649767b74db4f5a6bc77b1f319","source":"gardian_index","url":"https://repository.cimmyt.org/server/api/core/bitstreams/ff7da545-e9d6-4f83-8c56-5794d5d56c33/content","id":"-1608851702"},"keywords":["Index-based weather insurance","Inter-linkage","Credit","Safety net","Sub-Saharan Africa"],"sieverID":"5cf5e114-60ae-4870-90fb-be26013e30a3","content":"This paper reviews recent advances in, and challenges for, weather index insurance for managing drought risk in smallholder agriculture, with a focus on sub-Saharan Africa. Despite its promise to integrate local agricultural risk smoothing with insurance principles, there remain many challenges to its mainstreaming in low income countries. Scaling up of weather index insurance pilot projects is particularly constrained by high-basis risk, related to the divergence between the calculated weather index and actual productivity loss on the farm. Various options may be considered to enhance uptake of weather index insurance. Linking reliable weather data with location-specific crop and agronomic conditions using flexible geospatial crop modeling tools is one option to reduce the basis risk. The other option is interlinking weather index insurance with credit or safety nets. In the end, insurance should be offered as part of a wider set of business services that provide real value to smallholders. Finally, the review acknowledges that the suggested conceptual solutions, especially interlinking index based weather insurance with credit will require more empirical evidence on the extent to which insurance would reduce the cost of borrowing and make credit more accessible to the smallholder farmers.There has been much enthusiasm for, and investigations of, the potential benefits of weather index insurance for agricultural risk transfer and mitigation in low income economies (Skees et al. 1999;Turvey 2001;Mahul 2001;Hess and Syroka 2005;World Bank 2005, 2011; Barnett et al. 2008;Carter 2009;IFAD and WFP 2010;Suarez and Linnerooth-Bayer 2010;Shee and Turvey 2012;Cole et al. 2013). Underlying this interest are the widespread welfare losses that arise from large scale covariate weather risks, particularly in low income countries where market imperfections limit effective risk transfer instruments. Smallholders face poverty traps and subsistence consumption constraints, making it difficult to mobilize savings to cope with weather shocks. Climate change exacerbates extreme weather events, further undermining the livelihoods of smallholders who typically depend on rain-fed agriculture (IPCC 2007;Barnett et al. 2008;Barr et al. 2010).In addition to these general welfare and climate considerations, there is an economic interest in weather insurance: its potential to overcome the chronic problems of moral hazard, adverse selection and other forms of asymmetric information that affect credit and insurance markets in rural economies along with low administrative costs and ease in handling claims for indemnities. Weather index insurance payments are triggered by a single and easily observable and verifiable parameter (index) such as rainfall measurements or temperature records common to a particular village or regionwhich implies that individuals will not have the opportunity or incentive to manipulate records (Skees et al. 1999;Mahul 2001;Turvey 2001;Osgood et al. 2007;Miranda and Farrin 2012). In addition, most forms of moral hazard problems can be eliminated, monitoring costs are reduced, and because the payout is made in reference to the exogenously constructed index, often losses at the farm level do not have to be observed or verified, leading to more efficient and timely processing and payment of claims. These are key potential advantages of weather index insurance over traditional crop insurance schemes, but many pilot projects show that significant improvements in product design and implementation strategies are still needed, especially to enhance demand and uptake. Weather index insurance policy holders (households in a particular locality) will typically receive a payout if rainfall (and/or other weather variable) recorded at a representative weather station during the crop growing season is below the agreed threshold level (trigger point or strike value) (Skees et al. 1999;Turvey 2001;Mahul 2001). This assumes that the 'representative' station 1 also captures the covariate risks faced by villagers, and that these covariate risks are common. This, of course, is rarely the case in field conditions, implying that there may be households in a particular village with measureable volumetric loss who may not receive any payouts because the weather data recorded at the weather station is considered enough to support crop production (Barnett et al. 2008;Skees et al. 1999). This is referred to as basis risk and is most prominent in areas where climate variability is high (e.g. semi-arid areas or rain shadows near a mountain range).A common assumption and perhaps quite problematic to crop insurance design is the reliance on a single weather station representing an area of 20-25 km radius (Gommes and Gobel 2013). Households and villages within this radius are expected to have homogenous topography and farming systems. However, this simplified assumption of homogeneity of farming systems in index development is problematic for countries with variable topography, soil conditions and more diverse agroecologies (Gommes and Gobel 2013). On the other hand, indices such as area yield index (Mahul et al. 2012) developed based on historical average yields for a given area and vegetation index (Turvey and Mclaurin 2012) developed using satellite images have important limitations. For example, average yields may not work when the production conditions are heterogeneous or satellite-based vegetation cover may not differentiate different stresses. However, recent advances in satellite technologies are believed to correct these imperfections (Barrett et al. 2012;Leblois and Quirion 2011) although its cost-effectiveness, correlation with the underlying production risk and ability to discriminate different crops will need to be tested.Despite continued pilot testing of weather index insurance products in low income countries, its actual uptake has been far below expectations (Giné and Yang 2009;Binswanger-Mkhize 2012;Cole et al. 2013). The high price (premium) and lack of trust in the index and its ability to properly predict the risk of loss as well as the credibility of the insurance providers are key factors negatively influencing the demand for weather index insurance (Brans et al. 2010;Cole et al. 2013). Clarke (2011) shows that the low demand for weather index insurance by poor farmers is a rational response to basis risk. For higher uptake, weather index insurance should be cheaper than the current risk management practices of smallholders, such as reliance on social networks and selfinsurance mechanisms by owning assets (Binswanger-Mkhize 2012). Others argue that promoting access to productive assets (e.g. land), credit, improved seeds, better agronomic practices and rural infrastructure are the key factors for the poor to build their own capital to self-insure in case of disaster. It is however difficult for the poor to build capital for climate risk management and risk transfers (insurance) in the short run as current consumption competes with future savings. Insurance and credit instruments for smallholders may need to be seen as essential complements rather than substitutes for riskreducing and profitable technological innovations. This is particularly relevant as technological solutions per se will be inadequate in managing production risks caused by severe climate shocks and extreme events expected under progressive climate change.In this paper, we review experiences in piloting weather index insurance products and examine how weather index insurance could contribute to managing drought risk in smallholder agriculture. We provide insights based on a review of literature, including case examples of weather index insurance pilots in Africa (particularly Ethiopia, Kenya, and Malawi).The rest of the paper is organized as follows: Section 2 presents an overview of the traditional drought risk management strategies in smallholder agriculture as a backdrop for weather index insurance instruments, including moral hazard and adverse selection problems of traditional crop insurance; Section 3 summarizes conceptual issues around weather index insurance, its development and implementation challenges; in Section 4, we summarize weather index insurance pilots in three African countries and draw lessons and highlight challenges; in Section 5, we look into the prospects of interlinking insurance with credit or safety nets to stimulate wider uptake and discuss the implications for designing weather index insurance at different levels (macro, meso, and micro), before we conclude in the final section with some suggestions on the way forward.Drought is the major risk in rainfed agriculture (World Bank 2005;Burke et al. 2010)amounting to 83 % of all the risks in sub-Saharan African agriculture and bringing about 40 % of economic damages to smallholders (Burke et al. 2010). However, the omnipresence of drought in sub-Saharan African agriculture implies that weather index insurance does not come into a vacuum. Various drought risk management strategies already exist and weather index insurance needs to be contextualized to diverse settings. The present section first reviews some of the existing strategies at the household (micro-level) and community (meso-) level and potential contributions from external assistance (macro-level).Households which specialize in farming are more vulnerable to the effects of weather variability compared to those which diversify (Hazell et al. 1986). However, diversification may result in lower yields and in lower income and assets, which could have been used for mitigating risks through financial markets, such as insurance. For instance, studies in India and Burkina Faso indicate that farmers sacrifice 12 % to 30 % of average income to reduce risk by relying on low-return low-risk production activities (Gautam et al. 1994;Sakurai and Reardon 1997;Rosenzweig and Binswanger 1993). Hazell et al. (1986) are among the few who compare the costs of diversification with the benefits of crop insurance for managing the effects of drought risks. The more an area is suitable for a single crop (less diversified farming system), the higher its vulnerability to yield and price risk caused by drought. Smallholders being price takers and lacking basic market information implies that they should rely on diversification for adapting the effects of drought in the foreseeable future. This reinforces the need for improved varieties that are drought tolerant. Hence, the key challenge for crop/livestock breeders is to develop varieties capable of adapting to drought risk, while maintaining better yield and other desirable characteristics perceived by farmers. For instance, crop varieties with abiotic stress tolerance saved more than 50 % of the current yield loss in drought-prone areas (Wang et al. 2003). Hence, developing drought-tolerant varieties and investing in small-scale irrigation should also be key risk management strategies for low income countries in their medium-and long-term plans.Sharecropping is a traditional risk sharing arrangement in developing agrarian economies (Otsuka and Hayami 1993). Social capital and networks provide various community-based risk management arrangements, but, although effective in protecting against risks affecting households in isolation (Walker and Jodha 1986), they are not effective in protecting households from correlated risks, unless households have established networks outside of their community or regions (Morduch 1995;Battamishra and Barrett 2010). Climate variability is expected to reduce the effectiveness of traditional risk management strategies and may require a market-based risk management strategy, such as weather index insurance in agriculture (Skees et al. 1999;World Bank 2005;Linnerooth-Bayer et al. 2005;Meze-Hausken et al. 2009). However, the cost of insurance is expected to rise with an increase in the unpredictability of weather conditions that may call for a partial insurance subsidy using climate change adaptation funds for highly-vulnerable countries/regions (Linnerooth-Bayer et al. 2005;Hazell and Hess 2010). Thus, a balance between community-based risk management arrangements and market-based risk management strategies may benefit many households in low income countries.Low income countries may sometimes require external assistance to manage large scale disaster risks. An important challenge with this kind of risk management strategy is the time lag between a disaster and the arrival of donor funds and the required aid to save lives at risk (Linnerooth-Bayer et al. 2005). In widespread disaster situations, timing of interventions will have substantial impact on averting famine conditions as well as the ability of vulnerable households to withstand future shocks. In many cases, humanitarian assistance arrives late in the season and after people have already lost their most valuable assets such as livestock, or have a diminished health/nutritional status to a level that will undermine future recovery and resilience. In some cases, donor support may be limited either due to aid fatigue or the internal political conditions and insecurity in the affected country that may affect delivery of relief and development assistance. In such cases, the effectiveness of external assistance for disaster risk management is compromised. As an alternative strategy, international aid agencies have considered using weather index insurance instruments to pre-finance disaster relief services (Hess and Syroka 2005;World Bank 2005;Chantarat et al. 2007;Linnerooth-Bayer et al. 2005;Hazell and Hess 2010). For instance, in 2006, the World Food Program (WFP) purchased about US$1 million worth of weather index insurance premiums for Ethiopian farmers from the international re-insurer, Axa, with a maximum payout of US$7.1 million. Several other studies and pilot projects have also shown the relevance of weather index insurance for famine prevention and its effectiveness towards enhancing disaster risk management ability of low income countries (see Hess and Syroka 2005;World Bank 2005;Chantarat et al. 2007).The African Risk Capacity (ARC), a specialized agency of the African Union, aims to develop a pan-African risk pooling and transfer instrument using weather index insurance to pre-finance disaster risks (e.g. drought, flooding) for affected member states (ARC 2014a). This is an important institutional response from the African Union Commission to manage agricultural risks in Africa and ARC has recently provided weather index based payouts in Senegal, Mauritania and Niger (ARC 2014b). When it is widely implemented, this will be an important macro-level drought risk management system that allows African countries reduce the high social and humanitarian costs from delayed responses to drought and related risks by providing predictable and timely responses to food insecure populations affected by extreme weather events based on a measurable index to trigger payouts to member states. 2Weather index insurance principles were initiated by Halcrow (1948) and further developed by Dandekar (1977). Skees et al. (1999) theoretically proposed these principles for developing countries and later on empirically tested in Moroco (Skees et al. 2001). Mahul (2001) provided a more formal framework for weather index insurance in agriculture. Using historical rainfall and temperature data, Turvey (2001) illustrated how weather index insurance could be used to address specific-event risks measured at the local level and how rainfall and heat insurance could be priced in practice.Weather index insurance provides protection for vulnerable households against specific weather shocks (e.g. rainfall shortage or flooding) by using historical rainfall, yield and related agronomic and weather data (Osgood et al. 2007;Barnett et al. 2008). 3 A contract is signed between an insurer and a policy holder in advance. Payment is made based on the observable intensity of a weather index closely correlated to yield rather than to the non-observable specific impact on yield (Mahul 2001). The policy holder will get a payout when, for instance, rainfall is below an agreed amount (trigger point) based on automated weather station records. Weather insurance thereby needs evidence of the statistical relationship between the specific weather event being measured and volumetric risk (e.g. crop loss) at the farm level.The challenge is how to make weather index insurance functional and attractive to both insurers and policy holders. This calls inter alia for a reliable index, 4 appropriate compensation of the policy holders in the event of loss, and affordability to the bulk of farm households in the risky environments. Several questions however remain whether index insurance would become a game-changing innovation for managing agricultural risks in low income regions where other options have often failed due to high costs and low returns to insurance providers. Will poor households use their limited savings and other resources (including labor) to participate in weather insurance markets? How does weather index insurance compare to traditional risk management arrangements (Binswanger-Mkhize 2012)?The scientific and development community (including politicians) are somewhat polarized whether weather index insurance really worksparticularly in terms of performance so far, and the inherent problems related to the accuracy of indices used. The advocates can be further divided into those eager to learn more about the 'index' and proposing ideas for further analysis (testing of weather index insurance); and those who trust the current indices and advocate scaling up and promotion. Critics argue that weather index insurance is costly to administer and suggest developing better insurance products such as using an area-yield approach (Herbold 2013). They further argue that since the current indices are far from representing the situation on the ground and are affected by basis risk, an insurance product (e.g. area-yield index contract) based on proper sampling of individual farm yields is far more realistic. This idea may be reasonable considering the large number of area-yield index based Indian crop insurance programs compared to the small number of weather based crop insurance contracts (Mahul and Stutley 2010;Rao 2010). However, the Indian programs that focus on areayield indices are not free from basis risk 5 and the high administrative costs including the need for better infrastructure and manpower to undertake yield samples across remotely located farms (Rao 2010). In fact, an insurance company would have to undertake such studies in order to prove that there is, in fact, an insurable covariate risk between a proposed weather insurance product and a targeted loss. However, in less developed economies with limited historical yield data with which to measure covariate risks, taking random samples for yield estimation is expensive and may not provide a true yield distribution that can be generalized to the farming community, nor is random sampling robust enough to capture and price specific event risks. This is most important in capturing the extreme tails of the weather index insurance that is coupled with extreme losses in farm production. Unfortunately, there have been no empirical studies comparing the administrative costs of traditional crop insurance, versus weather index insurance schemes.Mainstreaming weather index insurance mechanisms is already challenging with the current weather variability in low income countries. This is aggravated by climate change, with worrying trends and increasing variability in temperature and rainfall in many developing regions (IPCC 2007). With climate change, both informal insurance and market-based risk management strategies would be less effective unless equipped with innovations that will allow incorporating the changing likelihood of future uncertainty in temperature and rainfall (Mills 2007). A weather index insurance contract needs to account for such changes to avoid any biases and mismatches in payout calculations relative to the loss incurred at local level. Insurers may need to pool risks across larger locations (population) to reduce the variance of income and look for reinsurance (Skees et al. 1999;Meze-Hausken et al. 2009). However, pooling risks over extended locations (spatial variability) may increase basis risk, unless methods for minimizing it are applied. Any future success of weather index insurance rests on minimizing the above polarized/contested views and developing indices that truly identify and capture extreme weather risks.The relevance of long term yield and weather data One of the key challenges in designing weather index insurance in developing countries is the lack of long term yield and weather data (Osgood et al. 2007;Kapphan 2011). In some cases, the level of aggregation of yield data is also a problem. Some researchers argue that it is more accurate to include yield or input use data (for calibrating indices) derived from plot level information/surveys than taking regional or national average yield or input use. For instance, Laajaj and Carter (2009) find that basis risk could be minimized using the village level area-yield index derived from plot and household level survey data. Morduch (2006) shows the relevance of long-term data on the same households through randomized location decisions to see the benefits of weather index insurance for the poor. However, care should be taken in any form of calibrating weather index insurance to non-weather variables since this will alter natural covariate relationships between weather and loss. Instead, the more practical approach is to allow a suite of products with different triggers that can be offered to farm households with different risk requirements and needs (Turvey and McLaurin 2012).The availability of long term time series data for 25 to 30 years containing daily rainfall and temperature observations is another challenge for many low income countries. In many cases, weather data are incomplete or missing for several seasons and weather stations do not often represent heterogeneity in agro-climatic conditions. Although the current indices consider households within a 20 to 25 km radius from a weather station (Osgood et al. 2007), these indices do not often work in mountainous or heterogeneous farming systems where local variability in weather conditions is high (Gommes and Gobel 2013). Rainfall can vary across short distances as influenced by certain microclimatic factors. This is another type of basis risk negatively influencing the adoption of weather index insurance in many developing countries (Clarke 2011;Hill et al. 2010). In this regard, the establishment of automatic rainfall stations that are not subject to manipulation are expected to reduce basis risk. However, new stations lack historical data to write contracts unless insurers simulate data based on nearby station records (Kapphan 2011).In case of serious droughts, basis risk may be less of a problem since the whole region could be affected more or less uniformly (serious drought as covariate risk). However, the magnitude of the problem depends on how the index is structured (Barnett et al. 2008). Designing the contracts only for big shocks is another solution to reduce basis risk (Turvey 2008;Hazell and Hess 2010;OECD 2011). This allows smallholders to utilize their traditional risk management schemes for smaller and more frequent risks.Rainfall indices and satellite imagery data Some researchers argue that rainfall may not be a good indicator since rain water may easily disappear as run-off or percolate into subsoil with no benefit to the plants (Rosema et al. 2010). Light rain may evaporate easily before it reaches plant roots and heavy rains beyond the limit of rain gauges are inaccurately measured (Leblois and Quirion 2011). At present, there are reasonable methods to fill in missing rainfall data (Gommes and Gobel 2013), and to calibrate new modern weather stations with older data. However, more research is needed to improve the effectiveness of these methods considering the capacity of poor nations. As an alternative to rainfall indices, the use of relative 6 evapo-transpiration (RE) was suggested by some service providers as an accurate measure of crop water use (Rosema et al. 2010;FESA 2014). RE relies on the use of satellite remote sensing and is being tested in some parts of Africa. For instance, in early 2010, using RE data supported by satellite images as an index, a maize insurance pilot was launched in Burkina Faso and Mali (Rosema et al. 2010;FESA 2014). (Also see Section 4 for Malawi).Using satellite imagery, the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) is an important advancement to reduce basis risk. NDVI is capable of reporting a vegetation index at various resolutions and time intervals (Laajaj and Carter 2009). However, NDVI rarely differentiates pastures from cultivated land and availability of estimated indices can be delayed due to clouds (Leblois and Quirion 2011). Turvey and Mclaurin (2012) found that NDVI should not be widely applied unless calibrated using location specific data (Turvey and Mclaurin 2012). However, some of the current imperfections in satellite imagery can be improved in the near future. Hence, there could be alternative ways of addressing or minimizing the problem of basis risk in weather index insurance contracts through remote sensed relevant climate data or crop simulation models which estimate yield responses to climate shocks at the local level. This will require multi-disciplinary approaches and effective communication among different actors (crop modelers, climate scientists, underwriters, insurers, re-insurers and end users).A key constraint of weather index insurance for small-scale farmers in low income countries is basis riskoften aggravated by poor data quality in calibrating indices (e.g. for drought, soil moisture or vegetation cover) in a given area (Barnett et al. 2008;Osgood et al. 2007;Clarke 2011;Hill et al. 2010;Cole et al. 2013). Poor correlation between yield at farm level and rainfall records at the nearby weather station results in spatial basis risk. A farmer with more experience and/or investments in soil and water conservation practices is less likely affected by flood compared to others with little or no experience/investments. The former may require insurance only if the extreme rainfall causes damage and when premiums are adjusted to take into account the precautionary measures already in place. In such instances, low-cost weather index insurance could be useful to backstop existing mitigation strategies. In order to capture the local context and reduce basis risk, a weather insurance product should be flexible enough to consider heterogeneity in location and household land management practices, longterm location-specific yield and input use data, historical rainfall information, flexible for regular updating and risk modification from contemporaneous seasonal weather forecasts. Incorporating such detailed variations will however lead to higher monitoring and insurance administrative costs that eventually make insurance more expensive. Subsidies have been variously used to make agricultural insurance including weather index insurance more attractive to farmers (Mahul and Stutley 2010;Mahul et al. 2012). The challenge would be to find a balance which will make the insurance product attractive to risk-prone smallholder farmers by lowering basis risk without unsustainable subsidies and a micro-level delivery mechanism that will be profitable to the insurance providers.In this section, we summarize weather index insurance pilot projects from selected sub-Saharan countries in Africa: Ethiopia, Kenya and Malawi. 7 Without claiming to be complete or exhaustive, these case studies highlight experiences and challenges in testing and scaling weather index instruments in the sub-Saharan Africa region and complement an increasing body of literature on weather index insurance across different regions (Mahul and Stutley 2010;Fuchs and Wolf 2012;Mahul et al. 2012). Particularly, the results from recent pilot projects in Ethiopia that integrate weather index insurance with safety nets are important additions (Brans et al. 2010;OA 2010OA , 2013)). Similarly, the cases from Kenya and Malawi are important in the on-going discourse regarding scaling up of weather index insurance and will inform the discussion on interlinking weather index insurance with credit. The examples from these three countries also represent the biggest initial efforts in terms of testing innovative pilot insurance products in sub-Saharan Africa. 8 Each case looks into the evidence, current debates and insights relevant for scaling up innovations and enhancing the demand for weather index insurance products. Although our review focuses on micro-and meso-level applications and implementation challenges, we also touch on some macro-level applications of weather index insurance such as integrating with safety net programs supported by governments and humanitarian organizations (see OA 2010; IFAD and WFP 2010; ARC 2014a; and it is further explored in Section 5.2).Ethiopia Ethiopia is one of the largest food aid recipients in sub-Saharan Africa, largely due to drought-induced production shocks. Donor agencies and international organizations including national and regional governments are, therefore, looking for new ways of mitigating the effects of weather variability, including application of weather index insurance principles for disaster prevention (see Skees et al. 1999;World Bank 2005, 2011). In 2005/2006, the World Bank and World Food Program (WFP) tested the relevance of weather index insurance schemes for disaster relief in Ethiopia. During this period, WFP purchased drought insurance from Axa Re-insurance of about US$1 million (with a maximum payout of US$7.1 million) to finance weather insurance derivatives for Ethiopian farmers. Similarly, the World Bank provided a loan of US$180 million which included a pilot project for disaster relief (US$2.3 million). However, none of the pilot projects were viable (e.g. drought was not a problem in that particular period and those who paid a premium wanted to claim it back) and it was later discontinued. This does not mean the risk has disappeared. Farmers need insurance to transfer this risk although payouts may not have occurred. Because weather index insurance for famine prevention (drought mitigation) was in its infancy, farmers, local governments and policy makers were not in favor of supporting this pilot project in Ethiopia when they faced the real trade off in this particular year with good rainfall. This indicates that farmers and policymakers were not sufficiently educated on how weather index insurance principles operate and become hesitant after a good harvest to pay for the insurance coverage in the following season. The good year seems to create a shortlived euphoria that undermines the demand for insurance. It is important to design such pilot projects with full information on the principles and in close consultation with the end users and local officials. In some places, the lack of safety nets to integrate with weather index insurance is considered a challenge rather than conceptualizing its benefit.In 2009, the Horn of Africa Risk Transfer and Adaptation project (HARITA) of Oxfam America (OA) along with local and international organizations such as the International Climate Research Institute (IRI) at Columbia University, Swiss Re and Nyala Insurance (a private company in Ethiopia) were able to develop a more participatory weather index insurance product in Northern Ethiopia. The HARITA project tried to integrate the Productive Safety Nets Program (PSNP) activities of the Ethiopian government with the so-called insurance-for-work (IFW) model (Brans et al. 2010). Farmers overwhelmingly supported the idea of insurance-for-work and suggested several creative ways of participation (Brans et al. 2010;OA 2010; also see section 5.2). This pilot insurance scheme initially covers 200 teff-producing farmers in the Kola Tenben districts of Northern Ethiopia (Brans et al. 2010;OA 2010). Later this pilot was scaled up from 200 farmers in one village to 13,000 in 43 villages (OA 2010). Supported by WFP, the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and Oxfam America, the program was rolled out to additional regions in Ethiopia and Senegal (OA 2013;Greatrex et al. 2015). For instance, in 2012 about 19, 000 farmers were insured over 76 villages in northern parts of Ethiopia (OA 2013). However, the pilot project still faces the challenge of developing a viable and flexible index that could predict losses. More innovation (to minimize the problem of basis risk and behavioral problems affecting adoption of weather index insurance) and analysis will be needed to see the sustainability of this model.Several other studies have been conducted in various parts of Ethiopia. For instance, Dercon et al. (2014) find that the uptake of weather index insurance is higher when insurance is channeled through group-based informal insurance schemes iddir (a funeral society) with appropriate training for group leaders. Hill and Viceisza (2011) found some evidence on the positive role of weather index insurance on fertilizer adoption. Other economic studies in Ethiopia on household willingness to pay for weather index insurance also found several factors, such as basis risk, education and trust as an important determinant for insurance uptake (Hill et al. 2010;Clarke 2011;Sarris 2013b).Many rural households in Ethiopia have a limited understanding of crop insurance. For instance, in Tadesse et al. (2013) 64 % of households reported that they perceived insurance as something designed for rich people who can afford to pay insurance premium as is the case of motor insurance (many people in the survey areas are aware of motor insurance). A few others (5 %) thought drought was too infrequent. Other reasons include the lack of trust in insurance providers. Thus, focusing only on bigger, but infrequent, shocks may allow households to buy time and save a little money year after year.Kenya Kenya is one of the countries where both index-based crop insurance (IBCI) and Index-based Livestock Insurance (IBLI) pilots have been tested. A recent review of the Financial Sector Deepening (FSD) supported by several donors in Kenya provided important lessons and recommendations based on the performance of weather index insurance pilots in the country (FSD 2014). The FSD review recommends that FSD scale down the retail pilots and take a longer-term view by concentrating on meso-and macro-level cover, such as an agricultural lending portfolio or area drought cover for government agencies and others responsible for drought response (FSD 2014) which is quite interesting and pragmatic given the challenges of micro-level commercialization of the product using the existing delivery mechanisms and weather data for computing locally relevant indices to trigger payout.In 2010/11, an innovative index-based livestock insurance (IBLI) was introduced in Northern Kenya through the joint effort of the International Livestock Research Center (ILRI), Cornell University in USA, a private insurance company in Ethiopia and Swiss Re. Initial results from this initiative indicate that high premium, basis risk and risk preferences have strong effects on the uptake of insurance, similar to earlier findings (Mude and Barrett 2012). Using the NDVI index for vegetative cover on rangeland, Chantarat et al. (2012) found that risk preference, perceived basis risk and the subjective expectation of loss were important factors affecting Northern Kenyan pastoralists' willingness to pay for index-based livestock insurance. Besides index-based livestock insurance pilots, index-based crop insurance schemes (Kilimo Salama, meaning safe farming) are being tested. In an effort to reduce delivery costs, mobile phones are in use to pay premiums, receive payouts and weather information (see Syngenta 2012). The delivery mechanism is based on linking insurance with input marketing. When farmers buy seeds, fertilizer or other agricultural inputs, they can also buy insurance for their inputs by paying 5 % of the input cost. Covered farmers need to register in one of the weather stations close to their farm.By the end of 2011, these innovations covered 23,000 households in five regions of Kenya and expansion to the remaining regions and other countries in Africa is expected (Syngenta 2012;ASN 2012). By the end of 2013, the program reached over 185,000 farmers in Kenya and Rwanda (Syngenta 2014). However, part of the success/expansion may be related with the 50 % premium subsidy 9 offered by this scheme although the program plans to achieve operational sustainability by the end of 2016 (Syngenta 2014). Timely delivery of agricultural inputs (fertilizer and improved seeds) interlinked with insurance services through mobile banking could bring a major breakthrough in transforming the rural economy in Kenya. If the index is properly developed, this approach has the potential to further reduce administrative costs in reaching the clients with specific information and effecting payouts in the event of shocks. Use of automated weather stations also overcomes the problem of manipulation of weather records. Syngenta claims that insured farmers earned 16 % more income compared to their uninsured neighbors (Syngenta 2014).Malawi The weather index insurance programs in Malawi often bundled credit with mandatory weather index insurance to assure worried lenders (Suarez and Linnerooth-Bayer 2010; also see section 5.1). With technical support from the World Bank, weather index insurance was offered in 2005 by the Opportunity International Bank of Malawi (OIBM) and the Malawi Rural Finance Corporation (MRFC) to 892 groundnut and maize farmers (Hess and Syroka 2005). A total of a US$40,000 payout was made based on nearby weather station records. In 2006, the World Bank provided insurance for the purchase of improved seeds covering a total of 1700 households. For this pilot, farmers were required to pay 4.9 Euros per hectare premium to get a 25 Euro payout for their input cost if drought occurred. In 2010/11, program participation expanded and a total of 10,500 households were covered for their cash crop, tobacco. Besides tobacco and groundnuts, maize is an important staple crop being piloted by various programs in Malawi. For instance, in 2012/2013 a Dutch-based re-insurance company called COIN-Re along with local insurance companies insured 1282 maize growers in Central and Northern parts of Malawi using relative evapotranspiration (RE) as an index instead of using the rainfall index (FESA 2014). Similar pilot projects are on-going in other African countries such as Mozambique, Tanzania and Burkina Faso using RE as index (FESA 2014).Since 2008, the government of Malawi and the World Bank along with Swiss-Re actively engaged in a weather derivative market to price drought risk (Syroka and Nucifora 2010). This is a typical macro-level application of weather index insurance similar to the WFP/ World Bank and Ethiopian government pilot program in 2005/2006. With the establishment of the African Risk Capacity program, the Government of Malawi became one of the African member states which established a common risk management strategy (ARC 2014a).This may imply African countries are in a better position to manage disaster risks (e.g. drought, flood and related catastrophic events) without having to look for significant financial support from the World Bank and other donor agencies.Given the numerous challenges associated with introducing and scaling weather index insurance in low income countries, we discuss below two innovative approaches: interlinking weather index insurance with credit or with safety nets. Although these approaches have been looked into in the academic literature and World Bank studies (Linnerooth-Bayer et al. 2005;Hess and Syroka 2005), new insights are emerging on opportunities and challenges for enhancing the uptake of weather index insurance in rural economies (Carter 2009;Shee and Turvey 2012;McIntosh et al. 2013;Tadesse et al. 2013).In low income countries farmers are often cash constrained and would benefit from accessing micro-creditbut uninsured loans may increase risk (Dercon and Christiaensen 2011;Karlan et al. 2014). For instance, farmers in rural Ethiopia equate taking loans as falling into an abyss where escape is not possible (Tadesse 2014). Moving towards insured loans (via interlinking credit with insurance such as demonstrated in Kilimo Salama, Kenya case study) may thereby provide improved access to modern agricultural technologies in risk-prone regions as long as insurance providers manage the relevant risks (Clarke and Dercon 2009;Carter 2009).Beyond reducing lenders' fears, linking insurance with credit will also allow service providers to use one distribution channel (reduce administration costs such as through the use of innovative tools -e.g. mobile phone discussed earlier) that may also help to further reduce interest rates and insurance premiums. If credit is insured (either by directly paying part of the input cost as insurance premium or insuring agricultural output through weather index insurance), lenders will be less reluctant to enter into the rural financial markets (Shee and Turvey 2012;Carter 2009;Churchill 2002;Mahul 2001;Barnett et al. 2008). The findings from Shee and Turvey (2012) specifically showed the benefits of adding insurance risk premiums to base loan interest rates, thus avoiding the need to purchase the insurance up front, which is one of the key problems of cash constrained farmers. McIntosh et al. (2013) show that Ethiopian households that participate in interlinked index based weather insurance schemes are more likely to use chemical fertilizer compared to those with standalone insurance schemes.Interlinking weather index insurance with credit holds particular promise (Shee and Turvey 2012;Carter 2009;Hess and Syroka 2005;McIntosh et al. 2013). Giné and Yang (2009) is an exception: they found demand for uninsured loans to be higher than for insured loans in Malawi. A possible explanation may be that taking a loan along with additional fees for insurance cover may be too expensive for some households with little or no money to pay up front. Although interlinking weather index insurance with credit may encourage rural financial institutions to provide credit to smallholder farmers (Carter 2009), it is important to develop products that could easily be interlinked with insurance (see Swiss Re 2010) and ease supply side constraints such as providing timely credit with the required amount (McIntosh et al. 2013). In addition, despite the theoretical justifications for interlinking insurance with credit (Farrin and Miranda 2015), there is lack of empirical evidence illustrating reductions in loan interest rates or insurance premiums due to the interlinkage. For instance, the study by McIntosh et al. (2013), though a good example of actual implementation of interlinked products, is still a pilot project with both supply and demand side problems.The authors indicate that one important supply side constraint is the lack of timely provision of credit in the required amount for households looking for interlinked products (McIntosh et al. 2013). Thus, future research may need to investigate whether or not such interlinkage will help reduce insurance administrative costs in practice. This may include the reduction in potential risks insurers may face while providing interlinked products to households who may be cash constrained to pay part of the upfront cost of insurance and increased demand for input credit that will reduce the need for input subsidies or reduce the cost of providing input loans when credit is insured.One recent innovative approach 10 in agricultural risk management is through the creation of employment opportunities for resource-poor farmers to pay insurance premiums in kinde.g. through labor invested in natural resource management such as tree planting (Brans et al. 2010;OA 2010) or other public goods. Those who participate in insurance-for-work programs will receive an insurance certificate to guarantee payouts in the event of drought affecting crop production (Brans et al. 2010;OA 2010). This approach has been tested in northern Ethiopia by Oxfam America, private insurers, cooperative unions/micro-financial institutions, farmers and government agencies that run the current Productive Safety Net Programs (PSNP) in the country. About 60 % of the households chose to participate in the insurance-for-work program to get coverage for their most important staple cereal crop, teff. The remaining households participated by paying premiums in cash (Brans et al. 2010;OA 2010). This approach resolves the cash constraints of the poor to invest in risk transfer instruments and could contribute to enhancing wider uptake if the index is appropriate. Alternatively, it can be used to provide consumption smoothing to affected households in the event of catastrophic climate shocks which will allow them avoid famine or asset disinvestments. It opens new opportunities to combine safety nets with insurance provision, using the seasonally abundant family labor resources, and without denying the food or cash to those who need it most to smooth their consumption.Building on these initial results from this pilot project in Northern Ethiopia, a more quantitative econometric analysis on this innovative approach was conducted in Southern and Oromia regions of Ethiopia in order to verify its scalability (Tadesse et al. 2013). Households were provided with three payment options: cash, labor and a combination of cash and laborthe wage rate for this study was set at16 Ethiopian Birr (the Ethiopian currency) per day (close to US$1 during the survey period) similar to the wage rate for food-for-work or cash-for-work programs in Ethiopia. Results from this study indicate that the majority of households (83 %, N = 576) would like to participate in the insurance-for-work program (labor option) even at a lower wage rate than the wage rate under food-for-work or cash-forwork programs in Ethiopia. Those with better assets (cash, livestock, and stored grain) prefer to use their cash rather than investing their labor in low wage insurance-for-work programs. This suggests cash-constrained farmers are more willing to use their labor to get insurance cover rather than use their scarce cash when wage-earning options are limited (Tadesse et al. 2013). However, the insurance-for-work option needs someone to provide employment (e.g. productive safety nets programs to build local public goods) for the small-scale farmers to pay their premium through their seasonal labor. This does not mean their premium is paid by someone else but an interlocutor is needed to facilitate the employment option, for example in the form of existing food-for-work or cash-for-work programs to help them pay their premium through their labor. This may indicate that interlinking safety net programs that provide income and employment functions such as PSNP with insurance may provide a win-win outcome which will provide insurance to vulnerable families and enhance local public goods for long-term resilience. Insurance providers/governments may also expand their services using a more flexible approach which will allow even the very poor households to participate in insurance markets and pay their premium. This enables donors and government agencies to help focus on ex-ante risk financing instruments (see Hess and Syroka 2005;Chantarat et al. 2007;Linnerooth-Bayer et al. 2005;ARC 2014a) delivered through trusted and functional local employment schemes which use family labor as the most available resource of the poor rather than rely on ex-post disaster risk management strategies that are often costly.Because this innovative approach is in its early stage (OA 2013), further research is needed by testing its validity across agro-ecologies and socio-economic groups, especially in areas where safety net programs are operational. The approach is promising for wider piloting and scaling up because it overcomes a key cash constraint that weather index insurance typically faces through the use of surplus labor during the slack season when the opportunity cost of labor is low. The credibility of the program was enhanced by its linkage with a reliable program. However, it still faces the problem of basis risk to make reliable payouts based on objective assessment of individual losses from climate shocks.The studies reviewed in this article show varying potential for the use of weather index insurance in smallholder agriculture at different levels (macro-, meso-and micro). Lack of trust in the product, the delivery mechanisms and the mismatch between the calculated index and realities on the ground (actual yield loss) have particularly affected local level retailing of weather index insurance for agricultural risk management. The classic problems of contracting and contract enforcement (Barrett et al. 2012) prevent service providers from retailing weather index insurance products directly to the producers. This is particularly the case when the premium is included as part of the interest payment on the input credit (Shee and Turvey 2012). Problems of contract enforcement and the risk of securing sufficient payouts in the event of drought also push smallholders to shy away from signing on to available insurance schemes. In order to overcome problems of trust and moral hazard, some authors have advocated collective contracting of index insurance (Traerup 2012) but this is unlikely to solve the inherent problem of high basis risk which underlines computation of payouts. Because of these challenges, the various pilots suggest that weather index insurance should not at this stage press for retailing of the product to individual farmers (FSD 2014). For instance, the modified national agricultural insurance scheme in India still primarily relies on area yield index despite the costs and short-comings (Mahul and Stutley 2010;Mahul et al. 2012). However, the meso-and macro-applications of weather index insurance may still be compelling (IFAD and WFP 2010).Meso-level where lenders, input providers, farmer organizations, or NGO purchase portfolio or group cover policies in order to retail to members, particularly against default, without requiring measurement of individual losses. Macro level, in which a government or NGO insures a particular region or country in order to ensure that timely payouts are available for disaster assistance.Several examples of weather index insurance reviewed provide examples of mesoand macro-level applications. Agencies involved in disaster risk management (e.g. governments, NGOs, WFP) could buy weather index insurance to cover vulnerable communities/regions or households with the objective of accessing timely funds to provide assistance before hunger and malnutrition sets in and forces households to sell their productive assets needed for long-term resilience and poverty reduction. Along the same lines, the potential of weather index insurance for famine prevention is widely recognized (Linnerooth-Bayer et al. 2005;World Bank 2011;ARC 2014a). Chantarat et al. (2007) using data from Kenya show the positive benefit of linking weather index insurance contracts for famine prevention as it allows timely response to shocks and reduces humanitarian costs through the pre-financing ability of insurance. In some cases, vulnerable households may be able to pay the premiums through employment in public works and productive safety nets (as in the Ethiopia case). In other cases, governments and NGOs may be able to buy such insurance as famine prevention strategies without retailing to individual households. The recent initiative by African Union member states (African Rick Capacity) is an example of macro and regional risk pooling that may solve the challenges related to securing funds before disaster hits a given region or population (ARC 2014a).Despite the increasing popularity of weather index insurance principles among the scientific and insurance/re-insurance community, its uptake remains limited and challenging in smallholder agriculture. For many, the actual benefits (relative to costs) in reducing household vulnerability to production risks and poverty remains to be provenespecially in the context of extreme climate variability and change. However, refining rainfall-based insurance indices, using multiple weather stations instead of one station to represent a particular target area (Gommes and Gobel 2013), and investing in automatic rainfall stations (infrastructure) for developing countries, possibly through external support (Leftley 2009;Sarris 2013a), are some of the issues that need policy attention and public-private partnerships (Mills 2007), to mitigate the impact of weather-based agricultural risks in the low income world. It is necessary to acknowledge that weather index insurance should be considered a promising addition to the portfolio of risk management options in developing countries, instead of considering it the only solution for all weather-based risks faced by resource-poor producers (Churchill 2002). Furthermore, weather risk is just onealbeit a majorrisk that confronts smallholders in developing countries. Approaches that link weather index insurance with crop yield or revenue indices may help address the multiple shocks that affect smallholder producers.Social scientists can contribute to developing better methods and tools that increase the demand for weather-index insurance through demand analysis and the understanding of farmer decision-making behavior and the effect of imperfect and asymmetric information. Hence, collaboration among social scientists, economists, remote sensing experts, agro-climatologists, crop modelers, climate scientists and development practitioners, including end-users, is essential to streamline the weather-index insurance approach for agricultural risk management.Our review identified two innovative approaches. First, in drought-affected areas (e.g. the Horn of Africa regions and many parts of sub-Saharan Africa), agricultural input credit schemes may be interlinked with insurance to enhance access to credit services and improve adoption of improved agricultural technologies (Carter 2009). This offers the dual benefit of reducing the lenders' and borrowers' risk which has been the major obstacle for provision of input credit and for farmer adoption of complementary inputs such as fertilizer and improved seeds. It will enhance the uptake of weather index insurance when it is linked to a trusted delivery mechanism (or supplier) and bundled with the supply of key inputs. The complementary use of insurance and credit may in the long term facilitate poverty reduction through technical change, asset building and resilience to diverse shocks. In order to leverage these gains, mandatory insurance may be required (e.g. India) for farmers borrowing to finance inputs. Second, case studies from Ethiopia showed the attractiveness of linking weather index insurance with productive safety net programs (food-for-work or cash-for-work). This allows cashconstrained households to use their seasonal surplus labor to buy insurance against drought while building public goods local infrastructure or assets, which will enhance resilience or access to markets. Even in this case, payouts cannot be directly linked to farm level losses rather than payments for consumption smoothing to avoid famine situations. However, robust indices are still needed before the large-scale popularization of the insurance-for-work model. Future success in commercializing the product at the micro-level would depend on to what extent weather index insurance will be attractive to smallholder producers in risk-prone regions, who often prefer informal systems and tighten their belts, diversify crops, borrow from friends or neighbors rather than invest in formal insurance mechanisms or productive assets that may be risky but provide a higher return.There is a need for innovation and further research in minimizing basis risk (indices improvement) and in educating smallholders and building trust, both in the indices and in the providers of index insurance. Statistical indices constructed based on weak and unreliable agro-climatic data for linking rainfall with agricultural productivity are distinctly inadequate. A more reliable predictor of smallholders' yield and consumption risks and losses due to weather changes is needed to operationalize the approach. In this regard, more flexible geospatial crop modeling tools that take into account location specific agro-climatic soil and agronomic conditions to properly predict the effects of weather deviations on crop yield 11 may be relevant. In the short run, weather index insurance schemes seem to be more attractive at the macro-and meso-levels to allow risk pooling and transfers across regions in preparation for a timely and effective response to catastrophic climatic shocks. We call for more research on ways to reduce the basis risk, combining the best data and decision tools available, and develop indexes that adequately predict the risks faced by smallholders. This will be a major contribution to making weather index insurance more functional and attractive to both insurers and policy holders and thereby enable it to realize its full potential and generate widespread uptake. Finally, the review acknowledges that, despite the promising conceptual justifications, the suggested solutions for interlinking insurance with credit markets still require ground level applications and empirical evidence on the benefits in terms of lowering insurance costs or reducing the cost of borrowing and making credit more accessible to smallholder farmers in low income countries.Endnotes 1 In some cases, it is also possible to design index based insurance contracts based on remote sensing information without relying on weather station records. 2 The creation of the Caribbean Catastrophe Risk Insurance Facility (CCRIF) established in 2007 to provide member states with immediate liquidity after natural disasters is a good example for such regional risk pooling and transfer systems. While CCRIF is designed to support governments in providing enhanced assistance to affected populations, ARC may in addition need to consider contingency plans and national delivery mechanisms to ensure timely response and effective assistance for the needy (ARC 2014a).3 In principle, it may work for broader agro-climatic shocks that affect production such as heat waves, frost and other extreme events as long as these are independently observable and verifiable at low cost. 4 A good correlation between actual yield loss and the weather index.5 Area-yield index does not directly rely on a weather parameter for crop insurance contract design but it depends on crop yield index across a representative target area or individual farm historical yield. However, it requires monitoring crop yield at individual or sample farmers' field condition that may still be costly. 6 This method uses visual and thermal infrared satellite data in mapping temperature, radiation, evapotranspiration and precipitation from space (Rosema et al. 2010).  7 Considering the large number of pilot projects and interest in weather index insurance, the current case study countries may not be representative. 8 The experience of Ghana and Senegal is also interesting and will require additional reviews. 9 We thank one of the anonymous referees for the subsidy information on Kenyan pilots. 10 Our review shows that even standard approaches in the design and application of weather index insurance can be challenging for roll out to smallholder farmers (e.g. in terms of skills, resources, and infrastructure). Thus, it may not be possible to develop one standard approach in product design and delivery and new approaches are needed to enhance product uptake.11 For example, the Agricultural Insurance Simulation Model (AISM) was developed to model the relationship between weather conditions and crop yields in Mexico. The model consists of a system of equations representing the crop-soil-weather relationship taking into account the specifics of each agronomic climate region and determines the critical threshold values of the index below which the indemnity payments are triggered (Fuchs and Wolf 2012)."}

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+{"metadata":{"gardian_id":"88b23a5c2532f79639d8f0a55e60abba","source":"gardian_index","url":"https://cgspace.cgiar.org/rest/bitstreams/5fb2a494-90fa-4798-bafd-7ec0068813c8/retrieve","id":"-1608112539"},"keywords":[],"sieverID":"731ac0ed-20b5-4a34-b997-433a811aff71","content":"The IBLI color legend describes the state of the index in a simple and easy to understand format Index announcements will be presented in the format shown below The actual index percentage will only be presented when the index is above 10% (Red or Black color) as this is where the index number signifying the increasing loss of livestock becomes important for insurance payouts Insurance payouts are made if the index is above 15% at the end of dry seasons in March and October Index Based Livestock Insurance Color Legend Green Good Regime Stable: Here, the division in question is within a good regime and is characterized as stable. This means that the forage conditions are above normal and are either improving or at least have not worsened over two consecutive months. Index readings do not relate to livestock mortality due to forage scarcity.Good Regime Worsening: While the division in question is characterized by better than average forage cover over the past year, the situation has been consistently worsening within the past two months (that is to say that the past two months the forage situation has been lower than the long run average). Index readings do not relate to livestock mortality due to forage scarcity.Bad Regime Moderate: The sum of forage available over the past year has dropped below the long-run average. However, while the division in question is under considerable stress, the model predicts less than 10% average livestock mortality. At these levels the model is not as accurate in predicting losses as they are not yet widespread.Bad Regime Accute: Average livestock deaths predicted to be between 10 and 15%. At this level, model predictions become more precise. The situation is quite serious but not yet classified as severe. Indemnity payout will not be triggered and individuals are expected to cater to this level of losses.Bad Regime Severe: The drought is now severe. Forage scarcity has been pronounced over a long period and greater than 15% of livestock in the area are predicted to have died. Indemnity payout will be triggered if conditions persist throughout the season up to the potential payout period."}

main/part_1/0213817118.json

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+{"metadata":{"gardian_id":"cf14ea97905e4a861c6a975f92fe5925","source":"gardian_index","url":"https://www.cifor.org/publications/pdf_files/reports/Honduras-VPA-report.pdf","id":"-2004014978"},"keywords":[],"sieverID":"2cbd5c75-61e5-4b07-9fa4-0c8192178477","content":"General VPA ToC 2Gender breakdown of respondents (N=100) 3Respondents per their Associated Sector (N=100) 4Average number of years of experience per sector (N=100) 5Respondents' knowledge of sectors (N=100) 6Top principal motivating factors leading Honduras to engage in the VPA process (multiple choices possible) (N=100) 7Aspects of VPA respondents who are/were most involved in (multiple choices possible) (N=100) 8Impact pathways for Governance and Institutional Effectiveness 9FERN indicators in Honduras (N=87) 10 Evolution of the consideration of the opinions of CS, SMEs, and LC and PIAH in decision-making in the timber sector (N=81) 11 VPA negotiations' contribution to more consideration of CS, SMEs, and LC and PIAH (N=87) 12 VPA negotiations' contribution to more consultation of LC and PIAH (N=97) 13 VPA negotiations' contribution to more effective independent observations carried out by civil society (N=88) 14 VPA negotiations' contribution to a greater degree of autonomy of civil society in its role as independent observer (N=90) 15 VPA negotiations' contribution to improved technical capacity of SMEs to conduct their activities legally (N=82) 16 VPA negotiations' contribution to better coherence of the legal and regulatory framework in the forest sector (N=97) 17 VPA negotiations' contribution to providing civil society with a greater role in controlling legality and in identifying irregularities (N=99) 18 VPA negotiations' contribution to more enforcement of sanctions as outlined in the law (N=92) 19 -VPA negotiations' contribution to making sanctions more credible in the forest sector (N=93) 20 Causes of non-compliance with the law (multiple choices possible) (N=100) 21 VPA negotiations' contribution to improving transparency in the forest sector (N=96) 22 VPA negotiations' contribution to making the government more accountable for its actions in the forest sector (N=93) 23 Statement on whether the level of corruption in the forest sector has decreased since the start of VPA negotiations (relative to other sectors) (N=93) 24 Statement on whether the bureaucracy linked to the VPA process has created new opportunities for corruption (N=100) 25 VPA negotiations' contribution to improving the political will to fight corruption in the forest sector (N=98) 26 Statement on whether the work of independent observations contributes more to reducing corruption in the forest sector than before VPA negotiations (N=100)Collecting evidence of FLEGT-VPA impacts v 27 VPA negotiations' contribution to reducing the costs faced by SMEs paid as informal taxes (N=59) 28 Impact pathways for Forest Conditions 29 Actors' awareness of the consequences of poor governance in the forest sector (N=96) 30 Statement on the reduction of the environmental impact of SMEs since the start of VPA negotiations (N=74) 31 VPA negotiations' contribution to better implementation of forest management plans in the country (N=97) 32 VPA negotiations' contribution to increasing the number of hectares exploited through a private certification system (N=77) 33 Impact pathways for Illegal Logging 34 Illegal logging in public forests since the start of VPA negotiations (N=96) 35 Illegal logging in private forests since the start of VPA negotiations (N=91) 36 VPA negotiations' contribution to the reduction of illegal logging in state and non-state forests (N=98) 37 Share of legal timber on domestic and export markets (N=49) 38 VPA negotiations' contribution to increased amount of timber exploited with a legally obtained permit (N=88) 39 VPA negotiations' contribution to the reduction of illegal logging on the domestic and export market (N=88) 40 Impact pathways for Economic Development 41 Statement on whether being involved in a VPA process gives a positive image of the country (N=94) 42 Statement on whether political will exists to give as much priority to the development of the forest sector as to the other sectors (N=100) 43 VPA negotiations' contribution to improving access to the export market for SMEs (N=96) 44 Evolution of the number of SMEs (N=79) 45 VPA negotiations' contribution to squeezing SMEs out of business (N=72) 46 Demand for legal wood on the domestic market (N=90) 47 Statement of whether government has made legal wood more attractive on the domestic market (N=84) 48 Statement on whether the legal exploitation of wood is too constraining for SMEs (technically and financially) (N=100) 49 VPA negotiations' contribution to better recognition of SME associations in the forest sector (N=86) 50 VPA negotiations' contribution to a more efficient collection of taxes by the state in the forest sector (N=69) 51 Impact pathways for Livelihoods and Poverty 52 Evolution of the number of jobs in the forest sector since the start of VPA negotiations (N=85) 53 Evolution of the employment opportunities for LC since the start of VPA negotiations (N=91) 54 VPA contribution to change in the labour market (N=87) 55 Statement on whether the forest sector workers have access to more secure jobs than before VPA negotiations (N=100) 56 VPA negotiations' contribution to improving working conditions in the forest sector (N=90) 57 Statement on whether the forest sector workers are better organized then before VPA negotiations (N=100) 58 Statement on whether the curriculum of institutions better integrates the themes of legality and sustainable forest management than before VPA negotiations started (N=100)59 Statement on whether forest sector workers have greater expertise than before VPA negotiations started (N=100) 60 VPA negotiations' contribution to consideration of the rights of LC and PIAH and recognition of property rights of LC and PIAH (N=98) 61 Evolution of employment opportunities for women, youth and marginalized groups in the forest sector ((N=87) 62 VPA negotiations' contribution to better consideration of the status of women, youth and marginalized groups in questions of forest management and logging (N=96) 63 VPA negotiations' contribution to reducing conflicts in the forestry (N=92) 64 Change measurements between before and after VPA negotiations with the estimated VPA contribution to these changes (scale from 0 to 5) A major, broader objective is to continue building a resource base on a long-term complex process which touches upon political, institutional and technical issues, with socio-economic and environmental impacts spanning from very localized to global geographies. By covering four countries at different stages of VPA implementation in addition to the three previous ones, this study will also present findings and lessons at a global level (in a separate summary report), combining results to outline a bigger picture of VPA process impacts where possible. This is also possible because the methodology (see Section 2) used in Cameroon, Ghana, and Indonesia (2019) 1 is the same as that used in these more recent assessments. This provides us with seven countries covered in total, and a real opportunity for in-depth comparative analysis and insight into global-level impacts and specific changes related to negotiation or implementation phases.The methodology used is designed to be replicable over time and applicable to other VPA countries. FLEGT-VPA impact evidence at a more global level has the potential to provide clearer insights with the inclusion of more VPA countries in the future; and the current 1 https://www.cifor.org/knowledge/publication/7566 evidence could be used as a baseline scenario should future assessment be repeated in the same countries.When collecting data, we take into account the fact that countries are at various stages of the VPA negotiation and implementation process. Guyana and Côte d'Ivoire's VPAs are still in the negotiation phase, while Honduras' has just been ratified (30 June 2021) and the Republic of the Congo's has been implemented since 2013. Therefore, the questionnaire was designed to collect information on the current situation, and, through recall questions, on the situation prior to VPA implementation for the Republic of the Congo and on the situation prior to VPA negotiation for Honduras, Guyana and Côte d'Ivoire. This results in indicator values being collected that establish a baseline situation (prior to VPA implementation) for all countries. Furthermore, it also captures perceived changes in various forest sector related domains and the VPA contribution to these perceived changes (due to either VPA implementation or VPA negotiation). While we do not expect VPA negotiations to have made an impact in all the dimensions covered, nor for them to be as important as VPA implementation impacts, it is still relevant to estimate any changes the typically long negotiating phase has brought about, particularly as stakeholders begin to understand the specificities of the VPA process itself.This report briefly outlines the methodology used, then describes the VPA process and forest context in Honduras, and finally presents evidence of VPA impacts. These results are presented following the general VPA Theory of Change (ToC) logic. This general VPA ToC (Figure 1) details the causal relationship that lead to the expected VPA impacts (far right-hand side) resulting from the expected outcomes (centre and left-hand side).The CIFOR-ADE team was in Honduras between 4 and 15 July 2021 to collect data. This country report is an intermediary deliverable designed to feed the final synthesis report of the seven countries.• Sample of respondents representative of the main VPA stakeholders in the country sought.• Survey carried out enabling a quantitative assessment of the perceived changes in different expected VPA impact fields and VPA contribution to the changes.• Focus group discussions (FGDs) held allowing respondents to give more qualitative details on their perceptions, as well as to share personal experience on some topics.Positive feedback received from respondents on the data collection methodology.To measure the impact brought about by a VPA, a mixed qualitative and quantitative methodology was developed. This has been rolled out across each of the four countries, with slight contextual modifications for each. The methodology is designed to be replicable over time and applicable to other VPA countries (in any VPA phase).The final data collection tool has been developed and then deployed through three main stages, which are briefly described below:• Defining different themes according to the general VPA ToC • Reviewing the existing literature • Interviewing key stakeholdersThe first stage is the identification of the most relevant themes to cover during the study. ADE and CIFOR worked together to identify five main themes, which correspond to the five expected impacts as displayed in the general VPA ToC 2 (see Figure 1). Note that causal links are not as linear as they seem on the figure and that most result boxes are interlinked. However, to better outline the causal relationship and to structure the report, we have assigned a colour to each impact dimension and coloured the related outcome boxes accordingly. First, we start by describing the impact in the governance and institution dimension. Indeed, this dimension can be regarded as a prerequisite for other subsequent impacts (as shown in Figure 1).A mapping of the indicators collected through the perception survey and the general VPA ToC and the respective list of indicators are available in Annex I.The second stage is a thorough desk review per country. Stakeholders were consulted to ensure the most relevant literature was identified and processed (in particular, literature focusing on impacts within the five main themes). An exhaustive list of the reviewed literature is available in the Bibliography. Note that this desk review (see Cerutti et al. 2020) is a living stand-alone document that can be further amended by adding relevant references when available.The thorough desk review allows us to identify prevailing hypotheses on impacts. This helps to formulate questions for the survey, and then build indicators that will be used for the data analysis. The desk review also ensures that the questionnaire can be tailored for differing country contexts and that questions are in line with the sorts of impact the VPA would be expected to bring about in each country. This ultimately helps us to compare VPA impact expectations as identified during the desk review, against actual VPA 2 This general ToC has been constructed based on the available ToCs for each of the 16 VPA countries (European Forest Institute (EFI) documentation). progress and possible unintended impacts identified through the primary in-country data collection.The review includes the following categories of documents.• VPA annexes and VPA-related documentation The third stage is deploying the questionnaire incountry. Prior to the mission, the questionnaire was reviewed and revised where needed by local experts to tailor it to the relevant country context. In addition, a sample of respondents was selected, from public administration, the private formal and informal sectors, civil society, as well as from local forest communities and Indigenous Peoples. Some representatives from international institutions (EUDEL, FAO-EU FLEGT, EFI, etc.), consultants and academics were also invited and constitute the last category (\"Other\").  departments within ministries, etc. to capture as much diversity as possible. This expert sample is large enough to compute statistics, and to capture a range of the existing different points of view regarding the VPA process and possible impacts.If some preidentified respondents were not available, we made sure that they were replaced by someone who had similar levels of expertise. We also offered the possibility to answer the questionnaire online and to have a Skype/call discussion to receive qualitative input.A full respondent breakdown can be found in Section 2.4.CIFOR's ethical review guidelines applied to all interview sessions; the agreement reminded respondents about the anonymous and confidential treatment of the information provided in the survey.Respondents were also reminded that they could stop answering at any time during the survey if any sign of discomfort arose from answering the questions. Lastly, by signing a consent form, respondents agreed to their responses being (anonymously) used in this assessment.Total questionnaire time took between two and three hours, depending on levels of discussion and the number of participants.A brief (15 min) introductory (PowerPoint©) presentation was shown to all participants. The presentation touched upon the aim and scope of the assessment, the types of questions and answers that participants would find displayed on the tablet computers, as well as a couple of slides with practical examples to illustrate the concept of 'impact' and to agree on the meaning to be given to the various possible answers.Agreeing on the meaning of the scale is a very important step because various participants from the same group of respondents as well as from different groups may have a different understanding of responding 'very positive' or 'very negative' to a question about an impact area. Agreeing on the scale and on the meaning of various steps along the scale (e.g. 'weak', 'very weak', 'strong', 'very strong', etc.) provides the interviewing team and the respondents' group with a common language to be adopted while filling out the questionnaire.Such common language also allows for more meaningful cross-country comparisons, as a 'very weak' impact in the case of Country A, for example, can be compared with the same 'very weak' impact from the same question/s in other countries B, C, etc.The answers inputted directly into the tablet were designed to be individually completed using the Computer-Assisted Personal Interviewing in a Group (CAPI-G® 3 ) approach. These individual sections were constructed using closed-ended, multiple choice or Likert-scale questions (0-5, 0-3, 0-100%) to capture respondents' personal opinions, hence allowing quantitative analysis.Questions were mostly designed to understand change trajectories, capturing each respondent's opinion on the current situation within the different impact themes, their perception of the situation prior to VPA ratification -or prior to VPA negotiations start -(recall), and then their opinion on the feasible contribution of the VPA to any perceived (or no) change. Other questions were statement assessments, which either asked a respondent to select their agreement level on a statement using a scale of 1-5 or to select which statement they most agreed with.The individual questionnaire was broken up by pauses at the end of each theme/section, during which time the participants could share in more detail the opinions they expressed in response to the questionnaire questions of the previous section, ideally providing qualitative measures of change and specific examples. This anecdotal evidence allowed us to better explain findings contained in this report, and questions were tailored according to the group's subject-matter expertise. Indeed, the fact that, where feasible, participants belonged to similar (professional) categories ensured that they felt free to talk and share their experience/vision.Data collection was bolstered by having two types of input: numerical directly into the tablet -the results of which could be accessed daily -and qualitative with examples (detailed and anonymous notes taken during these focus group discussion (FGD) sessions). Analysis could therefore draw on two information sources, as well as being able to direct results back to existing literature to better understand continuity/divergence.Feedback on the interview experience was also regularly sought from participants. Verbal feedback reported from respondents indicated that they enjoyed the two-pronged approach, which allowed them to think about VPA evolution from numerous angles before engaging in often lively discussion with peers. They also commented that questions were easier to complete because of icons used in association with the different answers.Quantitative answers also had a high response rate (as opposed to many \"don't know\" answers), validating the expert pool of respondents and the relevance of the questions.Some key domestic and international experts knowledgeable on the forest sector and VPA process in Honduras, who could not be present in the interview sessions or for whom their presence was not deemed pertinent in the group discussions, were invited to individual interviews where all the themes were addressed to collect qualitative inputs. When relevant, the online version of the questionnaire was sent to these participants, sometimes even after the field mission.The study purposefully identified experts and long-standing stakeholders in the Honduran forest sector, demonstrated by the average number of years of experience in the sector. We ensured that the main actors from each respondent group were included, making provisions for us to travel to them or them to us, bringing confidence that the data analysed are both accurate and credible.Respondents were invited to participate in the study through an official invitation sent by the local facilitator, who was also in charge of the follow-up by inviting respondents to pre-selected time slots (based on sector) on a specific time and date (by e-mails and phone calls).To allow mean comparison tests across groups, respondents' associated sectors have been reduced to five: 4 • Public administration: 25%4 The number of responses (N) used for the different analyses is outlined in each figure. Sometimes this number does not correspond to the total number of respondents, since not all respondents replied every time to the totality of the questions.• Of the respondents 62% were male and 36% female (2% selected \"Other\").• Relevance of the expert pool identified and interviewed for the study was high, since the average number of years of experience in the forestry sector across respondents was 14.4 years. Knowledge of the different sectors by participants (e.g. local communities and Indigenous and Afro-descendant populations of Honduras (LC and PIAH), public and private sector, and civil society) was high.The sample was relatively balanced across respondent categories: LC and PIAH (34%), public sector (25%), private sector (15%) and civil society (15%).• Respondent levels of involvement were high in VPA negotiations (91%), with most being involved in discussions on law enforcement, definition of legality, deforestation/forest conversion and capacity building.  On average, respondents had 14.4 years of experience in the forestry sector, with a minimum of 1 year and maximum of 50 years. Within respondent groups, the private sector had the most experience (18 years), while the public sector had the least years of experience (13 years). Respondents were most knowledgeable about LC and PIAH (68%) and the private sector (58%).Respondents identified two main motivating factors that led Honduras to engage in the VPA process: i) to reduce illegal logging and trade (69%) and ii) to improve forest management (57%).More than half of respondents (62%) noted that they were/are involved in discussions on law enforcement during the VPA negotiations in Honduras. Further, they were/are most involved in discussions on the definition of legality, deforestation/forest conversion and capacity building (47%, 43% and 41% respectively). About 9% answered that they were not actively involved in any of the aspects of VPA. Their answers have been considered relevant for the remainder of the survey because \"Not actively involved\" does not mean \"not knowledgeable\" about the VPA process. For example, while respondents may not have been directly engaged in the negotiation with regards to law enforcement and definition of legality, their knowledge of the forest sector more broadly makes them relevant respondents to assess the changes and impacts of those activities. The field team consisted of two experts from ADE and one from Fundación Democracia sin Fronteras (FDsF). The first day was spent in Tegucigalpa to conduct several key informant interviews, and to test and refine the data collection tool. A total of five sessions were conducted in Tegucigalpa in the next days; then, six other sessions were conducted in Campamento, Juticalpa, Siguatepeque, Yoro and La Ceiba (two sessions). In total, 79 respondents• A total of 100 individual respondents completed the questionnaire, either in Tegucigalpa, Campamento, Juticalpa, Siguatepeque, Yoro, La Ceiba or by online completion.• Eleven group sessions were convened in the above-mentioned locations (see Annex III for agenda).• Team met with the EC delegation (online) and Forest Conservation Institute (in person) to outline the purpose of the study, as well as to collect information for the study.completed the survey in the group sessions, and 21 respondents completed the survey online.• COVID-19 measures were respected as much as possible (PCR tests, masks, sanitizer and disinfectant, social distancing, ventilated environment). • COVID-19 context introduced some limitations for some people to participate physically in sessions.However, the online survey was sent to these people, and one hybrid session (with Zoom) took place. • Most actors participating in the negotiations were represented in the survey. This is especially true for LC and PIAH, which have had a higher level of representation than before negotiations started. • Actors agreed that the VPA process is complex, with many requirements, and a lot of effort remains to complete them all. But there was also a common understanding that significant progress has been made and that the process is slowly moving towards its objectives. • Most participants showed a lot of interest and were involved in the discussions and appreciated the exercise. Several participants requested they receive the final report of the study once concluded. We will oblige by planning restitution sessions in all countries.In Honduras, there are 6 million ha of forests, which represents 56% of the territory. The forest cover is distributed as follows: 68% is broadleaf, 31% is coniferous and 1% is mangrove (ICF 2020).According to the Forest Conservation Institute (ICF), the forest sector accounted for 0.71% of the GDP in 2020 (HNL 1315.5 million), which represents a slight decline from the previous year (0.75%). Furthermore, most recent estimations (from 2016), indicate that the value chain of wood products employs approximately 28,500 people 7 , including the use and commercialization of wood (FAO and La Fundacion Hondureña de Ambiente y Dessarollo de la VIDA 2018). With regards to timber exports, it is mainly composed of coniferous sawn wood (31%), and the main destination in 2020 was Salvador (82%) (ICF 2020).The agricultural sector is driven by the production of cacao and coffee, which plays a pivotal role in the creation of jobs given that its value chain is highly labour intensive. The production of coffee may account for up to 32% of the national agricultural production and represents around 3% of GDP (Organización Internacional del Café 2021). Moreover, the role of coffee and cacao in Honduras is critical for achieving positive forest management, as the production of these goods is frequently done at the expense of forests.The ICF is responsible for forest policy and management. The institution was created thanks to executive decree N° 98-2007, which established the Forest, Protected Areas and Wildlife Law (LFAPVS) in 2007. This decree provides a legal framework for the management of forest resources, comprising their exploitation, restoration and conservation. The country's commitment to the sustainable exploitation of natural resources is also part of the current National Plan 2010-2022.Honduras has several tools to manage forest harvesting, namely: annual operative plan, annual felling plan for owners of agroforestry systems, rescue plan, recovery plan and certified plantation harvesting licences. The main tool is the annual operative plan. This plan establishes how forest areas will be managed following clear requirements for exploitation and preservation. In 2020, the ICF approved 133 of these plans, covering a total area of 51,000 ha. Of these, 129 plans were for private forest areas. In total, from 2015 to 2020, the 718 plans for forest management approved represent an area of 819,000 ha (ICF 2020). Moreover, 64% of the production of roundwood in 2020 had been previously approved by the ICF through the Annual Operative Plan (ICF 2020).Honduras registered a rate of deforestation of 18,500 ha per year during 2016-2018, which is 4,000 ha lower than for the period 2000-2016 (ICF 2020). In total, 373,000 ha was deforested between 2000 and 2016, which represents 6% of the current forest cover. One of the main causes of this deforestation is due, among other factors, to pest infestation. The worsening of climate change has rendered some natural phenomena more frequent. Some extreme events such as plagues have become more common. This is also the case in Honduras, where the bark beetle (Dendroctonus frontalis) has become a serious threat to forests. \"According to the historical register, from 1982 to 2020, the bark beetle has deforested 1 million ha of pine forests (around 16% of current forest cover)\" (ICF 2020).In addition, forest fires and illegal logging contribute, to a lesser extent, to this deforestation.In 2020, there were 10,077 forest fires. Altogether, they affected around 82,000 ha. The authorities determined that 78% of these fires originated from a criminal act (ICF 2020). In, 2011, the Project of Independent Forest Monitoring (MFI) estimated that for each hectare of forests legally authorized, there were two additional hectares of illegal logging. The main departments affected by illegal logging at that time were Gualaco, Yoro, Atlantida and Juticalpa (CONADEH 2011). Older estimations from 2004 suggested that \"more than 70% (between 125,000 m 3 and 45,000 m 3 per year) of Honduras's total consumption of wood from the broadleaved forest came from clandestine production\" (ICF 2020). Although no new data exist concerning illegal logging, the situation has probably not evolved since the last estimations.In April 2012, Honduras formally asked the EU to initiate VPA negotiations, which started in 2013.After five rounds of negotiations (in Brussels and Tegucigalpa), in 2018, Honduras and the EU initiated the VPA, marking the end of the negotiations with the presence of the Minister-Director of Forests of Honduras and the Director-General of DEVCO, witnessed by the President of Honduras and the Ambassador of the EU in Honduras (Casasola Vargas 2019). In February 2021, the VPA was signed. Later during the year, in June and July, the agreement was ratified, which acted as the start of the implementation.The section below presents the results and their analysis of the study according to the following steps:• Presentation of quantitative survey data starting with the contribution/impact of VPA negotiations. As mentioned in Section 2.1, we start our description of the results with impacts related to the governance and institution dimension as they can be considered a prerequisite for other subsequent impacts.This section focuses on two main expected impacts of the VPA process: institutional effectiveness and governance spillovers (see Figure 8).• Improved institutional effectiveness in the forest sector will be enhanced by increased forest governance and management as well as reduced corruption, also possibly leading to spillover effects as the process might inspire other reform processes. • To achieve better governance results, improved participation and capacity at CS, government, and private sector levels are primary necessary conditions. • Subsequently, improved participation and capacity will also lead to improved legal justice (and law enforcement), as well as more transparency, better communication and government coordination, enhancing accountability. • Reduced corruption will be achieved thanks to all these previously cited improvements and if it exists, political will.These different expected results will be sequentially analysed in this section, using the collected data to construct appropriate indicators for each VPA ToC result box. We first present the results of indicators that have been replicated following the FERN approach, which uses the FAO-PROFOR methodology to assess and monitor forest governance (PROFOR, 2011). As the implementation phase of the FLEGT-VPA processhas not yet started in Honduras, no report is available from FERN. Therefore, the data presented here should be considered as baseline data and could be compared with data potentially collected at a later stage of the FLEGT-VPA process. The questions addressed accountability, government co-ordination, participation, capacity, transparency and legal justice. These six dimensions of governance are also included in the left-hand side of the VPA ToC. The scale ranges from 0 (extremely poor, non-existent) to 5 (very good), which corresponds to a statement matching a potential situation in Honduras.As outlined in Figure 9 • Actors in the forest sector in Honduras advance the notion that motivations to engage in the VPA are more related to governance improvement, than to be able to issue FLEGT licences.• Although most respondents agree that the work of independent monitoring contributes to reducing corruption, they perceive levels of corruption to be the same as in other sectors. A large majority of respondents consider that any new bureaucracy linked to the VPA process has not created new opportunities for corruption.• While respondents perceive that VPA negotiations have improved the coherence of the legal and regulatory framework of the forest sector, there is a demand to increase co-ordination between institutions even more (between ICF, Minister of Agriculture, IP, etc.). There is a need to create appropriate incentives in the law to ensure profitability, legality and sustainability in the forest sector.• VPA negotiations have slightly improved the level of transparency, as well as the level of government accountability. This is in line with the VPA ToC result logic leading to improved institutional effectiveness and governance spillovers. However, a need for more transparency from central to regional levels was noted by participants. Also, the level of government accountability remains limited, and could be increased by international actors through the application of sanctions.  Overall, consideration of the opinions of non-public and non-private stakeholders in the forest sector has improved since the start of negotiations. Before them, the consideration of opinions of civil society, SMEs, and LC and PIAH was considered as weak (score close to 2), whereas since negotiations, this level has increased to average (score close to 3). While this evolution is similar for the CS and LC and PIAH, the level remains slightly lower today for SMEs. From the FGDs, SMEs requested more representation in the forest sector, because at the end of the day, they will be the ones investing in legality.Respondents thought that VPA negotiations had contributed to the consideration of the opinions of CS, SMEs, and LC and PIAH during decision-making.Consistent with the finding above, the contribution of VPA negotiations remains lower for SMEs.The literature also identified a strong participation from a wide range of actors in the negotiations, which was critical in the drafting of the VPA. This is further enforced by Annex II of the FLEGT-VPA, which advances that \"the important participation and involvement of the government institutions, the private sector, the civil society organizations, the agroforest groups, the communities, the academic institutions the PIAH on constructing the legality matrix, enabled them to have all the key information to the improvement of forest governance\" (VPA Annex II). Furthermore, the IFC led the \"Comité Petite\" (CP), which integrated different groups of the forest sector in the country. This group was in charge of proposing concrete ideas for achieving the implementation of the VPA (Casasola Vargas 2019).The FGDs also supported this finding, by advancing that the participation of each stakeholder group in the process is among the most prominent impacts of the VPA negotiations. This inclusivity allowed each stakeholder group to meet all the others at the start of the negotiations, something that had never happened before, and ensured that all stakeholders were on the same page from the beginning.Furthermore, both the literature and FGDs advanced the notion that most of the key actors in Honduras consider that emitting FLEGT licences is secondary to improving forest governance.  Along with multi-stakeholder dialogue, capacity building is an essential element at the left-hand side of the ToC. It refers to the capacity of the CS to play its role as an independent observer and the capacity of SMEs to comply with laws and regulations.Since the start of negotiations, both the level of autonomy and effectiveness of CS in its role as independent observer has increased. The level of effectiveness and autonomy is high or very high today (24% and 42%, respectively), compared with only 2% and 16% before the negotiations.Respondents thought that VPA negotiations made a slight contribution in improving these levels.From the literature, the ICF also supported the role of the civil society by advancing the notion that \"independent forest monitoring represents a process of social participation and empowering in which the civil society and independent professionals carry out a legality verification and influence over transparency and forest management\" (ICF, 2020).In terms of SMEs' capacity, VPA negotiations are perceived to have contributed slightly to improving their technical capacities to conduct their activities legally. During FGDs, the private sector mentioned the need to further reinforce the capacities of SMEs, in terms of technical and logistic capacity. This was regarded as crucial for them to implement sustainable management plans and ensure profitability.As regards to the FERN capacity indicator (see Section 4.1.1.), all actors seem to have a similar capacity level (around 2.5 on a scale of 1 to 5), with the private and public sectors having the lower-rated capacity (of around 2).Improved legal framework and effective law enforcement both refer to legal justice that can be improved thanks to more participation and capacity of the different stakeholders involved in the VPA process.Respondents perceived a slight to moderate contribution of VPA negotiations around improving the coherence of the legal and regulatory frameworks in the forest sector. From the literature, it was observed that the VPA used the Honduras legal framework to define the legality matrix, taking advantage of an already approved legislation. For instance, in terms of land property rights, the legality matrix states that public and private forest sector operators involved in productive forestry activities comply with current legislation to prove ownership of forest areas (Annex II). During FGDs, participants advanced the idea that there was still a need to simplify the law and improve the coherence of legal frameworks across the different institutions though, such as between the Forest Conservation Institute (ICF), the Ministry of Agriculture and the Propriety Institute (IP). This was seen as crucial to creating appropriate incentives to promote greater profitability, legality and sustainability in the forest sector. This finding was also shared by the literature, which showed that the decree #37-2016 (art.  The role played by CS in controlling legality and identifying irregularities has evolved positively: 59% of respondents thought that CS had at least a relatively important role today, compared with 26% before VPA negotiations. VPA negotiations were also perceived to have contributed moderately to providing CS with a greater role in the identification of irregularities.The perceived level of application of sanctions to actors who do not respect the laws and regulations has increased since the start of VPA negotiations. Of all respondents, 38% considered that sanctions were often applied (compared with 20% before VPA negotiations).VPA negotiations have contributed slightly to this increase in enforcement of sanctions, as well as making these sanctions more credible. During the FGDs, participants outlined some limitations around sanction applications, from lack of capacity (in terms of presence on the ground) to control over what is happening on the ground and the high level of corruption.As regards the FERN legal framework indicator (see Section 4.1.1.), the answer \"some formal recognition that legal reform is needed, but little action\" (2 out of 5) is the most prominent (37%), followed by \"laws are being reformed, but the process is far from complete and generally not implemented\" (3 out of 5) (30%).Improved participation and capacity, as well as improved legal justice lead to more transparency and government accountability.Perceived transparency in the forestry sector has increased in Honduras since the start of VPA negotiations. Of all respondents, 52% considered there to be at least a medium level of transparency in the sector today (versus 26% who considered this was the case before the negotiations). The VPA negotiation process is considered to have made a slight contribution to improved transparency in the forestry sector. The role of civil society played an important role in promoting the transparency. As demonstrated in the literature, civil society played an essential role in communicating the achievement of discussions during VPA negotiations. For example, civil society contributed to ameliorating transparency and public accountability during VPA negotiations. One NGO was part of the negotiation committees and after each negotiation round, it disseminated the achievements of the discussion held (Casasola Vargas, 2019). Despite this, participants in FGDs outlined in discussions a need for improved vertical transparency in the sector from central to regional levels. Moreover, participants perceived VPA negotiations to have contributed slightly to making the government more accountable for its actions. Moreover, participants in FGDs mentioned that there was a need for international stakeholders to apply sanctions to the government in the case they did not comply with the agreed VPA-FLEGT agreement. This is not present for now, and stakeholders have identified this need in order to ensure the accountability of the government.With regards to the FERN transparency indicator (see Section 4.1.1.), 29% of respondents selected \"most information is available on request within a reasonable time frame, some information habitually published\" (3 out of 5). The second most prominent answer of \"some information available on request and on ad hoc basis\" (2 out of 5), was chosen by 25% of respondents. Regarding the FERN government co-ordination indicator, 35% of respondents selected \"some information sharing, but no co-ordination\" (2 out of 5). Then, 24% answered \"some information sharing and co-ordination, but in practice, different agencies work in silos\" (3 out of 5).Participation, capacity, legal justice, transparency and accountability are five key elements that, when improved, contribute to improved governance and therefore reduced corruption.Here, different indicators are presented to measure the level of corruption in the forest sector. To fight corruption, political will is an important factor that then allows civil society to play its role of independent observer. An estimation of the level of bribes and informal taxes is another interesting indicator to proxy corruption level in the forest sector.  A large majority of respondents considered that any new bureaucracy linked to the VPA process has not created new opportunities for corruption. The private sector and LC and PIAH agreed to a higher extent that it created new opportunities for corruption (33% and 26%, respectively).Likewise, political will to fight corruption was perceived to have increased since the start of VPA negotiations. Of all respondents, 30% thought there was at least a moderate level of political will today (versus 14% before VPA negotiations). With regards to that change, respondents considered VPA negotiations to have made a slight contribution to the improved political will to fight corruption in the forest sector. However, the literature identified that international investigations have highlighted how state institutions are deeply entrenched with illegality, often co-opting companies and people who have stakes in them. The substantial absence of political will minimizes the opportunities to reduce illegality, which jeopardizes international agreements such as the VPA-FLEGT (Cáceres 2017). Most respondents agreed that the work of independent monitoring contributed to reducing corruption more than before the start of VPA negotiations. However, CS and the private sector disagreed to a higher extent to this statement (27% and 20%, respectively). The literature also showed that some mechanisms were introduced for the promotion of independent monitoring. Civil society and local organizations asked to elaborate and publish a manual of process and tools in order to exercise citizen oversight or social auditing over the VPA. This goal was to contribute to the creation of a system of control and monitoring of forest resources in a participative way. It was intended to provide a methodological tool to carry out social audits regarding the mechanisms considered by the VPA. Since that manual has only recently been published, its usefulness is yet to be evaluated. However, this demonstrates the engagement of the civil society (Yamauchi Mansur Levy et al. 2021). Furthermore, Indigenous communities can participate and monitor the exploitation of natural resources linked to forest areas through the Forest Advisor Councils. These are instruments of concertation and co-ordination between the public sector and local communities. By 2020, 312 Forest Advisor Councils had been constituted at the community level, 66 at the municipal level, and 17 at the department level (ICF 2020). Although these have been constituted, it does not mean that they are all operational.During FGDs, participants indeed recognized the presence of monitoring systems in place in the country and plenty of data produced by actors; however, there remains a strong need to harmonize those data to improve collective decision-making. Moreover, these systems are paper based, which introduces some limitation for effective traceability, with the need to create and promote the use of a digital platform for monitoring being highlighted. As shown in the VPA agreement, this system is foreseen by the VPA by the development of an Informatic System for Timber Tracking (SIRMA). VPA negotiations had made a slight contribution to reducing the informal taxes faced by SMEs. Therefore, we can interpret this finding as a situation where informal taxes would have increased more if there were no VPA negotiations.Other sectors might also benefit from or be inspired by new processes developed in the forest sector thanks to FLEGT-VPA, leading to governance spillovers in the country as shown on the right-hand side of the VPA ToC.Of all respondents, 46% considered the VPA process to have initiated spillover effects on other processes, such as the REDD+ programme. This may be highly perceptive considering REDD+ was introduced before the FLEGT-VPA, but participants during discussions acknowledged the overlap and the participatory gap that the VPA process has filled, particularly on the Honduran legal framework.This section focuses on a crucial expected impact of the VPA process: improved forest conditions (see Figure 28).• Forest conditions will improve thanks to reduced deforestation and forest degradation, as well as to more sustainable forest management (SFM). Respondents thought that the costs in informal taxes paid by SMEs are the same today as before VPA negotiations started. The level of informal taxes paid by SMEs is perceived to be around 52% of the total amount of taxes paid. Respondents also thought that• All three are directly and positively impacted through improved forest governance and reduced corruption in the forest sector. • Improved participation and capacity and improved legal justice are required to achieve improved forest governance and reduced corruption, as described in the previous section.These different expected results are sequentially analysed in this section, using the collected data to construct relevant indicators.All actor groups were more aware of the consequences of poor governance in the forest sector after than before VPA negotiations. The level of awareness is higher for CS, public sector, private sector, and LC and PIAH (78%, 77%, 73% and 66%, respectively). From FGDs, participants reinforced this finding, and mentioned that VPA negotiations had increased awareness of the negative impact of weak governance and weak climate change policy. More precisely, there was an increased awareness that there is a risk of not having forest in the country in around 40-50 years if the country does not take actions to improve the sustainability of the sector.A strong majority of respondents (78%) agreed that SMEs have reduced their impact on the environment (e.g. better waste management, better respect for cutting size, etc.) since the start of VPA negotiations. The level of agreement is higher for the LC and PIAH (91%) and is slightly lower for CS, private sector and public sector (82%, 79% and 75%, respectively). The level is significantly lower for the other category (33%) (although the sample size for this group is also significantly smaller).A strong change in the implementation of forest management plans before and after VPA was perceived by the respondents: 83% of participants indicated that the plans are at least moderately implemented today, compared with 47% before VPA negotiations. With regards to that change, VPA negotiations had a slight but positive contribution to the better implementation of forest management plans. From the data published by the ICF, a total of 718 forest management plans were approved between 2015 and 2020, representing an area of 819,000 ha (ICF 2020). The level of forest management plans significantly increased over the years. In 2015• VPA negotiations are perceived to have made a slight contribution to the better implementation of forest management plans in the country. This is in line with the result logic of the VPA ToC which could indicate improved forest conditions in the country. However, there remain limitations in the implementation of these plans, as it has been advanced that few people have the capacity to invest in these plans.  and 2016, there were a total of 75 and 51 forest management plans, respectively. These numbers increased to 149, 210 and 133, in 2018, 2019 and 2020, respectively (ICF 2019). From the FGDs, the notion has been advanced that few people have the capacity to invest in forest management plans.Moreover, participants perceived that VPA negotiations have had a slight and positive contribution to the increased number of hectares exploited through a private certification system. However, from the FGDs, private certifications were not really recognized by the private sector, as they did not add much value. The numbers exposed in the literature support this later finding, as there were 150,000 ha of FSC-certified land in 2013, and this number decreased to 17,815 ha in 2018.This section focuses on one of the main and most obvious expected impacts of the VPA process: the reduction of illegal logging and trade (see Figure 33).• Illegal logging is expected to decrease especially when the VPA is implemented, once TLAS is being developed and operationalized, ensuring that timber logging and trade can be traced, but also that illegal forest activities can be denounced and punished thanks to improved legal justice and forest governance. • A fully operationalized TLAS leads to the FLEGT licence. Furthermore, a well-enforced EUTR is also contributing to reducing illegal timber logging and trade. But as the TLAS is not fully operational yet, the effect on illegal logging is expected to be limited. • However, (marginal) reduced illegal practices can be observed thanks to improved forest governance mainly due to improved stakeholders' knowledge fostered by higher participation and improved capacity. In this section, illegal logging approximations are presented, both in state and non-state forests as well as on the export and domestic markets. These different expected results are sequentially analysed in this section, using the collected data to construct relevant indicators.From the literature, there are no recent official records or estimations about the amount of illegal logging. Nevertheless, from the total production of roundwood in 2020 (341,256 m 3 ), 64.32% was part of a forest management plan approved by the ICF (2020). Most of this wood came from private forests (80%) and was managed within an operative annual plan. The percentage of wood uncovered by a management plan can be an approximation of illegal logging or inappropriate management of forest resources (ICF 2020).In public forests, most respondents thought that the level of illegal logging (in volume) had not changed (41%) or had decreased (42%) since the start of VPA negotiations, with private sector and LC and PIAH respondents the most positive regarding the decrease, and CS and public sector outlining that the situation had not changed since negotiations.In private forests, 57% of respondents thought that illegal logging (in volume) had decreased since the start of VPA negotiations and 34% thought there had been no change.Its effect is slightly greater in private forests, consistent with the above perception that illegal logging has declined more in this type of forest. During FGDs, implementation of VPA is expected to have a higher impact in private and pine forests, which are subject to more illegal logging.50% of total timber was said to have now been exploited with a legally obtained permit, compared with 40% before VPA negotiations. VPA negotiations made a slight contribution to this increase in the amount of timber exploited with a legally obtained permit. Moreover, respondents thought that VPA negotiations have made a slight contribution to the increase of legal timber on the domestic and export markets. Fifty-six per cent of timber on the domestic market and 61% on the export market are now estimated to be legal, compared with 38% and 49% before negotiations started.• Most respondents (57%) agree that illegal logging (in volume) has been decreasing in private forests since the start of negotiations. However, there is no clear consensus on the status of illegal logging in public forests. However, VPA negotiations are not recognised as having a substantial effect on this potential reduction of illegal logging, but rather will have this effect during the implementation.• VPA negotiations are perceived to have made a slight contribution to the increased amount of timber exploited with a legally obtained permit, as well as to the increase of legal timber on the domestic and export market. As implementation has not started yet in Honduras, we do not expect any impacts of the VPA on the TLAS. Information about the evolution of the Honduras TLAS can be found in the desk review.This section focuses on a less direct expected impact of the VPA process: Economic development (see Figure 40).• Economic development of the country is expected to improve through a better access to external markets, the development of the domestic market and more efficient tax collection. • Domestic and external market opportunities can be created thanks to an increase in legal timber produced that is locally traded and exported (to the EU market), which can be achieved, in the long run, with the completion of a VPA process. • An increase in the legal timber trade, together with better governance and less corruption in the forest sector, would normally lead to a more efficient tax collection. • As prerequisites to a more formalized timber market and to an improved timber value chain at the SME level that also contribute to better forest sector governance, there must be better informed and capacitated stakeholders, in parallel to contributing to improved legal justice and more accountability.The following section sequentially describes indicators of the development and benefits of a VPA process for the legal timber export and domestic markets as well as perceived efficiency of tax collection in the forest sector.As well as for the expected impact on reducing illegal logging and trade, studying the expected impact on economic development is more relevant when the VPA process is implemented. However, it makes sense to assess the current situation in these dimensions (baseline measures, prior to VPA implementation), as well as to highlight potential slight changes thanks to the negotiations. respectively) were more adamant that this was the case, whereas LC and PIAH, CS and others (33%, 29% and 20%, respectively) were not as convinced. Strong and consistent political will is recognized as vital by participants to ensure onward implementation of the VPA, which was judged as being lacking for now. This finding was also discussed in the literature, where of the complaints of the private sector during the VPA negotiations was the lack of political will to foster the development of the forest sector. For now, this sector perceives that Honduras's actual • Most respondents agree that being involved in the VPA process gives a positive image for the country and that it helps it to be considered as a reliable business partner.• VPA negotiations have had a slight, but positive contribution to the better recognition of SMEs. However, this is often limited to the centralized level.The number of SMEs is perceived as increasing over the last years. VPA negotiations are considered to have a positive impact on improving access to the export market for SMEs.• However, respondents agree that legal timber logging/processing is financially too constraining for SMEs. This is also due to overwhelming regulations and legislation, which increase transaction costs and daunt the investment in this activity.• However, there is no strong consensus among actors on the demand for legal wood on the domestic market, the government having not taken action to increase the attractiveness of such legal wood.• Indeed, the political will of government to develop the forest sector is perceived as low. Strong and consistent political will is recognised as vital by participants to ensure onward implementation of the VPA.• VPA negotiations have a slight and positive contribution to a more efficient collection of taxes by the state in the forest sector. This a key outcome (left-hand side of the VPA ToC) leading to economic development.Of all respondents, 98% agreed that being involved in the VPA process gives a positive image for the country and that it helps it to be considered as a reliable business partner, as it is a signal of improved governance effort or at least a sign of a will to improve governance.However, 60% of respondents believe that other sectors, such as the mining or oil sector, are prioritized over the development of the forest sector. Public and private sector respondents (56% and 47%, legal framework pays more attention to protecting and preserving forest resources through the LFAPVS, than to fostering the development of the forest sector (ANASILH 2019).Of the total volume of exported wood, the share coming from SMEs has slightly increased since the start of VPA negotiations, with 57% of respondents considering the share to be at least 10% today (versus 28% of the respondents before VPA negotiations). The VPA negotiation process is perceived to have a slight effect on improving access to the export market for SMEs.The VPA is expected to boost exports of timber to Europe. Forest products represent around 0.01% of Honduras's total exports. In the local economy, the forest sector represents approximately 0.71% of Honduras's GDP (ICF 2020).Furthermore, the sector is perceived to have developed further through a slight increase in the number of SMEs since the start of negotiations. This perception was shared by the majority of respondents (66%).Along with an increased amount of produce on the export market and increased number of SMEs, VPA negotiations are not considered to be squeezing SMEs out of business (due to more stringent requirements).From the FGDs, the VPA process is thus regarded as a strong opportunity to regularize the sector. At the moment, different costs exist in different regions due to the lack of coherence among municipalities in terms of taxes. With standardization, the sector could better ensure sustainability and legality, which could then open up other market opportunities. From the FGDs, SMEs request a lot more technical, financial and logistical capacity building to bring them in line with VPA implementation standards. More capacity would dissuade SMEs from moving into more profitable sectors, such as agriculture. One suggestion from SME participants was to exhibit concrete evidence on the sustainable and profitable practices in the forest sector, as they are perceived to be lacking in the country for now. Such evidence could provide the incentives to remain in the forest sector, rather than moving to another sector, such as agriculture.Furthermore, the literature advances the notion that exports of timber and its derivative products are very modest. Also, the share of timber exports to the EU is negligible, around 2% of the total timber exports. These exports are mainly composed of coniferous sawn timber (63%). In regard to the lack of investment for the production of forest products, the private sector highlights that the LFAPVS, the National Forestry Policy and the National Forestry Programme (PRONAFOR) do not mention explicitly anything related to the promotion of forest investments. In order to increase the number of benefits, the private sector has made several propositions to reform the forest policy in Honduras. These measures include allowing forests and biomass to be considered as a bank guarantee, fostering PPP, among others (ANASILH 2019).Demand and awareness of legal wood on the domestic market Of all respondents, 43% thought that there is at least a high demand for legal wood on the domestic market (followed by 34% for average demand and 23% for weak to no demand).With this appetite for legal wood, 58% of respondents agreed with the statement that government has made legal wood more attractive on the domestic market since the start of VPA negotiations (such as subsidies, awareness raising, among others). While the public sector and LC and PIAH tend to agree to a large extent, the private sector, CS and others disagree more.Financial constraints are seen as the biggest area stopping SMEs from producing more wood for domestic consumption, with 80% of respondents from the public and private sectors, and CS thinking so. This is true for LC and PIAH and others as well, but to a lesser extent (68% and 64%, respectively). From the literature, forest landlords consider that forest sustainable management is not profitable, due to overwhelming regulations, which increase transaction costs and limit investments. Many landlords prefer to operate from forests illegally. \"In Honduras, costs related to red tape, bureaucratic procedures and taxes are higher than expected returns from investments in sustainable forest management\" (Navarro Monge et al. 2018). As mentioned above, participants from SMEs expressed orally that there is indeed a need to have more financial capacity to move forward with the VPA. Furthermore, the literature also advances the idea that according to woodland farmers, the economic barriers they face are legal obstacles to access to raw materials, unfair competition from illegal timber, and high competition from metal and plastic substitutes (FAO & La Fundacion Hondureña de Ambiente y Dessarollo de la VIDA 2018).Private sector organization and formalization (associations)VPA negotiations have made a slight, but positive contribution to the better recognition of SME associations in the forest sector, but this is often limited to the centralized level.Of all respondents, 52% thought that at least part of the amount of taxes as provided by law was effectively collected in the forest sector, and that this had increased since the start of VPA negotiations (from 41%). With regards to that increase, VPA negotiations were perceived as having made a slight and positive contribution to a more efficient collection of taxes by the state in the forest sector.This section focuses on the last expected impact of the VPA process: livelihood and poverty (see Figure 51).• Improved livelihoods and less poverty are directly linked to the potential impact on economic development, mainly through the potential increase in job opportunities and improvement of working conditions in the forest sector. • Furthermore, on one side, increased legal timber business and improved governance leading to more efficient tax collection would entail a better redistribution of taxes and benefit sharing, improving livelihoods. • On the other side, improved legal framework and law enforcement (legal justice) in the forest sector would contribute to better consideration of property rights, and in particular those of LC & IP, but also more inclusion of women, youth and marginalized groups, which in turn would contribute to the development of conflict resolution mechanisms, hence improving people's living conditions.As for the previous impact dimensions, countries in the VPA negotiation phase might not see an influence of the VPA process on livelihoods and poverty yet. Below, different indicators to assess the potential impact of the VPA process on livelihoods and its contributing factors are presented. • As Honduras is just finalizing the negotiation stage of the VPA process, the effects on livelihoods and poverty levels are quite limited yet. Therefore, no strong effect could be identified, for instance on the number of jobs and opportunities, security of jobs and organization of workers.• Since the start of VPA negotiations, the curriculum of institutions now better integrates the themes of legality and sustainable forest management. However, participants still expressed a need to promote the topics of governance, traceability and sustainable markets at universities.• Moreover, workers tend to have better expertise than before the negotiations.• VPA negotiations have contributed slightly to improving the consideration of both the rights and property rights of LC and PIAH. These are key outcomes (left-hand side of the ToC) that are in line with an improved legal framework, leading to the expected impact of improved livelihoods and reduced poverty. In that context, respondents also perceive that VPA negotiations have made a slight, but positive contribution to the reduction of conflicts in the timber sector.• Furthermore, VPA negotiations have contributed to the better consideration of women, youth and marginalized groups in questions related to forest management and logging. The private sector and LC and PIAH agreed more strongly, while the public sector and CS agreed more strongly on a stagnation in the number of jobs since negotiations started. Increases were said to have come about from more business and there being new types of jobs in the sector, such as intermediaries. Moreover, half of respondents (51%) considered VPA negotiations to have contributed to this increase in jobs, while 40% (mostly from CS, the public sector and others) attributed no contribution. Besides, 40% of respondents did not perceive any impact from the negotiations on the labour market.Furthermore, the majority of respondents (53%) considered there had been an increase in employment opportunities for local communities since the start of VPA negotiations. Encouragingly, a larger part of local community respondents agreed, although 37% of respondents did not think any change had taken place.Only 38% of respondents agreed that forest sector workers have access to more secure jobs today than before VPA negotiations. The private sector and LC and PIAH tend to be the most represented among those who agree (64% and 58%, respectively), while others, the public sector and CS disagree to a larger extent (100%, 74% and 73%, respectively).Despite ongoing job insecurity, respondents did think that VPA negotiations had made a slight but positive contribution to improving working conditions in the forest sector, possibly helping to stop conditions deteriorating as quickly.No consensus existed among respondents on any improvement in the organization of workers in the forest sector compared with before VPA negotiations.Private sector and LC and PIAH respondents tended to agree, while the other actors disagreed.Most respondents (73%) agreed that the curriculum of institutions now better integrates the themes of legality and sustainable forest management than before VPA negotiations started. There seems to be a consensus among actors regarding this topic, with more agreement from private and LC and PIAH respondents. During FGDs, participants expressed a need to promote the topics of governance, traceability and sustainable market at universities. As the VPA is not yet implemented in Honduras, there are no impacts of the agreement on tax redistribution and benefit sharing.Respondents thought that VPA negotiations had slightly to moderately contributed to an increase in the consideration of both the rights and property rights of LC and PIAH. As advanced by ICF, all communities, including Indigenous tribes, have the right to subscribe to contracts over forest management programmes over national forests. In this way, the ICF assigns forest areas to these communities and sets out their rights and liabilities (ICF 2020). This is also included in the Annex V of VPA, where the government committed to render more dynamic the titling process in favour of the PIAH and local communities, which represents an acknowledgment of their historical land tenure (VPA Annex V).Around half of respondents (54%) thought that employment opportunities for women, youth and marginalized groups in the forest sector have increased since the start of VPA negotiations (although 38% did not perceive any change). The public and private sectors and LC and PIAH agreed the most. In the literature, it was found that women's participation in the management of forest resources in Honduras is very low. They are barely present in the value chain of wood products, approximately 16% (FAO & La Fundacion Hondureña de Ambiente y Dessarollo de la VIDA 2018). However, initiatives from the civil society helped to increase the participation of women in public dialogues. One example is the work done by the civil society in the department of Olancho. With funding from FAO-EU FLEGT, it carried out workshops to integrate civil society and local governments into the FLEGT-VPA negotiations. As a result of this, the organization highlighted that such a discussion provided a space for women to  VPA negotiations have also made a slight to moderate contribution to the better consideration of women, youth and marginalized groups in questions related to forest management and logging.As identified in the literature, successful implementation of the FLEGT-VPA would need to deal with several challenges in the country, ranging from high pressure over forests, soils and resources caused by demographic growth, unequal distribution of land, and property rights conflicts (Yamauchi Mansur Levy et al. 2021). From the survey, respondents perceived that VPA negotiations made a slight, but positive contribution to the reduction of conflicts in the timber sector. The average improvements are highest for governance and institutional effectiveness (85%) and forest conditions (75%) and lower for illegal logging (40%) and economic development (17%). This is in line with the chain of causality of the VPA-ToC, assuming that the latter dimensions are impacted at a further stage of a VPA process. Importantly, the contributions of the VPA negotiations per dimension are high according to the respondents: 41% for governance and institutional effectiveness, 35% for forest conditions, 35% for illegal logging and 32% for economic development.It is to be noted that although in the case of indicators A.11 and A.16 a decrease was reported, this does not mean that the VPA negotiations contributed negatively to the development; rather, the decline could have been even stronger if the negotiations had not taken place.  "}

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+{"metadata":{"gardian_id":"68880c14cbadb647838f1ed8fa66b032","source":"gardian_index","url":"https://cgspace.cgiar.org/rest/bitstreams/42e11404-7aa5-4861-bab9-e33ea55313b5/retrieve","id":"-231774212"},"keywords":["Coffee","farming system","production system","small ruminant"],"sieverID":"db5dff08-23fe-4f51-839f-3a53174b9d85","content":"The study was conducted in Goma district of Jimma Zone of Ethiopia with the objectives of documenting the reasons why farmers in coffee dominant mixed-farming systems of western Ethiopia keep small ruminants, and identifying the constraints and opportunities for improvement of this sector. Results are based on diagnostic survey of 160 sample households, group discussions and personal observation. The study district was stratified into three groups based on flock distribution as: sheep dominating, goat dominating and mixed flock sites.The average land holding per household was 1.93 ha. In Goma where coffee and chat are the major cash sources for farmers, small ruminant are also primarily kept for cash generation as reported by 94% of the sampled households. The second main reason for keeping small ruminant in the study area was for saving mainly in time of coffee failure. Keeping small ruminants as a source of manure was the third important reason. From the interviewed households, 59.4, 32.1, 23.5, and 19.4% of them utilize communal grazing, aftermath grazing, roadside grazing, and riverside grazing, respectively for their animal as a sources of feed. Most small ruminants are either tethered or herded all the seasons due to the cultivation of perennial crops and predators. All small ruminants are housed for protection from adverse weather conditions and predators. The major problems for small ruminant production and marketing were: feed and grazing land shortage, lack of input, predators, diseases and parasites and marketing problems.In order to exploit the current growing demand of small ruminant meat at local and international markets, research and development interventions are required with regard to the identification of alternative feed resources and strategic feeding management, identification of causes of diseases and their control methods and improving marketing efficiency through appropriate policy.Ethiopia has a larger livestock resource than most countries in Africa. It is estimated that 84% of the 70 million people live in rural areas and depend on agriculture for their livelihoods and the sector contributes 41.4% of the Gross Domestic Product of the country (World Bank 2006).In Ethiopia, there are about 26.1 and 21.7 million heads of sheep and goats, respectively (CACC 2008). They are important components of the livestock sub-sector and sources of cash income, meat, milk and wool for smallholder keepers in different farming systems and agro-ecological zones (Kassahun 2004, Markos 2006, Endeshaw 2007, Getahun 2008and FAO 2009). They are also sources of foreign currency (Asfaw 1997, Berhanu et al 2006), and at a farm level small ruminants serve as investment and insurance due to high fertility, short generation interval and their ability to produce in limited feed resource and their adaptation in harsh environment (Asfaw 1997, Tsedeke 2007). Despite their large number and importance their productivity is low due to a number of factors ranging from feed shortage both in quality and quantity and health constraints (Markos 2006, Sisay 2006, Tsedeke 2007and Getahun 2008). Other constraints also include low genetic potential, policy issues, market, institutional and credit facilities problems (Zinash et al 2001, Berhanu et al 2006).Although various research and development activities have been carried out in the past, little increase in productivity has been achieved. Therefore, innovative research and development programs are required to increase the productivity of the flock and subsequently improve the contribution of the small ruminant sector to meet the demands of the human population, in the different farming systems of the country. However, such development outcomes, as a prerequisite, require a good understanding of the different farming systems, prioritization of the problems and simultaneously addressing some of the key constraints specific to a given locality and region. In addition, other issues which include feeding, health control, general management, as well as cost and availability of credit and marketing infrastructure need for further considerations (Workneh et al 2003, Baker andGray 2004). This study was conducted to characterize the current status of small ruminant production systems and identify major constraints and opportunities for improvement in coffee dominant mixed-farming systems of western Ethiopia.Goma district (South-western Ethiopia) is located 390 km south west of Addis Ababa and about 50 km west of the Jima Zone capital. The district is predominantly known for its coffee production and center of diversity for coffee in Ethiopia. It has well distributed annual rainfall with very low temporal and special variability (IPMS 2007). Based on 15 years weather data obtained from Goma district, the average annual rainfall was 1524 mm with bi-modal distribution. The small rains are from March to April and the main rainy season extends from June to October; there are about 7 rainfall months in the district (IMPS 2007). Crop and livestock production is not constrained by the amount and distribution of rainfall as in the other parts of the country. The mean monthly temperature varies between 12.7 0 C-29.1 0 C. There are 36 rural kebeles (Kebele is the lowest administrative unit in rural Ethiopia and normally consists of small number of villages and hundreds or thousands of households) and 3 urban kebeles in Goma district. The number of agricultural households in the district was 45,567 from which 35,533 are male headed and 10,034, female headed (IPMS 2007). The total population of the district was 216,662 (110,448 males and 106,174 females) (CACC 2008). Goma is the second most densely populated district in the zone with the total area of 96,361.72 ha (96.4 km 2 ) including the two coffee state farms which cover an area of 2704 ha (IPMS 2007).There are two farming systems namely coffee-livestock mixed and cereal-livestock farming systems. More than 92% of the people in Goma district are categorized under coffee-livestock mixed farming system and this consists of thirty-two kebeles. The major cash crop commodities in this farming system include; coffee, chat (Catha edulis), tropical and sub-tropical fruits (mango, avocado, papaya, banana, orange, pineapple) and spices (mainly ginger and Ethiopian cardamom). Among cereals, maize, teff (Eragrostis tef) and barely are grown in the area, but the dominant cereal crop in the farming system is maize. Livestock species include cattle, small ruminants (sheep and goat), apiculture, poultry and equines. Sheep are larger in number than goats in this farming systems and in general, as altitude increases the goat population reduces. The cereal-livestock mixed farming system consists of four rural kebeles. Coffee and tropical fruit are also produced in these kebeles though the productivity is low. Maize is the dominant cereal crop in this farming system. Relatively high flock densities of cattle and goats with limited sheep population were found in the cereal-livestock mixed farming systems.Before undertaking the formal survey, initially discussions were held with district livestock experts and secondary data were collected from published and unpublished sources for assessment of the situation. In addition, the district was visited for better understanding of agriculture in general and small ruminant production in particular. Based on the assessment of the informal survey, the 36 kebeles were stratified into small ruminant density zones using the proportion of sheep and goats as classification criteria. Accordingly, 26, 6 and 4 kebeles were found to be 'Sheep dominant', 'Mixed flock' (almost similar proportion of sheep and goats) and 'Goat dominant', respectively. From these strata of kebeles, 4, 2 and 2 kebeles were selected from sheep dominant, goat dominant and mixed flock zones, respectively.Households that have at least 2 small ruminant or landless farmers who have a minimum of one year experience in small ruminant production (including fattening) were randomly selected. Accordingly, 20 households from each kebeles (a total of 160 households) were randomly selected to participate in the study.Structured questionnaire was used to collect information on the following variables: socio-economic characteristics of households, purposes of keeping sheep and goats, inventory of sheep and goats, feeds and feeding, feed resource utilization trend across seasons of a year, problems and constraints and opportunities in small ruminant production. The questionnaire was prepared first in English and then translated into Amharic and technical words were again translated into Oromiffa, a language spoken by the local community. Development agents (DAs) and supervisors who were working in the district and who speak the local Oromiffa language were recruited, trained and collected the data under close supervision. Group discussions were held with 7-12 key informants once in each study area in order to gain an in-depth insight about the topics covered during the structured interview and to check whether patterns found in the households were validated by focus groups.The data were organized, summarized and analyzed using SPSS statistical package (SPSS 13.0 2003). For data involving frequencies, descriptive statistics were employed and Pearson chi-square were used to compare variables across the small ruminant density groups, where as quantitative variables were analyzed using analysis of variance procedure. When the F test declared significant differences for a certain parameter Tukey test was used to separate group means (Samuels 1989).In describing results of analysis wherever appropriate, the numbers of households providing data are included in each table. Whenever the data analyzed are based on single responses to questions the percentage values should add up to 100%. In multiple answers percentages will not add up to 100%.Percentage units (%) are shown alongside the levels of one of the classification variables, either along the top or down the side, to indicate how the contents of the tables are to be interpreted and in which direction the percentage values are to be summed.Indexes were developed to provide the aggregated ranking of some parameters of small ruminant production and marketing in the study area. The index was calculated as the sum of single item ranks [(3 for rank 1)+(2 for rank 2)+(1 for rank 3) ] divided by the sum of all weighed items mentioned by each density group.In the study area, the majority (94.4%) of the small ruminants owning households were male headed while only small proportions (5.6%) were headed by females. The proportion of landless young was very low (6.3%). According to key informants, the number of landless young people involved in small ruminant fattening has been growing from time to time may be due to the market demand and high profit margin. About 94% of the interviewed household heads belong to Oromo ethnic group while heads from other ethnic groups constitute only 6% and most of them were found in sheep dominant areas.The average family size/household was 5.5 of which 42, 51 and 1% are between the age of 0 to 14, 15 to 65 and above 65 years, respectively. According to the report of CACC ( 2008), the average household member in the region is 5.0 which is comparable with the current results. There were on average 2.50 females and 2.71 males in the house. The ratio of male to female for the studied household is almost similar to the value given for the region, i.e. 50.4:49.6 (CACC 2008).With regard to flock structure, the distribution by age almost follow similar trend for both sheep and goats except for age 3-6 months and breeding males (figure1 and 2). Breeding females represent larger proportion while suckling age are the second largest age group in the flock; and the castrates represent the lowest proportion in the flock for both species. From the sheep flock, 33.9%, 18.6%, 13.1%, 12.8%, 11.2% and 10.7% are represented by ewes, lambs, rams, ram lambs (3-6 months), ewe lambs (3-6 months) and castrates, respectively. There are 35.1%, 25.9%, 12.5%, 11.7%, 9.8% and 5.0% does, kids, doe kids (3-6month), buck kids (3-6 month), bucks and castrates, respectively. The larger proportion of breeding females in a flock observed in this study is also reported by Ahmadu and Lovelace (2002) under the extensive production system. The breeding male to female rations obtained in this study for sheep and goat were greater than the recommended breeding male to female ratio for sheep and goat under traditional production system which is 1:25 (Wilson and Durkin 1988). This could be attributed to farmers in the area used to fatten the male animals so that they used to keep intact until one year after which they castrate to be fattened. In addition farmers have coffee as sources of income instead of selling their few small ruminant holdings.About 94% of the small ruminant keepers keep them mainly for income generation (Table 1). Similar to this finding, small ruminants are reared in many parts of the country mainly for income generation (Markos 2006, Sisay 2006, Endeshaw 2007, Tsedeke 2007, Getahun 2008). The second main reason for keeping small ruminant in the study area is for saving purpose. According to the opinion of group discussion participants and key informants in the area, coffee is the main cash crop followed by chat. For most farmers, however, their economic profitability is highly limited by various factors. In most cases, there is fluctuation of coffee yield due to erratic rainfall so farmers nowadays keep small ruminants as saving and insurance. Keeping small ruminant for meat and manure purposes were ranked as third and fourth important reason. Although its amount is small, in most households farmers prefer small ruminant manure to cattle manure. Other important reasons include for risk distribution, sacrifice and social heritages.Grazing is the common feed source for small ruminants in the study area. Common forms of grazing and non-conventional feed sources and their season of utilization are given in Figure 3 and 4, respectively.  Communal grazing land, roadside grazing, riverside grazing and aftermath grazing are the major types of grazing for sheep and goats. From the interviewed Households (HH), 59.4, 23.5, 19.4 and 32.1% of them utilize communal grazing, roadside grazing, riverside grazing and grazing aftermath, respectively. Although there is difference in utilization across months of the years, communal grazing lands are utilized throughout the year. This is in agreement with the findings of other studies (Abule 2003, Teshome 2006, Tsedeke 2007, Tesfaye 2008), who indicated that natural pasture is the main feed resource for small ruminants and cattle in Ethiopia. The availability and quality of forages are not favorable and uniform in nutrient quality all year round, as a result, for animals that are not supplemented the body gains made during the wet season is totally or partially lost in the dry season (Alemayehu 2003). During the specific period of the year (mid December to March) indigenous browses are the main sources of feed in the study area, especially for goats, while concentrates feeds are not common. The utilization of indigenous browses by goats is also reported in Alaba district of southern Ethiopia (Yeshitila 2007). The utilization of these indigenous browses as feed sources may be due their high protein content so that they can keep animals in better body condition.The animals graze along the riverside during the dry season and short rainy seasons while intensity of its utilization then declines until October (Figure 3). This is may be due to the utilization of communal grazing lands in wet months. During the rainy seasons, farmers do not cut browses to feed small ruminants. The cut-and-carry is much common during the dry season. Grazing aftermath is an important source of sheep and goat feed from the start of the dry season to the start of the short rainy season after which their importance declines. Indigenous browses are important sources of animal feed from October to May when other sources of feeds are becoming fibrous and poor in quality.In Goma, there is a wide spread utilization of non-conventional feed resources such as chat left over, home left-over, fruit left over, Enset (Ensete ventricosum ) and banana parts, weeds and crop tillers and fillers (Figure 4). From the interviewed households, 83.5% fed their animals (particularly castrated) with chat and home left-over. According to the participants of group discussion, after being utilized by family members, chat is not dropped; rather it is collected and put for small ruminants. So its utilization by animals was throughout the year for most of the households.Weeds and crop tillers of maize and sorghum are also other common feed sources for sheep and goats. This is in agreement with other reports that indicated that farmers use crop fillers and tiller during the wet season in Alaba of SNNPR (Tsedeke 2007, Yeshitila 2007). When the farmers move to crop field for weeding they take their animals with them and feed them. However, these feeds are limited to rainy seasons although small number of farmers have access to irrigation and then weed their crop during other times of the year too.Grazing lands are communally owned while some households have small private grazing paddocks/enclosure locally called kallo between their cropping fields. While working on their cropland they keep their animal with them in these small grazing areas.In the current study area, sheep and goats spend most of their time being sheltered in the house. On the average, they spent only 6 hours grazing/browsing during the day time. They are under close supervision through out the day and in all seasons of the year to prevent them from damaging crop cultivation and to protect them from predators. In the highlands where sheep are dominant, there is short grazing time; small ruminants are protected from cropland (coffee cultivation and fruit plantation) and from predators especially leopard and hyena. In the lowlands areas, where goats are dominating and grazing lands are relatively larger, they are also protected to avoid damaging of cropland and to protect them from wild animals such as leopard, hyena and monkey. Monkeys were a threat for kids/lambs; according to key informants, they take out the eye of kids/lambs first, and then kill them to predate. There is no significant (p<0.05) variation across the three areas classified to small ruminant density with regard to allocation for grazing or browsing by sheep and goats; however, according to results of the group discussions, there is a difference in time allocated for the two species with more restriction to goats than sheep . >From the interviewed households, 53.8% of them herd sheep alone, 12.5 % goat alone, 22.5% sheep and goats together and 11.2% keep small ruminants with large ruminants while grazing. The tendency of keeping small ruminants with large ruminant is lower; this is because of their feeding behavior.According to the result of the group discussion, farmers prefer feeding goats alone instead of grazing/browsing them with sheep. This may be due to the fact that the goats have the ability to browsing many plant species within short period and less time is required to fill their gut than sheep.In wet seasons, when the major feed resource is the communal grazing, 79.4% of the households use herded grazing system so that sheep and goats do not go into crop fields as herders are closely following. In this time of the year, road-side grazing and private grazing are often used though the size of the land is very small. About 13% of the household use both herd grazing and tethered grazing (i.e. herded grazing then tether or vice versa). Tethering and cut and carry methods were practiced in wet season.In the dry seasons, the majority of the households (54.4%) tether their animals while 25.6% of the households use cut and carry methods and only few of them herd (12.5%) their flock. Although the intensity and the purpose differs, similar practices were also reported in different studies (Getahun 2008, Tesfaye 2008).Constraints and opportunities of small ruminant production and marketing Feed and grazing land shortage is the most limiting constraint (74.4%) in small ruminant production in the study area (Table 2). Feed shortage in both seasons (dry and wet) limits productivity of small ruminants and it was further worsened by the lack of awareness and practice of feed conservation techniques. Moreover, forage development has been given less attention. There is a significant difference among small ruminant density groups with production constraint with pronounced problem in sheep dominant sites (highland and mid altitudes) than other sites. This is because more land is covered by perennial crops than left for grazing.Water shortage and drought were reported as production problem by 20 and 27.5% of the households, respectively in goat dominant sites. This may be due to goat dominant areas receives relatively smaller rainfall and has shorter rainy seasons than their counterparts. Yet water shortage is not a critical problem that hinders small ruminant production in the area and this may be due to better rainfall distribution and the existence of many rivers. Only 7.5 and 10% of the households, respectively has reported water shortage and drought as constraints.Diseases and parasites hamper small ruminant production by causing high mortalities especially among suckling animals. From interviewed households, 60.6% indicated diseases and parasites to be among the major constraints for small ruminant production in the area. Almost all interviewed households lost one or more small ruminants during the last 12 months for that reason.The loss of small ruminants by predators is a common phenomenon in the study area and on average 68.1% of the interviewed households indicated this problem as a constraint for small ruminant production. Problems of input supply, credit services and appropriate extension services constitute 71.3, 61.9 and 21.3% of the constraints mentioned by the interviewed householdsGoma is one of the districts in Oromia that is known for coffee production. However, the productivity and the price of coffee has been highly variable due to erratic nature of the rainfall and lowered price and volume of coffee exported which has direct impact on farmer livelihood. So, farmers face income shortage during times of coffee failure. The integration of small ruminant production is important as they can be intermediate cash sources during coffee failure time. Moreover, their high turnover rate, easy to be managed by children and women are advantages that worth mention for their integration with crop production.Goma is also highly endowed with natural forests and various annual and perennial plants that can be potential feed resources for small ruminant. The vegetation is endowed with spicy herbs that give demandable aesthetic property of the meat which may be valued for export markets. Moreover, the area receives enough amount of rainfall that can be used to develop various types of improved grasses, legumes and browses through different production strategies. Landless youth and farmers, retired people and other members of society can be engaged in fattening activities that could benefit as result of high market demand and higher prices for meat and live animal sell.High demand of the small ruminants in the local market as a result of population increase, urbanization, and increase in income (even within a district) can be considered as an opportunity for the small ruminant producers. It is evident that there was high consumption of meat during crop (coffee) harvest and less volume of animal were taken out of Goma."}

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+{"metadata":{"gardian_id":"33676fdc4450c7ae3ad0b5d68f38f245","source":"gardian_index","url":"https://cgspace.cgiar.org/rest/bitstreams/05fbbcd2-a23e-47dc-886c-cf5c43396341/retrieve","id":"-1709223507"},"keywords":[],"sieverID":"082601df-2736-4535-b940-91018ed8dab1","content":"As part of efforts by CIP Ghana to promote the production, marketing and utilization of sweet potato in general and more specifically the orange flesh sweet potato in Ghana, a sweet potato community need assessment was carried out to generate relevant information to describe the prevailing sweet potato production, marketing and utilization in the selected communities. Farm Budget for SPThere were three major varieties that were found across all three regions.These were ranked from the most important to the least important (1, 2, and 3) with respect to the following attributes; Taste/consumption, Sweetness, Yield potential, Resistance to Pest/ diseases attack, Fibrous, Market demand, Market value, and Ease of processing. The variety with the least sum of score is the most preferred and the one with the highest sum of scores is the least preferred. "}

main/part_1/0256538712.json

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+{"metadata":{"gardian_id":"82014978d36a42f98d764dd9193e9424","source":"gardian_index","url":"https://cgspace.cgiar.org/rest/bitstreams/64a9db06-5610-434a-b842-fc23205c92f2/retrieve","id":"1267731710"},"keywords":[],"sieverID":"640818be-a4a8-496f-8701-f634db8a181d","content":"India's agricultural policies have evolved from pre-independence land revenue systems to postindependence initiatives like the Green Revolution, driven by diverse economic, social, and political factors.Economic liberalization in the 1990s marked a shift towards market-oriented policies, including the introduction of Minimum Support Price (MSP) mechanisms, aimed at creating a competitive agricultural market while raising concerns about farmer equity and income security.The global discourse within the realm of agriculture has been dominated with challenges of food security (FAO, 2022), (HLPE, Food security and nutrition: building a global narrative towards 2030, 2020) loss of biodiversity (Brondizio ES, 2019), environmental pollution and resource degradation (Campbell, 2017) and climate change (H.-O. Pörtner, 2022). In this context, various approaches have developed to address complex challenges and one of the most comprehensive concepts emerged is called agroecological systems (Gliessman S., 2014)  (Gliessman &. T., 2015)  (Wezel, 2009). The emphasis on agroecology emanates from its holistic approach, integrating ecological principles into agricultural systems to foster resilience, enhance soil health, and mitigate the adverse environmental impacts associated with conventional farming (Wezel, 2009). As agroecology spans over diverse themes, studies and experts argue policies at cross-cutting levels are critical for the promotion of agroecology, as they can provide the necessary incentives and support for its implementation. To ensure the large-scale adoption of agroecology, a multiscale systems approach is needed, considering economic, technological, and policy drivers (Ewert, 2023).In Indian context, agriculture has been exacerbated by the negative environmental impact of intensive farming practices (Balkrishna, 2021). Recognizing the need for resilience in the face of climate change, soil degradation, and other environmental challenges, government has displayed a discernible shift in agriculture policies in recent years acknowledging the imperative to embrace more sustainable and agroecological approaches. This has led to many new policies/programs around agroecology and sustainable agriculture as well as revisiting the old ones to meet the current needs. Several corporates as well as civil society organizations are also working towards this goal. However, there are also several conflicting policies and institutional arrangements that could slow down the process of transition in India. Policy measures in India have increasingly focused on promoting organic farming, agroforestry, and crop diversification, aiming to enhance biodiversity, soil health, and overall ecosystem resilience. This document aims to elaborate the policy landscape in India concerning agroecology, exploring how prevailing policies both facilitate and impede the transformative journey towards agroecological practices.This document explores national policy-oriented documentation, comprising guidelines and legislative enactments instrumental in shaping agricultural and food systems. The examination primarily focuses on policies spanning diverse domains, including agriculture, farmer welfare, water management, environmental conservation, forestry, soil health, climate change, biodiversity, and the sustainable utilization of energy resources for agricultural purposes. Official government websites serve as the primary sources for acquiring relevant policy information. In the course of policy analysis, exhaustive searches were conducted on the official websites of key ministries integral to the research objectives, namely Agriculture and Farmer Welfare, Renewable Energy Resources, Water Resources, Rural Development, Environment, Forest, and Climate Change, Panchayati Raj, Finance, Science, and Technology. In this context, the term \"public policies\" pertains to laws, acts, decrees, regulations, plans, or investment programs featuring specific policy measures or instruments implemented by the national government.The report undertakes an analysis of policies that may either support, contradict, or present opportunities for agroecology. To identify policies conducive to agroecology, the FAO Food and Agricultural Policy Decision Analysis (FAPDA) is employed (HLPE, 2017). This framework encompasses four hierarchical policy measures categorized under overarching themes, including producer-oriented policies, consumeroriented policies, and trade-oriented policies. These thematic areas encompass macro-economic policies, market-and food-environment-oriented policies and cross cutting policies adapted from working paper entitled as \"Agroecologically-conducive Policies: A Review of Recent Advances and Remaining Challenges.\" (Place F, 2022) India's agricultural policies have undergone significant transformations over the course of its history, shaped by diverse economic, social, and political factors. In the pre-independence era, agrarian policies were often centered around land revenue systems imposed by colonial rulers, such as the Permanent Settlement of 1793 and the Ryotwari System. Post-independence, the government's focus shifted towards achieving food self-sufficiency through the Green Revolution in the 1960s and 1970s. Intensive irrigation, high-yielding crop varieties, and increased fertilizer use became cornerstones of this approach, significantly boosting grain production (Arora, 2013).In the 1990s, economic liberalization brought about a paradigm shift in agricultural policies, emphasizing globalization, market-oriented reforms, and trade liberalization. The dismantling of the Agricultural Price Commission and the introduction of the Minimum Support Price (MSP) mechanism aimed to create a more competitive and open agricultural market. However, these policies also triggered concerns about equity and income security for farmers (Arora, 2013). Subsequent decades witnessed the implementation of various targeted schemes and subsidies to address these issues, including the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) and the Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana (PMKSY) for water management.Despite these efforts, challenges persisted, leading to the formulation of the National Agriculture Policy in 2000, which aimed to address issues of sustainability, diversification, and rural development. The adoption of technology-driven initiatives, such as the National Mission for Sustainable Agriculture (NMSA), reflected a growing awareness of environmental concerns and the need for agroecologically sustainable practices. Furthermore, over the past few years, the Indian governments have inclined towards advancing sustainable agriculture through initiatives like PM-PRANAM and the National Mission on Natural Farming These policies underscore a commitment to fostering a transition towards sustainable agricultural practices in India. It can be argued that there is a promising outlook for the adoption and promotion of agroecology in India in coming years. The following section aims to shed light on policies that create a conducive environment for the development and implementation of agroecological practices in India. The policies that are conducive to agriculture are divided into broad categories-producer-oriented policies, consumer-oriented policies, tradeoriented policies, cross-cutting policies (Place F, 2022). Each category is further disaggregated into different themes. The classification of each category into distinct themes is adopted from a working paper entitled as \"Agroecologically-conducive Policies: A Review of Recent Advances and Remaining Challenges.\" The table below shows each category and subcategory of policy type that is essential for agroecological transition.Implement consumption taxes on highly processed, non-nutritious foods.Grant tax exemptions on healthy, nutritious, and sustainable foods.Implement food subsidy programs that purchase sustainably produced healthy, fresh, nutritionally dense, seasonal, and locally sourced foods.Manage employment programs that contribute to environmental objectives.Incentivize food banks, soup kitchens and public restaurants that use healthy, fresh, nutritionally dense, seasonal, and locally sourced foods.Manage information campaigns to guide consumers towards healthy and sustainable foods.Develop and implement educational programs for all ages on the importance and consequences of healthy diets and food environments.Develop sustainable dietary guidelines.Implement food composition tables for raw and processed foods.Encourage food retailers to feature safe and nutritionally dense foods in their displays and marketing communications.Support the development of labels to facilitate consumer choice.Promote the most nutritionally dense and healthy food items (e.g. Nutri-score).Regulate the food environments around vulnerable populations (e.g. zoning to ban access to junk foods next to schools).Reduce input subsidies that favour the use of agricultural and harmful chemicals and the production of less nutritious crops.Develop pesticide reduction and regulation policies and promote integrated pest management.Balance government development programs that are mainly oriented to major staple or export crops/livestock so that they capture a broader set of commodities.Train public extension officers in agroecology principles and practices.Enable long-term, low cost-financing for environmentally friendly farming practices (including for minorities, women, and small-scale farmers), particularly during transition periods to agroecological practices.Develop technologies that reduce the cost of biomass recycling on farms.Develop technologies adapted to complex and diversified crop production systems.Grant tax incentives to farmers with sustainable production systems that contribute nutritious and diversified foods.Recognize and support farmers' rights and autonomy regarding traditional, local, and indigenous seeds and breeds.Implement standards that promote animal health and welfare.Foster and facilitate farmer-to-farmer exchange for knowledge, experience, and technology transfer.Develop long-term public programs that support the maintenance or improvement of soil health and (agro) biodiversity through multiple agroecological practices at the farm and landscape level.Improve tenure security of land, trees, and other resources (e.g. water) for male and female smallholder farmers. This includes encouraging long-term over short-term landrenting arrangements.Increase incentives (e.g. cross-compliance programs) so that farmers can generate ecosystem services from farming and through agroecological practices.Procurement of foods for public institutions that include sustainably produced healthy, locally sourced foods.Revisit food price controls and remove biases that Favor the consumption of staple or nutritionally 'empty' foods.Embed negative and positive externalities from agricultural and food systems into pricing schemes.Implement food safety regulations to reduce harmful chemical residues in foods in and across countries.Create standards and labelling for food contents, sources and farming practices that align with environmental, nutritional, health or other social and equity principles throughout the value chain.Promote the development of markets for agroecologically produced outputs.Promote the development of markets for organic nutrient inputs.Create markets for investing in ecosystem services from agriculture.Create technology hubs to foster innovation and facilitate the adoption and monitoring of agroecological practices and principles.Promote shorter value chains to better connect producers and consumers.Implement import restrictions related to food safety as well as environmental, social and equity certification standards.Pursue steady, balanced economic growth that will reduce poverty and enable more consumers to desire and afford healthier, more nutritious foods.Provide sufficient public funds for the needed agricultural and food sector transitions.Commit to diversifying fields, landscapes and diets with more crop and livestock species and varieties.Draft sectoral and cross-sectoral policies, strategies and laws that address agroecology in an explicit and comprehensive way.Broaden agricultural research and development to agroecological topics, collect relevant national data and disseminate knowledge on agroecology.Enhance agricultural innovation systems to become more participatory and inclusive.Create or strengthen exposure to agroecology in university under-and postgraduate courses and curricula.Table 1 showing essential policy for agroecological transition adopted from Working Paper titled 'Agroecologically-conducive policies: A review of recent advances and remaining challenges.'Typologies of policies in India for agroecological context-delineates a spectrum of policies enacted by the Indian government, categorized under distinct thematic domains, each with agroecologically conducive objectives. Within the ambit of Consumer-oriented policies, the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) launched in 2005 guarantees 100 days of paid work to every citizen with the primary aim of creating durable assets, is a scheme that offers social protection (National Rural Employment Guarantee Act , 2005). Significantly, MGNREGA vests considerable authority in Gram Panchayats for the management of public works, thereby reinforcing the structure of Panchayati Raj Institutions. Gram Sabhas holds the autonomy to accept or reject recommendations from Intermediate and District Panchayats, enhancing local decision-making processes. The scheme's utilization for sustainable and agroecological agriculture is evident, as underscored by the Government of India's 2009 guidelines, which mandated that at least 60% of MGNREGA-related works in a district, in terms of costs, be allocated to the creation of productive assets directly linked to agriculture and allied activities. Studies have individually highlighted MGNREGA's contributions to the creation of productive assets associated with agriculture, with an emphasis on conservation, water resource management, orchard development, and overall environmental services. These studies collectively underscore the pivotal role of MGNREGA in advancing sustainable and agroecological agriculture practices in India (Mishra, 2018) (Anantha, 2021) (Dhananjaya, 2011). Similarly, the National Food Security Mission has been strategically designed to oversee and control the food environments surrounding vulnerable populations (National Food Security Mission, 2018). This mission places a deliberate emphasis on nutritional and health assistance, aligning with the fundamental dietary principal integral to agroecology. The mission recognizes the pivotal role that access to nutritious food plays in promoting the well-being of vulnerable communities, especially in the context of India's diverse agricultural landscape. By prioritizing nutritional and health assistance, the National Food Security Mission contributes to the broader agroecological goal of fostering sustainable and health-centric food systems.Although MGNREGA and the National Food Security Mission stand out for their potential impact on agroecology, their efficacy depends on how they are rolled out on ground. MGNREGA, with its focus on creating durable assets and empowering Gram Panchayats is envisioned as a tool for sustainable agriculture. While government guidelines mandate allocating a significant portion of MGNREGA funds to agriculture-related works, the actual implementation on the ground may not always align with these intentions. Studies highlighting MGNREGA's contributions to agroecology often neglect the challenges faced by local communities in utilizing these funds for sustainable agricultural practices (Reddy D. R., 2014). Additionally, the autonomy of Gram Sabhas in decision-making can be influenced by local power dynamics, potentially diverting funds away from agroecological projects. Similarly, the National Food Security Mission's emphasis on nutritional and health assistance is commendable. However, the mission's effectiveness in promoting agroecology depends on how well it addresses the root causes of food insecurity, such as the dominance of cash crops and the impact of market-oriented agricultural practices.The success of the mission in aligning with agroecological goals hinges on the careful integration of nutritional aspects with sustainable farming practices, a balance that may be challenging to maintain.In India, Producer-oriented policies that align with agroecology are classified into two main categories: production support schemes and natural resource management schemes. One noteworthy production support scheme is the Integrated Scheme on Agriculture Cooperation (ISAC), operating under the Central Sector. This scheme is strategically designed to address a range of objectives, with a primary focus on promoting cooperative development and enhancing the economic conditions of cooperatives within the agricultural and allied sectors (The Integrated Scheme on Agriculture Cooperation (ISAC), 2021). ISAC plays a crucial role in providing support to National Level Cooperative Federations and Multi State Cooperative Societies (MSCS) involved in agriculture and allied sectors, facilitating their engagement in promotional and skill development activities. Through financial support to cooperatives, ISAC actively contributes to the broadening of economic activities within the agricultural sector, thereby fostering sustainability and resilience. The scheme also encourages and facilitates farmer-to-farmer exchanges, promoting the transfer of knowledge, experience, and technology among agricultural practitioners. This emphasis on cooperative learning and knowledge transfer aligns with the principles of agroecology, recognizing the significance of collaborative approaches for sustainable agricultural practices.Furthermore, the producer-oriented schemes focus on natural resource management. National Mission for a Green India (GIM) is a significant initiative in this category. It was introduced in 2014 as a Centrally Sponsored Scheme and operates as one of the eight Missions outlined in the National Action Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC). The primary objective of GIM is to address climate change through a comprehensive approach involving both adaptation and mitigation measures. These measures are aimed at enhancing carbon sinks, adapting vulnerable species and ecosystems to changing climate conditions, supporting forest-dependent communities, increasing forest and tree cover, and improving the quality of livelihood income for households residing in and around forests. The implementation of activities under the Green India Mission involves a strategic convergence with other key schemes, including the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), Compensatory Afforestation Fund Management and Planning Authority (CAMPA), and the National Afforestation Program (NAP) (National Action Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC), 2021). Notably, the scheme emphasizes the importance of increasing incentives, such as cross-compliance programs, to empower farmers in generating ecosystem services through agricultural practices aligned with agroecology. This integrated approach reflects the commitment to sustainable practices, acknowledging the vital role of farmers in promoting ecological balance and resilience in the face of climate change.Integrated Scheme on Agriculture Cooperation (ISAC) and the National Mission for a Green India (GIM), showcase the government's commitment to cooperative development and natural resource management.The practical implementation of these policies presents its own set of challenges. ISAC's support for cooperatives in the agricultural sector is crucial for economic resilience. The success of this scheme depends on the effective functioning of these cooperatives, which, in turn, relies on factors like cooperative leadership, organizational capacity, and equitable distribution of benefits. Challenges in these areas can impede the ability of cooperatives to promote agroecological practices among farmers. The GIM, aimed at addressing climate change through adaptation and mitigation measures, highlights the interconnectedness of different schemes. While the integrated approach is commendable, the effectiveness of GIM in promoting agroecology depends on the synchronization of activities across various missions and schemes. The challenge lies in ensuring that the objectives of GIM align seamlessly with those of MGNREGA, CAMPA, and other related initiatives.Another The array of water resource management policies in India, such as Atal Bhujal Yojana, National Project on Aquifer Management, Jal Jeevan Mission, and others, underscores the importance of sustainable groundwater management. While these policies advocate for practices like rainwater harvesting and recharging, their actual impact on agroecology hinges on the successful adoption of these practices by farmers. The challenge lies in overcoming traditional water-use practices and encouraging farmers to embrace sustainable approaches. Additionally, the effectiveness of these policies in improving soil health and ecosystem resilience depends on factors like awareness, accessibility to technology, and the financial capacity of farmers to invest in water-efficient practices.Within the domain of Market-and Food-environment-oriented policies, the Mission Organic Value Chain Development for Northeastern Region stands out as a scheme that is strategically designed to catalyze new markets and propel the development of markets specifically for agroecologically produced outputs. By placing a strong emphasis on the organic value chain, the scheme aims to create a conducive environment for farmers engaged in agroecological practices. The Mission recognizes the importance of fostering and viable economic avenue for farmers committed to sustainable and organic farming methods. The scheme focuses on creating a comprehensive value chain which entails not only the production of organic crops but also encompasses processing, packaging, and marketing. They also place a special emphasis on the unique agricultural context of the Northeastern states (Assam Small Farmers' Agri Business Consortium (ASFAC), Govt. of Assam., 2023). Recognizing the diverse agro-climatic conditions and rich biodiversity of the region, the scheme tailors its strategies to align with the specific needs and strengths of the Northeastern agricultural landscape. However, the success of scheme in catalyzing new markets for agroecological products depends on factors such as infrastructure development, certification processes, and consumer awareness. In addition, another scheme -Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-Kisan) supports provision of sufficient public funds for agriculture sector with cash transfer of Rs.6000 to all landholding farmers irrespective of the size of their land holdings. By providing direct income support to farmers, PM-Kisan aims to enhance their financial stability, offering them the flexibility to adopt agroecological techniques without compromising their livelihoods. The income support from PM-Kisan acts as a safety net, mitigating the economic uncertainties associated with agroecological transitions (PM KISAN, 2019). However, it is important to note that the effectiveness of PM-Kisan as an agroecological policy may be subject to scrutiny, as the government does not mandate the specific utilization of the cash transfer for agroecological purposes.With reference to cross-cutting policies, the National Mission for Sustainable Agriculture is an umbrella scheme that aims to promote agroecology and sustainable farming practices. The mission includes several other schemes and initiatives (refer to figure 1  RAD emphasizes optimum water utilization through advanced on-farm water conservation equipment and technologies. By promoting efficient water harvesting and conservation on farms, OFWM contributes to reducing input dependency, utilizing water resources more sustainably, and fostering connectivity within the agricultural landscape (National Mission on Sustaianble Agriculture: Stategy document 2018).Sub-mission on Agroforestry: National Agroforestry Policy 2014 was initiated under NMSA, to further emphasizes the commitment to agroecology to encourage tree plantation on farmland \"Har Medh Par Ped\", along with crops/ cropping system. The scheme is being implemented in the States which have liberalized transit regulations for selected tree species. The implementation of the sub-mission aims to secure additional income opportunities for farmers, increase in tree cover that will lead to higher carbon sequestration and compliment the national initiatives on climate change adaptation.  2018).Soil Health management component also has Parampagat Krishi Vikas Yojna (PKVY) and Participatory Guarantee scheme. Under PKVY organic farming is promoted through adoption of organic village by cluster approach and PGS certification. The scheme envisages promotion of commercial organic production through certified organic farming. National Centre of Organic Farming (NCOF) will act as a national center and its regional centers will coordinate all activities required for promotion of organic farming in the country through technical capacity building of all the stakeholders including human resource development, transfer of technology, promotion and production of quality organic and biological inputs, awareness creation and publicity through print and electronic media. The scheme also places mechanism statutory quality control for bio fertilizer under Fertilizer (Control) Order (FCO), 1985, including revision of standards and testing protocols keeping in view the advances in research, authentication/ distribution of strains and technology and bringing remaining organic inputs under quality control regime. Capacity building for organic input resource management, technology development through support to research and low-cost certification system known as \"Participatory Guarantee System\" is targeted under the scheme. Certificate Course on organic farming-to create first generation organic agriculture extension workers and field workers in the field of organic farming and to create a rural force of soil testing entrepreneurs through rapid soil testing kits it is proposed to conduct one month certificate courses on organic production practices, on farm input management, certification process (third party and PGS both), documentation, post-harvest processing, storage, and marketing (Paramparagat Krishi Vikas Yojana (PKVY) Guidelines, 2018).PGS-India is a farmer group centric organic guarantee system but to integrate all sections of producers, processors, handlers, and traders, to complete the value chain from farm to fork and keep the PGS-India program as central guiding force to the organic agriculture movement. It also provides for an access to individual producers, individual processing, and handling facilities under PGS groups, organized processing, warehousing, handling, and packaging and trading entities away from producer groups. To ensure end-to-end traceability (as per the requirements of regulatory framework under FSS [Organic Foods] Regulation 2017), PGS-India program ensures uninterrupted chain of custody, starting from producer groups till the products are processed and finally packed into retail packs (PGS-India Operational Manual, 2014). The scheme caters to various agroecological principals of fairness and connectivity by creating viable markets of bio-inputs and produce, co creation of knowledge through its research centers, training programs and courses.National Bamboo Mission: aims to increase the area under bamboo plantation in non-forest Government and private lands to supplement farm income and contribute towards resilience to climate change as well as availability of quality raw material requirement of industries. The mission predominantly promotes bamboo cultivation in farmers' fields, homesteads, community lands, arable wastelands, and along irrigation canals, water bodies etc. It also targets to improve post-harvest management through establishment of innovative primary processing units near the source of production, primary treatment and seasoning plants, preservation technologies and market infrastructure. The above components of NMSA aligns with several agroecological principles such as biodiversity, economic diversification, recycling, input reduction, soil health, fairness, co-creation of knowledge, connectivity, and synergy. By embracing a variety of crops and incorporating livestock and fisheries, the NMSA fosters biodiversity within agricultural landscapes. Additionally, the composite farming approach promotes economic diversification, enabling farmers to engage in multiple revenue streams while creating synergies among different agricultural activities. The mission also emphasizes mitigating risks associated with crop failures by introducing supplementary or residual production systems. This approach reflects the agroecological principle of resilience, as it aims to enhance the ability of farming systems to withstand and recover from disturbances. By diversifying production systems, the NMSA contributes to building resilience against environmental uncertainties, aligning with the recycling principle by ensuring the efficient use of resources. Another significant aspect of the NMSA involves the adoption of technologies to protect resources during extended dry spells, droughts, or heavy floods caused by excess rains. By employing technologies that optimize resource use in response to climatic variations, the NMSA contributes to reducing input dependency while fostering a more connected and adaptive agricultural system. In addition, the promotion of new water management techniques for effective and optimal utilization of water resources directly addresses the agroecological principle of soil health. Efficient water management and focus on agronomic techniques for higher productivity, better soil conservation, and optimal use of energy contributes to improved soil health by preventing waterlogging or soil erosion, ensuring optimum soil-water relations, emphasizing sustainable and resource-efficient farming practices. By tailoring nutrient practices to specific locations and crops, the NMSA recognizes the importance of context-specific, sustainable approaches. Furthermore, the establishment of a comprehensive database on soil, utilizing survey data, GIS technology, and soil analysis which ensures that location and soil-specific crop management practices can be adopted, optimizing input use and knowledge sharing. NMSA also mandates collaboration with institutions and domain experts to develop climate change mitigation techniques for specific agro-climatic conditions demonstrates the commitment to co-creation of knowledge and synergy. This collaboration ensures that the mission integrates scientific expertise and local knowledge to address the challenges posed by climate change. The coordination and convergence of investments from other schemes and missions, such as MGNREGS, Mission for Integrated Development of Horticulture (MIDH), RKVY, National Food Security Mission, and National Mission for Agriculture Extension and Technology (NMAE&T), highlight the agroecological principle of synergy. By aligning diverse initiatives, the NMSA seeks to amplify the impact of sustainable agricultural practices, promoting a more cohesive and integrated approach. While the NMSA aligns with various agroecological principles, its effectiveness in translating these principles into tangible outcomes depends on several factors. The success of NMSA lies in the adoption of integrated farming systems, efficient water management, and collaboration with stakeholders. Challenges such as the coordination of diverse initiatives, local contextualization of practices, and the actual integration of scientific expertise with local knowledge need to be addressed for the NMSA to achieve its agroecological objectives.Cross-cutting-oriented policies, which address agroecology in an explicit and comprehensive manner, encompass a variety of initiatives. National Food Security Mission Regulate the food environments around vulnerable populations.Foster and facilitate farmer-to-farmer exchange for knowledge, experience, and technology transfer.\"Green-Ag: Transforming Indian Agriculture for Global Environment Benefits and the Conservation of Critical Biodiversity and Forest Landscapes\"Increase incentives (e.g. cross-compliance programs) so that farmers can generate ecosystem services from farming and through agroecological practices.National Mission on Green India Increase incentives (e.g. cross-compliance programs) so that farmers can generate ecosystem services from farming and through agroecological practices.Increase incentives (e.g. cross-compliance programs) so that farmers can generate ecosystem services from farming and through agroecological practices.Atal Bhujal Yojana Improve tenure security of land, trees, and other resources (e.g. water) for male and female smallholder farmers. This includes encouraging long-term over short-term land-renting arrangements.Improve tenure security of land, trees, and other resources (e.g. water) for male and female smallholder farmers. This includes encouraging long-term over short-term land-renting arrangements.Improve tenure security of land, trees, and other resources (e.g. water) for male and female smallholder farmers. This includes encouraging long-term over short-term land-renting arrangements.Namami Gange Improve tenure security of land, trees, and other resources (e.g. water) for male and female smallholder farmers. This includes encouraging long-term over short-term land-renting arrangements.National Hydrology Project Improve tenure security of land, trees, and other resources (e.g. water) for male and female smallholder farmers. This includes encouraging long-term over short-term land-renting arrangements.Improve tenure security of land, trees, and other resources (e.g. water) for male and female smallholder farmers. This includes encouraging long-term over short-term land-renting arrangements.Improve tenure security of land, trees, and other resources (e.g. water) for male and female smallholder farmers. This includes encouraging long-term over short-term land-renting arrangements.Improve tenure security of land, trees, and other resources (e.g. water) for male and female smallholder farmers. This includes encouraging long-term over short-term land-renting arrangements.Improve tenure security of land, trees, and other resources (e.g. water) for male and female smallholder farmers. This includes encouraging long-term over short-term land-renting arrangements.PM Krishi Sinchayee Yojana -Per Drop More Crop Improve tenure security of land, trees, and other resources (e.g. water) for male and female smallholder farmers. This includes encouraging long-term over short-term land-renting arrangements.Promote the development of markets for agroecologically produced outputs.Capital Investment Subsidy Scheme for Vegetable and Fruit Market Waste compost, and Biofertilizers -Biopesticides Production UnitsPromote the development of markets for agroecological inputs.Provide sufficient public funds for the needed agricultural and food sector transitions.Cross-cuttingoriented policies.National Bamboo Mission sectoral and cross-sectoral policies, strategies and laws that address agroecology in an explicit and comprehensive way.Soil Health Management sectoral and cross-sectoral policies, strategies and laws that address agroecology in an explicit and comprehensive way.Rainfed Area Development' sectoral and cross-sectoral policies, strategies and laws that address agroecology in an explicit and comprehensive way.Sub Mission on Agroforestry sectoral and cross-sectoral policies, strategies and laws that address agroecology in an explicit and comprehensive way.Participatory Guarantee Scheme India sectoral and cross-sectoral policies, strategies and laws that address agroecology in an explicit and comprehensive way. Enhance agricultural innovation systems to become more participatory and inclusive.Enhance agricultural innovation systems to become more participatory and inclusive.Table 2 shows agroecology conducive policy type in India.Indian agriculture faces the dual challenge of ensuring food security for its increasing population while concurrently addressing environmental sustainability concerns. The Green Revolution, initiated in the 1960s, aimed at achieving food self-sufficiency through the intensive use of chemical fertilizers, pesticides, and high-yielding crop varieties. This approach, while succeeding in increasing food production, had detrimental ecological consequences, depleting soil health, water resources, and biodiversity (Vyas, 1994).The prevailing agricultural policies, rooted in the legacy of Green Revolutions, have historically prioritized increased crop productivity through intensive chemical inputs, irrigation, and monoculture.Agricultural policies, particularly those related to input-subsidy fertilizer schemes continue to garner maximum proportion to fertilizer subsidies. In the fiscal year 2023-34, 70% of Ministry of Agriculture budget was allocated to input subsidy fertilizer (Agricultural Statistics at a Glance 2022). This emphasizes a continued prioritization of initiatives and programs associated with input-subsidy fertilizers in India. This is one of the persistent challenges hindering the progress of agroecology in India. The policies promoting these subsidies incentivize the use of synthetic inputs, contributing to soil degradation, nutrient imbalances, and environmental pollution (Agricultural Statistics at a Glance 2022). The use of chemical fertilizers in India has increased significantly, leading to imbalances in soil nutrients and a decline in soil health (Chand, 2008). The excessive use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides has further exacerbated the problem, leading to the destruction of soil microorganisms causing imbalances in the soil ecosystem (Sharma, 2022). Moreover, the increased expenditure on chemical inputs in Indian agriculture has created a complex web of socioeconomic challenges. With rising input costs and fluctuating crop prices, farmers often find themselves caught in a precarious financial situation. The pressure to maintain high yields by using chemical inputs to compete in the market exacerbates the problem. Consequently, the profit margins for many farmers have shrunk, pushing them into a cycle of indebtedness (Ghosh, 2004) (Jakhar, 2022). The economic strain causes increased expenditure which has contributed to a distressing increase in farmer suicides across the country.Similarly, Soil Health Card scheme which aims to provide farmers with information about the health of their soil, provides information on the nutrient status of soil, along with recommendations on the dosage of nutrients to be utilized for improving its fertility and health with respect to 12 nutrients: pH, Electrical Conductivity (EC), Organic Carbon (OC), Nitrogen (N), Phosphorus (P), Potassium (K), Sulphur (S), Zinc (Zn), Boron (B), Iron (Fe), Manganese (Mn), Copper (Cu) of farm holdings. Studies suggest despite government efforts to address this issue through individualized soil testing and customized fertilizer recommendations, the impact on fertilizer use has been limited (Reddy A., 2019). The agroecological perspective suggests that it falls short of promoting holistic soil management. The scheme primarily focuses on chemical indicators, neglecting the broader understanding of soil health that encompasses biological and physical aspects. Agroecology emphasizes a diversified approach to soil management, integrating cover cropping, crop rotation, and natural practices. The Soil Health Card scheme needs enhancement to align with agroecological principles, considering the multifaceted nature of soil health. Several challenges impede its effectiveness, including farmers' difficulty in understanding the content, issues in collecting variable samples that don't account for soil variability, coordination challenges among agricultural extension officers and farmers, lack of coverage of important aspects like moisture retention and microbial activity, and an excessive focus on chemical nutrient indicators at the expense of physical and biological properties (Reddy A., 2019). Furthermore, the exclusion of critical indicators such as cropping history, water resources (soil moisture), soil slope, soil depth, colour, texture (bulk density), and microbiological activity adds to the scheme's limitations. Inadequacies in the soil testing infrastructure compound these challenges (Gupta, 2019).Another set of conflicting policies that promote monocultures, depletion of soil health and ground water revolves around the Minimum Support Prices (MSP) policy, particularly for crops like sugarcane and groundnut. While the policies intend to provide economic support to farmers, they have faced scrutiny for unintentionally fostering monocultures, leading to the overproduction of specific crops, and adopting practices that are detrimental to soil health, groundwater levels, and biodiversity. Notably schemes such as Sugarcane Pricing Policy, Sugar Price (Control) Order, and the Scheme for Assistance to Sugar Mills and Pradhan Mantri Annadata Aay Sanrakshan Yojna, despite their aim to provide minimum support price for farmers, pose challenge due to their focus on a single cash crop and the consequent promotion of monoculture practices. These schemes incentivize extensive cultivation to meet the demands of the crops like sugarcane, oilseeds etc. sugar industry, promoting monocultures, depletion of groundwater and soil health. Several studies shed light on the discernible shift in cropping patterns towards water-intensive crops which has been aggravated by distorted policies of MSP framework (Shiferaw, 2008)  (Sawkar, 2018). The unintended consequences of these policies highlight a pressing need to reevaluate and realign agricultural support measures with agroecological principles to ensure sustainable and environmentally friendly farming practices.In addition, electricity subsidy scheme for agriculture such as PM KUSUM (Pradhan Mantri Kisan Urja Suraksha evam Utthaan Mahabhiyan) which aims at furthering the production of solar power in India and subsidize electricity to farmers, has been linked to water security issues in India. Studies highlight the depletion of groundwater levels as well as the over-exploitation of groundwater in states like Punjab, a key area for the scheme's implementation (Singh, 2019).The extensive reliance on groundwater schemes, especially in areas with water-intensive crops, has led to unsustainable depletion of aquifers. Policies encouraging subsidized electricity for agriculture exacerbate this challenge. In addition, agricultural electricity subsidies in India also have significant implications for crop composition, and environmental sustainability (Badiani, 2013)  (Jessoe, 2018).Centralized Institutions embedded in conventional agriculture system.Moreover, the dominance of technological fixes in agricultural policies, often driven by conventional agricultural research priorities, presents a challenge to the agroecological paradigm. The emphasis is on genetically modified crops, high yield variety crops and chemical inputs. These biases pose several challenges as uncertainties of GM crop on ecosystems, biodiversity, and human health, monoculture HYV cultivation, excessive dependence on chemical inputs leading to soil degradation, water pollution, and adverse effects on non-target organisms, undermining the ecological balance that agroecology seeks to achieve. The challenge posed by the dominance of technological fixes in agricultural policies is further compounded by the broader socio-economic implications. Large-scale adoption of genetically modified crops and high-yield varieties may favour agribusiness interests and multinational corporations and often sideline small-scale farmers who may face challenges accessing expensive patented seeds and inputs. This can lead to the concentration of agricultural resources in the hands of a few, exacerbating social inequality and diminishing the agroecological principle of social equity. National Agriculture Market or eNAM centralization of agricultural markets and infrastructure that prioritizes large farmers.Table 3 shows conflicting polices for agroecological transitions in India.India, with its diverse agricultural landscape, has witnessed the emergence of institutions playing pivotal roles in shaping agroecological initiatives. This essay delves into the functions and contributions of key institutions such as NITI Aayog, the National It also functions as a nodal organization for the promotion of organic farming. It has regional centers across zones and aims to promote chemical-free agricultural systems like organic, natural, and regenerative farming. Serving as a national knowledge repository, it assesses market demand, supply, and production capacities for organic and biological inputs while ensuring quality control and analysis of bio-fertilizers and organic fertilizers.Furthermore, coalitions and efforts of civil society in India play improtant role in facilateing agroecological transition. The National Coalition for Natural Farming is coalistion of civil society organisation, technical partners and government stakeholder plays a pivotal role in building partnerships and facilitating a seamless transition towards agroecology. The coalition collaborates with state agencies and farmers' groups and focuses on providing knowledge and capacity enhancement inputs to its members. This approach is demand-driven, promoting cross-learning and connecting members with knowledge partners to improve the quality and impact of their initiatives. The coalition's emphasis on spreading awareness and understanding of international experiences in agroecological farming contributes significantly to its mission.However, while there are institutions actively support this agroecological transition in India, several challenges and barriers hinder the smooth adoption of agroecology. Institutions supporting subsidies, financial incentives and research institutions predominantly favour conventional farming methods, discouraging farmers from investing time and resources in transitioning to agroecologically sound practices. The lack of targeted financial assistance impedes the adoption of agroecology, especially among small and marginalized farmers (Shah, 2022).In addition, the emphasis on conventional methods, genetically modified organisms (GMOs), and high-yield varieties perpetuates the dominance of chemical-intensive farming. The inertia within research institutions to explore and promote agroecological innovations creates a disconnect between scientific knowledge and on-ground practices (Dorin, 2021) .Another challenge is posed by lack of extension services in rural areas, which acts as a bridge between scientific knowledge and farmers, often lack adequate training and information on agroecological practices. The absence of a robust extension system focusing on agroecology results in a knowledge gap, leaving farmers unaware or sceptical about transitioning to new and sustainable farming methods. Moreover, the extension system is understaffed and burdened with non-extension responsibilities in India (Nedumaran, 2019). Therefore, inertia within these existing agricultural institutions, including regulatory bodies and agricultural universities, is a significant obstacle. The resistance to deviating from conventional practices and embracing innovative agroecological approaches hampers the necessary institutional support required for a smooth transition.The trajectory of India's agricultural policies reflects a dynamic interplay of historical legacies, economic shifts, and environmental imperatives. From the agrarian policies shaped by colonial rulers to the transformative Green Revolution, and later, the market-oriented reforms of the 1990s, the evolution of these policies mirrors the complex challenges and diverse aspirations of the nation. Recent initiatives, exemplified by policies such as PM-PRANAM and the National Mission on Natural Farming demonstrate a growing commitment to advancing sustainable agriculture. This commitment aligns with the broader global discourse on agroecology as a pathway to resilient and environmentally conscious agricultural practices. However, the landscape of Indian agricultural policies is not devoid of contradictions and challenges.Conflicting policies, particularly those reinforcing input subsidies, monoculture practices, and technological fixes, pose hurdles to the agroecological paradigm. The continued emphasis on chemical fertilizers, as evident in the input-subsidy fertilizer schemes, policies promoting monocultures, such as those related to Minimum Support Prices for certain crops, present unintended consequences, emphasizing the imperative to align support measures with agroecological principles. These schemes can be modified to agroecologically conducive by broadening their targets and objectives. One key aspect of this adaptation involves broadening the targets and objectives of the input subsidy program to include explicit support for organic nutrient products. By incorporating organic alternatives into the subsidy program, farmers could be incentivized to adopt practices that prioritize soil health and minimize reliance on synthetic fertilizers. This shift aligns with agroecological principles that emphasize the importance of building and maintaining soil fertility through natural and sustainable means. Furthermore, considering the ongoing debate surrounding genetically modified organisms (GMOs), an integrated approach can be employed to explore their potential integration into agroecological farming practices. Rather than dismissing GMOs outright, the focus can be on evaluating their performance under diverse conditions, such as intercrop systems, and in conjunction with the use of organic nutrients. This approach recognizes the need for a thorough examination of GMOs in different agroecological contexts, ensuring that any potential benefits are weighed against environmental and social considerations. For instance, intercrop systems can contribute to biodiversity and resilience in agricultural landscapes and integrating genetically modified varieties into such systems requires comprehensive research and monitoring to assess their impact on ecological diversity, soil health, and the overall sustainability of the agroecosystem.Similarly, the Soil Health Card scheme could be modified to include a broader set of indicators, covering not only chemical aspects but also biological and physical properties. Include parameters like soil moisture retention, microbial diversity, and organic matter content. It could provide tailored recommendations for agroecological practices such as cover cropping, crop rotation, and organic amendments based on the comprehensive soil health assessment. Likewise, Kisan Credit Card could be specialized amended to be credit card for agroecology and offer lower interest rates and extended repayment periods to incentivize sustainable farming. It could be linked to credit availability to participation in agroecology training programs. Farmers could access enhanced credit facilities upon completion of certified agroecological training. MSP policy could be amended to encourage cultivation of a diverse range of crops, including traditional and climate-resilient varieties. Providing MSP support for agroecologically beneficial crops such as cover crops and legumes, bonus MSP for farmers adopting agroecological practices, promoting sustainable cultivation methods. Furthermore, subsidies could be restructuring subsidies to promote the use of energy-efficient equipment, such as precision irrigation systems and solar-powered pumps for instance encouraging the adoption of renewable energy sources in agriculture by providing subsidies for solar-powered irrigation systems. Such modifications collectively aim to broaden the spectrum of agroecologically conducive policies in India.The agroecological transition in India demands a careful recalibration of existing policies, moving beyond the historical legacy of intensive input use and monoculture. At its core, the agroecological transition demands a departure from the reductionist approach that has often dominated agricultural policies. Instead, it requires fostering a holistic understanding of agricultural systems, embracing diversity, and integrating local knowledge. The challenges posed by conflicting policies should serve as catalysts for innovation, pushing policymakers towards a more sustainable and agroecologically sound agricultural future for India.For instance, the prevalence of input-subsidy fertilizer can be supported by targeted policies that incentivize the adoption of organic inputs and agroecological techniques. Similarly, policies promoting the use of genetically modified crops and high-yield varieties can be reconsidered in the context of agroecology. A more balanced and diversified approach that incorporates traditional and locally adapted crop varieties can enhance resilience in the face of climate change and reduce dependency on external inputs. Agroecological principles advocate for a system that is self-renewing and adaptable, characteristics that are essential for sustainable agriculture in the long run. Therefore, in the pursuit of a sustainable and agroecologically sound agricultural future for India, the policy and institutional context needs to be hyper local, dynamic, and crosssectoral."}

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+{"metadata":{"gardian_id":"1e8ad5d88bfa2726a42dc56c4b96a98c","source":"gardian_index","url":"https://www.iwmi.cgiar.org/Publications/Other/PDF/SSI_Brief.pdf","id":"-594846491"},"keywords":[],"sieverID":"855d24e0-0ca0-4c18-b45e-0130dec7816e","content":"Working with 'adoption by the minority' through farmer to farmer extension approaches, and collaboration with partners outside the agricultural sector, are useful in many di erent social and biophysical contexts.Rapidly increasing populations in the dynamic semi-arid agro-ecosystems in sub-Saharan Africa highlight the necessity to increase food production, while at the same time safeguarding other ecological systems that support human development and well-being.In sub-Saharan Africa, where 95 percent of the total agricultural land is used for rainfed agriculture, productivity is often low, averaging around, or below, one ton per hectare, and the highly variable rainfall patterns make water availability a particular problem. Climate change will exacerbate this problem.In the past, increases in crop production to keep pace with population growth were largely achieved through the expansion of cultivated area. But today, we must also consider ways of improving the productivity of already existing cropping systems. Intensi cation in many other parts of the world has taken place with investments in larger scale irrigation projects. These are however often associated with high costs and sometimes large environmental implications.The identi cation and application of innovative technologies and management practices that improve water availability in rainfed agriculture o er opportunities to increase both food and environmental security. The impact of these innovations has been studied at eld scale for some time. The SSI-programme takes on the challenge of exploring the e ects of these innovations on watershed and river basin scales.There is a big di erence between introducing and promoting a 'technology' and increasing the capacity of the community to adapt and problem solve. Demonstrations, complemented by ongoing learning processes within the 'Farmer Learning Groups' in the two basins, reveal a positive impact on farmers' capacity to experiment, solve problems and adapt water system innovations.In \"Co-learning\" experiments, all farmers involved are given a rain gauge, and jointly with researchers analyze data they collect on precipitation and yields. Continuous engagement of government departments, local extension workers and non-government agencies in the research process added value when they incorporated some of the emerging SSI research ndings on conservation agriculture and rainwater harvesting into their design and planning processes.These catchments di er culturally, in their degree of water stress, their social (government) support systems, the reliance of the population on agriculture for livelihood security, and the sources of technical innovations that exist (indigenous and exogenous). Despite these di erent biophysical and social conditions, adoption dynamics are very similar in both catchments. Common features were seen to be adoption by a minority who are able (already possessing greater biophysical, nancial and social assets than others), and the importance of both successful technology and socio-economic support. Farmer to farmer extension is seen to play a big role in continued adoption. In Tanzania, primary education is an important determinant of adoption of new technologies, suggesting that the Ministry of Education could be an important partner in out-scaling e orts.Water delivery is as important as water harvesting. In semi-arid areas of Tanzania rainfall is intense and intermittent, and ooding through poor delivery control can be as big a problem as drought.Field trials indicate that the main determinant of yield, when water is limiting, is the area of the catchment for rainwater harvesting.Farmers' strategy to continue to expand cultivated area (thus reducing the ratio between runo catchment to cultivated area) is a mal-adaptation to the environment, necessitated by extremely poor yields. This is part of traditional knowledge in arid agricultural systems, but less well integrated into development planning and farmer strategy in semi-arid zones. In South Africa bore wells provided for drinking water are often the most practical source of water for home gardens (see Figure 1). Planning for this use is important when designing water delivery to households.The research is conducted in two di erent catchments in semi-arid to sub-humid regions where water is an important limiting factor for crop growth, smallholder agriculture dominates the landscape and local livelihoods are highly dependent on the annual crop production.The Thukela River in KwaZulu-Natal province in South Africa is the largest river by volume in the country. It is a climatologically and socio-economically diverse watershed on the east coast of South Africa. It is hydrologically complex with high spatial and temporal variability and an unpredictable seasonal climate. Its streams are contaminated by high sediment concentrations and acid mine drainage. The Potshini catchment is characterized by a juxtapositioning of commercial agriculture and industrial economies with impoverished communities dependent on subsistence farming in degraded areas.The Pangani River Basin drains Mt. Kilimanjaro, extending from the northern highlands to the north-eastern coast. The Makanya catchment, located in the South Pare Mountains, in the mid-reaches of the Pangani, represents typical semi-arid to dry sub-humid rainfed agrarian conditions with strong signs of human induced land degradation where land use changes upstream are a ecting hydrology and erosion downstream.Farmers have interesting community water storage in the middle of the watershed and river diversion water harvesting for maize at the lower part of the catchment.Runo diversion from gullies, footpaths, and small streams -roof, household compound, and catchment water harvesting and storage -treadle pumps -conservation and deep tillage with organic soil amendments, and back sloped terracing to capture water on site -are amongst the interventions being studied to supply supplemental irrigation to maize during dry spells and vegetable gardening during the dry season. Institutional innovations are as important as technical innovations. Larger scale storage requires communities to organize and agree on allocation. SSI explores not only the potential of these innovations, but also changes in water cycling, and the impacts widespread adoption may have on downstream water users and the environment.Water SourceSmallholder farmers practice subsistence farming in the Potshini catchment, while downstream land use is dominated by commercial agriculture and forest farming. Understanding how people cope with stresses and shocks, which in semi-arid smallholder agro-ecosystems often are related to drought, is necessary to plan strategies to reduce the vulnerability of these farming communities. In the Tanzanian catchment people rely heavily on savings and the surrounding natural ecosystem for resources in times of drought. These resources are often used to provide temporary income when crops fail (see Figure 3). Without functioning institutions that protect the ecosystem from excessive use, there is a risk that this \"ecosystem insurance capacity\" becomes reduced, compromising the coping capacity of the local population. In South Africa, people also use a wide range of resources in their livelihoods, but they have a substantially larger and more varied set of social support systems.Increasing capacity to mediate and navigate these options is an important entry point for increasing the adaptive capacity of the community.  Supplemental irrigation to bridge dry spells makes the di erence between success and failure of the maize crop. This farm had access to the limited supply of water stored in a community reservoir. Cultivated area has now far outstripped the capacity of the reservoir, and less than 1 in 20 farmers will get the required water at the critical time.By increasing crop water availability and stabilizing on-farm yield levels well-designed small-scale water system innovations may restore overall productivity in agro-ecosystems. Land degradation is a major constraint to productivity in many semi-arid agro-ecosystems. Problems at eld scale, for example, surface crusting, reduced water holding capacity, and declining nutrient levels, limit the productivity of water and lead to declining harvests. At larger scales, land degradation has to do with expansion of farming land into marginal areas, deforestation, or unsustainable grazing management. There seems to be a signi cant potential to shift unproductive evaporation to productive transpiration and biomass production, and mitigate degradation, by using water system innovations to restore water balances. In the Potshini no-till plots retained more moisture and produced less seasonal runo than conventionally tilled plots. In Makanya, constructed fanya juus terraces result in increased soil moisture availability and have contributed signi cantly towards better maize yields.Unit Electrode Spacing = 5.00m.Understanding linkages between surface and groundwater is vital when making water resource development decisions. In the Potshini catchment in South Africa surface and groundwater systems are very closely linked, and stream base ow is coupled to this shallow groundwater. It can be expected that the di erent technologies tested will have a direct and relatively easy to predict e ect on water ows out of the catchment (see Figure 2). In the Makanya catchment in Tanzania, geology is more complex. While surface streams are also coupled closely with shallow groundwater, sub-surface water can follow fault lines to emerge in catchments other than those where the rain fell, complicating simple water balance modeling. Water use impacts of interventions upstream may be disconnected from downstream impacts in both space and time, but are unlikely to have signi cant impact on spate irrigation directly downstream which is dependent on large ood events.The Programme SSI is a research programme that aims to produce high quality science that can improve the livelihoods of the rural poor in semi-arid agro-ecosystems of sub-Saharan Africa. "}

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+{"metadata":{"gardian_id":"627183e01f0e912b02422f225f2ef3c1","source":"gardian_index","url":"https://cgspace.cgiar.org/rest/bitstreams/c6cf335c-4f96-4bb4-ad09-2768dc1570e5/retrieve","id":"-1442265789"},"keywords":[],"sieverID":"f28d4e52-efa5-46df-8dab-66a1f3ee9c74","content":"The Reto-o-Reto project (I help you, you help me in the local Maasai pastoralists' language), implemented between 2003 and 2008, aimed to help balance action on poverty alleviation and wildlife conservation in four pastoral ecosystems in East Africa. One of these was the Athi-Kaputiei Plains, which lie just to the south of the world-famous Nairobi National Park -long celebrated for its lions and herds of zebra, wildebeest and antelope. Lessons from the project supported the development and adoption of a pioneering land-use master plan for the area which is now helping Maasai pastoralists better manage their land, livestock and wildlife resources.For the pastoralists of the Athi-Kaputiei Plains the drought of 2009-2010 was one of the worst in living memory. 'Many people lost almost all their livestock,' says pastoralist William Kasio. 'The vultures were so full they couldn't eat any more. Even the lions had had enough.' At the local slaughterhouse, over 20,000 emaciated cattle were burned and buried during the drought, and the surrounding plains were littered with sun-bleached carcasses. For the Maasai, droughts are nothing new, but many believe there is an even graver threat to their survival as cattle herders. 'Land sales and the subdivision and fencing off of open land-that's been the biggest problem we've faced in recent years,' says Kasio, chairman of a marketing organisation based at the slaughterhouse.A generation ago, livestock and wildlife ranged freely across the plains. Today, their movements are hindered by fences; roads, quarries, cement works, flower farms and new buildings. If the development trends of the past decade continue, then the pastoral way of life, and the great wildlife migrations in and out of Nairobi National Park, could become little more than a memory. But now, thanks to a communityinspired planning exercise, there's a good chance this will not happen.The Athi-Kaputiei land-use 'master plan', launched in 2011, provides the local council with the legislative teeth it needs to ensure that large expanses of land remain free of fencing and that new developments are confined to specific areas. At the end of the 19th century, the Athi-Kaputiei Plains were said to boast the most spectacular concentration of wildlife in East Africa. In those days there were four times as many wild herbivores as there were cattle. Now the reverse is true, with the wildlife beating a steady retreat.Between 1977 and 2002, the wildlife populations in the plains to the south of Nairobi National Park fell by over 70%. Particularly hard hit were migratory animals such as wildebeest, which traditionally graze in the national park during the dry season and move south in search of new pasture during the wet season. From nearly 40,000 migrating animals in the 1970s, wildebeest numbers have fallen to about 1,000 today.ILRI research suggests that two factors are to blame: poaching and the loss of habitat and open space. The sub-division of land, frequently followed by the erection of fences, has also made it harder for the pastoralists to move their animals around in search of water and fresh pasture.Even before ILRI produced its first maps, conservationists realised something had to be done to keep the migratory routes open. A Wildlife Conservation Lease Program, launched in 2000, encouraged pastoralists to keep their land open by paying them 300 shillings (USD 4) per acre per year. By 2010, 275 families, owners of some 30,000 acres, had signed up.'The lease scheme is helping to protect one of East Africa's five great migratory routes, but it isn't enough on its own to prevent further losses of wildlife', says Jan de Leeuw, former head of ILRI's pastoral livelihoods group. 'The master plan will certainly help and it's a very important step towards improving the management of the plains, but it's also imperative that we improve the financial situation of the pastoralists to a level where they become the champions of conservation.'This is one of the few places in the world where you can see major wildlife populations, including lions; rhino, giraffe, zebra, wildebeest and various antelope grazing, hunting and being hunted against the backdrop of a populous city, often in the company of Maasai cattle. Little wonder, then, that there are conflicts between conservation and development, and sometimes between wildlife and the Maasai. Some of these conflicts will persist-the locals are deeply concerned, for example, about the building of a new town for Nairobi slumdwellers-but the master plan provides the local council, for the first time, with the means to control development. 'I'm very optimistic,' says Councillor Kisemei from the local county council. 'I think the master plan will help us to secure the future for the Maasai and for the wildlife. And if we succeed, it will provide a model which could be used in other areas where wildlife and humans live close together.'Indeed the lessons learned from this work are helping to shape a major new dryland agriculture initiative -Integrated and Sustainable Agricultural Production Systems for Improved Food Security and Livelihoods in Dry Areas. The program is led by ILRI's sister institute, the International Center for Agricultural Research in Dry Areas (ICARDA).The dry areas of the developing world occupy about 3 billion hectares and are home to 2.5 billion people: 41% of the earth's land area and more than one-third of its population; 16% of this population lives in chronic poverty. Drylands face serious environmental constraints, which are likely to worsen as a result of climate change. "}

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+{"metadata":{"gardian_id":"179d6e0db06c689bb248b6579fae2f1e","source":"gardian_index","url":"https://cgspace.cgiar.org/rest/bitstreams/b0984a4d-cbce-40c3-b305-94942a220c08/retrieve","id":"237788128"},"keywords":[],"sieverID":"cca5dd67-f11c-4216-b78d-44fdeb599d9b","content":"Understanding where and how gender matters in developing country livestock systems, and addressing any barriers these create, is key to gender-equitable livestock development.Women and men livestock-keepers can differ in their aspirations, roles, benefits and preferences on livestock species, breeds, and traits. This makes it vital to include both women and men in targeting of genetic improvement priorities.Gendered considerations on the choice of genetic improvement strategies include who can participate, the required investment level including on labour, and the expected benefit and time-scale of its achievement.During implementation of participatory breeding programs, logistics and incentives for continued farmer participation are key to sustainability, and these may differ depending on whether women, men or both are involved.To ensure those who wish to adopt the improved livestock genetics can do so and enjoy benefits, gender equitable access to the improved livestock genetics, as well as the resources needed to afford the technology, should be ensured.Intrahousehold benefits from use of the improved genetics technology should be equitable. Here a key concern is the shift in benefits between intrahousehold members associated with adoption of the genetic technology.Aspirations, roles, benefits and preferences are affected by gender dynamics and norms that influence intra-household sharing of resources, decision making and opportunities.Issues of gendered control over the household livestock enterprises may need to be addressed. These include decision-making on investments and engagement with genetic technologies, access to information, mobility, interaction with service providers, and market access for the products Key stages for integration of gender considerations into livestock genetic improvement strategies*"}

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+{"metadata":{"gardian_id":"943146768f23ec1786d50d07a5a93174","source":"gardian_index","url":"https://cgspace.cgiar.org/rest/bitstreams/ce0dd431-3f52-40c4-8bd2-50638ca753fb/retrieve","id":"1535951747"},"keywords":[],"sieverID":"a47fe19e-3746-4bd8-b6c9-ca2fb3d4b27b","content":"the concept of 'super platforms'. He discusses their potential for agriculture as well as the challenges associated with their use.12 The data revolution in agriculture requires effective use of open data. Chipo Msengezi presents GODAN Action's capacity building strategies for data use.ver the last 20 years, ICT Update has followed and reported on the rapidly changing landscape in ICTs for agriculture and digitalisation of the sector. The definition of digitalisation for agriculture, according to The Digitalisation of African Agriculture Report, 2018-2019, \"is the use of digital technologies, innovations, and data to transform business models and practices across the agriculture value chain, including production, postharvest handling, market access, finance and supply chain management.\" In this edition, which unfortunately will be the last, recent work of CTA in promoting digitalisation for agriculture is featured, as well as the associated impacts.At CTA, we are applying ICTs to agriculture to address the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), whilst ensuring there is a solid business case to support the costs of using the technology. We have taken existing problems expressed by our partners and sought solutions (see Figure 1).Through partnership, we identify the areas of agricultural transformation that can help achieve the SDGs, and support actions where digitalisation can assist. For example, our work with the Pan African Farmers Organisation identified farmer profiling as a common issue in aggregating farmers to deliver benefits in production and value chain management, and access to markets and finance. To address this, we have worked with farmers associations across Africa to facilitate the digital registration of their members. By building capacities in digital literacy and bringing in expertise, CTA has used new technology, such as drones, to put more information in the hands of the farmer organisations to improve yields and has worked with local technology operators to develop sustainable businesses. Insurance applications have been bundled to address climate risks and new software has been developed to provide farmers with forecasting and agronomic advice. In order to maximise the use of new technologies and develop applications, the efficient exchange of data is required. We have worked with partners to look at how data sharing and exchange can be equitable so that smallholder farmers can also participate in the benefits of open farm data.At CTA, we are applying ICTs to agriculture to address the SDGs, whilst ensuring there is a solid business case to support the costs of using the technology Editorial This issue of ICT Update describes new technologies and approaches to using ICTs in agriculture. We are often asked about project results, so here we present a series of cases from our own experiences.Based on his experiences working with young digital 'agripreneurs' and agribusinesses, Ken Lohento presents key strategies to help start-ups achieve business success. Ben Addom describes one of the key findings from the Digitalisation of African Agriculture Report -the development of ICT super-platforms -and his experience of the Market-led User-owned ICT4Ag-enabled Information Service project. Giacomo Rambaldi shows how new technologies have been applied to support agricultural transformation, and how this has resulted in new businesses and services. Chris Addison and Chipo Msengezi discuss the importance of data management in support of digitalisation, as illustrated through their projects studying data use in the field, capacity building in data use, and improving policy to ensure data is more effectively shared. And the role of applying applications to address one of the biggest threats to smallholders -climate change -is illustrated by Olu Ajayi and Mariam Kadzamira.We have not only applied digitalisation to our partner projects, but to our own practices as well. The management of our agricultural projects is now supported by a series of dashboards and our IT systems have been ramped up to handle and visualise the data. Ibrahim Khadar explains how this has been achieved. To capture and analyse this data, we have worked with external partners, as explained by Martine Koopman and Claudia Ayim, who detail some of the evaluation work of our digitalisation projects. Ten key success drivers of young digital start-ups servicing the agri-food sectorPhoto credit: CTA Ken Lohento, Senior Programme Coordinator ICT4Ag Youth Entrepreneurship at CTA, discusses ten key strategies to help young digital ag-tech start-ups achieve 'business success'.TA has been operating the AgriHack Talent 1 initiative since September 2013 when its first 'hackathon' for agriculture was organised. Ensibuuko, a youth-led company from Uganda (they now offer digitallysupported financial management services to around 200,000 farmers), won the first prize. Since then, AgriHack has developed into a renowned programme which has supported more than 1,500 young entrepreneurs offering advisory, market linkage, financial and supply chain management services to more than 1 million stakeholders. During the implementation of AgriHack, and in a framework of an MBA research 2 (undertaken with a friend), we have identified ten key success drivers for youth-led digital ag-tech operations.We can define business success as an economic activity which provides satisfaction to its owners and stakeholders (particularly customers), and generates a level of revenue that permits sustainability. Success is therefore defined by financial indicators (sales, profit margin, market share, etc.) and non-financial indicators (customer satisfaction, personal achievement, social impact, business longevity, etc.). This conceptual understanding is also valid for digital agribusinesses of which success depends on customer satisfaction. While digital agribusiness start-ups struggle to achieve sustained profits for a variety of reasons 3,4 , some are generating social impacts or business longevity (leveraging grants and public funding if needed). As achieving 'business success' represents climbing the 'Everest' for seasoned and younger digital ag-tech start-ups, strategies to ensure this happens need to be continuously devised.The 10 success drivers for youth-led digital ag-tech start-upsIn a survey of 582 entrepreneurs in six sub-Saharan countries, 71% of participants indicated that there was insufficient equity capital for start-ups 5 . Similarly, about 90% of finalists from three of CTA's Pitch AgriHack competitions revealed that they fund their ventures mainly with their savings; grants and family donations or loans come next as funding sources. However, experts, including financiers, claim that many young ventures are not fundable and that most of them lack financial management skills 6 . To address these concerns, CTA has been, among others, training all Pitch AgriHack finalists on investment readiness, in collaboration with venture capitals, since 2017. ACP countries' venture capital and angel networks are becoming better organised but must provide more readily available capital to youth ventures.A concern many start-ups raise is taxation; in most African countries, newly-created businesses have to pay the same corporate taxes as mature businesses. Young entrepreneurs would benefit from policies that, in their early years, exempt them from paying taxes. A tax holiday 7 adopted by the Ghanaian Government for start-ups may be seen as model. In addition, policies facilitating affordable access to digital technologies, in rural areas in particular, as well as increased digitalisation in the agricultural sector, are strong business enablers.A lack of business acumen is perceived as a 'gravedigger' for youth-led start-ups. Stakeholders offering business development services, such as incubators, are attempting to address this; however, those specialised in digital technologies are largely new and still fragile. Above all, very few incubators or accelerators have the double capacity in agribusiness and digital technologies, which is needed to be successful in this sector. Finally, to attract serious investors or banks, young companies need to illustrate rigorous business processes, sound corporate governance, human resource and financial management principles. Institutions supporting start-ups therefore need to better facilitate access to these capacities.Enabling policy environment The mobilisation of a variety of digital and agriculture business stakeholders help young entrepreneurs build their capacities and access profitable markets. Youths depend on these partnerships as they have limited assets and business networks. Implementing viable ag-tech business models strongly depends on the ecosystem's institutional collaboration. The start-ups need to know how to build these partnerships.Lack of digital literacy, particularly amongst farmers, impedes the adoption of services offered and increases customer acquisition costs. Strategic collaboration with agricultural support organisations (CTA, FAO, etc.) can help to address these challenges, as they may pay start-ups for capacity building and some marketing services.Committed human resources are usually lacking in youth businesses but are vital for their growth. They also need to retain the know-how acquired internally. Unfortunately, most lack capital and strategies to ensure this. Apart from the founders, few people are ready to work for free or with insufficient remunerations. Very often, employees that young businesses have trained for months then leave for more established businesses promising higher pay. Good practices to successfully address this challenge include nurturing a sense of belonging and collective company ownership. Ghanaian start-up Farmerline, for example, regularly recognises employees on social media and provides opportunities to non-founders, including attending conferences.Targeting institutions (cooperatives, restaurants, NGOs, etc.) guarantees more sustainable revenue than targeting individual farmers who are usually unwilling or unable to pay for digital services. Institutions can act as proxies, offering services procured from start-ups to individual farmers. Collaborating with institutions that have a large user-base (though not easy to achieve) can also be a winning strategy. Bradstorne Enterprises from Botswana (Pitch AgriHack 2016 winner which operates mAgri) has successfully adopted this strategy by working with mobile provider Orange. Bundling digital and non-digital services is a very effective business model for targeting individual farmers. Entrepreneurs should learn to develop services that leverage data, but must protect farmers' data rights. Some services may also facilitate revenue generation. For example, some drone services easily generate revenue, but offering advisory services (as a single service) via mobile phone is Some young start-ups are already achieving great impacts. We need to better nurture all the others, which will ultimately lead to more jobs and growth for our economiesKen Lohento is Senior Programme Coordinator ICT4Ag Youth Entrepreneurship at CTA. lohento@cta.intTo achieve success, start-ups need internal resources such as relevant ICT and agricultural equipment, and adequate systems. External factors include the existence of adequate digital infrastructure and connectivity, especially in rural areas, to enable better uptake of the companies' services.Designing excellent digital platforms, that also respond to the target user's socio-technical profile, especially farmers, and that are easy to use, is essential. Many young entrepreneurs do not have strong digital expertise. Prototypes developed during many hackathons struggle to be finalised because of a lack of advanced software capacity. Many e-commerce platforms that are available have no internally-developed algorithms or distinctive features, so are unable to provide a comparative advantage and become a successful service.Last but not least, it is critical for the young start-ups to have good agricultural expertise in the team, including good knowledge of the agricultural ecosystem in regions they target. Some young start-ups are already achieving great impacts. We need to better nurture all the others, which will ultimately lead to more jobs and growth for our economies. The Market-led User-owned ICT4Ag-enabled Information Service (MUIIS) in Uganda -a digital agricultural service funded by the Dutch government and implemented by CTA -started as a bundled service with precision advisory and agri-insurance services. The service is now moving to integrate payments, credit, and market linkage elements as it explores a move to a super platform model. The biggest challenge while building this model with MUIIS has been securing relevant stakeholders, particularly with a lack of private sector/business partners. In hindsight, I'd have gone for a model of super platform in which governments take the lead. Government builds the basic data infrastructure -the middleware. Private sector partners -including banks and input dealers, which need to provide services to smallholder farmers -would then be able to join and build the super platforms in partnership with the government and use this strong foundation to continue the process. Providers of financial services, advisory services, market linkages, and supply chains, etc. could all be part of the system.In order for banks to give loans to farmers, for example, they need to know the farmers, and it is governments that are most likely to be the reliable source for such data, the data infrastructure, and the middleware, including farmer's digital IDs; so banks need to partner with governments to be able to provide financial services to farmers in a more trusted way. A mobile network operator (MNO) that wants to deliver mobile services to farmers needs to work with the government to access farmer data. With data infrastructure, aggregators can easily locate farmers, know what crop they are growing for the season and the yield forecast, among others. This data can also be used to secure loans from banks to purchase the produce from farmers.While governments can provide basic infrastructure for super platforms, they cannot do everything; the private sector has an important role. Governments are not businessoriented so may not be able to build strong business models for sustainability, for example, so if business models are not built into the platform, they will not work. A key factor that must be built into a super platform is 'who will pay for the services' to be delivered to the end users. Super platforms will only have a future if they can define how that payment is made; whether it is farmers, or businesses.Super platforms are interesting models which have advantages and challenges, but I'm not a fan. I am not sure if we have yet reached a stage in Africa where the advantages of super platforms outweigh the challenges. The young digital entrepreneurs that we work with and support do not have the Solutions that bundle multiple digital agricultural services have the capacity to unlock the potential of smallholder farmers. However, emerging 'super platforms' are complex and their impacts need to be carefully assessed before being widely promoted in Africa.A super platform is a type of digital agricultural solution which bundles together, in one platform, multiple different services for farmers or other smallholder value chain intermediaries and, typically, integrates digital advisory services, market linkage services, and financial services, among others. It's not about a bucket list of services on one platform by a given service provider; super platforms bring services that complement each other together, enabling them to strengthen one another and create added value.Super platforms take a comprehensive approach to service provision by linking farmers to market (input and output) and to the broader ecosystem of finance, advice, and other services, thereby reducing layers of intermediaries and creating immediate economic value. Minimising the Below: CTA's MUIIS is moving to integrate payments, credit, and market linkage elements as it explores a move to a super platform model Photo credit: CTA capacity to build such platforms in Africa. So, if I promote super platforms as the way to go, then I'm killing their businesses. For example, if the 'powerful' such as a government or MNO invest in such a model without considering young start-ups/entrepreneurs, these young people will be out of business the next day. Unless we define the role of each actor in the partnership, identify ways and put in place measures and strategies for the start-ups to work with the 'powerful', the 'powerful' are likely to take over, and this may not be in the interest of smallholder farmers. The 'powerful' can invest in the development of super platforms, but sustaining this within the development context is another issue as the interest of the 'powerful' ismost of the time -for profit, not development.Developing, operating and sustaining a super platform is extremely complex and difficult. Hence simple and focused platforms could potentially be more successful than those that promise to do everything. At the same time, we have seen the very low survival rate of these single service platforms. Therefore, it will be good to see how the complexBen Addom is ICTs for Agriculture Team Leader at CTA and one of the authors of the recent Digitalisation of African Agriculture Report. addom@cta.int super platforms that aim to combine a number of services actually operate and are sustained. Hence, if I look into the future, I see few of the super platforms surviving across the continent.So, we have to wait and see how they survive, and then assess their impact before we promote them more widely. The concept needs to be proven under the various geographic contexts and then we need to see how to scale and sustain them. • In addition, CTA project implementers co-authored the report, Drones on the Horizon: Transforming Africa's Agriculture, which was launched at the Africa Innovation Summit in Kigali in June 2018. Project beneficiaries have also played a critical role in advising national civil aviation authorities in developing regulations for the responsible use of drones.Despite the Africa-wide interest in UAS, a number of challenges have been experienced during project implementation and development of drone-based services linked to: 1) disabling regulatory frameworks (e.g. Uganda, where no framework is in place); 2) lack of access to capital for upscaling (in the initial phases of business development); 3) initial lack of understanding of the potentials and pitfalls of the technology; 4) difficulties in cloud data processing due to poor internet connectivity in most countries; 5) steep learning curve in using data processing software; 6) need to develop a price structure for UAS services; and 7) a lack of agronomic skills within most of the drone enterprises which have more of a focus on GIS, remote sensing and ICTs.Nevertheless, over time, the challenges have been addressed either via the project or by the 38 youth-led enterprises themselves. Assisting the AU in realising the potential of the technology resulted in the issuance of the AU's Executive Council decision, encouraged many national civil aviation authorities to develop and promulgate their own regulations. Training offered by the project and regular mentoring facilitated the enterprises in being more responsive to challenges and more competent in delivering their services. On-site instead of online data processing addressed the challenge posed by poor connectivity. Constant information sharing among members facilitated the establishment of ad-hoc partnerships and mutual learning.A Community of Practice (CoP) was established with members sharing common interests and goals which has also led to the establishment of a 'first of its kind' industry association -Africa Goes Digital Inc (AfGD), which is supporting further growth and outreach of the member enterprises. Learning and information exchange in order to maximise on opportunities and help to address challenges has been facilitated through the project via a WhatsApp group, which has become the pulsating heart of the CoP. The group has continued to expand -consisting now of approximately 80 members from across 21 different African countries (see ICT Update 92: http://bit.ly/2L2hTMT).Whilst the terms drone technology and UAS are used here interchangeably, UAS is not just the drone or unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) but also includes the sensor(s); the controller used to command it; the pilot; the apps used for flying; the analytical software used to analyse the (multispectral) imagery captured by the sensors; the data scientist, who performs data analysis; and, finally, the computer which hosts the analytical software.UAS are evolving at breath-taking speed and are increasingly relying on artificial intelligence to feed decision support systems. Currently, high-end UAS solutions are providing real-time actionable information visualised as, for example, geo-referenced index maps or infrared imagery, which allow on the spot data interpretation andAfrica's agriculture sector is being progressively transformed into a high-tech industry through digital services. Decisions are being based on real-time gathering and processing of data, feeding into increasingly effective decision support systems. Unmanned aerial systems (UAS) are an integral part of this digital revolution. action. CTA is funding a sub-project in Ethiopia where UAS are being used to calibrate an existing algorithm aimed at estimating wheat yields according to local agro-ecological conditions. Once upscaled and matched with satellitegenerated data, this kind of information will be of strategic importance to the Ethiopian government for mitigating food shortages in years of adverse climatic conditions.In June 2019, a survey was conducted to assess project outcomes and impact. Results revealed that most enterprises had recruited additional staff (72% aged between 18 and 35 years) contributing to youth employment. Of the 32 respondents, 97% stated that offering drone services had improved their companies' visibility and reputation. Results also show that during the first 6 months of 2019, 19% of the companies had signed service contracts in excess of €50,000, each one including a drone component. Enterprises had also signed more service contracts with private companies (54%) than donor agencies (14%), and the value of individual contracts increased compared to previous assessments, indicating the enterprises' viability and sustainability.The survey also revealed that agriculture (60%) and surveying and mapping (31%) were the service domains yielding the highest volume of business, although the most successful enterprises were those that had diversified the most and were also serving other sectors such as engineering and construction, real estate and mining. Overall, the 32 enterprises served 209 farmers' organisations, 65 government agencies and a total of almost 16,000 farmers.In terms of policymaking, 38% of surveyed enterprises reported having contributed to the passing of national regulations governing the use of drones, with 75% stating that their staff reviewed or commented on draft regulations.While the CTA project comes to an end, the long-term sustainability of drone-based services for agriculture will be ensured through AfGD, which is a legally incorporated industry association representing African enterprises providing digital services across a number of sectors beyond agriculture. AfGD provides a range of services to members and sources funding to support its activities as well as members' growth in terms of enterprise management, business development and acquisition and service delivery. Members have to meet a number of eligibility criteria to be part of AfGD and pay membership fees to access the services. All AfGD members are currently CTA project beneficiaries but, going forward, AfGD membership will be opened up to non-project beneficiaries who meet the eligibility criteria. Increased availability of agricultural data could help overcome key challenges for the sector, however many stakeholders still struggle to access and interpret agridata. GODAN's Action project aims to tackle this issue. R apid internet and mobile phone penetration, reduction in hardware costs and digitalisation are stimulating innovation for sustainable agri-food systems, and allowing the production of better and safer food. Inclusive, digital and data-driven agricultural practices can increase and improve livelihoods for smallholder farmers while driving greater participation of women and youth, meanwhile creating employment along the value chain.From the coffee farmer in Uganda who could be using a mobile to market her crops online, to the young entrepreneur in Zambia aiming for self-employment in agriculture -digital literacy provides an essential set of skills needed to find and communicate information in the modern world. The development of robust digital tools for the agriculture sector relies heavily on the availability of reliable, quality data regarding weather, land administration, land use, markets, soil health, pests and diseases, among other variables. Such data falls into a spectrum from 'closed' to 'open', with open data being data that anyone can access, use or share 1 . The more openor FAIR 2 i.e., findable, accessible, interoperable, reusablethe better for agricultural development.A United Nations report 3 on mobilising the data revolution for sustainable development, stressed the need for improved governments' and citizens' data literacy to remove barriers between people and data. In this context, one of the focal areas of GODAN Action * -a 3-year project led by CTA -was to develop and strengthen the capacity of potential open data users (e.g. researchers, ICT professionals, journalists and policymakers) to understand the value of open data and practically engage with it, in order to tackle key agriculture and nutrition challenges.The envisioned impacts of the intervention -outlined in the project's Theory of Change 4 -were: 1) improved service delivery by businesses using open data in agriculture and nutrition; 2) smallholders, communities of practice, business and other stakeholders empowered by being able to access and use open data; 3) data-driven business creation; 4) increased transparency of decision-making by policymakers, since it will be clearer to the public how these decisions came to be and whether or not they are justified; and 5) better evidence-based policy and decisionmaking. The inception phase of GODAN Action, which was funded by the UK's Department for International Development benchmarked existing skills for open data use and developed a capacity development action plan 5 with thematic modules aligned with weather, land and nutrition data.During the implementation phase, several approaches were adopted to deliver training and build capacity. One approach was face-to-face workshops which had a positive response and led to requests for more and continuous learning. Workshops have been held in Botswana, Ecuador, Ghana, Kenya, Rwanda, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, USA and Zimbabwe. Over 200 infomediaries, researchers and policymakers have attended the eight courses held in Africa so far. Advantages of this approach include its adaptability to the specific audience; increased trainer-toparticipant interaction and engagement; and promotion of peer-to-peer learning from rich sectoral experience and knowledge exchange.After taking part in a face-to-face workshop, many participants went on to complete a free 4-week e-learning course 6  *GODAN Action is a 3-year project to enable data users, producers and intermediaries to engage effectively with open data in the agriculture and nutrition sectors. In particular the aim is to strengthen capacity, promote common standards and best practice, and improve how impact is measured. http://bit.ly/2YIMKDLMonthly webinars 8 , provided with the support of the GODAN Secretariat, have proved to be a successful way to reach wide audiences and engage other communities and networks working with open data. Webinars cover a variety of agriculture-data topics (such as land data management and nutrition) and societal issues (such as the link between gender and open data). They have also provided a way to encourage practitioners and professionals to join the GODAN Capacity Development Working Group to share their findings.The project is now assessing the impact of its approaches on the Alfred Mwaura, an extensionist by profession, has been using skills gained through the e-learning course to collect, manage and analyse data from coffee farmers, millers and buyers. \"I've developed an open market for small scale coffee farmers,\" Mwaura reveals. \"Open data can be used to improve coffee prices for small-scale coffee farmers in Kenya and help fight poverty.\" Natasha Mhango -a senior agricultural information and publications officer at Zambia's Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock -is also using skills she honed to write and publish data driven articles about the biggest issues in agriculture and nutrition in a weekly print newsletter for farmers and a blog. \"My stories now have more credibility. I backup statements I make with relevant and credible stats and findings from verified data sources.\"Increasingly we see that there is a high level of commitment from development partners, the private sector,  CTA's Data4Ag project has introduced digital solutions in Africa to assist farmers organisations in registering their members to offer targeted agricultural services. Whilst impacts from the field have been impressive, questions have been raised around the collection and use of farmer data, and the need for policy development.TA's Data4Ag project focuses on one of the key enablers of change and collective operation in agricultural production; the farmer organisation. There are 700 million smallholders around the world with as many as 300 million coming from Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific. In some African countries, smallholders contribute up to 70% of agricultural production 1 .Over 4 years, the Data4Ag project has worked with the Pan African Farmers Organisation to ask farmer organisation members from across the continent about the core development needs for their associations. All respondents mentioned digital farmer registration services as key to enhancing operations as this would enable the provision of targeted services.Since 2016, the Data4Ag project has supported seven initiatives across Africa (outlined in ICT Update Issue 89: http://bit.ly/37EcK6D) to register more than 120,000 farmers. The process validated approaches to digitalising farmer registration and produced lessons on capacity building for farmer organisation development -as well as raised policy issues around data privacy. The results from these projects have been used as inputs for a massive open online course on farm data management 2 , developed by the GODAN Action network (see p12, GODAN Action: digital capacity building).The confederation of agricultural producers for development in Burundi (CAPAD) has supported 39 smallholder cooperatives to register over 14,000 farmers (55% women), and has issued all members with an ID card. The data collected has enabled farmer organisations to better plan for the 2019 and 2020 seasons through bulk ordering of, for example, mineral fertilisers (1,059 t), rice seed (27 t) and corn seed (18 t). Collection of the farmer information has also facilitated rapid processing of applications foragricultural credit and as a result, 2,896 farmer organisations members have received FBu 214,275,049 (>€100,000). Digital membership has also allowed cooperatives to better organise their post-harvest management and marketing of agricultural products; so far in 2019, 4,052 t of rice, 132 t of maize and 131 t of beans have been sold collectively.CTA-supported digital solutions, including farmer registration and drone trials, have increased the resilience and sustainability of livelihoods for Ugandan coffee farmers of the National Union of Coffee Agribusinesses and Farm Enterprises (NUCAFE). The innovations have doubled production and productivity for farmers, increased their access to finance and premium markets, and raised incomes by over 30%. With the use of digital tools, coffee can be traceably and transparently handled, and for this information, buyers are willing to pay a premium price. NUCAFE can now prove its coffee supplies are grown above a certain altitudean indication of higher quality beans -and buyers from South Korea, for example, are now interested in the product.The number of profiled NUCAFE farmers has reached 14,000 farmers and as a result, the Union is now a Fairtrade certified 'conveyor' -passing on the Fairtrade minimum price and/or premium to producers. With this recognition, Fairtrade-certified coffee sales are expected to increase from 38.4 t worth around €160,000 in 2018 to 210 t worth €875,000 in 2019/2020 -despite a 13-year low in world coffee markets.The Igara Growers Tea Factory (IGTF) also benefits from CTA's support in developing data-driven services for farmer members. The instalment of 40 digital weighing scales, for instance, is helping the agribusiness to pay for farmers' raw material on receipt, and delivery records for over 4,000 farmers are stored by the new systems. Digital profiling of farmers has captured their locations and farm size information, which means field extension services are better targeted and produce quality has improved. This is reflected in the price received at the tea auction market where IGTF is earning more than its competitors. Local youths are now also involved in the initiative, with over 40 using mobile apps to collect tea from the farmer members, and 70 are using GPS-enabled tablets to validate farmer data for the profiling platform.An e-discussion on FAO's e-agriculture website, held in 2018 with the Data4Ag team and researchers from Wageningen University and Research (WUR), resulted in a mix of insights regarding data driven services for agriculture from the perspectives of research and practical application. The services discussed ranged from farmer registration and extension, to access to credit and markets.There were a number of issues raised by the researchers from WUR, the project partners and external companies involved in the data services regarding the collection of data from the farmer registration process.The concerns have been published in various studies, and include the following:• \"The primary farmer may not be head of the household.\" 3 • \"Development policies in Malawi still largely consider men as 'the farmers' and therefore neglect female farmers and the complexity of gender relations.\"  • \"Coops need to be pragmatic in applying the traditional principle of open membership, in order to avoid the inclusion of free-riders and the risk to end up with a production that exceeds market demand.\" 6 One of the main emerging issues of data driven approaches in agriculture, as highlighted by the discussion, was the need for farmers to have their say in the use of their data. For this reason, the Data4Ag project dedicated part of the project to support farmer organisations in controlling the use of farmer data.Together with the Global Forum on Research and Innovation and GODAN, CTA investigated how farmers could have a say in the exchange of their data to access agricultural services. It was noted that whilst legislation on data privacy is starting to emerge, the situation regarding data services is far from clear. Instead, countries and regions are developing codes of conduct regarding how data is exchanged 7 . Following a series of CTA workshops, convened together with the Association for Technology and Structures in Agriculture, it became apparent that there was a need to break down information regarding data control into modules to provide farmers organisations with a set of data privacy codes of conduct.The following points were also discussed at the workshops: 1. The need for trust centres (units that handle data management and control) social responsibility mechanisms (i.e. certifications such as Fairtrade) and business models that enable an equitable share of proceeds from data usage.of data cooperatives for data exchange and collective negotiation of data rights. 3. The need for national and international policies, international agreements and treaties that enable fair data flows and counter power imbalances around data ownership.One of the emerging issues of data driven approaches in agriculture is the need for farmers to have their say in the use of their dataA need to evaluate the application of existing relevant data laws (privacy, business data, database copyright), avoid the development of new specific laws which cannot be enforced, and replace them with voluntary codes of conduct for data exchange.A number of policy issues arose from the Data4Ag project, which have been raised by the farmers organisations and were subsequently included in major strategy plans for digitalisation, such as the Africa EU rural taskforce and the FAO digital council. W eather-based index insurance (WBI) has been one of the key components of CTA's flagship project 'Scaling-up Climate-smart Agricultural Solutions for Cereal and Livestock Farmers', which began in August 2017. The project aimed to increase food security, nutrition and income for 140,000 rural smallholder households affected by changing climatic conditions within maizelivestock based farming systems, by upscaling proven climatesmart agriculture solutions -such as insurance -in Malawi, Zambia and Zimbabwe. The project adopted a bundle of solutions in which, alongside insurance, farmers are offered access to drought tolerant maize, weather information services and diversified livelihood options.Traditionally, these farmers have not been targeted by insurance companies, partly because of the high costs of dealing with individual farmers in rural areas. Yet, farmers often lack adaptive capacity, which makes them vulnerable to climatic uncertainties. Index-based insurance shifts the risk from farmers to the insurers, as compensation is provided in the event of climatic or weather-related croploss. In this project, total annual rainfall is used as an 'index' to trigger insurance pay-outs. Hence, farmers get paid when drought or prolonged dry spells significantly impact crop production, and the pay-out allows farmers to purchase agricultural inputs (specifically seeds) to replant lost crops, thereby supporting farmers' adaptive capacity and enhancing their resilience to climate change.Mobile phones have been the key enabling technology in this project; farmers subscribe in order to benefit from the insurance product and associated services via their mobile phone. In April 2018, the project adopted USSD * , which does not require internet connectivity, thus ensuring easier access for farmers in remote locations. Furthermore, local agricultural extension and insurance agents or partner staff carry out digital registration and farmer profiling via mobiles. Mobile phones are also used to provide e-extension services on weather and agricultural advisory messages.From the outset, key stakeholders were consulted to avoid reliance on donor-funding and ensure long-term sustainability of the project. As a result, implementation was steered by partnerships between farmers organisations, private sector stakeholders, development organisations, knowledge institutes and public partners.To promote the scaling up of WBI, the project has used a three-pronged approach: 1. To facilitate the engagement of key industry players (insurance companies, seed companies and mobile telephone companies), farmers' readiness to adopt and pay for insurance was determined, as well as private sector/industry readiness to develop agricultural insurance products suitable for smallholder crop farmers.for scaling up the project to more beneficiaries was provided and implemented through local partners and government schemes. The project found that data and information alone is not enough to help farmers. Many farmers did not have the ability to interpret information and data received via mobile phones pertaining to weather forecasts, so needed additional support to use it to make informed decisions regarding their farm activities. This was addressed by ensuring that extension officers working in project target areas also subscribed to the service and had access to information from the digital portal for farmers. This way, they received the same information and data that farmers received and they could better support farmers' queries in their area. The data delivered via SMS, or accessible via the mobile portal, could therefore be used as a 'toolkit' for field-based extension staff. \"Extension workers play a pivotal role in interpreting weather information for farmers. Once registered, even farmers who are not on the ICT platform benefit through the extension workers daily advisories,\" says Prince Kuipa, an economist with ZFU.The is anchored within well-established innovative partnerships that include farmer organisations, the private sector and governments, and the project goals are well aligned to the overall objectives of the partnerships, hence ensuring continuity after the project finishes. Strengthening these partnerships to ensure sustainability has been achieved by facilitating the development of memorandums of understanding between partners and fostering the inclusion of climate-smart solutions into the partners' long-term strategies; insurance solutions have hence become a key component of partners' investment and project implementation strategy. • *Unstructured Supplementary Service Data is a mobile phone technology that is used to send texts between a mobile phone and an application.In the three target countries different financial and business models have been developed to support WBI service development and delivery.In Zambia, the implementing consortium consists of a knowledge institution (the Zambia Open University), an insurance company (the Professional Insurance Company of Zambia) and a rural development organisation (Musika Development Initiative). Data is sourced from the National Agricultural Information Services -a specialised wing of the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock that supports extension services through the dissemination of agricultural information.In Zambia, WBI is subsidised for all smallholder farmers who are eligible for the Farmer Input Subsidy Programme; subscription to the insurance product and payment of a relatively small insurance fee are now conditional for access to the subsidy. This programme is coupled with training to ensure that farmers understand the concept of the insurance and its benefits.The National Smallholder Farmers Association of Malawi works in collaboration with the Malawi Meteorological Services and the Department of Agricultural Extension Services for weather information and for extension messaging, respectively. Based on a baseline study to determine smallholders' willingness to pay for insurance, a WBI product that meets farmers' needs, while ensuring a return on investment for the private insurance partners, is currently under development.The Zimbabwe Farmers Union (ZFU) sources data from international climate information service company aWhere. As such, it has access to local satellite-based weather data. Econet Wireless -a private sector entity that is a key project partner in Zimbabwe -offers the EcoFarmer 'combo'; a combined service for weather alerts, farming tips and index-based insurance, which allows farmers to insure their crops against the risk of excessive rainfall or drought for US$1 per month.Field surveys commissioned at the start of the project showed that farmers' awareness on WBI does not automatically translate into uptake; although 60% of sampled farmers were aware of WBI, only 16% had signed up for it. Packaging WBI with other accepted services, such as life/funeral insurance and farming advice helped ZFU to overcome adoption barriers. In Zambia, the project has contributed to public policy dialogue and the development of nation-wide WBI for smallholder farmers. In addition, the project provided technical support in the government's efforts to reach 1.5 million smallholder farmers with WBI in the 2018/2019 season through the provision of training manuals.A proposal has been developed and approved for the establishment of a regional regulatory framework to support the development of WBI in Southern Africa. Photo credit: CTAIn Uganda, CTA has been working with the Igara Tea Growers Factory (IGTF) to digitally profile their farmer members and enhance their data management practices. In this piece, the impact of these activities for the individual farmers, and the cooperative as a whole, is assessed.TA has been working with farmer organisations in six countries in sub-Saharan Africa to implement its Data4Ag project. The aim is to investigate how the collection and effective analysis of farmer data can be used by farmer organisations to improve the livelihoods of their members. This article focuses on the impact of collecting data, and how this information could be systematically incorporated within the monitoring and evaluation systems of farmer organisations.Impact assessment was based on the example of the IGTF in Uganda; one of the partners of the Data4Ag project. Before 2018, IGTF used to store farmer member information in an old database, and process member data manually into a spreadsheet. Collecting farmers' raw tea leaves and weighing them accurately using analogue scales was challenging; farmers were often cheated at collection centres and then received delayed payments. In partnership with CTA, IGTF launched a digital profiling project in December 2018 to help solve these challenges. The project involved compiling geo-referenced information about the tea farmers and their land using GPS-enabled tablets. Extension officers then uploaded the data onto a dedicated online platform (the ONA Platform/Open Data Kit), and subsequently onto the IGTF's new QGIS database. The profile database is now linked to a financial and accounting system, allowing IGTF to track records of transactions with member farmers. They also connected Internet of Things digital weighing scales of at each collection point to this system to reduce fraud. \"Now, my green leaf cannot be cheated by leaf collection clerks, I can have my payment when I need it and I can have system reports about my supply and credit statements for months,\" says tea farmer Mwenderehi Eliphaz.To measure the impacts of farmer profiling for the IGTF members, CTA's research team used two approaches; the first was a qualitative assessment approach using an innovation framework inclusion tool. The second was a quantitative approach involving the use of machine learning to create a model to determine the best algorithm to predict the yield of tea leaves, and the use of Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) to analyse statistical data.The qualitative framework inclusion tool was used to describe the processes involved in value creation for the beneficiaries, and outlines five main criteria essential for digital projects: the extent of collaboration, the value to be created, the involvement of users or local community in the design, the digital readiness of the ecosystem, and the availability of human and financial resources. In this case, the value created by the project is increased yields for profiled farmers, which is supported by the findings of the SPSS.From the analysis of the machine learning data, it was clear that more extensive data were needed to improve the model to optimise yield predictions. There were some missing values in data variables, such as farm size, for example. There was however enough data to conclude that the profiled farmers experienced an increase in yield, both in the first quarter of 2018 and 2019 (data for the other seasons was also not available). The machine learning analysis was also able to investigate the relationship between the variables of credit access and the yield of tea leaves.From the SPSS analysis, yield differences were compared between profiled farmers and non-profiled farmers, and between farmers with and without access to credit. The results showed that the mean yield for farmers who were digitally profiled and who had access to credit was significantly higher (10%) than farmers who were not profiled and had no financial access. The findings, supported by the results from the machine learning analysis, showed that access to credit was dependent on profiling, with the majority of the profiled farmers gaining access to credit. This can be explained by the fact that profiling made it easier for credit cooperatives to access farmer data and indicate their creditworthiness. Available farmer data also enabled farmers to be targeted with the right agronomic advice and input for production. From the predictive model, farmers with access to credit had higher yields than farmers without access to credit. It was also evident from the analysis that the Data4Ag project employed a gender inclusive approach, as male and female farmers had equal chances of been profiled.An internal impact review tool was also employed by the project to provide a practical set of questions that allowed IGTF to methodically assess the current effectiveness of its operations, in regards to impact, cost effectiveness and significant reach. Based on the results of this tool, the profiling can be considered to be cost-effective, but has a low reach (33%) -reach is seen as the ability to scale up to at least 50,000 farmers, while IGTF only has 7,468 members. IGTF is now implementing the farmer profiling model at other farmer-owned cooperatives in the tea sector which will increase the reach.Building up local expertise to improve systematic analyses of all data collected can support organisations like IGTF to prove their impact and embed systematic analysis Another important capacity that needs critical attention is data management. This is the first step towards better M&E. Data management involves optimising data collection and organisation processes to ensure the quality, reliability, and timeliness of data. This is vital to derive the correct insights from data to drive better decision-making.IGTF embraced data analysis and will improve the yield prediction model by continuing to add farmer data, as well as build an algorithm to predict how much nitrogen tea farmers need to apply to their soil. The introduction of farmer profiling connected with digital scales and the financial system has enabled IGTF farmers to increase its competitiveness with multinationals through well-managed farmer data, improved quality control, access to finance  DELTA's updated data form now contains 20 fields that are applied separately for impact, outcome and output data. The main fields that support data visualisation include the project code, indicator statement, the code that links the indicator to the corresponding corporate indicator, the target, and the actual value of the indicator. Where appropriate, data are differentiated by gender, age and geographical location (country and region). Additional fields are included (e.g. source of verification and confirmation of input validation) to enhance data integrity, consistency and accuracy.One of the strengths of RDMS's data visualisation component, Power BI (bottom right of Figure 1), is the functionality to pull data in from multiple databases, rather than relying only on DELTA. As a result, datasets can be imported into Power BI from data available in Excel files and other sources on topics not sufficiently catered for in DELTA (e.g. financial information and data on participants and events).Power BI reports, which have been available since August 2019, have enabled CTA to track impact, outcome and output targets for all of the logframes in DELTA. Figure 2 provides a graphical overview of the levels of achievement for each logframe targets at impact, outcome and output levels for CTA's Data4Ag project. Figure 3, on the other hand, shows how numerical data is presented as a 'traffic light' to indicate the relative degrees of progress towards achieving The emergence of a common reference point for results data on the performance of individual projects is enabling CTA to precisely demonstrate how specific projects are contributing to its corporate logframe targets create the finished product, but they are also responsible for its use and This explains why, in addition to the four main components, Figure 1 is littered with references to CTA units and project teams, as well as project implementing partners. These various groups of people continue to play a significant role in building the RDMS, and without their ongoing contributions it would be impossible to maintain such a system. • * Power BI is a business analytics service which enables end users to create their own reports and dashboards using interactive visualisations and business intelligence capabilities. Both illustrations show that it is possible to observe a project's performance from data visualised on a single slide. They also demonstrate how data can be projected in different formats and with different levels of detail. Visualising M&E data through Power BI reports and dashboards has many additional advantages, including being able to refresh data and publish reports automatically to provide users with accurate and up-to-date information. The emergence of a common reference point for results data on the performance of individual projects is enabling CTA to precisely demonstrate how specific projects are contributing to its corporate logframe targets. Improvements in the quantity and quality of data, used for project management oversight and decisionmaking, means that CTA is now much better placed to use M&E for accountability, learning, decision-making and visibility. The tool is also relatively easy to master, both as a developer and a user.If we were to compare CTA's RDMS to a machine, adding the visualisation component has helped to elevate the machine's performance. The machine runs on data as its main fuel, which enters the RDMS via M&E feedback and reports (bottom left segment of Figure 1). Like most machines, be it a car or a computer, humans do not only"}

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+{"metadata":{"gardian_id":"269cfd88a29f2ba212c692f4ff6594e3","source":"gardian_index","url":"https://cgspace.cgiar.org/rest/bitstreams/d956f2f8-82f9-4907-a2c6-e08f3a1a87f2/retrieve","id":"-1445885138"},"keywords":["Ethiopian farm households","experimental studies","loss aversion","risk aversion"],"sieverID":"5734fb6b-a816-40e3-af9c-ae28ff99ac06","content":"2007, the Discussion Paper series within each division and the Director General's Office of IFPRI were merged into one IFPRI-wide Discussion Paper series. The new series begins with number 00689, reflecting the prior publication of 688 discussion papers within the dispersed series. The earlier series are available on IFPRI's website at www.ifpri.org/pubs/otherpubs.htm#dp.2 IFPRI Discussion Papers contain preliminary material and research results. They have not been subject to formal external reviews managed by IFPRI's Publications Review Committee but have been reviewed by at least one internal and/or external reviewer. They are circulated in order to stimulate discussion and critical comment.Agricultural production in low-income countries is generally poorly diversified, focusing on rain-fed staple crop and animal raising. These activities are inherently risky and include, but are not limited to crop yield risks due to variance in rainfall timing and level, animal mortality due to infectious livestock diseases and changing output prices. Furthermore, agricultural production is also affected by crop diseases, flooding, frost, illness of household members, war and crime, all of which can have major effects on rural livelihoods. Investment and production decisions by farm households in low-income countries are therefore made within environments that are at least affected by, but more likely overshadowed and dominated by, a multitude of risks.The existence of such risks has been found to alter household behavior in ways that at first glance seem suboptimal. In the empirical literature, many researchers have found that risks cause farmers to be less willing to undertake activities and investments that have higher expected outcomes, but carry with them risks of failure. For example, it has been found that farm households use less fertilizer, improved seeds and other production inputs than they would have used had they simply maximized expected profits. It is also not uncommon to observe farm households in developing countries being reluctant to adopt new technologies even when those technologies provide higher returns to land and labor than traditional technologies. One aspect of this reluctance is reaction to risk.Foregoing welfare-improving opportunities because of perceptions of risks involved by resourcepoor farmers has important policy implications under average production conditions, but even more so in the facing of growing climate variability and climate change. A difference between investing in rural areas of most low-income countries, including Ethiopia, which is the focus of this study, and the US, Europe or Japan is that in the former futures and insurance markets do not exist for virtually any type of agricultural risk and credit markets, which allow a sharing of risk by debtors and creditors, are extremely thin. An alternative to a status quo where households simply forego such opportunities is to therefore develop or improve the functioning of these markets. This may involve using policies or public resources to make insurance available and to thicken rural credit markets, for example. Other measures could be to provide new technologies or inputs together with long-term support through extension services, for example. Some advances have been made in these areas. Small microcredit schemes now abound throughout the developing world and have allowed villagers to accept opportunities without risking their basic livelihoods. There are also initiatives in Sub-Saharan Africa under the auspices of the World Bank and the World Food Programme of the United Nations to develop crop insurance markets.The existence of agricultural risk and its effects in low-income countries where many key markets are missing is well-known, but there have been very few empirical efforts to estimate the magnitude and nature of risk aversion of farm households in this context. For example, is it the simple possibility of loss that drives aversion to risk or do the levels of potential gains and losses affect behavior in response to risk in low-income rural settings? Does the buildup of wealth at very low income levels affect risk behavior? Do past successes within risky environments have an impact on future choices? All these questions are still largely open, but critically important to policy formation. Little is also known about the basic household factors affecting risk behavior. For example, in an environment of missing markets and low incomes there might be important linkages between attitudes toward risk and seemingly disparate elements such as household fertility behavior, educational decisions and even gender policies. Working on these elements could thus improve outcomes for technology adoption. It is therefore important to better understand household responses to agricultural risk and the contributors to those responses This paper uses an experimental approach with real payoffs to contribute to closing this gap.Using real pay-off experimental data we seek to measure farmers' risk attitudes. By incorporating both small and large stakes and gains and losses into the experiment, we test for the presence of low stake risk aversion and loss aversion. We also use these experimental results as data in an econometric model to examine the determinants of risk aversion and draw a number of policy inferences from the results. The rest of the paper is organized as follows. Section 2 discusses key literature. Section 3 describes the study setting in Ethiopia and presents key descriptive statistics. Section 4 presents the experimental design and Section 5 discusses the experimental results. An econometric model of risk averting behavior is presented and the results are discussed in Section 6. Section 7 concludes the paper and draws out policy implications. Sandmo (1971) was perhaps the first to establish that a risk averse firm facing output risk will produce less than a risk neutral firm. Following Sandmo's work, there have been several attempts in the empirical literature to measure the degree of risk aversion of farm households. Some have used actual production data while others have applied an experimental approach to derive farm household risk aversion estimates. Studies using production data include the works of Antle (1983;1987;1989), Pope and Just (1991), Chavas and Holt (1996), and Bar-Shira et al. (1997). Studies employing the experimental approach in developing countries include Binswanger (1980), and Wik and Holden (1998). The production data approach can be criticized for confounding risk behavior with other factors, such as resource constraints faced by economic actors (Eswaran and Kotwal 1990). This is particularly important in developing countries where market imperfections are prominent and consumption and production decisions are non-separable (Wik and Holden 1998). On the other hand, the most pervasive problem of the experimental approach is hypothetical bias when the experiments are launched in purely hypothetical settings. As we use an experimental approach, we attempt to avoid this problem by using real payoffs.Risk aversion is generally defined with reference to the von Neumann-Morgensten expected utility function. Specifically, the second derivative of this utility function contains important information regarding the risk aversion of a decision maker. In empirical studies, the three most commonly used measures of risk aversion are absolute risk aversion () and partial risk aversion (), where U indicates utility, m is a monetary gain or loss, w is initial wealth and W (=w+m) is the final wealth level (Pratt 1964;Arrow 1965;Menezes and Hanson 1970;Zeckhauser and Keeler 1970) Absolute risk aversion traces the behavior of an individual toward risk when his/her wealth rises and the prospect remains the same. Partial risk aversion examines behavior when the prospect changes, but wealth remains the same. Relative risk aversion looks at behavior when both the initial wealth and the level of the prospect rise proportionally. Decreasing Absolute Risk Aversion (DARA) implies that a person will be more willing to accept a risky prospect as wealth increases. Increasing Relative Risk Aversion (IRRA) indicates that a person's willingness to accept a risky prospect declines when both the outcome and wealth increase proportionally. Increasing Partial Risk Aversion (IPRA) implies a decrease in the willingness to take a gamble as the scale of the prospect increases.For nearly half a century, the idea that economic actors should behave as expected utility maximizers has been the dominant theory of choice under uncertainty. Recently, however, this theory of behavior has lost ground to other theories due to growing empirical evidence. For example, Rabin (2000) and Rabin and Thaler (2001) show how EU theory fails to describe risk aversion to small stake outcomes. Kahneman and Tversky (1979), and later Benartzi and Thaler (1995) and Thaler et al. (1997) show the presence of loss aversion from different weights people attach to gains and losses and to high and low probability outcomes.Risk aversion is generally modeled under the assumption that the utility function over wealth is concave. Arrow (1971) shows that an expected-utility maximizer will therefore always want to take a sufficiently small stake in any positive expected-value bet. That is, expected-utility maximizers are (almost everywhere) close to risk neutral when stakes are small. If subjects in experimental studies are found to be risk averse for small stakes, this therefore implies they are not expected-utility maximizers.Given the assumption of diminishing marginal utility, risk aversion in small stakes also implies extreme risk aversion for larger stakes. Rabin (2000) and Rabin and Thaler (2001) for example show how for any concave utility function, even very little risk aversion over modest stakes leads to very high risk aversion over large stakes. According to Rabin and Thaler, most people are not virtually risk neutral over small stakes and are also very risk averse over large stakes implies that expected utility does not describe the risk behavior of most people accurately. This claim of Rabin and Thaler is supported in a number of studies that show evidence of risk aversion in low stake experiments (Davis and Holt 1993; Eggert and Martinsson (forthcoming); and Holt and Laury (forthcoming).The assumption that decision-makers should give equal weights for choices that involve gains and losses has also been challenged by modern research in behavioral economics, where it is generally found that individuals are more sensitive to losses than gains. Loss aversion was introduced by Kahneman and Tversky (1979) as part of prospect theory. In conjunction with other new concepts in behavioral economics, such as mental accounting and narrow bracketing, Benartzi and Thaler (1995) and Thaler et al. (1997) use loss aversion to describe discrepancies in choices for gains and losses.The purpose of this research is to contribute to the empirical literature on the nature and level of behavioral responses to risks in rural areas of low-income countries. There are two aspects to the research. The first part is an experiment that seeks to help us understand how Ethiopian households respond to the presence of agricultural risk. The risk behavior findings are then used as the dependent variable in an ordered probit model that tries to explain those behavioral choices in terms of household, game structure, and site-specific characteristics. The villages studied are very typical of rural Ethiopia and representative of the nation as a whole.They are located in five counties (weredas) in two different zones (Eastern Gojjam and South Wollo) of highland Ethiopia. Eastern Gojjam is generally considered to have a good potential for agriculture, whereas South Wollo is seriously affected by soil erosion and subjected to recurrent drought. Virtually all households in the sample would be best described as subsistence farmers who rely on on-farm production for virtually all of their consumption needs. Incomes in the sample are extremely low. For example, the average annual household income was US$170. Even if we apply the 2005 purchasing power parity adjustment factor of 6.25 to these households as is often done on the national level to compare incomes, per capita incomes are only US$0.50 per person per day. Though not at all atypical of very low-income countries -and perhaps more than a billion people are in exactly the same situation worldwide -we nevertheless emphasize that incomes in the sample are very low.Incomes are also not very diversified. In the sample, for example, more than half of households have no off-farm income and the mean off-farm income is only 10 percent of total household income. In such an environment, consumption and production decisions are made jointly by households. This implies that endowments, such as wealth and family size and household characteristics, will affect production outcomes (Jacoby 1993).Table 1 presents descriptive statistics for the sample households. These variables are also the regressors included in the ordered probit model presented in Section 5. Households typically hold animals, including bulls, cows, sheep and goats. Products from these animals are sold to earn income and the animals themselves are significant assets sold to finance consumption needs. Bulls are the most important and valuable animal held by households, because of their role in providing traction. In the larger sample, over half of all households had at least one bull and mean holding was 2.3. In the smaller sample used here households, on average, have less than a pair of oxen and the total value of animals is ETB 1950 (US$229). We see that in general respondents (typically household \"heads\") are men, who are illiterate.Indeed, more than 70 percent of the sampled household heads are illiterate and fewer than 5 percent have more than seven years of schooling. Average household size is about 5.4, with more adults than children.Farms tend to be small, with a mean of about one hectare and a maximum of only three hectares spread over an average of 5 plots. Farm plots in these hill villages tend to be small. In Ethiopia land is state property and farm households are granted user rights. As a result, there is no land market. This makes land a very constrained resource and a key to various farming decisions. Annual liquid cash availability (revenue minus expenditures) is valued at ETB 350 or US$42, implying significant scarcity of cash.1 Households were confronted with choices of money that differ both in magnitude and time to calculate the implied subjective discount rate. For more insights on data collection and estimation of the individual subjective discount rates, see Yesuf (2003).In our experiment, subjects are offered choices to reveal their risk preferences for both small and large stake outcomes and gains and losses. This gives us the possibility to test whether respondents react to small and large stakes differently. We also test for asymmetric responses to gains and losses, which can help us understand whether opportunity losses are viewed differently than actual losses with important policy implications. This offers a test for so-called asset integration and loss aversion, but more importantly tells us something about whether farm households are more responsive to the possibility of agricultural losses than gains.The Appendix presents the payoffs for the five choice sets offered to respondents. Though the amounts may seem low, it must be recalled that incomes in the study area are very low, so the amounts listed indeed provide significant incentive for respondents to carefully consider the options and reveal their true preferences. On average, each household won a sum of ETB 30, which is about 10 percent of the monthly income of unskilled labor in the country. 2   In our experiment we explicitly test for DARA, IRRA and IPRA-type behaviors, that is, Decreasing Absolute Risk Aversion, Increasing Relative Risk Aversion, and Increasing Partial Risk Aversion, respectively, as described above. The state of absolute risk aversion across farm households is investigated by presenting an identical choice set given as Set 1 in the Appendix to farm households with different levels of initial wealth. To examine the nature of partial risk aversion for each farm household, we then increase the outcome of the first choice set by factors of 5, 10, 20 and 30. These are represented as Sets 2 -5 in the Appendix. We follow the experimental design developed by Binswanger (1980) to reveal risk preferences and frame the choices to reflect real life farming decisions. The basic structure of the experiment using Set 1 as an example is given in Table 2. The farm households were told to assume there are six different 2 $1US = Birr (ETB) 8.50farming systems, all with similar costs but different output levels depending on a 50 percent probability of a good or bad harvest. Then they were shown the good and the bad outcomes of each of the six different systems. For each alternative, the expected gain and spread increased. Once they had chosen one of the techniques, a coin was tossed to determine whether they would be given the good or bad outcome as a reward. It is typically useful to compute a risk aversion coefficient that can serve as a measure of household level of risk aversion. For this purpose we employ a Constant Partial Risk Aversion (CPRA) utility function of the form, where γ is the coefficient of risk aversion, and c is the certainty equivalent of a prospect. The upper and lower limits of the CPRA coefficients for each prospect of our experiment are given in Table 2.To test for significant differences in behavior when faced with the possibility of losses as opposed to gains-only, choice sets 1 to 4 involving actual losses to farm households were incorporated into the experiment. In these four games households could actually lose money. Only those farm households who won enough money in the gains-only part and were willing actually participated in this part of the experiment. A total of 29 percent of farm households participated. To avoid the possibility of major financial losses for households, in the gains-and-losses experiment Set 5 was done hypothetically and no actual gains were won or losses incurred. These two features -self-selection and making Set 5 hypothetical -create problems of possible bias and noncomparability with other parts of the experiment.Given the nature of the study setting, however, there was no choice but to make the losses part of the experiment voluntary and Set 5 hypothetical. As will be shown in the following sections, however, these problems are easily addressed and the econometric model is adjusted accordingly.We start our analysis by exploring the responses of participants to each set of the experiment. Table 3 presents the distribution of risk averting behaviors for each level of the experiment. In Table 3, we observe that a majority of the farm households exhibit intermediate, severe, and extreme risk aversion.Even at the lowest level of the game, about 29 percent of the farm households chose the alternatives representing severe to extreme risk aversion. This proportion increases to about 56 percent at the highest level of the game. This contrasts with slight risk aversion, neutrality and risk preferring, where the proportion declined from 34 percent in game 1 to 16.8 percent in game 5. The share of responses falling into intermediate and moderate risk aversion categories remain stable between games 1 to 4 (34% and 37%), but decline to 28 percent in game 5 due to increases in the severe and extreme risk aversion categories. These results seem to indicate increasing partial risk aversion in which individual farm households are more risk averse as the size of the game increases. Comparing the distribution of risk preferences in Table 3 to other similar studies in developing countries, Binswanger (1980), and Wik and Holden (1998) found the proportion of respondents in the intermediate to moderate risk category to be 83 percent in India and 52 percent in Zambia. That our sample has so many more respondents exhibiting higher levels of risk aversion suggests that farm households in Ethiopia are much more risk averse than in India and Zambia.With 29 percent of the respondents severely to extremely risk averse for an ETB 0.50 (i.e. US$0.06) bet implies very high risk aversion at relatively larger stakes, following Rabin and Thaler (2001). Calculated at ETB 1000 (US$118) as a monetary reward from a modest farming activity, an extreme or severe risk aversion for this group implies a relative risk aversion of around 15, given an average wealth level of ETB 2000 (US$235), as shown in Table 1 (stock of domestic animals, which is a proxy for total wealth). This level of risk aversion is very high, 3 suggesting that a process other than expected utility maximization is occurring.A comparison of choices between games involving only gains and gains and actual losses (in the sub sample of 76 respondents who participated in both sections of the experiment) shows an inclination of farm households to be more risk averse when there are actual losses. Figure 1  The null hypothesis that the subjects' risk preferences are equivalent in both kinds of games is also rejected for each portion of the experiment. The results of the chi-square tests are summarized in Table 4. + The chi-square statistics are calculated based on the distribution of risk preferences, given in the Appendix under Fig. 1.Numbers in parentheses are p-values. The degrees of freedom are calculated as df = (r-1)*(c-1), where r is the number of categories (6 in our case) and c is the number of columns to be compared (2 in our case).The results of these tests show a significant difference in risk preference in gains-only and gainsand-losses games. This strongly suggests the absence of asset integration and the presence of loss aversion by our farm households. The implication of this finding for policies such as agricultural extension is that farm households can be expected to be more responsive to the possibility of agricultural losses than stochastic output gains. Providing some type of insurance or other support to farmers who try new, but risky technologies is therefore suggested by our findings. Table 5 presents median levels of risk aversion for each level of the game along with the CPRA coefficients corresponding to each risk category. We see that median levels of risk aversion increase from moderate at the lowest level of the game to severe at the highest level for the entire sample in the gains-only games. The trend in the gains-and-losses game follows a similar pattern, going from riskneutral in the low stakes game to intermediate risk aversion when the stakes are high. These findings suggest that even when only gains are possible and the probability of each outcome is the same, simply increasing the stakes causes households to become more risk averse. This suggests that given the current situation in highland Ethiopia, incremental steps toward improved agricultural technologies are probably called for rather than \"big jumps\" that increase the stakes and cause households to become more risk averse. Similarly, technologies that support adaptation to climate change should be implemented incrementally and should be as low-risk as possible, at least at the outset.We also note that the median respondent in South Wollo is substantially more risk averse than the median respondent in East Gojjam and for all gains-only games except the first one (ETB 0.50) the median respondent was severely risk averse. The median household in South Wollo is substantially poorer than in East Gojjam and the region has a more dramatic history of severe food shortages. This suggests two conclusions. First, the level of income -even at such low average levels -may matter for risk aversion. Extension programs therefore must be particularly careful and move much more slowly with very low-income households than higher-income households even in a situation of overall general poverty levels.Second, the findings suggest hysteresis in risk preference formation. Households in East Gojjam not only have higher incomes, but have experienced fewer shocks than those in South Wollo. This past success may make them more likely to choose more risky propositions if returns are sufficient. This conclusion is bolstered by the findings from the gains-and-losses game where risk aversion is systematically lower than in the gains-only game. A likely explanation is the past success these respondents had in the gains-only game. We recall that for practical reasons only households who were successful in the gains-only game were permitted to participate in the gains-and-losses game. These findings suggest that even in very poor regions success can build on success, with people being more willing to accept risk if the past has gone well. Path dependence may therefore be a feature of the economics of agricultural extension as in so many other areas of economics.The findings presented in Table 5 suggest some explanations for why households might exhibit different levels of risk aversion. While those explanations point to testable hypotheses, they are not themselves tests. We therefore formally test whether the explanations above fit the experimental data using an econometric model tailored to the experimental results. Our experimental data has the feature that it is ordinal in nature, ranging from 1 (extreme risk aversion) to 6 (risk loving behavior). With such ordinal data, an ordered probit model is most appropriate. This approach has the advantage that we need not assume a particular form of the utility function and instead use the underlying latent variable to model the risk averting behavior of farm households.Assume there is a latent variable y i * measuring the degree of risk aversion of the i th decision maker that can be described as ,for a kx1 parameter vector β, stochastic disturbance term u i , and a vector of regressors x. The six outcomes for the observed variable y i are assumed to be related to the latent variable through the following observability criterion:for a set of threshold parameters α 0 to α 6 , where α 0 <α 1 <α 2 <α 3 <α 4 <α 5 <α 6 , α 0 = -∞ and α 6 =∞. We assume the disturbance term has a standard normal distribution yielding the ordered probit model. 4 Regressors and associated descriptive statistics have already been presented in Table 1.Several characteristics of the game are included as regressors. First, to formally test the IPRA hypothesis that is suggested by the results in Table 3 we include the expected value of each game level as a scale variable. Given the results in Table 3 we expect the sign of this coefficient to be positive. Second, in order to test differences in behavior between gains-only games and games involving losses, we include dummy variables for games involving real losses. As discussed earlier, this is one way of formally testing for asset integration and loss aversion. If we find this coefficient to be statistically significant, then we can conclude that decision makers treat opportunity losses differently from real losses. Third, we also include a dummy variable for Set 5 in order to test for differences in behavior between real and hypothetical games. Finally, in order to test whether there is path dependence in preference formation and capture the effect of hysteresis, we include a variable defined as ΣX i , where i is an index of previous game numbers, and X takes a value of 1 if the person wins and -1 if he/she loses. County (wereda) dummies are also included to condition for unobservable, site-specific factors affecting reaction to risk.Our results and the literature on technology adoption suggest that households that have had past success and can better insulate themselves from shocks will be less risk averse. We therefore expect wealthier households to be less risk averse than poorer households. To capture this possible component of risk preference determination we include the value of domestic animals, the number of oxen, current cash availability, household land size and the number of cultivated plots.The importance of these different forms of wealth were discussed in Section 3, so in the interest of brevity we only note here that not only do our preliminary findings and the literature lead us to expect lower risk-aversion among wealthier households, but because of asset market imperfections that severely constrain substitution among different forms of wealth (Reardon and Vosti 1995;Holden et al. 1998) we expect that each wealth category would have an independent effect on risk behavior. For example, because of the political land allocation system it is very difficult to substitute assets for land. Further, because of very thin, segmented markets it is often difficult to sell assets for cash and most households are very cash constrained. Indeed, most farm and non-farm income is received in-kind.We include several characteristics of the household head, including age, gender, and educational level, without any a priori expectations of the signs. As part of household characteristics we also include household size and dependency ratios in our model. The effect of family size on risk aversion is ambiguous. On the one hand, a large family size represents an increased labor force for the household and should therefore reduce risk aversion. On the other hand, a larger family means more people to feed, which may increase risk aversion. To capture the latter effect separately, we include the dependency ratio (i.e. the ratio of number of individuals younger than 15 years to those older than 15 years) as a separate variable and expect a positive relationship with risk aversion.The results of the ordered probit model are given in Table 6, where the dependent variable is the respondent's risk aversion category (1 to 6) for each game played. The sample size is therefore greater than 262, because all respondents played more than one game. All estimates are corrected for heteroskedasticity using robust standard errors (White 1980). ++ Kalu is the reference site for South Wollo as well as pooled data, whereas Gozamin is the reference site for East Gojjam.Because extreme risk aversion takes the value one and risk-loving is indicated by a value of six, a positive coefficient sign indicates a negative relationship with risk aversion. In general, most variables have a significant effect and the coefficients have the expected signs. All the wealth indicators are significant and positive at the 1 percent level, indicating that more wealth is indeed correlated with a lower degree of risk aversion. This result is consistent with the literature and our DARA hypothesis.All parameter estimates for the variables indicating the game characteristics are significant and formally confirm the basic results presented in Tables 3 and 5. First, as indicated by a statistically significant loss-game dummy variable, people are more risk averse in games involving real losses than in gains-only games. Adjusting for other factors, therefore, we find that opportunity and real losses are treated differently. This confirms the need for some type of support to be combined with agricultural extension when promoted technologies carry with them a downside risk.Second, there is a highly significant relationship between prior success and degree of risk aversion, as indicated by a significant positive coefficient estimate for the previous luck variable. This implies that people revise their expectations as the game level progresses even if the actual probability of success remains constant. Similar behaviors could also be observed in actual farm investment decisions where farm households who had encountered a series of droughts may be more reluctant to undertake risky investment decisions, at least for a while, even when probabilities and wealth levels are unchanged throughout those periods.Finally, there is a positive relationship between the expected payoff variable and the degree of risk aversion, implying that people are likely to take less risk when high gains are at stake. This result is consistent with our IPRA hypothesis and suggests that under the current circumstances in the Ethiopian highlands an incremental approach to technology promotion and extension is warranted; the possibility of high opportunity losses may increase risk averting behavior.A number of household and respondent characteristics are also significantly related to risk aversion. Households with a higher number of children per adult are found to be more risk averse than those with low dependency ratios. Age is also positively correlated with the degree of risk aversion, indicating that people become more risk averse as they age. Males are the major decision makers in most households in Ethiopia. In our model, male heads are found to be less risk averse than female heads.Literacy appears to show mixed results depending on whether the household is located in South Wollo or East Gojjam, though there are relatively few other differences in results across the two zones. Significant wereda dummies indicate systematic, but unobservable differences in risk aversion across study sites.  The marginal effects of the observed risk aversion outcomes computed at the means of all variables are provided in Table 7. Simulations of predicted probabilities from varying levels of select independent variables are also provided in Figure 2. A number of findings seem worth noting. For example, we see that holding all other variables at their means playing a game involving losses increases the probability of being in the extreme risk aversion category by almost 9 percent and severe risk aversion by about 13 percent. At the same time, these games tend to pull people out of the moderate risk aversion and risk-neutral categories. We can conclude from these results that the possibility of losses seems to have not only a statistically significant, but also an empirically large effect on risk aversion. Second, past successes (i.e. previous luck) tends to have empirically important effects. For example, if the respondent succeeded in one more game previously out of all those played there is a reduced probability of being in the extreme risk aversion category of 1.3 percent and a 2.5 percent lower chance of exhibiting severe risk averting behavior. Similar, but positive magnitudes are then observed for the probabilities of being in the moderate and risk-neutral categories. This tells us that not only do past successes build on each other, but they build on each other very quickly, suggesting that first introducing agricultural extension measures with very high probabilities of success can quickly help villagers be more comfortable with taking on subsequent risks.We see that a number of wealth variables suggest that wealth accumulation -whether in the form of oxen, total domestic animals, cash or land -tends to reduce risk aversion and move respondents into moderate risk aversion, risk-neutral or risk-loving categories. This is consistent with a DARA-type hypothesis. We also find an empirically important link between household fertility (though not total household size) and risk aversion. Indeed an increase in the dependency ratio of one child per adult in the household is correlated with an increased chance of being in the extreme, severe or intermediate risk aversion categories by 9 percent. In the real world this translates into an avoidance of risky, but high expected value technologies, such as improved seeds and chemical fertilizers among families with a large number of dependents. Such findings suggest an important avenue by which high fertility -as is the norm in Ethiopia -can reduce economic welfare.It has long been recognized that agricultural production and investment decisions of farm households in developing countries are affected by risks like drought, pests, flooding, livestock diseases and human illness. Because of poorly developed or absent credit and insurance markets it is difficult to pass these risks to a third party. As a result, it is often found that households are reluctant to adopt new technologies when they involve risk. Despite risk's potentially central role in farm investment decisions, there have been few attempts to estimate the magnitude and nature of risk aversion of farm households in developing countries. This study is one attempt to reveal farmers' risk preferences and use these estimates to draw policy inferences.Using household data from the Ethiopian highlands we find that more than 50 percent of the households are in the severe to extreme risk aversion categories. This contrasts with similar studies in Asia where most household decision-makers exhibit moderate to intermediate risk aversion.Looking deeper, we are able to disaggregate risk averting behavior and its determinants. We find that children have a statistically and empirically significant effect in promoting risk aversion among adult decision makers. This result is intuitive to any parent, but suggests yet another potentially important avenue by which reducing fertility can promote rural economic growth. Our results suggest that household heads will be more willing to accept risk in exchange for the possibility of reward when there are fewer children to support.We also find that households that stand to lose as well as gain something from participation in games are systematically -and empirically significantly -much more risk averse than households playing gains-only games. This strongly suggests that extension efforts involving losses as well as gains may face legitimate, systematic resistance at the farm level in poor countries. Promotion of technology with downside risks -even if the upside potential is enormous -should therefore be combined with insurance or other supporting measures.Our results suggest, however, that this support could be temporary. After initial successes have convinced farmers that technologies are viable (i.e. after they have had some good luck) risk aversion declines. We also find significant differences in risk averting behavior between relatively poor and wealthy farm households, which is consistent with decreasing absolute risk aversion (DARA). This suggests that as wealth is built up households are willing to take on more risk in exchange for higher returns.Both these findings suggest a strong path dependence associated with risk behavior. Efforts to develop poor rural areas though promotion of risky technologies must therefore take path dependence into account. For example, farm household level technologies under climate change must rely on proven methods that provide large gains and few losses, if any. Early successes seem to be important, but households should also be allowed to build up wealth in places like rural Ethiopia before they are challenged or tempted to take on more risky ventures. Furthermore, the finding that even without the possibility of losses households are more risk averse when stakes are higher, suggests that agricultural extension should start modestly before asking households to take on larger gambles. And again, until the important positive history is in place and wealth is built up it is likely that households will need insurance if they are to accept downside risk.In the longer-run, of course, the development of private markets to spread risk is the key to success. Indeed, broad-based economic development including the development of credit and insurance markets is the most certain way to reduce the levels of risk aversion among farmers. Most practitioners would agree, however, that such developments are many years away, suggesting that interim risk mitigation solutions to promote rural development in low-income countries may be important for some time. "}

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+{"metadata":{"gardian_id":"1eecfe9bc6b8ec6d6f35ced769b61bb2","source":"gardian_index","url":"https://cgspace.cgiar.org/rest/bitstreams/60e6188d-c93c-421d-b577-289bc4bda0b6/retrieve","id":"-1623680764"},"keywords":[],"sieverID":"83f6f9d2-4cb2-41c6-818a-d2bba9e99f6f","content":"Titles in this series aim to disseminate interim research on the scaling of climate services and climatesmart agriculture in Africa, in order to stimulate feedback from the scientific community.To cite this report Faniriantsoa, R., List, G. (2023). Advanced training on CDT/ADT for MALI-METEO and KMD. Accelerating Impacts of CGIAR Climate Research for Africa (AICCRA)The International Research Institute for Climate and Society (IRI) conducted an advanced training on Climate Data Tool (CDT) and Automatic Weather Station Data Tool (ADT) at Lamont Campus, New York, from September 5 to September 22, 2023. The training was given to National Meteorological Agency of Mali (L'Agence Nationale de la Météorologie du Mali, MALI-METEO) and the Kenya Meteorological Department (KMD) staff. One staff from MALI-METEO and one staff from KMD were trained (see Appendix).CDT is an open-source, R-based software package with an easy-to-use a graphical user interface (GUI). It allows to download and manipulate climate data from various sources; carry out an advanced quality control of station data; combine station observations with a gridded data (satellite rainfall estimates and reanalysis products); evaluate the performance of different gridded data products; and perform various analysis and visualization of station and gridded datasets.ADT is Automatic Weather Station (AWS) data integration, comes with an integrated database, data standardization and automatic quality control of AWS data. It is designed to address challenges in accessing and processing AWS data collected by different systems and networks, which are on different servers and in different formats. ADT has a web-based application component that provides the capability to visualize, download data, and perform limited processing tasks.The main objective of the training was to strengthen the capacity of the participants to use these tools, make the use of the tools more convenient to accomplish their daily task at the national meteorological services, and receive their feedback and suggestions on how to improve the tools.The program of the three-week training is described below.During the first week, the training was structured around the following sessions: • Assessing the performance of the merging methods and the accuracy of datasets from various sources: Hold-out and cross-validation methods The maintenance and analysis of the data using the tools must be completed by national meteorological services staff. Upon the training by IRI staff, MALI-METEO and KMD staff who had received the training are recommended to practice their skills as well as train their colleagues as necessary.CDT and ADT are useful tools for management and general analysis of climate data. This training is part of the effort to support a greater landscape of climate analysis, monitoring, and predictions in order to generate useful and applicable climate information and services for the beneficiary countries. IRI will proceed with additional steps in capacity building for national meteorological services and regional meteorological organizations through the ongoing implementation of AICCRA and other projects in the region."}

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+{"metadata":{"gardian_id":"0ba6534b989806b96586ed4c0b91b133","source":"gardian_index","url":"https://cgspace.cgiar.org/rest/bitstreams/836fb38d-0f4a-4060-b7aa-2713bbc15d2c/retrieve","id":"-86850140"},"keywords":["s.",". ' .~"],"sieverID":"1544a251-46a2-4b00-8cf9-a6c6da26e160","content":"Uno de los factores limitantes en las grar::.íneas trop:i.c.s.les, soi:n:e .'~ todo en époces de sequía. es su bajo contenido de proteína, 10 éual influye negati,,,Tamente en el conSt1.rno de raateria seca y, por ende, é-:\\ i.a producción 8.nimal (Hinsc'n y ~aJ.ford. 1967; Siebert y K~n!ledYJ 1932; l,ascano !:..~ al, 1982). Existe un gran número de traot\\jos en la literatura en los cuales se demuestra que mediante la sup.l;:;m~entac~ón de nit~6geno no proteico se puedeI\\ disminuir las pird1das de peso en an::í.males, asociadas con forrajes deficientes en pr.oteína Oloh'o::d et al, 197'1; 'faylor .~. al, 1982) u obtCllCt• gananciG.s de peso con suplemente.ción de proteína vegetal (Norman, 1963b. T:ayior ~ !l, 1982). l1esarortunaclamente, la F-uplementad.ó:::. de nitróleno no ¡;n\"oteico o protetnas de origen ~rgetal o aoigal en 6pocas ~ec&s. no siemprE es posible por razones de ialt~ de :i.nrracstn1C:tura eH .:l1.gulIas fireéls ¿el tr6pico. o por no rc~ultar econ5~icR (Pal~dines y L~a]. 1979).Una alternativa a la suplcmentaci6n con fu~n[cs de proter~a durante la ~poca seca, es el uso de ]egumiuos2~ pura~ corno suple~ento •• u -~.3 misma localidad con suplementación de proteína vegetal durante la época seca (Norman, 1963b). Es la opinión de los autores que el cambio frecuente de animales de pasto nativo a banco, tal como se realizó en el estudio reportado. sería impracticable en condiciones comerciales de ganadería extensiva en Australia. Como alternativa sugieren un sistema que incluya una sucesión de bancos a los cuales los animales tendrían acceso libre durante la época seca.Otro experimento de pastoreo de leguminosas como complemento a pasto nativo fue realizado por Raggar et al (1971) en la estación, , experimental Shika en Nigeria, Africa, donde la época seca se prolonga Andropogon como especies co-dominantes. Se establecieron 5 tratamientos de pastoreo, así:1. Sólo leguminosa. 2. Pastoreo de la leguminosa cada 2 días.Pastoreo de la leguminosa cada 4 días.Pastoreo de la leguminosa sólo en la noche.Pastoreo de pasto nativo durante el día, con encierro en la noche y suplementación de 3 niveles (340. 682, 1021 g/A) de sem~lla de algodón .El ensayo se inició en Enero y se llevó a cabo durante 10 semanas, período correspondiente a época seca. Los resultados indicaron que los mejo~es tratamientos en términos de ganancia de'peso -] -1fueron en pastoreo de leguminosas ~~ la noche (137 g A día.) y pastoreo de sólo ] epl!ninCSá (172 .. ,,'.~ \",\".'. ' .~ ..pequeñas ganancias de peso (leguminosa cada 3 días: +34 g A díé-1 ) o pérdidas de peso (leguminosa cada 4 días: ~33 g A-1-1 día ). Para lograr las ganancias de peso obtenidas con los 2 mejores tratamientos con leguminosa se encontró que se requería 820 g A-1 día-1 de suplemento de semilla de algodón, lo cual representaba un alto costo.En la interpretación de los resultados, Raggar et al (1971) indican que no parece existir mayor beneficio de dejar consumir un exceso'de leguminosa a los animales, como obviamente sucedió en el tratamiento de sólo leguminosa. Por otro lado, parece necesario dar acceso a la leguminosa con cierta regularidad, pues de 10 contrario es poco lo que se logra. Por último, recOnocen los autores que para mantener 'leguminosa durante los 5 Ó 6 meses de época seca sería necesario. sembrar en varios sitios de la sabana bancos de leguminosa, los cuales se abrirán a los ani'males en la medida en que la disponib.ilidad en cada banco fuera limitante. Esta recomendación es similar a la expuesta por Norman y Stewart (1967).  Stewart (1967). Durante los primeros tres años. (1979)(1980)(1981) el acceso de los animales a los bancos fue res'tringida en forma variable durante la época de lluvia para asegurar recuperación de la leguminosa.Los resultados del ensayo en términos de ganancia de peso indicaron una fuerte interacción año x carga, estando los efectos confundidos con los diferentes manejos impuestos en el banco. El promedio de los 4 años indicó que invariablemente los animales ganaron peso durante la época seca, siendo las ganancias mayores en la cargabaja (183 g A-día-) que .e~ la carga alta (78 g A A ).Durante las lluvias no hubo diferencias significativas debidas a carga (383 vs 365 g A-1 día-1 ) en cargas baja y alta, respectivamente • . '. Las ganancias anuales por animal fueron mayores en carga baja (118 kg) que en carga alta (101 kg), básicamente debido a las diferencias observadas en época seca.-\\ Sin lugar a dudas, de los tres trabajos revisados resulta claro que existe un beneficio en época seca con el uso de bancos de leguminosa corno complemento a pastos nativos. No es muy claro sin embargo, si es o no factible manejar los bancos con acceso libre de los animales todo el año. Algunas ideas en este sentido se ganaron en el ensayo realizado con bancos de Kudzu en los Llanos. En ..... , ., ,\"~..Las anteriores observaciones sirvieron como base para plantear la hipótesis de que variaciones estacionales en proteína y energía digestible de la gramínea podían afectar considerablemente la utilización de leguminosas en bancos de proteína (Tergas y Lascano, 1982). En otras palabras\", a medida que la calidad de la gramínea se reduce, particularmente en época seca, el consumo de leguminosa aumenta. Bajo condiciones de sabana nativa en los Llanos, es factible manipular la calidad de la gramínea medianLe quemas estratégicas, 10 cual le quitaría presión al banco de leguminosa.Para validar la hipótesis anterior, se realizaron una serie de ! mediciones en sabana nativa manejada con quema y complementada con un promedio 247 y 283 g A díarorn e, s~en o estas gananc~as 4~rga baja (183 g A-1 día-1 ).en carga baja y alta, respectivai mayores a las obtenidas con Kudzu en laLas relativamente buenas ganancias de peso en época seca con bancos de~. capitata estuvieron relacionadas con un 35-40% de tiempo de pastoreo en los bancos (Figura 1) y con niveles altos de leguminosa en la dieta total (30-50%) medido con 12C -13 C (Figura 1). Contrariamente a lo esperado, al inicio de lluvias (Abril-Mayo) se encontró un incremento de tiempo en pastoreo de los bancos de leguminosa y consecuentemente de leguminosa en la ~ieta (Figure 1) aun cuando la calida~ de la dieta en sabana en términos de proteína aumentó en este perfodC' (Figura 3). El aIteconsumo de leguminosa conjuntamente con 1& mejor calidad de la sabana  durante el inicio de lluvias estuvo asociado con aumentos en la tasa de ganancia de peso (Figura 4). Después de los primeros meses de lluvi'a, los animales continuaron pastoreando el banco de leguminosa resultando esto en una reducción drástica de leguminosa en oferta (Figura 2), de leguminosa en la dieta total (Figura 1) y de la tasa de ganancia de peso de los animales (Figura 4).Es evidente que mediante la quema de sabana nativa no fue posible lograr que los animales autoregularán la utilización de S. capitata en banco. Por otro lado, el deterioro de los bancos de S. capítata fue ! mucho mayor a lo observado en el experimento con bancos de Kudzu.Estas diferencias parecen deberse en gran parte a la mayor palatabi1i-T dad y tasa de consumo de S. capitata en relación a Kudzu (Cuadro 1).Se' puede infe~ir de lo anterior, que en la, selección de 1eguml- Otros atributos que deberían reunir las leguminosas para bancos de proteína, fuera de tener adaptación a condiciones edáficas y bióticas prevalentes, son: hábito vigoroso de crecimiento, resistencia a sequía y libre de factores anti-calidad (alcaloides, taninos). Estos factores se discuten brevemente a continuación.Un aspecto importante en la utilización de leguminosas como bancos es el de la habilidad de ~stas de competir con malezas, sobre todo teniendo en cuenta que en la medida que fijen nitrógeno, las;.'l.:. : .... :', '.,:.' \" .. '.'* : • • \" :... el nivel de proteína en la dieta de animales en sabana durante ~poca \\ seca (Enero-Marzo) fue adecuado, debido básicamente a la quema de la [ vegetación en Diciembre del año anterior y a pastoreo selectivoJ Es posible que con la quema, el factor limitante en la sabana duraJte la \" . ~'-\" época seca y aún lluviosa sea la cantidad del forraje de buena 1>-calidad. Se desprende entonces, que podría esperarse una mayor'respuesta en producción animal, con meno,r área de banco por anilIlfll, si , la sabana quemada es suplementada con un banco de gramínea mejO;~da + leguminosa en lugar de una leguminosa pura. Esto se deduce si se tiene en ,cuenta: (I) la mayor producción de biomasa y de energía de una gramínea en relación a una leguminosa; (2) aporte de nitrógeno de la leguminosa a la gram.ínea, 10 cual incide positivament.e en su calidad; y (3) contribución directa de proteína de la leguminosa al animal. sobre todo en ~poca seca. Una ventaja adicional de la 'asociaci6n sobre la leguminosa pufa como suplemento de sabana podría ser ~l de un menor riesgo de sobrepastoreo del banco. ]0 cual reduciría la necesidad de manejo, aspecto fundamenta] en sistemas ext.ensivos. como .. ,.:  . ,',<'. ,Se reconoce que de un solo trabajo experimental es peligroso sacar conclusiones generales. Sin embargo. parecería que con gramíneas mejoradas, capaces de aprovechar el nitrógeno reciclado de las leguminosas, existen mayores ventajas con la asociación íntima de leguminosas en compara.ción con el uso de éstas como banco. Por otro lado, en regiones donde predominan suelos de mediana fertilidad y sistemas intensivos de carne y/o leche el uso de bancos de leguminosas arbustivas (Leucaena leucocephala) podrían causar gran impacto en ganancia de peso o producción de leche como complemento de gramíneas mejoradas, en épocas de lluvia o seca, tal como lo demuestran los resultados experimentales que a continuación se resumen.Existe un gran número de 'experimentos con Leucaena 1eucocepha1a en la literatura. Para desta~ar está el experimento realizado en Fiji por Partridge y Ranacou (1974). Se compararon en este ensayo 3 . . ...O\" e \"'~. \",Oli~ '\"'( ~\"\"\", . ......,.... -:\"'-\"\"\"\"'-' .. \"'t:F\\Cd. ... ) l.Pastoreo en solo Dichanthium ~i~~m. ... , 2.Pastoreo de D. aristatum + 10% (área) de L. leucocephala.Pastoreo de D. aristatum I 20% (área) de L. leucoceEhala.Con una carga de 1. 5 A ha se obtuvieron ganancias de 215, 300   ., aS1 como tam 1en e porcentaJe e grasa e a ec e.-\\ ' 1 'El uso de bancos de leguminosas como alternativa para la suplementación de ganado pastoreando gramíneas nativas en sistemas extensivos de producción ha sido estudiado experimentalmente en varios locales, incluyendo los Llanos Orientales de Colombia. Es claro que existe un efecto benéfico en términos de producción.~nimal cuando los animales tienen acceso a bancos de leguminosa en época seca, sobre todo cuando la sabana nativa se tnaneja sin quema. Para que el uso de.'12 bancos en sistemas extensivos tenga aplicación práctica, parece necesario que el sistema pueda ser manejado con acceso libre de animales, por 10 menos durante la época seca. Esto pareciera factible con algunas leguminosas con características de alta producción y relativamente baja palatabi1idad y/o tasa de consumo. Con leguminosas muy pa1atables se corre el riesgo de que sean sobrepastoreadas, aún manejando el pasto nativo con quema para mantener su calidad. Por otro lado, en base a algunos resultados experimentales se plantea la posibilidad de que el Uso de bancos. de gramíneas mejoradas + ! leguminosas sea un mejor complemento para sabana nativa manejada con ! quema que el de banco's de leguminosas puras. Esto si se tiene en cuenta, que la dietalseleccionada en sabana no parece ser deficiente \\ en proteína y que la I~sociación puede producir mayor cantidad de biomasa y que la legJ~ino~a asociada contribuye tanto a la calidad d~ la gramínea en -~fert; como directamente al animal, es;ecialmente en época seca..~.: . .Una ventája adicional de la asociación sobre la , .'\", leguminosa pura sería' que se requeriría menos manejo para evitar . j ¡ sobrepastoreo del banco.El uso de banco~ de leguminosa como complemento de gramíneas mejoradas ha sido menos estudiado. En base a resultados experimentales obtenidos en los Llanos Orientales de Colombia, parecería que asociación de leguminosas con gramíneas es mejor estrategia que la del uso de bancos, ya que se aprovecha más eficientemente el nitrógeno reciclado de la leguminosa. lo cual es importante para mantener la gramínea productiva a través del tiempo. Sin embargo. trabajos experimentales demuestran que el uso de bancos de l~guminosas. sobre todo arbustivas. como complemento de gramíneas mejoradas tiene gran potencial en sistemas intensivos de producción de carne y/o leche en el trópico. , .. , ',..Al, ,.,.... \" '\". . . \"\"'------Q\"\"\" \" Figura l. Frecuencia de tiempo pastoreando banco y % leguminosas en la dieta total en sabana + bancos dta S. capitata ll1::mejado con dos c8rg;)g y acceso libre todo el año (Carimagua).  Forraje disponible en sabana y bancos de S. capitata manejados con 2 cargas y acceso libre todo el año (Carímagua). Nov.Figura 3. Contenido de proteína cruda en la dieta de animales pastoreando sabana + bancos de S. capitata manejado con 2 cargas y acceso libre todo el aao. (Carimagua).\"... .......'\\ \"'-~~.;T\"\"\"'==:ii~-. . , . . , . , . . , .. '\" --\"._0,'       "}

main/part_1/0345499418.json

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+{"metadata":{"gardian_id":"f63c70650384439cda5ed3129449ef5a","source":"gardian_index","url":"https://cgspace.cgiar.org/rest/bitstreams/5a9eb74a-eea9-45d1-9d95-f910728ed79f/retrieve","id":"1052511388"},"keywords":["Debudding","disease incidence","Musa species","Xanthomonas campestris pv. Musacearum"],"sieverID":"4842564b-da30-42b8-80ab-d99e9298d7ee","content":"Banana Xanthomonas wilt (BXW) is a devastating bacterial disease caused by Xanthomonas campestris pv. musacearum. The disease was simultaneously reported in Cankuzo and Bubanza provinces, Burundi, in November 2010. However, the extent to which the disease has spread to other banana growing regions in the country is unknown. Therefore, to ascertain the distribution and incidence of the disease and farmers' knowledge on measures to control the disease, a survey was conducted in all 16 banana growing provinces of Burundi in August 2011. A total of 208 farms were sampled, selecting six farms per surveyed commune, three affected and three non-affected. The survey was conducted using a structured questionnaire. The disease was present in 10 out of 16 provinces constituting all agricultural lands in Burundi. The highest incidence was recorded in Ruyigi province (34%), where the Kayinja system is dominant and the lowest in Muyinga (3%), where the East African Highland bananas (EAHB) dominate. Awareness of BXW symptoms, modes of spread and control measures was generally low, ranging from 8 to 30% of households surveyed. The limited knowledge of the disease among farmers was thought to be largely responsible for driving the epidemic in Burundi.Banana (Musa species) is the first crop in Burundi in terms of production with 1,848,727 tonnes in 2011, followed by sweet potatoes and cassava (FAOSTAT, 2016). Plantains, which are also Musa spp., are not common in Burundi. Banana is used for beer, cooking the and for dessert and therefore contributes significantly to food security and income. The crop protects land against soil erosion especially in Burundi, where the landscape is hilly with steep slopes (Rishirumuhirwa, 1997). However, banana production is threatened by wilt (BXW) caused *Corresponding author. E-mail: privanda2001@yahoo.fr.Author(s) agree that this article remain permanently open access under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License 4.0 International License by Xanthomonas campestris pv. musacearum (Xcm). BXW is one of the recent threats to banana production in East and Central Africa. The disease was first reported in Ethiopia on Ensete and banana (Yirgou and Bradbury, 1974;Smith et al., 2008). It was first reported in East and Central Africa in Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DR Congo) in 2001 and since then has continued to spread to most countries in the region (Tushemereirwe et al., 2003;Karamura et al., 2008). Other banana production constraints include soil fertility, poor management, inaccessibility to fertilizers, diseases and pests such as banana bunchy top disease, Fusarium wilt and Sigatoka (Tinzaara et al., 2007). BXW is a devastating disease with the potential to drastically reduce banana production and negatively impact farmers' livelihoods. At the vegetative stage, symptoms of BXW are mainly yellowing and wilting of leaves while flowering banana shows withering and rotting of male buds and premature ripening of the fruits (Tushemereirwe et al., 2003;Karamura et al., 2008;Ssekiwoko et al., 2010). The disease is spread by insects, birds, infected planting materials, cutting tools and animals which can browse on healthy banana after feeding on diseased mats (Biruma et al., 2008, Tinzaara et al., 2009). Recommended cultural control measures for the disease include destruction of affected plants, disinfection of farm tools, using clean planting material and early removal of male buds using a forked stick and keeping animals out of the fields (Tinzaara et al., 2016).In Burundi, the disease was first confirmed in November 2010 in the provinces of Cankuzo and Bubanza which are bordering with Tanzania and Rwanda, respectively (Niko et al., 2011). In Cankuzo (East of Burundi), the disease was reported in Gisagara Commune, Gitanga colline, about 25 km from the Tanzania border whereas in Bubanza province (West of Burundi), the hotspot was observed in Musigati commune at Rushiha colline about 60 km from DR Congo border (Niko et al., 2001). A few months later, the disease spread rapidly to other provinces in the country and new pockets were identified in seven provinces. However, little is known on the actual disease distribution, incidence and farmer awareness on the disease in the country. This study, therefore, was aimed at determining BXW distribution, incidence and farmers' knowledge of disease symptoms, mechanisms of spread and control in Burundi.A survey was carried out in August 2011 covering all 16 provinces of Burundi. Two communes per province were surveyed, except in Makamba province where five out of six affected communes were surveyed. The number of communes per province in Burundi varies from 5 to 9 and the country has a total of 117 communes. Six farms per commune were selected randomly (three affected by BXW and three unaffected) from the 35 communes visited out of 117 countrywide.Data from 208 farms were recorded using a structured questionnaire. The questionnaire was designed to capture information on banana production constraints in general but with more emphasis on BXW. Farmer interviews were conducted and then observations made in banana fields to record data on banana plantation management, disease symptoms, and incidence of the main banana diseases and pests and the affected cultivars.Enumerators were selected based on the working experience on banana management and were trained to distinguish banana diseases, especially those that are present in Burundi. They further were further trained to use the questionnaire theoretically in a meeting as well as practically on farm level by simulating data collection from farmers. The incidence of BXW, which consisted of percentage of diseased plants in a field, was calculated based on observation and counting of 30 plants selected using diagonal walks in the field. Geographical coordinates were also recorded using GPS unit to map the disease distribution. Data were subjected to descriptive statistics (means and percentages) and analyzed using SPSS 11.0, ArcGis 9.3 software.The results of the farmer knowledge about cultural practices that contribute to BXW management are presented in the Figure 1. Banana plantations (57.2%) in Burundi are more than 20 years old while 59.6% are poorly managed. Forty-nine percent of the banana grown in Burundi is used for beer, 28.4% for cooking, 20.9% for dessert types and 0.7% for plantains. Banana plantations are mostly established in a mixed cultivars system in which farmers use at least two cultivars. The most common varieties observed include cooking banana Igisahira gisanzwe-AAA-EA, 19.4%), beer bananas Igitsiri (AAA-EA, 16.3%) and Kayinja (ABB, 13.6%), dessert banana Kamaramasenge (AAB) whereas hybrids FHIA (AAAA), which are currently the most widely promoted in the country, are not yet widespread (0.9%) on farm level.BXW was observed in 10 (Bujumbura, Cibitoke, Bubanza, Makamba, Rutana, Ruyigi, Cankuzo, Karuzi, Muyinga and Ngozi) out of the 16 provinces surveyed (Figure 2). The province of Makamba (South) was the most affected with the disease found in five communes. Cibitoke, Cankuzo, Bubanza and Ruyigi provinces had each two affected communes while in Ngozi, Karuzi and Muyinga, the disease was observed at least in two sites (Figure 2). The incidence recorded varied in the different communes and is indicated in Table 1. The highest incidence was recorded in Ruyigi (34%) while the lowest was registered in Muyinga (3%). The incidence ranged from 17 to 25% in the most affected province (Makamba).Farmers' awareness of symptoms, modes of spread and control measures of BXW was low (Figure 3). A small percentage of farmers ranging from 22.6 to 31.3% recognize BXW symptoms. Premature fruit ripening and wilting and yellowing of leaves were the most widely known symptoms, probably because they are visible by external observations. However, some farmers were still confusing BXW with Fusarium wilt due to the common yellowing and wilting of leaves. Very few of the interviewed farmers (1.9 to 26.4%) had knowledge of the mechanisms of BXW spread. Moreover, the percentage of the interviewed farmers who were aware of and implementing disease control was extremely low (ranging from 1.9 to 14.9% of farmers interviewed). Those who were aware reported that their main sources of information on BXW were radio/TV (22.6%), friends/neighbours (14%), extension (12.8%), research (2.3%), schools/churches (0.8%) and NGOs (0.4%). However, certain control practices were less known to farmers (or farmers did not have sufficient information on the practices). For instance most of farmers were not aware of the removal of male bud when the last hand has formed.Most farmers (98.4%) also used suckers from their own field or neighbours to establish new plantations. The use of tissue culture and macropropagated materials is not yet widespread (Figure 1). Some households exchange suckers of improved varieties between provinces (1.5%) and even from neighbouring countries (0.7%). This was particularly true for the provinces of Muyinga and Ngozi. Farmers are also unaware of agronomic practices that contribute to disease control.BXW has spread rapidly within the Burundi since its outbreak reported in two provinces in November 2010. This study showed that 10 out of the 16 provinces were already affected in less than a year with an incidence ranging from 3 and 34%. The low incidence in the Mabanda and Bubanza commune reflects the recent infection of these areas. Disease transmission was suspected to be driven by insects in Kayinja-based banana systems although tool-infection was locally important in several sites. Kayinja, also known as Pisang Awak, is preferred by farmers for its different uses but it is considered as one of the susceptible cultivars to BXW (Biruma et al., 2007). The only affected field found in Ngozi belongs to a farmer who owns another infected banana plantation in Karuzi. It is believed that the farmer involuntarily contaminated his plantation in Ngozi with non-disinfected tools after his passage in Karuzi. Additionally, some farmers admittedly reported that they were not aware about tools disinfection when they cut down a diseased banana, contributing involuntarily to the spread of the disease. The rapid spread of BXW is also influenced by farmers' limited knowledge and use of management measures such as timely removal of male buds and decontaminating tools. De-budding and decontamination of farm tools are known to be effective means of eliminating existing sources of inoculum and reducing opportunities of further spread of Xanthomonas wilt by insect vectors (Eden-Green, 2004;Tinzaara et al., 2006;Nakakawa et al., 2016). Considering that BXW can spread up to a radius of 75 km per year (Kwach et al., 2013), the lack of awareness and small size of a province in Burundi (from 830.60 to 2465.64 km  The entry of the disease in Burundi is still a puzzle, though disease is suspected to have come on infected planting material or contaminated tools. The provinces of Makamba and Ruyigi which border the Kigoma region of Tanzania were the most affected. The Tanzania border region was reported to be affected by BXW in 2010 (Mgenzi et al., 2010) although there is a quite distance in between occupied by forests. However, it is likely that farmers on either side of the border exchange planting materials and trans-boundary workers can spread the disease using their working tools. The disease probably came to those provinces from Tanzania through either planting material or tools. In Makamba, Bujumbura and Rutana provinces, the most dominant symptoms are the shrivelling of inflorescences and premature ripening of banana fruits. This indicates that the disease was transmitted by insects as Kayinja, dominant in these provinces, is more susceptible to insect-mediated infections (Mbaka et al., 2009;Tinzaara et al., 2006). Farmers' knowledge of the disease symptoms, spread mechanisms and control options is very critical in the management of the disease (Nkuba et al., 2015;Tinzaara et al., 2016). Farmer awareness of the disease was generally low in all provinces of Burundi. Additionally, farmers' management practices are not conducive to eradication of the disease once a field is infected as they prefer to abandon infected fields. This constitutes major threat to farmers who are implementing control measures as abandoned banana fields act as a permanent source of the inoculum. This suggests the need for mobilization and sensitization at community level. The approach of engaging the community to own the problem contributed to the success in BXW management in Uganda (Kubiriba et al., 2012;Tinzaara et al. 2013;Ochola et al., 2015). This would include engaging locals in the bid for zero tolerance of Xanthomonas wilt by eliminating any sources of inoculum through effective implementation of control measures backed-up by community by-laws that most efficiently brings to book errant farmers who hesitate to manage the disease. The farmers need to understand that the disease is extremely devastating but can be controlled. This encourages farmers to aggressively fight the disease.The rapid spread of BXW and its high incidence in affected fields in Burundi poses a serious threat to food security and incomes of rural communities in banana based cropping systems. The limited knowledge of the disease by the farmers and other stakeholders in the country makes it difficult to control. Farmers have limited awareness about the control measures, in particular when to remove the male bud. In the infected areas, farmers who are following control measures such as removing the male buds and disinfecting tools are harvesting bananas. BXW is also spreading by contaminated tools, with workers involuntarily transmitting the disease because they are not aware of tools disinfection. Poor management of banana plantations in Burundi makes control measures very difficult when bananas are infected. To remove mats constituting of up to ten plants makes control labour intensive and farmers are discouraged when they have to uproot poorly managed plantations which are no longer profitable. Farmers' knowledge is particularly low on control measures and the proportion of farmers using control practices is also low. There is therefore a need of improving awareness of farmers on banana cultural practices and how to make banana a profitable crop while controlling BXW and other diseases and pests."}

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+{"metadata":{"gardian_id":"f48158b47d842d8c2e8220c00d775bc2","source":"gardian_index","url":"https://cgspace.cgiar.org/rest/bitstreams/8b88ebc7-0a31-4c49-8a65-a4da0aa9ba65/retrieve","id":"612453968"},"keywords":[],"sieverID":"56f9dd0e-0cdd-4172-a987-2612b405a8a8","content":"Support key institutions and organizations libraries through the supply of relevant and up-to-date information based on their identified needs. CTA is to support these institutions through their Publications Distributions Services.The current study was initiated and funded by the Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation (CTA). In the \"Evaluation of the Implementation of the Mid-Term Plan (1997-2000)\" there were various issues raised as to the fact that CTA needed to develop a more proactive approach in regard to its choice of partner organizations and beneficiaries. Also highlighted were the issues that traditionally, the Pacific and Caribbean regions have not received sufficient attention in CTA's programmes and activities. Consequently CTA has commissioned this study selecting eight Pacific Island Countries to undertake an information needs assessment study.The extent of agricultural information services provided is not compatible with the percentage of population engaged in agricultural activities, and the increase in introduced crops and livestock, as well as the introduction of new information and communication technology.Lack of financial support was found to be the major constraining factor affecting and limiting access to needed information resources, infrastructure development such as telecommunication and power supply, and required human resources.Development of infrastructure such as rural telecommunication and electrification systems will require government interventions. However, factors such as information and human resources require cohesive policy and strategies by all the different players in the agricultural sector.The following conclusions are drawn from the study:1. More horizontal exchange of information rather than vertical exchanges, and a more participatory approach to identifying information needs of farmers is required.2. With limited budgetary support, more co-ordinated effort is required by institutions and organizations to form information consortia for the benefit of sharing resources, i.e. both equipment and human.3. More efforts have to be made to utilize information sources effectively, such as radio and TV, to support the dissemination of information in rural areas.4. Information resources and services within PNG are very fragmented, and institutions and organizations in the country are working in isolation. There is a need to find effective mechanisms to allow for better access to available information within the country for all who need it. The initiative by NARI and CIC-CGSD to develop an integrated agricultural information system is one approach by which the information can be made available to everyone in the research arena and other organizations needing this information. Other organizations within the renewable resources sector should contribute to this system so as to develop it into a national agricultural information database.5. A coherent national policy is required to build up the capacity of information staff together with a transparent national structure that addresses organisational linkages in the field of information services. The national policy should also provide for intensive dialogue at various levels to identify users and their specific needs, technical options, the roles of various institutions and create policy support. Some research institutes within PNG have their own information strategies to address their own research needs, however a major limiting factor for these institutions is the finance needed to keep the information systems working. Therefore, institutions and organizations needed to consider developing networks particularly to look at IT-related issues that would minimise expenditure, optimise resources, and encourage collaboration. A new approach is required by the government of many developing countries to see the potential of ICT as a tool for advancing education and research. For this to be effective, telecommunication policy, regulatory and user-related issues need to be addressed. Developmental trends in educational requirements for IT in the developing countries needed to be studied.The following recommendations for CTA interventions are:• Provide information services to key institutions to support decision-making in the agricultural sector for the provision of better research recommendations, through the supply of SDI and document delivery services for its various researchers.1.The task of CTA is to develop and provide services that improve access to information for agricultural and rural development, and to strengthen the capacity of African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries to produce, acquire, exchange and utilise information in this area. CTA's programmes are oganised around three principal activities: (i) providing an increasing range and quantity of information products and services and enhancing awareness of relevant information sources; (ii) supporting the integrated use of appropriate communication channels and intensifying contacts and information exchange (particularly intra-ACP); and (iii) developing ACP capacity to generate and manage agricultural information and to formulate information and communication management (ICM) strategies, including those relevant to science and technology.In January 2002, CTA's Strategic Plan (2001)(2002)(2003)(2004)(2005) was implemented and CTA's activities were distributed among three operation programme areas/departments:• Information Products and Services• Communication Channels and Services• Information and Communication Management Skills and SystemsThese operational departments are supported by Planning and Corporate Services (P&CS) which is charged with the methodological underpinning of their work and monitoring the ACP environment in order to identify emerging issues and trends and make proposals for their translation into programmes and activities. This current exercise, therefore, falls within the mandate of P&CS.CTA works primarily through intermediary organizations and partners to promote agriculture and rural development. Through partnerships, CTA hopes to increase the number of ACP organizations capable of generating and managing information and developing their own information and communication management strategies. The identification of appropriate partners is therefore of primordial importance.The \"Evaluation of the Implementation of the Mid-Term Plan\" (1997-2000) emphasised the need for CTA to develop a more pro-active approach and elaborate criteria for decision-making with regard to the choice of partner organizations and beneficiaries. Beside partner identification and selection issues, the observation has also been made that, traditionally, the Pacific and Caribbean regions have not received sufficient attention in CTA's programmes and activities. Furthermore, the admission of six new Pacific member states under the Cotonou Agreement means not much know about them, hence the need to develop CTA intervention strategy and provide more targeted assistance 1 . Finally, various national and regional partners with whom CTA has had a long-standing relationship have requested for the current study in order to provide more targeted assistance to their beneficiaries.The objectives of the current study are as follows: • To identify agricultural needs of key actors / beneficiaries for CTA products and services;• To identify needs of potential actors / beneficiaries of CTA activities and services in terms of building capacity for information and communication management; • To identify potential partners / beneficiaries for CTA activities and services;• To develop some baseline data to facilitate subsequent monitoring activities.The study should assist the three operational departments of the CTA as well as its local representatives to improve and better target interventions and activities aimed at potential partners and beneficiaries (including women, youth, private sector and civil society organizations); to have a more informed picture of their needs and aid in the elaboration of a strategy and framework of action. The study should also highlight where there are specific needs for CTA's products and services thereby enabling improvement in the delivery of the same.Data for the study were collected using the following methods: • The desk review of available literature and information sources including the findings of programme evaluations; • The conduct of face-to-face interviews with relevant stakeholders and concerned parties; and • Limited use of questionnaires.The following institutions and organizations were visited and contacted: The write up of the study report followed closely the format provided by CTA through its designated regional coordinator. After receiving and incorporating comments from the coordinator on the draft reports submitted in July, the report in drafts was forwarded to CTA in November for their perusal and comments.Papua New Guinea (PNG) is located on the eastern half of the island of New Guinea, the second largest island in the world. PNG shares the island with West Papua (formerly Irian Jaya) a province of Indonesia. It is the largest country within the South Pacific region with a land area of 462,243 km 2 with over 80% forested, and an economic fishing zone of 2.4 million km 2 . Papua New Guinea's terrain is mostly mountainous with coastal lowlands and rolling foothills, and is surrounded by 600 small offshore islands of raised coral and coral atolls.PNG is divided politically into four regions: the New Guinea Islands Region (comprising the island provinces of Manus, New Ireland, East and West New Britain, and Bougainville), Momase Region (the northern coastal areas including the provinces of Morobe, Madang, East Sepik and Sandaun), the Southern Region (including the provinces of Western, Gulf, Central, National Capital District, Oro and Milne Bay) and the Highlands Region (which covers mostly provinces in the highlands of PNG including, Eastern Highlands, Simbu, Western Highlands, Southern Highlands and Enga). There are 20 provinces all in Papua New Guinea.Agriculture, Forestry and FisheriesAgricultural population, land use and farming systems 13. Papua New Guinea is predominantly agro-based with about 87% of its population engaged in smallholder farming. Only a small proportion of the population is engaged in formal paid jobs (4.5%), with a small percentage (8.5%) of the rural population depending entirely on subsistence; that is, growing food mainly for consumption.About 30% of PNG's land area is suitable for agriculture development, however only one quarter is regularly under production (1% of total land area), and about another quarter is used at lower levels of intensity. The remaining half of the land is far from villages with poor market access and is constrained in its use by customary ownership restrictions. About 90% of the land with agricultural potential is held under customary land tenure within which clans grant individual families land usage rights, but do not transfer parcels of land.There are two forms of production systems: (1) export tree crops production system, such as coffee, cocoa, coconut, oil palm and rubber, and (2) food crops production system including sweet potato, yams, cassava, banana, taro, potato, sago, sugarcane, corn and peanut.Farming systems are highly adapted to the local environment. There are four main farming systems: (1) Sago and taro based farming systems in the wet lowlands; (2) yams, bananas and cassava based systems in the dry lowlands; (3) taro and sweet potato based systems in the highlands and its fringes; and (4) sweet potato and Irish potato systems in the higher altitude valleys.Smallholders have traditionally accounted for most of the output of the main export and staple agricultural commodities, namely coconut, coffee, cocoa, oil palm, rubber, chilli, pyrethrum and, recently vanilla.The principle crops for domestic consumption include sweet potatoes, bananas, taro, yams, sugarcane, corn and peanuts. Virtually all smallholder crops are rain-fed, intercropped, with low input levels and low productivity. Food crops account for more than 50% of the total agricultural output; about 25% of the produce is marketed.The livestock sub-sector accounts for about 12% of total production in PNG, of which subsistence pig and poultry production accounts for two-thirds. Broiler production dominates the commercial sector, followed by beef, eggs, crocodile skins and pork. Pigs play an important economic and cultural role at the village level, particularly in the highlands, providing wealth, status and protein.Agriculture plays a significant role in the economy of PNG. It accounts for the livelihoods of 87% of people in the rural areas, provides employment for 25% of the workforce in the formal sector, contributes 14% of foreign exchange earnings and contributes to 25% of GDP. The agriculture sector also provides markets for the industries and service sector, and is a source of capital, labour and products for the other sectors.Agricultural exports are limited to tree crops and some alternative crops including tea, rubber and vanilla. Export earnings during 2000 were valued at K955.5 million which is 16.5% of total export earnings.The agriculture sector has performed poorly in the last two decades. The main cause was the halving of world market prices for tree crops commodities (coffee, cocoa, copra and palm oil), which was only partly offset by domestic policy action (devaluation of the kina, subsidies). Other factors contributing to the poor sectoral performance include low productivity in smallholder production systems, poor product quality, high costs of production, (high labour, transport and processing costs), excess processing capacity and costly marketing systems. This combination of factors has made PNG significantly noncompetitive in many of its traditional agricultural export markets.During the last two decades, the agriculture sector was not performing well. Consequently various consultations and reviews proposed a major restructure within the agriculture sector. This resulted in the establishment of commodity-based research institutes within PNG. The main reason for this restructure was to improve performance, both in terms of research capabilities and for more directed efforts aimed at a specific crop or issue.Four new commodity-based research institutes now exist within PNG: (i) Cocoa Coconut Institute of Papua New Guinea (CCI) 2 ; (ii) Coffee Industry Corporation's Research and Grower Services Division (CIC-RGSD) 3 ; (iii) Oil Palm Research Association (OPRA) and (iv) Ramu Sugar's Sugar Breeding Centre.The late 1990s also saw further restructure of the DAL Research Division. Research and technical functions related to food crops were transferred over to the new National Agricultural Research Institute; the marketed fruits and vegetable project component was transferred to the Fresh Produce Development Company (FPDC 2001); and the agricultural quarantine regulations and surveillance was transferred to the National Agricultural Quarantine and Inspection Agency (NAQIA) (DAL 2003).At the national political level, further devolution of power was enacted through the 1995 National Organic Law (NOL) on Provincial Governments and Local Level Governments, which replaced the 1977 Organic Law on Provincial Governments and shifted the roles of resources and responsibilities to the provincial and local level government and changed powers, structures, roles and responsibilities of national government departments. Under the 1995 Organic Law, districts must provide extension services in agriculture, fisheries, commerce and industry, environmental management, women and youth.This enanctment also resulted in the restructuring of many departments including DAL, and the creation of other organizations such as the regionally based Division of Provincial and Industry Support Services (P&ISS). The further decentralisation of powers from provincial government to district and local levels now means that direct involvement of national and line departments will now diminish (Mesa 2001). The devolution of powers and responsibilities of research and extension to mostly semi-government or statutory government agencies means that the primary role of the Department of Agriculture and Livestock will be to formulate policy advice for the national government, coordinate donors' inquiries, and undertake monitoring and evaluation exercises.The vision for agriculture is: increased agricultural productivity, food security, income generation and employment resulting from well-coordinated and collaborative sector.The policy framework of the agriculture sector is premised towards developing capacity in the sector to enable it to improve the social, physical and economic well-being of rural producers by increasing their productivity, incomes and providing them with employment opportunities.Four areas have been given high priority and represent the key elements of PNG's sector development programme:The equitable delivery of quality agricultural services, including fisheries; • Increased food security and nutritional levels for those involved in subsistence agriculture with little cash production;The development of export commodities, including diversification into alternative crops in order to reduce vulnerability to price fluctuation of traditional export crops;The development of downstream processing for agricultural crops, fish, timber and other resources, including cottage industries.The key elements of agricultural production and food security are to strengthen agricultural research and planning at all levels, improve agricultural extension services and to enhance food production and food security.The development strategy recognises that the smallholder sector continues to be the backbone of agricultural production systems whereas the largeholder private sector will be important for commercialisation of the agriculture sector.Papua New Guinea's largest renewable resource is its forest, both from the natural and plantation sources. About 36 million hectares of land is forested of which 15 million hectares is classified as productive forest containing high quality tropical hardwoods considered suitable for development. Of the 15 million hectares of productive forest a total of 4.86 million hectares had been identified with 37 forest concessions for development. These concessions contain 76.6 million m 3 of tropical hardwoods, which are available for harvest. The majority of the remaining resources are located in the western and northern half of mainland Papua New Guinea.It is estimated that about a third of the total land area has forestry production potential, but 70% of that area is still not adequately mapped. Whilst the customary landowners and clans own most of the forests, the Government issues logging licences to private operators.Papua New Guinea Forest Authority (PNGNFA) is a statutory corporation formed in 1993 to lead the forestry reform process and devise programmes to management the tropical rainforests. The Authority administers the industry through resource acquisition or on management contract with traditional landowners (forest resources customary owned) and invite investors to develop the resource on behalf of the State and landowners. The forest revenues are distributed between the three parties. The policy instruments that are in place to ensure that the forest resource is developed on a sustainable basis and to ensure that equitable benefits to the main stakeholders namely the customary landowners, Government and investors prevail, and the main enabling frameworks through which the industry is administered are as follows:• Forestry Act and Regulations• National Forest Policy• National Forest Plan• Logging Code of Practice• Other operational manuals.The Authority monitors and ensures compliances of the rules and regulations including contracts between the State, landowners and investors. It also promotes and develops policies relating to the industry.Research and development is carried out by the PNG Forest Research Institute, whilst PNGNFA is mandated to undertake monitoring, evaluation and policy issue.At provincial levels, under the 1995 NOL, roles and responsibilities of implementation of projects are shifted to the district and local level governments.Papua New Guinea claims jurisdiction over 2.4 million km 2 of ocean, the third largest Declared Fishing Zone (DFZ) in the region. The fisheries zones include an extended reef system, numerous islands and an extensive coastline. These create huge opportunities but also present an enormous challenge for monitoring and control (National Fisheries Corporate Plan, 2003).Papua New Guinea has an extensive and valuable fisheries sector ranging from inland river fisheries, aquaculture, coastal bêche-de-mer and reef fisheries to the prawn trawl and large-scale deep water fisheries. Those participating in the industry include the artisanal community, medium-sized domestic prawn and tuna longline operators and large international purse seine fleets in the deepwater tuna fisheries.Under the Fisheries Management Act 1998, the National Fisheries Authority (NFA) is \"responsible for the management and development of the fisheries sector in accordance with the provisions of this Act under the overall policy direction of the Ministry\" and \"shall perform and exercise its functions and powers on behalf of Papua New Guinea\".NFA is a non-commercial, statutory authority owned by the government and people of PNG. As a statutory authority NFA is required to implement government policy for managing and developing fisheries as a national asset.The Minister of Fisheries has overall responsibility for policy direction in accordance of the Fisheries Management Act. The Minister is required to provide an annual report to the Speaker for presentation to Parliament on the performance of NFA in terms of its functions and financial performance. The report is also provided to each provincial government.The objectives and guiding principles in respect of fisheries waters are: • Promote the objective of optimum utilisation and long term sustainable development of living resources and the need to utilise living resources to achieve economic growth, human resource development and employment creation and a sound ecological balance; • Conserve the living resources for both present and future generations;• Ensure management measures are based on the best scientific evidence available, and are designed to maintain or restore stocks at levels capable of producing maximum sustainable yield, as qualified by environmental and economic factors including fishing patterns, the interdependence of stocks and generally recommend international minimum standards; • Apply a precautionary approach to the management and development of aquatic living resources; • Protect the ecosystem as a whole, including species which are not targeted for exploitation, and the general marine and aquatic living resources; • Preserve biodiversity;• Minimise pollution; and• Implement any relevant obligations of Papua New Guinea under applicable rules of international law and international regulations.45.In addition it is required that the rights of customary owners of fisheries resources shall be fully recognised and respected in all transactions affecting the resource or the area in which the rights operates.The government's objective towards fisheries is to develop a fishing industry that is internationally competitive, generates employment, expands local food supply and reduces imports.Because of the significance of the rural economy as a vehicle for economic growth of the country the government recently has given greater emphasis and priority to improvement in rural sector as emphasised in the recent Medium Term Development Strategy (MTDS) (GOPNG 2000).The general policy objective for the renewable resources sector (RRS) including agriculture, fisheries and forestry according to the recent Medium Term Development Strategy (MTDS), 2003 to 2007, emphasises the ability of economy to create productive employment opportunities particularly in the rural communities in the following order: The recent Government's Development Strategy push for rural empowerment and for a strong and vibrant agricultural sector has directed the agricultural sector to realign its focus towards a more cohesive and collective policy development. In so doing, the agricultural sector under the guidance of the Department of Agriculture and Livestock has been given the task of developing a National Agricultural Development Plan (NADP). The overall goal of the NADP is to stimulate and induce growth with the full participation of all the stakeholders (farmers, private sector, NGOs, government institutions, donor agencies). It is anticipated that the NADP will give the individual plans of the different agencies some sense of national purpose by producing a unified direction for agricultural development and Government's Export Driven Recovery Policy. It will aim to rationalise and maximise efficiency in the use of limited development funds and resources, clarify the roles and responsibilities of different players, particularly that of the Department of Agriculture and Livestock. Implementation of the specific plans and development strategies will be the responsibility of the commodity boards, statutory agencies and provincial governments (Dekuku et al., 2004).Issues: Capacity, Services and NeedsIn PNG, the capacity to access and utilise information is affected by many factors. The rural farmer is constrained by physical access (mobility) due to poor road conditions, illiteracy (a factor that influences the choice of which information sources or communication medium he/she is able to use), and socio-economic factors (gender, culture, finance). These factors have often led the farmer to rely mainly on the extension officer to be his/her main source of information.The degree of access by various organizations and institutions is determined by what sources of funding they receive. Government institutions do not receive much funding and therefore have to prioritise their budget allocations often assigning low priority to information and communication sections.Private organizations are in a much better position as they are able to generate their own income and depending on their priorities, they allocate resources accordingly.Lack of funding support has been noted as the major bottleneck affecting accessibility to other resources and services.Various factors will be discussed here that have impacted on the management capacities of information and communication in PNG. For the purpose of this discussion, such factors such as human resources capacities, technological capacities, institutional frameworks and finance will be discussed.On a national level, communication and information systems are adequately available. Refer to Annex 2.3 which presents the various means of media and telecommunications.The discussion will look at the information and communication management capacities under three different categories: (i) government agricultural and related institutions; (ii) private sector agriculture and related institution; and (iii) community based organizations.This category includes the commodity-based research institutions (CIC Research & Grower Services Division, Cocoa Coconut Institute of Papua New Guinea, Oil Palm Research Association) and the fully Government-funded statutory institutions such as the National Agricultural Research Institute, PNG Forest Research Institute and National Fisheries Authority.Human resource capacity devoted to agricultural information/communication sector is adequately provided. Each institution has an information officer/publications officer to manage the information section. The qualification levels of the above persons are university degree in either agriculture or science. Coupled with that are also librarians in the case where the institution has a library facility. Most often the librarian is a qualified librarian and/or with Grade 10 certificate having had experience in library management.The information/communication unit of these institutions is structured around the premise of information provider/generators. As such various positions held within this unit are: liaison officer, scientific editor, publications officer, and librarian.The liaison officer is the most senior person in most cases, followed on with the scientific editor and or the publications officer. These positions attract degree-holders usually in agriculture, science or journalism. The librarian on the other hand is either a qualified librarian with a degree or certificate in librarianship or either a grade 10 Certificate holder with basic training or experiences in library management. Today more and more libraries are moving towards virtual facilities and therefore librarians in PNG require ICT skills to search for information and also to manage their current information resources. Many information staff and even scientific staff require skills in accessing and searching information online.Information Resource Capacities: Scientific staff are able to support the information advisory services however, there is a general lack of up-to-date technical information in specific areas as outlined below. The various commodity-based research institutes have a basic library facility, a publications unit and an in-house printery which does black and white printing. Multi-colour documents are given to commercial printers.Budgetary support is adequately provided to support the publishing and production of publications emanating from the institutes. However, library support is not adequately provided due to high costs of journal subscriptions, reference books and manuals. Many of the various institutes' libraries are either supported by information provisions supplied by regional organizations (SPC) or international organizations such as FAO and CTA. Most of the libraries current holdings are out of date.Communication resource supports are seen as essential tools. The three main commodity research institutes (CCI, CIC-RGSD and OPRA) have opted for local area network (LAN) to be set up within their organizations. This should solve the problems of Internet and email access. During the time of study, it was noted that Internet and email access is only limited to at least 5 computers the most, except for UNITECH which has a LAN system. Computers are adequately supplied to mainly scientific staff. The accessibility to Internet and email is depended on the number of direct telephone lines available or whether there is a LAN in place.The research institutions have a great strength in providing information related to their specific commodity based crops. CCI supports cocoa and coconut related information, while CIC-RGSD can support coffee-related information and OPRA and the Oil Palm Industry Association (OPIC) support oil palm-related information. Institutions within this category play a very critical role as information generators and providers.This includes institutions such as the National Agricultural Research Institute (NARI), the PNG Forest Research Institute (FRI), the National Agriculture and Quarantine Inspection Authority (NAQIA), the National Fisheries Authority and the Department of Agriculture and Livestock.Prior to structural reforms within the agriculture sector in the early 80s, the then Department of Primary Industry had a very good information unit which included several libraries, and a printery (which is still maintained under DAL). However, after the restructure and transfer of assets and functions to respective institutions, DAL is now left with a small library collection; other library materials have been scattered within various sections or destroyed.NARI, FRI and National Fisheries Authority have good library facilities and are supported by bilateral and multilateral donors and have adequate human resources capacities to manage these libraries. Communication capacities in terms of Internet and email access are still poorly developed due to lack of budgetary support.Tertiary agricultural institutions such as University of Technology (UNITECH), University of Goroka (UOG) and University of Vudal (UOV) have good libraries and communication systems. However, the libraries lack up-to-date library materials due to high costs of journal subscriptions and reference books.As these are institutions of higher educational learning, support for journal articles and reference materials are essential.Generally the above institutions, principally the publicly wholly funded (e.g. NARI), and partially funded (e.g. CCI, CIC-RGSD) research institutes received very modest Government financial support in the last government budget, as did the universities that focus on agriculture. Assistances from bilateral and multilateral donors have assisted in building up capacities such as NARI with assistance from the ACNARS project 4 . Other institutions such as CIC-RGSD and CCI with a previously well-earned reputation and research capacities have declined. The current institutes are below critical mass, individually making them largely unsustainable, which adversely affects their capacity to undertake credible applied research. Crucially it also means that there is a scarcity of useful information available for dissemination.Improved capacities within the information and communication sectors of the above institutions are very critical as they serve as the base for access to agricultural information in PNG.Many of the institutions within this sector provide the input supply, processing and marketing infrastructure and services base for the smallholders. The entrepreneurial and managerial expertise of these businesses is a critical factor in the competitiveness of PNG's agricultural industries, but increasing social disorder and unattractive returns has resulted in a withdrawal of their operations from many parts of the country.Information/communication sectors are adequately supported such as access to Internet and Email but with limited support in the area of library management. But this is not seen as a priority especially for providing information to the public.75.These include farmer associations, private firms, particularly those servicing outreach contract farmers, non-government organizations (NGOs) and church groups. Many of these groups have been pro-active in seeking technical, market and financial information for their clients from a whole range of sources. They have much closer ties with their farmer base than traditional extension services and they have the capacity to tap into international databases through the Internet. However, these 'grassroots' organizations demonstrate weaknesses in genuine community needs (as opposed to political wish lists) and identifying, designing, implementing and monitoring projects that actually deliver benefits to the community on a sustainable basis.Much valuable information for the agricultural community has been generated by research in PNG. A large amount of this information is available in the various institutions within PNG. This information is made available to the public in many formats depending on the target audiences. Below are the types of agricultural information available at the specific institutions.Commodity-based institutions have information on specific crops such as coffee (CIC-RGSD), cocoa and coconut (CCI), oil palm (OPRA). The National Agricultural Research Institute provides information on food crops, alternative cash crops and livestock.Coffee Information: Can be obtained from the Coffee Industry Corporation. Current available information are: Cocoa and Coconut Information: can be obtained from Cocoa and Coconut Institute. Information provided are on cocoa and coconut breeding, agronomy and husbandry techniques, pests and disease control. Information on market price and market access is available from the Kokonas Industries Koporesen and the Cocoa and Coconut Board.Information on Commercial Sugarcane is available from Ramu Sugar Ltd's Agriculture and Development Section on the various aspects of sugar breeding, agronomy and husbandry techniques, pests and disease control. As Ramu Sugar Ltd is diversifying into cattle research, oil palm and peanut, information on these crops and livestock will be made available from Ramu Sugar Ltd.Information on livestock and staple food crops such as sweet potato, yam, taro, banana, cassava, alternative cash crops such as vanilla, pepper, turmeric and on resource management such as soil maintenance can be sought from NARI and DAL.NARI currently undertakes research on the following crops and livestock. Current agricultural information that can be supplied from NARI are: Information on the market and post-harvest production of fresh vegetables is available from the Fresh Produce Development Company. FPDC works mostly with farmers and therefore their information is available in simple English and Tok Pisin (lingua franca).Fisheries information that can be provided by the National Fisheries Authority: • Estuarine water fishery (beche-de-mer, barramundi, prawn and lobsters)• Deep sea water fishery (tuna)• Inland Fishery (Tilapia, carp, trout)• Reef Fishery 86.On the other hand, NGO groups and church-based organizations such as the Christian Leadership Training Centre (CLTC), Lutheran Development Services (LDS), Baptist Church, Adventist Development Relief Agencies (ADRA), Salvation Army, Community Development Initiative Foundation (CDI) and individual publishers are also publishing information to meet the needs of their clients.A list of the types of agricultural information and publishers within PNG is provided in Table 1. Very good for the educated public but not so effective for illiterate farmers. However, farmers have been seen to purchase these leaflets to be read to them by their children.The publishers identified in Table 1 are those who normally publish extension-type publications that are distributed interested clients including farmers.Farmer to farmer: the most effective means by which farmers learn by doing from other farmers.Library services have played a significant role in meeting the needs of agricultural research institutions, researchers, other NGOs, private organizations and students.The types of services provided through the library services are: photocopy of available literature, interlibrary loan services, electronic databases (CD ROMs), bibliographic references and online access to the Internet.Support for information resources and products have come from various international and regional organizations to several organizations including NARI, DAL, CIC-RGSD, CCI, and National Fisheries Authority (NFA).The following international organizations have been supporting PNG with the supply of information products and services as identified during the study research:• Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC) -supporting agricultural institutions with the supply of CABI Crop Protection Compendium • Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations (FAO) -distributing FAO books to certain organizations and agricultural institutions through its Publication Distribution Quota services and online access to agricultural journals (AGORA). • Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation (CTA) -SDI services, CD ROM support, Publications Distributions Services (credit points) and QAS.Other external donor agencies including the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR), World Bank, Asian Development Bank, European Union (EU), SPC have also provided information support to their PNG project partners through the provision of relevant reference materials.As observed by the author during the study, information services in the agricultural sector in PNG are very fragmented and information resources are poorly managed. Many agricultural research libraries and information sections work in isolation from each other and there is not much sharing of information within or between organizations.In the end, finding out about available information depends on whom you know and what is available and where. There are no proper mechanisms in place for identifying available sources of information and types of services available, although very rich information resources are available within the country. Huge efforts are required to assemble them and make them accessible for use but the skills and know-how to manage and collate this resource is lacking.The importance of having access to information on past research is very crucial. It allows for better planning, reduces time, makes better use of available resources and cuts down on costs.This does not mean that PNG lacks historical research information. Filing cabinets, archive rooms, libraries, or even scientists hold collections of the many trials and experiments, journal articles and papers that are equally as important for any research planning. Information does not only reside in books but also with the people who are specialists in their own right. Hence, the mobilization and collation of information to make it more accessible is very crucial for proper agricultural planning.Interestingly there is a project 5 currently being undertaken in PNG funded by the ACNARS project, an AusAID funded initiative which is working closely with a team of librarians and information officers from the National Agricultural Research Institute (NARI) and Coffee Industry Corporation through its Research and Grower Services Division (CIC-RGSD) to develop a system that is intended to enhance the libraries' capacity and put in place an electronic framework to facilitate the efficient and effective management and use of information within research organizations in the agricultural sector. Over 20,000 records have been assembled incorporating 13,000 records from PNG Agriculture Bibliography (developed by the Australian National University (ANU) Land Management Group in Canberra) and just over 7,000 records contributed by SPC, NARI and CIC-RGSD. The expected outcome of this project is better, more credible research and consequently improved access to agricultural information within Papua New Guinea. These include records of 457 publications for distribution/sale (about 124 from NARI, 163 from DAL, 32 from FPDC, 109 from CIC-RGSD and 29 records from CCI).The integrated agricultural research information system's main aim is to contribute to providing 'agricultural information services, extension service support and other technical assistance to the agricultural sector' in Papua New Guinea. 100.This system not only contains catalogues of CIC-RGSD and NARI library holdings but also contains extension materials that have been produced by DAL, CCI, CIC-RGSD, and NARI. The system is also capable of compiling bibliographies of various crops automatically. For example, all coffee bibliographies are automatically compiled as information is entered. Eventually, records of the contact details, qualifications, skills, and interests of all scientific and technical staff within NARI, CIC-RGDS and other institutions and their various disciplines will also be available complementing what is already available in the catalogue database.The benefits this system can offer are:• Providing access to information and knowledge resources of collaborating institutions (currently, NARI and CIC-RGSD) Institutions, especially other commodity-based research institutions (e.g. CCI, New Britain Palm Oil Ltd, Ramu Sugar, FRI), FPDC and DAL, are encouraged to participate in identifying and cataloguing library materials, and by contributing to the extension materials database and database of people and their expertise.The NARI/CIC information system is moving towards addressing the issue of information mobilization for both researchers, extension officers and even agricultural research clients to be more effective in promoting the role agricultural research in order to alleviate poverty and sustain productivity. It also aims to develop an agricultural research information databank leading to a real science-based knowledge system in PNG.Formal agricultural research in PNG is compartmentalized into specific research areas as outlined above. Other informal research is undertaken by various NGOs, church-based and private sector organizations.However, some of these institutions do not have organised libraries to meet the informational needs of its researchers. For example, the Cocoa Coconut Institute of PNG does research on cocoa and coconut yet does not have an organized library and also has no effective arrangements for access to overseas information resources. All information needed is gathered in an ad hoc fashion, depending on personal contacts. Another example is the Department of Agriculture and Livestock, as the apex agricultural ministry in the country, receives a lot of support for information resources from international organizations such as FAO and CTA but has no capacity to manage these useful information resources nor to share nationwide.The study identified wide-ranging information needs by different target groups of the agricultural sector in PNG.Rural farmers normally seek information during the initial stage of cash crop establishment. In other words, farmers' information seeking behaviours are driven by cash income opportunities. The type of requested information would be mostly on production techniques, market information, where to sell their produce or in the case of entrepreneurial farmers seeking information on current world prices. 2. Vegetables (include all horticultural crops including introduced; Brassicas, cucurbits, legumes (beans), edible alliums, salad and fruit vegetables and mushrooms). These crops have strong cash generating opportunities and therefore the following research areas and information are of priority:• Genetic resources• Production and post-harvest information• Mechanisation,• Processing and marketing• Pest and disease control• Soil fertility and fertiliser.3. Fruits and nuts (these crops play a significant role in supplementing nutritional requirements of the people within PNG. Although it has not been seen to have export potential in the past, recently there is a growing need for these crops to have exportable significance.  8. Natural resource management is fundamental to the long-term sustainability of food security in PNG. The country is following a current trend of dependence to overdependence on imported food. Increasing land pressure due to population increase is also having a significant impact on how natural resources are being managed. Urbanisation is also impacting on peri-urban agriculture and information is required in the following areas for farmers to understand the significance of natural resource management:a. Soil management: soil fertility maintenance and related issues are the main areas of concern. Within increasing pressure exerted on soil due to population increase, the fallow periods are significantly reduced resulting in lower production. Another example is the urban drift which is causing proliferation of peri-urban gardening.b. Invasive species such as water hyacinth, giant African snails and other invasive weed species are threatening the existence of useful natural resources, hinder and impact on the effective utilisation of these resources by man, impact on agricultural production and pose risk to human.c. Water storage and irrigation: since the last drought in 1997-98, this is a major need.d. Land use planning: as population increase and land resource decreases, efficient planning on how the land is to be used is very critical e. Efficient use of organic materials is yet to be fully realised in PNG. This is an area where information is required which can provide benefits in alleviating and correcting many soil problems particularly for resource poor farmers in rural areas. 9. Integrated Production Systems is the main mode of production for most farmers in PNG through mixed cropping systems. The main reasons for this widespread use of integrated production system in PNG are: the desire to maximise use of resources, avoid risks of low productivity due to adverse weather, pests and diseases. By adopting a mixed system, there is some insurance in times of risks such as drought, and it also minimises the risks of price fluctuation. If price falls in one commodity they can be earn an income from the other. However there are areas where information is required and these are: b. Economic significance of integration. For new species look at how to assess species integration for their compatibility, productivity, sustainability and profitability.The following needs identified above were collated from a wide range of stakeholders including farmers, Primary industry organizations, institutions and private agricultural institutions.It must also be noted here that a lot of valuable information generated by research in PNG have not been document and therefore remains inaccessible. Bourke (1999) noted a total of 403 unpublished research reports/papers located in PNG in 1999 that are yet to be published.112.Three main capacity needs are identified from this study: (i) staff training needs, (ii) information resources and (iii) information policy intervention.There is a general lack of skilled manpower in the area of information resource management. Many of those who are employed within the information and communication sections of specific institutions and organization have been put there as a result of their previous experience acquired while on the job. In most NGOs, information and communication staffs are either Grade 10 or 12 school certificate holders.In those institutions where there are no qualified librarians, there is need for training in basic library management skills. Computer skill training was identified as another capacity building needs. There exist limited skills in the use of other ICT such as radio, TV, web-based technology to effectively transmit and transfer agricultural information to the various target audience. Training is required in this area also.As also noted from the study, many libraries are poorly stocked and therefore there is need in updating most libraries with up-to-date information resources. ICM skills for better and effective planning of resources are needed. Currently the initiative by NARI and CIC-RGSD is pointing towards better management of resources but there is training need in areas such as digitalizing of resources for easy access. However, not all libraries identified under this project have electronic cataloguing systems, and for those with an electronic library catalogue, the software is not standard. There is a need for standardized software and also for standardized tools to increase compatibility.The underlying limiting factor affecting agricultural information and services within PNG is the lack of an information policy. There exists no information policy to guide the implementation of information services, the acquisition of materials and the recruitment of staff needed for the information and communication units of the various agricultural and rural development organizations. Coupled with that there are no set strategies developed and in place to create effective information management systems. This is a critical factor. As noted by the author, the formulation of effective information policies and strategies will drive the implementation of successful agricultural and rural development projects. What this means is that information needs can be streamlined and effectively targeted at the right audience with the right messages. Many of the organizations surveyed noted a lack of capacity to develop effective extension materials for farmers. However, what was also observed is that there are other means of communication that the institutions and organizations involved in agricultural and rural development could utilise. Lack of basic infrastructure such as telephone and electrification system requires political intervention if the significant impact of these systems is recognized by Government.Many of the initiatives in terms of information services are supported by external funding agencies. Sustainability is a major concern, because experience has shown that once the term of these external funds cease, support for information services has also ceased due to a lack of funds from within. To ensure that activities and services of international and regional organizations support national requirements rather than their own agendas, external funding agencies need to acknowledge existing potential and requirements of the recipient organizations. Ultimately, funding agencies would like to see that what has been introduced is sustained in the future. 118. Walton (2000) rightly points out that the reason for lack of capacity building stems from the fact that in most or almost all organizations involved in research and development in the Pacific, lack an appropriate information policy. This lack of appropriate information policy and strategy contributes to ad hoc policies involved in the purchase of computers without specific requirements for the types of software to be purchased and used within specific organizations and the recruitment of relevant and qualified staff.Vernon (2001) stated that although managers and scientists can have access to more information then ever before with the advancement of telecommunications technologies revolutionizing agricultural research, the critical question remains unanswered: are managers and scientists able to use it to improve the efficiency and relevance of what they are doing? He argues that the need for an information policy is a must. An information policy and strategy provides guidelines as to the purposes for which information within an organization is to be used, as well as on how it is to be managed.Again Walton (2000) states correctly that many of these staff involved in the information and communication sections of various research and developmental institutions tried to do their best but due to lack of appropriate policies there is little understanding of what constitutes a credible information service. These staff are just doing what they are instructed to do.Policy interventions are required from the agricultural sector and the government of the day to realise the impact information and communication technologies will have in advancing agriculture.Papua New Guinea, a large country in terms of geography and demography (culture and languages), poses many challenges when considering the most effective approach to achieve successful agricultural and rural development activities. With over 87% of its population living in the rural areas, and a low literacy rate of 56% compared to other Pacific Island countries, targeting a specific sector of the population is a real challenge mainly for the reasons stated above.Agriculture is the mainstay of the economy and agricultural research is the catalyst required for development. However, in most cases, the agricultural information required to support agricultural research and extension, is very poor. Libraries are poorly stocked while there is a general lack of qualified persons within the agricultural information sector to effectively manage information for effective agricultural and rural development planning.Budgetary support is also a major constraint. The lack of an effective information and communication policy is also a major bottleneck to effective planning. The lack of an effective information and communication policy has also been found to contribute significantly to unqualified staff, and inappropriate equipment and information services as institutions are acquiring these things on an ad hoc basis and without proper planning and strategies.Support for information resources and services are currently provided mainly by external funding agencies and external project collaborators for those institutions and organizations who are partners and collaborators with the same.A critical analysis of the information needs and capacities of the various partners and beneficiaries of agricultural information and services reveals the following conclusions:The emergence of the new ICT has also changed the role of research, extension and education. There are new emerging partners in the way agricultural research information and knowledge is being disseminated. There is a new shift in thinking how information needs can be met. More horizontal exchange of information rather than vertical exchanges and a more participatory approach to identifying information needs of farmers is required.With limited budgetary support, more concerted efforts are required by institutions and organizations to form information consortia for the benefit of sharing resources, i.e. both equipment and human.There is still heavy dependence on ineffective communication means of disseminating information unsuitable to the needs of the rural populations. More efforts have to be made to utilize effective information sources, such as the radio and TV, to support the dissemination of information and in turn knowledge. But this again requires political interventions and political will.Information resources and services within PNG are very fragmented. Institutions and organizations are working in isolation. There is a need to find effective mechanisms to allow for easy accessibility to available information within the country for all who need them. The initiative by NARI and CIC-CGSD to develop an integrated agricultural information system is one means by which the information can be made available to everyone in the research arena and other organizations needing this information services. Other organizations within the renewable resources sector should contribute to this system so as to develop it into a national agricultural information database.• A coherent national policy is required to build up the capacity of information staff together with a transparent national structure that addresses organisational linkages in the field of information services. The national policy should also provide for intensive dialogue at various levels to identify users and their specific needs, technical options, the roles of various institutions and create policy support. Some research institutes within PNG have their own information strategies to address their own research needs, however a major limiting factor for these institutions is the finance needed to keep the information systems working. Therefore, institutions and organizations needed to consider developing networks particularly to look at IT-related issues that would minimise expenditure, optimise resources, and encourage collaboration. A new approach is required by the government of many developing countries to see the potential of ICT as a tool for advancing education and research. For this to be effective, telecommunication policy, regulatory and user-related issues need to be addressed. Developmental trends in educational requirements for IT in the developing countries needed to be studied.Agricultural information providers such as agricultural institutions, NGOs and even other farmers' groups have met the needs of their clients mainly through the provision of simple extension leaflets or training. Agricultural information providers on the other hand have been providing information based mainly on the type of research they have been conducting. Often, the information being disseminated may not really meet the needs of the farmers. For instance, a study conducted by Powaseu (1995) found out that although coffee leaf rust was a major concern in the 80s, and the then PNG Coffee Research Institute was mandated to come up with a rust-resistant variety, farmers were reluctant to adopt this variety. In this case, the coffee extension division went out to create awareness of this new coffee resistant variety and selected farmers were given seeds of this to plant. The study found out that not many farmers willingly planted the seeds. Therefore understanding farmers' behaviours and farming practices should be studied also for adoption to take place.Many of the issues raised are not any different to other developing countries and each country is developing strategies and plans to alleviate and strengthen its own information system. The suggestion is that the agricultural sector on a sectoral level needs to consider all these issues and plans and should attempt to develop a research agricultural information system that will see the development of ICTs as a tool to advance research in PNG. However, one should also bear in mind the impact of ICTs on the lives of the rural communities, considering the current constraints.128.Assessing the information needs of PNG agricultural sector has been a major challenge and also an opportunity to really understand the strength and weaknesses and look at opportunities available. The study conclusion provides opportunities in areas where CTA's interventions can make a difference. Therefore the study recommends the following areas:As identified from the study, the information needs of the different sectors of the agricultural systems are varied. Farmers' needs are in the area of 'how to do' type information. Agricultural research institutions needs are research based. Therefore CTA intervention is required in the following areas:• Provide information services to key institutions to support decision-making in the agricultural sector for the provision of better research recommendations, through the supply of SDI and document delivery services for its various researchers.• Support key institutions and organizations' libraries through the supply of relevant and up-to-date information based on their identified needs. CTA is to support these institutions through their Publications Distribution Services.130.On a micro-level, the agricultural sector has to audit where there are weaknesses and bottlenecks that might impede the development of the Government's focus on the agricultural sector as the foremost national development priority. Information and communication management skills and effective systems have been identified in the study as areas that needed to be looked at. Information has the power to empower people economically and politically but the mechanism to make this a reality is lacking. CTA's interventions in the interim will help the country to streamline its efforts to develop mechanisms and systems that will foster the country's national development strategies as identified in section 2.1 of this report. Thus CTA's intervention is required in the following area:• Fund in-country workshops to develop information and communication policy and strategies mainly for the managers of information and communication units in the agricultural sector.As identified in the study, the most used communication channels are the library systems, however, various key organizations are opting for collaborative approaches to communication and information services such as the resource centre options. There are limited skills in the areas of:• Web-based systems and development of web sites• Radio script writing and radio broadcasting• Extension writing and publishing 132.Therefore training is required in the above areas. In conducting these training courses the expected participants should be drawn from all sectors of the agricultural sector such as researchers, extensionists, entrepreneurial farmers, youths and women farmers.In addition, in-country training for information officers and librarians on the design of cost-effective and participatory ICM systems should be provided.Assessment of Agricultural Information Needs in African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) States: Phase1: Pacific, Country Study -Papua New Guinea CTA works primarily with intermediary organizations and partners to promote agriculture and rural development. Through partnerships, CTA hopes to increase the number of ACP organizations capable of generating and managing information and developing their own information and communication strategies. Thus CTA sees the identification of relevant partners as very important.The Evaluation of the Implementation of the Mid-Term Plan (1997-2000) emphasised the need for CTA to develop a more pro-active approach and be strategic in the choice of partner organizations and beneficiaries. The Strategic Plan and Framework for Action -2001 -2005, identifies the following strategic issues such as: improved targeting, geographical coverage, decentralisation, regionalisation and thematic orientation.There was also the concern that the Pacific and the Caribbean have not received sufficient attention in CTA's programmes and activities. Also with the admission of 6 new Pacific member states under the Cotonou Agreement, not much is known about these new 6 member states hence the need to develop CTA intervention strategy and provide more targeted assistance.Phase I of this study is being conducted in the Pacific region. Papua New Guinea is one of those 8 Pacific countries undertaking this study.The objectives of the study are as follows:• To identify agricultural information needs of key actors/beneficiaries for CTA products and services; • To identify needs of potential actors/beneficiaries of CTA activities and services in terms of building capacity for information and communication management; • To identify potential partners/beneficiaries for CTA activities and services;• To develop some baseline data to facilitate subsequent monitoring activities.The study should assist the three operational departments of the CTA as well as its local representatives to improve and better target interventions and activities aimed at potential partners and beneficiaries (including women, youth, private sector and civil society organizations); to have a more informed picture of their needs and aid in the elaboration of a strategy and framework of action. The study should also highlight where there are specific needs for CTA's products and services thereby enabling improvements in the delivery of the same.The study was carried out using a combination of qualitative and quantitative rapid appraisal methods including:• The desk review of available literature and information sources including the findings of the programme evaluation • The conduct of face-to-face interviews with relevant stakeholders, concerned parties and individualsList of all institutions involved in agriculture and rural development activities, including private sector and civil society organisations, with name, contact details, type and role of institution Select list of key institutions involved in agriculture and rural development, with extensive data and information on the institution, the problems faced and why it is considered a key actor It is also expected that the results of this study will lead to identification / update of some priority agricultural information themes which will feed into a possible prioritysetting exercise in the Pacific in 2004.Papua New Guinea's largest renewable resource is its forest, both from the natural and plantation sources. About 36 million hectares of land is forested of which 15 million hectares is classified as productive forest containing high quality tropical hardwoods considered suitable for development. Of the 15 million hectares of productive forest a total of 4.86 million hectares had been identified with 37 forest concessions for development. These concessions contain 76.6 million cubic meters of tropical hardwoods, which are available for harvest. The majority of the remaining resources are located in the western and northern half of mainland Papua New Guinea.It is estimated that about a third of the total land area has forestry production potential, but 70% of that area is still not adequately mapped and located. Whilst the customary landowners and clans own most of the forests, the Government issues logging licences to private operators.Papua New Guinea claims jurisdiction over 2.4 million square km of ocean, the third largest Declared Fishing Zone (DFZ) in the region. The fisheries zones include an extended reef system, numerous islands and an extensive coastline. These create huge opportunities but also present an enormous challenge for monitoring and control.Papua New Guinea has an extensive and valuable fisheries sector ranging from inland river fisheries, aquaculture, coastal beche-de-mer and reef fisheries to the prawn trawl and large scale deep water fisheries. The range of participants covers artisanal community to medium sized domestic prawn and tuna longline operators to large international purse seine fleets in the deepwater tuna fisheries.Two distinct sub-sectors can be distinguished in the agriculture sector:1. Estates, which hire labour and which produce mainly tree crop products for export; and2. Smallholders who grow cash crops, mainly for export, and staple root crops, fruits and vegetables for their own consumption or for sale on a small-scale in their immediate vicinity.There are two forms of production systems: (1) export tree crops production system, such as coffee, cocoa, coconut, oil palm, rubber, and (2) food crops production system including sweet potato, yams, cassava, banana, taro, potato, sago, sugarcane, corn and peanut.Farming systems are highly adapted to the local environment. There are four main farming systems: (1) Sago and taro based farming systems in the wet lowlands; (2) yams, bananas and cassava based systems in the dry lowlands;(3) taro and sweet potato based systems in the highlands and its fringes; and (4) sweet potato and Irish potato systems of the higher altitude valleys.Smallholders have traditionally accounted for most of the output of the main export and staple agricultural commodities, namely coconut, coffee, cocoa, oil palm, rubber, chilli, and pyrethrum and recently vanilla.The principle crops for domestic consumption include sweet potatoes, bananas, taros, yams, sugarcane, corn and peanuts. Virtually all smallholder crops are rain-fed, intercropped, have low input levels and low productivity. Food crops account for more that 50% of the total agricultural output and about 25% of the produce is marketed.The livestock sub-sector accounts for about 12% of total production in PNG, of which subsistence pig and poultry production accounts for two thirds. Broiler production dominates the commercial sector, followed by beef, eggs, crocodile skins and pork. Pigs play an important economic and cultural role at the village level, particularly in the highlands, providing wealth, status and protein.Agriculture is a key component of the Renewable Resource Sector and is the mainstay of the economy. The agriculture sector accounts for 87% of the livelihood of the rural population, provides employment for over 25% of the workforce in the formal sector, contributes to 14% of foreign exchange earnings, contributes 25% of the gross domestic product (GDP) and provides markets for the industries and services sector, a source of capital, labour and products for the other sectors. This 87% of the population produces all the food for subsistence and provides a base for income generation for these people.Agricultural export is limited to tree crops and some alternative crops including tea, rubber and spices. Export earnings during the 2000 valued at K955.5 million which is 16.5% of total export earnings.Over the past decade, the performance of the agricultural sector has been mixed. For the cash crop sub-sector, there has been strong growth in oil palm. Smallholder coffee also grew strongly towards the end of 1990s, but has since contracted in the wake of falling international commodity prices and poor growing conditions in 2000. Food crop staples (which also included introduced food crops) grew steadily over the past decade, although the 1997-98 droughts heightened concern over food security in certain parts of the country (Department of Agriculture and Livestock, 2003).Other factors contributing to the poor sectoral performance include low productivity in smallholder production systems, poor product quality, high costs of production, (high labour, transport and processing costs), excess processing capacity and costly marketing systems. This combination of factors has made PNG significantly non-competitive in many of its traditional agricultural export markets.As a result, private sector agricultural investment has been insufficient. Maintenance and replanting of smallholder tree crops have come to a halt, plantations have laid off almost 20% of their labour, no major new investments have been undertaken by private sector plantations and use of modern imported inputs have dropped by about one-third. Public sector allocations for the agriculture sector have also declined, both absolutely and relatively. The forestry subsector has suffered in the same period from absence of a coherent and implemented national forestry plans, unclear ownership, unclear legal rights, unclear government objectives and increased world market competition from neighbouring countries.Expenditures for food imports have increased. In 1995, PNG spent about PGK56.5 million on importation of rice into PNG. With the exception of poultry, pigs and vegetables, the domestic supply of crop and livestock products have stagnated or even declined. Commercial food, grain and tuber production has increased in recent years but has not kept pace with population growth.• Primary produce: coffee, cocoa, coconuts, palm kernels, tea, rubber, sweet potatoes, fruit, vegetables; poultry, pork, tuna fish, timber • Secondary products: canned fish, instant coffee, packaged tea, frozen poultry products, coconut oilTrade agreements that include agriculture• Lomé Convention -PNG receives non-reciprocal tariff and other preferences from EU on many goods as well as financial assistances. • Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) -is committed to achieving free trade and investment in the region on agricultural goods and services by 2020.• South Pacific Regional Trade and Economic Agreement (SPARTECA) -is a nonreciprocal agreement between Australia and New Zealand on one hand and the island nations of the South Pacific Forum on the other. It, too, provides duty-free, unrestricted and concessional access for most products originating in PNG. • Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG) -PNG, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, and Fiji are members of the Melanesian Spearhead Group, which has agreed to reduce or eliminate tariffs on certain products traded within the group.• Australia under Australia PNG Trade and Commerce Relations Agreement (PATCRA) that establishes a non-reciprocal free-trade area providing duty-free access for all exports to Australia. General System Preference (GSP), (where 27 industrialized economies allow PNG's exports duty-free into their markets):• USA (fisheries and agricultural products),• Germany and United Kingdom (coffee and cocoa)• Japan (timber)• International Coffee• Agreement, International Cocoa Agreement,• Association of National Rubber Producing countries,• Asia and Pacific Coconut Community,• International Tropical Agreement, and• International Spice Agreement.Sectoral policy related to agriculture, fisheries and forestsThe agriculture sub sector is a major component of the Renewable Resource Sector. The government's vision is that the agriculture sector has a role and potential to make a significant contribution to the national economy, with the ultimate aim of improving the living standards of the people. The government also recognises that development in this sector can also help to reduce law and order problems. The vision of agriculture is: increased agricultural productivity, food security, income generation and employment resulting from wellcoordinated and collaborative sector.The policy framework of agriculture sector is premised towards developing capacity in the agriculture sector to enable the sector to improve the social, physical and economic wellbeing of rural producers by increasing their productivity, incomes and providing them with employment opportunities.Four areas have been given high priority and represent the key elements of PNG's sector development programme.The equitable delivery of quality agricultural services, including fisheries,Increased food security and nutritional levels for those involved in subsistence agriculture with little cash production,The development of export commodities, including diversification into alternative crops in order to reduce vulnerability to price fluctuation of traditional export crops, andThe development of downstream processing for agricultural crops, fish, timber and other resources, including cottage industries.The key elements of agricultural production and food security are to strengthen agricultural research and planning at all levels, improve agricultural extension services and to enhance food production and food security.The development strategy recognises that the smallholder sector continues to be the backbone of agricultural production systems whereas the largeholder private sector will be important for commercialisation of the agriculture sector.The Papua New Guinea Forest Authority was formed in 1993 as a statutory corporation, to lead the forestry reform process and devise programmes to management the tropical rainforests. The Authority administers the industry through resource acquisition or on management contract with traditional landowners (forest resources customary owned) and invite investors to develop the resource on behalf of the State and landowners. The forest revenues are distributed between the three parties. The policy instruments that are in place to ensure that the forest resource is developed on a sustainable basis and to ensure that equitable benefits to the main stakeholders namely the customary landowners, Government and investors prevail, and the main enabling frameworks through which the industry is administered are as follows:1. Forestry Act and Regulation, 2. National Forest Policy, 3. National Forest Plan, 4. Logging Code of Practice, and 5. Other operational manuals.The Authority monitors and ensures compliances of the rules and regulations including contracts between the State, landowners and investors. It also promotes and develops policies relating to the industry.Under the Fisheries Management Act 1998, the National Fisheries Authority (NFA) is \"responsible for the management and development of the fisheries sector in accordance with the provisions of this Act under the overall policy direction of the Ministry\" and \"shall perform and exercise its functions and powers on behalf of Papua New Guinea\".NFA is a non-commercial statutory authority owned by the government and people of PNG. As a statutory authority NFA is required to implement government policy for managing and developing fisheries as a national asset.The Minister of Fisheries has overall responsibility for policy direction in accordance of the Fisheries Management Act. The Minister is required to provide an annual report to the Speaker for presentation to Parliament on the performance of NFA in terms of its functions and financial performance. The report is also provided to each provincial government.The objectives and guiding principles in respect of fisheries waters are:• Promote the objective of optimum utilisation and long term sustainable development of living resources and the need to utilise living resources to achieve economic growth, human resource development and employment creation and a sound ecological balance; • Conserve the living resources for both present and future generations;• Ensure management measures are based on the best scientific evidence available, and are designed to maintain or restore stocks at levels capable of producing maximum sustainable yield, as qualified by environmental and economic factors including fishing patterns, the interdependence of stocks and generally recommend international minimum standards; • Apply a precautionary approach to the management and development of aquatic living resources; • Protect the ecosystem as a whole, including species which are not targeted for exploitation, and the general marine and aquatic living resources; • Preserve biodiversity;• Minimise pollution; and• Implement any relevant obligations of Papua New Guinea under applicable rules of international law and international regulations.In addition it is required that the rights of customary owners of fisheries resources shall be fully recognised and respected in all transactions affecting the resource or the area in which the rights operates.The government's objective towards fisheries is to develop a fishing industry that is internationally competitive, generates employment, expands local food supply and reduces imports.  In every population, some depend on others for their daily subsistence. This can be approximated by the dependency ratio but in this context it represents more a feature of the age structure of the population than a true measure of dependency. The dependent population is defined as those aged less than 15 years and those aged 65 years and over. The working group is those aged 15-64 years. There are over 800 different local dialects also referred to as Tokples. However, three common languages are widely spoken in Papua New Guinea. English is the language of education and commerce, whilst Pidgin (lingua franca) is widely spoken and is also the language of communication. Motu is only spoken in the Southern region of Papua New Guinea.According to the 2000 Census, the overall literacy rate (literate in at least one language) for PNG was 56% as can be seen in Table 2.4 above. In the urban areas one would expect literacy rate for English to be higher than Pidgin. In the rural areas, tokples literacy would be higher.The level of educational attainment of the population is an important determinant of its capacity to be economically independent. Increasing levels of education indicate development progress both at an individual and societal level. Access to education for children 6-16 years is compulsory in PNG.The current school system in PNG divides the population into several groupings. Elementary refers to the early years of education and covers Elementary Prep, Elementary Prep 1 and Elementary Prep 2. Primary is grades 3-6 and top-up refers to grades 7 and 8. Finally, secondary is grades 9 to 12. The system is designed to allow for school leavers from the topup and secondary levels.Overall 51% of PNG's citizen population aged 5 years and over counted at the 2000 Census had received some formal schooling. The level of attendances though is quite different in the urban compared to the rural areas. Just over three quarters of people counted in urban areas had received some schooling compared to less than half in the rural areas. The proportion of males and females currently attending school are the same in the urban areas which is about 25%, but in the rural area proportionally more males than females are currently in school, 17% and 15% respectively.There are just under 10 Teachers Training Colleges offering Diploma Courses in Secondary Teaching. Four national high schools cater for Grades 11 and 12 and with the government education policy of setting up secondary levels schools within each provinces, the number of students attending Grades 11 and 12 have increased.A total of 5 Universities, two of which are church-run offer a wide range of courses. Up till 1990s, the government paid for students' fees attending the 3 government universities. About the mid 1990s the government changed its policies and introduced the User Pay Policy. This has had impact on the students' enrolment as most students come from poor rural families who are not able to afford the exorbitant fees.The department of Health provides dispensaries and public health facilities all over PNG. The government also subsidises, and works closely with, church groups, which provide medical facilities. Hospital charges are based on the ability to pay, so services are either free or have negligible charges.Electricity to rural areas is very negligible. Access to electricity is only available in the major provincial centres and within its peripheries. The main source of energy for PNG is fossil fuels, mainly firewood accounting for about 74% of total source of energy. Hydropower accounts for 26% of source of energy for PNG households.Of the nearly 5.1 million citizens counted in private dwellings in PNG at the 2000 Census, 1 million (20%) had not been born where they were enumerated and were therefore classified as migrants.A considerable urban drift towards the National Capital District (NCD) being the nations capital and due to its urban nature and status, which combine to offer better employment opportunities.A total of 454, 000 citizens born in PNG were not living in their province of birth at the 2000 Census. The main destination provinces for these people were NCD (119,000), Morobe Only 1 TV station: EMTV • Run by Media Niugini Ltd• Owned by the Nine Network (Australia)• Operates 12 hours, 7 days in English and Tok Pisin.• Has coverage in most major centres: Madang, Lae, Rabaul, Vanimo, Port Moresby, Goroka, Kimbe, Kavieng, Mendi, Tabubil, Kainantu.The PNG Telecommunication Authority (PANGTEL) is the sole national regulatory, licensing authority and promoter of telecommunications and radio communications, including television, and broadcasting services in PNG.Telikom PNG however, is a company established by a Company Act in 1999. It is 100% nationally owned and currently has three subsidiaries: Information needs met, from where and by whom: CTA (supplies information resource support for the organizations and individuals through its many information support services provided for ACP countries; FAO (distribution of publications through its FAO Publications Quota Distribution services)Main information needs not satisfied: CTA has been generously supporting NARI through its various services and products as mentioned above. Recently, NARI also was given online access to AGORA facilitated by FAO.One of the areas that might require CTA intervention is in the area of Extension Publications training and also in computer training skills.Most of NARI's main programme centres do not have LAN system and most staffs have no access to email. This has created a lack of networking with colleagues within the organizations and outside of the organization.Why institution selected as key: NARI is the leading agricultural research institute in PNG.It currently collaborates with a lot of partner institutions in PNG and its main target audiences are the smallholder farmers.Objective/mission statement: Undertake research into the economic, social, political, legal, educational, environmental and cultural issues and problems of Papua New Guinea and to formulate practical solutions to these problems.The Institute focuses its research on the following areas:• Economic studies -focuses on macroeconomic, microeconomic, and sectoral policies that affect national development • Education studies -evaluation of all levels of education, with priority on critically assessing and reviewing the Government's ongoing education initiatives and development programmes "}

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+{"metadata":{"gardian_id":"65a77fe14b74c8b389f4518d99d1b384","source":"gardian_index","url":"https://cgspace.cgiar.org/rest/bitstreams/ff6a2e8b-5d6d-4962-b70f-41fbcc83eb0f/retrieve","id":"1904507319"},"keywords":[],"sieverID":"3ef42d99-12cb-4da7-a3a0-43252874392c","content":"n 2 billion people by hidden hunger, t they suffer from trient deficiencies 2 years of declining r levels, from the number began again 1Food systems are both a victim of these crises -climate change, for example, is driving down productivity of agricultural systems around the world -and a culprit -with agriculture and related land uses accounting for 23 percent of human greenhouse gas emissions and a major driver of habitat and biodiversity loss.But this doesn't have to be so.The Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT is a new venture created to turn food and agriculture systems around. This, the Alliance's first unified strategy, combines the strengths of the two organizations -including genebanks, use and conservation of agricultural and tree biodiversity, climate-smart agriculture, nutrition, digital agriculture, crop improvement, and participatory research approaches -to develop solutions to these crises, through a clear focus on working at the nexus of agriculture, environment, and nutrition. The strategy has been designed from the outset for impact at scale, from local to global levels, through a range of partnerships and new business models that change our relationships with key development actors from next users to partners, coinvestors, and clients.We have a vision of food systems and landscapes that sustain the planet, drive prosperity, and nourish people.To achieve this, our mission is to deliver research-based solutions that harness agricultural biodiversity and sustainably transform food systems to improve people's lives in a climate crisis. We will achieve our mission through four strategic objectives:1. People consume diverse, nutritious, and safe foods.2. People participate in and benefit from inclusive, innovative, and diversified agri-food markets. Traditional Sri Lankan dishes and vegetables.Bean market in Kampala, Uganda. Agricultural landscape in southwest Colombia.Executive summaryThe Alliance brings a dynamic, new, and integrative approach to agricultural research for development, addressing the food system as a whole and not merely its component parts and individual symptoms. Agriculture has the potential to be part of the solution as we address climate change, biodiversity loss, environmental degradation, and the triple burden of malnutritionhunger, nutrient deficiencies, and overnutrition.Join us in accelerating our efforts towards a food and nutrition secure future that protects and enhances the environment in all its aspects.The Alliance will achieve this new, holistic vision by employing approaches such as innovation networks and communities of practice and by fostering new alliances and partnerships with investors, the private sector, disruptive innovators, and the like that build on our existing networks. We will also create novel ways to integrate our scientists and our partners in resultoriented teams that will deliver the outcomes the Alliance envisages and contribute to the 2030 ResearchStrategy of One CGIAR.The strategy is organized around six 'levers of change' that will, applied judiciously, transform food systems and landscapes to meet the challenges of the burgeoning demand for more-nutritious food while These four crises are interlinked and intimately tied in with food systems, whether as a victim -climate change, for example, is already driving down productivity of agricultural systems around the world -or as a culprit -with agriculture and related land uses accounting for 23 percent of human greenhouse gas emissions and a major driver of habitat and biodiversity loss. and negatively affects 62% of threatened species. 9A world in fluxThe four crises are unfolding in a context of rapidly changing social demographics, including a youth boom in Africa, a persistent gender gap, and rapid urbanization.Emerging trends in technologies, knowledge, and scientific approaches can help us to respond to these crises and demographic changes. Increasing precision of breeding and accelerating crop improvements using molecular tools can enhance not only productivity but also nutrition and make foods safer by reducing the need for chemicals such as pesticides. Just giving women the same access as men to agricultural resources could increase production on women's farms in developing countries by 20% to 30%. This could raise total agricultural production in developing countries by 2.5% to 4%, which could in turn reduce the number of hungry people in the world by 12% to 17%, or 100 to 150 million people. 12The number of people living in cities will increase by 75% between 2010 and 2050, driving changes in diets.  The Alliance of Bioversity International and the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT) was created to address the crises of climate change, biodiversity loss, environmental degradation, and malnutrition, and to maximize the opportunities by combining our strengths at key points in the food system. As the crises interconnect, so must our solutions. That is why we will focus our research innovations at the nexus of agriculture, environment, and nutrition.Focusing at the nexus will enable us, with partners, to tackle these global crises with integrative solutions that not only recognize the multiple trade-offs and synergies in any intervention, but effectively leverage them to improve key points in the food system for lasting change.Our efforts are based on our shared vision, mission, and strategic objectives.Food systems and landscapes that sustain the planet, drive prosperity, and nourish people.We deliver research-based solutions that harness agricultural biodiversity and sustainably transform food systems to improve people's lives in a climate crisis.1. People consume diverse, nutritious, and safe foods.2. People participate in and benefit from inclusive, innovative, and diversified agri-food markets.3. People sustainably manage farms, forests, and landscapes that are productive and resilient to climate change.Progress toward these four strategic objectives will contribute to progress toward Sustainable Development Goals, in particular:By integrating our complementary skill sets -covering the whole gamut from agricultural biodiversity characterization, conservation and use, through landscape-level environmental restoration and enhancement, to market systems, health, and nutrition -the Alliance has a unique capacity to make a difference. The Alliance of Bioversity and CIAT brings a total of 100 years of institutional experience applying science to address global challenges around agriculture, biodiversity, environment, food security, and nutrition. Our research spans from blue-sky agenda-setting research to novel on-the-ground institutional innovation and participatory approaches to deliver combinations of social, economic, and environmental benefits. Our scientists have been working on the front lines of many global issues long before they started making headlines: recognizing the importance of biodiversity for food and agriculture, pioneering genetic resource conservation practice and policy, looking beyond yield in agriculture to resilience, nutrition and sustainability. We were some of the first in the arena on themes related to agriculture and climate change, and big data in agriculture.Through our collaborative work, the Alliance has a track record of delivering impact on the ground. It has an extensive network of partnerships that span global, regional, and national research and development organizations, universities, CGIAR centers, farmers' organizations, the private sector, and other development actors. The Alliance is an integral part of the CGIAR system and is actively engaged in One CGIAR and the coordinated actions that it delivers.The Alliance has a global presence across four continents and has a collective human capital of more than 1,300 staff members, about 600 of whom are scientific staff.*Bioversity International and CIAT projects as of June 2019Countries with projects* + 100 60-100 20-60 10-20The Alliance has staff based at regional hubs and national offices in Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America, and the Caribbean.The The Alliance is a pioneer in on-farm conservation and conservation in the wild, documenting and understanding why farmers and land managers continue to use local species and varieties, and The of such an approach, influencing policies to support its adoption, and raising awareness of its nutritional importance.The Alliance in vitro banana collection at the International Transit Centre, Leuven, Belgium.Diverse fruits and vegetables at the market, India. Credit: Krishnasis Ghosh. The The Leveraging change in food systemsLever 4Making agricultural and tree diversity available and safeguarding it for the diverse needs of food system actors Lever 5Promoting inclusion in the digital agriculture revolution for equitable benefits Lever 6Putting nutrition and health at the heart of crop improvement to address the triple burden of malnutrition Honghe Hani Rice Terraces in Yunnan Province, China. Credit: Jialiang Gao, www.peace-on-earth.org, GFDL/CC-by-sa-2.5.| An Alliance for Accelerated ChangeThe challengeIn all countries of the world -rich and poor -billions of people are suffering from malnutrition in all its forms: undernutrition, overnutrition, and micronutrient deficiencies. Diets are the essential link between food systems and nutrition and health outcomes, and poor diet quality is a core driver of the triple burden of malnutrition. The food environment is the interface where consumers meet supply. It is the space where people make the food choices that are part of their daily lives. Affordability, accessibility, convenience of preparation, and desirability are key factors that affect people's food choices, diets, and consequently nutrition.Consumption is also intimately linked with and mutually dependent on production, a connection that happens largely through markets.Poor dietary quality calls for development of morenutritious crops, safer foods, and better policies to harness inclusion, equitable outcomes, economic returns, protection of the environment, and productivity in food systems. Specifically, we need to identify healthy, culturally appropriate, locally available, affordable, and acceptable diets for specific contexts, and in the process contribute to shaping the behavior of producers, market actors, and consumers.Building on its extensive portfolio of work on social inclusion, assessment of food availability, affordability, and desirability in both rural and urban areas, household equity analysis, family decision-making, and institutional and market development policy analyses,Lever 1Fruit market in Thailand. Credit: Dean Moriaty from Pixabay.Lever 1the Alliance will forge the missing connection between agricultural production and consumption. We will leverage food environments and consumer behavior in six key domains: social inclusion across the food system, with a focus on additional income and employment opportunities for women, youth, indigenous peoples, and marginalized groups; resilience, with a focus on increased system capacity to respond to environmental and economic shocks for producers and consumers, by including local, adaptable, diverse, and healthy diet options; sustainability, with a focus on reduced environmental cost of diets, including attention to issues of affordability, empowerment, and equity;consumer behavior, with a whole-of-diet approach that improves diet quality, sustainability, and food safety, and increases the desirability of healthy food choices;business innovations benefiting women and youth along the value chain for a diversity of nutrient-rich commodities to achieve healthier diets; and the enabling environment and supportive policies that incentivize healthy food choices.We will anchor change by coupling consumer studies to enhance demand-driven solutions with shifts in the enabling environment through policy research and advocacy. Improved understanding of the trade-offs and synergies between different goals in food environments will contribute to tailored public and private policies that achieve multiple goals.Strategies to achieve these objectives include:» profiling the supply system, the food environment, and consumer behavior to understand the political, The Alliance will engage with national and subnational public and private food-system actors, communities, » Priority countries adopt policies and build capacity to improve dietary diversity and diet quality of consumers.» Market actors increase equity and inclusion of women and youth in priority urban food environments.» National and international bodies promote more sustainably sourced, healthy food options.Alliance Strategy 2020-2025| An Alliance for Accelerated ChangeThe agricultural choices that governments and businesses have supported over the last 50 years have successfully increased harvests, decreasing the proportion of the world's population that goes hungry.But it is an agricultural model that also stores up problems for people and the planet, driving climate change, pollution, deforestation, land and water degradation, and undermining people's livelihoods. The Alliance has a long history of promoting sustainable agriculture and landscape management and restoration.We have a unique combination of scientific expertise on soils and water management, ecosystem services, landscape restoration, the use of biodiversity for food and agriculture, inclusive socio-ecological systems, and economic incentives. Based on this track record, the Alliance will deliver innovations that improve ecosystem services, biodiversity conservation and use, and overall system productivity, profitability, and benefits to marginalized groups. We develop approaches that increase the resilience and multipleLever 2A mosaic of different land uses in Cuba.Lever 2 benefits of agricultural landscapes by diversifying their components, support services, and incentives. This will contribute to reducing the pressure of agriculture on natural ecosystems. Work will also address minimizing human and environmental health risks in urban and peri-urban settings and linking production to markets and consumers to ensure sustainably produced foods become part of a more-nutritious food system. The Alliance will develop technological innovations that deliver benefits to land managers (farmers, private companies, and communities) and institutional innovations that influence and align decisions toward these goals while sustaining or increasing production of diverse, nutritious foods and benefits to marginalized groups.Strategies that the Alliance will use to achieve these objectives include: The Alliance and its partners will work within  Helping farmers and land managers to manage climate risk -for example, through development of profitable climate-smart agricultural practices and effective extension and support services -will reduce the risk of investing in agriculture, both for the farmers and land managers themselves and for the financial institutions and insurance companies providing investment and insurance. Done right, this can have a profound impact on resource-poor farmers and land managers.Reducing risk will contribute to the uptake of improved practices and use of inputs to increase sustainable food production. This, in turn, will help countries deliver on the Paris Climate Agreement.Lever 3A climate change map.Lever 3Building on its global leadership on climate change in the context of agriculture and food systems, the Alliance will foment climate action in a number of strategic areas in the food system, with the goals of addressing the immense adaptation and mitigation challenge and supporting governments and partners in their efforts to deliver their commitments under the Paris Agreement while providing improved food and nutrition security.Particularly novel in our approach will be to apply a climate-risk lens and, through innovative partnerships with the finance and agribusiness sectors, facilitate greater and better investment in agriculture to address the climate crisis.The kinds of strategies that the Alliance will employ on climate action include: To deliver this agenda the Alliance will engage with community groups, civil society, and the public and private sectors, including food and agricultural companies, technology providers, financial institutions and investors at local and international levels (e.g. microfinance), and larger financing programs (e.g. special funds, impact investors) to help unlock financing for sustainable food systems. We will facilitate and catalyze new partnerships, link knowledge better to action, and engage not only as a knowledge broker but also as an operational partner to transform sustainable finance programming. Reversing these trends calls for efforts to boost the use of biodiversity for food and agriculture. We need to start by creating and responding to consumer demand for diverse, nutritious foods, and ensuring that farmers and land managers have access to the diversity they need to manage climate risks and stresses like pests and diseases.Building on its wide-ranging experience and network of partnerships in genetic resource conservation and use, the Alliance will increase the use of biodiversity for food and agriculture by promoting awareness of its benefits to producers and other food-system actors, and ensuring that people who want or need to increase the diversity of crops and trees they use can find the most appropriate materials, access them, and be assured that the seeds will be of good quality. The Alliance will focus its efforts on promoting excellence in genebanking to preserve agricultural and tree biodiversity for future generations while enabling its more targeted use on a global scale. This will be coupled with documenting Lever 4policies and promoting and guiding investments, including market and non-market incentives for farmers and land managers to use and conserve a wider range of species and varieties. Supporting this, the Alliance will strengthen formal and informal seed systems, such as community seedbanks, and develop economically viable business models that ensure the availability and accessibility of appropriate species and varieties of crops and trees, for example, neglected and underutilized species, to diverse groups of farmers, including women and marginalized groups.Using this approach, the Alliance will: promote the use of biodiversity for food and agriculture to improve nutrition by ensuring that a wide diversity of nutritious, economically viable, and affordable species and varieties are available and effectively commercialized and promoted in the food system; increase crop yields while enhancing the agroecosystems in which they are produced; shape landscapes to create positive synergies between wild and cultivated lands; and improve environmental integrity while reducing poverty and gender inequality.Strategies that the Alliance will use to achieve these objectives include:» building an enabling environment for conservation and use of biodiversity for food and agriculture The  While this is an exciting innovation space, there is a risk that many people are not benefiting from it because of where they live and work or their socioeconomic status, gender, or age. Women, for instance, are 14 percent less likely to have access to a mobile phone than are men, and Alliance research shows that only 16-28 percent of farms of less than one hectare are currently served by 3G or 4G services, compared with 75-83 percent for farms greater than 200 hectares. There is a danger that the digital revolution will not be inclusive, and will increase the digital divide and information asymmetry between the haves and have-nots in the food system.Lever 5Innovations and technologies are revolutionizing agriculture. Mobile phones and tablets help farmers, traders, and consumers connect.Lever 5The transformation we need Democratization of information and digital innovations is imperative and provides a strategic lever to turn a threat into an opportunity to reduce inequities and facilitate access to information, knowledge, and insights on a more-level playing field.As a global leader in the fields of digital agriculture and use of big data, and as a pioneer of participatory approaches and gender analysis, the Alliance is positioned to address the digital divide by bringing an inclusion lens to the problem. The Alliance will focus on increasing symmetry in information access across food systems, empowering marginalized actors to increase their efficiencies, get a better deal for the products and services they provide, have a greater voice in the governance of the food system, and deliver improved » enhancing food-system surveillance to reveal foodsystem flows between diverse actors (e.g. mapping informal markets)» employing crowdsourcing and citizen-science approaches to deliver locally appropriate seeds, inputs, and advice to improve food and nutrition security in a heterogeneous world.The Alliance will develop novel partnerships with infrastructure and mobile providers to link them to inclusive agricultural opportunities; foster alliances with universities to enhance cutting-edge data science and analytical approaches, including work on robotics and electronic engineering; engage with private-sector actors in the food system; work with women's groups, farmers' associations, and community groups to support their ambitions with digital solutions; and collaborate closely with governments, start-ups, and small businesses providing digital advisory services. It will also engage Crop improvement has an impressive track record of increasing yields, and tackling pests, diseases, and climatic constraints. More recently, it has also successfully increased the content of specific micronutrients needed for human health, such as iron and zinc, in some major crops. We can accelerate crop improvement through the use of new precision breeding technologies combined with participatory approaches.Lever 6Beans in Carrizal, in Colombia's Central Cordillera.Lever 6Additionally, there is an opportunity to respond to the dramatic rise in non-communicable diseases, such as diabetes and cardiovascular disease, by breeding crops with relevant health properties.The Alliance will build on its extensive and successful work on breeding a diverse range of crops using advanced breeding technologies -particularly banana, cassava, common bean, tropical forages, rice, and cacao -and its work on participatory crop improvement approaches, ranging from participatory variety selection and participatory breeding, to evolutionary breeding in a wide range of crops. Integrating these approaches will allow the Alliance to offer crop improvement solutions tailored to context and to develop varieties of key crops that not only have high yields, improved environmental adaptation, and resilience to multiple stresses, such as pests, diseases, heat, and drought, but contribute to improving nutrition and human health. We will also codevelop seed systems adapted to social circumstances and to the breeding systems of specific crops. These, together with innovation platforms, will ensure that the improved cultivars and crop management methods developed will be available to the farmers who need them, including women and marginalized farmers, and contribute to their prosperity, resilience, and nutrition security.Strategies that the Alliance will use to achieve these objectives include:» improving the nutritional quality of key staples through biofortification and through identification of nutrient-dense varieties » applying nutrition and health lenses to breeding programs for key staples to improve their nutritional quality and their contribution to health (e.g. The Alliance will build innovative linkages between consumers, plant breeders, nutritionists, and health specialists to identify potential breeding targets and to test the nutritional and health properties of cultivars developed. Improved cultivars will be scaled out employing successful business models for seed-system delivery. We will develop an institutional approach that expands our role beyond research alone and ensures that the solutions we generate lead and respond to wider development frameworks. We will be agile in rising to opportunities, developing new partnerships and business models as required, always guided by our core principles, vision, mission, and strategic objectives.The Alliance engages with national and regional institutions through three strong regional hubs that Trials of drought-tolerant beans in Malawi.Driven by impact at scaleOur strategy, centered around levers for systemic change, is designed for impact at scale. Research is designed with results in mind from day one. We take into consideration recent advances in scaling science to move our research from a primary focus on reaching many users to a priority focus on achieving deep-rooted systemic change. This implies a long-term programmatic approach that conceives individual projects not as ends in themselves but as steps in a process of transformation.To support this process, we use a strategic resultsframework that provides a clean line of sight We will draw on cross-country and cross-site learning to capitalize on experiences, in order to continuously improve our partnership and business models.The The » Universities. The Alliance will revisit its partnership model with universities to make it more strategic and higher level both in the integration of our knowledge products into curricula, thus nurturing a new generation of agricultural and environmental professionals, and in structured exchanges to tap into student and faculty capacity to produce cuttingedge science in support of this strategy.» CGIAR. The One CGIAR framework provides us with powerful opportunities to combine the forces of complementary expertise for greater impact.The Alliance represents a significant step towardsOne CGIAR, and will act as a progressive force to help The Alliance research program is designed for systemic change. Fundamental to this vision is working with local people, in communities, NARS, universities, and the private sector, so that they have the knowledge, skills, with investors, the private sector, disruptive innovators, and the like that build on our existing networks. We will also create novel ways to integrate our scientists and our partners in result-oriented teams that will deliver the outcomes this strategy envisages.Join us in accelerating our efforts towards a food and nutrition secure future that protects and enhances the environment in all its aspects."}

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+{"metadata":{"gardian_id":"1b3328fc97b2c825be667e2c1550ae58","source":"gardian_index","url":"https://cgspace.cgiar.org/rest/bitstreams/460fc023-4e21-4240-b606-c9b528dfe128/retrieve","id":"-1149828698"},"keywords":[],"sieverID":"0bbf26fa-2be9-48ed-b46d-103084673faf","content":"• Optimal tree Lucerne supplementation for sheep fattening identified• High quality and quantity oat-vetch produced (19-17 tons DM/ha, with 16% CP and 9.67 MJ ME/kg DM).• Wastage of feeds reduced by 30 -50 % by using feeding trough and storage sheds.• Sweet lupine (new introduction) performed well in Lemo and Endamehoni (1.7 t/ha gain).• Farmers awareness to improved feeding of livestock increased.• Scalable feed technologies identified.• Young researchers supported: 8 MSc students supervised and sponsored to complete their thesis research. • Regular short-term trainings for farmers and local partners • Experience sharing visits, field days and demonstrations. "}

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+{"metadata":{"gardian_id":"026f9215b921637172ea88142c2c0df6","source":"gardian_index","url":"https://cgspace.cgiar.org/rest/bitstreams/f7c58ec6-e047-4745-93ea-7549f4fe6773/retrieve","id":"1765395471"},"keywords":[],"sieverID":"9f1e64e1-f182-45fd-b24d-4016c5415716","content":"Based on project work in Ghana, Rainforest Alliance has expanded this work into Ivory Coast through connections with ICRAF and the World Cocoa Foundation. The goal is to provide exposure maps and specific CSA practice guidance to Ivorian farmers similar to what is available in Ghana in the form of training materials, training of company extension officers and farmers and the translation of the Cocoalink app into French.UTZ has traditionally focused on certification as a means to drive change on key sustainability topics. In 2015 UTZ looked beyond certification and introduced the Sector Partnerships Program with the goal to strengthen partnerships in promoting sustainable farming practices and supporting the development of a thriving Civil Society that can drive change. Promoting gender equality and addressing the challenges of climate change are integral parts of UTZ? concept of sustainable farming.Based on the success the CSVC project had in Ghana, the UTZ/RA SP project decided to replicate the approach and methodology applied for Cote d?Ivoire. The CCAFS CSVC project had already identified different impact zones for Ghana and Cote d?Ivoire and corresponding hazards, this SP funded project is aimed at developing recommendations for climate smart strategies for different stakeholders based on the different impact zones in CdI, taking in consideration the constrains and needs of different household groups. The recommendations feed into a curriculum for CSA that will be developed in a follow-up project. Similar to the process in Ghana, cocoa farmers and other stakeholders are involved in the process in order to ensure the recommendations are endorsed by relevant stakeholders. As most cocoa farmers in Cote d?Ivoire live below the extreme poverty line, there is a reduced interest (or ability) of some groups of farmers, particularly youth, to invest in cocoa production. Dealing with these complexities requires a shift from focusing only at the technical level and the farm scale, to an approach that emphasizes social change and addresses the (socio-economic) root causes of household vulnerability as well as different stakeholders to create an enabling environment.In this project, regions, roles, opportunities and responsibilities of different stakeholders are being elaborated for each of the actors and differentiating between regions, in order to create the incentives necessary for the different stakeholders along the value chain to change in a sustainable way. The stakeholders are being involved during the whole process to create buy-in of the recommendations eventually. Uptake and impact of the research findings will be facilitated through the involvement of UTZ/RA?s certification system and the WCF and so builds directly on the processes and thinking developed and implemented under the CSVC project in Ghana.In addition, WCF has committed to translate the existing Cocoalink app which includes CCAFS outputs from this project into French for use in Cote d'Ivoire and potentially Cameroon with support from private sector. Based on the success the CSVC project had in Ghana, the UTZ/RA SP project decided to replicate the approach and methodology applied for Cote d?Ivoire. The CCAFS CSVC project had already identified different impact zones for Ghana and Cote d?Ivoire and corresponding hazards, this SP funded project is aimed at developing recommendations for climate smart strategies for different stakeholders based on the different impact zones in CdI, taking in consideration the constrains and needs of different household groups. The recommendations feed into a curriculum for CSA that will be developed in a follow-up project. Similar to the process in Ghana, cocoa farmers and other stakeholders are involved in the process in order to ensure the recommendations are endorsed by relevant stakeholders. As most cocoa farmers in Cote d?Ivoire live below the extreme poverty line, there is a reduced interest (or ability) of some groups of farmers, particularly youth, to invest in cocoa production. Dealing with these complexities requires a shift from focusing only at the technical level and the farm scale, to an approach that emphasizes social change and addresses the (socio-economic) root causes of household vulnerability as well as different stakeholders to create an enabling environment.In this project, regions, roles, opportunities and responsibilities of different stakeholders are being elaborated for each of the actors and differentiating between regions, in order to create the incentives necessary for the different stakeholders along the value chain to change in a sustainable way. The stakeholders are involved during the whole process to create buy-in of the recommendations. Uptake and impact of the research findings will be facilitated through the involvement of Rainforest Alliance's certification system and the WCF and so builds directly on the processes and thinking developed and implemented under the CSVC project in Ghana.In addition, WCF has committed to translate the existing Cocoalink app which includes CCAFS outputs from this project into French for use in Cote d'Ivoire and potentially Cameroon with support from private sector."}

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+{"metadata":{"gardian_id":"ba40bc1ecaa0340acb1b952c57cf6dd2","source":"gardian_index","url":"https://cgspace.cgiar.org/rest/bitstreams/a45f157c-b715-4396-8013-11bf44b1b937/retrieve","id":"946679604"},"keywords":[],"sieverID":"0934f448-e9ef-4812-ac50-abb1cc14b30d","content":"The plol area for F AMPAR trials varied from 40-5000 m 2 Mos! trials had an area of more Ihan 1000 m 2 under any variety, Sorne farmers, particularly in IRD víllages, pooled ¡he seed 10 grow a larger area.Researchers and farmers jointly evaluated the trials. Frequent farm walks, focus-group discussions, and household-Ievel questionnaires were used for recording farmera' perceptions. Graín yield data were reeorded jointly; researchers measured the plot size and farmers weighed Ihe plol yield.Demonstration plots of all varieties grown in the same field in a single-replicate trial were grown in aH villages as mother trials.The greatest power of participatory trials was experienced in Ihis study when IR64 was lested over a span oftime representing the whole ofthe transplanting period in Ihe Punjab. This was no! delibera!ely designed bu! was a result of the reasonably large sample size Ihat represented the normal practices of farmers. This was nol possible in earlíer on-station trials that were invariably sown over a restricted, usually late, periodo These on-station trials, done in 1985, 1986, and 1987, did nol iden-tifY IR64 because il yielded less than the check varieties in trials that were transplanted in July.IR64 had a significant yield superiority of 5% over Pusa 44 in 43 trials, givíng an extra 300 kg of grain ha'¡ over a base of 6550 kg (figure 2). IR64 showed the besl performance (a 12% yíeld increase over Pusa 44) when transplanted from 21-24 June. The yield advantage decreased when IR64 was transplanted earlier or laler in June, which fits very well with the exlension recornmendation to spread transplanting equally around 20 June.An important feature ofIR64 ,is Ihat it matures 26 days earlier tban Pusa 44, This trait, along with high yield, favora its adoption in various situations (figure 3).Farmers' perceptions for traits other than grain yield (figure 4) identified IR64 to be superior to Pusa 44 for number of tillera per plant and resistance to BLB, slem borer, and leaf folder. IR64 is shorter so il is resistanl to lodging, whích allows it to be responsive to inputs,IR64 had the following advantages over Pusa 44:• superior grain quality and higher yields • earlíer rnaturity, leading to a saving of iITÍgation water • resislance lo BLB and tolerance to whíte-backed plant hoppers • resistance to lodging Figure 2. Yield (kg haO') of IR64 and Pusa 44 in 43 farmers' field tríaIs (26 FAMPAR and 17 IRD) in the Patíala district during the monsoon season of 1999 (Tbe overalI mean yield of 6860 kg ba-l of IR64 was significantly bigber [at tbe 1% level] tban tbe 6550 kg ba-l yield of Pusa 44 witb a t-value of 4.1 over 43 sites.)• allowing a green-manure crop Of summer mung (Vígna radiata [L] Wi\\czek) to be grown between the wheat harvest and rice transplantingAH participating farmers saved IR64 seed in 1999 for growing in kharíf2000. There was considerable seed exchange from farmer-to-farmer. Seed demand in kharif2000, from farmers who had seen the trials was considerable, but only five tones of seed could be procured and supplied lo farmers. Sorne entrepreneuriaI farmers and farmers' groups in the state have already become active in producing and procuring IR64 seed.As a consequence of the participatory trials in Patiala, PAU ís retesting IR64 at a number of research statíons under appropriate management. The Krishi Vígyan Kendra (KVK), Patiala, has undertaken large-scale testing on farmers' fields in PatiaIa and other districts ofthe Punjab in kharif 2000.To exploit the advantage ofIR64's early maturity, new agronomic practices and cropping patterns are being tested by the KVK Patíala in more than 40 triaIs with farmers. These are on growing summer mung and green manuring with sesbania in kharif2000.  (%) for IR64 in comparison to Pusa 44 for plant height, tiller number per plant, and resistance to bacterialleaf bligbt (BLB), stem borer, and leaf folder over 48 farmen (Like Pusa 44, IR64 was found to be 100% lodging resistant.)The PVS approach has been shown to be a potent tool:• to identify fanner-preferred varieties• to identify the correet recommendation domain of a variety (IR64 was previousJy tested in formal trials but was rejected for the Punjab because formal testing díd not represent Ihe temporal variability Ihat exists in high-potential production systems)• to correctly determine the best time oftransplanting of a variety• to identify varíeties Ihat give farmers new agronomie options• to promote the rapid adoption and dissemination of a varietyIhe Punjab State ofIndia has witnessed a rapid increase in the proouction offood grains, particularly wheat. Wheat production was only 1.74 million tonnes in 1960-61, but it rapidly increased to 14.46 million tonnes in 1998-99 as a result of increases in both yield and L!-¡e area under the crop. Wheat yields averaged only 1.2 t ha-t in 1960-61, but this increased to reach 4.3 t ha-t in 1998-99, Ihis very large increase in productivity was due to several factors, including the breeding and popularization ofhigh-yíelding varieties (HYV s), increased irrigation and fertilizer use, and the meehanization of fann operations. The fast adoption of quality seed was a major-perhaps the most important-factor.A survey of the wheat crop in the Indian Punjab (Singh 2000) showed that 79% of fanners kept seed from the previous crop, 12% purchased from private seed dealers, and 6% kept part ofthe seed and purchased part from seed traders, Only 3% offanners practiced fanner-to-fanner seed purchase. About 4% ofthe purchased seed was bought from institutional SOUTces such as the Punjab Agricultural University (P AU), the Punjab State Seeds Corporation, or the Natíonal Seeds Corporation. However, for new varieties, fanners tended, in the beginníng at least, to purchase seed from PAU.P AU produces and disseminates seed. Its primary responsíbility for production is breeder and foun• dation seed. However, ít also produces certified seed of recornmended varieties and, for wíder disseminatíon, recently released varieties. Most of this certified seed i5 distributed during fanners' fairs (kisan melas) that are held at the main campus at Ludhiana (PAU mela) and at fOUT regional research stations (RRSs) situated at Rauni, Bathínda, Ballowal Saunkhari, and Gurdaspur. In this sludy, we examine the equity issues in PAU's wheal-seed distribulion system at the time of the fannerg' fairs.PAU holds fanners' fairs twíce a year al Ihe maín campus and al four RRSs. Al Ihe fairs, certífied or truthfully labeled seed is sold for Ihe kharif(monsoon season) and rabi (winter season) crops. The seed is soJd on a \"firsl-come-first-served\" basis-fanners queue for their turn lo buy seed for cash.In September 1999, wheat seed sales at Ihe five kisan melas were surveyed by distributing a simple questionnaíre lo the fartners in the queues. There was a random sample of 359 fanners who purchased wheat seed at the P A U campus mela and a random sample of285 fanners at the RRS melas.Fanners were asked about their fann size, Ihe location o f their farm and Ihe amount of seed they had purchased.Nearly 28 t of wheal seed was sold in all kisan melas. A major share of Ihe seed was sold al Ludhiana (70%) because it is centrally placed and is the main campus ofthe university (figure 1). When fanners visit Ludhíana for seed purchases, they also have the opportunity to ¡earn about other technologies. AIso, this mela is widely advertised and is a more significant event than the regional melas. Afier the P A U campus, Rauni (l 0%) and Bathinda (12%) accounted for mos! ofthe remaining seed sales (figure 1). Figure 1. Wbeat-seed sales ofPAU at the main campus and regional research stationsMelas at Gurdaspur (4%) and Ballowal Saunkhari (4%) do not aecount for major sales of wheat seed. Gurdaspur is located on the northem comer of the state and is not well conneeted. Ballowal Saunkhari represents the main1y rainfed kandí belt of the state-a 10 km traet adjoining Ihe hiUy state of Himachal Pradesh, where irrigation facilities are very poor. F anners in this area largely belong to the low-resource category.Variety PBW 343 was in the greatest demand and accounted for 84% ofthe total seed sales (figure 1). The only other varíety to account ter an appreciable proportion of seed sales was WH 542 al 7%.The remaining five varieties accounted, in total, for only 9% of the sales.Overall seed distribution in the state in aIl kisan melas. A large proportion (45%) ofthe farmers in the Punjab have small landholdings of fewer than 5 acres. These farmers own only 12% of the cultivable land (table 1). In contrast, 29% of farmers who have more than 10 acres own 67% ofthe cultivable land (table 1). When farmers attending all the melas were categorized by the size oflandholding, it was found tbat smallholder farmers with fewer than five acres were extremely underrepresented (7% of purchasers versus 45% ofthe farmers as a whole). The 7% ofthe farmers from this category purchased 6% of the seed sold (figure 2). In contrast, farmers with large landholdings were hugely over-represented (46% of purchasers bu! only 6% of the farmers in the state). Less marked, but nonetheless quite large, underrepresentation occurred for farmers in the five-to lO-acre landholding category, and there was overrepresentation for farmers in the 10-to 20-acre category (figure 2). A similar, bu! less marked, bias was found for seed quantities purchased relative to the area of land held by each category of farmer (figure 2).Seed sales as a percentage oftotal sales varied ¡ittIe from the data for farmers purchasing seed, Le., once farmers decíded to purchase seed, there was IittIe difference in the quantity purchased, whatever the category of fiumer.The same analysis was done, disaggregated into the PAU mela (table 1) and the regional melas (table 2). Although, in both cases, there was underrepresentation of smallholder farmers and over-representation oflarger Iandholding farmers, the situation was better in the regional melas.The biggest difference between the regional melas and the Ludhiana mela that there were fewer large landholding farmers purchasing seed (46% in the Ludhiana mela compared to 28% in the regional melas).The geographical distríbution ofthe farmers who purchased seed was also studied. The Punjab state is divided into 136 administrative units, caBed development blocks, tbat represent clusters of contiguous villages. As expected, farmers tended to come from nearby administrative areas or blocks  In the PAU campus fair, the farmers sampled came from 65 development blocks oflhe Punjab state. Farmers also came from nine development blocks of the surrounding states of Haryana and Rajasthan. In the regional fairs, farmers came frem 59 developmenl blocks lo buy seed. The geographical distribution al block level shows the following:• Seed is only disseminated to 70% ofthe blocks in the Punjab despile the five kisan melas in the state. Forty-one blocks showed no representation among the fanners who were sampled.1. Sillgh. ss. Malhi, J.R. Witcombe. and D.S. Virk • The majority of underrepresented blocks were in the Arnritsar and F erozepur districts where no fairs are presently held.PAU developed its seed-dissemination system in the post-Green-Revolution period to improve the equity of seed distribution in the state. In this system, small kíts of seed are sold to many farmers rather than larger quantities being sold to a few better-off farmers. When it was felt tha! farmers from remote areas were unable lo travel to the main campus in Ludhiana, regional kisan melas were started in order to make seed available in the regions. However, the seed-dissemination system of P A U at present does not address these issues satísfactorily. It is not known if these equity issues have always been present or if they have worsened over time. It is possible that over years, small farmers and those in remote geographical areas have become less enthusiastíc about traveling lo kisan melas, and small farmers have become dependent on larger farmers for their seed supply. Another factor may be that farmers with smaller landholdings are less prepared to take the risk of trying new varieties immediately afier their release and wait until Ihey can judge their performance on ¡he fields ofbetter-off farmers in theÍr village. Why small farmers have lower representation in melas and why ¡hey buy less seed are important issues that need to be addressed.Large farmers, who generally employ labor for farm operations, can afford to be away from their farms. They have the means and the time to travellong distances lo purchase seed to inerease farm revenues. On the other hand, small farmers • lack the resources to travellong distances• lack time because of theír involvement in farm and off-farrn activities, partíeularly in September when lhey are busy attending to the maturing rice crop• lack sufficienl funds to purchase seed at the time when they have incurred heavy expendítures on the standing rice erop, and have yet to gain a return from it• perhaps lack enthusiasm to try new varieties because their possible failure represents for them a g¡eater risk to their livelihoods than it does for larger farmersAlthough not ideal, the representation of small farmers is slightly better at the regional fairs because, on average, seed purchasers have traveled less faro Even there, they buy seed in smaller quantities than their representatíon. Small farmers require smaller quantitíes of seed because of their smalllandholdings, but this may also indicate that they lack money to buy more and that they have greater aversion lo risk than large landholders.Despite the sale of seed at regional stations, there are 41 blocks that were not served by the system in the sample. Most of these are in the border dístricts of Amritsar and Ferozepur where there are no RRSs. Ferozepur borders on Haryana and Rajasthan. Lack of availabilíty of seed from sources in the Punjab probably leads to a hígher adoption of varieties from adjoining states.The P AV system needs to open more outletS for seed sales to address both equíty issues. If new regional stations catmot be opened in the Amritsar and Ferozepur districts, Idsan melas can be held in these districts in collaboratíon with the Department of Agriculture. More kisan melas, especially in poorly served blocks, may also help address the needs of small farmers in the state. Policies al the state level, involving Punjab State Seeds Co!poratíon and the Department of Agriculture, tha! are more smallholder-farmer friendly need to be formulated and adopted. Extension workers could create greater awareness among small farmers ofthe benefits of replacing seed more frequently and adopting new varieties earlier. One way of doing this is to encourage farmer experimentation by recommending that farmers try new varieties on a small area lo compare them to the exisling variety (see Malhi et al., this volume).Partícipatory varietal selection (PVS) provides an opportuníty for farmers lo select one or more varieties from a basket of recently developed genotypes from plant breeding programs. Witcombe el al. (1996) reported that if a suitable choice of cultivar exists, PVS is a more rapíd and cost effective way ofidentifyíng farmer-preferred cúltivars than conventional, transfer-of-technology, extension methods.In India, Maurya, Bottrall, and F arrington (1988) tested advanced lines of rice witb villagers in Uttar Pradesh and successfully identífied superior material tbat was preferred by farmers. Also in India, Joshi and Witcombe (1996) identified farmer-acceptable cultivars of rice and chickpea from a range of released and nonreleased cultivars tested in farmer-managed participatory trials. Farmer-acceptable cultivars were found among released varietíes but not among those recommended for tbe area.The participatory approach to varietal selection is considered valuable when formal breeding and seed-supply systems have been unable lO fulfill tbe needs of users. This ofien occurs where the agroecological or socíoeconomíc environment differs significantly from those anticipated and tested foc in the formal system of variety testing. In rabi sorghum, several factors mean that PVS could he a useful approach: low adoption of improved cultivars, variable growing conditions and multiple productíon constraints in farmers' fields that are difficult to simulate on the research station, and local preferences for grain quality.a.s. Six nongovernrnental organízations (NGOs), six centers of the All-India Co-ordinated Sorghum Improvement Project (AICSIP) located in state agricultural universities, the Nationa! Research Centre for Sorghum (NRCS), and !he Intemational Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) collaborated in the research. The activities involved the identificatíon of villages, NGO user groups and farmers in those villages, and the conducting of rapid rural appraisals (RRA) to identify which varieties farmers cultivated and how they cultivated !hem, as well as to assess constraints to productivity. Farmer-managed trials of lOor more identified elite varieties, hybrids, and selected local control varieties were conducted by farmers on !he ir fields. Joint monitoring by researchers and farmers was done at a mínimum of three crop stages, and data were collected on !he performance of the entries. before the rabi sowing, the NGOs selected !he participating farmers by organizing group discussions !hat inc!uded both farmers and officials.AICSIP has continuously developed new dual-purpose cultivars wi!h rabi-adapted traits, such as resistance to droughl, shoot-fly, and charcoal roí. 1t has involved direct selection from landraces, as well as hybridization and progeny selection. Genotypes in the trials inc1uded several !hat were developed and tested in initial and advanced varietal trials of AICSIP in recent years, and three selections from an ICRISAT populatíon based on M 3S-2. There were 11 genotypes in the rabi 1998 trials and 22 in !he rabi 1999 trials. These included the following:• five recently released cultivars: variety CSV 14R, GRS I (DVS 4), 9-13 (DVS S), SeU, and a hybrid (CSH ¡SR)• three elite genotypes from AICSIP advanced varietal trials: SPV 1155, SPV 1359, and SPV 1380• six from AICSIP initia! varietal trials: RSLG 262, SPV 1360, SPV 1375, SPV 1411, SPV 1428, and SPV 1429• four genotypes tested earlier: SPV 655, SPV 1215, SPV 12!7, and GSS 2• three population bu!ks derived from M 35-1: BLK 1, BLK 2, and BLK 3• the popularly grown cultivar, M 35-1Five genotypes-CSV 14R, CSH 1 SR, SPV 1359, SPV 1375 and M 35-I-were uniformlytested by al! six NGO groups, but others were tested selectively by from one to five NGO groups, dependíng on previous experience. Varietíes for which farmers could maintain the seed themselves were preferred over hybrids.Each of the six NGOs selected three villages, each with six participating farmers. The number of varietíes tested by each NGO ranged from 10 to 12. The NGOs, in consultation with farmers, had decided to give each farmer 2 kg seed of each entry for advanced varietal trials and 1 kg seed of each entry fOf initial variela! tria!s. However, involving more farmcrs by providing each of !hem with less seed was considered a more appropriate designo Each genotype was tested by three farmers lO represent three replications. A trial consisted of growing the new cultivar alongside the local cultivar in a similar-sized plol without any plant protection and under farmer management. Observations on grain yield, dry fodder yield, grain appearance, and farmer-preferred traits (for male and female farmers) were recorded by skilled helpers. Farm walks, focus-group discussions, and house-level questionnaires were employed.Studies undertaken during rabi 1988 revealed Ihat farmers' practices varied greatly. In mostplaces, varieties were grown Iffider rainfed conditions, bul sorne farmers provided a single irrigarion, and nitro gen applications varied from 0-100 kg urea per acre.At Dhulia center, farmers planted deep behind lhe plough with no fertilizer and no pesticides. At Parbhani, farmers used four to five cart loads of farmyard manure and two 50-kg bags of 20:20:0 compound fertilizer per hectare. Al Solapur center, the crop was planted in shallow soil, and 100 kg urea per acre was applied under irrigation, but other farmers did no! apply fertilizer under rainfed conditions. At Bijapur, farmers applied 25 kg urea + 25 kg di-arnrnoniurn phosphate (DAP) per acre.In 1998 in Maharashtra, SPV 1359 and SPV 1155 were ofien preferred by farmers over lhe local cultivar M35-1. At sorne locations, olher varieties, such as SPV 1380 and the ICRISAT bulk derived from M35-1, were also preferred over M35-L Local germplasm seleetions, such as RSLG 2623, were preferred at locations outside of lheir locatíon of origino This led liS to test lhe local germplasm in aH participating centers in 1999.For 1999, allhough the genotypes were tested by all the NGO groups, only the data from Solapur are presented in detail (table 1). In six trials, SPV 1359 was found mostproductive with 3.7 t ha'! grain yield, compared to 1.7 t ha'! grain yield oflhe local cultivar. Thus, lhe grain yield ofSPV 1359 in farmer-managed tiials was more Ihan double that of lhe local cultivar. There were more trials of SPV 1380 and CSH 15R; both gave almost double the grain and fodder yields oflhe local cultivar (table 1). M 35-1 was also tested against lhe locally grown landraces. In 16 such comparisons, its grain yield was 2.4 t ha'¡ (compared to 1.5 t ha• l for ¡he local cheeks), an inerease of 66%. The inereases over locally grollm cultivars are sumrnarized in table 2.Genotypes tested in lhe initial varietaI trial also performed well (table 3). The cultivar SPV 655, earlier dropped from coordinated trials, gave the highest grain yield, 3.2 t ha'¡ against only 1.3 t ha'¡ of lhe farmer -grown local cultivar, an ínerease of 146%, and its fodder yield was double lhat of the local variety. The grain and fodder yield of SPV 1413 was also double Ihat of lhe local variety grown by farmers. Two other genotypes, RSLG 262 and SPV 1411, gave more lhan 1.5 times the grain and fodder yields of the local varieties grown by tarmers. These genotypes will be tested in 2000-2001 in more trials.During 1998, farmers in general were satisfied wilh Ihe grajn yield of the new varieties, compared to their local cultivar, and demanded more seed from the new varieties. The popularly grown variety M 35-1 was not liked at certain plaees because ofits side tillers. Women preferred bold and pearly seed, medium plant height (since this was convenient for harvesting the heads), higher flour During rabi 1999 al Solapur, farmers reported on the high grain yield and good fodder quality ofthe improvedcultivar SPV 1155 compared to M 35-1. Farmers sald that SPV 1359 was excellentfor lts higher grainyield and bold grain but that it had no sweetness in the stemand thus its fodderwas not preferred. In the case ofSPV 1380, funners' reactions were that it had excellent grain yield, bold grain, and loose panicles that helped stop birds sitting on thero to eat the grain. However, they reported that it had poor-quality fodder because of a longer intemodallength and leaf falLFor the hybrid CSH 15R, farmers reported that it was good for high grain yield under irrigation, tha! it was earlier in maturity than the local cultivar, and that its fodder was moderately preferred. They were unhappy with the 60% to 70% grain filhng that reduced its yield.Participatory varíetal selection appears to be an effective approach to supplement plant-breeding efforts in marginal areas, where progress with varíetal adoption has been slow. The Impact of Participatory Plant Breeding (PPB)Participatory plant breeding (PPB) is increasingly being used for decentralized crop improvement (Weltzein et aL 2000;Eyzaguirre and Iwanaga 1996;Sthapit, 1oshi, and Witcombe 1996;Witcombe et aL 1996). Important elements ofPPB commonly include the use in the breedíng program of a locallandrace or locally adopted variety as a parent, the sereeníng of segregating matel'Íals in the target environment, and the participation of farmers in goal selting, selection, and evaluation.Farmers in the bilis and mountains ofNepal continue to grow landraces because centralized plant breeding has had limited success in producing varieties that farmers wish lo adopt. The use of decentralized, participatory methods could remove this constraint lo the adoption of new varieties. However, the products ofPPB, ifbighly preferred by farmen;, could have a considerable impact on local agrobiodiversity, In recent years, there has becn a growing awareness ofthe value and utility ofagrobiodiversity, and local nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and intemational organizations are concemed about the conservation and utilization ofbiodiversity. For example, during the third global meeting ofthe Intematíonal Plan! Genetic Resources Institute (IPGRl), in July 1999, Pokhara, Nepal, the in situ crop conservation project of DI. Ramnath Rao of IPGRl presented one possible impact that PPB products could have on landrace diversity (figure 1). Participatory plant breeding of high-altitude rice was initiated in 1993 by the Lum!e Agricultura! Research Centre (LARC) in the villages ofChhomrong and Ghandruk, both at an altitude of2000 m, in !he Kaski district of Nepal. Eighteen farmers collaborated in selecting between, and sometimes within, 10 F s bulk lines derived from three different crosses made by !he Agricultural Botany Dívisíon ofthe Nepal Agricultural Research Council (Stbapit,.Joshí, and Witcombe L996). As a result of this program, in June 1996, the Variety Release and Registration Cornmittee (VRRC) of N epal made the first release of a variety produced with the extensive use of particípatory methods: Machhapuchhre-3 (M-3) (Joshi et al., 1996). In a participatory varietal selection (PVS) program, farmers at Chhomrong also identified Machhapuchhre-9 (M-9), a sister !ine to M-3, as an acceptable variety. Starting in 1996, M-3 and M-9 were introduced into víllages situated between 1200 ID and 2300 m altitude by NGOs such as the Local Initiatives for Biodiversity Research and Development (LI-BIRD), CARE Nepal, the Annapurna Conservation Area Project (ACAP), and LARC.The adoptíon and spread ofM-3 and M-9 were monitored from 1996 to 1999. Five víllages were surveyed in both 1996 and 1997, and 10 in both 1998 and 1999. Only the surveys in 1999 are reported here (table 1). Information was collected froq¡ the surveyed households using semi-structured ínterviews. Samplíng was purposi ve (on1y from househo1ds known to have been given seed of M-3 or M-9). In 1998, farmers were asked about their adoption intentions to assess the possible impact ofPPB products on the diversity of rice landraces. The 1999 survey, which covered about 18% of the households that had adopted and grown PPB products within the last three years (table 1), also collected information on the 1andraces farmers grew in 1996. For each household, the total area of khet land (irrigated and bounded terraees of land where rice is grown) was determined from the land-ownership certificates, and a total inventory of rice varieties, with the area that each variety occupied, was compiled.The rice varieties and landraces were analyzed by the area in which they were grown and the number of households that grew !hem. Changes between 1996 and 1999 were assessed for area and household number for the more cornmon landraces. The statistical significance of changes in area was determined by a two-tailed paired f test between the areas reported for 1996 and 1999. Adoption 01 M-3 and M-9 in 1999 M-3 was introduced to alllO study villages and was adopted in al! ofthern, whíle M-9 was introduced to seven ofthe víllages but was adopted in three (figure 2). The rnost important factors in determining adüption were the altitudes of the villages and the year in which they first received seed. Apart frorn the low-altitude víllage of Bangephadke, adoption of either M-3 or M-9 was at leasl 10% ofthe rice area in víllages that had received seed before 1998.Since the ancestors of the landraces were not kIlown, no analysis of diversity could be done that required a kIlowledge ofthe relatedness ofthe cultivars with each other. However, richness can be assessed by the number oflandraces and varíeties grown (figure 3) for the seven villages for which Ihere were data for both 1999 and 1996. The total number ofrice cultivars decreased líttle in the study víllages. Thís was despite the adoptíon of varíeties produced by PPB that might have been expected to have replaced several of the landraces. The number of rice cultívars grown in 1999 increased in two ofthe study víllages and decreased in two, while in three ofthe villages there was no change (figure 3).The decrease in díversity in Chhornrong and Ghandruk i5 not 5urprísing since the inítial PPB prograrn was conducted in these villages. In the early stages, as manyas nine lines were grown in 1996 at Chhornrong alone, but by 1999, the undesirable Unes had been dropped. Another case of decrease was in Chane and Kimche, where adopting households dropped the Tairige and Takmare landraces to grow M-3 even though M-3 covered less than 15% ofthe total rice aTea.In a11 of the seven study víllages, sorne of the rice area that was under landraces in 1996 was occupied in 1999 by M-3 and M-9. This increased genetíc diversity, since M-3 and M-9 have exotic germplasm in their ancestry. M-3, M-9, and Lumle-2 all have a locallandrace, Chhornrong Dhan, as a parent. Fuji 102, an exotic varíety from Japan, ís a parent of M-3 and M-9, and IR36, an Interoatíonal Rice Research Institute (IRRl) varíety, is a parent ofLumle-2. Chhomrong Dhan was grown in only tbree oflhe seven villages, so in four oftbem, there was no cultivar Ihal was genetically related lo tbe PPB products.In 1999, farmers grew 19 landraces and five modero varíeties in tbe seven study villages for which both 1996 and 1999 data were available. Of the five modem varietíes, !bree were tbe products of PPB (M-3, M-9, and Lumle-2). The average area devoted to any landrace by tbe households in tbe study villages was quitesmall «0.3 ha) (figure 4). Oflhe 191andraces in these seven villages, 12 were reasonably common (figure 4). Oftbe seven less common, five were grown by only one oftbe sampled households and two had a combination oflow household number and a small average area.While studying the occurrence and diversity ofIocallandraces in Kaski Ca low to mid-hill site, 750 m to 1300 m) and Bara (100 m to 150 m), Joshi el al. (1999) found tbat only a few landraces were widely grown. The great majority oflandraces or varieties were less common and had eitber a small area or few households growing them, or botb. A similar result was found for ghaiya (upland rice) landraces (Joshi et aL, forthcoming). This was also found for modem varíeties in the Nepal Teraí (Joshi and Witcombe, tbis volume). Farroers' pereeptions in 1998. In 1998, fanners' perceptíon8 of the iropact that PPB products would have on local landrace diversity were recorded. Most of the respondents reported that they would increase the area under M-3 or M-9. About 24% ofthe respondents reported that the adoption ofM-3 or M-9 would either reduce the area under landrace Kathe or entírely replace it A similar situation was perceived for landraces Kalopatle (8% of respondents), Maisara (6%), Raksali (3%) and Darmalí (3%). A fllrther 10% ofthe surveyed households al80 mentíoned the possíble partial replacement of I O other landraces and one modern varíety, No households reported that they would entírely replace the landrace Chhornrong Dhan or Ihe modern variety Khumal-4, even though at leas! one household mentioned the complete-replacement of at leasl one ofthe remaining 19 landraces.The 1999 survey confinned mosl of the 1998 perceptions, The area and number of adoplíng households ¡ncreased significantly for M-3 and M-9 (figure 5). The ¡ncreasing adoptíon ofM-3 and M-9 is líkely lo have far greater impact on landrace diversíty in the future than what had already taken place by 1999.In 1999, the area under 12 out of the 19 landraces had decreased, whíle for eight of them, the number of adopting households decreased. Area was more dynamic than the number of households probably because a decision to change the area under a landrace is more common than to entirely drop a landrace or adopt a new one.  Figure 5 Change in area and household adopters from 1996 to 1999 for M-3 and M-9 in seven villages (see table 1)As an example, the changes in adoption of rice cultivars from 1996-1999 were analyzed for the seven villages shown in figure 3. The decrease in area was statistically significant for eight oflhe 10 most common landraces, i,e., Chhomrong Dhan, K.hate, Kalopatle, and Sinjali (p < .001), Raksalí and Rakse (p < ,O 1), and Darmali and Maisare (p :::; .05). In al! cases, this decrease was largely accounted for by a compensating íncreasc in M-3 and M-9. Ofthese six landraces, four ofthem had becn mentioned by farmers for possible replacement in the 1998 survey.Most sígnificantly, tbree ofthe eight landraces where the number of adoptíng households declined were those that were grown by the most households. Hence, it was mainly Ihe most common landraces Ihat had fewer adopters in 1999 than in 1996, and the less common landraces were the most buffered against change, AH of Ihe five landraces with only a single household in 1996 were also grown by a single household in 1999 (figure 6).\"\"\"\"-0. ... :._-lt-........• _.Household numberNote; Cultivars with significant changes in area have been indicated by asterisks (*.* = p .$ .001; ** = P S .01; *' \"' \" P ｾ ＠ .05).Nonsignificant changes are indicated with 'n,' elose 10 the 1996 ori¡¡in of!he lineo Tho significance of changes in adopting households was not tested.Figure 6. Change in area and household adopten from 1996 to 1999 for higb altitude rice landraces alter ¡be introduction of M-3 and M-9 in seven villages (see table 1)Varietal change is a common and continuous process in most subsíslence farming where farrners allocate different proportions oftheir land lo a cultivar from one season to anolher. Landraces !hat most c10sely match Ihe new varieties, but have a lower yield or other undesirable traits, are replaced first. The landraces wilh Ihe greatest reduction in area and adopting households were Chhornrong Dhan, Kalhe, and Kalopatle. The niches ofthese varieties closely match Ihose ofM-3 and M-9.By 1999, six years after Ihe commencement of the PPB program, Ihe products of PPB occupied about 11% of Ihe total rice area and about 14% of Ihe surveyed households. There is a continuing trend ofincreasíng adoption ofM-3 and M-9 in both area and household number. In Ihe past, in spite of concerted efforts by government extension agencies lo promote modem rice varieties, Iheir adoption was very poor. For example, only 100/.,-11 % of farming households were growing improved rice cultivars in a survey of 1688 households in 11 districts of eastem and westem Nepal nearly three decades after the intervention of improved varieties (Chemjong e! al. 1995;LARC 1995). Targeting specific niches that were not addressed by conventional breeding programs is one ofthe objectives ofPPB. The increasing acceptance ofPPB products in the study villages provides evidence for its success.To conserve landraces, maintaining diversity at the community leve! should be sufficient. Although there was an oyeran 105s in landrace richness in the sample, it was no! severe and M-3 and M-9 added to the diversity. Landraces found to be mos! al risk can be utilized in particípatory plant breeding programs so tha! their useful genes are incorporated in more productive genotypes and hence conserved. In terms ofutility and food security, diversity at the household level may be more important, and the addition of either or both M-3 and M-9 to the varietal portfolios of about 14% of the farmers would contribute to this diversity.An important finding was tha! the adoption of landraces was highly dynamic, wi!h losses and gains at the village level and cornmon changes in areas. Ex situ conservation is simply a \"snapshot\" of a situation in the year in whích the coHechon was marle. PPB, in producing varieties that farmers Iike, contributes to the dynamism. It accelerates cbange by introducing genes and genotypes but may not fundarnentally cbange the age-old process ofvarietal adoption. Indeed, as argued by Witcomhe et al. (1996), PPB in ils collaborative form in farmers' fields is a dynamic form of in situ genetic conservation.Maize (Zea mays L.) is the second most importan! crop after rice in Nepal. It is grown largely on ban land (rainfed upland cornmonly associated with farm forestry) during summer and usually rotated with millet or beans. Maize is also grown as the sole crop at lower altitudes (below 1000 m) and at higher altitudes (above 1600 m). It is also grown in khet land (bunded land where at least one crop of puddled rice is cultivated) at altitudes below 1000 m during the spring season. Maize cultivation occupies nearly 0.8 million hectares (almost 30% of the total cultivated area), and 80% of this is under terraced hill fanning, producing over 1.3 millíon tones/annum (MoA 1995).The productivíty ofmaize is quite low (about 1.7 tonneslhectare), which is reflected by a high incidence offood-deficit households in the hills ofNepal. A number of factors appear to be involved in M, Subedi is a prograrnme officer (plant breeder), P.K. Shrestha is a programme officer (socioeconomist), S. Sunwar is an asst, plant the low productivity ofmaize in the middle hílls ofNepal. These ínclude raínfed farming with uncertain rainfall, poor access to chemical fertilizers and declining application of organic manure, and lack ofvarietal options and access to improved genetic malerials suitable lo local conditions.ln areas where improved maize varieties have been introduced, farmers tend lo grow the same seed for a number of years without replacing it or without practicing standard seed-selection procedures. As a result, these varieties generally deteriorate rapidly due to genetic contamination with poorer heterogeneous landraces aml/or due lo unconscious selection for negative traits, as farmers generally use either grain for seed or seleet harvested cob for the seed. Practice ofselecting standing plants for the seed is rarely seen among the farmers.From the point ofview ofvarietal improvement, the problem ofmaize production in the hilly areas ofNepal is therefore threefold. First, farmers' access to new, improved germplasm is highly limited; second, the recommended varieties do no! mee! the multiple varielal needs of local farmers; and third, varietal deterioration occurs over time in the farmers' fields. To address these problems, Local Initiatives for Biodiversity Research and Development (LI-BlRO) is currently researching a farmer-Ied participatory plant-breeding (PPB) exercise in maize in the Gulmi district ofthe westem hills ofNepal.The maize-growing envirornnent of Gulmi has a unique geophysical envirornnent and represents the large hi1ly areas of the Palpa, GuImi, and Arghakhanchi districts extending towards Pyuthan and further west. The maize is grown in outward sloped terraces of bari land under raínfed conditions, with minimal external inputs (seeds, fertilizers, and plant-protection measures). Farmers in the area have poor access lO agricultural inpuIs, including improved genetic materials (Kadayat et al. 1998;Sthapit el al. 1997). Moreover, access 10 new sources of maize germplasm-thal closely matches farmer-preferred traits-in the traditional seed-supply system is limited. A survey ofpreferred trails carried out in 16 villages in the Gulmi district revealed that grain and fodder yield, aato (grit) recovery, taste in various cuisines, graín color, resistance to lodging, and time ofmaturity are the most cornmonly cited preferred traíts (Subedi and Shrestha, Unpublished;Kadayat et al. 1998). As a result, the major proportion of the maize area in the Palpa, Gulmi, and Arghakhanchi districts is planted to local varieties. The local varieties are the products of continuous seed selection carried out by farmers, consciously or unconsciously, over many generations and are well adapted to the local envirornnents and meet furmers' multiple needs. However, these varieties have a number of undesirable traits that require urgent attention in order lo ensure food security in the regíon.LI-BIRO carried out a study to analyze the situation in the Gulmi and Arghakhanchi districts lo develop a future strategy for agriculture. Maíze was the most important crop; however, average productivity was reported to be low: below 1.5 tfha in both districts (Kadayat et al. 1998;Sthapit et al. 1997). This may be partly due lO a low supply of inputs in these districts, as the improved seed sold by Ale during 1996/97 was 1.22 mt in Gulmi and 0.91 mI in Arghakhanchi (Kadayat et al. 1998;   Sthapit et al. 1997). Researchers concluded that the low maíze 'yields were due to poor access to new, improved genetic materials and deterioration offarmers' maintained variety because ofpoor seed-management practices (figure 1). In such a situation, providing farmers with improved maize varieties and seed-selection skills appeared to be a practical and sustainable solution. As a resuIl, helping farmers improve local maize varieties for yield-related traits became the goal of the programo An extensive reconnaissance survey was conducted in large areas of the Palpa, Gulmí, and Arghakhanchi distrícts during the process of selecting research sites for the project A rapid survey of28 villages was done, and farmers were consulted to verify the research problems in maize production and determine lhe suítability of these villages for implementation ofthe research programo Potential sites were screened and narrowed down to síx villages. Particípatory rural appraisal (PRA) and field observations were done by a multidisciplinary team in lhese villages. Discussions were held in the farming cornmunities during the site-selection process in order to colleet information about lhe geophysical condition ofthe area, socioeconomíc situation ofthe farming cornmunities, and farmers' interest ín ｾ ＠ lhe proposed programo Problems were discussed with farmers in greater length during lhe survey. Preferred-trait analysis was done during the PRA to verify the researchable problems. Major traits of interest and problems associated with the preferred traits were identified in the process.Varietal performance for the trait of interest was díscussed wilh farmers duríng lhe site-selectíon survey in order to understand farmers' needs and varíetal strengths and weaknesses in relation to a particular trait. Thís exercise was important in order to develop a breeding program based on needs and problems. In this process, ínformatíon on lhe desirable and undesirable characteristics ofbolh local and reeornmended ímproved varietíes was colleeted.Farmers were found to grow a number ofvarietíes (viz. Thulo pinyalo, Thulo seto, Sano pinyalo, Sano seto, Amrikane, Kaude, Rato dhanthe, Thorgeli pinyalo) to suit their growing environment and to meet theír household needs. Thulo pinyalo is the mosl popular variety ofthe region and occupies as rnuch as 80% ofthe maize area in sorne villages. Farmers liked rnost ofits traits. This variety has good taste in all recipes, good grain and fodder yield, the biomass (both green and dried) is very rnuch líked by the livestock, and it is easy to sel! and barter because it has bold, fiint grain with an attractive grain color. However, farmers had lodging problems with this variety, leading to as much as 85% production 1055 in the worst season (table 1). Lodging problerns are equally high in other local varieties (viz. Thulo seto and Amrikane); however, the arca under these varieties is very low. It was reported that the low production of Thulo pinyalo has more significant implications for the food security ofthe region than any other variety. So, the lodging in Thulo pinyalo was considered a major problem.Resistance to lodging frorn thick stalks and strong, stout plants has been perceived by the farmers of the surveyed villages as the rnost desired characteristic in a recommended improved variety (table 2). The least desired characteristics were a relatively low grain and fodder yield compared to that of large local varieties, followed by inferior taste. Low fodder yields have been found to be associated with the low height of improved maize varieties, compared to local varieties. Farmers of Banjha reported lhat al! fue improved varieties under cultivation in the village were introduced nearly six years before, and now there is no difference between local and ímproved, due to heavy and récurren! cross-fertilization with local varieties.F armers of the surveyed villages reported that high-yield potential and resistant to lodging were the most preferred traits for maíze, followed by good taste and high stover yield (table 3). Farmers perceived that graín yield is closely associated wíth the extent of lodging; they felt that these two parameters are highly interrelated and essentially synonymous. Farmers ofDarbar-Devisthan reported that lodging problems are due to tall plant height, and therefore, they perceived relatively shorter plant height as one of the mos! preferred traits to be considered in the maize improvement programo Revisiting farmers 10 discuss maize-production problems in the targeted area and to verify research hypotheses with farmers revealed that causal relationships in poor maize performance were no! properly established. Earlíer, a new research hypothesis surfaced, which explained Ihat the poor      performance of maize in the area is not due to yield traits but to lodging tendencies, and this, in turno leads to poor production (figure 2).In light ofthe new research hypothesis that emerged during the site-selection survey, a one-day village workshop was organized with the farmers at each research site selected for the implementatíon of the program. Farmers at the research siles opined that the local variety Thulo pinyalo has good yield and meets their requirements. They strongly suggested improvíng Thulo pinyalo for lodging resístance rather than just introducing new varieties. The underlying causes of lodging in Thulo ment, considering their resources (time), knowlcdge, and skills, were chosen by the farmers' group. There were mainly three types of activities: a mass-selection program, a crossing program, and a participatory variety selection (PVS) programoThe involvement of farmers in analysis of researchable problems helped change the researchers' perceptions ofthe problem (table 4) and redefine the goal oflhe maize-improvement programo The redefinirion ofthe breeding goals ofthe maize-improvement program provided guidelines for refining the research process !hat had been proposed initially. A multiple approach (mass selection, crossing, screening of improved/pipeline varieties, and PVS) was taken to address the problems, some of which had not been considered before, F armers liked the mass-selection technique because they perceived it as a simple method and as a possible option to improve specific traits, keeping the desirable traits ofthe variety intact. The crossing program was chosen in consideration ofthe slow genetíc gain in fue mass-selection method, partícularly in farmers' fields, Considering the long gestation period ofthe variety-improvement program, which may delay the delivery ofbenefits to the farmers, the variety-selection program was planned. This would provide farmers with access to new, improved genetic materials to test in ruverse farming situations,A farmers' research committee was formed at each site in order lo empower farmers and to ensure farmers' leadership in the project. It was decided that the committee would be equally responsible for the planning, implementation, and mO!litoring ofproject activities. The committee works as an interface between farmers and researchers. It is expected that involving farmers in the planning and  implementatíon process will help in capacity building and increase ¡he farmers' sense of ownership in the programo Farmers are very supportive and cooperative in the project area. However, in some technical matters farmers' had different perceptions and altitudes, which changed along with the time. For exampie, farmers perceived that plants with short height could not produce good yields, that detasseling leads to total sterility in maíze, etc. In the beginning, Ihis made it difficult for researchers to facilitate some oflhe field activities, such as crossíng, demonstrating short-statured varietíes, etc. Later, the farmers found thal their perceptions were not correct, and their faith in the researchers increased, leading to better understanding, cooperation, and collaboratíon. Some farmers who were no! positive about the program in the begirming are the strongest members ofthe team now.Involvement offarmers in the plarming process resulted in the development of more specific breeding objectives, which were more focused on the farmers' perceíved needs. It has helped to refine the context and process of the participatory plant-breedíng program and has gíven farmers a leading role in the decision-makíng process. In eastem India, rainfed rice represents a major component in thediet and income,of.millions of resource-poor people. In these harsh environments, the rate of adoption of modem rice varieties is Iow. Subsístence agriculture ís stilI quite important, although market integration is slowly progressing (Pingali 1997). In these transition systems, grain quality and taste strongly ínfluence the adoplion of modem vaneties. The maín source of vanation in grain qualíty ís the vanety, although envíronment and genotype-x-environment interactíons also affect grain quality. Different grain types, and therefore dífferent vaneties, are needed for self-consumptíon, market sale, and vanous preparatiollS or to pay wages in kínd. For plain rice, precooking practíces influence the vanetal choíces. Among the most common is parboíling, which is an age-old practíce in sorne regions of eastem India, where rice ís partly cooked before being air-dried and then sun-dried to improve íts nutritíonal, cookíng, and storage attributes, Preferences may vary across income levels, various social groups requiring vanous vaneties.Qualíty tests for breeding lines are routinely conducted by scientists in the laboratory. Eva/tia/ion o{ Uplalld Rice Varieties-\"w\"'it!!.\".!-F:-\"'arcem\"'e;e:rs'--_______________ _ sensory evaluation of a set of upland rice varieties was organized in a village of eastem India. The objectives of this study were (l) lo document the process of rice preparation at the farm level for raw and parboiled rice, (2) to estimate the influence of the two modes of preparation on rice quality and identify the best varÍeties in each case, (3) to colleet informa1Íon about quality characteristics that determine varÍetal acceptability by female and male farmers, and (4) 10 relate the preferences with the physico-chemical properties of the varieties determined in laboratory.Fifieen modem upland rice varieties and a local check (Brown Gora, widely grown by upland farmers) were tested. The test was conducted in 1998 in the village ofthe Korahar dÍstrict ofHazaribagh, Bihar, India. These varieties had been prevÍously tested for their agronomic values in a participatory varietal tria! conducted in the same víllage (Courtois et al., submitted).Rawrice F or each variety, two kilos of sun-dried paddy of good quality were used. The paddy was dehulled and mílled using a dhenld, a big wooden bar moving up and down around an axis. The dhenld was operated by two women, one of them moving Ihe dhenld wÍIh her leg, the other shuffiíng the paddy grain afier every stroke of the dhenki. Al! Ihe varieties were dehulled and milled by Ihe same two persons under the same condítions. The times necessary for completion of dehulling and milling, and Ihe milling recovery (percentage of milled rice weight on rough rice weight) were recorded.The head rice recovery (unbroken grains) was not quantified but estimated visually (milled rice appearance ).Before cooking, one kilo of c1eaned rice was washed with water. Aluminum vessels called bhude/i were used to cook each variety separately. All bhude/i were ofthe same capacity. The women sug• gested using 3 liters of water to cook I kg of raw rice. The bhude/i wilh water was kept on the fire up to Ihe boiling point, when the washed rice was added. The cooking test was done by pressing the cooked rice between Ihumb and index finger. The same woman did the eooking test for all varie1Íes.The cooking time of each variety was recorded. The excess water was drained and Ihe cooked rice was displayed on a pattal (leaf mat) for sensory evaluation.As decided by the women, 2.5 kg of paddy were soaked in 3 liters of water in a tin container for 18 houis. A common belief is that the soaking of paddy should be done in the evening rather than during daytime, wilh the excess water drained in the moming, to avoid Ihe heat oflhe day. A temperature Ihat is too high would induce Ihe soaked paddy to ferment, leading to poor rice quality, high breakage, and bad odor (Bhattacharya 1985). The soaking ofpaddy in water startedat 4:00 p.m. and the water was drained al 10:00 am the next day. Afier decanting Ihe water, the soaked paddy was steamed on Ihe fire. During Ihe steamÍng process, the tin containing the soaked paddy was covered with a gunny bag to avoid loss ofheat. When Ihe husks of the paddy started cracking, Ihe container was taken off the fire. The steamed paddy was spread in the shade on a mud floor for drying. The paddy was dried in the shade for 48 hours wilh intermittent mixing. It was then exposed lo Ihe sun for complete drying. An indigenous technique was used to test the proper drying ofpaddy. Twenty lo 30 grains ofpaddy were dropped on a hard floor. The graíns were crushed underfoot by rotating Ihe heet If this removed Ihe grain husk, Ihe rice was considered to be well dried and ready for dehulling. For dehullíng and milling, 2 kg of c1eaned paddy were used and the same process as for raw rice was followed.More water is needed to cook parboiled rice than lo cook raw rice. The women suggested adding 7 liters ofwater to cook 1 kg ofparboiled rice. For the subsequent operations, the same process was followed as for raw rice.A protoco! for lhe practica! organization ofthe sensory evaluation was desígned following the recommendations of Arnerine, Pangborn, andRoessler (1965) andDel Mundo (1991) and adapting them to the realities of an eastern lndian village.Twenty-four farmers (12 women and 12 men) particípated in Ihe sensory evaluation, A hedonic scale was used. The farmers were asked lo indicate whetherthey líked (score 1) ordisliked(score O) the varieties for mílled grain appearance, cooked rice appearance, odor, color, texture (softlhard), stickiness, laste, and overall acceptability. The samples were numbered and randomized to límit the \"first-sample bias.\" The raw rice and parboiled rice were evaluated on different days to limil the teslers' fatigue.The tests were perforrned at the technology laboratory Gf the Central Rice Research Institute, Cuttack, India, for raw rice and in N.D. University of Agriculture and Technology, Masodha, Faizabad, India, for parboiled rice, The parameters measured for raw rice were milling recovery, head rice recovery, grain length and width, alkali value, volurne-expansion ratio, kernel-elongation ratio, and amylase content. For parboiled rice, hulJing and milling recovery and grain shape were measured.Forrank comparison, Spearrnan's coefficient of correlatíon was used when only two rankings were compared. A Kendall coefficient of concordance was used, as described in Siegel (1956), when more than two rankers were involved. The mean comparisons were perforrned using a Student's t-test.No difference between the two modes ofpreparation was observed for mílling time (table 1). Raw rice took significantly less time to cook as compared to parboiled rice. Milling recoverywas significantly higher for parboíled rice in comparison to raw rice. There was no significant difference between farmers' practices and laboratory method for raw rice but recovery was higher with farrners' practices for parboiled rice. The lower coefficients of variation in the case of parboiled rice índicated a buffering effect ofparboiling across varieties for recovery, which explains why parboiling is considered an excellent means to recover poor-qualíty samples.The method of rice preparation had a great impact on the ranking ofthe rice varieties for aH traits, as shown by the nonsignificant and sometimes negative rank correlations between the two seis of Note: ** = signifieant at (be 1% leve1; ns ｾ ＠ flot significant seores (table 2). The preferred varieties in tenns of aeceptabilíty were RRI51-3, RR352-1, and RR354-1 for raw rice, and RR50-5, RR352-1, and RR354-1 for parboiled rice. For breeding purposes, it was interesting to identifY varieties that could perfonn well under both preparations. RR352-1 and RR354-1 scored quite well in this respect.The farmers were also asked to indicate the fOUT varieties they liked the mosl (high seore indiealed high preferenee) and the fOUT varieties they liked the least (this time high seores indicated high dislíke). By this means, only one variety, RR354-1 recorded a good seore for both raw and parboiled rice (table 3), being liked by 67% ofthe farmers as parboiled rice and 58% ofthe fanners as raw rice. RR151-3 and RR352-1 were apprecíated by the farmers as raw rice but not as parboíled rice.Inversely, RR2-6, RR I 66-645 , and RR265-1 were líked by the farmers as parboíled rice but not as raw rice.For raw riee as well as parboiled rice, the rank correlatíons among characteristícs scored by funners were very strong and posítive (table 4) except for stickiness, for which they were also positive but more seldom significant. This means that there is probably no need ID ask the fanners to seore aH these traits. The aeceptability or the choice of the three or four most preferred varieties should be enough to represent the group of traits. A simplification of the testing procedure an important in order to facilítate the integratíon of partícípatory approaches ín the fonual breeding system and tD sustaín fanners' participatíon.  Opinions of women and men fanners were similar, with significant to highly significant correlations between their rankings for milled rice appearance, cooked rice appearance, texture, color, and taste (table 5). The on1y traite for which their agreement was weaker was stickiness ami, to lower"}

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+{"metadata":{"gardian_id":"b9d02feb169e61d386a6f8d281d1ae36","source":"gardian_index","url":"https://cgspace.cgiar.org/rest/bitstreams/0cab61ee-fe54-432b-8248-8d7dc465b276/retrieve","id":"-504437243"},"keywords":[],"sieverID":"5aa74487-1846-493d-85f0-542106c9f547","content":"In 2019 FTA produced 560 publications, including 39 books, 50 chapters, 30 journal articles, 89% of which ISI, 52 briefs and 31 papers. FTA also produced 236 communication products, including 104 blogs, 75 factsheet, 72 videos, 49 online presentations, flyers and posters as needed. 1 FTA publications gained an overall 4,794 attention score on Altmetrics, have been tweeted over 5,000 times, covered in more than 130 news and blogs, read by over 8,100 readers on Mendeley, and were mentioned 3 times in official policy documents.The FTA has a set of operational priorities which structure its program of work, within the framework of the proposal. These priorities address key development demands and knowledge gaps concerning the implementation of the SDGs and the Paris Agreement on climate change.some of the main 2019 results follow.To bridge production gaps and promote resilience, six orphan tree crop reference genomes were sequenced and published, capacity development was conducted, decision tools developed and the work on seeds and seedlings delivery systems supported the establishment of a National Tree Seed Network in Ethiopia.A Priority Food Tree and Crop Food Composition Database and a user-Guide to support nutrition sensitive agriculture were produced. FTA strengthened its collaboration with A4NH.The Livelihood systems Flagship coordinated the development of the High Level Panel of Experts (HLPE) report on agroecology and of the Global Commission on Adaptation (GCA) background paper on building resilient agriculture. The options by context approach is increasingly being adopted to orient action on the ground. Policy gaps constraining the scaling up of agroforestry were identified across 8 countries in Africa and national strategies developed for Ethiopia and Nepal.The study on \"Scaling of innovative finance for sustainable landscapes\" was presented and discussed in the Global Landscape Forum (GLF) Luxembourg. Inclusive finance and business models were developed with companies across Tanzania, Ghana and Peru.Recommendations were made to the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC). FTA provided the evidence base for the discussion on plantations in the UN Committee on food Security (CFS). A strong partnership was established with the International Rubber Study Group (IRSG) and the Global Platform for Sustainable Natural Rubber (GPSNR).On landscape dynamics, productivity and resilience, important progress was made in 2019 towards effective multifunctional landscapes. An Agroforestry Policy for Nepal was launched in mid-2019 following extensive support to the government. Lessons were drawn from performance-based finance experiments in 34 community forest enterprises in Cameroon within the DFID financed Dryad project. The ecosystems-based adaptation project in the Gambia supported 49 community forests and the restoration of degraded protected areas. FTA also finalized important synthesis publications.On climate change mitigation and adaptation, the highlights in 2019 were a number of products related to REDD+, mangrove protection and management, bamboo water management, bioenergy, ecosystem-based adaptation, and training and information sharing. These products provide policy advice and support national policy design for REDD+, PFES, NAMAs, and NDCs. Innovative options were developed to produce sustainable bioenergy and in providing policy support, above all in Africa and Indonesia. Analytical and practical work on adaptation were developed in the context of ecosystembased adaptation and linking adaptation to mitigation.FTA has brought a gender perspective to global policy processes, particularly the Rio Conventions and their implementation. It has also advanced gender equity across value chains, with the publication of a Conceptual framework to address gender in charcoal value chains, critical insights on the effectiveness of Fairtrade certification on women's inclusion and empowerment and on the role of sustainability standards in driving gender transformative change in value chains, and participatory research used to design gender modules for tea and coffee producers.In 2019, 84 students were trained, including 47 PhDs. 32 plant breeders, 17 of whom were women, graduated from the fourth class of the African Plant Breeding Academy (AfPBA). 14203 people, a majority of which women, were trained through a wide range of short-term training efforts by FTA partnering centers. FTA also provided capacity building on gender issues to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and to the Governors' Climate and Forest Task Force FTA MELIA continued to work on a range of evaluation and impact assessment approaches as part of a balanced strategy to investigate FTA's actual influence. It organized in November 2019 with the ISC and the Management Team a workshop on Impact Assessment for Natural Resources Management and Policy Research in FTA that supported the orientation of the POWB 2020-2021.Part A: NARRATIVE SECTION1.1 Progress Towards SDGs and SLOs (sphere of interest, with research results frequently predating the CRP) a) overall contribution of the CGIAR towards the SRF targets in the relevant area of work for the CRP, based on rigorous adoption and/or impact data. Please complete Table 1: Evidence on Progress towards SRF targets (Sphere of interest) and make reference to this in the text.FTA contributes to 9 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), all CGIAR Intermediate Development Outcomes (IDOs) and to 31 sub-IDOs. FTA works across four main production systems (natural forests, tree plantations, pastures with trees and cropping systems with trees) dealing with a number of globally traded and/or locally important tree-crop commodities (timber, oil palm, rubber, coffee, cocoa, coconut, wood fuel, fruits, etc.)Progress towards IDOs in the areas of the CRP often requires a combination of technical and social innovations along value chains, supported by appropriate institutional and policy processes. These different elements were taken up at various levels and were adapted to specific contexts, progressing along engagement strategies. Of particular significance is the fact that progress was balanced among technical innovation, economic and value chains innovation and influence on policy making at various scales from local to national and global. These advances lay the ground for achieving the programs objectives towards IDOs.b) any areas of learning from impact assessments which have influenced the direction of the program.At the request of its Independent Steering Committee (ISC), FTA organized in November 2019 a joint ISC-FTA leadership workshop on Impact Assessment for Natural Resources Management and Policy Research. It built a shared understanding within FTA of NRM institutional and policy research impact pathways and of how we can reliably evaluate effectiveness and impact. The results of the workshop were integrated into the FTA POWB 2020 and are expected to produce more high calibre impact assessments than would have occurred without the joint workshop.The CRP as a whole progressed towards its program outputs and outcomes.Among the most important progress of the year is the importance, breadth and diversity of FTA's influences on science for decision processes with, in addition to those mentioned hereunder about the cross cutting priorities, the HLPE report on agroecology, the contributions to the Global Commission on Adaptation (GCA) report, to the state of the world's forest genetic resources, to the work of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES), gender work with CBD and UNFCCC, on climate change with FAO and with the GCF, at global level as well as at regional and national levels with for instance participation to the Dialogue on NDCs in the Asian pacific Forest week, the adoption of the agroforestry policy in Nepal, the Palm oil dialogue in Jakarta.Particularly, significant progress was made in the three operational priorities that cut across flagships, on land restoration, nutrition and plantations. The nutrition priority organized a workshop with A4NH which included major policy actors: FAO, IFAD, WFP and members of the open-ended working group preparing the CFS voluntary guidelines on food systems and nutrition. This opened the door to a deeper involvement of FTA in the global science/policy discussions on food systems. This led in turn to influential contributions to CFS guidelines and to FTA leading the work on indicator 14 (contribution of forests and trees to food security and nutrition) of the CPF global core set of indicators. The plantations priority established a strong collaboration with the International Rubber Study Group (IRSG), and successfully informed the discussions in CFS on plantations. The restoration priority prepared, in collaboration with PIM and WLE a synthesis of a survey of the work conducted on restoration in the CGIAR and initiated with FAO the development of a data base of costs and benefits of restoration projects.Detailed progress by Flagships is described in Annex 2The Biodiversity safeguarding and conservation priority organized 2 regional workshops on FGR management in SSA and Asia; and developed genetic conservation units guidelines, and Species distribution modelling with climate suitability for Coffee and Cocoa in agroforestry.The Orphan crops priority delivered the genomic sequence of 6 species, trained 36 African breeders, published an important article in New Phytologist to raise the profile of orphan crops globally and to support nutrition sensitive tree-crop portfolios. A new Public Private Partnership with AAK was established on the sustainability of shea value chains.The work on Seeds and seedlings delivery systems supported the establishment of a National Tree Seed Network in Ethiopia. Publications supporting seed delivery, mass breeding; habitat suitability; and a climate change atlas for Africa have been developed. The Diversity4Restorarion tool was expanded and upgraded to support farmers in selecting the most appropriate material. 14 Breeding Seed Orchards of 7 species were developed and 80 seed sources described and registered in Ethiopia.In the Nutrition Priority a Priority Food Tree and Crop Food Composition Database and a user-Guide have been developed to support nutrition sensitive agriculture. The portfolio approach methodology for mainstreaming and providing year-round micronutrients to smallholder farmers was published.FP2 coordinated the development of the UN Committee on World Food Security (CFS), High Level Panel of Experts (HLPE) report on agroecology and the Global Commission on Adaptation (GCA) background paper on building resilient agriculture. The former was accepted by CFS as the basis for policy convergence, while the latter resulted in agroecology being incorporated in the GCA flagship report and year of action, including a commitment to expand access to agroecological practices for 60 million smallholder farmers. FP2 published key results demonstrating that certain tree species when grown with coffee increase soil organic carbon and microbial abundance, relevant to reversing degradation across 120,000 ha of coffee in China. Barry Callebaut, the world's largest cocoa buyer, adopted FP2's options by context approach as the foundation of its position on agroforestry and oil palm farmers in Brazil expressed interest in diversification to build resilience to market fluctuations and climate change. Policy gaps constraining scaling up agroforestry across 8 countries in Africa were documented and national strategies developed for Ethiopia, Uganda and Nepal. Income improving performance of 7 market based agroforestry options in Vietnam and 4 in Indonesia were published alongside overcoming constraints to involvement of youth in food value chain upgrading in Uganda.In partnership with private companies were developed inclusive finance and business models across Tanzania, Ghana and Peru. Work on innovating finance for sustainable landscapes included organizing a digital summit at the Global Landscape Forum (GLF) Finance in Luxembourg in November 2019, during which the study on \"Scaling of innovative finance for sustainable landscapes\" was presented and then discussed in an eDialogue.Recommendations were made in a policy brief for improvements to indicators and audit rules for the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC). Their relevance to the French National Strategy for the prevention of imported deforestation was acknowledged by the ministry of environment. FP3 work on plantations and tree crop commodities included partnering with the International Rubber Study Group (IRSG) and the Global Platform for Sustainable Natural Rubber (GPSNR). As part of a global comparative analysis of rubber smallholders, scientists participated in five workshops with rubber smallholders, traders, remillers and product manufacturers in five countries. As part of evaluating the Effectiveness of approaches to sustainable supply, a change of orientation was observed in the Cameroon Ministry of Agriculture, which has adopted a mix public and private governance approaches and tools to promote legal and sustainable cocoa for European markets. The work on climate appropriate portfolios of tree diversity (CAPTD) for diversification of diets and landscape restoration was expanded for a GCF proposal for Sri Lanka as well as to prepare another GCF grant for Rwanda. To highlight the return on investments of CAPTD, ex ante impact assessments were undertaken in Ethiopia through PATSPO funds in support of the Climate Resilient Green Economy (CRGE) strategy of Ethiopia.Work was expanded on policies and institutional dimensions of greening tree commodities in Africa.Training of ACP country participants on NDCs was funded by CTA in Wageningen.At the request of the Africa Group of Negotiators, support work was initiated on the Global Adaptation Goal in the Paris Agreement and how to measure progress.FTA started developing targeted guidance on the land use and forest sector for the Green Climate Fund in late 2019 and a global platform on Nature Based Solutions. We are also strengthening our work on tropical forest and peatland fires.In FP5 some field work on bamboo was partially cut back due to climatic problems in Brazil. It may still be taken up in 2020.To capitalize on the set of operational priorities identified as part of the priority setting process implemented in 2018, the MT decided to keep the same list of priorities, with the addition of foresight. The MT also decided that gender and capacity development should be mainstreamed into the other priorities, and that a specific priority on gender will be maintained.The operationalization of the FTA priorities has promoted genuine inter-centre and inter FP collaborations. For instance, for FP1, there is now a very vibrant collaboration between CIFOR and ICRAF in nutrition and a vibrant collaboration between FP1 and FP4 on restoration. This collaboration has extended to joint workshops and fund-raising efforts.The increasing emphasis on documenting impact has an incidence on the way benefits are assessed, with quantitative assessment becoming more prominent. For instance, in FP 1 quantitative assessment of the benefits of using appropriate productive portfolios of tree diversity for restoration and diversifying diets are to replace more qualitative ones, with results planned to be available in 2020. FTA brings a gender perspective to global policy processes, particularly the Rio Conventions and their implementation: (Enhance gender equality and empower all women and girls) in a book on forests and the SDGs FTA strengthens the evidence base on gender and advances gender equity in value chains, across several tree products and geographies:• A Conceptual framework to address gender in charcoal value chains (sector gaining increasing attention among policy makers in Africa) was published and used to redress the misconception that charcoal is dominated by young men, and hence 'not gender-relevant'.• FTA research provides critical insights on the effectiveness of Fairtrade certification on women's inclusion and empowerment; the role of sustainability standards in driving gender transformative change in value chains • FTA research on Fairtrade standards, strategies, programs and capacity-building in Indonesia, Kenya and Guatemala will inform Fairtrade's Gender Strategy and improve certification standards.• FTA participatory research is used to design gender modules for tea and coffee producers, with examples from several country contexts FTA gathers evidence, engages, and pushes Gender Transformative Approaches (GTAs):• FTA was invited to make an expert contribution at the inception workshop of the Rome-Based Agencies' joint project on Gender Transformative Approaches • FTA was invited as a panelist at a Committee on World Food Security (CFS)-46 side-event on 'Understanding gender-transformative approaches: A research perspective'FTA's gender work on restoration continues to gain momentum:• FTA established and coordinated, within the Global Landscapes Forum (GLF), a Gender Constituency which brings together 26 local, regional and international organizations and agencies. • The GLF gender constituency convened a side-event at GLF Accra and coconvened a workshop at GLF Bonn as well as a webinar on gender-responsive restoration.• Several FTA products advanced the state of knowledge on gender and restoration: three Masters' student theses, briefs and reports. • An On-farm Restoration Options Profile was produced, based on an assessment of the impact of on-farm land restoration practices on the time and agency of women in the drylands of eastern Kenya • FTA, in collaboration with WLE and PIM, organized a writeshop and session on social inclusion in restoration at the Society for Ecological Restoration 8 th World Conference • FTA trained country teams for FAO-IUCN's large-scale Global Environment Facility (GEF)-funded 'The Restoration Initiative' (TRI) project on gender-responsive restoration.FTA gathers policy-relevant evidence on gender and tenure amid rapid changes in land use, governance and markets:• FTA published a synthesis of findings from Global Comparative Study on forest tenure reforms in Indonesia, Peru and Uganda that highlights under which conditions implementation processes have improved outcomes for women and other marginalized groups.• FTA developed a gender-responsive monitoring tool to support more equitable and effective multi-stakeholder forums.Within the research community:• FTA scientists led the writing of three of the nine chapters for the CGIAR-wide publication on 'Advancing gender equality through agricultural and environmental research for development'. • FTA brought gender issues to the agenda by organizing a session on gender and migration at the World Agroforestry Congress.Engagement with the development of the post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework from a gender perspective and FTA's official side-event at COP25 on gender and climate finance have heightened the visibility of the CRP and demonstrated that gender is a legitimate field of concern in research and policy, and a relevant entry point for engaging with global policy processes. As a result, gender researchers have been invited to comment on the draft biodiversity framework on behalf of their centers and CRP and FP Leaders have brought their FP's gender focal points into significant FP processes.The inclusion of FTA's Gender Research Coordinator as a member of the scientific committee and among the thematic leads for the upcoming FTA conference show how the program is willing to ensure that gender is given needed attention and that relevant issues are adequately represented at the conference.Findings from a project analyzing Fairtrade impact pathways show the institutional limits of market driven mechanisms alone to transform gender norms in hired labor and smallholder situations. Results suggest the need to better differentiate positive and negative integration of women in plantations and tree crop commodity sectors. These findings were the impetus for a gender clinic to be held in 2020 to examine project designs and incorporate gender analyses in FTA's FP3 portfolio.The tragic demise of Dr Esther Mwangi, who led the development of FTA's original Gender Strategy and was a prolific Principal Scientist working on gender and inclusion at CIFOR, was a big loss for FTA and the gender and forests research community. Her position has yet to be re-filled.FTA was selected as recipient for a grant on gender and oil palm value chains by the CGIAR Collaborative Platform for Gender Research. However, as the Platform has changed leadership, the announced funding will no longer be provided. FTA thus allocated 100K$ to ensure that the winning proposal could still be implemented. Our goals are substantial and ambitious, and we believe that our broad, integrated, and multi-disciplinary approach across all levels of activity and engagement will be a key contribution to global mitigation and adaptation achievements.The ISC, with the BoT of the Lead Center are the two key components of the governance of FTA. After CIFOR and ICRAF merge, the two Centers have now one common BoT as of 2019.From a management perspective, the terms of reference of FTA MT have been revised. The new ToR clarify decision making including when there is no consensus in the MT and the way to solve disputes.Michael Brady (CIFOR) was appointed FP3 Leader following a call for nominations opened to candidates proposed by all program participants and given the unanimous recommendation of the FTA Management Team expressed at its face-to face meeting on 25-27 March 2019 in Nairobi.An increasingly productive partnership was developed with the Green Climate Fund (GCF) in particular with GCF divisions for forests and land use, and for ecosystems and ecosystem services. Both conceptual work (sectoral guidance) and direct project development work provided the groundwork for strong future engagement along the impact pathways. FTA continued collaborating with IUCN on development of GCF initiatives in Rwanda and for other African countries.FTA worked closely with UNWomen and the CBD to integrate gender considerations in the post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework.A new public-private partnership with the world's leading buyer of Shea nuts, AAK working directly with Shea communities in the Sahel was set up, including the University of Copenhagen. The ambition is to ensure sustainability for the Shea value chains and better livelihoods for the women who are the main harvesters of Shea nuts throughout the Sahel. FTA furthered its partnerships with FAO with (i) a co-publication on vulnerability assessments of forests and forest dependent people, (ii) the preparation of a co-publication on integration of forests and agroforestry in national adaptation plans and (iii) collaboration for the development of a database of costs and benefits of landscape restoration projects.Leading the HLPE and GCA agroecology reports created an opportunity to form a closer partnership with FAO, UNEP and Biovision around identification and addressing knowledge gaps pertaining to agroecological transitions that has led to the formation of a putative transformative partnership platform around using agroecological transitions to build climate resilient agriculture that we intend to develop in 2020 to become a vehicle for collective endeavor in this area.FTA continued expanding its collaboration with other CRPs, especially WLE, PIM, CCAFS, A4NH, GLDC, RTB, the Genebank Platform, the Excellence in Breeding Platform and the Gender Platform, with some significant achievements.In various cases it led to co-leveraging of resources, for instance to organize a session on socially inclusive restoration at the 8 th Annual Conference of the Society for Ecological restoration (SER) and to communicate on it.FTA collaborated extensively on different aspects of tree genetic resource management. For instance, with the Genebank Platform on availing germplasm to research projects; facilitating acquisition from other sources or working together on the development of characterization data, and sharing existing data.FTA collaborated with PIM and WLE to prepare a synthesis of the work conducted on restoration in the various CRPs and centers. FTA also collaborated with PIM on multistakeholder platform case studies. FTA and PIM jointly hosted an event on land tenure during the GLF in Accra showcasing our research. This catalyzed sharing research among researchers and enriching collaboration in other ways for instance a researcher from FTA attending a political economy training organized by PIM.New collaboration with A4NH was developed as part of FTA's priority on enhanced nutrition and food security. FTA participated in two workshops organized by A4NH and A4NH participated in an international workshop on \"Forests, trees and agroforestry for better food systems and improved nutrition\" organized by FTA in July 2019.At a key meeting of the CGIAR and French research institutions in Montpellier in June we were able to develop a call for action to address evidence gaps constraining agroecological transition and a common agenda to develop research in this area across particularly FTA, GLDC and WLE but also potentially WHEAT, RICE and MAIZE.(a) Have any intellectual assets been strategically managed by the CRP (together with the relevant Center) this year?In 2019 FTA continued to integrate existing and produced intellectual assets by FTA research projects.In 2019, the Data Management team consolidated data on species from various FTA projects in a single database. FTA provides the platform while data are maintained and owned by the respective Centres.The geospatial component reported last year has now been fully integrated to the FTA data portal under the 'Map' feature. (c) List any critical issues or challenges encountered in the management of intellectual assets in the context of the CRP (or put N/A).Handling sensitive data has continued to be a challenge because the notion of sensitive data is broad and often difficult to precisely characterize in terms of scope or criteria. There may be data which could have a negative impact if released or disclosed even though a previous screening process has been conducted by the data manager and team. Progress is needed on an agreed definition and scope of what constitutes sensitive data to minimize risks.Challenges on improving tree germplasm are due to very lengthy gestation period and seed to seed cycle. Therefore, FTA has continued using existing germplasm maintained in various gene banks including that of ICRAF which has some phenotyping information gathered over a period of time.The MELIA team led the preparation of the November 2019 workshop on Impact Assessment for Natural Resources Management and Policy Research in FTA, requested by the Independent Steering committee of FTA The preparations included a mapping of FTA's evaluation studies against the program's Theory of Change in order to identify gaps in coverage. As a result, the MELIA team identified a set of integrated studies that will be carried out in 2020-21.The MELIA team has also provided feedback and inputs to Flagships in the revision of their end of program outcomes and milestones. This review will be finalized in 2020 and will factor-in the shortening by one year of the duration of the CRPs.In addition, two new articles were prepared concerning the challenges in effectively assessing the impact of transdisciplinary research:-\"A refined method for theory-based evaluation of the societal impacts of research\" provides a detailed description of concepts and a method for assessing the relationship between transdisciplinary research processes, outputs, and outcomes.-\"Linking Transdisciplinary Research Characteristics and Quality to Effectiveness: A Comparative Analysis of Five Research-for-Development Projects\" reports lessons from outcome evaluations of five FTA projects.FTA's priority-setting framework promotes focus, alignment, and coherence of the workplans. It has fostered cross FP work and reduced transaction costs while enabling more in-depth collaborative, transparent and inclusive work on defining work plans. It allows for best use of W1/2 and bilateral resources under budget constraints, building on the comparative advantages of FTA and its partners in order to maximize value for money, effectiveness and impact. The investment made in 2018 on 3-year work programs by priority, discussed and endorsed in the MT, considerably reduced in 2019 transaction costs for the preparation and implementation of the POWB.Collaboration with other CPRs as well as with other partners have also generated efficiency gains. For instance, joint funding by FTA-WLE for comparative research on gender and restoration allows both CRPs to gather robust evidence in a larger number of contexts, thereby increasing the representativeness of their findings, and allowing them to engage with a greater number of partners in a concerted manner.Collaboration between FTA and the Genebank Platform on the development of characterization data and addressing priority tree health issues resulted in a cost-saving partnership, as it enabled to source resources and personnel from the Genebank Platform.The major programmatic risk that FTA is facing is the one of recurrent uncertainty in W1-2 funding. This poses special constraints especially to non CGIAR partners that are not able to pre-finance work and so cannot start working as long as resources are not cashed-in. This risk is addressed by a contingency planning mechanism for W1-2 funds. The 2019 POWB was split into three tiers of decreased probability of funding. Each activity and corresponding output of the 2019 POWB was associated with one of the three tiers, reflecting their relative priority in the POWB. This contingency mechanism provides total transparency and clarity to partners and it allows FTA to efficiently manage disbursement along the year. In 2019 Tiers 3 activities were not funded as risk of decreased allocations was deemed high. When final 2019 allocations were notified at the end of 2019 and were higher than expected, a carry forward was created, to be used in 2020 in total alignment with FTA's priorities.The residual programmatic risk which is the non-delivery risk of FTA partners is managed by a quarterly traffic light reporting system overseen by the MSU and the MT. This enables program management to follow delivery very closely, and in case of delays to put corrective measures in place. In case an activity is canceled by a partner the funds are returned by that partner to the program.The programmatic risk of under-optimal positioning of the research portfolio towards outcomes is mitigated by the prioritization process and annual work planning that aligns use of W1-2 and bilaterals to the program's theory of change and towards end of program outcomes.Institutional risks (as per the CGIAR Risk Management Guidelines) and their management falls under the remit of FTA partners.W1-2 allocations and associated workplans result from (i) principles and criteria for prioritization agreed upon by the management team and the ISC (see Annex 1 for the criteria), (ii) strategic orientations considering end-of-program objectives discussed with the ISC, (iii) analysis of all draft work plans submitted by FPs to the MT, and (iv) consideration of past delivery performance by the scientific teams.W1-2 funds prioritize work that leads to the generation of IPGs, including those that can influence policy generation and policy implementation, promote uptake and impact potential on the ground and challenge established theories, exploring early leads on potential new ideas.FTA is one of the few CRP having implemented an activity-level and deliverable-level disaggregation of all W1-2 funded research. All W1-2 fund allocations to partners are disaggregated down to the level of activities and deliverables, which also enables program management to track performance and delivery, and to take this into account in management decisions. The activities receiving W1-2 funding are summarized in the traffic light report available on request.In 2019, FTA was once again the CRP receiving the lowest amount of W1/2 funds compared to its total budget, for reasons unrelated to program relevance or performance. To deal with recurrent W1/2 funding uncertainties (overall amount and calendar of disbursements), FTA now integrates into its budget a contingency planning mechanism, to help all partners better manage cash flows according to operational priorities, and to manage recurrent important ex-ante uncertainty on actual FTA funding in a transparent and effective manner. The mechanism is based on the definition of three tiers of budget linked to their estimated probability of actual funding (each tier with its set of activities and outputs) (see section 2.6).During the year, the MSU gave instructions to partners to engage in Tier 1 and 2 activities (priority activities), but not in Tier 3 activities, due to the likelihood of funding shortfalls as per the information available from the CGIAR System Management Office (SMO).End September 2019, FTA had received 6.6m USD W1-2 and to manage the situation it was decided to remove Tier 3 activities from the 2019 POWB, and carry forward to 2020 any fund in excess of Tier 1 and Tier 2, if any such funds were to be received later in the year.In practice, when the final 2019 allocations were notified by the SMO mid December 2019, this led to a carrying forward of USD 1,035,295 at program level. These funds will be disbursed by CIFOR, the lead center in 2020, as per a process fully aligned with FTA's priorities (see section 2.6).Overall, 2019 disbursements of W1-2 funds by the lead center CIFOR to program participants (including itself) amounted to USD 8,736,176. This is equal to the sum of USD 9,194,987 (2019 final allocations by the SMO against an original FINPLAN of USD 9,400,000), plus USD 1,036,175 of program-level carry-over from 2018 (as per the contingency planning mechanism of 2018), minus USD 1,494,986 carried-over by the lead center into 2020 (as per the contingency planning mechanism of 2019).Some 2019 Tier 1/2 resources disbursed to partners by the lead center, will be spent by the partners in 2020 to finalize their originally planned outputs; this is because some of the funding was delivered to partners very late in the year, due to delays in the calendar of disbursements by the SMO. The execution of these activities is monitored by the FTA MSU, as per traffic light reporting. Positive impacts on emissions reductions (sinks) of restoration results and of deforestation reductions have not been quantified yet.Policy frameworks and capacity are being developed broadly across all relevant forested tropical countries, thus once all this is in place, a policy breakthrough in REDD+ is expected to result in large-scale changes.Progress towards the SLO targets often requires a combination of technical and social innovations along value chains, supported by appropriate institutional and policy processes. Progress made along the ToC on technical and social innovations as well as towards favourable policy environment will allow progress towards targets before end of 2022 as well as after this date. Assessments of achieved and projected outcomes will be conducted in 2020-2021.  The CFS Voluntary Guidelines are expected to counter the existing policy fragmentation between the food, agriculture and health sectors while also addressing livelihood and sustainability challenges and to contribute to making food systems nutritionsensitive and promoting secure access to safe, diverse and highquality diets for everyone. The Voluntary Guidelines are expected be endorsed by the CFS in October 2020.       Prioritization criteria specific to W1-2 funded research 5. Past delivery performance: Delayed delivery of W1+2 funded outputs in 2019 is considered negatively in the priorities' adjustments. This is based on a check of the FTA \"traffic light report\" and end-of-year delivery estimates by priorities.6. Gender: A specific attention to gender is warranted and the overall gender CCT budget is ring fenced in 2019 at a minimum of the 2018 level USD 700,000. This envelope includes a range of gender activities integrated in the operational priorities, as well as the operational priority on gender priority.The importance of W1+2 funding was considered to support some promising areas of work.The proposed work contributes to FTA ToC in a catalytic way. The work is deliberately and convincingly positioned to contribute to significant outcomes, with high potential to contribute to development objectives and impact.The proposed work has high potential to develop methods and/or new knowledge that will have international public goods value.The proposed work has high potential to add value at the FTA Program-level and contributes to strategically orient research, including bilaterally funded work, to help realize the FTA ToC.The proposed work has high potential to contribute to the growth of FTA through developing and strengthening partnerships, generating additional program development opportunities.12. Vertical, horizontal and/or temporal Integration. The proposed work (i) feeds or has potential to feed into other flagships and research areas and for bringing coherence in methodological approaches, such as enabling the creation of extrapolation domains; and/or (ii) promotes continuity of action along the research to development continuum in FTA's impact pathways; and/or (iii) contains programmatic learning, extends projects' scientific and development relevance beyond their completion.Annex 2: Detailed description of FPs progress.FP1 produced over 100 outputs thereby progressing significantly towards the program outcomes. The outputs produced contribute to one or more of FP1 priorities (Restoration, Biodiversity and Safe-guarding Diversity, Orphan crops, Nutrition, and Seed Delivery).With respect to outcome on adoption of methods, tools and practices to mitigate threats to valuable TGR while implementing suitable safeguarding strategies in line with international initiatives and distribution maps of 65 native Asian species were finalised. 20 studies on screening of diversity with recommendations and measures for maintenance i.e. safeguarding/conservation and evaluation have been undertaken and published. Some key highlights contributing to this outcome are: 1. Two regional workshops on prioritization, conservation and use of Forest Genetic Resources in Sub-Saharan Africa and Asia for strengthening tree seed systems; 2. Guideline for genetic conservation units were completed through 6 studies 3. Species distribution modelling with climate suitability and species selection, a collaboration between FTA and CCAFS on the future of Coffee and Cocoa in agroforestry in Mesoamerica in Nature Scientific reports.With respect to the outcome addressing cost-effective domestication approaches for priority tree species for agriculture and horticulture, deliverables from collaborations between AOCC and the Gene Bank Platform have contributed to knowledge that supports diversification of food systems through integrating nutrient rich orphan crops into current food systems. More than 20 studies/datasets on characterization of priority species; seven studies on cultivar development; three studies related to business model development were produced. Four publications providing reference genomes of six species are in the public domain in the GigaScience Database. The sequence data will enable the development of SNP 4 platforms to facilitate breeding of nutritious orphan crop species. To further support this initiative, an additional 36 senior breeders acquired capacity through the African Plant Breeding Academy to use genomic information in their national breeding plans. To bring global awareness to the importance of orphan crops in food systems, a high-level article was published: Delivering perennial new and orphan crops for resilient and nutritious farming systems, breeders views and the role of genetics in the journal New Phytologist, 2019. A new public-private partnership with AAK working directly with shea communities in the Sahel has been set up with the ambition to ensure sustainability for the shea value chains. Besides management of the natural resource, infrastructure for ensuing breeding of improved shea varieties has been put in place. To ensure that agriculture is nutrition sensitive, a Priority Food Tree and Crop Food Composition Database and a user-Guide has been developed to support the portfolio approach -methodology for providing year-round micronutrients to smallholder farmers by mainstreaming African orphan crops into food systems for nutrition (link).To support national governments, extension services and private partners adopt costeffective and equitable tree-planting material delivery approaches, a National Tree Seed Network was established in Ethiopia. In addition, six studies on seed delivery and mass breeding; two studies on habitat suitability; 9 of 150 maps (for 2020); a design of a climate change atlas for Africa (documented in three presentations/posters); six research and communication software packages; three guidelines on good planting material (a general one for India and two species specific ones for Africa) were developed and put in public domain. Attention to appropriate international and national policies governing material transfer/use agreements was further supported through an ICRAF Tree Genetic Resources Policy that was published and shared with regions for use with partners. A new version of the one-stop Agroforestry Species Switchboard, with most current information from different databases has also been made available. Four studies related to indicator development; and contributions to the European process of indicator development -eventually with global relevancewere produced.The expansion and re-development of Diversity4Restorarion tool to support supply of highquality site-appropriate tree-planting material to growers is now in the public domain for stakeholders wanting to undertake restoration work. In Ethiopia, 14 Breeding Seed Orchards of 7 species have been established, with a further 13 of 8 species under development in 2019/20. In addition, 80 seed sources have been described and registered; the Breeding Seed Orchards and these seed sources are direct support to the national government of Ethiopia for its conservation and restoration needs. To further support national governments in their adaptation and mitigation objectives including tree planting, climate change analysis and analysis focusing on monthly moisture index and potential evapotranspiration changes were made or initiated for several countries, including Sri Lanka which contributed significantly in mobilizing a USD 50 m GCF grant for Sri Lanka in collaboration with IUCN and the Government of Sri Lanka. Similar analysis has been undertaken for Rwanda where a GCF grant is envisaged with the government and IUCN.FP2 led the project team on 'agroecological and other innovative approaches for sustainable agriculture and food systems that enhance food security and nutrition' for the High Level Panel of Experts (HLPE) of the UN Committee on World Food Security (CFS). The report and its recommendations were well received by delegates when launched at the 46 th CFS in October in Rome and they have been accepted as the basis of the ensuing international policy convergence process. FP2 was also commissioned to develop a background paper for the Global Commission on Adaptation (GCA) on the contribution of agroecological approaches to realizing climate-resilient agriculture. This was successful in getting agroecology incorporated within the overall GCA flagship report launched in September 2019 that sets out a program for governments and businesses to take urgent action to advance climate adaptation solutions in the light of new research findings. Commitments include expanding access for at least 60 million small-scale producers to agroecological practices. These reports emphasize the importance of the options by context (OxC) approach for matching solutions to farmer circumstances, pioneered by FP2, widely adopted by other organizations, and now recognized in a journal article headlining a special issue of Experimental Agriculture on OxC, as a paradigm shift in agronomy. Presentations featuring successes in using OxC to accelerate major scaling-up initiatives in agroforestry were made by FP2 at the 2019 Global Soil Week in Nairobi in May, a side event at the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification COP14 in Delhi on 3 rd September and at the Global Landscapes Forum on 29 th September in New York as part of the UN Climate Week on resetting the restoration agenda.PR 2 Plantations and tree crop commodities FP2 published key results showing that selected companion trees grown with coffee can rapidly (within four years) contribute to preserving and/or restoring soil quality (10% higher soil organic matter and 64% more abundant beneficial soil microorganisms), without reducing coffee yield. This has direct relevance to over 120 thousand ha of intensively grown coffee in China subject to soil degradation where the research was conducted. Bishofia javanica and Jacaranda mimosifolia improved soil quality without reduction in coffee yield while Cinnamomum camphora, economically important itself, was associated with lower coffee yields consistent with below ground competition for nutrients and water. Barry Callebaut one of the world's largest cocoa buyers has adopted FP2's options by context approach as the foundation of its new position on cocoa agroforestry following a keynote presentation invited by GIZ at a conference on how agroforestry can address opportunities and limitations in the cocoa sector at the Chocolate Museum in Cologne on 26 th June. FP2 published results showing that oil palm farmers in Brazil had great interest in diversification because of greater resilience to market risks and fluctuations; greater ability to adapt to climate change; optimization of the use of scarce labour and land (particularly when oil palm is in the juvenile, unproductive phase); enhanced food security through integration of food crops; and soil improvement.In a new FP2 initiative, an FTA scientist embedded in the agriculture ministry in Ethiopia facilitated drafting of a national agroforestry development strategy based on FTA research findings and its regional implementation through constituting a National Watershed and Agroforestry Multistakeholder Platform (terms of reference following a stakeholder workshop have been tabled for ministerial approval). A policy brief on analysis of policy gaps and opportunities for scaling agroforestry across eight countries in sub-Saharan Africa was released and a national agroforestry policy, that ICRAF was involved in developing, was launched in Nepal. FP2 initiated a planned comparison of the impact of using an options by context approach to regionally implement a national agroforestry concession policy in the Peruvian Amazon.Technical manuals on the establishment and performance of seven market-based agroforestry options for sloping land in North-West Vietnam were released based on trial results over the past five years and a land degradation surveillance framework (LDSF) survey completed to enable tracking of impact on erosion prevalence at provincial level from satellite image analysis. This is coupled with six exemplar landscapes across three provinces that are acting as conduits for policy formulation as well as centres from which agroforestry options are spreading through farmer co-operatives. Fact sheets on four options for improving market-based agroforestry and forestry through developing non-timber forest products were released in Indonesia. FP2 published key results on overcoming challenges to involving young people in food value chain development initiatives in Uganda.The capability to combine globally calibrated APSIM crop models with livelihood trajectory models in the Simile participatory modelling environment was developed and used to look at impacts of increasing tree cover on farms in Ethiopia on incomes, soil and crop productivity and carbon storage.the different perspectives to upgrade, upscale and monitor arrangements and zerodeforestation commitments. Finally, the year 2019 was particularly productive regarding engagement of local stakeholders in two P18 case studies. Paragominas mayor (Brazil) has been invited in Madrid by the French Embassy, with P18 coordinator of this case study, to present its upgrading plan beyond zero deforestation commitments. Moreover, both Guaviare (Colombia) and Paragominas (Brazil) have been selected by AFD (French Agency for Development) as territories of the Amazonian biome that will receive financial support for the implementation of their territorial policies to combat deforestation and promote transition to a development model combining social development, low-carbon economic development and biodiversity conservation (2020-2024).In 2019 FTA FP3, through CIFOR, became a member of the International Rubber Study Group (IRSG) and the Global Platform for Sustainable Natural Rubber (GPSNR). As part of the work towards a first ever global comparative analysis of rubber smallholders, scientists participated in five workshops with rubber smallholders, traders, remillers and product manufacturers in Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam, Cote d'Ivoire and Brazil. The results will be presented at the GPSNR General Assembly in 2020 and contribute towards an international sustainability standard for sustainable natural rubber.A change of orientation was observed to occur in the Cameroon Ministry of Agriculture, which has adopted a mix of public and private governance approaches and tools to promote legal and sustainable cocoa for European markets. That was the main lesson of a workshop in Douala and the change of orientation was confirmed when the economic analysis of the cocoa value chain was presented in Yaoundé. The ecosystems-based adaptation project in the Gambia supported 49 community forests in the development of viable and sustainable enterprises (see link) and invested significantly in the restoration and protection of 1400 ha of degraded protected areas using assisted natural regeneration and different fire management techniques (see link). Initial results showed the interventions implemented in the landscapes prevented bush fire from damaging forest in the park and surrounding land uses and covers, first time this is achieved in over a decade. This control of fire also helped the seedlings and saplings of the tree species in the forests to thrive and hence expected to enrich the vegetation conditions and habitat value of the forest for biodiversity. The project has also developed a comprehensive EbA monitoring platform (See link) that serves as a go to point for impact assessment of the project activities.In terms of tree commodities (priority 2) work continued on landscapes and ecosystems services in FP4. Work began on synthesizing research on tree commodities in Africa into a book to be published in 2020. The book addresses agronomic, economic, environmental and social dimensions for a select group of major tree commodities on the continent, including cocoa, coffee, oil palm, timber, shea and cashew mainly. 20 Chapter outlines were developed during a workshop held in Kigali, Rwanda in September. Progress has been made on many of these chapters with a view to publication in 2020. Two manuscripts have also been completed on ecosystems services in cocoa and coffee systems respectively.Within the nutrition and food security priority (priority 3), work was done on the state of biodiversity and the sustainable intensification of food production as part of a thematic study with the Food and Agricultural Organization, but also more broadly between intensification, dietary diversity and markets. More specific linkages were addressed in studies between consumption patterns of forest foods, freshwater fish and the state of forests in Nigeria, Cameroon and Indonesia. Some more specific gender disaggregated analysis in Uganda and Kenya regarded knowledge on food trees for food security and nutrition.In For Sentinel Landscapes work (priority 22) the focus has been on finalizing the stock-take reports for three sentinel landscapes-Nicaragua-Honduras, Cameroon (CAFHUT) and Borneo, Indonesia. Synthesis of the three reports is ongoing as well as the development of a portfolio approach to sentinel landscapes.Tremendous capacity building was undertaken in 2019. 869 individuals (557M / 312 F) were trained in more than 150 sessions of training in various disciplines, practices and subjects including: restoration, information platforms, Geographic information Systems, Ecosystem-Based Adaptation, sustainable management of natural resources and production techniques of some nature based enterprises, basic management and book keeping, conflict management, value chain and market research. Several interns, MSc and PhD research students were also engaged.FP5 progressed well in 2019, with on average 75% of all deliverables budgeted under T1/T2 completed (about 25% of the original deliverables under T3 were not funded). Publications, briefs, toolboxes and training and information events were made available to stakeholders and partners developing outcomes for forests and agroforestry and peatlands/mangroves in mitigation, adaptation, and bioenergy. The highlights are a number of products related to REDD+, mangrove protection and management, bamboo water management, bioenergy, ecosystem-based adaptation, and training and information sharing, notably at COP25 in Madrid Regions that saw a lot of activity in 2019 were Ethiopia (REDD+ workshop), Honduras (terra-I data set and specific web page; livestock NAMAs), Indonesia (bioenergy and REDD+), The Gambia (REDD+; adaptation), and Vietnam (FLR, mangroves, REDD+; with many products in Vietnamese, accessible to local users). There are no course corrections, as the missing deliverables are on track for delivery in 2020.To summarize work by priorities, Priority 5 produced several key publications and advanced on providing policy advice and supporting national policy design in REDD+, PFES and NAMAs, and the inclusion of forests and forested landscapes in NDCs, in several countries and regions. Priority 6 continues making progress in both field experimentation and demonstration of innovative options to produce sustainable bioenergy and in providing policy support, above all in Africa and Indonesia. Priority 7 focuses on advancing peatland research as basis for policy making. Both Peatlands and the concept of Blue Carbon are getting more attention from policy makers thanks to FTA research and dissemination activities. The International Tropical Peatland Center (ITPC) continued to be supported by FTA. Priority 8 continued producing analytical and practical work on adaptation in the context of ecosystembased adaptation and linking adaptation to mitigation. Highlights this year were on bamboo and advances in developing detailed, regionalized practical guides on ecosystem-based adaptation in The Gambia.The 2019 highlights are detailed by priority in the following sections.Priority 5 produced several key publications and advanced on providing policy advice and supporting national policy design in REDD+, PFES and NAMAs, and the inclusion of forests and forested landscapes in NDCs, in several countries and regions.Three documents analyzing NAMA´s in the Nicaragua-Honduras sentinel landscape represent reviews of the governance, financing, and technical aspects schemes of advanced livestock NAMA initiatives in Latin America. These documents also discuss these NAMAs' integration into national strategies and propose a sustainable governance scheme and some key aspects to design a knowledge management mechanism that encourage the transfer of knowledge and communication between the actors involved in the NAMA. See the portal: https://paisajecentinela.org/NicaraguaHonduras/.Priority 5 funding contributed to the preparation of a chapter on the impacts of SDG 13 on forests and people, presented at the IUFRO conference in Curitiba in September. A book was later made available online.a platform for scientists, policy makers, entrepreneurs, policy experts, natural resource managers, and renewable energy experts from Cameroon, Ethiopia, Ghana, Madagascar, Nigeria, Senegal and Togo to deliberate on the potential of bamboo as a critical resource for producing clean energy to drive economic growth, rural livelihoods and environmental sustainability. A Proceedings Report on Bamboo Bioenergy in West Africa and two policy briefs -one on bamboo pellets and one on bamboo charcoalwere produced. In Kenya, two percent of the land -especially drylands -are occupied by the invasive tree Prosopis juliflora with about 37 million tonnes of biomass suitable for charcoal production. In 2019, ICRAF in partnership with Baringo County Government, Kenya Forestry Research Institute (KEFRI), Kenya Forest Services (KFS) and Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA) conducted a co-learning training among 11 women and 21 men on sustainable charcoal production through management and utilization of Prosopis. In Cameroon, the ICRAF team organized an expert workshop to discuss and forge ways of making charcoal production more sustainable by improving production efficiencies.Woodfuel is the main source of energy for cooking for over 60% of households in Sub-Saharan Africa, contributing to the food security and nutritional needs of millions of people.A farmer-to-farmer capacity development initiative trained a key group of farmers who will transfer the knowledge and skills to 150 fellow charcoal producers. Improved sourcing of wood and efficient carbonization of wood into charcoal using improved kilns will contribute to controlling bush encroachment, reduced cutting of native tree species hence maintaining carbon sinks, enhanced ecosystems services including biodiversity, resilient livelihoods and supply of sustainably produced charcoal. After the training, farmers used the improved kilns and data was collected to measure the charcoal yield and emissions that will be applied in assessing climate impacts and other benefits towards improving wellbeing. This work is being carried out under the Governing Multifunctional Landscapes (GML) funded by the European Union (EU) and implemented by CIFOR in partnership with FAO, ICRAF and ADRA in Kenya, as well as other partners in Cameroon, DRC and Zambia, see portal: https://www.cifor.org/gml/sustainable-woodfuel/.A significant body of knowledge is being developed on ensuring sustainability in the bioenergy sector in Africa to start a national and continental discourse on including sustainable supply options rather than trying to eliminate the use of biomass for energy generation. The main bottleneck to-date is the lack of significant interdependence of the energy sector with other sectors. Analysis is under revision now to support sustainable planning in the energy sector. This will be of significant policy effect as most of the African population is still highly dependent on biomass resources both for cooking and heating. Another innovative study is an assessment of the potentials of biowaste as potential energy sources to reduce forest exploitation in Kenya; with a paper currently under internal review to be submitted for journal publication.In Indonesia, we are evaluating a wide variety of bioenergy crops on degraded and underutilized land as an alternative solution to meet the requirements for energy security, food security, and landscape restoration goals. We have assessed landowner's perception and the requirement for utilization of degraded land for biofuel production. Our findings are disseminated in national and international forums such as the Global Landscapes Forum.Priority 7 focuses on advancing peatland research as basis for policy making. Both Peatlands and the concept of Blue Carbon are getting more attention from policy makers thanks to FTA research and dissemination activities. The International Tropical Peatland Center (ITPC) continued to be supported by FTA.The research team published a number of significant findings over the course of the year. We published a proof of concept paper linking soil respiration and water table depth in tropical peatlands with remotely sensed changes in water storage. The United States National Aeronautics and Space Program (NASA) Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) provides spaceborne observations of monthly changes in the Earth's gravity field that can be related to fluctuations in water storage by terrestrial ecosystems and methane emission from wetlands. The use of GRACE Terrestrial Water Storage Anomaly (TWSA) data has never been tested for assessing changes in water storage in tropical peatlands. We assessed the potential for GRACE to provide a new tool for predicting spatiotemporal variations in water table depth and soil moisture and support the monitoring of variables contributing to peat CO2 losses, in particular soil respiration. This would enable better targeting of actions and more effective mitigation of CO2 emissions from tropical peat drainage and fires. The next step requires testing over larger regions to operationalize this exploratory approach.Most research at the moment looks at deforestation as a driver of CO2 emissions from peatlands and the climate drivers that exacerbate emissions are largely ignored. We published the results from our monthly measurements of total soil respiration in forest and smallholder oil palm plantations on peat in Central Kalimantan. The interesting new finding is in the stronger response of total soil respiration to extreme drought in the forest, which indicates the importance of the climate regime in determining future net carbon (C) emissions from these ecosystems. Future warming and increased intensity of seasonal drying may increase C emissions from Indonesian peatlands, regardless of land-use.FTA scientists have been working on the effects of ecosystem degradation in peatlands outside Southeast Asia for several years and previous findings showed that as much as 70% of the Mauritia flexuosa palm forests on peat soils in the Pastaza Marañon region of Peru are degraded. In 2019, we published new findings that show how recurrent M. flexuosa harvesting result in a significant increase of in situ CO2 fluxes and a simultaneous decrease in CH4 emissions via the change in abundance of pneumatophores. These changes will alter long-term carbon and GHG balances of the peat and affect the role of these ecosystems in climate regulation and climate change mitigation, which shows the need for their protection and restoration.Work on South American wetlands mapping is ongoing in Colombia. In 2019, field work in the flooded llanos was completed to support the development of a new expert system model to map soil carbon across Casanare Department. The data and the mapping exercise that will be complete in 2020 will allow us to improve the tropical peatlands map.A three-day regional and national workshop on Blue Carbon brought policymakers, NGOs, and scientists from 14 Asia-Pacific countries to discuss opportunities and constraints to include Blue Carbon in national climate change policies was held in Hanoi (July 2019). An infobrief produced after this workshop is available in both English and Vietnamese. Furthermore, two national workshops on mangrove protection and development in Vietnam were also organized in Hanoi (September) and Ho Chi Minh City (December), bringing renowned scientists in Vietnam together to share their latest research findings and discuss new research methods to assess political, economic and social impacts of existing policies in Vietnam.Priority 8 continued producing analytical and practical work on adaptation in the context of ecosystem-based adaptation and linking adaptation to mitigation. Highlights this year were"}

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+{"metadata":{"gardian_id":"a75c0104ca17de45939816e32f4d5539","source":"gardian_index","url":"https://cgspace.cgiar.org/rest/bitstreams/78c0edf6-bc96-40c9-9aa4-681ef9fa2e4f/retrieve","id":"-861394496"},"keywords":[],"sieverID":"2b60e29b-36a6-4e6d-a80e-e4aa4c8a22c5","content":"Foliar application of fertilizers can guarantee nutrient availability to beans, leading to higher yield and seed quality. Different approaches including glycine have been used to improve mineral nutrient status of plants toward safer products and improved human health. However, limited research has been undertaken to understand the response of beans to amino Zn and Mg foliar fertilizer application in Ghana. is study was conducted to investigate the effect of zinc, magnesium, and combined zinc and magnesium foliar fertilizer application on two improved common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) varieties locally referred to as Adoye and Nsroma in the forest (Fumesua) and forest-savannah transition (Akumadan) agro-ecological zones of Ghana during the 2018 and 2019 cropping seasons. e treatments were arranged in split-plot design with the two improved common bean varieties as the main plot, and foliar fertilizer options (zinc, 200 g/ha; magnesium, 224 g/ha; combined zinc and magnesium, 100 g/ha Zn and 112 g/ha Mg) and water spray (control) as the subplot treatments. e zinc and combined zinc and magnesium treatments had similar and significantly (P ≤ 0.05) higher plant height of 37.1 cm and 38.7 cm compared to the control and magnesium treatments. e results also showed that chlorophyll content was approximately 15.6% higher in plants treated with zinc plus magnesium compared to the other treatments. Similarly, stomatal conductance was significantly (P ≤ 0.05) increased by 35.6% with zinc plus magnesium treatment relative to the other treatments. e improved chlorophyll content and stomatal conductance in those treatments resulted in ∼55.3-80.6% increase in crop biomass and seed yield. Crop performance parameters such as plant height, canopy spread, and chlorophyll content were significantly higher (P ≤ 0.05) at Akumadan, resulting in a greater seed yield of 1486.2 kg/ha compared to 1365.3 kg/ha at Fumesua. Combined application of zinc and magnesium appears to be a potential soil improvement strategy for common bean production in tropical soil environment of Ghana.Innovative plant nutrition strategies are required to address the multiple nutrient deficiencies that limit food production [1][2][3]. Soil degradation is a major hindrance to the optimum performance of agriculture production in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Inadequate application of nutrients to agricultural soils, extensive soil erosion, bush burning, and other factors have resulted in about 65% soil degradation [4]. Soil degradation is a major contributing factor to low agricultural productivity and rising malnutrition in SSA, including Ghana [5]. e low soil fertility in SSA is compounded by the low use of fertilizers in Africa (about 8 kg/ha), which is below the amount needed to compensate for lost or harvested nutrients [6]. Within this context, identifying and implementing innovative nutrient management strategies aimed at enhancing the resilience of common bean agro-ecosystems to nutrient stress which is a significant priority for sustainable bean production. Application of chemical fertilizers, in particular nitrogen (N) fertilizers, has had significant effect on growth and yield improvement in many agricultural crops [7]. However, mineral fertilization of crops has had negative effect on plant, human, and ecosystem health.erefore, innovative strategies and techniques are required in fertilizer formulation and application to achieve higher yields whilst maintaining or improving soil fertility. ese strategies must also be friendly to human and environmental health [8]. e nutrient requirements of many crops depend on the stage of the crop [3]. e early vegetative stage, flowering, and pod and grain filling are stages with higher mineral nutrients requirement [3]. Crop yield is largely influenced by the availability of nutrients and water at those stages [9]. In many cases, these growth stages coincide with periods of inadequate nutrient supply from the soil mainly due to climatic factors [10]. Providing nutrients through foliar fertilization is very important for crop productivity during those periods of intensive nutrient demand [9,11]. Due to the short growing cycle and high nutritional demand of common beans, the plant is sensitive to adverse soil and climate conditions [11]. Foliar fertilization offers an opportunity to meet an urgent need for nutrients within a short period of time [12]. In addition, foliar fertilization can serve as a preventive and curative measure to curb nutrient deficiency. ere is a great advantage in foliar application of crops compared to soil application, since the nutrients are applied directly, allowing for specific and rapid response [13]. However, all plant species may not have proper responses to foliar feeding [10], and it is generally considered as complementary to soil fertilizer application. Recently, amino acid-based fertilizers, namely, aminochelates, are formulated for foliar feeding [1,2], while their soil application also results in higher efficiency than general chemical fertilizers [10,14] with no potential environmental pollution. Application of aminochelate fertilizers in soil or particularly in foliar spray has generally fewer deteriorating effects on soil salinity or on unbalancing soil nutrients [1,3].Common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) remains a highly important crop for nutritional food security in Africa. Beans are a key source of protein, calories, vitamins, and minerals. e nutritional advantage of common beans can be further enhanced through biofortification. As they are fast growing and early maturing, they can be considered a climate-smart crop. Further, common bean has a broad temperature tolerance, making it an excellent climatesmart option for future agri-food systems. Although the production of beans appears to be gaining interest in Ghana, the actual yield from farmers' plots is low at 0.8 tons/ha relative to the potential yield of 2 tons/ha [15] and the situation has not changed. is is attributed to low soil fertility, particularly micronutrient deficiency and pest and disease infestation. Worldwide, it is estimated that about 50% of the soils used for grain production are deficient in plant-available Zn [16]. Also in Ghana, a review of the relevant agronomic literature shows high levels of micronutrient deficiencies in Ghanaian soils [17]. Zinc, iron, and magnesium are among the most deficient nutrients in Ghanaian soils [18] resulting in low crop productivity. Intensive farming and the continued removal of crop residues and low and unbalanced application of fertilizers are important in low soil fertility status and hindered plant production [14].In several studies, it has been shown that bean growth and yield characteristics can be improved via foliar application of chemical and organic fertilizers [14]. Application of zinc is required for chlorophyll production, pollen function, fertilization, and germination [16]. Zinc has been noted to play an important role in plant metabolism such as gene expression, protein synthesis, carbohydrate metabolism, photosynthesis, and defense against plant disease [19]. Magnesium also plays essential role in photosynthesis, net assimilation, and relative growth and yield [20]. Carbohydrate, protein, and chlorophyll formation is significantly reduced in magnesium and zinc-deficient plants [20].erefore, a rapid and continuous supply of zinc and magnesium is needed for optimum growth and maximum yield of crops.is is particularly important in the case of common bean, since the plant is characterized by a small root system [21], nutrients should therefore be readily available to the plants for maximum production [22].is study hypothesized that providing adequate foliar supply of zinc (Zn) and magnesium (Mg) aminochelate to common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) would increase the biomass and seed yield of the crop. To achieve this, we investigated the influence of these nutrients on the crop's photosynthetic activity, biomass, and seed yield.e study was conducted during the 2018 and 2019 cropping seasons at the CSIR-Crops Research Institute experimental field at Fumesua (6 o 45′00.58′ N; 1 o 31′51.28′ W) in the semideciduous forest zone and Akumadan (7.3960 °N, 1.9539 °W) in the forest-savannah transition zone. e soil types in Fumesua and Akumadan are classified as Ferric Acrisol and Ferric Lixisol [23]. e top soils consist of grayish-brown sandy loam and dark brown to brown fine sandy loam soils at Fumesua and Akumadan, respectively [23,24]. e study site is characterized by low soil fertility and poor moisture retention capacity. e climate is tropical, characterized by two wet periods within the rainy season, a major one between April and July, and a minor one between September and November. On average, the minimum and maximum temperatures range from 21 to 32 °C. Table 1 presents initial soil characteristics of the study site. e soil has relatively low fertility [25] and it is the dominant soil type in the study areas that is under cropping.e cropping system in the research area is associated with continuous cropping under conventional tillage. Land preparation in the research area is also characterized by complete removal of crop residue. e crop before the start of the experiment was maize (Zea mays L.), which has been cultivated for two years. Seasonal temperature recorded during the course of the study was 27.65 °C and 29.43 °C in Fumesua and Akumadan in 2018 and 2019, respectively. Seasonal rainfall recorded during the course of the study was 681.8 and 660.2 mm in Fumesua and 627.6 and 593.3 mm in Akumadan in 2018 and 2019, respectively. Rainfall data were obtained from the Ghana Meteorological Agency. e study was conducted using a split-plot design replicated three times with common bean varieties released by the CSIR-Crops Research Institute as the main plots (Adoye and Nsroma). e subplots had zinc (200 g/ha) and magnesium (224 g/ha) and combined zinc and magnesium (100 g/ha Zn and 112 g/ha Mg) foliar fertilizers and a control (water spray).e concentration of the zinc and magnesium was considered as 6 : 1000. e zinc and magnesium fertilizers were sourced from Tecnokel and the products were liquid fertilized for foliar application.e guaranteed analyses of Tecnokel Amino Mg are magnesium oxide (MgO) water soluble (5.0% w/w) and \"L\" amino acids (6.0% w/w) and ethylenediamine tetracetic acid (EDTA) chelated. e guaranteed analyses of Tecnokel Amino Zn are zinc (Zn) water soluble 8.0% w/w and \"L\" amino acids 6.0% w/w and ethylenediamine tetracetic acid (EDTA) chelated. e zinc and magnesium foliar fertilizers were applied at the vegetative (V4: 4 th trifoliolate unfolded at node 6 + branching) and flowering (R1: one open flower (early flower) on the plant) stages using a knapsack sprayer (15 litres). Common bean was planted at 20 cm intrarows and 50 cm interrows and the distance between treatments/plots and replicates was 1 and 1.5 m, respectively. e plot's dimensions were 3 m by 4 m and harvest area was 1.5 m by 3 m. All treatments received a blanket application of P at 14 days after planting at the rate of 75 kg N/ha.Spread. Ten (10) plants from the two central rows of each plot were randomly selected and tagged for height measurement at physiological maturity (R7: one pod at mature color). e average height of each plant was then calculated for each plot. Canopy spread was determined by measuring the widest point and the narrowest point of the canopy. e two values were added together and divided by two to calculate the average canopy spread.Chlorophyll content (Chl) was measured on 10 fully expanded upper leaves exposed to solar radiation per plot/ treatment using a portable chlorophyll meter (Model SPAD-502-PLUS, Konica Minolta, USA). Measurements were conducted at the vegetative (Vn: n th trifoliolate leaf unfolded at node) and flowering stages (R2: 50% open flowers) using the chlorophyll meter for nondestructive determination of chlorophyll content. Concurrent with chlorophyll content, stomatal conductance (Gs) was measured on cloud-free days under natural light using a porometer (Model AP4, Delta-T Devices, Cambridge, UK) at the same growth stage. Measurements were conducted on middle portions of three fully developed leaves selected from innerrows per treatment/plot exposed to full sunlight and averaged.e biomass was determined by cutting all the plants at whole net plot at ground level from each plot at harvest maturity (RH: 80% of pods at mature color). Harvested plant materials were put in large brown envelopes and oven-dried at 105 °C for 45 min and subsequently dried to constant weight at 85 °C [34]. At the harvest physiological maturity, bean plants were manually harvested from the two center rows of each plot. Seeds were threshed, weighed, and converted to seed yield at 12% moisture content and reported in kilograms per hectare. e total number of seeds per pod was recorded from five randomly selected plants at harvest and averaged for each treatment.Statistical analysis was carried out by using the univariate model of SPSS 22.0 (IBM Corp., Chicago, IL, USA) at a probability level of 5% (P ≤ 0.05). Differences between means were determined using Tukey's honestly significant difference (HSD) test. e data analyzed were pooled across means for bivariate correlation analysis (two-tailed) using Pearson's correlation coefficient.No significant treatment interaction effect (P ≤ 0.05) was observed on plant height (Table 2), but nutrients and location independently influenced plant height. e highest plant height was consistently observed in plants that received foliar fertilization (36.6 cm) compared to unfertilized plants (25.5 cm), but some of the differences were not significant (P ≤ 0.05) (Figures 1(a) and 1(b)). Combined application of zinc and Variety and location interactively affected canopy spread at P ≤ 0.05 (Table 2). e largest canopy spread was observed at Fumesua compared with Akumadan (Figure 2(d)). Soil fertility is fundamental in determining the productivity of a farming system; its management is important in contributing to agricultural sustainability. Crop growth, as shown by plant height and canopy spread, is influenced by radiation that is intercepted by the crop and the crop's ability to convert that radiation into biomass. In this research, plant height and canopy spread increased with the application of zinc and magnesium foliar fertilizers, and the largest increase was observed when zinc and magnesium were applied together. According to [26], supplying a combination of zinc and magnesium to beans increased growth relative to sole application of either. e increase in plant height and canopy spread resulting from such treatment might be due to its positive influence on plant growth and dry matter partitioning [27]. Also, zinc and magnesium elements play an important role in cell division and cell lengthening which could also be responsible for the increase in plant height. Teixeira et al. [28] reported that foliar application of Zn and  Mg increased plant height in common bean due to its role in cell division and lengthening. e beneficial effect of the Zn and Mg aminochelates on the growth traits can also be due to their higher uptake and translocation efficiency rates [1,14]. Plants can have higher nutrient uptake and efficiency by foliar feeding than soil application. e stimulatory effect of amino acids on plant growth has been also reported [29]. is finding is significant since an increased crop canopy influences the microenvironment of the crop, and this has a significant impact on the photosynthetic capacity and productivity [30,31].Combined application of zinc and magnesium had the highest chlorophyll content, ranging from 26.8 to 29.1 (Figures 2(a) and 2(b)). On average, combined application of zinc and magnesium increased chlorophyll content by 11.3, 13.9, and 21.5% compared to sole application of magnesium, zinc, and water spray, respectively (Figures 2(a) and 2(b)). Significant differences were also observed, but at a lesser magnitude, when zinc and magnesium foliar fertilizers were applied separately compared with the control. e chlorophyll content at Akumadan was significantly increased by 6.5% compared with Fumesua (Figure 2(c)). Stomatal conductance (Gs) at both vegetative and flowering stages was significantly affected by nutrients and location (Table 2). At both measurement periods, no significant interaction was observed between treatments. On average, the highest Gs (482.86 mol  2(f )). e results show that combined application of magnesium and zinc had higher values of stomatal conductance compared to the other treatments. is shows the potential of this treatment to increase the photosynthetic capacity of crops. Our results show that stomatal conductance increased in response to the level of nutrients applied to the crop, and this supports findings of a previous study showing that stomatal conductance was reduced under suboptimal nutrient supply conditions [32]. Stomatal conductance in crops is largely influenced by nutrient supply, soil moisture content, and the microenvironment created by shading [33,34]. e findings of this study suggest that combined application of zinc and magnesium fertilizer could increase the potential of common bean to counteract nutrient deficits that may occur during the critical growth stages of the crop. e results imply that foliar fertilization for bean nutrient management needs to be encouraged. e leaf chlorophyll content is positively correlated with the level of greenness, which is an indicator of nitrogen concentration in the leaf [35,36]. In this investigation, the maximum leaf chlorophyll content was observed at the flowering stage, and analysis of variance showed significant differences only for nutrients in most cases. is result implies that the highest nutrient uptake occurred at flowering. is finding is significant, since the chlorophyll content of leaves is an important parameter of plant photosynthetic activity [37,38]. is is more important because, irrespective of the fact that Zn and Mg are involved in the synthesis of stomatal conductance and chlorophyll molecules, there is limited research relating to this trait on common beans [39]. With respect to common beans, most studies that relate stomatal conductance and chlorophyll contents involve foliar concentrations of N [40,41]. Irrespective of the variety tested, zinc and magnesium foliar fertilization had a significant impact on leaf chlorophyll content. e similar performance of the varieties could be attributed to the effect of Zn and Mg on common bean physiology. Zinc and Mg have been noted to influence plant metabolism such as gene regulation, protein synthesis, carbohydrate metabolism, and photosynthesis [19]. e effects can also be attributed to the fact that micronutrients such as Zn and Mg are key important elements in many enzymatic reactions leading to production of proteins, vitamins, leaf photosynthesis rates, and optimization of plant cell metabolism by amino acid [29], although the role of micronutrients in these formulations cannot be ignored.Components. Significant interaction (P ≤ 0.05) was observed between nutrients and location, while nutrients independently affected yield at physiological maturity (Table 3). Application of Zn plus Mg significantly (P ≤ 0.05) increased biomass yield by 40.90, 11.52, and 10.54% compared to water spray (22.6%/plant), zinc (34.2%/ plant), and magnesium (33.9%/plant) treatments (Figure 3). Combined application of zinc and magnesium increased the number of pods per plant and seeds per pod by 23-30% relative to the water spray (control) (Figure 4). Sole application of zinc and magnesium had a significant (P ≤ 0.05) effect on the number of pods per plant compared to the control (Figure 4). Nutrients and location independently affected seed yield, but interactions were mostly not significant (P ≤ 0.05) (Table 3).e highest seed yield was obtained when zinc and magnesium were applied together, and this was significantly different (P ≤ 0.05) from the control (Figure 3(b)). Similarly, sole application of zinc (1535.04 kg/ha) and magnesium (1542.6 kg/ha) produced significantly greater (P ≤ 0.05) seed yield relative to the control (773.9 kg/ha). e highest seed yield was observed at Akumadan (Figure 4(c)). Irrespective of variety, the performance of the treatments followed a similar trend: foliar application of magnesium and zinc consistently recorded the most pods per plant and seeds per pod and highest seed yield in all studied locations compared to the control. Application of micronutrients, especially zinc and magnesium, increased number of stamens per plant [42] and this attribute of micronutrients could be responsible for the increase in the number of pods per plant observed in this study. is hypothesis is confirmed by the fact that common bean is a selfpollinated plant, so the increase in stamen activity will result in more fertile flowers and consequently more number of pods per plant. Teixeira et al. [28] observed that foliar application of Zn and Mg to common bean increased the number of pods per plant. Similarly, Banks [43] reported that the foliar application of Zn influenced yield and yield components of soybean and increased number of pods per plant. Higher bioavailability of nutrient elements associated with foliar application of a mixture of amino acids on beans is probably the main factor behind this yield improvements.e role of amino acids in phytohormone biosynthesis [29], cell membrane stability, and optimization of photosynthesis and metabolism [3] can also play key roles in higher yields achievement by aminochelates application in the present study. erefore, application of a mixture of amino acids or in the form of chelate fertilizers, such as aminochelates, can have various beneficial effects on nutrient uptake, plant  growth, and production. Regarding the performance between varieties, the highest seed yield was observed in Nsroma in 2019 compared to Adoye. is finding may be associated with the capacity for nutrient uptake which is associated with genotypic variation that could change the efficiency of nutrient use by each variety [44]. e seed yield obtained in Akumadan was significantly higher compared with Fumesua across years. is can likely be attributed to the amount of rainfall received during the period. Rainfall can affect plant growth and productivity either negatively or positively by influencing the general plant health, particularly in rain-fed cropping systems [45]. e significant increase in seed yield, particularly when Mg and Zn foliar fertilizers were applied together, can be attributed to increased nutrient supply and the role it plays in chlorophyll synthesis, biomass accumulation, and higher photosynthetic activity [37,38]. Similar improvement in yield following application of zinc and magnesium has been reported in other countries, including Egypt [46] and China [47]. e impact can be attributed to the role of the nutrient supply in crop growth, which involves photosynthesis and nitrogen assimilation.e Pearson's correlation coefficient values are shown in Table 4. Number of seeds per pod (SP) positively correlated with seed yield (r � 0.58, P < 0.01) and biomass yield (r � 0.40, P < 0.01). Biomass yield showed a positive correlation with seed yield (r � 0.587, P < 0.01). SPAD and Gs had significant positive correlations with yield components and plant height, which translates to significant positive correlations with biomass and seed yield. Stomata conductance and chlorophyll content can explain more than 50% of the variation in seed and biomass yield and indicates the significant effect of photosynthesis activity and nutrient supply on bean crop productivity.Foliar application of magnesium plus zinc on common beans increased plant height and biomass yield in both varieties and both locations to a significantly greater extent than the other treatments. Increased crop growth had a beneficial effect on chlorophyll content and stomatal conductance, which resulted in higher seed yield. ese results suggest the potential for improved and more stable bean crop productivity when zinc and magnesium are applied together at 100 g/ha Zn and 112 g/ha Mg.is result highlights the stimulation effect of amino acid on growth and yield of common beans. e results reported in this study showed positive correlations between plant height, chlorophyll content, stomatal conductance, biomass, and seed yield. e results of this research can provide baseline information that can be utilized for future research, including crop modelling work aimed at developing fertilizer management strategies for different agro-ecological zones in Sub-Saharan Africa.   Correlation is significant at the * * 0.01 and * 0.05 levels (2-tailed).methodology, reviewed and edited the manuscript, supervised the study, and did project administration. Patricia Oteng-Darko conceptualized the study, developed methodology, did formal analysis, and reviewed and edited the manuscript. Emmanuel Asamoah Adjei did formal analysis, investigated the study, and reviewed and edited the manuscript. Maxwell Lamptey did formal analysis, investigated the study, and reviewed and edited the manuscript. Eric Owusu Danquah did formal analysis, investigated the study, and reviewed and edited the manuscript. Boaz Waswa did funding acquisition, conceptualized the study, reviewed and edited the manuscript, and did project administration. Louis Butare was responsible for funding acquisition, conceptualized the study, reviewed and edited the manuscript, and did project administration."}

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+{"metadata":{"gardian_id":"d1a5b2adc86ee144a8b8fd965829d413","source":"gardian_index","url":"https://cgspace.cgiar.org/rest/bitstreams/5c6f279d-8129-4e99-a203-b0585a8e46b8/retrieve","id":"25620050"},"keywords":[],"sieverID":"2e5c6e85-3208-4a09-9383-584d982d51d8","content":"Name of lead organization/entity to take innovation to this stage: CIAT (Alliance) -Alliance of Bioversity and CIAT -Regional Hub (Centro Internacional de Agricultura Tropical)Names of top five contributing organizations/entities to this stage:• Papalotla -Semillas Papalotla SA de DV Milestones:• 3.3.10 Already available forage hybrids scaled with private sector partner in at least 15 countries on 100,000 additional hectares (calculated based on seed sales). Total area of hybrids scaled will have reached 1,100,000 hectares• 11 -Adoption of CGIAR materials with enhanced genetic gains"}

main/part_1/0446097923.json

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+{"metadata":{"gardian_id":"f202037c3d15866dee6a68b506058491","source":"gardian_index","url":"https://cgspace.cgiar.org/rest/bitstreams/24593170-bf05-4be2-8a96-ed99e883005a/retrieve","id":"-1643068899"},"keywords":[],"sieverID":"ea707840-90c9-43de-a21e-902780638272","content":"Cuốn \"Sổ tay hướng dẫn Đánh giá nguy cơ vi sinh vật trong an toàn thực phẩm\" được biên soạn bởi Nhóm hành động về đánh giá nguy cơ an toàn thực phẩm Taskforce (thành lập 7/2013). Nhóm có sự tham gia của các chuyên gia về an toàn thực phẩm từ các cơ quan, viện nghiên cứu, trường đại học, như: Cục An toàn Thực phẩm, Đại học Y tế công cộng, Viện Kiểm nghiệm An toàn Thực phẩm, Viện Dinh dưỡng, Viện Vệ sinh dịch tễ Trung ương, Cục Thú y, Viện Thú y, Học viện Nông nghiệp Việt Nam. Trong quá trình thu thập thông tin và biên soạn cuốn sổ tay, nhóm tác giả đã nhận được sự quan tâm, góp ý, thảo luận và cung cấp tài liệu hữu ích từ các chuyên gia của các đơn vị liên quan để hoàn thiện cuốn sổ tay. Đảm bảo an toàn thực phẩm (ATTP) bảo vệ sức khỏe cộng đồng vẫn là một thách thức lớn ở các nước, đặc biệt là các nước đang phát triển. ATTP đang là mối quan tâm hàng đầu và mang tính liên ngành như y tế, nông nghiệp, công thương và những ngành khác. Trong một vài thập kỷ qua, đánh giá nguy cơ (ĐGNC), quản lý nguy cơ và truyền thông nguy cơ đã được áp dụng rộng rãi và là các cấu phần của phân tích nguy cơ. Luật ATTP tháng 7 năm 2010 đã có một mục riêng (Mục 2, Chương VIII) về Phân tích nguy cơ đối với ATTP.Phân tích nguy cơ sử dụng các thông tin về các mối nguy (gồm có các yếu tố sinh học, hóa học, vật lý) trong thực phẩm liên kết trực tiếp với các dữ liệu về nguy cơ đối với sức khỏe con người trong hoàn cảnh và điều kiện cụ thể. Dựa trên tiếp cận các bằng chứng khoa học để cải thiện quá trình ra quyết định về an toàn thực phẩm, từ đó phân tích nguy cơ góp phần làm giảm tỷ lệ các ca ngộ độc thực phẩm.Tại Việt Nam, trong những năm gần đây, ĐGNC là một lĩnh vực tương đối mới và đã bước đầu áp dụng trong lĩnh vực ATTP phẩm thông qua các nghiên cứu, các khóa đào tạo cho các nhà quản lý, nghiên cứu, giảng viên và sinh viên các viện nghiên cứu, trường đại học liên quan. Bên cạnh đó, các nghiên cứu áp dụng phương pháp đánh giá nguy cơ vi sinh vật trong ATTP đã và đang được quan tâm. Để kết quả đánh giá nguy cơ có tính khoa học và triển khai trong từng lĩnh vực khác nhau, những người thực hiện đánh giá nguy cơ cần nắm rõ các bước của phương pháp này. Dựa vào các kết quả về đánh giá nguy cơ ATTP đã được triển khai gần đây, nhóm nghiên cứu mong muốn cụ thể hóa các bước áp dụng đánh giá nguy cơ vi sinh vật trong nghiên cứu ATTP ở Việt Nam. Do vậy, cần thiết phải có một tài liệu hướng dẫn thực hành cho các bước đánh giá nguy cơ trong thực phẩm liên quan đến các mối nguy vi sinh vật.Mục tiêu của cuốn sổ tay này nhằm cung cấp những thông tin cơ bản cho những người thực hành phân tích nguy cơ. Đầu tiên là cung cấp cho những người thực hiện đánh giá nguy cơ do vi sinh vật các bước cơ bản cho chuẩn bị và thực hiện quá trình đánh giá nguy cơ vi sinh vật trong ATTP. Tiếp theo là các nhà quản lý nguy cơ và truyền thông nguy cơ có thể hiểu những kết quả của đánh giá nguy cơ và sử dụng trong công việc ra quyết định và truyền thông của mình một cách hợp lý và hiệu quả. Ngoài ra, cuốn sổ tay cũng cung cấp những khái niệm, thuật ngữ, công thức cơ bản liên quan đến đánh giá nguy cơ vi sinh vật, tạo tiền đề và giúp người đọc có thể tiếp cận, thực hành và nghiên cứu sâu hơn về đánh giá nguy cơ.Cuốn sổ tay này được viết dành cho đối tượng là những nhà làm nghiên cứu, người thực hiện công tác đánh giá nguy cơ tại các trường Đại học, Viện nghiên cứu làm về lĩnh vực an toàn thực phẩm, cán bộ Trung tâm Y tế dự phòng tỉnh, Chi cục An toàn thực phẩm, Chi cục Thú y, Chăn nuôi, và các độc giả quan tâm. Bên cạnh đó cuốn sổ tay này cũng là một tài liệu tham khảo cho học viên, sinh viên trong các trường Đại học chuyên ngành Y học dự phòng, Y tế công cộng, Thú y, Chăn nuôi, Thủy sản và Môi trường.Cuốn sổ tay được thiết kế một cách đơn giản dễ hiểu bao gồm phần giới thiệu các bước chính trong đánh giá nguy cơ kết hợp với các ví dụ minh họa cụ thể. Cuốn sổ tay bao gồm 4 phần chính: i) Giới thiệu chung, ii) Tổng quát về đánh giá nguy cơ vi sinh vật trong ATTP, iii) Bốn bước thực hiện đánh giá nguy cơ vi sinh vật trong ATTP, iv) Giới thiệu về quản lý và truyền thông nguy cơ trong khung phân tích nguy cơ và Phụ lục về Một số thuật ngữ liên quan và Hướng dẫn thực hiện một số thao tác trong @RISK trong quá trình đánh giá định lượng nguy cơ vi sinh vật và một số tài liệu tham khảo về đánh giá nguy cơ trong ATTP.  Đánh giá nguy cơ là một cấu phần quan trọng và khởi đầu của phân tích nguy cơ. Đánh giá nguy cơ có thể liên quan đến các mối nguy về sinh học (các vi sinh vật gây bệnh: vi khuẩn Salmonella, liên cầu khuẩn lợn-Streptococcus suis, vi khuẩn gây bệnh nhiệt thán -anthrax,...), hóa học (các chất hóa học độc hại: dioxin, asen, cadimi,...) hay vật lý (các dị vật cứng, tia tử ngoại, từ trường, nhiệt, tiếng ồn...).Đánh giá nguy cơ là một quy trình và phương pháp nhằm ước lượng những tác động tiềm tàng của việc phơi nhiễm với một mối nguy lên một cộng đồng cụ thể trong điều kiện và khoảng thời gian xác định. Quy trình của đánh giá nguy cơ bao gồm bốn bước chính: xác định mối nguy; mô tả mối nguy; đánh giá phơi nhiễm và mô tả nguy cơ [5].Đánh giá nguy cơ vi sinh vật là cách phân tích tiếp cận mang tính hệ thống nhằm hỗ trợ trong việc hiểu rõ và quản lý tốt các vấn đề về nguy cơ vi sinh vật. Trong đó, đánh giá nguy cơ vi sinh vật đối với thực phẩm là việc đánh giá nguy cơ sức khỏe do phơi nhiễm với các yếu tố vi sinh vật trong loại thực phẩm nhất định (rau, cá, thịt, trứng, sữa) [6].Đánh giá nguy cơ là gì? Đánh giá nguy cơ gồm các bước nào?Đối tượng của đánh giá nguy cơ vi sinh vật trong ATTP đề cập đến tất cả các loại thực phẩm sống, chín được sử dụng trong tiêu dùng. Các mối nguy vi sinh vật chủ yếu có thể xuất hiện trong thực phẩm bao gồm: vi khuẩn, độc tố vi khuẩn, độc tố do nấm mốc, vi rút, động vật đơn bào và ký sinh trùng như giun sán.Đánh giá nguy cơ vi sinh vật trong thực phẩm khác cơ bản với đánh giá nguy cơ hóa học là đánh giá nguy cơ của một sinh vật hay một cơ thể sống. Một trong những khía cạnh của các mối nguy sống đó là mức độ của yếu tố gây bệnh có thể thay đổi theo thời gian và các điều kiện khác. Hầu hết các mối nguy vi sinh vật đều có thể phát triển hay giảm nhiều lần, thậm chí chết trước, trong hay sau khi ô nhiễm lên thực phẩm.Mục tiêu của đánh giá nguy cơ vi sinh vật trong ATTP là đưa ra các thông tin ước lượng, dự đoán các tác động bất lợi đối với sức khỏe người tiêu dùng tiêu thụ các sản phẩm thực phẩm có mang các mối nguy tiềm tàng. Từ đó, đưa ra các giải pháp, khuyến nghị phù hợp đối với quá trình hoạch định và thực hiện can thiệp, chính sách và truyền thông nguy cơ do vi sinh vật đối với loại thực phẩm được đánh giá trong chuỗi thực phẩm liên quan.Đánh giá nguy cơ nói chung và vi sinh vật trong thực phẩm nói riêng có thể được thực hiện bởi nhiều cơ quan, tổ chức, đơn vị khác nhau với những mục đích khác nhau. Tuy nhiên, đánh giá nguy cơ thường được thực hiện với một trong những mục tiêu phù hợp với từng phạm vi và kế hoạch để tối ưu hóa nguồn lực và kết quả. • Nguồn các công bố, bài báo trong và ngoài nước, có thể tìm trên internet (pubmed, web of science, các trang web liên quan...)• Nguồn các thống kê, điều tra, các vụ dịch từ các cơ quan, đơn vị có thẩm quyền• Ngoài ra, dựa theo giả thuyết về mối nguy và loại thực phẩm, nghiên cứu khảo sát/ban đầu có thể được tiến hành để rà soát và xác định được mối nguy vi sinh vật liên quan.Vi khuẩn Salmonella 1 Vi khuẩn E. coli 2 Vi khuẩn Campylobacter 3Triệu chứng ngộ độc thực phẩm 4   Đơn bào G. parvum 4  Giun xoắn 5  Triệu chứng mắc Trichinella 6Hình 5. Một số vi sinh vật (mối nguy) phổ biến trong thực phẩm và triệu chứngViệc xác định mối nguy ở bước 1, đồng nghĩa với việc bước đầu đã xác định được tên/loại vi sinh vật (hay độc tố của nó) cũng như loại thực phẩm mang mối nguy cần quan tâm. Ở bước 2, mô tả mối nguy sẽ đi sâu nhằm làm rõ các thông tin về vi sinh vật. Đây là một khâu quan trọng và tốn nhiều công sức để tìm hiểu, giúp cho việc làm sáng tỏ đường lây nhiễm, sự biến thiên của mối nguy qua thực phẩm, với các điều kiện/tác nhân khác nhau để ảnh hưởng tới sức khỏe người bị nhiễm. Bước này cần trả lời các câu hỏi để làm rõ các ý sau:Bước mô tả mối nguy cần trả lời các câu hỏi sau:1. Liều (hay nồng độ) nào của vi sinh vật hay độc tố có thể gây bệnh (độc) cho người bị nhiễm?2. Các đường lây nhiễm (chủ yếu) nào của vi sinh vật hay độc tố lên thực phẩm cần đánh giá?3. Các ảnh hưởng sức khoẻ của mối nguy vi sinh vật, thể hiện bao lâu sau khi phơi nhiễm?4. Các yếu tố nguy cơ liên quan đến mối nguy vi sinh vật đó trong thực phẩm đánh giá là gì?Mô tả mối nguy tập trung vào một hay nhiều vi sinh vật cụ thể đã được xác định ở bước xác định mối nguy nhằm tìm hiểu các thông tin liên quan đến:• Cơ chế và khả năng gây ra các ảnh hưởng có hại đối với cơ thể• Sự tương tác giữa người bị phơi nhiễm và vi sinh vật, độc lực, đặc tính gây bệnh và liều đáp ứng của vi sinh vật đó 1 http://www.motherjones.com/tom-philpott/2013/10/good-news-salmonella-outbreak-cdc-back-job-badnews-its-antibiotic-resistant 2 http://www.ehagroup.com/resources/pathogens/e-coli-O157-H7-escherichia-coli/ 3 http://www.thescientist.com/ 4 http://solvingtheibspuzzle.com/post-infectious-ibs/ 5 http://solvingtheibspuzzle.com/giardia-diarrhea-and-ibs/ 6 https://www.studyblue.com/notes/note/n/medical-parasitology-lab-practical-complete/deck/10812433 7 https://www.healthtap.com/topics/trichinella-spiralis• Các điều kiện khí hậu, địa lý ảnh hưởng đến sự tồn tại và lây truyền của các tác nhân vi sinh vật trong môi trường và ảnh hưởng đến khả năng phơi nhiễm thông qua các nguồn thực phẩm quan tâm.Thông tin về mô tả các mối nguy cụ thể có thể thu thập được từ:• Các báo cáo quốc tế/tài liệu khoa học Trả lời 1. Liều hay nồng độ nào của vi sinh vật hay độc tố có thể gây bệnh (độc) cho người bị nhiễm? => Cần xác định từ các thông số công bố, thí nghiệm để có được chỉ số liều hay nồng độ vi sinh vật (hay độc) tố có thể gây ảnh hưởng cho người nhiễm.Ví dụ: Nghiên cứu cho thấy người nhiễm có thể mắc tiêu chảy nếu nhiễm (nuốt phải) 10 CFU E. coli O157:H7/lần, hay tối thiểu 1 ấu trùng G. lamblia hay C. parvum/lần [7].Trả lời 2. Xác định các đường lây nhiễm nào của vi sinh vật hay độc tố lên thực phẩm cần đánh giá? => Từ các nguồn nào mà vi sinh vật có thể nhiễm lên thực phẩm và sự thay đổi của vi sinh vật hay độc tố đó như thế nào cho đến khi ăn sản phẩm thịt/thực phẩm đó.Ví dụ: Sự xuất hiện của E.coli O157:H7, C. parvum, G. lamblia trên rau muống sống tại bàn ăn người tiêu dùng có thể bắt nguồn từ nơi trồng, vận chuyển, bày bán và chế biến từ các nguồn hay dụng cụ có mang mầm bệnh (nước trồng, nước rửa, dụng cụ đựng).Trả lời 3. Các yếu tố nguy cơ liên quan đến mối nguy vi sinh vật đó trong thực phẩm đánh giá là gì? => Trong quá trình sản xuất, phân phối và chế biến, tiêu thụ thực phẩm, các điều kiện thực hành, chế biến, hiểu biết và ý thức, góp phần vào việc làm tăng hay giảm các mối nguy đó trong thực phẩm.Ví dụ: Điều kiện thực hành vệ sinh (nước rửa, dụng cụ) tại nơi trồng, vận chuyển, bày bán và chế biến không tốt sẽ làm cho tỷ lệ và mức độ ô nhiễm E.coli O157:H7, C. parvum, G. lamblia tăng lên, nguy cơ về sức khỏe cho tiêu thụ sẽ tăng lên.• Nhìn chung, tùy thuộc vào phạm vi và mức độ (mầm bệnh/mối nguy, vật chủ và thực phẩm nào) của quá trình ĐGNC, các thông tin thu thập và nhận định để mô tả có thể chi tiết theo các mức độ phức tạp khác nhau. Phơi nhiễm là điều kiện/tình huống khi một chất/mối nguy hay tác nhân gây bệnh tiếp xúc với cơ thể. Đánh giá phơi nhiễm (ĐGPN) nhằm xác định số lượng sinh vật tương ứng với 1 lần phơi nhiễm [11].Bước ĐGPN vi sinh vật (hay độc tố) đối với thực phẩm có thể thực hiện thông qua đánh giá, ��o đạc trực tiếp (đo nồng độ phơi nhiễm và thời gian tiếp xúc, phỏng vấn, kết hợp thông tin từ lượng giá nồng độ phơi nhiễm và ước lượng thời gian phơi nhiễm v.v.) hoặc mô hình hóa (modeling). Bước này cần làm rõ các ý sau:Người tiêu thụ nuốt phải bao nhiêu vi sinh vật (hay độc tố) trong một lần ăn loại thực phẩm đang quan tâm? Khi đó, cần biết:• Loại thực phẩm tiêu thụ (ăn) vào như thế nào về:-Tỉ lệ nhiễm và nồng độ nhiễm của vi sinh vật đang đánh giá?-Nồng độ nhiễm trong loại thực phẩm đó thay đổi như thế nào?• Quá trình tiêu thụ (thu thập ở nơi tiêu thụ: hộ gia đình, quán ăn...):-   • Điều tra cho thấy một người Mỹ trung bình ăn 0,113 kg cá trong một bữa ăn với khoảng 48 bữa cá trong một năm [2].• Trong nghiên cứu ĐGNC nhiễm Salmonella, chúng tôi tiến hành điều tra về tiêu thụ thịt lợn tại Hưng Yên cho thấy, trung bình một người dân ăn 58g thịt lợn luộc/bữa và ăn 5-6 bữa/tuần [12].• Điều tra về về ăn rau muống sống tại Kim Bảng, Hà Nam cho thấy, khối lượng ăn trung bình là 76,3 gam/bữa và tần suất trung bình là 1 bữa/năm [13]. Phân phối Beta Phân phối Gamma Hình 14. Một số phân bố phổ biến của vi khuẩn trên thực phẩm Lưu ý:• Lượng giá mức tiêu thụ và các đường phơi nhiễm có thể tiến hành thu thập từ các thông số thống kê, điều tra dinh dưỡng (lượng và tần số thực phẩm ăn: như thịt lợn luộc, rau muống sống..Nam -Nữ, già -trẻ... tiêu thụ khác nhau.-Thức ăn tiêu thụ bởi cá thể ở các độ tuổi khác nhau-Thống kê thực phẩm mua ở các cửa hàng bán lẻnhiễm khác như nước, tay-miệng, hay thực phẩm khác,...Mô tả nguy cơ (Risk characterization) là sự ước tính định lượng và/hoặc định tính về xác suất xảy ra và mức độ nghiêm trọng của ảnh hưởng xấu đến sức khỏe cá thể hay cộng đồng do tiêu thụ thực phẩm có nhiễm tác nhân gây bệnh. Đầu ra của mô tả nguy cơ thường là nguy cơ mắc bệnh của người, hay nhóm cộng đồng đã phơi nhiễm với tác nhân bệnh.• Tổng hợp thông tin từ bước xác định và mô tả mối nguy cùng với bước đánh giá phơi nhiễm• Đánh giá một cách tổng thể chất lượng của quy trình đánh giá và mức độ tin cậy trong việc mô tả nguy cơ cũng như đưa ra các kết luận• Mô tả bản chất, phạm vi, mức độ trầm trọng của nguy cơ có hại đối với sức khỏe của các cá thể và cộng đồng• Cung cấp các kết quả đánh giá nguy cơ tới các nhà quản lý và truyền thông nguy cơ.• Mô tả nguy cơ định tính, bán định lượng hay định lượng tùy theo bản chất của yếu tố nguy cơ, đường phơi nhiễm mà các thông tin trong phần mô tả nguy cơ được lồng ghép khác nhau.1. Khả năng để một người mắc bệnh do tiêu thụ loại thực phẩm cụ thể   Việc tiến hành mô tả định lượng (ước lượng hay lượng giá) nguy cơ vi sinh vật thông qua các con số và các kết quả tính toán cụ thể. Quá trình tính toán định lượng cần các thông số đầu vào liên quan như số lượng vi khuẩn ô nhiễm trong thực phẩm, hay khối lượng thực phẩm ăn vào trung bình.Trong quá trình tính toán cho mô tả nguy cơ, cần lưu ý đến sự phơi nhiễm cho 1 lần hay nhiều (n) lần.Khi mô tả nguy cơ, chúng ta sẽ có nguy cơ của một lần phơi nhiễm đơn lẻ gọi là P nhiễm .Nếu một người ăn thịt lợn luộc bị nhiễm Salmonella, qua đánh giá nguy cơ chúng ta có Pnhiễm = 5 x 10 (Trong tình huống này, cách tiếp cận sẽ là phương pháp trung bình vì tất cả các bước đều chỉ cho một giá trị duy nhất cho mô hình đánh giá nguy cơ).Lượng Salmonella còn sống trên thịt lợn sau khi nấu: Như vậy, từ 5 giá trị (point estimates) được đưa vào quá trình tính toán, đầu ra của nguy cơ là một con số duy nhất là 1,62 x 10 -3 .• Dùng phương pháp xác suất thường được tính toán bằng áp dụng mô phỏng Monte Carlo. Sử dụng phần mềm @Risk để chạy mô hình mô phỏng này.• Cách đánh giá theo phương pháp xác suất dùng những số liệu khoa học đầu vào dưới dạng những hàm phân bố để sử dụng trong các công thức tính toán.• Nguy cơ cuối cùng cũng được thể hiện bằng hàm phân bố nguy cơ.• Quá trình này cần sử dụng đến mô hình hóa các thuật toán để tính các thay đổi của các biến số tham gia trong mô hình đánh giá nguy cơ.• Kết quả nguy cơ có nhiều thông tin hơn và thích hợp đối với đánh giá nguy cơ vi sinh vật.nghiên cứu phân tích mật độ Salmonella trong thịt lợn sống, tỉ lệ lây nhiễm chéo, hàm lượng thịt tiêu thụ thịt hàng ngày của cộng đồng. Hình 17 mô tả quy trình tính toán nguy cơ nhiễm Salmonella trong thịt lợn bằng phương pháp xác suất.• Ở đây chúng ta thấy, tất cả các số liệu đưa vào đều là các hàm phân bố xác suất (Probability Distribution Function -PDF).• Các hàm này được xác định từ số liệu phân tích thực tế, kèm theo đối chiếu, tham khảo các nghiên cứu tương tự trước hay gần đây. Kết quả cuối cùng là nguy cơ cũng được thể hiện là một hàm phân bố. • Lưu ý: Bên cạnh mô tả nguy cơ tính theo phương pháp trung bình hay phương pháp xác suất, sự kết hợp hai phương pháp (trung bình và xác suất) có thể sử dụng để thực hiện. -Đánh giá định tính, mô tả, phân loại, phân hạng -Các phân tích bằng các số liệu tổng hợp, các mô hình đơn giản -Các đánh giá theo các số liệu chuyên biệt, các mô hình mô phỏng -Đánh giá định lượng theo các điểm ước lượng -Đánh giá định lượng theo xác suất.Sự sinh trưởng và chết của vi sinh vật: Sự tăng và giảm về số lượng mầm bệnh trong môi trường hoặc vật chủ.Trong đánh giá nguy cơ hóa học, sự khác biệt giữa cân nặng, tuổi tác và khả năng trao đổi chất của cơ thể cần được lưu ý, thì trong đánh giá nguy cơ vi sinh vật là các khác biệt về tính miễn dịch và mẫn cảm của vật chủ.Vi sinh vật rất đa dạng về mặt di truyền và tỷ lệ các biến thể của gen trong quần thể, do vậy vi sinh vật có thể có những thay đổi đáng kể sau một vài thế hệ.Khả năng lây truyền thứ cấp: Sự lây nhiễm vi sinh vật giữa các cá thể và các loài động vật sang người (gọi tắt là bệnh truyền từ động vật sang người).Tính không đồng nhất về không gian và sự phân bố tạm thời trong môi trường: Tác nhân gây bệnh thường phân bố không đồng nhất trong môi trường sống. Sự phát triển của mầm bệnh có thể dẫn đến sự phân bố nhóm, và các mầm bệnh có thể tập hợp với nhau hoặc có thể được gắn vào các mảnh hữu cơ hay vô cơ, làm cho việc xác định nồng độ theo các cách truyền thống khó đạt được.Độ nhạy của phương pháp phát hiện: Có nhiều phương pháp phòng thí nghiệm phát hiện những mầm bệnh thông thường trong thực phẩm, nước uống. Tuy nhiên, các phương pháp phát hiện vi sinh vật không phải luôn luôn đủ nhạy để phát hiện mầm bệnh ở mức quy định.Động thái của cộng đồng, quần thể và hệ sinh thái: Các tác nhân vi sinh vật có sự tương tác phức tạp với các thành viên khác trong loài, các loài khác, và môi trường phi sinh vật.Đường phơi nhiễm: Có nhiều đường phơi nhiễm giống nhau giữa các chất hóa học và vi sinh vật, song vẫn có một số khác biệt. Tiếp xúc qua da quan trọng đối với một số hóa chất, trong khi đối với vi sinh vật thì không, vì da lành lặn là một rào cản tự nhiên đối với sự xâm nhập của vi sinh vật.Việc mô tả đặc trưng tính không chắc chắn (uncertainty) và tính biến thiên (variability) là một trong những yếu tố quan trọng trong quá trình đánh giá nguy cơ (NRC, 2009). Hội đồng quy định hạt nhân Mỹ (NRC) [16] cung cấp các định nghĩa, khuyến nghị về việc sử dụng các giá trị mặc định, phương pháp, nếu có thể, định lượng tính không chắc chắn, và làm thế nào để xem xét tính biến thiên trong phơi nhiễm, cũng như sự mẫn cảm/độ nhạy.Tính không chắc chắn liên quan đến sự thiếu hoặc không đầy đủ của thông tin. Việc phân tích định lượng tính không chắc chắn nhằm phân tích và mô tả mức độ mà giá trị tính toán có thể khác với giá trị thực; có thể sử dụng các phân bố xác suất. Tính không chắc chắn phụ thuộc vào chất lượng, số lượng và sự phù hợp của dữ liệu, cũng như độ tin cậy và phù hợp của mô hình và các giả định. Tính biến thiên liên quan đến những khác biệt thực tế của các đặc tính do sự không đồng nhất hay sự đa dạng. Tính biến thiên thường không thể giảm bằng việc tăng các đo lường hay nghiên cứu, mặc dù nó có thể được mô tả tốt hơn [17].Hầu hết mọi khía cạnh của một đánh giá nguy cơ sẽ có tính không chắc chắn nhất định, và thường là do các thiếu khuyết dữ liệu và không đầy đủ kiến thức.  Truyền thông nguy cơ có những nguyên tắc chính phải tuân thủ để đạt được hiệu quả trong quá trình thực hiện. Một số nguyên tắc nên thực hiện để tăng hiệu quả của công tác truyền thông nguy cơ bao gồm:• Truyền thông nguy cơ nên có sự trao đổi thông tin cởi mở và đảm bảo thông tin 2 chiều giữa các chuyên gia bao gồm các nhà hoạch định chính sách và chuyên gia trong lĩnh vực liên quan với cộng đồng.• Nhằm đảm bảo công tác truyền thông nguy cơ quả, cần lắng nghe, tìm hiểu các mối quan tâm cụ thể của cộng đồng, cần đánh giá các nhóm đối tượng đích hiện đang ở giai đoạn nào của 5 giai đoạn thay đổi hành vi để từ đó có kế hoạch truyền thông phù hợp.• Lập kế hoạch cẩn thận, lựa chọn các kênh truyền thông và xây dựng các thông điệp truyền thông phù hợp với đặc điểm và mối quan tuân của các nhóm đối tượng đích.• Truyền thông nguy cơ đòi hỏi phải có chuyên môn trong việc truyền đạt thông tin và có thể sử dụng cho tất cả các bên quan tâm. Hoạt động truyền thông là không thể đảo ngược nên cần hết sức thận trọng, đặc biệt khi truyền thông các nguy cơ về an toàn vệ sinh thực phẩm vì nếu truyền thông thiếu chính xác có thể để lại hậu quả lớn và thiệt hại về kinh tế. Mức bảo vệ được cho là phù hợp bởi các quốc gia thành viên thiết lập các phương pháp đo lường vệ sinh nhằm bảo vệ con người, động thực vật trong lãnh thổ quốc gia đó (WTO 1995).Tần suất tối đa hoặc/và nồng độ của một mối nguy trong thực phẩm ở thời điểm tiêu thụ để đạt được mức bảo vệ phù hợp (Codex Alimentarius 2004).Tình trạng bệnh lý xuất hiện sau khi hấp thụ các loại thực phẩm nhiễm khuẩn, nhiễm độc hoặc có chứa chất gây ngộ độc.Risk Được thể hiện bằng một hàm xác suất về khả năng xảy ra các ảnh hưởng bất lợi lên sức khỏe và độ nghiêm trọng của các ảnh hưởng đó (Codex Alimentarius 1999).Là một tổ chức cấp quốc gia hoặc quốc tế có trách nhiệm với quản lý nguy cơ vi sinh vật (Codex Alimentarius 2007a).Sự xuất hiện tác nhân lạ trên thực phẩm có khả năng gây hại đến sức khỏe, tính mạng con người. Replication Khả năng tăng lên về số lượng của vi sinh vật trong môi trường hay cơ thể vật chủ.Là sự miêu tả về các vấn đề an toàn thực phẩm và hoàn cảnh của nó để định hướng thêm cho việc quản lý nguy cơ.Là bất cứ các chất được chế biến, sơ chế hay ở dạng sống được dùng để cho con người tiêu thụ gồm cả đồ uống, kẹo cao su và bất cứ các chất được dùng trong chế biến, chuẩn bị và xử lý thực phẩm nhưng ngoại trừ mỹ phẩm, thuốc lá hoặc các chất được sử dụng như thuốc (Codex Alimentarius 1995).Microbiological criteria (MC)Là tiêu chí xác định độ chấp nhận được của một loại thực phẩm dựa vào sự có mặt hay không có mặt, hoặc số lượng của một loại vi sinh vật bao gồm cả ký sinh trùng và/hoặc lượng độc tố của chúng trên một đơn vị khối lượng, thể tích, diện tích hoặc một lô sản phẩm (Codex Alimentarius 1997).Tính kháng Persistence Khả năng của vi sinh vật có thể sống sót trong môi trường hay cơ thể vật chủ.Là một quá trình tương tác trao đổi thông tin và ý kiến giữa những nhà đánh giá nguy cơ, các nhà quản lý nguy cơ và các bên liên quan (Codex Alimentarius 1999)Đầu ra của quá trình mô tả nguy cơ, bao gồm xác suất xuất hiện và độ nghiêm trọng của các ảnh hưởng bất lợi lên sức khỏe.Là các điều kiện cần thiết để sản xuất, chế biến, bảo quản, và phân phối thực phẩm để đảm bảo thực phẩm an toàn cho tiêu thụ của con người (FAO/WHO 2007).Là sự nhận diện các tác nhân hóa học, sinh học hoặc vật lý có khả năng gây ra các ảnh hưởng bất lợi đến sức khỏe và có khả năng có mặt trong một loại hoặc một nhóm thực phẩm nào đó (FAO/WHO 2007).Risk factor Là một đặc tính, đặc trưng bất kỳ hoặc phơi nhiễm của một cá thể làm tăng khả năng chấn thương hoặc phát triển của bệnh.Phần Hướng dẫn thực hiện một số thao tác trong @RISK (Palisade corporation-USA, phiên bản 4.5, hiện nay đã có phiên bản 7.5, song nguyên lý sử dụng cơ bản là giống nhau) được dựa trên một số bước tính toán từ mô hình đánh giá nguy cơ tiêu chảy do nhiễm vi khuẩn Salmonella do tiêu thụ thịt lợn luộc tại hộ gia đình. -Nhập công thức của phân bố với các tham số liên quan vào ô xác định của mô hình, như, ô F3 =RiskNegbin(1,0.0012694,RiskName(\"Giardia in canal with all replicates\")), là nồng độ của Giardia lamblia trong nước thải.-Công thức phân bố này đã được xác định trong bước 1 ở trên (Hình 5.2a).Tương tự như các ô khác có thể được xác định bằng 1 giá trị (hằng số) đưa vào hay hàm phân bố của biến tương ứng, hay công thức tính toán các giá trị trung gian (liều nuốt phải, liều-đáp ứng).-Một số tham số được đưa vào mô hình có thể là những hằng số, ví dụ lượng nước thải tình cờ nuốt phải khi tiếp xúc, và được giả định là nuốt phải 50ml (như ô E3, Hình 5.2a).  -Vose DJ (1998) The application of quantitative risk assessment to microbial food safety. J Food Prot 61:640-648."}

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+{"metadata":{"gardian_id":"6068c382ab1bb138acb82df1fc4bdeca","source":"gardian_index","url":"https://cgspace.cgiar.org/rest/bitstreams/86dffc9f-3ffe-4de9-a27b-b7fb76905fb5/retrieve","id":"-2080187340"},"keywords":[],"sieverID":"e3ef1990-5356-4f44-a03c-412e887a32a4","content":"The Open Access (OA) Initiative, promote free access to articles across all fields of science on the internet. This marked a meaningful change in the way scientific articles are published. Some major publishers continue with this business model in the digital world. However, they have made partial attempts to adopt the OA framework by integrating \"article processing charges\" (APCs) that can reach several thousand dollars.Several companies that present themselves as scientific publishers, offer to publish under OA with significantly lower APCs. However, on numerous occasions, it has been revealed that their peer review process is either very lenient or sometimes non-existent.Predatory publishers and journals, exploit the APC payment model, promote unethical practices and undermine the principles of OA. This has resulted in the proliferation of low-quality articles that threaten to infiltrate legitimate scientific literature (Beall, 2012).One of the areas where it can cause significant effects is in agricultural research, where critical and widely debated topics such as climate change or genetically modified organisms converge.To bring visibility to the issue of predatory publications, their potential impacts on the scientific community, and to the indications of how to detect when a publication is potentially predatory.A literature review was conducted on the impact of predatory publications on research. The methodology is divided into three stages: source selection, search and data collection, and literature analysis.Instead of disappearing, predatory journals have increased through the years (Figure 1).A significant number of those publications have managed to infiltrate legitimate scientific literature. An experiment demonstrated how some articles from journals classified as predatory were cited in three of the world's largest aggregators of scientific papers (Table 1).Even if the document contains relevant and accurate data on the topic, being cited in legitimate literature indirectly contributes to validating all the content published in that source.Not only is science subject to be corrupted, but it can also influence the public agenda through the media. The 'Chocolate Sting' is a demonstration of predatory journal articles can reach wider audiences.Given the lack of scientific rigor in predatory publications, climate change deniers can find ideal conditions to spread pseudo-scientific views, creating enough noise to sow doubt among some readers.Predatory publications serve as fertile ground for crafting false narratives within the public opinion, or even for informing policymakers.It's not possible to establish a definitive standard for categorizing a source as predatory. However, be aware of a series of indicators like:1. Receiving an invitation to publish previous work.2. Unprofessional appearance, false or irrelevant, metrics and indexing.3. 'Polifacetic' or 'mega journals' publishers.4. Articles published beyond the journal's focus and scope.National or international affiliations that do not correspond.Authors must focus on quality over quantity, avoiding citing sources from potentially predatory journals, and maintaining constant dialogue with funders to counter the \"publish or perish\" pressure.They must also safeguard scientific integrity and academic reputation by verifying that the journal they plan to publish is legitimate. If an unfamiliar journal is being considered, they should review the editorial policies, committee, copyright, fees, and publication timelines.Authors' choice of where to publish should not be based on the rush to publish that some journals promote, as this can compromise the rigor necessary to assess the quality of the work.  "}

main/part_1/0467290492.json

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+{"metadata":{"gardian_id":"f7851309ed09719fa84def6d394287f9","source":"gardian_index","url":"https://cgspace.cgiar.org/rest/bitstreams/7b4a4714-870f-431e-9526-949bcc63c642/retrieve","id":"88297713"},"keywords":[],"sieverID":"bcd1fbb6-1713-4584-9cfd-c6574e0cc5b8","content":"Ecological consideration indicate that traditional agroecosystems involving mixed cropping and genetic diversity amo'1g crop species are' relatively rr:ore stable than modern agroecosystems. Modern food prodUction technologies involving more uniform crops pver ';,;ide creas, use of more costly inputs and associated pest problems are ecologically less stable. With population pressure, greater pressures on the land and shortening of periods of natural recycling of nutrients reduced yields and loss of soil fertility occur. ~h~s calls for introduction of modern, farming techniques of the 'green revolution' type. ,Yet the experience of developed countries in about three decades of over-reliance on chemical pestfcides, the development of resistance in target speCies, and environmental hazard of pesticides require caution in development of pest management control programs. What is needed is a program of inteqrated control or effective pest management as part of an overall natural «nource management. This necessitates greater cooperation and i~teraction among SCientists in various disciplines in the study of 2 the environment, tropical a9roeGosystems, and development of a range of compatlble pest control methods within the means of the farmer, economically and technologically acceptable, and adapted to various agro-ecosystems. All these require (i) changes in biological education and training, (ii) better communication among scientists and the public, and (iii) provision of better advisory services to government policy am regulatory ag~11cies.The 'florld' s major problems consist of the problems of limiting the rapidly proliferating population, producing enough food for billions of mankind, prevention or redClction of the adverse effects of technology on environmental quality. and limitedness of mineral.. energy al.:1 other non-rene'lable resources. In the tropical Africa, the most pressing problems today cor,sist of the problems of produ:::ing enough food for the very raPidly gro\",ing population, high rates of illiteracy and ignorance with the resultant under-development and inability to 2pply science and technology to narro'Ning the gl-!9 between the developed and developing countries. In most countries cf tropical Atrice, the annual rate of population grovlth' ranges from 2 to slightly above 3 percent while that of growth of tood production may vary from negative to under two percent. In his effort to produce food and other plant products to satisfy the needs of mankind, the farmer faces serious problems brought about ::'y modernize.tion and rapid social and political changes. Lack of scientific knowledge limits his ability or the means at his disposal for the manipulation of the enviror.ment.Although he has made some advances in the production of plant products for export cnd feeding the factories of developed countries I he is increasingly unable to produce enough food for himself, his family and the incree:sing non-far;n.lng population. In the food production farming systems, the era of his reliance on natural processes of nutrient recY\"::'19 for the maintenance of soil fertility is virtually coming to an end because bf drastic shortening of the period of bush or planted fallows as a result of population pressure on the land. In this effort to produce enough food, one of the most serious constraints is that of crop losses due to the activities of various pests in the field, in storage and in processed products.Adoption of modern pest control measures which rely heavily on regular and sustained applications of chemical pesticides has to some extent been achieved in plantation crops such as cocoa but muc:: less infood crop production in tropical Africa. In food ,.,rop production, the African farmer relies on luck by not practising any control measufes, physical methods re~ying on human po',e, such as hand picking,appeasement of evil spirits by charms and rel::ited superstitious practices, and on natural methods the mechanisms or existence of which he is unaware or able to manipulate. l'i.iorfmver, the fslure of scientists \"andfar/riers in\" develc)ped countries to achieve complete eradication or sustained ieductio\"n of crop los ses by over-reliance on chemical pesticides to the exclusion of old and other tested methods since e-,e early 1940's, the environmental hazards of pesticide residues, and development of resistanre in pest species exposed to blocides, call for caution i:1 the development of pest control strategies for food crops in the tropics. This caution is all the more neces,~ary c0nsidering the additional health hazarC:s of misuse of chemicals by illiterate f&rr::ers who are persistently being pressurec to buy and use pesticides by manufact-To our forefathers as to those of the present generation in developed countries one or more centuries ago, traditional husbandry in the ab£~nce of high population pressure involved a sense of holdi.1g the land and Its resources in trust for future generations and treatment of soils and crops with care so that they will continue to be fertile and sustain high levelS of productivit,. Much of this good sense of good husbandry in time tested traditional agriculture has been lost in Em effort to attain rapid increases in t1-.e amount of food required by billions of human beings (Springett, 1973).As indicated above, the limited success of exclusive use of pesticides, its attendant problems of resistance of target species, and the present concern about enviromnent (especially in develop('ld countries 'f.!here most of the knov,fledge and technology for the solution of these problems abound) requires that 'lJe do not rush into their introduction into the tropics;\"ithout further stuey and experime::tation. Experience has shown that technologiesdevebped in temperate countri.:i Ii cannot v~ltho'ut some elements of risk, directly and safely adopted as replacements of traditional prcctices. This calls for an ecological approach to pest management '''Thich takes into account the observation that under natural conditions, ecological equIlibrium or balance exists in any given ecosystem among the primary producers, consumers, predators, decomposers, etc. at various energy levels and between living organisms and their environment. Each ecosystem which is a well defined area of land or water possesses specific environmental C'ualit1es and characteristic flora and fuana (Springett, 1973b).A given ecosystm attains a me\"lsure of stability through succes!]ive evolutionary  1973b). Fertilizers are by necessity in permanent agriculture used as substitutes for natural decomposition products and recycling process in traditional agriculture. 'tIhHe extreme, sometimes unscientific, view's that give undue emphasis and attributes to organic gardening are unacceptable,\" consideration should be given to the fact that decomposition products as organic matter in tropical solis perform not only functions connected with , ,improvement of soil texture .and supply of nutrients but also in cont'ributing significantly to the collojdal fraction and the exchange complex.Above considerations make it imperative that in tropical agriculture, perhaps much more so than in tempercte agriculture where natural changes and processes Eire slower, greeter interest should be shown in integrated pest contrel or better pest mancgement as part of an overall strategy of resource manaS!ement 'i•,hich \"'ould enhance the viability of the agroecosystem and the environment. (1) the physicai components consisting of energy (radiation, temperature and heat£lo;.,') \"\"later, atmospheric gases and wind, fire, gravIty, topography, geological substration and the soil, and(2) biological components consisting of green plants, non-green plants (decomposers, pc;rasites and symbionts), animals, and man. All these components of the er!'1ironment interact with each other in varyin,\" degrees through time in a given location.Ecolo,\"y is by its nature an integrat!v\", science ,rhich dra';rs its information from the biological sciences (genetics, taxonomy, physiology, each of t;'iese ciiscipllues the science of mathematics may be <,pplied. It Is also an experimental science since data which is lacking in the field may be obtained by measurement or experimentation. These dE.ta may be integrated at the levels of the individual, population a\"d the ecosystem.Agriculture may be defined as the science, business, art and industry of plant and animal production on the farm. Its main objective is the manipulation of the genetics of crop plants and i'nimals and their environment to the extent that would maximize production of food, fiber and other products.Agriculture is an applied science consistiny of many disciplines including (ii)Establishment of realistic eco:1omic injury levels for the real pests (with all hidlien costs adequately considered). (vi) Lastly, but not the least important, the development of means for implementing the pest control system.Another measure of the complexity and multidisciplinary nature of pest management involves the consideration of the range of organisms broadly regarded as peGts such as insects, mites, nematodes, birds, rodents and other mammals, bacteria.~ fungi, viruses, mycoplasma, 'needs and plant parasites, (Okigbo, 1974). Kno\"ledge about these, their Ufe processes and their environment can only come from contributlons of many biological and related disciplines.An c.spect of the multidisciplinary nature of pest management was emphasized by Springett (1973a) \"!ho maintaineq that each pest probler:! is embedded In a unirJue environmental matrix, and calls for one particular solution out of an array of Possible an~wers that vary in scientific and technological refinement, in energy input, in acee ptability etc. Springett also listed the following constraints in which solution co pest problems must be found -a powerful system of petro-chemlcal interests, a term-elected system of government (1n many African countries shakey one party states or military regimes of uncertain durat:.on), sluggish systems of public administration, commercial systems that impose unfair burdens on primary The magnitude of losses due to pests depend on the int\"raction of various blological and environmental factors 'nhich can be quantified and their processes studied.Systems analysis accord!,1g to Mooma'v and Hedley (1971) involves(1) a statement of the objective of the total system (li) a quantitative analysis of its components or environment of the system, (iii) listing of the resources of the system (iv) a schedule of components of the system Involving activities carried out and measures of their performances and (v) ai~ analYSis of the management of the system. A very important aspect of system analysiS is the possibility of developing models of the system by simulation techniques Application of systems analysis to pest mana~~\"'•'!nt in tropical Africa will require not only detailed informntion on crop ecology but also of traditional agroecosystems in addition to the farmers' environment. It ',\"ould also require sOl'nd biomathematical training for biologists and greater cooperation and interaction among-biologists, agronomists, economists, mathematicians etc. than has hith~:\"'_o happened before.The cOffi?lexity and multidisciplinary nature of pest management based on ecological principles has been stressed. The complicated nature of the processes which interact to make it possible has also been emphasized. 1.There should be a reappraisal of our overall scientific educational programs so as to develop programs tbat increase tte depth and widen the scope of training in biology and in related fields. This \" . . lOuid facilitate the production of well motivated sclentists1ho are prepared to r.~r'idly bring i'lbout innovations or make diGcoveries in areas relevant to our agricultural proble m s.There is need to incre;:.se the mathemat! -~' or r:omathematical aspects of training of biologi;;ts so that in their analysis and synthesis of biological phenomena c;uantitative methods of approach could be east:y adopted. 7. Plndly, while sCientific; sophistication is an aspect of advancement in science our sCientists should al'vays encourage studies 0'< 9rcctical down-to-earth problems related to the needs of our society rather than getting deeply involved in continuing elaboration of their thesis research problems."}