This was the third in a series of workshops designing multi-year projects in West Africa, the Ethiopian Highlands, and East and Southern Africa. Full information on the workshop and its outcomes is online.

The workshop was opened by Professor Jumanne Maghembe, Tanzania Minister for Agriculture, Food Security and Cooperatives, Dr. Sanginga (IITA Director General), and Dr. Julie Howard from USAID Washington. All emphasized the importance of close collaboration between CGIAR staff, their national counterparts, and other organizations and donors involved in agriculture in the region.  They welcomed this effort to involve a wide range of people in designing and setting priorities for the project.

As in the other workshops Robert Bertram (USAID) introduced the Feed the Future research strategy with its goals to accelerate inclusive agricultural sector growth, reduce child under-nutrition, and integrate climate change and environment concerns in agricultural research. His colleague Jerry Glover explained the evolution of thinking across the projects, referring back to previous workshops in Tamale and Addis Ababa. He particularly highlighted the advantages of designing the three projects within an overall research ‘design’ framework that would foster learning and linkages across the regions.

Participants critiqued and improved the two proposed areas of work with their focus on maize-legume-livestock and rice-vegetable farming systems. Arising from these presentations, participants explored ways to operationalize a ‘systems’ approach, how to integrate different technical components, and they identified potential ‘jumpstart’ actions that would build on the many existing initiatives and lay the groundwork for future research. Parallel groups examined possible impact targets for the three-project Program and ways to quickly develop the overall research approach/framework which will inform regional and country project activities.

An important side discussion in this workshop considered cross-project Africa-wide activities that would add value to the individual project activities. It was generally agreed that a light coordination and learning structure was needed to ensure consistency and learning across the projects, with coordinated communication reinforcing coordinated research efforts.

Finally, there seemed to be acceptance of an overall Program name ‘Africa Research in Sustainable Intensification for the Next Generation’ (Africa RISING); this was first suggested in the Tamale workshop and overcame all other suggestions.

More on the overall Program, including the 3 workshops

Photos from the workshop

Around 60 experts are gathered this week at the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia for a four-day project design workshop on an exciting new initiative that aims to transform the livelihoods of some of the poorest people in Ethiopia’s highlands. The project, which forms part of the US government’s ‘Feed the Future’ initiative, aims to transform agricultural systems via sustainable intensification.

The workshop provides a unique platform for a broad group of important stakeholders to learn more about the project plans and to share their views on expectations from and opportunities for synergies with the project. The diverse mix of participants, including research specialists, academics, economists, NGO workers and government representatives, contribute different perspectives to the discussion, enriching the planning process.

Four speakers, Robert Bertram of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), Adefirs Teklewold of the Ethiopian Institute of Agricultural Research (EIAR), Shirley Tarawali of ILRI, and Edmealem Shitaye of the Ministry of Agriculture kicked off the first session, introducing the new project and outlining its projected actions and outcomes. Bertram highlighted the fact that in designing the project, there is no need to start from scratch, thanks to a tremendous amount of existing knowledge in this area. Tarawali elaborated by saying,

“Our task, and one which we hope this project will make a real contribution to, is to bring together not only the best that research can offer – be that crop, animal, environmental, economic, social – but to make sure this intersects with major agricultural development efforts that can ensure science gets translated into livelihood impacts”.

A light, interactive, discussion on the importance of sustainable intensification followed, with everyone in agreement that, while it may not be the only solution to the problems faced by struggling farming communities in this part of the world, intensification is nonetheless a valuable and necessary part of the bigger picture.

Why? Because people need food, animals need feed, and with rapid growth in population, demand for increased production from the same land space is inevitable. An important element emerging was confirmation that sustainable intensification is not just about increasing productivity per area of land; but also per unit of labour, per unit of water …

During presentations from Iain Wright of ILRI,  Stanley Wood of International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) and Shirley Tarawali, the group emphasized the importance of markets, water management, gender issues, health and nutrition and of private sector involvement in the intensification process. General concern over the complex definition of sustainable intensification was raised, and the key goal of connecting with wider research and development efforts repeated.

The afternoon session opened with an overview of USAID’s ‘Feed the Future’ programme by Bertram, USAID objectives and projects in Ethiopia by Cullen Hughes of USAID Ethiopia, and alignment with CAADP by Wood.

These presentations were followed by a lively group activity centred on the question “How can this project align and connect with other relevant, ongoing initiatives & projects?” The group identified over 70 research and development projects based in the Ethiopian highlands with a focus on crops, livestock, NRM, markets, systems and other related issues.  The key is therefore to consider the ways in which this new project can both gain from and contribute to ongoing efforts to learn more about and improve the livelihoods of Ethiopian Highland farmers and their communities.

Day two saw further rich discussion on the new project design. The workshop started broadly with a wide range of individual perspectives gradually coming together as ideas flowed. Iain took to the floor on Tuesday morning to remind everyone of the hypotheses and assumptions behind the program before the group split to discuss this, and the purpose of the project, the four main project components – pathways, technology, tradeoffs and connecting – and site selection. Comments on the project blog were also addressed by the whole group.

The people who developed the concept note reflected on what they heard from participants – in terms of needed changes, different directions, and so on. Overall, feedback from the initial two days – in terms of advice and take-home messages – was positive, with Bertram encouraging everyone “to think how to integrate and go beyond business as usual” and Wright preparing the group for the second phase of the workshop:

We now need to really focus on exactly what we’re going to do, as well as what we’re not going to do, and why.

Post written by Kara Brown

This concept note will be further discussed and refined at a workshop at the end of January 2012.  Participation in the workshop is by invitation only. To allow a broader group of stakeholders to comment on key elements of the proposal we are using this blog to solicit pre-workshop interaction. We also hope that getting a deeper understanding of other organizations and initiatives will help us devise stronger collaboration.

Please take a half hour of your time to help us improve the design of the project by sharing your comments and answers to the following questions (if you have general feedback, please comment on this post).

Question 1 – Prioritizing the key elements of sustainable intensification

Question 2 – Determining the drivers and trajectories of intensification

Question 3 – Selecting a geographic focus for the project

Question 4 – How markets for animal and crop commodities interact with sustainable intensification

Question 5 – Mapping ongoing research and development activities offering synergies

More information on the workshop and related projects …

• Improved food-feed crop varieties (those with good grain yields as well as quantity and quality of crop residues for feed)
• Trade offs in biomass (mostly crop residue) use (such as between using crop residues as feed, for soil fertility, or for fuel)
• Crop husbandry, management and combinations of cereals, legumes and other crops that help to maximise biomass production
• Management of diverse feed resources for animal production
• Investigating institutional arrangements to enhance access by smallholder farmers to markets and services
• Optimising the long term sustainability of any interventions through the use of participation and innovation platforms
• Farmers and other stakeholders’ views on potential major options to improve biomass production and marketing through identifying opportunities and constraints.

Comment on these questions:

• Do you agree with our focus on the intersection between crops and livestock? Are we excluding any important elements?

• Are the aspects proposed appropriate? Is anything missing? Are there too many?

• Should any of these aspects be prioritized before others?

Your comments here!

Return to the question list

Comment on these questions:

• What do you think are the key drivers of intensification that could determine the starting point of this project?
• Can these drivers be assessed? Are you aware of information that could contribute to that assessment?

Your comments here!

Return to the question list

Comment on these questions:

• What would you consider the key determinants of intensification that could be mapped to give a gradient of sites at different levels?
•  Do you have information on where these data may be sourced?

Your comments here!

Return to the question list

Institutional mechanisms that enable farmers and other community members to participate in markets are important, and will, in part, be addressed by this project interacting with other projects (such as USAID mission, ….) that focus on value chain development.

Comment on these questions:

• What are some key factors that determine the engagement of farmers in markets?
• What key commodity value chain development efforts in the Ethiopian Highlands are you aware of that could interact with our current project?
• Are there existing mechanisms that provide a forum for project interaction with such development efforts?

Your comments here!

Return to the question list

Help us identify projects and activities related to this project! Complete this form

Return to the question list