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+{"metadata":{"gardian_id":"d1ec3254e9a9f32d837385f9c47b5fc9","source":"gardian_index","url":"https://cgspace.cgiar.org/rest/bitstreams/6e809312-7953-442c-a6b0-3d1d905c5113/retrieve","id":"-691947576"},"keywords":["Food loss and waste","Postharvest loss","Value chains","Climate change mitigation","USAID"],"sieverID":"a9e3a583-dc07-427f-a852-7690f737e279","content":"Reducing food loss in agricultural development projects through value chain efficiency. CCAFS Working Paper no. 204. Wageningen, The Netherlands: CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS). Available online at: www.ccafs.cgiar.org Titles in this Working Paper series aim to disseminate interim climate change, agriculture and food security research and practices and stimulate feedback from the scientific community. This work was implemented as part of the CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS), which is carried out with support from CGIAR Fund Donors and through bilateral funding agreements. For details please visit https://ccafs.cgiar.org/donors.A grand challenge of the 21 st century is increasing economic growth across the globe while dramatically decreasing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions -decoupling two trends that have often moved in concert in the past. Along with economic growth and climate change, there is an urgent need to provide food security for a growing population. Sustainable agricultural development aims to address these challenges -and others -by increasing agricultural and economic productivity, helping farmers and herders adapt to climate change and variability, and decreasing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from agricultural production and land use change. Collectively, these three areas -production, adaptation and mitigation--are the pillars of climate-smart agriculture. These emissions contribute nearly a quarter of GHG emissions globally (Smith et al. 2014), and therefore need to play a part in overall emission reductions.Reducing food loss (which commonly refers to a decrease in edible food early in the supply chain) and waste (which generally occurs at retail and consumer stages) addresses the grand challenges of future food security and climate change by simultaneously addressing productivity and GHG emission reductions. Roughly one-third of food is lost or wasted worldwide, representing large, potentially avoidable losses of land, water, and energy (Gustavsson et al. 2011). Reduced food loss or waste (FLW) would result in more food for sale, distribution and consumption, increasing food security, while reducing the demand for increased food production with its attendant environmental burden (Hiç et al. 2016). In addition, interventions designed to reduce FLW can improve small-scale producers' resilience to climate change and variability, which generally impacts global food systems positively.Reducing FLW increases food availability at the farm gate, leading to a higher percentage of food sold on the market and higher incomes (Stathers, Lamboll, & Mvumi. 2013).FLW occurs at multiple points along the food value chain, from upstream producer-dominated stages to downstream consumer-dominated stages (Porter & Reay 2015). Both developing and industrialized countries experience large amounts of FLW, although the point of loss or waste varies with production practices, value chain, and state of value chain development.Developing countries experience food loss due to limited infrastructure and little available capital in the food value chain (Beddington et al. 2012, Hodges 2012, Rosegrant et al. 2016).Most research in developing countries has considered mainly on-farm losses rather than losses further down the supply chain, for example during processing, storage, and transportation (Sheahan & Barrett 2016). More industrialized countries have more food waste due to lack of coordination among value chain actors and higher quality standards that cause rejection of food items for minor imperfections (Gustavsson et al. 2011).Definitions of postharvest loss (PHL) and food loss and waste vary among sectors. FAO (2011) defines PHL of agricultural products as any product loss caused by physical spilling and/or degradation during handling, storage, and transportation from the farm to distribution.FAO distinguishes food loss and food waste by the phase where the loss or waste occurs, e.g., food loss occurs pre-consumer and food waste occurs at the consumer phase. Porter et al. (2015) modified the FAO definitions to distinguish between \"lost food\" and \"wasted food\" in order to separate the political term of \"waste.\" The Global Knowledge Initiative (2014) melds food waste and loss into the term \"food wastage.\" Sims et al. (2015) states, \"wastage occurs mostly during agricultural production, PHL handling and storage, and consumption phases.\"Often, distinguishing between loss and waste reflects \"fundamentally different perspectives, underlying objectives, and policy concerns\" (HLPE 2014). In this paper, we follow the most common definitions in FLW literature; food loss occurs prior to food reaching the consumer, and food waste occurs at the consumer level. We refer to food loss and food waste collectively as FLW throughout this document.Estimating FLW is a challenging task. Many global-scale estimates of FLW are derived from a small assortment of primary sources, often including FAO's balance sheets, largely because it is challenging to collect and synthesize FLW information across countries (Affognon et al. 2015, Rosegrant et al. 2016). These challenges with large-scale synthesis stem from the fact that FWL data originate from diverse sources collected at varying geographic scales (global, regional, local) and along different parts of the value chain (production, processing, storage) (Sheahan & Barrett 2016). Even regional estimates often include a limited number of countries; for example, a PHL meta-analysis by Affognon et al. (2015) evaluates interventions in several categories (grains, vegetables, fruits, rootstocks, and animal products), and in six African countries. Overall, limited availability of comparable data sets has resulted in few research studies that collect FLW data on multiple crops across many countries. This paper describes the scope of FLW interventions and estimates the extent to which they reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in diverse systems. Reducing FLW can contribute to GHG mitigation via two pathways. First, reducing loss increases the efficiency of the food supply chain, resulting in increased efficiency of GHG emissions per unit of food produced (emission intensity). Total emissions decline when farmers combine FLW reduction with (a) reducing emissions in the supply chain through improved practices or technologies (such as more efficient energy use), or (b) reducing agricultural production, a strategy that is relevant where farmers are constrained by high input costs (e.g. fertilizer, livestock feed, electricity) or face limited markets for their products (Kendall, 2000). Lipinski et al. (2013) estimate that higher production needs due to FLW generate 3,300-5,600 million Mt of unnecessary greenhouse gas emissions annually. This theory is relevant when producers are financially strained by the cost of inputs or cannot produce sufficient amounts of food after FLW occurs.Second, decomposition of lost or wasted food releases methane, nitrous oxide, and CO2, so decreasing FLW may reduce emissions from this route as well. However, even if consumed, food decomposes in humans and ultimately produces carbon dioxide, methane and indirectly nitrous oxide, so the potential to reduce GHG emissions from decomposition of FLW is salient mainly when FLW decomposes in oxygen-poor conditions, as in a landfill, where methane emissions are much higher than they would be if food were consumed. This report considers GHG reductions resulting only from efficiency in the food supply chain the first of these two paths.Food loss and waste at each stage of the value chain leaves less food available in each subsequent stage, causing large cumulative reductions in food available for consumption. This cascade also affects actors all along the value chain (Figure 1). For example, losses at harvest leave fewer products for processors. All stakeholders in the value chain therefore share a profit motive to minimize loss (Sheahan & Barrett 2016).  Input choice. Interventions influencing producers' input choices strive to promote preharvesting decisions that lead to a reduction in losses at later stages (HLPE 2014). Farmers have many means of affecting production through input choice. Producers may reduce food loss by selecting seed varieties that: a) result in products that last longer after harvest (Pessu et al. 2011, Prusky 2011); b) yield a marketable product even under challenging growing conditions, including climate change (e.g. species or varieties that tolerate heat, drought or salinity); or c) attain or retain desirable quality attributes that increase the likelihood of consumption (e.g., color, texture, taste) (HLPE 2014). In animal production, input breed selection and genetic considerations can reduce incidence of disease or malformations, reducing food loss (Stear et al. 2001). Providing shade could also reduce heat stress or nutrient-rich food sources are also ways to affect animal health and productivity through input choices.Harvesting. Carefully designed planting and harvesting calendars can help farmers time harvest to maximize shelf life, such as using ambient conditions to reduce moisture in grains before harvest (Prusky 2011, Paulsen et al. 2015). Improved physical handling during harvest can reduce losses due to deterioration of produce. For example, mangos harvested with cutting poles reduced the frequency of latex burns on fruits (Bonicet 2013). Training field workers to reduce mechanical damages during harvest also reduces losses (Prusky 2011, Paulsen et al. 2015), so Paulsen et al. (2015) recommend that handlers attend seminars to hone their skills before operating mechanized equipment and processers. In the livestock sector, improved training of dairy farmers in milk handling practices reduces product contamination and microbial spoilage (Lore et al. 2005). Sorting recently harvested produce to separate damaged crops from undamaged crops also reduces loss (Pessu et al. 2011).Humidity gauges indicate optimal moisture levels for produce at harvesting time and can thus reduce the incidence of mold and rot (Hell et al. 2010).Processing. Processing includes transforming a product into a longer-lasting form (Lore et al. 2005), for example by converting milk to value-added products such as butter, yogurt, and cheese or drying produce to achieve moisture levels ideal for storage (Hell et al. 2010). Lore et al. (2015) explain the importance of training handlers in milk hygiene. For rice and beans, processing improvements include proper drying in preparation for storage (Rani et al. 2013).Reducing contamination during processing (Karlovsky et al., 2016) also reduces spoilage.Storage. The location and physical micro-environment of products during storage impacts FLW. Physical containers, such as plastic crates, off-ground basins, silos, and triple bags, reduce FLW by limiting contamination, product deterioration, and predation by pests (De Groote et al. 2013, Lipinski et al. 2013, Baoua et al. 2014). In many areas, storage conditions are poor, including the absence of appropriate refrigeration and cooling structures for dairy and meat products (Lore et al. 2005). Maintenance of the cold chain from harvest to retail reduces spoilage of fruits and vegetables (Prusky, 2011). Innovative cooling mechanisms, such as low-to no-energy refrigerators, require less mechanical input (Lipinski et al., 2013) and so should be considered in development initiatives. Finally, packaging improvements can reduce FLW by maintaining product quality through storage and shipment to retail (Opara & Mditshwa, 2013). Proper packaging can also contribute to hygiene during food handling and promote longer shelf-life of food products (Opara & Mditshwa, 2013).Transportation. FLW in the transport or shipping of products between PHL phases, and to retail, can be reduced through local infrastructure improvements such as feeder roads that connect markets and agricultural centers (Beddington et al. 2012, Bahadur et al. 2016).Another promising option is collection centers, centralized hubs where products or commodities can be consolidated for processors to pick up before retail (Lore et al. 2005).Modifying transportation procedures, such as hauling during the cool part of the day, can also reduce losses (Pessu et al. 2011).Reducing FLW is an under-used approach for combating climate change. A literature review conducted in late 2016 revealed only 23 studies that addressed GHG emissions resulting from either food loss or food waste or both. Some studies provided global estimates of all FLW, and others made regional-or country-level estimates for specific value chain phases (See Appendix 1). Only one article presented primary FLW data; the other 22 papers relied on preexisting studies or data. The single paper presenting primary data focused on two crops in one region in Brazil (Goldsmith et al. 2015). Seven of the eight studies with global FLW-driven GHG emission estimates relied on FAO country estimates, although the reworking and application of the data varied. The research team gathered estimates of FLW (or PHL since FLW and PHL were used interchangeably in some projects) from implementing partners during semi-structured interviews; the team did not make primary measurements. Individuals interviewed had significant experience working in the targeted value chains in these countries.USAID defines food losses as occurring from field to market (MacCartee 2013). When asked, interviewees emphasized the USAID definition, which includes production (harvest and input selection), processing, and storage losses. The research team asked managers to estimate the percentage of FLW ex ante with and without project interventions and to describe the practices involved in securing FLW reductions. In most instances, FLW data was collected through qualitative surveys and interviews and had already been shared in official project reporting to USAID. In a few instances, project managers developed quantitative surveys to measure reductions in FLW.In addition to conducting interviews, the project team reviewed and coded project documents, including work plans, websites, and annual and quarterly monitoring reports. This content analysis provided information on the breadth of FLW interventions and enabled identification of key terms for interventions based on phases, for example \"threshing\" is a processing intervention, and \"covered silo\" is a storage intervention.The team calculated the per unit impact of FLW interventions as the change in FLW with interventions compared to business-as-usual (BAU) (Equation 1). The total FLW in both cases is a function of the total yield and the percentage FLW, given the estimated amount of product lost per ha or per head of livestock per year.\uD835\uDC6D\uD835\uDC73\uD835\uDC7E \uD835\uDC8A\uD835\uDC8E\uD835\uDC91\uD835\uDC82\uD835\uDC84\uD835\uDC95 = (\uD835\uDC6D\uD835\uDC73\uD835\uDC7E \uD835\uDC70\uD835\uDC8F\uD835\uDC95\uD835\uDC86\uD835\uDC93\uD835\uDC97\uD835\uDC86\uD835\uDC8F\uD835\uDC95\uD835\uDC8A\uD835\uDC90\uD835\uDC8F \uD835\uDC99 \uD835\uDC9A\uD835\uDC8A\uD835\uDC86\uD835\uDC8D\uD835\uDC85 \uD835\uDC70\uD835\uDC8F\uD835\uDC95\uD835\uDC86\uD835\uDC93\uD835\uDC97\uD835\uDC86\uD835\uDC8F\uD835\uDC95\uD835\uDC8A\uD835\uDC90\uD835\uDC8F ) − (\uD835\uDC6D\uD835\uDC73\uD835\uDC7E \uD835\uDC69\uD835\uDC68\uD835\uDC7C \uD835\uDC99 \uD835\uDC9A\uD835\uDC8A\uD835\uDC86\uD835\uDC8D\uD835\uDC85 \uD835\uDC69\uD835\uDC68\uD835\uDC7C )Implementing partners of selected projects provided information, data, and estimates on adoption rates of improved agricultural practices and annual yields. The research team then estimated GHG emissions and carbon sequestration associated with the BAU and improved agricultural practices using the Ex-Ante carbon balance tool (EX-ACT) developed by FAO using tier 1 guidelines (Bernoux et al. 2010, Bockel et al. 2013, Grewer et al. 2016), or using other methods if they were more appropriate for that value chain (Grewer et al. 2016).Uncertainties associated with these estimates can range from 30-50%; for nitrous oxide emissions from fertilizer use the uncertainty can be as high as 300%. Despite these uncertainties, EX-ACT represents the accepted state of the science and provides a comparable tool to other regions or studies. EX-ACT was selected based on its ability to account for a variety of GHGs, practices, and environments. Additional details on the method for deriving emission intensity and practice-based estimates can be found in Grewer et al. (2016). When accounting for the emission implications of FLW, our estimates only included the GHG impact of production of the lost or wasted food, not emissions resulting from its decomposition. Further, FLW studies do not lend themselves to assessing long-term sequestration of carbon. This work, and most work in FLW, does not account for the possibility of increased emissions introduced by new processing methods, storage, or transportation interventions.This study surveyed the types of FLW interventions within selected projects to examine opportunities for low emissions development, and results reflect several methodological constraints. First, in most instances the estimates and intervention descriptions used are based on the expert judgment of the projects' implementing partners and were not independently verified. Second, the report reviewed only losses in the quantity of product -the physical decrease in product available, measured by weight or volume. Third, researchers did not provide a specific time horizon for storage to ensure uniformity of data. Finally, the study and interviews focused on climate change mitigation as a whole, the study focused on value chains with opportunities for significant GHG emission reductions (most often in the livestock, rice, and maize sectors) and carbon sequestration (perennials and agroforestry), rather than value chains with high FLW opportunities.In addition, GHG estimation methods used in this paper did not account for the possibility of increased emissions resulting from new processing methods, storage, or transportation interventions, which could offset emission reductions. For instance, improvements in the dairy cold chain could increase GHG emissions due to increased electricity usage, or an established cold chain could encourage and promote increased dairy production. Changes in handling and packaging could improve hygiene during food handling and promote longer shelf-life of food products, but they also may lead to more waste. Finally, this research did not attempt to quantify the GHG implications of transportation interventions.The team identified 13 Feed the Future projects that had the potential for GHG emissions mitigation through FLW (Table 1).  • ACCESO (Honduras) studied twelve varieties of yellow onions to determine which variety had the longest shelf life and exhibited most resistance to diseases.• LPIN (Bangladesh) hosted training events for livestock producers on techniques for selecting fit, healthy animals for slaughter.• MARKETS II (Nigeria) promoted farmer selection of cocoa varieties that have better disease and pest resistance qualities and characteristics desired by buyers.• RDCP (Rwanda) identified livestock genetic qualities and breeding decisions that promote productive and healthy animals. This intervention also considered financial sustainability, accessibility of knowledge and practices, and feasibility of implementing decisions.Harvesting • ACCESO (Honduras) promoted use of a planting and harvesting calendar to help farmers time their harvest to maximize revenue and shelf life.• Chanje (Haiti) promoted use of cutting poles during harvesting to reduce damage to mangos from latex burns on the fruits, thus decreasing the market rejection rate.• MARKETS II (Nigeria) supported use of wooden mallets instead of piercing knives for cocoa bean harvest to reduce beans' exposure to diseases and other contaminants. • AGP-AMDe (Ethiopia) improved the ability of the Ethiopian Commodity Exchange to evaluate and grade the quality of green coffee beans and document product traceability.• Chanje (Haiti) supported new techniques to dry mangos and add value to other export-bound products, in partnership with the farmer association ADAIM.• CPM (Uganda) provided farmers with equipment needed for processing, including bean threshers, cleaning tools, and tarpaulins.• MARKETS II (Nigeria) developed interventions and techniques for fish processing at larger scales, including smoking and drying methods, based on recommendations and needs of fish producers and processors to scale-up their operations.• RDCP (Rwanda) developed potential areas of investments for dairy processing, including value-added products that process milk. • ADVANCE (Ghana) introduced training to demonstrate construction of improved storage silos that are made by hand using locally available, often natural, materials.• AGP-AMDe (Ethiopia) leveraged the accessibility of portable bag-stitching machines for processors to enable increased storage efficiency that minimizes waste.• Camel Milk (Ethiopia) provided containers for more hygienic milk storage.• Chanje (Haiti) promoted improved storage and transportation structures, such as plastic crates, to decrease bruising and blemishes of fresh products such as mangos.• FED (Liberia) hosted training sessions on the construction and feasibility of lowenergy refrigeration facilities and charcoal-based cool storage units.• FED (Liberia) supported training on pest control methods, including fabrication of rat guards to minimize disease, contamination, and product loss.• KAVES (Kenya) promoted a hermetic storage bag technology to store maize for personal use at home.Transportation. Many interventions in the transportation stage were also applicable at the storage stage, as it is economical and efficient for storage solutions to also be safe and efficient for transport. Some transportation interventions noted the importance of wellmaintained and accessible roadways and systems to connect various value chain stakeholders.A few interventions focused on strategically located collection and distribution centers, in order to facilitate access by a substantial number of producers, processors, and distributors.• Camel Milk (Ethiopia) identified a shortcoming of temperature-controlled storage and transport systems, denoting a need for cold-chain interventions.• Chanje (Haiti) introduced pack frames that safely store and protect products during transport on the backs of donkeys. This was especially useful in locations inaccessible to vehicles.• Chanje (Haiti) facilitated infrastructure development, including road restoration, with financial support from development partners.• KAVES (Kenya) supported collection centers that increased milk storage capacity.Data from interventions in dairy, maize, rice, vegetables, and other products show that the percentages of FLW and the impacts of interventions varied greatly by product (Table 2).Overall, most agricultural supply chains involved a range of FLW interventions (Table 3) with large reductions in overall FLW.• Dairy. Food loss reduction estimates varied greatly among the dairy projects in the study. As shown in Table 2, FLW estimates ranged from 5-50% in the BAU approach and declined 4-10% as a result of intervention. CMVCD and RDCP both estimated Although all four projects promoted practices to reduce FLW in multiple stages of the value chain (production, processing, and storage), CMVCD and RDCP estimated much higher existing levels of food loss than PIN and KAVES.• Maize. Projects estimated that existing FLW rates of 5-30% for maize could be reduced to 3-17% with project interventions. ADVANCE II estimated the largest change in FLW, a 20-percentage point reduction, partially due to improved storage from construction of new silos.• Vegetables. Projects estimated that BAU of FLW for vegetables ranged from 18-38%, and may be decreased to 5-20% through project interventions. Estimates varied widely, based on crop and level of market development. HARVEST estimated a 20% reduction in FLW due to dramatic improvements in PHL handling. Chanje and ACCESO aimed to reduce FLW of vegetables through improved storage and transportation.• Rice. Projects estimated that BAU for FLW of 13-30% in rice could be reduced to 3-22% due to project interventions. HARVEST estimated the greatest reduction (20%)in FLW, attributing it to interventions in storage and processing (drying). MARKETS II estimated little change (2.5%) in FLW as it focused on milling of rice as well as loss in other crops.• Market goods. The remaining products cover a variety of foods, including fruits, perennials, legumes, and grains. Estimated BAU of FLW ranged from 1-30% and are reduced to 0-16% through project interventions.     Agricultural development projects adopted FLW activities as part of a strategy to increase food security. Ex ante emission estimates suggest reducing FLW may offer a significant and under-utilized opportunity for increasing productivity and mitigating greenhouse gas emissions, two pillars of climate-smart agriculture. Because reducing FLW leaves more food available for consumption and sale, while also reducing GHG emissions, it decouples trajectories of economic growth and GHG emissions.The Feed the Future projects examined by this study also illustrate how climate-smart agricultural development can increase food security -the primary objective for which these projects were designed -by increasing effective food or product availability after FLW and decreasing emission intensity. Our analysis also shows that market-based approaches can achieve both FLW and emission reductions. This study, as most FLW studies, does not account for the possibility of increased emissions introduced by new processing methods, storage, or transportation interventions that could be estimated with full life cycle analyses.Using a broader framework for FLW analyses could expand the range of project interventions, for example to efficiently cool and transport, while accounting for potential additions in emissions from increased fuel use. We expect that emission intensity from interventions will remain lower than the business-as-usual development trajectory, even in a life-cycle analysis perspective.Cost-effective reductions in FLW benefit actors throughout the value chain, beginning with the producers. Small changes in FLW can have large impacts on food security among smallholder farmers and dairy producers. At the regional and national scales, reduced FLW Agricultural Growth Project and trace the quality and grading of green coffee beans, which led to more profitability and higher revenue on the market. By partnering with over fifty wheat smallholder cooperatives, AGP promoted sorting and processing technology for wheat threshing which decreased the amount and frequency of wheat loss. Finally, the project leveraged the access to machines that can portably stitch bags for storage of the products"}

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+{"metadata":{"gardian_id":"3a6e99570113ac6ce162fc1adb8acdf2","source":"gardian_index","url":"https://repository.cimmyt.org/server/api/core/bitstreams/9da4499a-e119-4949-bf09-8355da9a87d1/content","id":"-1983969087"},"keywords":[],"sieverID":"8178c5e4-f9d1-4128-98b0-52b0067b2ab7","content":"Breeding material generated: 2521 F1 (simple and top), 8042 F2-F5 selected bulk pops, 89828 F6/F7 progeny rows, 30392 advanced lines, 9540 entries in yield trial (2 reps) and 1092 entries in yield trials (3 reps, 6 management) 2. Ten locations used in selection process: • Five in Mexico (Cd. Obregon, Toluca, El Batan, Aqua Fria and Mexicali) • Two in Africa (Njoro, Kenya and Kulumsa, Ethiopia) • Three in BISA, India (for phenotyping and selection by all national partners) 3. From above, nurseries and trials prepared and shipped to India for 2017-18 cycle I: Bread wheat improvement: high yielding, heat tolerant germplasm with other India relevant traits Germplasm provided in 2017-18 cycle No. of lines 283 277 157 136 1099 116 sets of international trials/nurseries having 1099 lines to 30 centres. All germplasm shared through ICAR-IIWBRGrain yield of 8.67 t/ha obtained in 2017 2.0 2.6 3.2 3.8 4.4 5.0 5.6 6.2 6.8 7.4 8.0 8.6 9.2 9.8 2.3 2.9 3.5 4.1 4.7 5.3 5.9 6.5 7.1 7.7 8.3 8.9 9.5 2.0 2.6 3.2 3.8 4.4 5.0 5.6 6.2 6.8 7.4 8.0 8.6 9.2 9.8 2.3 2.9 3.5 4.1 4.7 5.3 5.9 6.5 7.1 7.7 8.3 8.9 9.5 Pusa 0 50 100 2.0 2.6 3.2 3.8 4.4 5.0 5.6 6.2 6.8 7.4 8.0 8.6 9.2 9.8 2.3 2.9 3.5 4.1 4.7 5.3 5.9 6.5 7.1 7.7 8.3 8.9 9.5 2.0 2.6 3.2 3.8 4.4 5.0 5.6 6.2 6.8 7.4 8.0 8.6 9.2 9.8 2.3 2.9 3.5 4.1 4.7 5.3 5.9 6.5 7.1 7.7 8.3 8.9 9.5 Ludhiana 2.0 2.6 3.2 3.8 4.4 5.0 5.6 6.2 6.8 7.4 8.0 8.6 9.2 9.8 2.3 2.9 3.5 4.1 4.7 5.3 5.9 6.5 7.1 7.7 8.3 8.9 9.5 2.0 2.6 3.2 3.8 4.4 5.0 5.6 6.2 6.8 7.4 8.0 8.6 9.2 9.8 2.3 2.9 3.5 4.1 4.7 5.3 5.9 6.5 7.    "}

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+{"metadata":{"gardian_id":"3979439a35ff338451352f63c35ba86a","source":"gardian_index","url":"https://cgspace.cgiar.org/rest/bitstreams/5f6a7c85-867a-41a7-9caf-2e6aba01c540/retrieve","id":"1224907282"},"keywords":["hermetic technologies","insects","maize landraces","seed germination","storage losses"],"sieverID":"823c8448-b517-4e0c-a606-cfa3adc67453","content":"In Mexico, smallholder farmers produce locally adapted maize varieties, generally called landraces, for food. They participate in the conservation of landraces by selecting and storing their seeds from one production cycle to another, but are facing challenges such as storage losses caused by insects (mainly Sitophilus zeamais and Prostephanus truncatus) and climate change. In the current study, the effectiveness of the conventional storage practices of farmers in the highlands of Mexico (polypropylene woven bags) in minimizing storage losses and maintaining seed germination was compared with hermetic storage technologies. After six and three months of storage, the percentage of insect damage and weight loss was highest in samples stored in polypropylene woven bags, reaching 61.4% and 23.4% after six months of storage. On the contrary, with hermetic technologies, storage losses were minimal, with maximums of 4.1% and 2.2% for insect damage and weight loss, respectively. Overall, the germination rate of samples stored in these airtight containers was greater than 90%. The results of this study demonstrate the potential of hermetic technologies in preserving the biodiversity of maize seed landraces and strengthening smallholders' food security.Mexico is a center of origin, domestication and diversity for maize, a major crop that contributes to the livelihoods of millions of people [1,2]. Maize landraces-heirloom varieties created through farmer selection over hundreds of years-are key to food sovereignty and cultural identity in Mexico and Latin America [3][4][5]. Smallholder farmers in Mexico grow landraces for food, as their grain quality is often preferred for popular dishes and they are sometimes better adapted to local environmental conditions and rainfed agriculture [5][6][7]. Farmers play an important role in preserving maize landrace diversity through their historical and cultural identification of maize as a primary crop, as well as their land use, selection of traits, and seed exchanges through social networks [8]. The in situ conservation of landrace diversity allows landraces to evolve in their original areas of distribution, influenced by farmers' selection and environmental factors [5].At the same time, maize landraces face serious threats, including global warming, low productivity, and high levels of postharvest loss under farmers' conventional storage conditions [9,10]. Losses in the quantity and quality of grain and seed under storage have been estimated to be as high as 60% in lowland conditions under common on-farm storage technologies, which include the use of polypropylene woven bags with or without aluminum phosphide tablets [10]. Postharvest insect pests are the main cause of losses in dry maize, particularly the maize weevil Sitophilus zeamais (Motschulsky) (Coleoptera: Curculionidae), the large grain borer Prostephanus truncatus (Horn) (Coleoptera: Bostrichidae), and the Angoumois grain moth Sitotroga cerealella (Olivier) (Lepidoptera: Gelechiidae) [11]. Hermetically sealed grain storage technologies, including hermetic metal silos and hermetic bags, can minimize losses from storage pests [10,12], constraining or killing the insects through oxygen depletion and a subsequent increase in carbon dioxide [13]. However, hermetic containers are generally not available for many smallholders. Odjo et al. [10] demonstrated the effectiveness of other sealed storage alternatives in Mexico, including recycled containers (plastic bottles or plastic barrels) that may be a good fit for smallholder farmers for preserving grain and seed quantity and quality [10,14]. In a following study, Odjo et al. [14] also demonstrated that hermetic technologies including recycled containers can preserve seed quality in Mexico by maintaining a low-equilibrium relative humidity and seed dryness, as well as limiting oxygen availability during storage and minimizing grain quality loss.The International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) has been promoting hermetic technologies for storage in smallholders' farming systems in Mexico within the framework of the Integrated Agri-food Systems Initiative (IASI) [15,16]. This approach, implemented through the innovation hub model, goes beyond introducing innovation and has a strong focus on knowledge exchange and co-creation with farmers to achieve sustainable and systemic change [17]. During interactions with farmers, a decrease in the germination of maize landrace seeds stored in hermetic technologies was reported. Some local experts suggest the percussion of seeds before sowing, or allowing the seed to \"breathe\" outside the container for anywhere from three days to two weeks before sowing to increase germination rate [18].A decrease in germination for seeds stored in hermetic containers has been reported for seeds with moisture content over 13% (wet basis). Adhikarinayake et al. [19] reported a decrease in seed viability in paddy rice stored under hermetic conditions at 14.1% moisture content, citing the combined effects of oxygen depletion and increased carbon dioxide and moisture content. Moreno-Martinez et al. [20] also reported lower germination in maize seed stored in hermetic containers at 15% moisture, citing the effect of low oxygen levels on seed embryos. Seed quality includes germination rate, viability, and longevity, and is generally affected by three main factors: seed moisture content, temperature, and the relative humidity of the storage environment. High oxygen levels are also associated with seed viability declines; mainly due to oxidative processes, particularly in seed stored at high moisture contents [21]. Storing low moisture content seed using hermetic technologies allows the preservation of seed quality by maintaining a low-equilibrium relative humidity and seed dryness, as well as limiting oxygen availability during storage [22][23][24][25]. However, there is a lack of evidence on the effect of different storage technologies, as well as the suggested seed treatments, on maize landrace seed germination.This study evaluates the effects of storage technologies (polypropylene woven bags vs. hermetic storage technologies) on maize landraces in the central highlands of Mexico, specifically, on major insect pests (S. zeamais, P. truncatus, and S. cerealella), kernel damage, and seed germination, as well as whether germination rate is affected by seed treatments (percussion and delaying sowing after opening hermetic technologies).On-farm storage experiments were established in 2019 at the experiment station of CIMMYT at El Batán Texcoco, the State of Mexico, Mexico (2282 m above sea level), for three and six months. Seeds of the four Mexican landraces used were sourced locally and grown on the station following identical agronomic practices (date of sowing, fertilization, pest managements, date of harvest). Harvested kernels were dried and stored as follows (Table 1): (1) polypropylene woven bags (PP) (farmers' conventional storage practices) and (2) hermetically sealed containers, either the GrainPro Hermetic SuperGrainbag ® Premium RZ (GrainPro Inc, Washington, USA; bags obtained from the official Mexican representative), a hermetic bag with a zip system, or plastic bottles. GrainPro hermetic bags are made of high-strength polyethylene plastic with barrier layers, while plastic bottles are made of polyethylene terephthalate (PET). These materials have low oxygen permeability in comparison with polypropylene woven bags. Michiels et al. [26] reported the rate of dioxygen permeability measured at a relative humidity of 50% and a temperature of 23 • C for polypropylene materials between 50 and 100 cm 3 .mm.m −2 .day −1 .atm −1 , while polyethylene plastics have values of dioxygen permeability between 0.5 and 5 cm 3 .mm.m −2 .day −1 .atm −1 . As reported by Odjo et al. [14], hermetic bags were used in combination with polypropylene woven bags as recommended by the provider for additional protection. Plastic bottles that were recycled water and soda containers were used for some of the varieties with low productivity, as farmers generally store 2 kg of seed. Both hermetic bags and plastic bottles were checked for any damage/perforation by inflating them. After filling with kernels, the hermetic bags were sealed with a zip system while the plastic bottles were sealed with their original cap wrapped with tape to minimize oxygen entry. The containers were randomly arranged on a wooden pallet platform with three replicates per storage technology for each storage time.The landraces used were of white, yellow, blue, and pink grain and with flotation indices (an indirect parameter of grain hardness determined by counting the number of floating grains after six strokes of mild stirring of 100 grains in a sodium nitrate solution with a specific density of 1.25 g mL −1 ) values varying from 34 to 80% (Table 1). Based on this parameter and the Mexican norm NMX-FF-034/1-SCFI-2002 [27], their endosperm hardness was intermediate (Magdalena and VC Rosado), hard (VC Amarillo) and soft (SJR Azul). Hermetic bags were used in comparison with polypropylene woven bags for Magdalena and VC Amarillo, while plastic bottles were used for VC Rosado and SJR Azul, since they have low productivity and farmers generally store around 2 kg of seed [28].Before storage, moisture content was measured using a hand-held grain moisture tester (John Deere Moisture Check Plus Grain Moisture, IL, USA), calibrated using the manufacturer's recommendations. Average moisture content varied between 10.0 and 12.6% on a wet basis (Table 1). After cleaning and before filling the storage containers, three representative samples of approximately 500 g were obtained to measure insect damage, referring to kernels with perforations or galleries caused by insect feeding. Insect damage before storage varied from 0.6 to 4.0% for the different varieties evaluated. The numbers of live insects that come from natural infestation in the field and were present in the samples were counted. The insect species considered are the most important in Mexico [11]: S. zeamais, P. truncatus, and S. cerealella. Generally, there was fewer than 1 live insect per 500 g of sample, prior to storage (Table 1).Three representative samples free of pests were also collected and stored at −18 • C for further seed analyses. After three and six months, the storage containers were opened, and three representative samples were collected from the top, middle, and bottom of each container using hand scoops. The seed moisture content and percentage of insect damage were measured using the method described above. The \"weight loss\" parameter, which refers to kernel loss during the storage period from insect feeding, was also estimated as per Boxall [29].Germination tests were performed on initial samples defrosted over one night at room temperature and samples without apparent damage collected after three and six months of storage, with or without percussion treatment. Samples without percussion were kept in open plastic jars at room temperature.Intended to create an abrasive effect on the seed pericarp and facilitate water imbibition, the percussion treatment was applied to approximately 100 g for 5 min just before the germination assay, using a device equipped with aluminum US standard testing sieve pans and adapted with a Power Electric motor, CPG1446RB1A (Mexico), at 1725 rpm, resulting in approximately 270 oscillations per minute. Germination assays were performed on the seeds obtained (no percussion, percussion) using the rolled paper towel seed germination test of CIMMYT [30] at 1, 3, 7, and 15 days after opening the storage containers. Fifty seeds without apparent damage were randomly selected and placed on the upper halves of moist filters or blotter paper towels (50 × 25 cm) and incubated in a seed incubator at 90% relative humidity, alternating between 12 h at 30 • C in light and 12 h at 20 • C in the dark, for 7 days, based on the 1985 recommendations of the International Seed Testing Association (ISTA). Germinated seeds were visually checked every day and \"normal\" and \"abnormal seedlings\" were counted by experienced lab technicians, meaning those that showed or did not show potential for continued development into satisfactory plants when grown in good soil under optimum conditions [30]. After 7 days, seeds that did not germinate were dissected longitudinally through the embryo and soaked in a 1% tetrazolium solution at 30 • C for 120 min as described by Warham et al. [30]. Through observation with an optical microscope, a seed is considered viable when at least 1/3 of the scutellum as well as the radicle are red-stained. The percentages of non-germinated viable and non-germinated non-viable seeds were determined with the counting of viable and non-viable seeds. All seed germination parameters (normal seedlings, abnormal seedlings, germination, nongerminated viable seeds, non-germinated non-viable seeds) were expressed as a percentage of all fifty seeds tested.Statistical analyses of data collected were performed using R version 4.0.3. Data were first summarized as means and standard deviations. For the count data (numbers of live S. zeamais, P. truncatus and S. cerealella), a 95% Poisson confidence interval of the mean was estimated using the R package (\"DescTools\").Beta regression was used to evaluate the effect of storage technologies, maize varieties, storage time, and their interactions on moisture content, percentage of insect damage, and weight loss, as well as to gauge the effect of storage technology, maize variety, storage time, seed treatment, number of days before the germination assay, and their interactions on the percentages of normal seedlings and abnormal seedlings [31]. All beta regressions were performed with the R package \"mgcv\" using the logit link as a link function. The parameters \"storage technology\", \"maize variety\", \"storage time\", and \"seed treatment\" were considered as factors. The reference factors considered for each model were the \"polypropylene woven bag\" for storage technology, which is the common farmer practice; \"Magdalena Texcoco\" for maize variety, with white landraces being the area's most popular maize variety; \"three months of storage\" for storage time and parameter, given that farmers store their harvests for at least three months [10]; and \"no percussion\" for the seed treatment parameter. Only two-way interactions have been considered within regression models to facilitate interpretation.Principal component analysis (PCA) was performed using the R package \"FactoMineR\" to evaluate relationships between postharvest parameters, including kernel moisture content and temperature at the end of the storage period, percentages of insect damage and kernels without damage, weight loss, numbers of live S. zeamais, live P. truncatus and live S. cerealella, and seed germination parameters (percentages of germination, normal seedlings, abnormal seedlings, non-germinated viable seeds, non-germinated non-viable seeds). Only final values for these parameters after 3 and 6 months of storage were used for the PCA.The main species of live insect counted was P. truncatus, followed by S. zeamais and S. cerealella. The highest numbers of insects were found in samples from the polypropylene woven bags, particularly after six months of storage. Magdalena and VC Rosado were the most highly infested maize varieties, particularly by P. truncatus, which was the most encountered living insect (Figure 1). The number of live insects of the three pest species in seed stored using hermetic containers varied between 0 and 2 insects per 500 g of seed, as shown by the 95% Poisson confidence intervals (Figure 1). In contrast, confidence intervals for seed stored using polypropylene woven bags were highly variable and depended on the maize variety and storage time. The upper estimates of the confidence intervals were as high as 9.5, 277.9, and 3.4 insects per 500 g of seed for S. zeamais, P. truncatus and S. cerealella, respectively (Figure 1).Kernel moisture content overall varied between 8.4 and 13.4% (Table 2). There were fluctuations between initial and final moisture content regardless of the storage technologies, particularly after six months of storage. Insect damage varied between 0.6 and 61.4%, while weight loss ranged from 0.2 to 20.1%, with heavy damage on kernels stored in polypropylene woven bags. Independently of the variety, insect damage was particularly severe after 6 months of storage and up to 14 times higher than after 3 months (and an average increase from 12.9 to 51.9% for polypropylene woven bags, with that increase in storage time). However, VC Amarillo, the variety with a hard endosperm, had the lowest insect damage and weight loss values after six months of storage using polypropylene woven bags while the most infested landraces were VC Rosado and SJR Azul. Kernel damage was particularly low with samples stored using hermetic technologies, whatever the variety or storage time, with weight losses from 0.2 to 1.2% and the same trend for insect damage. Hermetic storage minimized weight losses, whereas high weight losses occurred with polypropylene woven bags for all landraces, and particularly after 6 months of storage. Kernel moisture content overall varied between 8.4 and 13.4% (Table 2). There were fluctuations between initial and final moisture content regardless of the storage technologies, particularly after six months of storage. Insect damage varied between 0.6 and 61.4%, while weight loss ranged from 0.2 to 20.1%, with heavy damage on kernels stored in polypropylene woven bags. Independently of the variety, insect damage was particularly severe after 6 months of storage and up to 14 times higher than after 3 months (and an average increase from 12.9 to 51.9% for polypropylene woven bags, with that increase in storage time). However, VC Amarillo, the variety with a hard endosperm, had the lowest insect damage and weight loss values after six months of storage using polypropylene woven bags while the most infested landraces were VC Rosado and SJR Azul. Kernel damage was particularly low with samples stored using hermetic technologies, whatever the variety or storage time, with weight losses from 0.2 to 1.2% and the same trend for Percentages of normal seedlings after 3 and 6 months of storage 1 day after opening the containers varied between 6.7 and 87.7%, while percentages of abnormal seedlings varied between 11.3 and 86.0% (Table 3), with these two parameters presenting opposite trends and a significant effect of variety. In some cases, the percentages of normal seedlings after storage were higher in comparison with the initial values. Overall, increasing storage time from 3 to 6 months had a negative impact on the percentage of normal seedlings (and the opposite for the percentage of abnormal seedlings). However, storing seed in hermetic containers positively impacted the percentage of normal seedlings after 6 months of storage, compared to storage using polypropylene woven bags (Table 3). Overall, applying percussion as a seed treatment did not have a significant effect (Table 3), but applying it after 6 months of storage seemed to have a negative impact on the percentage of normal seedlings. Delaying germination and aerating seed for 3, 7 or 15 days did not significantly affect the percentage of normal and abnormal seedlings (Supplementary Table S1). The percentages of non-germinated viable seeds and non-germinated non-viable seeds were very low, except in two cases when percussion was applied for grain stored using polypropylene woven bags (Supplementary Table S1). In general, post-storage seed germination rates were high (average > 90%) for all the storage technologies and maize landraces, regardless of seed treatment (Supplementary Table S1). The PCA identified three components with eigenvalues > 1. The first two principal components accounted for 66% of the total variability in results (Supplementary Table S2). The first component, which explained 48% of the total variability, was highly and positively correlated with insect damage, weight loss, and final numbers of live S. zeamais, P. truncatus, and S. cerealella. The first component was negatively correlated with percentage of germination. The second component, which represented 18% of the total variability, was positively correlated with percentage of normal seedlings and kernel temperature, and negatively correlated with percentage of abnormal seedlings (Supplementary Table S2). The number of live S. zeamais, weight loss, and the number of live P. truncatus are the parameters that contributed most to the first component, while percentages of normal and abnormal seedlings are the ones that contributed mainly to the second component (Supplementary Table S2). Overall, the loading plot of variables used for the PCA, using the first two components (Figure 2), showed that postharvest loss parameters contributed the most to component 1, while germination parameters contributed mainly to component 2. The loading plot also highlighted a close association between postharvest loss parameters and the percentage of non-germinated viable seeds. Smallholder farmers in Mexico actively participate in the preservation of maize seed biodiversity through community seed banks [5,8,32]. Hermetic technologies can contribute to seed preservation by protecting the seed during the storage period. This study evaluated the effect of hermetic technologies on postharvest loss parameters and seed germination.There was little variation in kernel moisture content across storage technologies or storage periods, though some significant increases and decreases were observed, particularly after six months of storage. Overall, kernels stored in either hermetic bags or sealed plastic containers had lower moisture content variation than those stored in polypropylene woven bags. These results are similar to those from other experiments in the State of Mexico published by García-Lara et al. [33], who reported an increase in grain moisture content stored using polypropylene sacks. The same results have also been reported for experiments elsewhere [34,35]. These changes are associated with environmental humidity and the failure of polypropylene woven bags to protect grain from external conditions, potentially increasing moisture content or drying stored grain, depending on the environment [36]. The fluctuations in moisture content noticed in hermetic bags, particularly after six months of storage were reported by other authors [24,37] and could be explained by ambient air leaking into the system. Hermetic bags are not perfectly \"impermeable\" and the sealing system (a zip system) of the storage containers could also have an impact on oxygen and moisture fluctuations within the technologies [38]. Fluctuations of moisture content could also be explained by the perforation of bags by insects, particularly P. truncatus, and/or biological activity inside the containers that may lead to condensation due to temperature variation outside the containers [13]. The perforation of hermetic bags by bruchids has been reported in experiments carried out elsewhere [39][40][41] even though the impact on insect damage was not significant. Overall, hermetic technologies with low-permeability barriers help to limit insect damage in comparison with non-hermetic technologies.Samples stored in polypropylene woven bags were highly infested during storage, resulting in high levels of insect damage and weight loss, confirming previous findings for this region of Mexico [10,33]. Storage losses were due to the activities of the main pests, particularly P. truncatus, and favored by the availability of oxygen. However, VC Amarillo, the landrace with the hardest endosperm, seemed less infested by insects. The incidence of these pests in grain inside polypropylene woven bags depends on the landraces and their characteristics, including composition, kernel hardness and vitreousness, and pericarp thickness [42]. The endosperm characteristics are not the only mechanism involved in the resistance to storage insect pests. Previous studies have reported that maize resistance to postharvest insect pests is related to phenolic contents [43,44]. Maize kernel resistance to postharvest pests is based on complex interactions between anatomical, biochemical and genetic factors, and includes antibiosis and antixenosis (physical barriers and phytochemical repellents) effects [42]. Some Mexican landraces, particularly the ones of yellow, blue and pink colors, are known for their high polyphenol and anthocyanins contents [45]. These landraces with high resistance to the main postharvest pests have been identified and could be used to develop improved varieties [46]. However, since farmers' selection of maize varieties also depends on their home consumption strategies [6], it is important to find other strategies to avoid losses during storage. Hermetic technologies, including low-cost alternatives such as recycled containers, e.g., plastic bottles and barrels, minimize insect infestations and weight loss regardless of maize variety in smallholders' farming systems [10].As highlighted by the PCA, there was a negative relationship between increased postharvest loss (high percentage of insect damage, weight loss, and high numbers of live insects) and seed germination. However, post-storage germination data of the pest-free samples stored in polypropylene woven bags were very high, and there was no significant effect of maize variety, storage technology, or storage time. Similar results were found by Odjo et al. [14], who reported high percentages of germination of seed stored using non-hermetic technologies in temperate conditions (>2000 masl). These results could be ascribed to environment, including low relative humidity and ambient temperature [10]. As per Harrington [21], storage conditions including low temperatures and low relative humidity strongly favor increased seed longevity. However, storage in polypropylene woven bags resulted in a loss of seed quantity, as demonstrated by the percentage of insect damage and weight loss recorded, so polypropylene woven bags are not a viable storage strategy for seed biodiversity preservation. Hermetic storage had no detrimental effects on the percentage of germination and applying percussion or delaying the germination assay did not significantly improve it. These results corroborate the findings of García-Lara et al. [33] and Odjo et al. [14] in the central highlands of Mexico and experiments elsewhere [34,[47][48][49]. Hermetic technologies preserve the percentage of seed germination by limiting oxygen availability and maintaining low-equilibrium relative humidity for stored seed, which in turn slows oxidative reactions associated with decreased seed viability [50]. These results are valid over an extended storage time (up to 7 months), as demonstrated by Kuyu et al. [25]. Regarding special treatments, percussion treatments in this study tended to reduce the percentage of normal seedlings. No special treatments were required for a satisfactory germination rate in the case of the maize varieties studied.A decreased germination rate for seed stored using hermetic technologies has been reported and may be associated with the conditions of germination assays, particularly seed moisture content [19,20,51]. Singano et al. [51] reported a low percentage of seed germination (less than 15%) for samples stored using hermetic technologies and associated with high temperatures and moisture content and the airtight conditions. Water availability in hermetic storage can provoke fermentation in the seed, decreasing viability [52]. Seed moisture content at storage in the current study was below 13%, explaining the high germination recorded, and the data presented here confirm that storing dry seed in hermetically sealed containers will not adversely affect seed germination.The percentages of normal seedlings reported in the current study were low. Landraces are generally selected by farmers in Mexico based on ear corn and kernel characteristics for culinary qualities and cultural purposes [1,6]. Participatory breeding programs considering farmers' preferences could help in improving landraces' seed quality and overall productivity, and enhance their in situ conservation [5]. The percentage of normal seedlings for initial samples frozen at −18 • C were sometimes lower than normal seedling values obtained after storage, suggesting freezing injury. This phenomenon has already been described during the storage of high-moisture-content seeds (>15%) [50]. The results presented in the current study suggest that freezing injury could still happen at moisture contents between 10.0 and 12.6% (the moisture contents of the initial materials). Data on the effect of freezing on Mexican seed landraces quality is, however, scarce, and this warrants further investigation. A decrease in the percentage of normal seedlings of seed stored in hermetic containers was sometimes observed and, overall, storage time also had a negative effect on the percentage of normal seedlings. These results are unexpected and contrast with hybrid seeds' germination results from the same area presented by Odjo et al. [14]. This could be associated with seed moisture content, and the results presented in the current study suggest that an additional decrease in moisture content for the landraces studied is required. Seed preservation standards generally recommend drying seed to a critical moisture content below which desiccation injury could occur [53]. According to the results of Bakhtavar et al. [54], only seed with 8% moisture content stored in hermetic containers maintained a satisfactory germination level. Adsorption isotherm studies of these landraces could help to establish the best conditions for their storage. Overall, seed drying, a key preparation prior to storage in hermetic conditions, is important but could be challenging for smallholders, particularly in the highlands or during rainy seasons [55]. Sun drying, particularly at hot times of day, can also reduce seed germination. Low-cost seed dryers or shade drying can be used without detrimental effects on germination [56]. Solutions such as zeolite drying are also safer alternatives that can maintain maize seeds' high viability during storage. These drying solutions combined with the dry chain strategy have been promoted for Guatemala's community seed reserves to preserve seed viability [57].In the case of maize stored for use as seed by smallholder farmers, hermetic technologies can limit damage by postharvest insect pests and minimize storage loss. Quantitative damage was much higher with polypropylene woven bags with high infestation levels of S. zeamais and P. truncatus. Using hermetic technologies, including recycled storage containers such as plastic bottles, did not significantly affect germination rate, and there was no need for additional seed treatments to increase the percentage of germination. These technologies could be promoted for smallholder farmers in Mexico with the appropriate technical support, including properly drying seeds before storage. Facilitating the physical and economical access of smallholders to these technologies and practices so that they can dry and store seed in safe conditions is critical to preserve their seed biodiversity and strength their food security.The following supporting information can be downloaded at: https: //www.mdpi.com/article/10.3390/insects13100878/s1, Table S1: Effect of storage technologies on the percentage of abnormal seedlings, non germinated viable seeds and non germinated non-viable seeds, determined by germination tests after three and six months of storage; Table S2: Eigenvalues, proportions and cumulative proportions obtained with the principal component analysis; variable correlation and contribution to the principal component. Funding: CIMMYT implemented this study as part of the Project \"MasAgro Productor/Cultivos para México\" funded by Secretaría de Agricultura y Desarrollo Rural (SADER). This work is also part of the One-CGIAR initiative AgriLAC with support from W1&W2 donors, including national governments, foundations, development banks, and other public and private agencies. Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the view of the donors mentioned previously.Informed Consent Statement: Not applicable."}

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+{"metadata":{"gardian_id":"39cbf375fd82734719644f0a44e6df1a","source":"gardian_index","url":"https://repository.cimmyt.org/server/api/core/bitstreams/f229dedc-fa26-4930-b019-31bfa84f7447/content","id":"-1278116084"},"keywords":[],"sieverID":"7eb1f9c6-4f4d-4b3c-9ece-5c306fbb3740","content":"The thirteen principles of agroecology span the scientific, social policy and institutional landscape. The slow progress towards AEI can be traced in many cases, not to lack of policies, but effective coordination and implementation gaps. In this six-part bibliographic survey, we review the global landscape on policy coordination issues and related policy theories of change, institutions for agroecology, elements of food systems transformation, agroecological transitions, farming innovations for agroecologically sensitive production, and finally some examples from Africa. The review brings forward at least two critical gaps in the policy intention-implementation gap. The need for overarching agroecological policy theories of change to help coordinate individual policies as well as achieve inter-sectoral coordination.The Need for Agroecology Policy Coordination 1. The challenge of policy coordination https://doi.org/10. 1080/25741292.2018.1437946 Most of the issues, like climate change, that require much involvement of the government, call for coordination. There is no clearcut way of dealing with coordination concerns since its success or failure depends on the context, varying across countries and policy areas. Furthermore, some political systems may place more emphasis on coordination than others, depending on their approach. Policy coordination prevents unnecessary duplication, which could be more costly, and avoids contradicting steps among various organizations. For example, environmental agencies may want to reduce intensive agriculture for the sake of the environment, while the Ministry of Agriculture's target could be increasing productivity. These two moves could at some point be found contradictory despite having good political will. Moreover, policy coordination also ensures that the various changing needs and concerns, such as population growth and climate change, are well taken care of (Peters, 2018).https://doi.org/10.1080/25741292.2018.1540378 Hudson et al. (2019) identified the following causes of policy failure: unrealistic expectations, lack of proper coordination among stakeholders during the making and implementation of policies, and the unpredictability of the political system. Nicholls and Altieri (2018) discovered that the major challenge is the broadening of the gap between promising policies and their implementation towards solving realistic and urgent issues in agroecological transition. Implementation support was found to be crucial since the experiences of the front-liners are brought on board as they are more knowledgeable than national policymakers (Allcock et al., 2015) on the challenge of policy implementation gaps. Capacity building is important as it empowers stakeholders with skills and capabilities to ensure sustainability in countering future implementation challenges (Hudson et al., 2019).https://doi.org/10. 1080/21683565.2018.1499578 Most of the research towards promoting agroecology focuses on social and policy aspects. The major challenge is practising the agroecological principles for soil, water, and biodiversity management to improve productivity and resilience. For agroecological economic sustainability, these principles have to be complemented by policies and harmonized market institutions (Nicholls & Altieri, 2018). However, there is no single policy that fits all, hence combination of complementary policies is necessary to incentivize agroecological transition (Nicholls & Altieri, 2018). Consequently, these policies can create unseen dependencies that may reduce the uptake of agroecology. For example, since credit access may encourage agroecological practices, it may result in more usage of agrochemicals. Nonetheless, there are effective policies that have proven to promote agroecology and Brazil's National School Feeding Program (PNAE) is of such kind. It brought about an economic incentive to small-scale farmers since the policy outlines that 30 percent of food that is procured for schools must be produced by these farmers (Wittman & Blesh, 2017).https://doi.org/10. 1080/13501763.2019.1617334 The extent and degree to which policies are integrated are influenced by how levels of government coordinate (May et al., 2006;Peters, 2015;Tosun and Lang, 2017). Many Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) usually constitute agriculture (FAO, 2017). Inasmuch as ministries play a vital role in policymaking, the Ministry of Agriculture has its own political interests and therefore does not participate in formulating climate policies because it is not consulted. Page (2003) argued that getting solutions that promote every ministry's agenda could enhance coordination between and amongst them. Making coordination look attractive to all the involved ministries is important (Peters, 2015), and if applied in this case, the involvement of the Ministry of Agriculture in making climate policies will promote the agri-climate idea (Schmidt, 2019).Framing the Transition:Policy Theories of Change 1. Large Leaps / Punctuated Equilibrium Theory https://resources.peopleinneed.net/documents/23-pathways-for-change-6-theories-about-how-policy-change-happens.pdf Baumgartner and Jones (1993) hold that right conditions can lead to a huge change from the current situation, although these conditions don't necessarily guarantee change. These conditions can be achieved when: the existing methodologies are questioned in trying to define a problem in a different way or trying to get other aspects of it; there is involvement of different actors; and the problem at hand gets more attention from the public and media. When all of these happen simultaneously, then a large-scale change happens.https://resources.peopleinneed.net/documents/23-pathways-for-change-6-theories-about-how-policy-change-happens.pdf This theory suggests that individuals have basic or primary beliefs which are common to all of them. It suggests that the knowledge of the urgency of the matter at hand, its cause and the people's ability to provide a solution is common to them all. As a result of shared concerns, coordination among these people would bring about policy change. This theory assumes that it is almost impossible to change policies if the group proposing the change doesn't have power (Sabatier & Jenkins-Smith, 1993;Sabatier & Jenkins-Smith ,1999).https://resources.peopleinneed.net/documents/23-pathways-for-change-6-theories-about-how-policy-change-happens.pdf According to Kingdon (1995), whether a matter gets attention or not depends on how the problem is defined, the kind of proposed solutions to the problem and the political environment, and each of these operates independently. The theory suggests that problem definition determines the urgency or priority it receives. People's values and beliefs determines their perceptions of problems.https://resources.peopleinneed.net/documents/23-pathways-for-change-6-theories-about-how-policy-change-happens.pdf Tversky and Kahneman (1981) research revealed that people make choices depending with how the options were framed or presented. Consequently, these choices can be inconsistent-can be of less benefit or riskier than anticipated-depending with the available information.https://resources.peopleinneed.net/documents/23-pathways-for-change-6-theories-about-how-policy-change-happens.pdfThe theory suggests that the power to influence policy change is held by the elites who are always a handful. They may consist of the politicians, leading professionals, religious leaders, senior civil servants and leaders of mass organisations. Therefore, identifying the right people who have the necessary influence for the particular policy matter and building rapport with them is very important to the process of policy change (Domhoff, 1990;Mills, 2000).https://resources.peopleinneed.net/documents/23-pathways-for-change-6-theories-about-how-policy-change-happens.pdf In his book Rules for Radicals, Alinsky (1989) challenges the power elites theory by proposing that power is dynamic and can therefore change, it is not just in the hands of the elites only. Supporters of this theory believe that the affected people, through collective action, can create power. Such effort is usually directed towards changing the existing policies (Alinsky, 1989).https://doi.org/10.1093/bjsw/bcz081According to this theory, institutions do influence political and policy outcomes such that examining past contexts and events can give a reason for the failure or success of a policy change (Skocpol, 1995;Hall and Taylor, 1996). Historical institutionalists explain institutional and policy change as being path dependence. This means that current policy developments are influenced by what policymakers established in the past. This path is often rigid and therefore, any subsequent policy changes can't divert from it but can only be built on it. However, some scholars argue that major disruptions could lead to major institutional hence policy changes, away from the path, but would eventually stabilize (Koning, 2016).https://doi.org/10.1093/bjsw/bcz081The theory suggests that the power to influence policy change is held by the elites who are always a handful. They may consist of the politicians, leading professionals, religious leaders, senior civil servants and leaders of mass organisations. Therefore, identifying the right people who have the necessary influence for the particular policy matter and building rapport with them is very important to the process of policy change (Domhoff, 1990;Mills, 2000). Policy makers then become instruments through which the elites push for their interests.https://doi.org/10.1093/bjsw/bcz081 This theory holds that policy changes are possible with social movements consisting of mass members. Furthermore, policy change requires collective action and therefore it involves working with communities on the ground and helping them form or join groups. This theory suggests that these movements are mostly shaped by political opportunities and challenges around them. The movements bring together and use resources and professional expertise to ensure success in changing policies (McAdam, 1999;McCarthy and Zald, 1977).https://doi.org/10.1093/bjsw/bcz081 This theory proposes that disruptions from an uncooperating social movement can cause changes in policies. However, exercising this kind of power is not so easy because it is usually characterised by the breaking of rules and regulations. This theory contrasts with the resource mobilization theory in that it involves disruptions whereas the latter involves good organization. These social movements defy the status quo causing the power elites to concede and give in to their demands. This is not the case with resource mobilization theory as social movements seek the expertise of elites amicably. Furthermore, this theory is mostly applicable to the marginalised groups (Piven, 2006).The Bog Picture:Institutions for Agroecological 1. Institutionalizing Agroecology in France: Social Circulation Changes the Meaning of an Idea https://doi.org/10.3390/SU10051380 Bellon and Ollivier (2018) demonstrated that the agroecological idea varied in its definition across educational, civic, scientific, policy and economic fields and how this variation affected the institutionalisation of agroecology in France. They defined institutionalisation as the process of making collective action feasible through connections and liaisons between different actors towards a shared concern. This paper concluded that institutionalization of agroecology resulted from the following: presence of actors who had been working in the South; differences between actors and meanings of agroecology; and activities to promote discursive strategies. The implementation and institutionalisation of policies supporting agroecological transition in Brazil, for example, the Brazilian National Plan for Agroecology and Organic Pro-duction (PLANAPO), has of recent gained international attention (Borsatto, Souza-Esquerdo, & Duval, 2022). However, the introduction of a policy paradigm as a result of political changes brought about a dismantling of some of the existing policies whose support towards agroecological transition had yielded meaningful results (Niederle et al., 2022). Just as Bellon and Ollivier (2018), this study recommends the creation of relationships and associations that would promote the reformation of institutions advocating for agroecological policies.https://doi.org/10.1002/uar2.20010The impoverished and food-insecure populations of South African metropoles are a growing concern, and studies reveal that any serious agroecological transition depends on the willingness and means of the state to regulate food systems (Collier & Lakoff, 2015). This dependence relies on premeditated discussions between the government and agroecological movements. Kroll (2021) revealed that the capability of the state to foster agroecological transition is hindered by the disintegration of institutional structures, which is one of the biopolitical techniques to impact the behavior of the population. The study argues that these institutions are full of bureaucracies and is in agreement with (Govender & Reddy, 2015). Food security is under the jurisdiction of national, provincial, and local departments, resulting in priority competition. Moreover, locally, this mandate is left to poorly funded departments that are understaffed and full of political uncertainties. This eventually limits coordination efforts between the levels of governance.https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy10091447This review, which covered two countries-Benin and Burkina Faso-sought to find out the political, economic, individual, institutional, and social factors influencing agroecological production in these nations. The study revealed that regional agricultural policies significantly influence national policies. These two countries, being members of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), have agricultural policies influenced by 'The Agricultural Policy of the Economic Community of West African States' (ECOWAP) (Salifou, 2020). Although these regional policies strive to avoid duplicating efforts in pursuing shared objectives (Salifou, 2020), they don't support agroecology. ECOWAP, for example, prioritizes intensifying agriculture and the intensive usage of chemical inputs (CEDEAO, 2006), and its influence on the formulation of national policies may result in a lack of institutional support for agroecological activities. Despite inadequate support, agroecological initiatives in Burkina Faso and Benin are developing and diversifying and are led by farmers' organizations, NGOs, and research and training faculties. Furthermore, the formation of the Alliance for Agroecology in West Africa aimed to coordinate various stakeholders in the agroecological transition (Tapsoba et al., 2020).1. Understanding Farm Diversity to Promote Agroecological Transitions https://doi.org/10.3390/SU10124337The study was conducted on farms located in Zona da Mata, Minas, Brazil, featuring a diverse range of farmers. Over the past 30 years, various stakeholders have been engaged in agroecological transitions in this region. Brazil is often linked with negative externalities such as social exclusion and rural poverty (Reydon, Fernandes & Telles, 2015). Existing evidence indicates that the progress of agroecological practices is contingent upon farmers having secure land rights (Rosset, 2013).The study delved into the diversification of farms and its implications for agroecological transition. The findings revealed that farmers' management techniques, practices, and principles exhibit variations during agroecological transformations. The acknowledgment of peasant information is crucial in supporting agroecology. Agroecological farmers were found to be affiliated with networks comprising NGOs, farmer's organizations, and universities. The study suggests that merging quantitative and participatory approaches can yield more accurate and meaningful assessments of agroecological transformations. Additionally, agroecological farms have the potential to provide a variety of ecosystem services, as they are associated with increased crop diversity (Teixeira et al., 2018). The recent institutionalization of agroecology into some countries' national policies can be seen as a step towards agroecological transition (Bacon et al., 2014). Studies have identified technological, political, and financial factors that either support or hinder agroecological transition, but there has been limited analysis of their interactions (Silici, 2014). This paper aims to address this gap by examining the progression of agroecological systems through a set of actors and institutions that interact in the field of technology, thereby contributing to the creation, circulation, and application of innovative technology-a system referred to as Technological Innovation Systems (TIS). This approach was employed to identify barriers to the diffusion of agroecology in Nicaragua.The findings indicate that some hindrances to agroecological transition include policy mismatches, insufficient capacities and resource mobilization, and the inadequate development of markets. These factors weaken entrepreneurial opportunities and experimentation (Schiller et al., 2020).https://doi.org/10.1007/s13593-021-00688-x.The study aimed to investigate the impact of farm management practices on income and working conditions of farms at different stages of agroecological transition. Indicators of income, working conditions, and ecological management were assessed in both agroecological and conventional tobacco farms. The study revealed higher yields in diversified agroecological farms compared to their counterparts. This finding aligns with the results of Ponisio et al. (2015) and Dainese et al. (2019), who observed a positive relationship between farm diversification practices and productivity. In cases where sufficient support systems and policies were in place, there was potential for improved working conditions and increased profits, leading to higher household income in farms undergoing agroecological transitions. This improvement was attributed to reduced costs and access to diversified markets (Stratton, Wittman & Blesh, 2021). The paper sought to explore the ways in which farmers in Bikita, Zimbabwe, engaged in agroecological farming. These farmers were characterized by a lack of resources, relying on the natural environment, local information, and social networks. Moreover, crop diversity, agroecological techniques, and income from primary sources distinguished these farmers from their counterparts. These farmers recognized that crop diversification led to improved food and nutrition security, aligning with the findings of Mango et al. (2018) and Waha et al. (2018). Additionally, agroecological farmers employed sustainable irrigation practices, reducing environmental degradation, increasing productivity, and conserving water to a greater extent. However, the study identified the main challenge facing these agroecological farmers in Bikita as inadequate capacity to sustainably adhere to agroecological principles. Furthermore, existing support mechanisms such as institutions and policies did not recognize agroecological farming, leading to constant resistance (Mapfumo et al., 2022).https://doi.org/10.1080/21683565.2015.1130765Gliessman (2016) identified five levels of agroecological transition. The first step focuses on improved resource efficiency by reducing or completely eliminating the use of costly and environmentally degrading inputs. The second level is referred to as input substitution, whereby external input-intensive and environmentally degrading products and practices are replaced with those based on natural products and are more environmentally friendly, for example, organic farming. However, the agroecosystem at this level remains unaltered and therefore is very likely to face the same problems encountered in levels one.While levels one and two are incremental, levels three to five are transformational (HLPE, 2019).Level three involves redesigning the agroecosystem to eliminate the recurring problems in levels one and two. This would include practices like agroforestry and multiple-cropping. Level four encompasses reconnecting producers and consumers through farmers' markets or fair trade in food products, resulting in social equity and responsibility. Lastly, level five builds a new global food system based on participation, localness, fairness, and justice. This level is no longer about transitioning but transforming.https://doi.org/10.3390/land9060205The assumption that agroecological farming is more fulfilling than conventional farming, based on the independence of workers, requires reconsideration. This is because most existing labor channels portray farm laborers as technical demonstrators (Sachet et al., 2021) rather than drivers of change. This result is due to the implementation of organic standards that are not properly coordinated and reliance on foreign aid. Pressure on the laborers is further worsened by deteriorating climatic conditions and the fact that the Senegalese agricultural sector has been neoliberalized. The study suggests that agroecological initiatives should be tackled more holistically by institutionalizing safeguarded markets. This should happen even as farmers participate in governing the agroecosystem, establishing contractual agreements such as fair trade and organic certifications, and gaining access to land and other natural and productive resources.Furthermore, engaging in a participatory approach in creating agroecological knowledge while considering peasant information would also play a role in agroecological transitioning. This is in agreement with Teixeira et al. (2018), who discovered that recognizing peasant information is fundamental in supporting agroecology. Moreover, advocating and politicizing agroecology through NGOs and farmers' associations could also be a step towards a just agroecological transition in Sub-Saharan Africa (Bottazzi et al., 2020). Making strong political choices and negotiations is unavoidable when it comes to agroecological transitioning (Côte et al., 2019).  2019) also propose new performance indicators to capture the contribution of these transitions to sustainable development goals and to measure the ability of the applied systems to reduce inequalities and create employment opportunities. Sachet et al. (2021) propose that, to promote agroecological transition, the scope of agroecological research in addressing the processes of these transitions in Africa needs to be broadened using participatory action research and other participatory and empowering approaches.In India, women-run farms face unequal access to productive resources such as land, labor, and inputs due to poverty and unequal distribution of resources as a result of gender discrimination. Formation of women-only farming groups has helped alleviate this problem through labor-pooling, collectively speaking against exploitations and sharing capital investments (Agarwal 2010). Support from NGOs has seen these women groups purchase or lease land to improve food security through agroecological practices. Such inclusivity has led to a change in food systems beyond small-scale farms (Agarwal and Herring, 2013) Food Systems Transformation (as a transitional pathway)1. Transforming food systems with agroecology https://doi.org/10.1093/ajcn%2Fnqab315Majority of those who advocate for food systems transformation agree that it has to promote availability, accessibility, affordability of a sufficient, nutritious, desirable, and safe diet for the population (Fanzo et al., 2021). Such should come from resilient and sustainable food systems (von Braun et al., 2021). Availability means that staple foods rich in nutrients are available for everyone and as they efficiently move along the food chain, they are made more accessible to people. There needs to be a change in eating behaviour by embracing more healthier diet options which should be more affordable and sustainable with food system transformation (Fanzo et al., 2021 andKennedy et al., 2020).https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tifs.2020.09.021Boer et al. ( 2021) conducted a study on research and innovation as a catalyst for food system transformation. The paper provided insights into the complexities in food system transformation, the kind of research and innovation required for food system transformation, the challenges of current research and innovation strategies, and connecting food research and policy. The complexities in food system transformation call for the development, implementation, and evaluation of integrated governance strategies. Multi-level governance is necessary to develop integrated food policies that can alleviate the negative tradeoffs and, at the same time, increase collaborations between diverse sectors and policy domains (Moragues-Faus et al., 2017;Parsons & Hawkes, 2018;). The paper suggests a need for transdisciplinary research approaches that bring together both academic and non-academic actors whose combined knowledge (Luederitz et al., 2017) helps in understanding systems for change implementation (Fazey et al., 2018). In addition, this approach incorporates underrepresented actors and their perceptions (Abson et al., 2017). Strong R&I frameworks based on holistic and participatory approaches involving all stakeholders may help to identify opportunities but also vulnerabilities nested in the system, which are vital starting points from which to formulate resilience strategies (FAO, 2014).https://doi.org/10.1007/s13593-018-0519-1Most agricultural policies focus on food supply, and this paper suggests that the policies should also align with the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Caron et al. (2018) proposed a comprehensive food system transformation. The first part is related to food consumption behavior, which requires support through advantageous food ecosystems for its sustainability (HLPE, 2017b). The second part of the transformation included the support of inclusive, nutrition-sensitive agricultural production, processing, distribution, and marketing, and sustainable food value chains. Thirdly, the transformation was supposed to deal with climate change by employing Climate-Smart Agriculture (FAO, 2013) to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases (Lipper et al., 2014). Last but not least, the transformation was to foster a reawakening of rural territories so that people are empowered to develop their visions and implement useful activities toward sustainable development. This would definitely result in a food and nutrition-secure society, creation of decent jobs, steady economic growth, and a decrease in community conflicts (Mercandalli & Losch, 2017).One size doesn't fit all: regional differences in priorities for food system transformation https://doi.org/10.1007/s12571-021-01222-3A study by Dengerink et al. (2021) shows that different regions have different priorities and strategies concerning food system transformation. In the Near East and Latin America, food safety and sustainability are the prioritized challenges, respectively. While food availability is the most critical challenge in East and Southern Africa, the Asians in Asia identify nutritional quality as the most urgent food system challenge. However, the affected groups were found to be similar across the regions: small-scale farmers, women, and low-income cadre. The strategies adopted to resolve these challenges also vary across regions. Increasing productivity is perceived to be the game-changer for food availability, just as making healthy diets accessible addresses the nutritional needs of the population (Dengerink et al., 2021). However, recent developments in food system transformation focus on those strategies that bring about availability and access to healthy diets (FAO, 2020; IFAD, 2021), resilient food systems (Béné, 2020;De Steenhuijsen et al., 2021;Savary et al., 2020), and a change in consumer behavior (Webb et al., 2020;WEF, 2020). In addition, they propose a combination of social and technical innovation as another strategy to effect a transformation in food systems (Barret et al., 2020;Pereira et al., 2020;Reardon et al., 2019).https://doi.org/10.1093/biosci/biw052 Schipanski et al. (2016) outlined several strategies that together enhance the resilience of food systems across levels. The first strategy is the integration of social justice and gender equity into food systems transformation. This is because of the contribution of women in food production and ensuring the nutritional needs of their families. This strategy would, therefore, enhance food security. The second one involves replacing the use of external chemical inputs in farms with ecological processes. This would ensure sustainability (Godfray & Garnett, 2014;Ponisio et al. 2015) through the restoration of biodiversity and ecosystem functionality. The third proposed strategy is regionalizing food distribution linkages. Such diversification will ensure little to no disturbances of food availability in the occurrence of shocks. In addition, such regionalization could also increase innovation (Ostrom, 2010). Although still on a small scale, the Deccan Development Society (DDS) and women's groups in India have community grain bin initiatives to cushion the community against disruptions in distribution and production systems (Agarwal 2010).More emphasis on food productivity has exerted pressure on the use of resources (Steffen et al. 2015). Addressing this challenge could mean that agricultural policies be informed by goals of the public health sector, hence to some extent, human behavior. Such an approach pays attention to the type of food produced, by whom, and for whom, which results in both increased productivity and human health (Schipanski et al., 2016). For example, in supporting the integration of agroecology and human health in Malawi, through the Soils, Food, and Healthy Community Project (SFHC), farmers tested the effectiveness of intercropping legumes as an alternative to external fertilizers (Msachi et al. 2009). Elisabeth and Martin ( 2022) carried out a study on the effects of perceptions on how farmers in Burkina Faso adopt and intensify agroecological methods. The major goal for households in Burkina Faso is to meet their food needs (Sawadogo et al., 2022), which is often not easy to meet due to poverty and unfertile soils. The research found out that farmers view agroecology as a means to increase food adequacy. In addition, the experience of farmers reinforced agroecological practices. However, it was discovered that agroecology was less practiced in large cultivated areas. The study suggested that in promoting agroecology in Burkina Faso, it is important to emphasize on the ability of agroecological practices to meet the food needs of the population since that it is what their goal is.https://afsafrica.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/water_harvesting_zimbabwe.pdf Even though maize is the staple crop for Zimbabwe, it is dependent on rain which makes it highly susceptible to droughts. Efforts by the government to integrate crops and livestock have not been successful due to the existing land use structures that are not flexible. However, a case study done on one of the farmers revealed a success story of adapting agroecological practices. The farmer discovered ways of harvesting and controlling water in his land and in so doing, he not only controlled soil erosion but also ensured that every rainfall drop was used maximumly. Furthermore, the farmer planted both indigenous and exotic trees, employed intercropping and crop rotation techniques. For the sake of sustaining nitrogen levels in the soil, he incorporated legumes. Consequently, the farmer witnessed an increase in the productivity and resilience of his farm (Oakland & AFSA, 2019). This shows the efforts towards agroecological transition. A case study conducted in Adjumani and Amuria Districts of Uganda revealed that women only had secondary rights to the use of land. Lack of information concerning their rights resulted in their vulnerability to land grabbing. It was realized how unlikely it was for these women to practice sustainable agroecological methods. Eastern and Southern Africa Small Scale Farmers Forum (ESAFF) and Oxfam have been educating and equipping women farmers on the importance of securing access to their land.During the study, one of the respondents had this to say, \"If I don't own the land, why do I invest time in improving or protecting the soil? They will take it away from me anyway.\" Therefore, gender equality in land rights has proven to promote agroecological practices, hence increased productivity and food security, since ownership comes with independence in decision-making. This study demonstrates the role of institutions in advocating for land rights, hence promoting agroecological transition. Women farmers in Casamance face various constraints, including lack of access to capital, illiteracy, lack of inclusivity in national agricultural policy formulation, and pressure by the government and private sector to incorporate farming techniques that involve hybrid seeds and associated inputs. Women, therefore, form women groups and associations, as part of their community efforts to find solutions to their challenges. Consequently, women who could not access capital can now get grants, enabling them to farm on large farms and engage in value addition to their products. They have also lobbied for inclusion in district councils and local institutions to participate in formulating agricultural policies (Oakland & AFSA, 2019). This study portrays an example of how policy coordination and collective action through institutions can accomplish significant resultshttps://afsafrica.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/cipcre.pdfThe use of chemical inputs has, for a long time, drained the soil of its moisture and nutrient content, hence its fertility. As a result, food insecurity crops in. Funded by Bread for the World (Germany), the Project for Adaptation to Climate Change (Pada-Clim-Benin) has teamed up with farmers to discover sustainable farming techniques that are resistant to climate change, bringing about prolonged droughts. The project targets family farms and trains them on crop rotation techniques, how to make and use biopesticides and biofertilizers, water conservation for dry seasons, and agroforestry in a bid to increase productivity. The fact that women farmers are the principal actors in the project ensures gender equality (Zossou, 2020). This study is a successful example that agroecological transition is possible amidst climate change and could offer a solution to the same. This study's focus was on Multi-purpose Cooperative Institutions (MPCI), which are community-based and come in handy in supporting small-scale farmers. The goals of MPCIs include ensuring sustainable ways of addressing food insecurity, increasing the production of cash crops and food, and promoting the sustainable management of resources. They provide an avenue through which various stakeholders interact to come up with hybrid initiatives. These institutions are characterized by a bottomup network system, which makes it easier for members to identify and collectively tackle constraints like labor shortage. They also distribute agricultural inputs and promote the best farming techniques in the bid to enhance food security. However, their operations and activities are hindered by elites and government agencies whose influence on the food system transformation is much more (Manlosa et al., 2022). This study, therefore, confirms the importance of institutions in the transformation of the food system.CGIAR is a global research partnership for a food-secure future. CGIAR science is dedicated to transforming food, land, and water systems in a climate crisis. Its research is carried out by 13 CGIAR Centers/Alliances in close collaboration with hundreds of partners, including national and regional research institutes, civil society organizations, academia, development organizations and the private sector. www.cgiar.orgWe would like to thank all funders who support this research through their contributions to the CGIAR Trust Fund: www.cgiar.org/funders.To learn more about this initiative, please visit this webpage.To "}

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+{"metadata":{"gardian_id":"12776b1e298c8523270d42961b7eadb2","source":"gardian_index","url":"https://cgspace.cgiar.org/rest/bitstreams/b2a85800-be8b-4dad-bbd8-7a231b590609/retrieve","id":"-191950892"},"keywords":[],"sieverID":"976e8585-221b-4606-8860-b067a529515c","content":"CIP publications contribute important development information to the public arena. Readers are encouraged to quote or reproduce material from them in their own publications. As copyright holder CIP requests acknowledgement and a copy of the publication where the citation or material appears. Please send a copy to the Communications Department at the address below.Summary of key findings and recommendations for improving the seed potato value chain in Rwanda Table 2. Average land (ha) dedicated to potato production in the major agro-ecological zones (AEZ) during the period of 2017 to 2022 and the contribution (%) of each (AEZ) for the three growing seasons .................. Table 3  6. Current status of public and privately owned potato tissue culture laboratories in Rwanda ................ Table 7. Number   8. List of available public and private owned screenhouses used for minitubers production in Rwanda. Table 9. Seed potato production trends for the period 2018 Direct transfer This is a rapid method for the production of pre-basic seed potato achieved by directly transplanting in-vitro plantlets under field conditionsSeed directly controlled by the plant breeder whose production complies with the plant breeding principles from which all other seed classes are produced (Seed Law, 2016).A product of plant tissue culture. It is a starter planting material for seed potato production. The plant tissue culture or micropropagation serves to multiply disease-free planting materials (Seed Law, 2016)A progeny tuber produced from in vitro-derived plantlets or microtubers. These microtubers are characterized by their size, being smaller than conventional seed tubers but larger than in vitro microtubers cultivated under aseptic conditions on artificial media. Minitubers may be produced in conventional, aeroponics, or sandponics screenhousesSeed of the generation directly derived from breeder seed under the direct control of the plant breeder or his duly accredited representative (Seed Law, 2016).Approved progeny of pre-basic seed produced by seed growers authorized by the competent authority (Seed Law, 2016).Seed tuber is produced from the multiplication of basic seeds whose quality has been approved through a legally recognized certification process (Seed Law 2016).A product of formal breeding programs that have undergone testing and a formal release process.Seed tubers produced from basic or certified seed, are declared by the producer as being in conformity with technical, identity, and quality standards governing seed production and approved by the competent authority after the verification of the quality (Seed Law, 2016). This usually happens when a registered seed field is downgraded for failing to meet all the requirements for certified seed.Quality seed potato is the most important agricultural input that determines the final tuber yield and drives the productivity of other agricultural inputs in potato production systems. Rwanda currently produces less than 5% of the required disease-free seed potato, creating a substantial seed availability gap of over 95%. Much of the yield gap currently constraining productivity in the country is attributed to poor seed quality. The low yields have largely been attributed to high prevalence of seed-borne pests and diseases, notably late blight, bacterial wilt, nematodes, and viruses.This study presents a valuable review of the current situation of seed potato production, including key stakeholders' roles in the current production of different seed generations, the capacity to produce different seed classes, and the provision of support services to seed producers. The findings of the needs assessment study conducted between June and August 2023 informed the development of a five-year seed potato plan (2024-2028) for synchronizing seed potato production of different actors through sector coordination to match the supply and demand of seed potato.Both qualitative and quantitative approaches were used to collect data. Desk review of seed potato-related policies, strategies, regulations, publications, and reports. Key informant interviews (KII) involving government officials, private sector representatives, and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to gain supplementary insights on the factors influencing the efficiency of the seed potato value chain. Structured and semi-structured questionnaires for individual interviews with seed potato producers, ware potato farmers, and ware potato traders, while focus group discussions (FGDs) were organized to validate the results obtained from individual surveys.The study revealed strong government support to the seed potato sector as evidenced in high uptake of seed potato technologies in terms of the number of rapid multiplication technologies (RMT-aeroponics, sandponics) by both the public and private sectors, alongside the establishment of early generation seed (EGS) facilities-67 screenhouse in the country used for minituber production. The number of improved varieties officially registered in the county as wells the seed potato storage technologies notably diffused light stores-54 DLS in the country and one cold storage. This extensive network of storage EGS and storage facilities plays a crucial role in the seed potato value chain, ensuring that high-quality seeds are available for agricultural purposes.Compared to the neighboring countries, Rwanda is leading in the adoption of these seed potato technologies.Similarly, the number of private seed potato multipliers in the country-40 registered comprising of organizations (17.5%), Cooperatives (15%) and individual farmers (67.5%) is a good indicator on the value proposition of seed potato business. Currently the country boasts a surplus production of in vitro plantlets, serving as the foundational material for seed production. Most of the potato traders interviewed, 87% reported that varieties with red skin color such as Kinigi, Gikungu, Kerekezo are mostly preferred by consumers compared to potato varieties with white skin color. Due to its short dormancy period and tolerance to disease and acidic soil, Cruza variety was reported by 69% of ware potato farmers interviewed to have gained preference in the potato growing districts of the southern part of the country.In Rwanda, the public sector dominates EGS, while the private sector dominates certified seed potato production. There are five (2 public and 3 private) tissue culture (TC) laboratories in the country used for the production of in-vitro plantlets, and RAB is the main producer of in vitro plantlets, with a share of 70% of total plantlets production since 2019. The study showed a low operational capacity for privately owned TC laboratories. For example, the TC laboratories owned by INES-Ruhengeri and Agriseeds African Ltd are currently operating at 13% and 8% capacity, respectively.The focused group discussion (FGDs) revealed that the low operational capacity for private TC laboratories is mainly due to flow demand for in vitro plantlets. The private plantlet producers raised a concern that plantlets from RAB are subsidized while plantlets produced by the private TC laboratories are not subsidized, resulting in higher unit prices. Whilst the subsidy program is beneficial to smallholder farmers by enhancing accessibility to certified seed thereby increasing the use of quality seed leading to increased productivity farm incomes and food security, the subsidy has adverse effects on the sustainability of the seed potato industry particularly if the subsidy does not cover the private sector. According to the FGDS, the seed sector should be private sector led.There is a total of 67 facilities used for minituber production in Rwanda, owned by both public (7) and private sectors (60). Different seed production systems are used in these screen houses: 5 have adopted sandponics technology, 6 have installed aeroponics systems and the remaining 56 uses conventional methods for minituber production. However, only 46 (69%) of these facilities are currently operational: 5 sandponics, 5 aeroponics facilities, and 36 conventional screen houses. The remaining 21 (31%) facilities are nonfunctional. During the face-to-face interviews, the owners of the 21 non-functional screenhouses attributed this to the high cost of inputs, low demand for an unstructured market for minitubers, and a lack of funds for rehabilitation.A gap analysis revealed low productivity along the seed potato value chain from EGS production through to certified seed. The average minituber productivity is 6 and 35 minituber/plantlet under conventional and aeroponics production systems respectively. This production is far below the expected production of 8 -10 and more than 50 minitubers/plantlet under good conventional and aeroponics management with varietal differences. Thus, there is a need to optimize the production of EGS to close the EGS gap and in the subsequent seed generations.Similarly, the average production of pre-basic, basic, and certified seed potato as reported by a majority, 88% of 24 the seed producers interviewed reported 10 tons/ha, 12 tons/ha, and 15 tons/ha, respectively, way below the attainable yield of 20-30 t/ha recorded by some progressive smallholder farmers. The seed producers attributed the low productivity to inefficiency in the seed production systems coupled with inadequate knowledge and skills. Although most of the seed potato producers reported to have attended training from various organizations including RAB, MINAGRI, and NGOs, these trainings are poorly interlinked thereby missing out on synergies and layering.The study revealed that of the total volume of seed potatoes produced between 2018 and 2023 as per the RAB and RICA annual reports, merely 7% comprises certified seed, while the larger proportion consists of QDS and PS. This indicates that a significant portion of the Early Generation Seed (EGS) is not utilized for certified seed purposes, but rather downgraded to quality declared seed (QDS), or it is used to produce positively selected seed (PS) or end up as ware potatoes.While QDS holds legal recognition and significantly enhances seed accessibility for farmers, the overarching objective remains to augment the prevalence of certified seed within the country. Certified seed surpasses all quality standards, whereas QDS represents a lower tier of certified seed due to partial compliance with these requirements. Considering that superior seed quality substantially enhances yield potential, the adoption of certified seed is highly commendable.The discussion during the FDGs revealed a lack of harmonized training and graduation mechanisms for seed potato producers. Further, the study revealed the absence of joint planning and/or implementation of seed potato-related activities between public institutions (RAB, RICA, RSB) and other organizations. In some cases, this resulted in overlapping /duplication of activities, and this makes it difficult to assess the impact of some of these interventions.The National Seed Association of Rwanda (NSAR) and Potato Consortium are the two main forums for coordinating the seed industry for all crops in the country. Seed potato producers are expected to be members of the two fora. However, only 38.5% of the seed potato producers interviewed reported to be members of the NSAR. This means that most of the seed potato producers miss the opportunity to work together in joint planning and coordination, market linkages, and collaborative planning.In terms of compliance with seed inspection and certification standards, the study revealed a high level of rejection of seed potato fields. Whilst the price of seed potato is jointly set by seed potato stakeholders through a participatory process, and all seed potato agro-dealers adhere to the price set for each seed category, in some cases, the price of seed potato is lower than the price of ware potatoes. Over 70% of seed potato producer's respondents affirmed that the price of ware potato is sometimes higher than the price of the seed and in some isolated cases, a few seed potato producers sell their seed as ware potatoes.Concerning marketing, the study revealed unstructured market linkages among seed potato actors. The channels for information sharing and receiving feedback from farmers, seed potato producers, and agro-dealers are nonexistent. The FGDs indicated that most EGS producers fail to get clients because of the absence of this communication channel among actors.Based on these key findings, strategic recommendations aimed at enhancing the seed potato industry in Rwanda across various thematic areas have been formulated as summarized in Table 1.Thematic Area Key Findings -Constraints and Gaps Recommendations• There is limited involvement of potato value chain actors in designing the breeding objectives leading to:• Development of varieties with non-farmer preferred traits • Low adoption rate.• Increase funding for potato breeding programs.• Involve end-users of potatoes in breeding programs to develop marketed preferred potato varieties meeting the market demand and increase the adoption rate.• There are five (2 public and 3 private) tissue culture (TC) laboratories in the country used to produce in-vitro plantlets.• RAB is the main producer of in vitro plantlets, with a share of 70% of total plantlets production since 2019.• Low operational capacity of privately owned tissue culture laboratories e.g. TC labs of INES-Ruhengeri and Agriseeds African Ltd currently operate at 12.5% and 7.5% capacity, respectively, while the laboratory of The University of Rwanda is not functional.• Dysfunctional screenhouses are attributed to high operation costs and an unstructured market for minitubers.• Increase investment in TC facilities.• Support the rehabilitation of non-operational TC facilities to ensure their full operation.• Embrace new technologies and innovations.• Encourage/support private sector engagement.• Encourage public-private partnerships to increase the availability of TC plantlets• Less than 5% certified seed availability in the country locking out most of the smallholder farmers who have to rely on an informal seed system.• Low productivity along the seed potato value chain from EGS production through to certified seed.• 70% of the 67 facilities used for minituber production in the country are currently operational.• Increase investment in EGS facilities while embracing new technologies and innovations.• Encourage/support private sector engagement.• Establish and support public-private partnerships that increase the availability of market-preferred varieties.• Strengthen the technical capacity and business skills of seed multipliers to optimize seed potato production across the seed categories.• Non-functional screenhouses (30%) are attributed to the high cost of inputs, low demand and unstructured market for minitubers, and lack of funds.• A meager 7% of the total volume of seed potato produced between 2018-2023 comprise certified seed.• The larger proportion consists of QDS (33%) and PS (60%)• This indicates that a significant portion of the Early Generation Seed (EGS) is not utilized for certified seed purposes, but rather downgraded to QDS.• Support rehabilitation of non-operational minituber facilities and/or introduce/deployment of new rapid multiplication technologies.• Create awareness/promote the use of quality seeds and good agricultural practices.• While QDS holds legal recognition and significantly enhances seed accessibility for farmers, the overarching objective remains to augment the prevalence of certified seed within the country.• Adoption of certified seed should be promoted.• Over 20% of the registered seed potato fields are rejected which in turn reduces the volume of certified seeds and loss of income to seed producers.• Disease prevalence (Late blight and bacterial wilt) are major causes of field rejection.• Limited trained staff for regulating and enforcing quality standards.• Lack of post-certification and traceability system• Increase investment in the institutional capacity of RICA in potato pest and disease, diagnostics skills, field inspection and certification.• Finalize and operationalize the new seed potato inspection and certification protocols -harmonized protocols and Standards• Create extensive awareness of the seed potato certification protocols and benefits of certified seed.• Strengthen the technical and regulatory capacity of seed multipliers on good seed production practices, disease.• Design capacity-building programs and set out graduation mechanisms for seed potato value chain actors (seed producers, agro-dealers, distributors processors, extensionists, stockiest, etc).• Strengthen /establish and support a seed forum for sharing information, ideas, and practices, and provide feedback mechanisms on GAPs and quality control.• Support seed multipliers to build an internal quality control program.• Digitised seed potato registration and inspection services.• Build capacity of seed inspectors in diagnostics and inspections.• Improve the regulatory environment to better support the seed potato value chain.• Low adoption rate of newly released potato varieties.• low adoption rate is attributed to weak extension services and their low participation/involvement in a variety of development and selection.• Encourage participatory breeding to allow farmers to have a say in the development of market-preferred varieties. Conduct participatory adaptative and marketing trials on new varieties in different climatic zones under different agronomic practices and disease management.• Awareness creation of new potato varieties and good agricultural practices through field demonstration plots, field days, and other extension approaches.• Strengthen and support agricultural extension staff and other stakeholders on seed production including promoting eextension.• Lack of well-established distribution channels and marketing structure.• Weak market linkages between producer's ad users of seed • Limited seed storage structures.• Lack of information-sharing channels/platforms.• Lack of data on effective seed potato demand for each category of seed potato.• Unregulated potato seed market. It's difficult to differentiate certified and non-certified seeds on the market.• Increase investment for establishing /strengthening marketing and distribution channels for seed potato.• Strengthen the agribusiness and marketing skills of seed potato actors (agro-dealers, distributors processors, extensionists, stockiest, and others).• Strengthen /establish and support a seed potato marketing forum for sharing information on seed demand and supply and providing feedback mechanisms on seed quality.• Promote/increase access to appropriate storage technologies.• Create extensive awareness of the benefits of certified seed potatoes.Access to credit and finance service• Low access to credit and finance for seed potato business development which in turn has led to low investment in sector• Increase access to affordable finance -partners with financial institutions to design and promote affordable financial products tailored to seed potato business.• Strengthen/support seed multipliers to form saving groups for internal funding• Lack of structured, formalized, and centralized seed potato forum for stakeholder engagement and sector coordination: including sharing data and information and joint planning• Low membership of seed potato producers in industry forums (NSAR and Potato Consortium).• Strengthen linkages and collaboration through stakeholder engagement, to guide the sector, mobilize resources, promote synergies, and minimize duplication.• Establish and support a seed potato forum for information management and sharing, stakeholder engagement   2.Potato commercial production in the country's Eastern province is slowly gaining momentum. This area is becoming a food store of the country due to the availability of large parcels of land for agricultural activities making it possible to adopt farm mechanization under irrigation systems. Maize, beans, and soybean farmers and seed producers in the Eastern province have started to adopt potatoes as a rotation crop in their production system. In this regard, there is a need for the development and/or promotion of potato variety adapted to these merging zones to maximize potato productivity and profitability.  Much of the yield gap currently constraining productivity in the country is attributed to poor seed quality.Rwanda currently produces less than 5% of the required disease-free seed potato, creating a substantial seed availability gap of over 95%. Thus a vast majority of potato farmers relies on seed sourced from informal systems, including farmers' on-farm saved seed, tubers from ware potato markets, or neighboring farmers (RAB 2023).Remarkably, even with these low yields, potato farmers currently realize an average of RWF 1,200,000/ha (970 USD/ha) as profit, indicating the high inherent value of the crop (RAB, 2022). This highlights the possibility of a 2-4-fold increase in profit if the sector can overcome its challenges. Doubling yields with ~40% of farmers would result in a 0.4% increase in potato value. Importantly, there is increasing demand for fresh potatoes in the county and from the neighboring countries. A study conducted by Selinawamucii (2023), revealed a substantial demand for potatoes from neighboring countries like Uganda and Tanzania. Currently exports of potato products are minimal, representing less than 1% of total production.Whereas potato is a priority crop under Rwanda's production system, its optimal production is constrained by many challenges: limited supply of quality seed, small and fragmented potato production land, poor market Approximately 90% of potato varieties grown in Rwanda have been developed by RAB with the support of CIP.These varieties are known for their robust traits such as high tuber yield, climate-resilient, resistance to disease and pest, heat and drought tolerance, early maturity and good processing qualities.Combined, the efforts by various organizations over time have improved the potato value chain including expansion of production area, increase in annual tonnage of potatoes produced and increased in number of improved potato varieties available for farmers among others. However, the performance of the potato value chain is still below its optimal in terms of productivity (about 9 t/ha). Much of the yield gap currently constraining productivity in the country is attributed to poor seed quality. The low yields have largely been attributed to high prevalence of seed-borne pests and diseases in seed from informal sector, notably late blight, bacterial wilt, nematodes, and viruses.To The survey was conducted between June -August 2023. The methodology employed incorporated both primary and secondary data collection methods. The major steps undertaken included gathering and reviewing secondary data, conducting interviews, engaging stakeholder consultations, cleaning, processing, data analyzing the data, and report writing, a detailed method used in this study is found in Annex 1.To collect data on the seed potato industry in Rwanda, the following methodologies were employed:Secondary data was collected through a desk review of various documents from different sources, including but not limited to government entities, statistics institutes, international organizations, NGOs, publications, and online resources. The major sources of this documentation included the Ministry of Primary data was gathered through interviews, stakeholder consultations, and focus group discussions (FGDs); interviews targeted seed potato actors like producers, dealers, and ware potato stakeholders (Annex 2 and 3).Individual Interviews: Forty-eight (48) seed potato actors were sampled and interviewed using a questionnaire/survey tool containing different sections depending on the structure and information needed. The various sections in the study tool included: a questionnaire covering areas such as seed categories, production facilities, training, technologies, marketing, financial resources, challenges, and proposed solutions. The seed actors were categorized into 9 groups: Seed producers, Agrodealers, Potato breeders, Researchers, Farmers, Extension agents, Government agencies, Seed companies, Traders, and Processors (Table 3). Sample size calculation was performed following the formula of following the formula of Krejcie and Morgan (1970) with a 95% confidence level.Focus Group Discussions: Five (5) Focus Group Discussions (FGDs-) one in each target district) were conducted using a guiding tool; Annex 4 guide was prepared and used to complement the data collected from interviews. The FGDs gathered seed potato producers, farmers, extensionists, and marketers, with each supply chain actor represented based on its contribution to the supply chain. The FGD guide was designed to collect data related to seed potato performance, gaps, and a well-functioning model to improve the adoption and use of improved seeds. One FGD was organized in each project operating district (Annex 4).Stakeholder Engagement: Thirteen (13) stakeholder consultations were conducted according to roles within the seed potato supply chain using the Key Informant tool, Annex 4. A consultation guide tool outlined data to collect, and key informants shared insights on seed quality, supply trends, policies, institutions, challenges, and opportunities. The roles of key stakeholders consulted, and the information gathered during these consultations are detailed in Table 3.A SWOT analysis of the seed potato value chain involved a wide array of data from participants representing different facets of the seed potato industry in Rwanda. These participants included seed producers, agro-dealers, potato breeders, researchers, farmers, extension agents, government agencies, seed companies, traders, and processors. The SWOT analysis utilized a multi-pronged approach which involved data collection through surveys, interviews, and extensive research, aiming to gather insights from each participant category. The gathered data were subsequently analyzed to identify the internal strengths and weaknesses and external opportunities and threats influencing the seed potato value chain in Rwanda.The quantitative data collected from individual interviews were analyzed using SPSS and Excel. The qualitative data collected through consultations with various actors across the seed potato supply chain were analyzed using the content analysis technique. All results from the above analyses were triangulated to understand the seed potato quantity needed for each growing season in Rwanda, the current situation of seed potato in Rwanda, and gaps and challenges in the seed potato supply chain. This analysis provided the basis to produce this report and to develop a 5-year seed plan for synchronizing seed potato production of different actors through sector coordination to match the supply and demand of seed potato.  There are several seed potato value chain actors in Rwanda engaged in production of various seed classes starting with pathogen-free invitro plantlets/healthy mother plants form TC laboratories mainly by RAB and a few private sector (INES, UR, Agriseeds) through to certified seed Table 4. Each seed actor plays a critical role along the chain as it moves the seed to the next generation ending with ware potato farmers with RICA providing the mandatory inspection and certification services. There are three seed potato production systems in Rwanda:1) The formal or the legally recognized system that undergoes seed certification by RICA., Certified seed is produced either from minitubers or from healthy mother plants transplanted directly to the field condition often referred to as direct transfer. Public institutions under RAB and private companies are engaged in production of minitubers and mother plants. Registered seed multipliers buy the basic seed from Early generation seed (EGS) producers mainly from RAB and a few private sectors and carries out field multiplication to a certified seed potato class under RICA. Seed classification in the formal system is categorized into four seed generations, Table 5.2) The semiformal seed system is legally recognized and is responsible for producing Quality Declared Seed (QDS) by registered seed multipliers. This usually happens when a registered seed field is downgraded for failing to meet all the requirements for certified seed. Though QDS is not certified, it is seen to be healthier than farmsaved planting material or other sources from the informal market.3) The informal seed system involves farmers using seed from their own farms, from neighbors, from local markets, or from ware potato traders. Unfortunately, the informal seed system is mainly responsible for the low yields due to poor quality planting materials used by farmers. In Rwanda, the public sector dominates early-generation seed (EGS) potato production, while the private sector dominates certified seed potato production. Currently there are five (2 public and 3 private) tissue culture (TC) laboratories in the country used for the production of in vitro plantlets, and RAB is the main producer of in vitro plantlets, with a share of 70% of total plantlets production since 2019.The study showed a low operational capacity for privately owned TC laboratories. For example, the TC laboratories owned by INES-Ruhengeri and Agriseeds African Ltd are currently operating at 13% and 8% capacity, respectively, while the TC laboratory at the University of Rwanda (UR) located at the College of Agriculture, Animal Sciences and Veterinary Medicine (CAVM), Busogo Campus is not functional, Table 6. The plantlets produced in Musanze TC lab are mainly utilized for research, seed production at the station, and sales to the private sector. For example, out of the 1.2 million invitro plantlets, produced during the 2021/2022 and 2022/2023 production cycle, only ten percent were used for research, while the majority, 70% were used for seed production at the RAB research stations, and the remaining 20% sold for seed production to private seed producers for seed production (Table 7). These statistics underline the relatively low engagement of private seed multipliers in utilizing in vitro plantlets for minituber production.Thus, there is a need to involve the private sector in seed commercialization, from EGS production to certified seed distribution and marketing. This will free resources at public institutions for breeding research, germplasm varietal maintenance, quality control, knowledge-sharing technology transfer, and consumer protection. Concerted efforts are necessary to increase the capacity of private seed multipliers and encourage their involvement in minitubers production. There is a total of 67 facilities used for minituber production in Rwanda, owned by both the public (7) and private sectors (60). Different seed production systems are used in these screen houses: 5 have adopted sandponics technology, 6 have installed aeroponics systems and the remaining 56 uses conventional methods for minituber production, (Table 8). However, only 46 (69%) of these facilities are currently operational: five sandponics, five aeroponics facilities, and 36 conventional screen houses. The remaining 21 (31%) facilities are nonfunctional. During the face-to-face interviews, the owners of the 21 non-functional screenhouses attributed this to the high cost of inputs, low demand for an unstructured market for minitubers, and a lack of funds for rehabilitation.A gap analysis revealed low productivity along the seed potato value chain from EGS production through to certified seed. The average minituber productivity is 7 and 30 minituber/plantlet under conventional and aeroponics production systems respectively (Table 7). The annual production of minitubers in 2023 year is about 1,024,025 and 1,622,695 minitubers from private and public institutions, respectively (Table 8).This production is below the expected production of 50 minitubers/plantlet under good aeroponics management.Hence there is a need to optimize the production of EGS to close the EGS gap. It is worthwhile to mention that production in aeroponics is dependent on variety. For example, Kirundo produces between 35 and 45 minitubers per plant, while Gikungu produces 25 to 30 minitubers per plant.Similarly, the average production of pre-basic, basic, and certified seed potato as reported by a majority, 88% of 24 seed producers interviewed is 10 tons/ha, 12 tons/ha, and 15 tons/ha, respectively, way below the attainable yield of 20-30 t/ha recorded by some progressive smallholder farmers. The seed producers attributed the low productivity to inefficiency in the seed production systems coupled with inadequate knowledge and skills.Potato Plants for minituber production under the Aeroponic production system (left) and under the Conventional production system (right) at RAB -Musanze Station. Photo credit; Clement Urinzwenimana, 2023Much of the yield gap currently constraining productivity in the country is attributed to poor seed quality. Rwanda currently produces less than 5% of the required disease-free seed potato, creating a substantial seed availability gap of over 95%, Table 8. Thus a vast majority of potato farmers relies on seed sourced from informal systems, including farmers' on-farm saved seed, tubers from ware potato markets, or neighboring farmers (RAB 2023).It is pertinent to note that what is sold in the seed market as \"seed potato\" in most cases is either certified seed, quality declared seed (QDS), or positively selected seed (PS). The study revealed that of the total volume of seed potatoes produced between 2018 and 2023 as per the RAB and RICA annual reports, merely 7% comprises certified seed, while the larger proportion consists of QDS and PS, Table 9 and Figure 3. This indicates that a significant portion of the Early Generation Seed (EGS) is not utilized for certified seed purposes, but rather downgraded to QDS or farmers used it to produce PS seed.While Quality Declared Seed (QDS) holds legal recognition and significantly enhances seed accessibility for farmers, the overarching objective remains to augment the prevalence of certified seed within the country. Certified seed surpasses all quality standards, whereas QDS represents a lower tier of certified seed due to partial compliance with these requirements. Considering that superior seed quality substantially enhances yield potential, the adoption of certified seed is highly commendable.  Both the public and private registered seed potato producers are engaged in various seed categories, from EGS to certified seed. The public sector dominates the production of EGS (in-vitro plantlets and minitubers) through to basic seed potato generation with RAB taking a leading role producing approximately 95% of invitro plantlets and minitubers and the remaining 5% produced by the private sector. In contrast, the private sector which comprise of the local seed companies, cooperatives, and individual seed potato multipliers is solely responsible, 100% for production of certified seed potato. Given that RAB has the national mandate to develop agriculture and animal resources through research, agricultural extension, and animal resources extension there is a need to encourage more private sector involvement in seed potato sector.Private sector led seed potato value chain is expected increase production of EGS and certified seed and provide support on commercialization, distribution, and marketing channels. The current arrangement of having RAB taking the lead in EGS production could limit availability and accessibility of certified seed to all farmers.Seed potato initiatives and intervention -Approximately 40% of the interviewed seed producers stated that they receive external support to enhance their seed potato businesses. Notably, the government has played a significant role in investing in the value chain, collaborating with development partners and international NGOs. Key contributors to this support include AGRA, USAID/Feed the Future, the Netherlands Embassy, CATALYST, and international research institution-International Potato Center (CIP), among others.The support ranged from financial support for establishment of seed production facilities such as screenhouses for minituber production, and storage structures, supply of laboratory consumables and farm inputs, and training/capacity strengthening. Supporting soil remedy practices through supply of lime and availing public land to farmers' cooperatives and private companies for seed production. All these supportive initiatives are directed towards enhancing the availability of high-quality seed potato in Rwanda.Awareness creation -More than 70% of seed potato companies, cooperatives, and associations utilize extension agents to enhance farmers' understanding of the importance of quality seeds. This is achieved by establishing learning farms and/or demonstration plots to showcase the benefits of quality seed potato in combination with good agricultural practices (GAPs).Communication channels -Among the seed potato multipliers interviewed, 68.7% indicated that they receive feedback from their customers, who are primarily ware potato farmers and agro-dealers. The feedback is communicated through diverse channels with phone call, SMS and WhatsApp groups being the topmost communication channel as illustrated in Figure 4. Additionally, farmers visit seed multipliers, engage in meetings, attend training sessions, and provide feedback through radio and TV channels. Production cost -Focus Group Discussions (FGDs) revealed that production costs in the seed potato sector are dynamic due to the price volatility of ware potatoes. According to certified seed multipliers interviewed, starter materials were identified as the most expensive production item, followed by certification costs, agrochemicals, and labor. The average production costs for various seed categories over the past five years are outlined in Table 10.Data from the latest cropping season (2022A) indicated that the benefits of seed potato production increase from Early Generation Seed (EGS) at 0.02 USD per plantlet and peak at certified seed at 0.12 USD per kilogram (Table 10). Farmers are the most important stakeholders in the sustainable development of the seed potato sector. However, 71.6% of ware potato interviewed farmers report to low farmer participation in the designing and implementation of breeding and variety development program. Consultation with key informants indicated that in most cases, the objectives of the breeding program are influenced by government policies or projects resulting in releases of supplydriven varieties that lack alignment with demand-driven varieties. This has drawback effects on the new variety adoption by end-users. A majority of the active seed potato multipliers (75%) procure initial planting materials, including minitubers, prebasic and basic seed from RAB. Nineteen percent (19 %) obtain starter material from fellow seed multipliers, while the remaining 6% procure their starter material from large seed companies such as SOPYRWA, INES, and EGSP-Imbuto.The Rwanda Agriculture Board and Animal Resources Development Board (RAB) is the only public institution that currently produces seed potato in the country. There are five RAB stations: Rwerere, Musanze, Gishwati, Tamira, Gakuta, and Nyamagabe, that are located in potato agro-ecological zone and are engaged in the production of both pre-basic and basic seed potato. (Table 11). The total land available for seed potato production in the five RAB stations is 85 ha/ season, but on an annual basis (i.e., for both seasons A and B) though over 100 ha of land is dedicated to seed potato production in the five RAB stations. For example, in 2023, a total of 38 ha was dedicated for pre-basic seed and 50 ha was used for basic seed production for both season A and B (Table 11). Consultation with RAB seed officials indicated that on average produce 380 tons of pre-basic seed potato and 600 tons of basic seed potato per season are produced in the five RAB stations.The RAB stations have leased some land to private seed companies to encourage private sector involvement in seed According to RAB annual reports for 2018-2020 and RICA annual reports for 2021-2020, 37 ha, 182 ha, and 551 ha was dedicated to pre-basic seed potato, basic seed potato, and certified seed potato production, respectively (Table 12). Out of the 31 potato varieties officially released in Rwanda by RICA, only nine varieties are widely adopted and often preferred by both the ware farmers and the consumers. This includes three varieties -Kinigi, Cruza, and Kirundo, released in 1983-1989, and Gikungu, released in 1992 -1996. The adoption of potato varieties newly released in 2019-2020 is on the increase, with five varieties, namely Kerekezo, Ndamira, Nkunganire, Kazeneza, and Twihaze,showing an increasing trend in their preference.According to RAB, the demand for in vitro plantlets for these varieties from RAB, Musanze station by other RAB stations, and private seed multipliers is increasing (Figure 5). The study noted that some of the varieties released in 2020 that were developed by HZPC Holland B.V breeding company and have not yet multiplied in Rwanda. These varieties were mainly released in Rwanda to increase the number of potato varieties with processing quality.During the focus group discussion, seed potato value chain actors listed reasons for low adoption of the recently released varieties. About 80% of the potato farmers ranked low farmer participation during varietal development and performance evaluation as the topmost reason for low adoption rate. Although field trials are conducted in farmers' fields, the farmers and marketers are not engaged from the initial stage of breeding activities. Other reasons are lack of seed systems for some varieties, (e.g. varieties developed by HZPC Holland B.V) and insufficient extension services.The respondents also reported that the market price of ware potatoes from specific varieties positively affects farmers' adoption. Over 80% of ware potato farmers plant varieties with high market prices. For example, Kinigi, Gikungu, Kirundo, Kerekezo and Kazeneza varieties are preferred by many farmers because of their high-quality tubers (21%) and marketability (21%).Cruza variety was reported to be preferred by farmers due to storability (17%), disease resistance (17%), early maturity (13%), multiple shoots (8%), and acidic soil tolerance (4%). Other varieties adopted by farmers include Rwangume, Peko, Rutuku, Rwasaki and Kurusenke farmer selected varieties that are not officially released. RAB should collaborate closely with these farmers to ensure that these farmer-selected varieties are registered, and their seed systems are established. The consultation with RAB showed that the current development of export and processing of potatoes in Rwanda leads to a high demand for varieties with specific attributes such as storability, and high dry matter content.Interviewed ware potato farmers reported that Some of the approaches, used to create awareness on new varieties include demonstration plots, training, farmer field schools, field days, media (radio and TV).The certification process involves field inspection of the seed potato field at various growth stages and at the storage facilities, sampling and testing of soil and tubers, harvesting, sorting and grading into various seed classes, packaging and labeling, distribution, and marketing. According to RICA reports for the fiscal years 2021-2023, the annual average area of seed potato production that was inspected was 231 ha, (Table 13). Out of this, the average area accepted was 181ha, while 50 ha of seed potato was rejected. Notably, the average rejection rate across these fiscal years was 22 %.Despite having received training and in field technical backstopping from RICA seed inspectors 13% of the seed potato multipliers reported having experienced rejection of their seed potato field. Out of these, only 20% attributed the rejections to bacterial and viral disease infections, but the majority, 60%, did not know the reasons for rejections.Notably, 92% of seed potato multipliers respondents are implementing measures to prevent future rejection of their seed potato production fields. Some of the prevention measures listed by the seed multipliers include:i. Engaging an agronomist responsible for quality control,ii. Practicing seed production GAP and pest and disease control.iii. Conducting pre-planting soil testing/analyses, iv. Stringent crop rotation practices, When asked about sustainability of seed supply, the seed multipliers proposed the following interventions in the seed potato sectors:i. Increase the number of potato breeders to develop climate-resilient potato varieties.ii. Increase the number of seed inspectors to ensure timely inspection and certification process.iii. Support the rehabilitation of non-operational screenhouses and/or introduction new RMT Timely access to essential agro-inputs through private sector involvement.iv. Expansion of training programs to strengthen the skills and knowledge of seed potato multipliers in GAP, seed regulations, marketing and business skills.v. Maximize productivity of the EGS facilities through public-private partnership.vi. Introduce subsidy and crop insurance programs to private seed potato actors.vii. Facilitate access to financial credit.viii. Strengthening the capabilities of district chambers of seeds; and ix. Demarcate land dedicated for seed potato production. Seed-potato storage is important in ensuring timely access to quality and well-sprouted seed potatoes, thereby producing stable potato for national food security. Seed storage is essential for maintaining the quality of seed tubers between harvest and the next cropping season. With proper ventilation and appropriate storage conditions, seed tubers can be used for the targeted period with minimized weight reduction and keeping quality. The storability of potato (both ware and seed) is a complex process of avoiding rotting, preventing infestation, and maintaining quality.Seed potato can be cold stored either in an ambient cooling storage facility, in a cold storage facility, or in rustic storage structures such as Diffused light store (DLS) developed by the International Potato Center (CIP). DLS technology is a low-cost storage structure effective in reducing storage losses and results in better quality seeds and the growth of short, robust sprouts instead of long, thin, and weak ones.In Rwanda, all the seed producers have ambient or DLS facilities. However, no small-scale seed multipliers currently has a cold storage facility. Major seed potato companies including Seed Potato Fund Joint Ventures Ltd (SPF-IKIGEGA), EGSP-Imbuto (Early Generation Seed Potato), and \"Project de Développement de la Région du Nord (DERN)\" have seed potato stores in the main potato-producing districts of Gicumbi, Burera, Rulindo, Musanze, Nyabihu, Rubavu, Ngororero, Rutsiro, Karongi, Nyamagabe, and Nyaruguru (Table 14). The individual seed potato multipliers also own seed storage structures, which they use to facilitate seed distribution and sales to other seed potato multipliers and to ware potato farmers in Rwanda.To promote public-private partnership (PPP), MINAGRI transferred its seed storage facility in Musanze, Nyabihu, and Rubavu districts to SPF-Ikigega. There are 55 seed potato stores, including one cold storage facility and 54 Diffused Light Stores (DLS) in the country with a cumulative storage capacity of 8,440 tons of seed potatoes. This extensive network of storage facilities plays a crucial role in the seed potato value chain, ensuring that high-quality seeds are available for agricultural purposes. Regarding the satisfaction levels on the services received from public breeders (RAB/, MINAGRI) and seed inspector (RICA)s, 73% and 94% of seed potato multipliers are satisfied with the services rendered by RAB breeders and RICA seed inspectors, respectively.A majority, (over 80%) of the seed multipliers have good knowledge of RICA's contribution to the quality assurance for seed potatoes, including the measures adopted to mitigate or reduce the occurrence of seed potato field rejections. According to the seed multipliers, technical advice and recommendations provided during seed potato inspections, timely and routine visits by seed inspectors, the traceability of planted seeds, the establishment of comprehensive rules and regulations governing seed potato production in the country, and the training initiatives are some of the most appreciated services offered by RICA.Approximately 47% of the seed multipliers who procure starter material from RAB cited the undersupply of their seed orders as the main challenges they faced, disrupting their plans. Another 46% of the seed multipliers highlighted delays in delivery of their seed orders, and in some cases, seed orders are supplied out of season (Figure 6). These findings underscore the need for seed companies to align their seed potato production schedules with the actual growing season.According to the study, over 60% of seed potato multipliers interviewed are not members of the National Seed Association of Rwanda (NSAR) or Potato Consortium. During Focus group discussions, seed potato multipliers cited several reasons, including a lack of awareness about these associations and platforms due to lack or poor sensitization. Among the seed potato multipliers who are members of NSAR or the Potato Consortium, 45% ranked the timely services offered by the forum as the most influencing factor that determines their willingness to join the forum, (Figure 7).Stakeholders recommend that NSAR and the national seed potato consortium should jointly mobilize funds to improve the services. This will encourage other seed potato producers to join the consortium. A vibrant seed potato value chain is characterized by good coordination with the supply of seed by each group of actors in the chain closely matching the requirements of the next group who uses it. The flow of information on planting dates, quality, quantities, and varietal preferences by ware potato producers is essential for its success.There are several seed potato value chain actors in Rwanda engaged in production of various seed classes starting with pathogen-free invitro plantlets/healthy mother plants from TC laboratories mainly by RAB and a private sector Qualitative data collected from participants representing different facets of the seed potato industry in Rwanda was used to do a SWOT analysis. The participants included seed producers, agro-dealers, potato breeders, researchers, farmers, extension agents, government agencies, seed companies, traders, and processors.The data were analyzed to identify the internal strengths and weaknesses and external opportunities and threats influencing the seed potato value chain in Rwanda, Table 16. The SWOT analysis sheds light on the key factors that will influence the future trajectory of this essential agricultural sector.The surveyed ware farmers highlighted the considerable obstacle posed by the high cost of seed potato, making it challenge in optimizing their potato productivity. A substantial majority, comprising over 80% of the interviewed ware potato farmers, emphasized the cost linked to procuring high-quality seed potato. An in-depth analysis further reveals that the cost of certified seeds fluctuates between 700 to 800 Frw (equivalent to 0.55 to 0.68 USD).Consequently, a vast majority of smallholder ware potato farmers in the Country end up sourcing low-quality seed potatoes from the informal seed system even when there is adequate of quality seed potato since eth high cost renders them inaccessible to smallholder farmers. A noteworthy observation is that 60% of ware potato farmers engaged in the practice of recycling their farm-produced seed potatoes for subsequent growing season.Unfortunately, these farmers often do not consider the yield penalty of recycling tubers to be high enough compared to the benefits of using certified seed. Thus, for many smallholder farmers, yield and profit gain from using certified seed is masked by lack and limited knowledge of its benefits.  In addition to the prevalent challenges such as the high cost and limited availability of seed potatoes, ware potato farmers identified various other obstacles. Notably, 21% of surveyed ware potato farmers reported a restricted choice of varieties, particularly emphasizing the need for climate-resilient varieties. The high cost of agro-inputs was identified by 13% of respondents, while 12% expressed concerns about delays in seed delivery. Additionally, 8% highlighted a shortage of storage facilities, and 4% pointed out the scarcity of suitable land as challenges affecting their potato farming business, Figure 8. When asked about potential solutions, ware potato farmers interviewed presented the following seed potato interventions: 27% advocated for an increase in the capacity of seed production, 23% emphasized the importance of strengthening the linkages among stakeholders in the potato value chain while 18% prioritized the need for the timely availability of both quality and quantity of seed potato. A similar respondent, 18%, called for the development of climate-resilient potato varieties and region-specific adapted varieties and 14% underscored the significance of capacity building initiatives for ware potato farmers as a key solution.Ware potato marketers interviewed identified key challenges they faced when marketing ware potatoes with 33% expressing concern about the fluctuation of ware potato prices, 27% highlighting the perishable nature of potato tubers, and 20% listed a lack of communication mechanisms among key actors in the potato value chain. Additional challenges reported include low potato production (13%) and a shortage of seed for farmers (7%) as reported by their suppliers, Figure 9.In response to these challenges, ware potato marketers ranked the following interventions -33% of the respondents mentioned the need for consistent supply of ware potatoes from the producers to meet consumers preference, an increase in the quantity and quality of seed (27%), ensuring the full maturity of potatoes before harvesting (20%), promoting inclusive participation in potato forums (13%), while 7% emphasized the need for synchronizing planting schedule with the onset of cropping season. In evaluating satisfaction levels regarding the quantity, quality, and timeliness of seed received by potato farmers, timeliness received the highest ranking, with 60% of respondents expressing satisfaction (Figure 10). However, this finding underscores the necessity for improvement in both the quantity and quality aspects of seed potato production and distribution to meet the desired standards. The initial five-year (2016-2020) national seed production roadmap focused on key priority crops including Irish potatoes (RAB, 2016 Seed Road Map). Formulated in 2015 by RAB/MINAGRI, its primary objective was to tackle the scarcity of high-quality seed potatoes. The ambitious plan aimed to augment production to meet at least 10% of the total seed demand, amounting to 15,574 metric tons, by end of 2017. This target was anticipated to escalate to 25%, equivalent to 125,000 metric tons, by the year 2020. The 25% target was seen as the ideal condition is presupposed that farmers would recycle their own farm-saved seeds for four seasons before acquiring new seeds in the fifth season.Despite some notable achievements during the initial implementation of this seed roadmap, the intended outcomes were not fully realized. Notably, the production and utilization of certified seeds remain suboptimal. Rwanda currently produces less than 5% of the required disease-free seed potato, creating a substantial seed availability gap of over 95%. Much of the yield gap currently constraining productivity in the country is attributed to poor seed quality. The low yields have largely been attributed to high prevalence of seed-borne pests and diseases, notably late blight, bacterial wilt, nematodes, and viruses.The 10% and 25% target for utilization of certified by potato farmers was derived based on the following assumptions:1) The main growing potato Agro-ecological zones are Buberuka highlands (Gicumbi, Burera, and Rulindo districts); Virunga Agro-ecological zone (Musanze, Nyabihu, and Rubavu districts); Congo Nile Watershed divine (Ngororero, Rutsiro, Karongi, Nyamagabe, and Nyaruguru districts).2) The total land under potato cultivation is approximately 84,000 ha, 37,204 ha, 37,809 ha, and 8,638 ha in season A, B, and C, respectively.3) The rate of 2.2 tons of seeds for certified and basic seed production per hectare.4) 42,000 minitubers in pre-basic seed production cover one hectare.5) One Screenhouses accommodates 6,000 in vitro plantlets; and6) The productivity is 15 tons/ha, 12 tons/ha, 10 tons/ha, and 7 minitubers/plant for certified seed, basic seed, pre-basic seed, and minitubers, respectively.7) This estimation was used to determine the needed infrastructures for seed potato production.The existing seed potato gap based on 10% and 25% utilization of certified by potato farmers.Similarly, a gap in the seed potato supply chain remains evident based on 25% of land under potato crop being planted using certified seed, (Table 17). This gap increases from one seed category to next category, reaching its maximum (97.3%) for certified seed. The observed gap in basic seed, pre-basic seed and minitubers current production is estimated at 91%, 75%, and 32%, respectively (Table 17). It is pertinent to highlight that there is currently no discernible deficit in the production of TC plantlets; in fact, there exists a surplus of approximately 32%.The assessment of the requirement and existing resources for the production of certified seed potatoes, covering either 10% or 25% of the total potato-growing land indicates shortfalls in various areas. Specifically, there is a deficit of 1,385 ha, 239 ha, and 43 ha of land, along with a shortage of 33 screen houses dedicated to certified seed, basic seed, pre-basic seed, and minituber production. Notably, there is no deficiency in vitro plantlets, as the available potato tissue culture laboratories exceed the current demand, as outlined in Table 17.However, a significant disparity is observed in the inadequacy of screenhouses for minituber production and the insufficient land dedicated for prebasic, basic, and certified seed production in comparison to the requirement to cover either 10% or 25%. Public facilities at present are incapable of bridging these gaps. Consequently, it is imperative to engage the private sector to address and fill these identified gaps effectively.The comparison of the need and available facilities to produce certified seed potatoes to cover 25% of the total land of potato for one season in main Rwandan potato-growing agro-ecological zones revealed a gap of 1,385 ha, 239 ha, and 43 ha of land and 34 screen houses for certified seed, basic seed, pre-basic seed, and minitubers production, respectively. No gap was noticed in vitro plantlets; the available potato tissue culture laboratories have a substantial capacity compared to the demand (Table 18). However, the screen houses for minitubers production and the land for prebasic, basic, and certified seed production are severely lacking compared to the demand. The current public facilities are insufficient to address these gaps.   This extensive network of storage EGS and storage facilities plays a crucial role in the seed potato value chain, ensuring that high-quality seeds are available for agricultural purposes. Compared to the neighboring countries, Rwanda is leading in the adoption of these seed potato technologies.Similarly, the number of private seed potato multipliers in the country-40 registered comprising of organizations (17.5%), Cooperatives (15%) and individual farmers (67.5%) is a good indicator on the value proposition of seed potato business. Currently the country boasts a surplus production of in vitro plantlets, serving as the foundational material for seed production.However, the study revealed that of the total volume of seed potatoes produced between 2018 and 2023 as per the RAB and RICA annual reports, merely 7% comprises certified seed, while the larger proportion consists of QDS and PS. This indicates that a significant portion of the Early Generation Seed (EGS) is not utilized for certified seed purposes, but rather downgraded to QDS or farmers used it to produce PS seed.These findings have been instrumental in shaping the development of a strategic five-year plan for seed potato production (2024-2028). The primary objective of this plan is to synchronize the efforts of different actors within the seed value chain, fostering coordination to ensure that efficiency along the seed potato production chain to maximize productivity and effectively align with the supply and demand dynamics of the seed potato market. The study unveiled a multitude of factors and challenges that significantly impact the seed potato value chain including but not limited to: to -97%), highlighting significant gaps and loopholes through the chain. Eighty-eight percent of seed producers interviewed reported an average yield of 12 t.ha (average for prebasic, basic and certified seed) way below the attainable yield of 20-30 t/ha recorded by some progressive smallholder farmers and over 40 t.ha at research stations. Ideally seed producers should get higher yields.The lack of adequate knowledge and skills among seed multipliers hampers the adoption of best practices and innovative approaches in seed potato production. For example, over 60% of seed farmers who experienced rejection of seed field did not know the reasons for rejections making it difficult to correct the status. planning and decision-making processes for stakeholders. About half, 47% of the seed multipliers who procure starter material from RAB cited the undersupply of their seed orders as the main challenges they faced, disrupting their plans. Another 46% of the seed multipliers highlighted delays in delivery of their seed orders, and in some cases, seed orders are supplied out of season.Addressing these multifaceted challenges will necessitate coordinated efforts and targeted interventions across the seed potato value chain to foster sustainability, resilience, and competitiveness in the sector.Based on the findings of the seed potato needs assessment, a comprehensive set of recommendations has been developed to effectively address the challenges identified and foster the growth and sustainability of the seed potato industry in Rwanda. These recommendations include: Bolstering pest and disease management, adopting good seed agronomic practices and appropriate input management and promoting appropriate storage facilities among other enhance productivity measures. The focus should be from minituber production upwards as there is currently no gap in the production of invitro plantlets.5. Support Regulatory Framework and Quality Assurance: Establish standards for requirements for quality control for early generation seed (EGS) starting with pthe roduction of iin-vitroplantlets in the tissue culture (TC) laboratory, production of minitubers from screen houses (conventional and aeroponics technology) as well as specific technical regulations to support the enforcement of those standards. To achieve this, there is need to:• Finalize and operationalize the updated seed potato inspection and certification protocols and create extensive awareness of the protocols and benefits of certified seed.• Support regulators to fully enforce seed law and other regulations -providing budgetary and technical support, advocating for required changes in seed potato structure including engaging more seed inspectors.• Streamline the quality assurance services to ensure easy certification services delivery in line with international standards and protocols will significantly improve the competitiveness of seed potato industry.• In addition, a program to build/strengthen the capacity of seed quality assurance staff with reference to ISTA and OECD best practices is a critical intervention.• Mandatory training for all the registered seed multipliers should be rolled out.6. Awareness creation: Most ware potato farmers and marketers lack awareness of newly released varieties that offer high yield potential, disease and pest resistance, climate resilience, and good processing qualities. This low adoption of new varieties leads to missed opportunities for farmers to benefit from genetic gains, resulting in low productivity and farm income from potato cultivation. Despite the potential for seed potato dealers and sector agronomist to bridge this gap by disseminating information to farmers, the study revealed that they lack up-to-date information and technologies accompanying new varieties. To address this issue, it is crucial to provide budget support to RAB and relevant department to assist seed producers, agro-dealers, and sector agronomists in:• Designing promotion messages and delivery models to increase awareness of emerging potato technologies and innovations.• Implementing best practices for setting up and conducting variety demonstrations and field days/open days to showcase the benefits of new crop varieties.• Utilizing local FM and television channels, as well as social media platforms, to deliver messages to a wider audience and enhance outreach efforts.• By employing these strategies, stakeholders can facilitate the adoption of new crop varieties, leading to improved productivity and income for potato farmers.The assessment revealed that local seed potato companies/producers face challenges such as weak institutional and technical capacity, a shortage of skilled personnel, absence of short-and long-term business plans, reliance on government support, inadequate infrastructure for producing quality commercial seeds. Failure to comply with quality assurance standards, and a lack of mechanisms for exchanging information with clients. To address these issues, it is essential to enhance the capacity of these companies/producers by supporting them to:• Develop business and marketing strategies to foster sustainability and growth.• Establish feedback mechanisms to improve communication and address client needs.• Ensure compliance with quality assurance standards to enhance product reliability and trust.• Facilitate exposure to advanced seed companies' managerial systems through exchange visits to improve operational efficiency and effectiveness in the seed business• These will enhance their competitiveness, improve their sales, and contribute to the overall development of the seed industry.The absence of promotion strategies, coupled with high rejection rates of declared seed fields and storage-related damages, highlights a deficiency in knowledge and entrepreneurial skills within the seed potato business ecosystem, including producers, agrodealers, distributors, processors, extensionists, and stockists. The lack of a graduation mechanism and a unified training program further hinders the development of adequate seed potato skills. Consequently, this situation impedes the adoption of seed-related technologies such as GAPs, post-harvest handling, dormancy management, storage, and distribution. To address these challenges and foster a resilient seed system, it is imperative to enhance the capacity of all actors within the seed value chain. This requires the implementation of a harmonized capacity-building program with a graduation mechanism, aimed at improving both technical and operational expertise and skills among seed value chain actors. 9. Digitize seed potato sector: The lack of structured, formalized, and centralized seed potato data and information management systems poses challenges for seed potato actors, as data is scattered across relevant Ministry Departments and private companies/multipliers. This fragmentation hinders collective data management, including collection, analysis, and sharing, which in turn affects awareness of availability, accessibility, and priority investment areas. To address this, support is needed to design and implement a digital system for coordinated data collection, analysis, and sharing. This system will provide accurate insights into the status of seed potato and facilitate informed decision-making for current and future interventions in the seed potato sector.The assessment revealed that most of the seed-related platforms suffer from internal dysfunction due to a lack of operational capacity, low membership coupled with low satisfaction levels by current members, and limited advocacy power; hence these weaknesses result to low participation in seed coordination and planning activities. Adequate support is required to enhance the operational capacity of platforms to play a considerable role in national planning, providing seed related information, and advocating for the members and seed sector. Strengthened platforms will be the key players in creating resilient private-led seed potato industry.The overarching objective remains to augment the prevalence of certified seed within the country. Certified seed surpasses all quality standards, whereas QDS represents a lower tier of certified seed due to partial compliance with these requirements. Considering that superior seed quality substantially enhances yield potential, the adoption of certified seed is highly commendable.12. Actionable five-year seed potato roadmap: Based on the findings of the seed potato need assessment, an We are carrying out a Seed Potato Needs Assessment Study. As an esteemed seed potato stakeholder, your company / business has been selected to participate in this study. Your participation is voluntary. The information we obtain from you will be treated confidentially. We won't record your name; your business' name and your responses will be completely anonymous. We will take precautions to ensure that the information you provide to us is not shared with anyone outside the research team. All information will be stored in password-protected devices.The findings of this study will help us to develop a model for sustainable seed potato supply chain at country-level, synchronizing all steps in the multiplication process considering targets in land availability, seed production tonnage, and quality assurance.You can choose to answer or not answer any questions and you are free to withdraw from further participation in this interview at any time. In case you decline/withdraw, your lack of participation will not have any negative consequence on the activities that are being undertaken by CIP and our partners to improve the potato sector.We would, however, really appreciate your participation and completion of the interview, and your honest answers to the issues we shall discuss. You can ask questions before and during the interview, and if after the interview you have any further questions or complaint about this study, you can directly contact Clement URINZWENIMANA by email ([email protected]). When the results of this research are ready, we will send you an invitation to participate in a validation meeting where the findings will be presented, and feedback provided to all participants.The final need assessment report will be shared widely, and it will be freely accessible.The interview will take about 30 minutes to complete.  "}

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+{"metadata":{"gardian_id":"af26795e112aa06dc61de14c8f188855","source":"gardian_index","url":"https://cgspace.cgiar.org/rest/bitstreams/a19a94a3-1055-44c1-ac5f-5f1e42841fcc/retrieve","id":"1033260970"},"keywords":[],"sieverID":"a8f9afcf-9d66-431d-9149-357f9fdcee16","content":"The rearing of the calf starts right after the most suitable sire has been selected and the cow has been fertilized. The correct feeding of the in-calf cow is the right start in rearing the calf.The gestation period of a cow is about 280 days, depending on the breed.Two months before the expected calving date, the cow should be dried off. During the \"dry\" period, the foetus increases its weight considerably (Friesian breed): The last 2 to 4 weeks before the expected calving date, the cow should be given a \"steaming\" treatment (the practice of commencing to feed extra rations, especially of grain and concentrates, to late pregnant cows in an attempt to promote maximum milk production from the very beginning of the lactation. Feeding usually commences about 4 weeks before the due date).As calving time comes near, the ligaments around the tail head and pelvis relax and sink. The vulva swells and mucus discharge is common. The udder becomes rapidly bigger (fuller) and udder oedema (swelling) may develop. Shortly before birth the uterus begins contracting, mildly at first. This may go on for as long as 24 hrs (average about 4 hrs), during which time the cow becomes increasingly restless.The foetus is pushed against the cervix causing it to open. Also during this time the foetus assumes its birth position, lying on its stomach with the forelegs extended and the head resting on them. Powerful contractions of the uterus begin and these are supported by voluntary contractions of the stomach muscles. The result is that the foetus is pushed through the birth channel within a few hours, under normal conditions. As the calf's head passes down the vulva, it curves downwards. This helps the rest of the calf pass through the pelvis more easily. In its normal birth position the calf assumes its smallest diameter. This is necessary to make the birth possible without too many difficulties. As a rule the calf will be born within an hour after the front begins to show in the vulva.If the calf has not been born after an hour or two, an examination should be made. If the calf is in its normal birth position some assistance may be given by pulling a rope that has been attached carefully to the forelegs.Always pull downwards in the direction of the udder rather than straight out of the cow. Pull only when the cow strains and do it in a careful way. Before giving assistance, clean water with a disinfectant (e.g. detol) should be used to wash the vulva and surroundings area. The person given assistance should clean his hands and arms thoroughly. Also the pulling rope should be disinfected.Abnormal positions of the calf occur sometimes. Veterinary assistance may be needed then. Some abnormal positions include:• only one front feet protrudes• the forelegs appear but without the head• the hind legs appear first• the tail appears first.In these cases the calf must be repositioned most of the times before it can be delivered.Other abnormalities that can occur during parturition include:• uterus contractions are not strong enough• foetus is too big; in this case surgery (caesarean) may be necessary to deliver the calf.In normal delivery the foetal membranes usually rupture about the time the forelegs pass through the vulva.Normally the calf is delivered free of the foetal membranes, which are still tightly attached to the placenta to assure a good oxygen supply to the calf during birth. The umbilicalThe in-calf cow ILRI Pakistan Factsheet 5 July 2015cord (navel cord) usually breaks when the calf passes through the vulva. At this time the calf must start breathing since it can no longer obtain oxygen from the mother.After birth, oxygen is the first requirement for survival. Make certain that the nostrils are free of membranes and fluids. Breathing can be stimulated by blowing air into the nose or by tickling the nasal cavity with a straw. This can make the animal sneeze thus cleaning the nostrils. After birth the calf must receive colostrum as soon as possible (at least within two hours after birth)After the calf is born, uterine contractions continue which free the foetal membranes from the uterus and expel them. This is the afterbirth. It should be disposed of as soon as it is expelled. If the afterbirth is not expelled within 12 hours after parturition, it is considered retained.When the placenta is retained and the cow is sluggish, has a poor appetite and appears to be sick, veterinary attention is needed. When the cow is eating and behaving normally, most of the times a bolus (antibiotics) is placed in the cervix. Normally the afterbirth will come off a few days later. It is bad practice to remove the afterbirth with force.The afterbirth is never removed completely in this case and serious damage to the uterus may be done resulting in sterility of the cow.Some fluid, containing blood and bits of tissue are usually found in the uterus after calving. This fluid is normally expelled during the first days after calving.This does not necessarily mean there is an infection. However uterine infections do occur regularly after calving.A good indication of the beginning of an infection is the odour of the discharge. The bloody discharge that occurs the first days after calving should not have a strong, foul smell. If there is a foul smell and pus, prompt attention is needed. Treatment is possible by placing an antibiotic (bolus) in the cervix.One day before calving, the cow should be brought into a disinfected, hygienic calving box (remember that a large paddock is much better than an infected, dirty calving box!)• sometime before birth the udder starts swelling (1-2 weeks)• about 12 hours before birth, the body temperature of the cow will go down a little "}

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+{"metadata":{"gardian_id":"6ff7e659095fcb65908e1b9095ad6e29","source":"gardian_index","url":"https://cgspace.cgiar.org/rest/bitstreams/1f0ea991-21d5-4225-b083-3ae995b957b9/retrieve","id":"1433205263"},"keywords":[],"sieverID":"0259cd30-bbb4-4ef7-b4e6-d5ef4ab76556","content":"It is abundantly clear that the threat of water insecurity, and the dangers it holds for people, economies and ecosystems, is coming into increasingly sharp focus. Changing risks of extreme precipitation, destructive floods, drought and aridification are apparent across many parts of the world, and not just from global datasets and the scientific literature, or the reports of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, but in bold-faced media headlines and urgent appeals for action and investment.It is encouraging that, in spite of the alarm bells ringing for water security, IWMI has made successful steps forward in ensuring it is able to better support responses in the communities and countries where the Institute works, and better contribute to the partnerships that are critical to transforming water systems.At the global level, at the United Nations Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP26) in Glasgow, Scotland, in November 2021, IWMI joined more than 30 partners at the first-ever Water and Climate Pavilion to communicate a clear and urgent message to climate negotiators, partners across sectors, investors, businesses and funders: Transforming water systems to build water security is central to climate action and must serve as the foundation for a climate-resilient future.With this message resonating in Glasgow and with stakeholders at national, regional and global levels -and in preparation for the United Nations Water Conference to be held in March 2023 -the challenges motivating the IWMI Board of Governors and staff are clear: How do we deliver water security for the most vulnerable people? How do we use action on water security to adapt to climate change, build food system resilience, and advance gender equality and inclusion? How do we come together across nations, sectors, partnerships -and, indeed, research domainsto build water security as the climate changes?As this report demonstrates, IWMI makes a unique contribution to meeting these challenges. As the world's only international organization dedicated to conducting research on water management, IWMI's work builds on a rich, almost 40-year legacy of research, innovation and learning. In 2021, we marked the end of the IWMI-led CGIAR Research Program on Water, Land and Ecosystems (WLE), and showcased results that will guide water-sensitive, sustainable economic development for years to come, and help to create a more climate-resilient and environmentally secure future for communities around the world. IWMI's Strategy 2019-2023 has proved to be a vital guide to the Institute's organizational development in the challenging and rapidly evolving global context we face. In 2021, we launched a series of new partnerships and projects, while continuing to develop IWMI's contributions to the ongoing reform of CGIAR. This reform -known as One CGIAR -is deepening the integration of governance and management across the CGIAR system, while broadening CGIAR's mission to embrace science and innovation to advance the transformation of food, land, and water systems and support climate action. Amidst such change, we ended the year on a growth footing -financially stable with a growing bilateral portfolio and strongly positioned in the emerging new cross-CGIAR Research Initiatives.With the support of our Board of Governors, we took steps to ensure that IWMI's vision for a water-secure world became more firmly embedded within the mission of One CGIAR as its transformation evolves. In doing so, our goal is to promote synergies across CGIAR and coordination of CGIAR's water-related research and programming in the years ahead.Alongside our contributions to One CGIAR, we are putting in place stronger, more strategic partnerships that we hope will strengthen the global institutional architecture for water. We are exploring a strategic alliance with the Global Water Partnership to use our clear complementarities to create joint programs to advance SDG 6 and the vision we share of a water-secure world. We also put in place the foundations for a new partnership platform, the 'Alliance for a Water-Secure World', with the goal of catalyzing investments in major new programs and partnerships for water security.As we reflect on 2021, we are deeply thankful to our staff, partners, IWMI's host government in Sri Lanka and our host communities around the world for their shared commitment and solidarity in weathering and navigating yet another year of the Covid-19 pandemic. While vaccines played a vital role in keeping the virus at bay, it was our collective endurance, resilience and resolve that made possible the progress and results featured in this report.We recognize that IWMI's many achievements in 2021 reflect extraordinary effort across the Institute, and we are enormously grateful to all IWMI staff for the exceptional hard work and dedication that made this possible.We invite you to learn more about our work in this annual report, which profiles some of IWMI's most impactful projects and shines a spotlight on our global engagement. As you will see, our vision for -and our determination to achieve -a water-secure world remains resolute and unchanged. Dr. Aditi Mukherji, Principal Researcher, IWMI, was a Coordinating Lead Author of the Water Chapter of Working Group I of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Sixth Assessment Report (AR6). She was also part of the core writing team of the AR6 Synthesis Report. In 2021, IWMI hosted a webinar to present the findings of the IPCC AR6 Working Group 1 Report, and to discuss the implications of the latest climate change findings on Asia and Africa, where IWMI has been developing and implementing water management solutions to improve climate resilience. IWMI contributions to the IPCC reports are crucial to translating climate science into effective, comprehensive policy. Working Group II's Water Chapter was released in early 2022.Water, Land and Ecosystems (WLE) led regional (in Southern Africa and Central Asia) and national (in Pakistan and Egypt) Independent Dialogues, and participated in pre-Summit events centered around the links between water and food. These dialogues helped identify local challenges and solutions to ensure a sustainable water supply to local and regional food systems. The dialogues focused on ways to sustainably transform food systems, while promoting inclusion and equity within the water-energy-food (WEF) nexus, and protecting ecosystems. Insights from these Independent Dialogues fed into the UN-Water-led global dialogue titled Water: The game changer for food systems and helped shape the UNFSS agenda.   Major trends shaping IWMI's strategic and operational context in 2021Water, Growth and InclusionSmallholder farmers produce at least one third of the global food supply. However, in developing countries, 80% of these farmers live in water-scarce regions, despite being the main source of food production.In 2021, the Covid-19 pandemic disrupted food distribution channels, led to layoffs, restricted physical access to food markets, slowed transport, and diminished the capacity of institutions that support social safety nets for food security. Inclusion strategies are now a growing focus of development solutions, and gender empowerment is becoming more urgent in development solutions worldwide.Despite the global mobility limits which resulted from the Covid-19 pandemic, the 2021 World Migration Report revealed a dramatic increase in internal displacement due to disasters, conflict and violence. Although remittances dropped slightly in 2020, the number of international migrants continued to increase the following year, especially in Europe and Asia. Migration continues to be a major factor in development and change.Almost half of the world's population still has no access to the internet. This digital divide predominantly impacts women, rural populations and vulnerable communities living in developing regions of the world, where fewer than one in five people are connected to a mobile or internet network.Knowledge gaps, including the lack of data on water services, and the fragmentation of water science data, are slowing the implementation of comprehensive policy solutions. Nevertheless, new initiatives to render data and the internet more accessible have reached unprecedented numbers.Photo: Muhammad Usman Ghani / IWMIWater, Food and EcosystemsConnecting producers to markets with farmer-led irrigation development:Harnessing the power of water and energy for foodThe benefits of solar-based irrigation have long been recognized in countries where there is low access to the power grid. Once assessments of groundwater conditions show that increased irrigation can be achieved in a sustainable manner, next steps involve getting the right technologies to the right clients. This is often complicated by weak supply chains, high costs and a poor understanding of local market needs. IWMI is working to better scale the use of solar-based irrigation and as a result help strengthen food security and climate change resilience.A recent IWMI study suggests that solar photovoltaic pumps offer an economically and environmentally sustainable alternative to fossil fuel pumps. Private sector companies are eager to capitalize on this potential by expanding the market for small-scale solar-based irrigation. For these companies, serving small-scale irrigators, who have traditionally been perceived as high risk, can be profitable if the right business models are applied. However, the use of solar-based irrigation remains limited. IWMI and partners are working on new approaches to expand farmers' access to solar-based irrigation that are appropriate in cost and scale.With the abundance of sunshine in Ghana, solar-based irrigation offers smallholder farmers a promising alternative -but only if they can afford the initial investment. IWMI and its private sector partners co-developed and evaluated three possible business models that could address how farmers in Ghana's Northern Region can cope with the high upfront costs of buying a pump.In the first model, farmers purchase solar-powered pumps to access water for irrigation and other needs such as livestock watering, home gardening and domestic uses. Farmers can also sell water to neighbors. To make the pumps more affordable for this model of outright purchase, Pumptech Limited, a distributor of solar pumps manufactured by the German company LORENTZ, offers a pay-as-you-own credit scheme. This allows farmers to use the equipment while making regular payments until the total cost of the pump is paid off. Payments may be monthly, quarterly or scheduled around harvest times when cash flow is highest.The second model is an alternative to individual ownership -a shared model where a group of farmers jointly own a solar-based irrigation system. Group members share the costs and risks as well as the benefits. For the model to work, the group must be cohesive, with clear rules on water-sharing mechanisms, maintenance responsibility, financial management and conflict resolution.Under a third model, the solar system is owned, operated and maintained by a supplier or other third party. With the help of low-cost loans, partial grants and other financial incentives, entrepreneurs own and operate solar systems that provide irrigation water services to farmers for a fee. Entrepreneurs then use the fees from water sales to repay the loan.Data-driven tools are helping solar irrigation companies target their products and services to the right people, in the right way.Making innovative water management and irrigation technologies available to farmers on a massive scale is crucial if we are to meet growing food demands and respond to climate change impacts. However, scaling efforts often fall short because they do not sufficiently consider the factors that determine whether a farmer will adopt these technologies. Solar irrigation companies can target their products and services by identifying and segmenting customer groups.IWMI has been working to customize solar suitability maps to enable companies to identify where their marketing efforts should be directed. These maps pinpoint areas where smallholder farmers can invest in solar irrigation without depleting water resources. IWMI has refined the mapping framework to produce an online interactive tool for all of Africa.IWMI has been working with solar manufacturing and distribution companies to demonstrate how the maps and tools can be customized and incorporated into companies' sales zoning and marketing strategies. One of these companies, PEG Africa, used the maps to identify areas with the highest potential for its pumps, based on water resource type and depth, and adapted its marketing strategy to focus on these areas. In Mali, IWMI has been initiating customized solar mapping with other companies.A new toolkit assists in systemic, adaptive scaling of farmer-led irrigationEfforts to scale solar irrigation can often fall short because they do not sufficiently consider the complex realities of 'softer elements' such as people, supply chains, markets, policies and power relations.In collaboration with the Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Small-Scale Irrigation (ILSSI) and the Africa Research in Sustainable Intensification for the Next Generation (Africa RISING) projects, IWMI developed a toolkit to operationalize agricultural innovation scaling processes as an integral part of a systemic and adaptive approach to innovation.The toolkit includes tools for enabling environment analysis, solar suitability mapping, engaging and matching to form the scaling partnership, market segmentation, client assessment, demand-supply linkages, multi-stakeholder dialogues, and private-sector-driven capacity development.Aimed at implementers and private sector entities, the toolkit guides users in designing and facilitating partnerships and investments in scaling solar-based irrigation. For example, the enabling environment analysis tool guides a series of structured steps that lead to a clear understanding of the sets of policies, informal institutions, support services and other conditions that are important for irrigation systems. Based on a list of suggested questions, the analysis produces a country-specific report containing the information necessary to make recommendations for policy, successful scaling programs, and alternative scenarios to scale water solutions.The tool was developed in tandem with the World Bank publication titled The Farmer-led Irrigation Development Guide: A What, Why and How-to for Intervention Design.Farmer-led irrigation development (FLID) -in which farmers take the lead in establishing, managing and improving irrigated agriculture -is widespread, but FLID growth is constrained and inclusion is limited. There is significant potential for interventions to catalyze FLID processes, and thereby transform food and water security and promote sustainable livelihoods. Solar irrigation could be a possible game-changer in FLID, and now with IWMI's new toolkit, implementors can be deployed in a faster and smarter way.Measuring environmental flows at global and regional scalesIt's all about balance and trade-offs. Natural ecosystems need water to survive and thrive, but people are dependent on ecosystems and water for agriculture, drinking and many other purposes. When water resources are limited, how do you make these resources available to communities while protecting biodiversity and the environment at the same time?IWMI is pioneering new approaches to determining environmental flows (e-flows). E-flows are the quantity, timing and quality of water flows required to sustain freshwater and estuarine ecosystems and the human livelihoods and well-being that depend on these ecosystems. E-flows seek to strike a balance between water resources development and the protection of freshwater-dependent ecosystems. They tell us how much water we can use and how much we need to leave in the ecosystems.Recognizing the importance of e-flows, the United Nations created Indicator 6.4.2 of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to track how much freshwater is being withdrawn by all economic activities, compared to the total renewable freshwater resources available. Indicator 6.4.2 is a measure of water stress at national level. It takes into account e-flow requirements as a measure of how much water should be left in ecosystems.IWMI developed an online, publicly available, interactive tool called the 'Global Environmental Flow Information System (GEFIS)'. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) adopted GEFIS as the official global tool so that countries can insert the e-flow estimations into the water stress formula within the framework of the SDG.In 2021, IWMI and FAO published a guideline on how to make use of GEFIS for SDG reporting. IWMI has now drafted two more reports which will substantiallyassist FAO in their use of GEFIS for SDG reporting. One report provides guidance on the measurement of the Environmental Management Class, making e-flows locally reflective of environmental conditions, while the other report deals with the contribution of groundwater to e-flows.From global to regional GEFIS is a valuable tool at a global level, but needs to be paired with tools that take into consideration local nuances and accurately incorporate local ecological conditions, making the estimation of e-flows much more meaningful.As part of the Resilient Waters project, funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), IWMI is working with partners in the Limpopo River Basin of Southern Africa to provide the necessary data to secure e-flows. The project is helping to provide a framework that will enable communities and ecosystems become more resilient to changes in streamflow.The rural communities of the Limpopo River Basin are highly vulnerable to any adverse impacts caused by climate change and excessive upstream water use. The basin has a high diversity of endemic and unique aquatic biota and important ecosystem processes that help to support more than 14 million people who live in the basin and depend on its resources. The water resources of the basin are limited and overused.IWMI scientists and partners conducted a risk assessment for the basin using the PROBFLO method, a holistic e-flow assessment tool that incorporates regional-scale ecological risk assessment methods in a robust, tested approach to determine e-flows with high confidence.It helps scientists evaluate the social and ecological consequences of altered flows at multiple spatial scales.The IWMI team described the relationship between river flows and the river ecosystem, and quantified the flows necessary to keep the ecosystem in its present or better condition. The study found that the percentages of total water required to protect e-flows vary considerably, ranging from 49% in some of the smaller upstream tributaries to only 16% in the lower reaches of the river.The IWMI team also highlighted the risk to ecosystem services provided by the basin when flows are altered. If e-flows were implemented, the condition of the river would be significantly improved, even though the overall e-flow is substantially less than the total present-day flow. Timing is key as e-flows can contribute to flows during the dry season when, at present, the river stops flowing in many places due to upstream abstractions. As a result, the risks to users of the ecosystem would be reduced in many parts of the basin. Local vulnerable communities would benefit from e-flows and be more resilient to climate shocks.Researchers acknowledge that there are socioeconomic costs associated with the implementation of e-flows in the Limpopo River Basin. However, the multiple benefits, and the long-term costs of operating the system in an unsustainable state, will outweigh any immediate costs of protecting the ecosystem.Strengthening resilience in the face of future droughtsDroughts are a natural part of the water cycle and, across time, have always challenged human civilization. Since humans first started recording climate trends, drastic drops in precipitation levels and arid cycles, which on average last around 300 years, have forced populations to move or adapt. However, today, the rising frequency, severity and unpredictability of droughts are impacting food and nutrition security for one in three people around the world who are already subjected to water scarcity of some form and therefore even more widely impacted.The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change reports, with high confidence, that the likelihood of drought is projected to increase in many regions over the 21st century, even with strong climate change mitigation interventions in place. This increase is expected to be even more severe if no action is taken to avert the climate crisis.It has now been proven that climate change will not only induce more intense drought events, but also make them harder to predict. For decades, scientists have been able to rely on the past as a guide to plan for the future, but that is no longer possible. Scientists are now armed with new technologies such as map-based monitoring and early warning systems to help decision makers take timely action to manage drought.IWMI's work on drought is based on three pillars of integrated drought risk management centered around interconnected, multidisciplinary and multi-institutional activities. These pillars are (1) developing drought monitoring and early warning systems; (2) conducting impact and vulnerability assessments; and (3) elevating the importance of drought mitigation, preparedness and response.Each pillar is fundamental in promoting proactive drought management measures. The pillars are dependent on one another and essential to strengthening drought resilience.Tackling drought in the world's most water-stressed regionThe Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region is the driest in the world with only 2% of the planet's renewable water supplies. It is home to 12 of the world's most water-scarce countries. Soaring temperatures and evaporation rates, in addition to decreases in precipitation across the region, are creating extreme challenges to water and food security. At the heart of the MENAdrought project was the development of an interactive map by IWMI researchers that shows satellite data on rainfall, land surface temperature, soil moisture and vegetation health -all compiled into an enhanced Composite Drought Index (eCDI). The color-coded maps allow decision makers to quickly identify an emerging drought, even before its effects can be seen on the ground. National partners are involved in the entire process, making use of satellite data to direct early mitigation efforts to the areas in greatest need, and helping stave off some of the more severe impacts of drought. For example, partners in Morocco are able to review monthly drought maps which are produced within eight days of the new month. These maps are publicly available to universities and policymakers. In Jordan, the government also uses maps to track drought and make payments to the farmers affected, while in Lebanon, the Ministry of Energy and Water works with MENAdrought to forecast droughts and better plan its responses.Like the MENA region, Afghanistan also suffers from unpredictable water scarcity. In 2018, the worst drought in a decade prompted the Government of Afghanistan to launch its Early Warning, Early Finance and Early Action Project. The AF-DEWS tool has been online since 2020, providing weekly updates of rainfall and temperature forecasts for a four-week period. In addition to forecasts, drought indicators are also given for specific locations, so that steps can be taken to minimize risks.With the incidence of severe drought on the rise, governments must provide faster and better-targeted resilience-building and relief measures. By using satellite images and remote measures of ground vegetation to assess the extent of the drought, IWMI developed the South Asia Drought Monitoring System (SADMS), an index that integrates information on vegetation, soil moisture and temperature. In 2020, IWMI received the Geospatial World Excellence Award 2020 for its development of SADMS.SADMS provides a weekly map of drought conditions in South Asia. Numerous drought indices, including the Integrated Drought Severity Index, Standardized Precipitation Index and Soil Moisture Index, have been developed to provide advanced drought monitoring and assessment information. In tandem, these indices not only paint an accurate picture of any particular drought episode, but also provide invaluable content for decisionmaking and application.The satellite data underpinning SADMS is used to identify conditions of various stages of drought and levels of soil moisture. The system has three components: monitoring and forecasting; vulnerability and impact assessment; and mitigation and response planning through drought contingency plans.The vulnerability and impact assessment component of SADMS helps authorities to assess risks and vulnerability before droughts occur.IWMI and the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) have shared these weekly drought maps with agricultural extension services and state authorities. These maps assist with the preparation of drought contingency plans which help farmers manage drought risks and access insurance payouts.IWMI's work in the MENA region, Afghanistan and South Asia paves the way to improved drought monitoring in other parts of the world struggling with water scarcity.Drought is now becoming an important part of national and regional development planning in many droughtaffected regions, and is being recognized as a chronic problem rather than a series of ad hoc emergencies. IWMI's work is vital because proactive drought management to help nations deal with the devastating impacts of drought and build resilience is less expensive than crisis-led responses, it helps prevent these debilitating damages and casualties from happening, and because accurate forecasting models at scale are essential for better planning and preparedness.Natural disasters such as floods and droughts are not selective in who they target. However, it is the marginalized and vulnerable people who suffer the most when natural disasters decimate their livelihoods. These disasters are now occurring with increasing frequency, so IWMI has been working to make Weather Index Insurance (WII) broadly available among affected farmers in Sri Lanka to ensure they are properly compensated in the event of losses.In theory, WII can increase the ability of vulnerable farmers to recover financially from climate shocks with the compensation they receive, enabling them to resume cultivation in the following season. Using mainly satellite images to help predict damage and assess losses, WII facilitates faster compensation payouts to farmers by avoiding time-consuming verification of the damage caused at field level. This can result in low transaction costs and allow WII to be more affordable for smallholder farmers. When bundled with agricultural inputs and crop/climate advisory services, such as weekly rainfall forecasts and advisory on crop management practices, WII can expand the potential reach of insurance coverage to remote areas previously considered uninsurable.However, in practice, WII programs struggle to attract the people most in need of protection, particularly marginalized women and men. Reaching remote and diverse communities with technically complex index insurance products is an enormous challenge.Social and cultural divisions, combined with illiteracy and the lack of information and awareness about WII and its benefits, mean that small and marginal farmers that need support the most are often the first to be left out of WII schemes. These challenges can be compounded if the resources and time required to explain the complicated technicalities of WII to farmers and assist them to meet the eligibility criteria are not available. If those who need WII the most are not enlisted, existing inequalities will be Photo: Samurdhi Ranasinghe / IWMI reinforced and opportunities to promote pro-poor and gender-sensitive development will be missed.There are other vulnerable and socially underprivileged groups in Sri Lanka that have not benefitted from WII.Traditional norms favor men's privileges, resulting in additional constraints to women's equitable access to land and capital. These challenges are in fact similar across much of the developing world.Sri Lankan farmers emphasized that before adopting WII packages, they need to be able to assess the costs and benefits based on understanding how key elements of the product work. This highlights the importance of investing in awareness raising through a combination of print, verbal and visual tools that make complex products understandable to stakeholders with low levels of literacy.IWMI researchers assessed the effectiveness of WII bundled with real-time climate and agronomic advisory services provided to farmers in Sri Lanka via mobile phones. The study concluded that partnering with local organizations can be a cost-effective way of gaining the social science skills and local networks needed to engage with target communities. Such partners can bring prior knowledge of community structures and political economies, and the requisite skill sets and trust of people to the process.In response to the need to address the challenges posed by complex social contexts to include the most vulnerable farmers, IWMI has developed a framework which provides a road map that allows different stakeholders involved in all stages of developing and implementing WII schemes to address issues of inclusion in a systematic way. This framework takes a process-oriented approach that ensures actions supporting inclusion and equity run through the entire process of WII design, implementation and post-implementation. It further recognizes that inclusion and equity considerations should dictate who is involved in WII design and implementation.IWMI held dialogues on actions to improve inclusion in WII with government representatives, insurers, practitioners, academics and civil society representatives mainly within the South Asia region. The dialogues and IWMI's fieldwork highlighted that meaningful actions to enhance social inclusion will have to overcome several structural and system barriers.Government policy and rules now need to be developed that can clarify the potential multiple policy objectives of WII and set standards (e.g., equity) to be met by future WII programs.IWMI remains committed to moving this agenda forward and has closely collaborated with other CGIAR Research Centers. A community of CGIAR scientists will provide advice to the CGIAR Research Initiatives that have WII components. This will help ensure the initiatives address the nuances in WII that will set examples of how more inclusion of the particularly vulnerable can be created in these programs.Photo: Nabin Baral / IWMIWater security without gender equality will not workFor decades, IWMI's research has shown that we will not be able to achieve key development goals unless water systems investments, innovations and interventions support gender equality and social inclusion (GESI), especially in rural areas. As the multiple challenges of food, land and water systems sustainability converge, combining innovation with gender equality is a must to ensure systems deliver key benefits over time.In a project supported by Water for Women and Australian Aid, IWMI has explored how gender relationships and power dynamics influence the sustainability and functionality of domestic water supply systems in Nepal.Despite having the responsibility for ensuring household water supply, women usually do not have substantial decision-making power in the design, operation and maintenance of water supply systems.Nepal has shifted to a decentralized framework of governance and has used a GESI approach to ensure 40% representation of women across federal, district and local governance levels. Nevertheless, IWMI's research in Nepal shows that beyond their representation, much remains to be done to achieve effective engagement of women in water and sanitation governance. Attitudes and mindsets have not changed, and elected male leaders perceive women's representation to be tokenistic. Women who have been elected as representatives are invited to attend meetings, but their voices are rarely heard.Research conducted by IWMI in the rural municipality of Gurans in Dailekh district highlighted the challenges to transformative change. It revealed that before women can have greater representation, there must be stronger coalitions and coordination of women leaders to enable a more collective presence, voice and agency.Photo: ICRAF Building up women's collective power over community water security will play a central role in ensuring future system sustainability and, ultimately, the resilience of rural communities affected by the climate emergency.More than 2.2 million South Sudanese have fled their homes in recent conflicts and live as refugees in Ethiopia, Sudan, Kenya and Uganda. Many carried seeds, including okra, with them as they escaped their home areas. Okra is a nutritious part of their diets and culturally important in maintaining a sense of food and identity. However, settlements and camps where the refugees find sanctuary are frequently in areas where the soils are poor and water for cultivation is limited.IWMI and World Agroforestry (ICRAF) are leading a resource recovery and reuse project to support households in the reuse of domestic wastewater on new home gardens in six refugee settlements and their surrounding host communities in Ethiopia, Kenya and Uganda. In the Rhino Camp of northern Uganda, for example, refugee households can generate 14 liters per person per day of greywater, which is sufficient to keep a small okra patch thriving during the dry season.This project underscores how water reuse has the potential to address the intimately connected issues of gender, food and nutrition in complex refugee situations. With these communities consisting largely of refugee women and children from many cultural backgrounds, our work pays particular attention to ensuring a genderresponsive approach across the project life cycle. Lessons learned on the dynamics of gender integration in displaced and vulnerable communities have resulted in a gender integration approach that can be applied across diverse programs.IWMI implements the ReWater MENA project in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region to support safe water reuse practices that can improve food safety, health and livelihoods. As more farmers rely on water reuse for irrigation, there is an alarming inconsistency in the quality of treated drainage water. The gendered implications of these challenges remain poorly understood.Gender-based social norms in the MENA region exclude women from water governance, management and decision-making processes. In collaboration with Jordan's Royal Scientific Society, the project conducted focus group discussions in Iraq al-Amir, in the North Jordan Valley. These discussions assessed the attitudes, perceptions, beliefs and experiences of both women and men regarding treated wastewater reuse. During the dialogues, women expressed a clear need and interest to be more effectively engaged in wastewater access, use and decision-making.Building on these findings, in Jordan, ReWater MENA is working with partners to improve women's access to essential information, including procedures and protocols for wastewater reuse. The project is exploring new ways of employing women in the water reuse and sanitation sectors. This opens opportunities for women to be part of identifying and deciding on appropriate water reuse options, and ensuring full compliance with reuse rules in order to protect themselves, their households and the environment.ReWater MENA, with support from the CGIAR GENDER Platform, also conducted research in Kafr El Sheikh, Egypt, to analyze the gender-power dynamics at the tail end of irrigation networks. Focus group discussions and in-depth case studies demonstrated how an increase in women's work in irrigated agriculture enables persistence of patriarchal structures including control over access to resources. The case studies document how landless women use water reuse practices to irrigate fields through sharecropping arrangements. Yet, the women rarely make any profits, are excluded from water decision-making, and are exposed to multiple health risks.The case studies recommend more inclusive irrigation practices, which put the health, social and well-being of the poorest groups of farmers at the heart of new investments, innovations and interventions. This recommendation aligns with the current national initiative Haya Karima, which recognizes the need to put human well-being, dignity and the rights of Egyptian citizens above all other goals.IWMI places gender equality and the empowerment of women center stage in transforming lives and livelihoods. We see gender equality and long-term water security as intimately connected -one is not possible without the other. Working closely with local partners, the findings of our research will continue to push for actions that lead to truly gender transformative change.IWMI Annual Report 2021Hybrid water law for historical justice in South AfricaThough apartheid in South Africa officially ended in 1994, vestiges still remain. Despite some post-apartheid water laws, the distribution of water resources remains highly unequal. IWMI is working with partners to identify options that can help decolonize statutory water law through a hybrid approach, finally helping those 90% of small users to get their equitable water share.Injustices due to the existence of dual, race-based legal systems were painfully visible during apartheid. A tiny minority grabbed the best land and water resources.In 1994, the new democratic state made discrimination illegal, while South Africa's government proposed new water policies and laws to achieve racial and gender justice.The National Water Act (NWA) of 1998 strived for a progressive, distributive approach to water but its interpretation and implementation have actually created greater inequalities. Under the NWA, water uses that were lawful under earlier legal regimes could remain as 'Existing Lawful Uses' (ELUs), a clause that powerful white users administratively exploited by hoarding such entitlements. After 1998, anyone wanting new access to water needed to obtain a permit.The second-class collective ELUs in former homelands have not been elevated yet. Because the needs of smallscale users have not yet been recognized as ELUs, they still have to apply for a permit to legally gain access to water resources. For post-1998 users, the process of getting permits is often costly, lengthy and bureaucratic for smallscale users. These users are then criminalized without a permit. Micro-scale water users are exempted from the obligation to apply for a permit but are then marginalized because exempted uses have a weaker legal standing than permitted water uses.The most common point of contention in South Africa regards the monetary value of water entitlements. Highimpact users have used ELUs, gained through racist laws, to claim high monetary values when transferring entitlements to this public resource to other users (as water trade) or through surrendering to the government (for compensation).Photo: Graeme Williams / IWMINow there is a path to ensuring historical justice in South Africa. For countless generations, living customary water rights regimes have governed water rights for millions of small-scale and micro-scale users in Africa's informal rural economies.IWMI is working with South African partners to encourage the use of 'hybrid water law', which is a suite of legal tools that are fit-for-purpose in different contexts across the African continent. Hybrid water law aligns legal tools from statutory law with customary legal systems. It combines state-managed and customarily managed water regulation.This hybrid approach recognizes that permitting is a useful tool for regulation of high-impact users. However, for all other users, different legal tools are needed. The approach is administratively lean, recognizes customary law and protects the most vulnerable. Instead of being entangled in concerns of getting a permit or not, hybrid law focuses on determining the ultimate goals that communities and states want to achieve through the regulation of precious water resources, and how best these can be realized.IWMI is trialing an alternative hybrid approach to achieving historical justice in the Inkomati-Usuthu Water Management Area (IWMA) in the north-eastern part of South Africa. Like elsewhere in South Africa, powerful users deprive the most vulnerable of water even for basic livelihoods, with just 7% of all those registered using a vast 83% of all registered volumes.IWMI is collaborating with the Water Research Commission (WRC) and the water authorities concerned -the Department of Water and Sanitation at national level and the decentralized Inkomati-Usuthu Catchment Management Agency (IUCMA) -to develop an implementation plan for the Inkomati Catchment.The project team is piloting different tools for legal recognition, protection and prioritization of collectivelyheld water resources in former homelands vis-à-vis upstream and downstream users. The team is also exploring a reserve for core minimum volumes to meet constitutional rights to water and food, and administrative justice in permitting. As part of the effective curtailment of high-impact users, WRC, IWMI and IUCMA are also assessing realistic crop water requirements, so that water allocations are based on factual use instead of total land areas, whether cultivated or not.With these changes ongoing, finally one of apartheid's major injustices can be redressed enabling a fairer rights regime for smallholder farmers in South Africa. Climate change will exacerbate the scarcity of and competition for water. As rainfall declines and temperatures rise, the availability of water becomes uncertain. Because agriculture can be waterintensive, irrigation is often our best bet to offset these uncertainties, and feed the growing global population. However, to ensure the sustainable use of water resources for irrigation, researchers and practitioners must be very clever about how they develop novel irrigation systems of the future to meet the needs of farmers.IWMI is pioneering digital innovation tools that can leapfrog existing technologies and have the potential to be game changers. These tools will play a key role in the transition to irrigation systems that are productive and profitable while being resilient and well adapted to climate change. The tools capitalize on new technologies and big data to sustainably manage both the supply of and demand for water resources. Tools developed in publicprivate partnerships will give farmers, water planners and managers more efficient ways to manage water resources and build resilience to climate change.Farmers in Amhara, Ethiopia, have access to water via the Koga Irrigation Scheme, but that water has not been used efficiently. IWMI is providing smallholder farmers with tools that allow them to assess whether their crops should be irrigated or not.WaPOR is the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) portal to monitor Water Productivity through Open access of Remotely sensed derived data. WaPOR assists countries in monitoring water productivity, Photo: Sanjiv de Silva / IWMI identifying water productivity gaps, proposing solutions to reduce these gaps and contributing to a sustainable increase in agricultural production. IWMI scientists are working with partners to build their capacity in the use of WaPOR data. WaPOR uses satellite data to monitor agricultural water productivity at different scales. This database provides the information necessary to generate solutions to local challenges linked to water and land productivity as well as water demand management.At the farm level in Ethiopia, and with the support of partners and donors, IWMI scientists are drawing on WaPOR data to work with farmers, national researchers and private companies in the introduction of low-cost sensors to improve irrigation scheduling and use water more efficiently while improving productivity of the land.One such tool is the Wetting Front Detector (WFD), which is an ingenious plastic tube that tells the farmer when sufficient water has accumulated in the root zone by pushing up a flag. By installing these at different depths, farmers can monitor irrigation flow until the soil has been sufficiently wetted.Another tool, the Chameleon Soil Water Sensor, connects via wires to a soil moisture sensor installed at different depths. It translates a plant's uptake of water into a simple color. The colors blue, green and red correspond to very wet, moist and dry, respectively.IWMI worked with farmers and national researchers in Koga to assess the efficiency of WFDs and Chameleon Sensors in the field. The results were very promising. According to key farmers, they reduced their water consumption by 35%, which helped extend the irrigation cycle from the local storage reservoirs. The decrease in irrigation water did not mean a smaller harvest. In fact, wheat yield increased from 10% to 20% according to farmers' estimates.The farmers noted that improved water demand management resulted in a faster rotation among water users in the same group, and resulted in a decline in water-related conflicts. The water saved was used to extend the area under cultivation within the blocks, and to also reduce water deliveries from main scheme operations to night storages.IWMI research has indicated that there is untapped and sustainable groundwater potential in many regions of Africa. However, use of that water must be monitored to ensure that recharge is managed and the resource is sustainable.Solar irrigation pumps (SIPs) offer a sustainable solution to groundwater extraction. However, with near zero operational costs, it is easy for irrigators to overuse the scarce water resources. IWMI researchers are investigating the land that is most suitable for solar irrigation, and how SIPs will impact groundwater resources and the connected water, agricultural, energy and environmental systems.IWMI has developed the Solar Irrigation Information System, a prototype platform that uses near real-time data from Futurepump, a private sector provider of solar pumps equipped with data loggers which measure the amount of energy used. The data derived from individual pumps allow managers to aggregate data to identify different patterns of use in real time. This helps future design, needs and operations of pumps to support design teams. The data also provide information on rates of abstraction of shallow groundwater reserves, which ultimately allows us to identify when and how much water is being abstracted and if this is sustainable, or how it could be better managed in relation to rainfall recharge.Farmers can use the resulting data to better understand where they can sustainably use solar irrigation, and policymakers can use it to better manage groundwater resources.Around 40% of the world's food is produced using irrigation. Yet, many irrigation schemes seem to follow a Build-Neglect-Rehabilitate cycle, which overlooks maintenance and infrastructure needs.IWMI developed an irrigation asset tool called Systematic Asset Management Software (SAMS). SAMS is an open-source and user-friendly application which captures irrigation infrastructure investments in a database and tracks performance and predicts when maintenance is needed. This innovative process will enable stakeholders to audit investments and keep track of maintenance.IWMI started a new project in 2020 titled 'Targeting investments in medium-to large-scale irrigation schemes'. Under this project, IWMI is furthering the development of SAMS to use remote sensing to digitally manage irrigation infrastructure and assess irrigation performance. The project is developing integrated tools that enhance the manager's capacity to carry out a quick assessment and make an investment decision that will increase the performance of irrigation schemes.Irrigation is only one of the ways in which practitioners, researchers and decision makers can engage in sustainable water management practices. Nevertheless, in many places, its potential remains untapped. Innovations with a long-lasting impact WLE's legacy lies with the practical and science-driven innovations that countries and farming communities can adopt to address development challenges and transition to more productive, sustainable and resilient food systems. These examples are just a part of the significant legacy that WLE is leaving for CGIAR and the wider world of research for development.WLE developed affordable and inclusive index-based flood insurance for flood-prone farmers. The insurance uses flood modelling data to estimate flood depths and duration, and satellite data to help assess flood damage.The approach removes the need to verify claims via field visits, speeds up the payment of compensation from insurers and helps ensure that premiums remain affordable. Another innovation is a bundled insurance product that provides compensation along with improved seed varieties of drought-tolerant wheat or flood-resistant rice, agricultural inputs such as fertilizers, and information on appropriate agronomic practices.Solar irrigation pumps have received significant attention during the past decade. They are a more affordable, reliable and climate-smart alternative to conventional diesel pumps. Efforts to increase uptake are not sufficiently 'pro-poor' and instead favor well-connected farmers with the means to invest in these solar pumps.With the help of IWMI, WLE researchers developed and refined farmer-centric business models that incentivize efficient water use and enhance smallholder access to the benefits of solar-powered irrigation without exacerbating groundwater depletion.Farmers are struggling with depleted soils, water shortages and climate uncertainty. At the same time, urban areas are becoming vast sinks for organic waste. The way forward is to mimic natural cycles by adopting the model of a circular economy -processing organic food waste, wastewater and human excreta to extract energy, nutrients, organic matter and water for agricultural use. WLE identified opportunities for resource, recovery and reuse using numerous technical and institutional solutions. Recognizing that many of these solutions remain inaccessible to small-scale entrepreneurs and other stakeholders, WLE innovated a business model approach tailored to these groups that can drive circular economies.Top-down approaches to restore increasingly depleted soils and water resources have had limited success because of a mismatch between the landscapes and recommended solutions, a lack of monitoring and maintenance and, crucially, poor adoption by communities lacking training or institutional support. WLE-supported work to restore degraded landscapes focused on understanding and engaging communities to obtain their buy-in. By demonstrating the potential economic benefits to communities, and securing their agreement and material contribution, restoration activities have been successfully implemented. These activities include landscape restoration and water harvesting practices; contour bunds to conserve water and reduce soil erosion; rehabilitation of traditional water tanks; mechanized micro-water harvesting packages; and weirs to capture nutrients and improve agricultural productivity.Poor soil health is a major cause of decline in agricultural productivity in sub-Saharan Africa. While WLE has ended, it is clear that its impact will continue to resonate and help strengthen our collective response to the climate crisis and the needs of climatevulnerable communities across the Global South. This award recognizes researchers and aspiring researchers who are committed to transforming agri-food systems. Eight finalists were selected from over 80 entrants for their pioneering approaches and potential to create a better food future for all.Photo: World Food ForumUnited Nations Food Systems Summit 2021: Water Dialogue Ahead of the United Nations Food Systems Summit 2021, a global water dialogue explored the fundamental interconnections between food systems and water systems, and their relation to other areas that are essential to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals. At the event titled 'Water: The Game Changer for Food systems', it was concluded with consensus that water has unmatched utility to support the necessary transformation of food systems. Participants, including six senior IWMI experts, agreed that water plays a critical role in future proofing food systems against climate shocks and pandemics. This will make food systems more inclusive and healthier, which will help to end hunger and malnutrition, and safeguard the health of our planet.Resillience (SoLAR) -Webinar WeekThe IWMI-led Solar Irrigation for Agricultural Resilience (SoLAR) project, funded by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), organized a series of six webinars during the period February 1-5, 2021. The SoLAR project aims to generate knowledge to sustainably manage water, energy and climate interlinkages through the promotion of solar irrigation pumps (SIPs). The goal of the project is to contribute to climate-resilient, gender-equitable and socially inclusive agrarian livelihoods in Bangladesh, India, Nepal and Pakistan by supporting government efforts to promote solar irrigation. The six-part SDC-IWMI webinar series explored some of the big questions around energy transition and SIPs in four South Asian countries. The webinars were open to the public and gathered speakers from all four countries as well as those from outside the region.The IWMI reported an increase on its total grant revenue in the financial year 2021 of more than 25% with a total revenue of USD 31.13 million and achieved a surplus of USD 0.48 million. IWMI received an unmodified audit opinion on its 2021 annual financial statements and 21 project audits were carried out during the financial year to comply with grant agreements.In December 2021, the System Council approved the first group of 19 CGIAR Initiatives to launch from January 2022 and the 2022-2024 Portfolio and Designated Financing Plan.The Institute continues to review its policies, procedures and processes to further strengthen internal controls. IWMI is currently working with other CGIAR centers on the One CGIAR transition. Once the new One CGIAR transition is completed, all CGIAR centers, including IWMI, will have a further improved internal control system. The Institute also ensures that it strictly follows the clauses in the grant agreements and in compliance with donor regulatory requirements. For the years ended December 31, 2021 and 2020 (in US Dollars '000)"}

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+{"metadata":{"gardian_id":"8c6e4a0c4e788557e504258c04a9d247","source":"gardian_index","url":"https://cgspace.cgiar.org/rest/bitstreams/19c517e2-39cf-459f-9e5d-fc4e0741407d/retrieve","id":"-1530277747"},"keywords":[],"sieverID":"60989fe8-38a6-4be3-86cf-8bd6391d7fd3","content":"Bovine brucellosis is endemic in India and imposes major health and livelihood burdens. In Bihar, India there is no state-run brucellosis control programme. Therefore, it is important to design an effective producers' education programme to reduce transmission of the diseases in people and animals. However, their perspective of the disease is not well understood and therefore, a study was conducted to assess the knowledge, attitude and practices of smallholder dairy producers in the state.• Cross-sectional survey of 3 districts of Bihar, India in autumn 2015. In each district, 1 rural and 1 urban area selected, from each 38-44 households: in total, 292 households (HH). • All selected HH were interviewed using a structured questionnaireKnowledge about brucellosis is very scarce, almost negligible among smallholder dairy producers in Bihar. Therefore, a customised education programme may be designed and implemented among the dairy producers to make them aware about the disease. More participatory research will be required to understand the attributes that determine the prevailing knowledge, attitude and practices and factors that might motivate dairy producers to change.• Only 6% of the producers were aware about brucellosis • Less than 3% of the producers were aware about the symptoms of brucellosis. • Less than 2% of the producers reported that brucellosis could be transmitted to human. • 2% of the producers knew it could be transmitted from animal to animal. • 53% of the producers threw away an aborted foetus; 44% buried the aborted foetus. • 48% producers used to take bath after disposal of aborted materials, 40% washed hands with soap and 10% washed clothes. "}

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+{"metadata":{"gardian_id":"4697ee548b0266b59e86816591ed2bdc","source":"gardian_index","url":"https://repository.cimmyt.org/server/api/core/bitstreams/ab5eec50-e27d-492b-b391-219194030808/content","id":"-651181726"},"keywords":["Triticum aestivum L. Puccinia striiformis f. sp. Tritici","herencia de resistencia","genes menores"],"sieverID":"113751dd-3172-47ca-8c9b-fc36c7510aae","content":"La roya lineal amarilla del trigo (Triticum aestivum L.) causada por Puccinia striiformis f. sp. tritici es una enfermedad de creciente importancia en los Valles Altos de Mexico, pues lIega a causar perdidas en el rendimiento mayores a 60 % y deteriora la calidad del grano. Las variedades de trigo harinero 'Juchi F2000', 'Nahuatl F2000' y 'Tlaxcala F2000' fueron Iiberadas por el Instituto Nacional de Investigaciones Forestales, Agricolas y Pecuarias en el aiio 2000 para siembras de temporal 0 secano, que mostraron diferentes grados de infeccion por esta enfermedad. Para determinar la genetica de la resistencia a roya amarilla de las tres variedades, estas se cruzaron con la variedad susceptible 'Avocet-YrA'. Los progenitores y 148 familias F3 por cruza se evaluaron durante el Verano 2002 en Toluca, Estado de Mexico, bajo una incidencia natural de roya amarilla. Con los resultados de las familias F3 se determino que la resistencia de planta adulta a roya amarilla en 'Juchi F2000' esta regalada por tres genes menores de efectos aditivos, y que en 'Nahuatl F2000' y 'Tlaxcala F2000' esta condicionada por tres 0 cuatro genes de la misma naturaleza. Un gen en comun en las tres variedades fue Yr18, que confiere resistencia parcial de planta adulta a roya amarilla. La progenie de 'Nahuatl F2000' manifesto mayor nivel de resistencia, 10 que indica fue contiene mas genes 0 genes diferentes y mas efectivos; por ello, a traves de una cruza triple entre las tres variedades podria aumentarse el nivel de resistencia a roya amarilla.the disease In order to determine the genetics of the resistance to yellow rust in these three varieties, they were crossed to the susceptible variety 'Avocet-YrA'. The parents and 148 F3 families per cross were evaluated at Toluca, Mexico during the Summer 2002 under a natural incidence of yellow rust. The results of the F3 families allowed to infer that the adult plant resistance in 'Juchi F2000' was conditioned by three minor genes of additive effects. In 'Nlihuatl F2000' and 'Tlaxcala F2000' three to four genes of the same nature were identitied. A common gene in the three varieties was Yr18, which confers partial adult plant resistance to yellow rust. 'Nlihuatl F2000' progeny showed higher levels of resistance, thus indicating that it has a higher number of resistance genes. The intercross of these three varieties may allow to increase the level of yellow rust resistance.Index words: Triticum aestivum .Puccinia striifomUs f. sp. tritici, inheritance resistance, minor genes.En los Valles Altos de Mexico, que comprenden regiones templadas de los Estados de Mexico, Tlaxcala, Hidalgo, Puebla, Durango y Morelos, se siembran mas de 150 mil hectareas de trigo (Triticum aestrivum L.) de temporal 0 secano durante el verano (SlAP, 2008). En estas areas temporaleras se presentan condiciones favorables de humedad (mayor de 70 %) y temperatura (15-20 0c) para la incidencia de roya amarilla (Puccinia striijormis f. sp. tritici) , enfermedad que cuando ataca de manera severa en variedades susceptibles llega a causar perdidas del rendimiento mayores de 60 %) y deteriora fuertemente la calidad del grano (Huerta y Singh, 2000).El mejoramiento genetico para lograr resistencia a esta enfermedad ha sido el metodo mas eficiente en su control (Singh et al., 2002). Biffen (1905), uno de los primeros investigadores que estudi6 la genetic a de la herencia de infecci6n al ataque de roya amarilla, report6 que dicha resistencia es monogenica y de canicter recesivo. Con el redescubrimiento de las leyes genetic as de la herencia y el descubrimiento de que la resistencia a royas es un canicter de herencia simple, se han realizado numerosos trabajos sobre la herencia de la resistencia a roya amarilla, principalmente para identificar genes mayores. La mayorfa de variedades resistentes a roy a amarilla han tenido como fuente de resistencia a genes de herencia simple, pero la perdida continua del efecto de estos genes 0 de sus combinaciones, ha obligado a buscar alternativas en el manejo de la resistencia no especffica a este hongo, debido a que este pat6geno tiene la capacidad de mutar y evolucionar hacia mayor virulencia, 10 que ocasiona que se rompa nipidamente la resistencia.Una alternativa para lograr mayor durabilidad de la resistencia a roya amarilla es mediante la formaci6n de genotipos de trigo que posean resistencia durable, basada en genes que confieren resistencia de desarrollo lento de la enfermedad (slow rusting); el efecto de un gen de resistencia de desarrollo lento en el progreso de la enfermedad fluctua de pequeno a moderado, pero la combinaci6n de dos 0 mas genes de efectos aditivos resulta en un alto nivel de resistencia (Singh y Rajaram, 1994). Las variedades de trigo presentan genes de planta adulta, cuyos efectos son menores pero de acci6n aditiva (Singh y Dubin, 1997;Singh et at., 2002). Segun Milus y Line (1986a y 1986b), las variedades de trigo invernal 'Gaines', 'Nugaines' y 'Luke' exhiben resistencia durable a Pucdnia striijormis f. sp. tritid mas efectiva en planta adulta y a temperaturas mayores a 25°C que a temperaturas menores a 15°C, que es 10 mas comun; estos autores concluyeron que en cada variedad la resistencia fue condicionada al menos por dos 6 tres genes menores de efectos aditivos.Los estudios de herencia realizados en los ultimos anos en variedades mexicanas de trigo indican que los niveles moderados de resistencia en 'Penjamo T62', 'Lerma Rojo S64', 'Nacozari M76' y 'Tesia F79' estan condicionados por la acci6n monogenica del gen de planta adulta Yr 18 que confiere resistencia parcial (Singh y Rajaram, 1994). Singh y Dubin (1997) y Singh et al. (2000) encontraron que las combinaciones de Yr 18 mas dos 0 tres genes de la misma naturaleza inducen niveles aceptables de resistencia, y que a mayor numero de genes de efecto aditivo la resistencia es mas estable en cualquier ambiente que presente roya amarilla. En variedades como 'Pav6n F76' y 'Huites F95' que no poseen el gen Yr18, tambien es posible reducir los niveles de infecci6n mediante otros genes que igualmente inducen este tipo de resistencia, como Yr29 y Yr3 (Singh et al., 2001(Singh et al., , 2003)).Se ha reportado que no existen efectos negativos en el rendimiento al acumular mayor numero de genes menores de acci6n aditiva, de forma que se pueden conjuntar resistencia a roya amarilla y a roya de la hoja con alto potencial de rendimiento (Huerta y Singh, 2000). En Mexico la primera variedad de trigo liberada para siembras de temporal con este tipo de resistencia fue 'Zacatecaz VT74 , , seguida de 'Romoga F96' cuya resistencia permanece efectiva aun cuando se manifiesten varias razas de roya amarilla. Otras variedades para siembras de temporal como 'Zacatecas VT74', 'Pav6n F76' y 'Mexico M82' han mantenido niveles aceptables de resistencia, pero no asf las variedades 'Temporalera', 'Galvez M86' y 'Batan F96' que actualmente son susceptibles. Las variedades de trigo para siembras de temporal 'luchi F2000', 'Nahuatl F2000', Y 'T1axca1a F2000' mantienen resistencia a las diferentes razas de roya amarilla que se encuentran en el pafs, pero se desconoce el numero de genes que determina esta resistencia. En estas tres variedades• se ha postulado la presencia del gen Yr 18 y otros genes menores de efectos aditivos, pero no se tiene la certeza si Yr 18 se encuentra presente y cuantos mas 10 acompanan (Villasenor et al., 2003).Para lograr resistencia durable a roy a amarilla en las futuras variedades es necesario conjuntar de cuatro a cinco genes de efectos menores de acci6n genica aditiva, 10 que se conoce como resistencia cercana a la inmunidad. La manera de conjuntar este numero de genes es a traves del mejoramiento genetico (Singh et al., 2000). El objetivo de esta investigaci6n fue determinar la herencia de la resistencia de planta adulta a roya amarilla de las tres variedades de trigo para temporal, 'luchi F2000', 'Nahuatl F2000' Y 'Tlaxcala F2000' .El trabajo se efectu6 durante los veranos del 2000 al 2002. Se hicieron tres cruzas entre el progenitor susceptible 'Avocet-YrA' (AOC-YrA) con cada una de las variedades resistentes 'luchi F2000', 'Nahuatl F2000' y 'Tlaxcala F2000', empleadas como progenitores masculinos. En el Cuadro 1 se muestran los genotipos y sus progenitores. Las cruzas se hicieron durante el Verano 2000 en el Batan Texcoco, Estado de Mexico. La generaci6n Fl de cada cruza se sembr6 en campo de forma mateada durante el ciclo Otono-Invierno 2000-2001 en Ciudad Obreg6n, Sonora. De cada cruza se cosecharon cinco plantas al azar, tres de las cuales dieron origen a la generaci6n F2 y las dos restantes se guardaron como reserva. Las progenies de cada planta F 1 fueron sembradas en forma mate ada en el Verano 2001 para cosechar en forma aleatoria 50 plantas F2 de cada una de las tres plantas que conformaron a cada cruza. Para la obtenci6n de las familias F3, las poblaciones F2 de cada cruza se inspeccionaron visualmente, y cuando no habia discrepancia en las progenies de las tres distintas plantas F I se cosecharon al azar 50 plantas individuales de cada una de las tres plantas por cruza, para la obtenci6n de 148 familias F3.Cuadro 1. Cruza e historia de selecci6n de las cuatro variedades de trigo utilizadas en el estudio durante el verano de 2002 en Toluca, Estado de Mexico.Variedad-YrA-30Y Fuente: Villasenor et al. (2003) y Huerta-Espino et al. (2002).Durante el desarrollo de las poblaciones todas las cruzas y generaciones se protegieron con la aplicaci6n del fungicida Tebuconazol (Folicur®) para controlar la enfermedad y evitar la perdida de plantas susceptibles. Las familias F3 de cada cruza se evaluaron en el Verano 2002 en un campo experimental en Toluca, Estado de Mexico. Los progenitores y cada una de las 148 familias F 3 de cada cruza se sembraron en surcos dobles de 1 m de largo separados a 80 cm; se emplearon dos repeticiones para minimizar escapes, pero en el amilisis de datos s610 se uso una repetici6n porque no hubo diferencias significativas entre repeticiones.El amilisis genetico se bas6 en la frecuencia de familias resistentes, susceptibles y segregantes en un tipo de herencia cualitativa 0 mendeliana. Para lograr alta incidencia de la enfermedad, el experimento se rode6 con un bordo de la variedad susceptible 'Morocco', la cual actu6 como fuente de inoculo; al final de cada parcela, en franjas alternas tambien se sembraron surcos de la misma variedad. La evaluaci6n y c1asificaci6n de las familias F3 por su respuesta a la roya amarilla se efectu6 bajo incidencia natural del hongo. Para registrar la respuesta a la roya amarilla en las familias se hicieron dos evaluaciones de la enfermedad, la primera cuando el progenitor F3 susceptible alcanz6 de 90 a 100 % de severidad en la hoja bandera, y la segunda 7 d. despues. En todas las familias de cada cruza se estim6 el porcentaje de severidad en la hoja bandera, de acuerdo con la escala modificada de Cobb (Peterson et al., 1948); para las familias heterocig6ticas, identificadas por su segregaci6n, se estim6 el promedio de infecci6n de cinco hojas, mediante la misma escala. Tambien se evalu6 la FI de cada cruza de la misma forma que las familias F3. Sin embargo, en la FI se tomaron tres lecturas para observar el desarrollo de la enfermedad (Cuadro 2). Una vez hecha la evaluaci6n, las familias F3 de cada cruza se c1asificaron en cuatro grupos. En el Grupo 1 se inc1uyeron familias homocig6ticas con respuesta similar al progenitor resistente; en el Grupo 2 se ubicaron a las familias homocig6ticas con respuesta similar al progenitor susceptible; en el Grupo 3 se incluyeron las familias heterocigoticas que segregaron plantas resistentes como el progenitor resistente, hasta un porcentaje de severidad de nivel intermedio pero sin plantas similares al progenitor susceptible; y en el Grupo 4 se clasificaron las familias heterocigoticas que segregaron plantas con resistencia semejante al progenitor resistente, plantas con resistencia del tipo intermedio y plantas tan susceptibles como el progenitor susceptible. Con las frecuencias observadas y esperadas en ambas evaluaciones, se realizaron pruebas de X 2 .Las condiciones de temperatura (10 a 25°C) y humedad (mayor a 70 %) fueron favorables para el desarrollo de la enfermedad, la cual alcanz6 altos niveles de infecci6n en la hoja bandera (100 % de infecci6n) en el progenitor susceptible, 10 que permiti6 la evaluacion y c1asificaci6n de la F I, de las familias F3 y de los progenitores. La F I de las cruzas entre variedades resistentes y el progenitor susceptible indic6 que la resistencia a roya amarilla fue parcialmente dominante, como se muestra en el Cuadro 2. Al analizar el comportamiento de las familias F3 respecto a los niveles de infeccion, y al c1asificarlas en resistentes, segregantes y susceptibles, no se observo una distribuci6n discreta de c1ases que pudiese indicar la presencia de genes de resistencia de efectos mayores 0 factores de resistencia de dominancia completa; 10 que se observo fue una variacion continua de las familias F3. En la Figura 1 se muestra la distribucion de familias F3 en cada cruza. Figura 1. Distribuci6n de familias F3 de las cruzas entre el progenitor susceptible 'Avocet-Yr'A con las variedades resistentes: a) 'Juchi F2000', b) 'Nahuatl F2000', y c) 'Tlaxcala F2000 'AOC-YrAI Tlaxcala F2000' 50MS 60MS 70MS(1) Reacci6n de la planta a la enfermedad: S = Susceptible; MR = Moderadamente resistente; MS = Moderadamente susceptible; R= Resistente, El criterio para determinar el numero de genes se baso en el numero de familias homocigoticas susceptibles, las cuales son mas faciles de identificar en campo. Bajo el supuesto de que la virulencia del patogeno es recesiva y que la resistencia en la planta es dominante (Roelfs y Groth, 1988), el numero de genes implicados en la resistencia se determino con base en las frecuencias observadas de las familias clasificadas en el Grupo 2. Entonces, si la resistencia estuviera controlada por dos genes la frecuencias esperadas de familias homocigoticas susceptibles seria de (6.25 %) 1/16; si fuera condicionada por tres genes, la proporcion seria de 1/64 (1.6 %), y si estuviera controlada por cuatro genes, la proporcion seria de 11256, equivalente a 0.4 % (Cuadro 3). Cuadro 3. Frecuencias esperadas (%) en los cuatro grupos de clasificacion de familias F3 en cruzas susceptibles por resistentes, cuando la resistencia esta condicionada por genes men ores de efectos aditivos.Nllin. Grupo Familias homocig6ticas resistentes; Grupo 2 = Familias homocig6ticas susceptibles; Grupo 3 = Familias heterocig6ticas con plantas resistentes y plantas intermedias; Grupo 4 = Familias heterocig6ticas con plantas resistentes, plantas intermedias y susceptibles.Con base en las frecuencias esperadas y observadas (Cuadro 4), mediante la prueba de X 2 se determino que tres es el numero minima de genes de efecto aditivo que control an la resistencia en las tres variedades. Como en la van \" Nahuatl F2000\" se incremento la frecuencia de familias de tipo intermedin 0 Grupo 3 con respecto a las familias del Grupo 4, probablemente en esta variedad el numero de genes sea mayor (Figura 1). Lo anterior se evidencia tambien en el mayor nivel de resisteneia en la Fl. Lo anterior se ha observado en genotipos euyo numero de genes de efecto aditivo es mayor, con niveles de resistencia en la F 1 que en algunos casos es similar al progenitor resistente (Singh et al., 2000).Singh et al (2000 y 2002 en trigo; ademas, se confirma que para alcanzar mayores niveles de resistencia es necesario acumular mayor numero de genes de efecto aditivo, como en 'Nahuatl F2000'. En las tres variedades se ha postulado la presencia (Huerta-Espino et al., 2002) del gen Yr18/Lr34 ligado 0 pleiotropico a la necrosis de la punta de la hoja (leaf tip necrosis =ltn) , gen que reduce los niveles de infeccion de la enfermedad pero cuya accion individual es insuficiente porque los niveles de desarrollo de la enfermedad son mayores a 70 %. En el presente estudio fue evidente la necrosis de la punta de la hoja, por 10 que se confirmo que Yr 18 es uno de los genes presentes en las variedades 'Juchi F2000', 'Nahuatl F2000' y 'Tlaxcala F2000'. Este gen se considera de naturaleza durable y con efecto sinergistico al interactuar con otros genes de efectos aditivos, pues puede mejorar el nivel de resistencia en forma individual; estos genes en un tiempo se denominaron complejo Yr18 (Singh y Rajaram, 1992, 1994;Singh y Dubin, 1997).Al analizar los progenitores (Cuadro 1) se puede deducir que en 'Juchi F2000' el gen Yr18 proviene de 'Romoga F96', variedad que fue evaluada durante 10 afios (1986 -1996) Y desde entonces mostro nivel aeeptable de resistencia a roya amarilla, aun cuando la freeuencia de poblaciones del patogeno ha cambiado a formas mas virulentas. Este progenitor, al igual que 'Zacatecas VT74' posee el gene Yr 18 por 10 que en la cruza 'Zacatecas VT74/Romoga F96' este gen se encontro en estado homocigotico al igual que en la variedad 'Tlaxcala F2000'. En 'Nahuatl F2000' 10 mas probable es que Yr18 provenga de la var. 'Opata', aunque otros progenitores implicados en la cruz a , como 'PAM' y 'HaRK', tambien poseen el gen (V illasefior et al., 2003).Cuadro 4. Distribucion y frecuencia relativa de familias F3 en cuatro grupos de las cruzas entre el progenitor susceptible CAvocet-Yr'A) y los progenitores resistentes CJuchi F2000', 'Nahuatl F2000' y 'Tlaxcala F2000') en Toluca, Estado de Mexico durante el Verano 2002.Num. de  La presencia de mas de tres genes de resistencia a roya amarilla en las variedades liberadas durante el 2000 indica que es posible conjuntar alto potencial de rendimiento y buenos niveles de resistencia, con calidad de grano y otras caracteristicas agron6micas deseables. Ante una poblaci6n de roya amarilla que se mantiene en cambio constante, la mejor forma de asegurar la sustentabilidad del trigo de temporal es mediante el uso de variedades con resistencia durable y evitar el uso de variedades con resistencia especffica, para 10 cual es importante que en el mejoramiento genetico se enfatice en el uso de resistencia no especffica 0 resistencia de desarrollo lento de la roya, que ha probado ser de tipo durable. Es necesario entonces diversificar las fuentes de resistencia para recombinar diferentes genes y aSI alcanzar una resistencia mas estable en los diferentes ambientes.Los resultados de las cruzas en Fl y de las familias F3 indica que al menos la variedad 'Nahuatl F2000' posee mayor mimero de genes que las otras dos variedades; no obstante, es necesario analizar si las tres variedades poseen genes diferentes, 10 cual requiere cruzarlas entre sl y confirmar que las tres poseen el gen Yr 18, ademas de determinar cuantos genes son diferentes. En caso de que haya por 10 menos un gen de diferencia entre ellas, entonces se puede incrementar el nivel de resistencia al entrecruzar estas variedades, y mantener como base al gen Yr 18. El entrecruzamiento 0 la combinaci6n de estas tres variedades pueden conjuntar no solamente mayores niveles de resistencia, sino tambien mayor rendimiento y calidad, puesto que individualmente las tres variedades son de alto potencial de rendimiento y buena calidad (Villasenor et aI., 2003).Con base en los resultados de las familias F3, se concluye que la resistencia de planta adulta a roy a amarilla en la variedad 'Juchi F2000' esta determinada por tres genes de efectos aditivos. En las variedades 'Nahuatl F2000' y 'Tlaxcala F2000' se identificaron entre tres y cuatro genes. El gen Yr18 es uno de los genes de resistencia que poseen estas tres variedades de trigo harinero de temporal liberadas durante el 2000. Se considera que al menos 'Nahuatl F2000' posee mayor mimero de genes 0 cuando menos un gen diferente que Ie confiere mayor nivel de resistencia, 10 que permitiria alcanzar mayor resistencia durable a roy a amarilla en otras variedades que se cruzaran con ella.Al CONACYT (Proyectos 34715-B y 12163) por el financiamiento otorgado para la realizaci6n de la presente investigaci6n. "}

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+{"metadata":{"gardian_id":"2e8a96a5923da993e618203f6db1d1e0","source":"gardian_index","url":"https://cgspace.cgiar.org/rest/bitstreams/e0a38329-04bc-4488-a624-561667152fad/retrieve","id":"62841690"},"keywords":[],"sieverID":"38fefdf5-3859-43c8-996e-d74c16db49e0","content":"• Technical advisory grants (TAG) from IFAD Rome usually a few countries, regional/technical focus cross country, learning, innovation, piloting -3 years (€1-1.5m)• Other Rome -Regional learning, KM and innovation -One-off evaluations (contribution to project design)• • Frustrating!• Can we make the partnership more meaningful?CGIAR and IFAD today  We can accelerate AR4D to impact at scale"}

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+{"metadata":{"gardian_id":"6d0e75e5c01d5282fec87052547bddc9","source":"gardian_index","url":"https://cgspace.cgiar.org/rest/bitstreams/f21c8344-9cae-41a5-bf2f-98d146179fe3/retrieve","id":"2055175052"},"keywords":["Abiotic stress","Andean potatoes","Genebank","Genetic resources collection","PVS2","Solanum spp"],"sieverID":"37f46439-8e3d-4446-9e42-617ad5f370c5","content":"The effect of cold and sucrose pretreatment for increasing tolerance to cryopreservation was evaluated with eight diverse genotypes, six cultivars belonging to the cultivated species, Solanum tuberosum spp., S. tuberosum subsp. andigena, S. x juzepczukii and S. x ajanhuiri, and two genotypes from the wild species, S. commersonii. In vitro plantlets were cultured at either 6 or 22 °C in media supplemented with either 0.07 or 0.3 M sucrose prior to droplet PVS2 cryopreservation. The sucrose pretreatment appeared to have no positive effect on post-cryo survival. The cold-hardening pretreatment increased significantly post-cryo recovery in drought and frost tolerant cultivars. When 755 accessions, representing 10 taxa, were cryopreserved after cold-hardening, 96 % responded with at least one shoot recovering and 63 % showed a high recovery rate (40-100 %). Therefore this method is recommended for the long term conservation of diverse accessions of potato germplasm.Potato has the richest genetic diversity of any staple crop (Messer 2000). In the Andean region, currently more than 4,500 potato landraces belonging to seven Solanum species exist. Around the world, there are hundreds of improved varieties, derived mainly from Solanum tuberosum spp. tuberosum. This wide diversity needs to be preserved to secure food security for future generations. These varieties are indeed a rich reservoir of genetic characteristics to improve potato varieties and increase food supply. Cryopreservation is thereby an important tool to ensure the safe preservation of this diversity.Research on potato cryopreservation was initiated in 1977 (Bajaj 1977) and over time several methods have been developed and assessed demonstrating the advantage of cryopreservation for long-term germplasm conservation. In comparison to in vitro conservation, cryopreservation decreases material handling during storage. Therefore it minimizes labor and risks of losing samples due to human errors. Consequently there is less contamination risk. An efficient cryopreservation procedure allows plant tissues to tolerate the ultralow temperature of -196 °C of liquid nitrogen (LN) and, to withstand this LN storage for an unlimited time period; and it allows the subsequent regrowth of true-to-type plants.For the safe long-term conservation of important staple clonal crops such as potato, banana, cassava, sweetpotato, yam and other Andean root and tuber crops, international genebanks (Benson et al. 2011) are conducting research on the development of improved cryopreservation methods and the establishment of cryo-banks as part of a global strategy to securely preserve genetic resources into perpetuity. In potato cryopreservation techniques like the PVS2 droplet vitrification and the DMSO droplet method are routinely used. The PVS2 droplet method is used at the International Potato Center (CIP), Lima, Peru, where the largest global in vitro potato collection is maintained, comprising Andean cultivars belonging to ten diverse potato taxa. The Leibniz Institute of Plant Genetics and Crop Plant Research (IPK) in Gatersleben, Germany, is currently cryopreserving its potato collection with the DMSO droplet freezing method (IPK 2013). The IPK collection comprises mainly European commercial improved cultivars belonging to the species Solanum tuberosum subsp. tuberosum. The National Center for Genetic Resources Program in the United States (NCGRP) (ARS 2013) and the National Agriculture Center (NAC) in the Republic of Korea (Kim et al. 2006) also apply the PVS2 droplet vitrification method to cryopreserve potato. Finally, the Crop Research Institute (CRI) in the Czech Republic is cryo-preserving potato using an alternative ultra-rapid freezing method (Kaczmarczyk et al. 2011).The aim of the present study was to improve the PVS2 droplet vitrification method in use at CIP (Panta et al. 2006) by testing varying pretreatments that could influence potato tolerance to dehydration and freezing. Literature reviews on potato cryopreservation propose several methods to induce tolerance to dehydration and freezing (Gonzales-Arnao et al. 2008;Wang et al. 2008;Benson et al. 2011;Kaczmarczyk et al. 2011). To enhance plantlet hardiness, cold and sugar treatments have been applied during the culture of mother plantlets from which the shoot tips are excised. In this research, a cold-pretreatment of mother plants is termed ''cold-hardening''.Cold-hardening treatments at 4 °C, applied for 3 weeks (Hirai and Sakai 2000) and 1 week (Halmagyi et al. 2005) potato plantlets showed no significant improvement in comparison with the PVS2 vitrification without coldhardening. However improvement was observed when alternating temperatures [21-22/8 °C (day/night)] were applied for 1 week to improved European potato varieties following the DMSO droplet freezing method (Kryszczuk et al. 2006;Kaczmarczyk et al. 2011).Sugars (sucrose, glucose, mannitol and sorbitol) have also been applied in the shoot tip culture medium preceding exposure to vitrification or dehydration. Sucrose is the most commonly used to induce cryo-tolerance. Halmagyi et al. (2005) successfully demonstrated increased tolerance to cryopreservation by applying 0.5 M sucrose pre-culture for 24 h at 24 °C. Folgado et al. (2014) demonstrated as well an improved recovery of meristems following an elevated sucrose treatment (0.3 M) during the 2 weeks of coldhardening of mother plants.In this study, the culturing of shoot-tip-donor plantlets at a low temperature (6 °C) on a culture medium with or without high sucrose concentration (0.3 M) was evaluated using eight genotypes with a different response to abiotic stresses (frost, drought and salinity) and belonging to different species and ploidy levels (Table 1). Since, tissues are subjected to dehydration, osmotic stress and freezing during cryopreservation, we hypothesize that the cryopreservation response is linked to abiotic stress tolerance and that a better understanding of the basis of such tolerance will allow the development of more efficient cryopreservation procedures applicable to a wide range of potato accessions (Panta et al. 2014).Recently, the Andean cultivated potatoes and their wild relative S. commersonii were biochemically and molecularly studied to understand the physiological mechanisms linked to abiotic stress tolerance (Schafleitner et al. 2007;Mane et al. 2008;Vasquez-Robinet et al. 2008;Pino et al. 2013). Information from these studies is useful to improve potato cryopreservation methods.The potato clones used in this study were obtained from the in vitro collection maintained under slow growth conditions at CIP. The medium contained 4 % sorbitol, MS salts (Murashige and Skoog 1962), 2 mg/l glycine, 0.5 mg/ l nicotinic acid, 0.5 mg/l pyridoxine, 0.4 mg/l thiamine, 2 % sucrose and 0.8 % agar (SIGMA A-7002). Storage of the cultures took place at 6-8 °C under 22 lmol m 2 /s illumination with a 16 h photoperiod. Eight genotypes with differential responses to abiotic stress (drought, frost and salinity), were selected (Table 1). Plantlets were multiplied using single-node cuttings cultured in Magenta Ò GA-7 vessels containing MS propagation medium (MPM) [MS salts supplemented with 2 mg/l glycine, 0.5 mg/l nicotinic acid, 0.5 mg/l pyridoxine, 0.1 mg/l thiamine, 25 g/l sucrose and 2.8 g/l Phytagel (SIGMA P-8196)] and held at 22 °C with 45 lmol m 2 /s illumination and a 16 h photoperiod. For experimental treatments, shoots were multiplied by culturing 20 apical cuttings (*0.5-0.7 cm length) per GA-7 vessel.Apical cuttings (*0.5 cm) were excised from 3 week old in vitro plantlets. Leaves were removed and the stem was trimmed until an apical shoot tip (1.8-2.5 mm long) comprising the meristematic dome plus 4-5 primordial leaves was dissected. When the shoot tip was larger than 2.5 mm, the tip of the largest primordial leaf was cut reducing the shoot size to the desired length. Sixty to onehundred-twenty shoot tips, depending on the number of samples required for the experiment, were excised and placed on pieces of sterile filter paper (1.5 cm 2 ) on potato meristem medium (MMP: MS salts supplemented with 0.04 mg/l kinetin, 0.1 mg/l gibberellic acid, 0.07 M sucrose and 2.8 g/l Phytagel). Ten shoot tips were placed per filter paper in a randomized way when excised to avoid any bias from the length of time post excision (all shoot tips were excised within 1 to 2 h). Samples were incubated at room temperature for about 1 h before the application of the osmoprotective treatment.The shoot tips were rinsed off the filter paper in 5 ml loading solution (LS) (2 M glycerol and 0.4 M sucrose), and incubated in the LS for 15 min at room temperature. The LS was then removed with a Pasteur pipette and replaced with 2 ml ice-cooled filter-sterilized PVS2 (30 % glycerol, 15 % ethylene glycol and 15 % DMSO, dissolved in MS salts with 0.4 M sucrose, pH adjusted to 5.8) for 50 min on ice. Two minutes before the end of the PVS2 treatment period, 10 shoots were transferred to a PVS2 drop (10-15 ll) on an aluminum foil strip (0.5 9 2 cm). All manipulations of the strips were done in a Petri dish placed on ice to obtain a temperature of around 0 °C following the method developed for banana (Panis et al. 2005) and adapted to potato (Panta et al. 2006); the strip holding the shoots was then rapidly plunged into a LN filled cryotube.After one hour storage in LN, aluminum foil strips holding the shoot tips were removed from the LN one by one and rapidly dropped into 4 ml of the Sakai's unloading solution (RS) [MS salts enriched with 1.2 M sucrose (pH 5.8), sterilized by filtration] (Sakai et al. 1990) in a glass vial. Shoots were rinsed and the RS was replaced with fresh RS (*4-5 ml) and incubated 15-20 min at room temperature in the dark. (3) MS medium, at 6 °C; and (4) MS medium ? 0.3 M sucrose, at 6 °C. After 3 weeks, shoot tips were dissected and processed following the cryo-protocol outlined above. LNexposed and non-LN exposed controls of each accession were processed. Two replicates of 10 shoot tips per treatment were evaluated in three independent experiments. Survival and recovery rates were recorded 60 days after warming.Between January 2007 and March 2012, 755 potato accessions were cryo-processed in CIP's genebank applying the PVS2 droplet method using a hardening treatment at 6 °C and a 0.07 M sucrose medium. Twenty out of the frozen samples (70-100) were thawed and their viability evaluated. These together with 20 non-frozen samples were cultured following the protocol described previously but using a modified MMP [MS medium (Murashige and Skoog 1962) with 10 ml/l coconut milk, 20 g/l sucrose, and 2.8 g/l phytagel]. Survival and recovery were recorded 60 days after thawing.Viability rates, explant survival (survival) and plants recovered (recovery), were evaluated by counting the number of explants showing a green color, and explants growing into green shoots, respectively. The recovered shoots size was about 0.5 cm or longer. Results were recorded 60 days after thawing.Results are presented as mean percentage. The experiment for measuring the cold and sugar effect after cryopreservation was analyzed following a completely randomized design (CRD). Using R and Excel programs, statistical differences between mean values were assessed by ANOVA, LSD or Kruskal-Wallis tests, according to the data normality and variance homogeneity. Survival and recovery were proportional values expressed as percentages. Since proportional data are binomially distributed, they were transformed with arcsin to reach a normal distribution. Prior to transforming the proportional data, values of 0 % were substituted by 1/4n and 100 % by (100-1/ 4n), where ''n'' is the number of units on which the percentage data was based. Arcsin formula utilized was y' = arcsin (y/100)1/2 multiplied by 180/p, to convert data to angular grades.Under cold conditions rooting and shoot growth were reduced. With the 0.3 M sucrose treatment, plantlets showed a reddish color and were elongated; leaves did not fully expand. The cv. Wila Yari was the most affected, as the rooting and growth was the lowest (data not shown).The pretreatment at 6 °C in combination with 0.3 M sucrose medium produced almost no roots. Again plantlets were reddish and leaves not fully expanded. Shoots survived after cryopreservation with significant effects of cultivar (P \\ 0.001) and temperature (P \\ 0.05) (Table 2); however the response to the two sucrose concentrations was similar, overall mean was 69 and 66 % for 0.07 and 0.3 M sucrose, respectively (data not shown). In contrast, for shoot recovery, cultivar, temperature, and also sucrose were highly significant (P \\ 0.001). Moreover a significant interaction of cultivar with temperature was observed (P \\ 0.01). Analysis of this interaction showed that hardening at the low temperature had a positive or non-significant effect on recovery; overall recovery was 48 % with 6 °C and 36 % with 22 °C pretreatment (data not shown).Results from the individual treatments (Fig. 1) showed that both S. commersonii genotypes were highly tolerant to cryopreservation with no significant effect of either cold or sucrose hardening. The cultivars Ccompis, H-1, and Pin ˜aza showed more than 50 % recovery with cold-hardening. The cv. Pin ˜aza was significantly affected by the sucrose (0.3 M) treatment. Without cold treatment, Desiree and Wila Yari were more sensitive to cryopreservation irrespective of the sucrose treatment. Tacna showed the lowest recovery rate and none of the treatments increased its recovery, indicating this cultivar was very sensitive to the cryo-procedures applied or not responsive to cold-hardening. These results suggest that a pretreatment with a high sucrose (0.3 M) concentration had no or a negative effect on recovery. However, with cold treatment and 0.07 M sucrose, overall recovery was 52 %, significantly higher than the 40 % obtained with the control treatment (22 °C and 0.07 M sucrose) (data not shown). Moreover, we observed that on average 26 % of the samples (data not shown) survived cryopreservation but failed to re-grow into whole plants.Based on the results of these experiments a cold-hardening (6 °C) culture phase was included as part of the standard PVS2 droplet vitrification protocol that will be used at CIP. This method that was successful for the most genotypes tested is schematically presented in the Fig. 2.From the beginning of 2007 up to the first quarter of 2012, 755 potato accessions representing the diversity of Andean potato accessions were processed for cryopreservation. For this, the PVS2 droplet method developed previously (Panta et al. 2006) was applied with a cold-hardening treatment at 6 °C in combination with 0.07 M sucrose medium. Results (Table 3) show that 96.4 % of accessions, belonging to 10 potato taxa, responded with at least one shoot recovering after cryopreservation; 50-80 samples of surviving accessions were cryo-stored for the long term. Shoots re-growth was always direct without intermediate callus formation. The overall survival and recovery rates were 75 and 51 %, respectively. Hence, the percentage of surviving shoots that were not able to re-grow into plantlets was 24 %; a rate that is similar to our previous experiments (see above). When the frequency of accessions showing a recovery of 0, 5-39 and 40-100 % was calculated, results showed that 62.9 % of the accessions responded with a shoot recovery higher than 40 %. Accessions belonging to S. tuberosum subsp. tuberosum and two species of known frost tolerance, S. chaucha and S. xjuzecpzukii, showed the highest recovery rates of 76, 65 and 64 %, respectively. However the number of accessions processed for these groups is low due to the low number of accessions in the CIP collection. The most represented species in CIP's collection, S. tuberosum subsp. andigena showed 51 % recovery and the lowest rate (41 %) was observed for the improved varieties (Solanum spp.). In all species, excepting Solanum spp., more than 50 % of accessions showed recovery of 40-100 %; and again to S. tuberosum subsp. tuberosum and the frost tolerant species, S. chaucha and S. xjuzecpzukii,comprised the highest percentage (81-86) of accessions with high recovery. Research has demonstrated that the addition of cryoprotectants alone often do not provide enough protection against lethal cryo-damage. Both cold and sucrose hardening treatments, either alone or in combination, have been shown to have positive effects on cryopreservation tolerance in grass, hops, yams and potato (Chang et al. 2000;Reed et al. 2003;Leunufna and Keller 2005;Folgado et al. 2014). This study has shown that a pretreatment of potato shoot-tip-donor-plantlets at 6 °C, followed by droplet PVS2 vitrification is efficient for increasing recovery after cryopreservation in most cultivars tested. The effect of cold pre-culture in PVS2 droplet vitrification has previously been studied in potato (Halmagyi et al. 2005;Hirai and    Sakai 1999). These authors used a pre-culture temperature of 4 °C and the results did not show a significant improvement in comparison with control treatments. The cultivars tested in these studies were improved varieties with no or low acclimation ability. Other studies, using preculture at alternating temperatures have demonstrated that cold pre-culture of 7 days at 21 or 22/8 °C (day/night temperature), resulted in an improved recovery rate (Kryszczuk et al. 2006;Kaczmarczyk et al. 2008) when a DMSO droplet method is applied. We tested cold and sucrose hardening treatments either alone or in combination on accessions of known drought, frost and salinity tolerance such as the frost tolerant cultivars H-1, Pin ˜aza, Wila Yari and two genotypes belonging to S. commersonii, the most frost hardy wild potato species known (Bamberg et al. 2005). Also Ccompis, a cultivar that is highly utilized in the Peruvian and Bolivian Andes and of known drought tolerance but from which the reaction towards frost is not clear and the two improved drought tolerant cultivars, Desiree and Tacna, that are unable to cold acclimate, were tested.It was expected that the frost tolerant genotypes would respond positively to cryopreservation and that the sucrose treatment would enhance this response regardless their cold-acclimation ability. Both the S. commersonii frost tolerant genotypes showed a high capacity to recover from cryopreservation regardless the pre-culture temperature or sugar doses applied, suggesting that the ability for tolerating cryopreservation is due to their genetic characteristics instead of the hardening treatments. Studies have demonstrated that fully acclimated S. commersonii genotypes can withstand -10 °C (Bamberg et al. 2005) and hence it is not surprising to see such a high cryo-tolerance of this species.The frost tolerant cultivars, H-1, Pin ˜aza, and Wila Yari always responded better following the cold treatment  Regarding the sucrose effect, our results were different to the positive effect recently reported by Folgado et al. (2014). Authors attribute these differences to the different culture techniques utilized for applying the sucrose treatment. In this study cultures were subjected to the cold and sugar stress immediately after stem cuttings are excised while Folgado's method applied the sucrose treatment in plantlets on 1 week cultures without an excision phase thus preventing an additional cutting stress that can result in the production of stress proteins such as ASRs (Henry et al. 2011).Cold-acclimation is used in frost tolerance studies and sugar treatments have been applied in drought tolerance research. Plant response to frost and drought implies biochemical and molecular changes. Changes in the amount and composition of membrane lipids may protect against freezing-induced injury. A drought response is mainly related to the synthesis of solutes needed for osmotic adjustment such as soluble sugars, proline, and glycine betaine. In potato, several studies have revealed the stress protecting role of the lipids in cell membranes (Palta 1994), the accumulation of several sugars and osmoprotectant substances (Mane et al. 2008;Evers et al. 2010), as well as genes and proteins for osmotic adjustment (Schafleitner et al. 2007;Carvallo et al. 2011;Pino et al. 2013), and membrane stability and oxidative homeostasis (Vasquez-Robinet et al. 2008;Folgado et al. 2014).Research on S. commersonii and an improved cultivar ''Red Pontiac'' of S. tuberosum, demonstrated that freezing tolerance in the non-acclimated stage and capacity to cold acclimate are following different physiological mechanisms (Palta et al. 1993;Palta 1994). Lipids associated with freezing tolerance in the non-acclimated state are different than those associated with increases in freezing tolerance during cold acclimation. Recently, we have shown that linoleic acid content is positively correlated to cryotolerance in freeze tolerant genotypes (Panta et al. 2009).The present study clearly highlights the large difference between survival and recovery rates. In all cases the recovery rate was much lower compared to survival rate with an overall decrease from survival to recovery of about 25 %. This emphasises the need for the development of cryopreservation protocols based on shoot recovery rates and not solely on tissue survival.Cryopreservation recovery in 80 % of the cultivated potatoes by using a cold pretreatment, paves the way for testing and applying cold acclimation on a larger scale (Panta et al. 2011). We tested this optimized method on 755 accessions and observed that the overall recovery rate was 51 %. Only four cultivars did not respond to the cryopreservation procedure, and the best response came from genotypes belonging to frost tolerant species.We demonstrated that the droplet PVS2 vitrification method preceded by a pre-culture treatment at 6 °C is suitable for application of cryopreservation for the longterm conservation of a wide diversity of potato genotypes. We also concluded that the potatoes with cold-acclimation capacity or frost tolerance are more able to respond positively to cryopreservation."}

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+{"metadata":{"gardian_id":"56fa7b5f65e3e7184c56ec51e3c72e4a","source":"gardian_index","url":"https://cgspace.cgiar.org/rest/bitstreams/4cb6333e-e0a1-41af-b3df-19e806ccdcd0/retrieve","id":"-2142124854"},"keywords":[],"sieverID":"25a7cf6e-cf0b-4cee-b527-ac5ff6bc1371","content":"Poor people in LMICs have greater exposure to zoonoses through livestock keeping; living in agricultural communities; interactions with peri-domestic and wild animals; less access to clean water; and, greater vulnerability to climate shocks. Although their consumption of animal source products is low, the quality of these products is poor. In addition to human health burdens, zoonoses reduce livestock productivity and are important barriers to trade in livestock products, as well as causing more difficult to quantify harms such as spillover to wildlife populations."}

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+{"metadata":null,"keywords":null,"sieverID":"16a73439-d905-4824-8d03-52a5e4007f75","content":"\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n"}

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+{"metadata":{"gardian_id":"06a7be5364eb8ad237eedda05053b80a","source":"gardian_index","url":"https://cgspace.cgiar.org/rest/bitstreams/b736ad5d-15b0-4fd2-98bc-b549c6187c9c/retrieve","id":"-1580038017"},"keywords":["Exchange","In-vitro","Germplasm","CBSD and CMD"],"sieverID":"bc5199de-4384-4870-aa52-c9196f2ac5ba","content":"Cassava varieties resistant to cassava mosaic disease (CMD) and cassava brown streak disease (CBSD) are needed for the food and income security of the rural poor in eastern and southern Africa (ESA). The International Institute of Tropical Agriculture led five national cassava breeding programs (Malawi, Mozambique, Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda) in virus-cleaning and exchanging elite cassava germplasm resistant to both diseases. This paper documents the experiences and lessons learned from the process. Thirty-one clones (25 elite, two standard and four national) were submitted by the five breeding programs to the Natural Resources Institute and Kenya Plant Health Inspectorate Services for virus cleaning and indexing. Subsequently, ca 75 invitro virus-indexed plantlets per clone were sent to Genetic Technologies International Limited (GTIL), a private tissue culture (TC) lab in Kenya, and micro-propagated to produce ≥1500 plantlets. After fulfilling all the formal procedures of germplasm exchange between countries ≥300 plantlets per clone were sent to each partner country. National check clones susceptible to CMD/CBSD were sent only to their countries of origin. In each country, the in-vitro plantlets were acclimatized under screen house conditions and transferred to clean isolated sites for field multiplication. All the clones were cleaned of the viruses, except Tomo. The cleaning process was slow for F19-NL, NASE1, and Kibandameno and TC micro-propagation at GTIL was less efficient for Pwani, Tajirika, NASE1, and Okhumelela than for the other clones. Difficulties in cleaning recalcitrant clones affected the timeline for establishing the multi-site evaluation trials in target countries. The initiative is the one of the kind to successfully clean and exchange elite germplasm as a joint action to combat CBSD in ESA. Adequate preparation in terms of infrastructure and personnel are critical to successfully receiving and adapting the indexed in-vitro plants as new germplasm.Cassava (Manihot esculenta Crantz) is one of the most important food staples in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), ranked as the number one root crop followed by yam and sweetpotato (FAOSTAT 2017). With over 140 MT of annual root production (FAOSTAT 2017), cassava is the major source of carbohydrates in the diet of millions of people in SSA and is grown as a famine reserve crop owing to its tolerance of harsh environmental conditions (Jarvis et al. 2012;Nassar and Ortiz 2007). Moreover, the crop has enormous potential to graduate into an important economic driver within the agriculture sector in different SSA countries where entrepreneurs have started to exploit its industrial business potential to produce high quality flour, starch, beverages and animal feeds.However, the crop is threatened by two viral diseases: cassava brown streak disease (CBSD) and cassava mosaic disease (CMD), and these are currently the principal biotic factors affecting production in East and Southern Africa (ESA) (Alicai et al. 2007;Legg et al. 2011). While CMD is of economic importance across SSA, CBSD remains localized in ESA, although there is a high risk of the disease spreading to West Africa unless contained (Legg et al. 2011). CBSD is caused by two virus species, Cassava brown streak virus (CBSV) and Ugandan cassava brown streak virus (UCBSV) in the family Potyviridae, genus Ipomovirus (Mbanzibwa et al. 2009). Here, we refer to these collectively as cassava brown streak ipomoviruses (CBSIs). In addition to the two species groupings, several strains of each species have been reported (Mbanzibwa et al. 2009;Mohammed et al. 2012;Ogwok et al. 2015). These interact with the host differently (Mohammed et al. 2012;Kaweesi et al. 2014;Legg et al. 2015) and produce symptoms of varying severity that complicate the evaluation and selection processes in developing resistant varieties. A further important factor in the epidemiology of these viruses, causing CBSD and CMD, is the relative abundance of the whitefly vector, Bemisia tabaci (Maruthi et al. 2005). Whiteflies occur in greatly varying abundance in the regions where both diseases occur (Jeremiah et al. 2015), and this in turn results in significantly different levels of inoculum pressure for the two diseases. Consequently, it is essential to evaluate cassava germplasm that is potentially resistant to both CBSD and CMD in a wide range of agro-ecologies.Collaborative efforts with different national cassava breeding programs have identified germplasm resistant or tolerant to CBSD/CMD. However, these have been evaluated so far under a narrow range of conditions of environment, virus species/strains, and vector abundance (Legg et al. 2011). The exchange of germplasm between countries enhances the diversity of germplasm available to partner countries. It provides breeders with fresh opportunities to evaluate and release new varieties as well as to use them as parents in efforts to breed new genotypes resistant to CBSD and CMD.Past experiences of CMD pandemic management have underlined the significance of identifying and deploying host resistance as well as the importance of joint action among partners in the affected countries through elite germplasm exchange (Ntawuruhunga et al. 2013). Open quarantine was used effectively in efforts to manage the CMD pandemic (Mohamed 2002), but this is appropriate only under emergency conditions and where introduced germplasm is carried just a short distance over the border into the receiving country. The approach has risks of introducing other diseases/pests into new unaffected areas (Ntawuruhunga and Legg 2007). Sharing of botanical seeds is less risky, but the high level of genetic variability among individual seeds means that more time and funds are required at national level to develop promising varieties (Ntawuruhunga et al. 2013). Virus-indexed tissue culture (TC) plants are the form recognised by quarantine regulators for the exchange of elite germplasm among countries (Frison 1994;Lebot 2009;Ntawuruhunga et al. 2013). Their use also ensures that fair comparisons can be made among clones that are planted in evaluation trials without propagule-borne virus infection.Breeding for dual resistance is currently being pursued as the most cost-effective and sustainable way to manage the devastating effects of the viral diseases in ESA. Although high resistance for CMD has been found, only limited success has been documented for CBSD. The desired goal of the breeding efforts is stable genotypes with resistance to both viral diseases. Work described in this paper has helped partner countries to access clean in-vitro stocks of a diverse set of resistant germplasm as vital precursor to coordinated regional trials aimed at identifying new resistant variety options to mitigate threats of CMD and CBSD. The work was undertaken in the early stages of the project BNew Cassava varieties and Clean Seed to Combat CMD and CBSD^(5CP), and aimed at exchanging elite germplasm among the five countries most affected by CMD and CBSD for adaptability breeding.Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Tanzania and Uganda (Fig. 1) are the countries most severely affected by both CBSD and CMD and agreed to share their five best cassava clones with respect to resistance to both diseases.The targeted germplasm (Table 1) included 25 elite clones contributed by partner countries, two standard regional susceptible check clones, i.e., Kibandameno, a CMD susceptible check from Kenya, and Albert, a CBSD susceptible check from Tanzania. The elite clones were selected for exchange based on resistance to CMD and CBSD, their root yield and dry matter content. Four other clones were included as national checks as follows: Tomo (susceptible to CBSD) from Mozambique, Mbundumali (susceptible to CBSD and CMD) from Malawi, and Kiroba (susceptible to CMD) and Mkombozi (susceptible to CBSD) from Tanzania. Four main steps (Fig. 2) were undertaken in the process of exchanging and managing the elite germplasm in the target countries. Figure 3 illustrates the timelines.Between August and December 2012 each country freely agreed to submit to NRI and KEPHIS ca 25 stem cuttings obtained from asymptomatic plants of each of the best five clones (Table 1) for virus cleaning. The asymptomatic plants were used mainly to ease the task and cost of the cleaning process. To minimize chances of within-clone variation (mericlones), stem cuttings of a given clone were collected from one plant stand by breeders who had wide knowledge of the clones' agronomic performance as well as their reaction to the diseases. The two laboratories served as a backup to each other in the role of virus cleaning and indexing. Apart from short delays in the delivery of the elite clones by some countries, no major challenge was experienced during this step of the process.At each laboratory, the stem cuttings were sprouted and grown in pots under quarantine for about 3 months while being observed for virus disease symptoms. At NRI, the asymptomatic plants were separated from the symptomatic (data not presented), and leaf samples from the former were subjected to virus diagnostics using PCR procedures (Aloyce et al. 2013) for cassava mosaic begomoviruses (CMBs) and real-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (real-time RT PCR) procedures (Adams et al. 2013;Tomlinson et al. 2013) for CBSIs. The virus negative plants of each clone were initiated into TC and micro-propagated to raise over 50 plantlets. Meristems were used to initiate TC plants for those clones with only virus positive plants. These were incubated under thermotherapy conditions and left to grow for 8-10 weeks before being reintroduced to the quarantine glasshouse to confirm the absence of the viruses using the diagnostic methods indicated above. At KEPHIS, meristem tips of asymptomatic plants were initiated into TC and later diagnosed for viruses. As at NRI, the virus negative plants were micro-propagated to raise over 50 plantlets. Virus positive plants were incubated in the thermotherapy chamber at 38 °C for 21 days before meristems were chosen for TC initiation. Upon establishment, the plants were tested again for viruses, and the cycle was repeated for the positive plants until negative plants were obtained and micropropagated to produce over 50 plantlets.Fig. 1 A map showing partner countries that exchanged elite cassava germplasm and sites for regional trialsThis step involved five activities: micro-propagation, verification of genotype purity and virus-free status, capacity building, mock shipment and shipment of TC plants to partner countries. a) Micro-propagation: This was done by GTIL a private TC laboratory in Nairobi, Kenya, to increase the number of clean plantlets per clone available to partner countries.From NRI, approximately 75 TC plants per clone were sent to GTIL and micro-propagated (Photo 1a) to produce more than 1500 plantlets per clone, which were sufficient to provide at least 300 plantlets per clone per country.Figure 4 shows the rates of progress of micropropagation at GTIL. While most clones responded positively to the protocols and yielded the required quantities by sub-culturing cycle 5 or 6, others such as Pwani, NASE 1, Tajirika, and Okhumelela were recalcitrant and required media improvement. The recalcitrant clones caused delays and held back the timelines for delivery of the plants to partner countries (Fig. 3) b) Verification of genotype purity and virus status of the clones: It was considered critical for independent parties to ascertain the genotype purity and virus-free status of the clones before shipment to partner countries. About ten sample plants were acclimatized at GTIL (for materials cleaned by NRI) and at KEPHIS from which later samples of different plant parts (leaves, stem and meristem) were taken and tested for CBSIs and CMBs by Mikocheni Agricultural Research Institute (MARI) in collaboration   the partners to receive the materials, as well as of identifying possible challenges during shipment. Two cuboid plastic containers (Photo 1a) each with a maximum of 150 plantlets of one clone were sent by courier to Uganda, Tanzania, and Malawi. Permits for both export and import accompanied the shipment as required by regulations. Two challenges were experienced during mock shipment and recommendations were made to GTIL for the actual shipment. Firstly, 150 plantlets per container were overcrowded with intertwined roots that resulted in both root and plant damage during removal from the media. A total of 75 TC plants per container was recommended for the actual shipment. Secondly, all countries reported plant damage resulting from the semi-solid media becoming loose and mixed with plants during shipment. GTIL was asked to use a more solidified medium to ensure that plants would be kept in position during shipment and to improve the placement of the containers in the big boxes.The mock shipment experience also led to GTIL being advised to ensure that consignments were projected to arrive in target countries early in the week for easy clearance and to avoid shipments being held up over weekends. Also, improvements were made to the system used to alert recipient countries about the expected timetable for dispatch of the TC shipments from GTIL and incountry arrival. This enabled national partners to make adequate preparations for receiving the material through liaising with authorities involved in the clearing process.  e) Shipment of TC plants: This is the activity that marked the exchange of the germplasm, between partner countries. The first and major shipment was undertaken by GTIL. Using cylindrical or cuboid plastic transparent containers, GTIL planted in the medium a maximum of 75 plantlets per container, labelled them, allowed two weeks for roots and shoots to develop, sealed, packaged, and sent the plantlets to the partner countries. The containers were placed in bigger boxes and surrounded with shockabsorbing materials. The boxes were also marked fragile and an 'up' arrow sign was used to ensure proper handling during transit. The plants were transported by road to Uganda and Tanzania or as cargo with international airlines to Malawi and Mozambique. Kenya, unlike other countries, received hardened plants from GTIL. To facilitate quarantine authority clearance at entry points, all the shipments were accompanied by copies of import permits that were obtained from plant protection offices in respective countries and phytosanitary certificates from KEPHIS. At the point of entry, the consignments were cleared by officials from the national plant protection organizations (NPPOs) of the respective countries and received by the national cassava research teams.The second shipment was made by KEPHIS, where 5 to 10 TC plantlets per clone in single glass test-tubes were shipped to partner countries. The purpose of these plantlets was to be conserved as back-ups for immediate post-flask management needs and also for future clean stock needs.a) Post-flask management: Upon arrival in each country, the TC plantlets were checked for contamination and physical damage, and registered. The plantlets were kept for two to seven days in TC laboratory growth rooms or under normal room temperature conditions to recover from transit stress. They were then carefully separated from the medium, introduced into individual small cups filled with vermiculite or forest soil/sand mixture, and placed in nutrient-enriched water baths. Each potted plant was covered with a transparent polythene bag to create micro-humid conditions. In Tanzania, the potted plants covered with polythene bags were additionally placed in a bigger humidity chamber. After one week, the polythene bags were cut open at one end and fully opened after two weeks (Photo 1b). The tender plants were sprayed with fungicide and insecticide and irrigated with nutrient-enriched water. After a month, the plants were transplanted into bigger polythene bag containers (also used in potting tree and flower seedlings) filled with sterilized soil. By the end of the second month the plants were ready for transplanting into the field for multiplication. Different rates of survival were registered by the different countries (Table 3). Uganda (79.4%) and Mozambique (80.9%) registered the highest survival rates with fewer losses than Malawi, Kenya. and Tanzania.There had been heavy losses in the first batch of delivered plants but survival improved with the second batch. b) Field multiplication: The fields used for multiplication were located in areas with very low CBSD and CMD pressure. Hardened plantlets were established in one multiplication field (Photo 1c) in all countries except Tanzania where two fields were used in different parts of the country. The management practices varied with countries. For example, irrigation was done during periods of drought in Kenya, Tanzania, and Mozambique. In Malawi, the severe cold period between June and October 2014 delayed further establishment of the multiplication field to avoid plant losses to frost. In Uganda, field multiplication was rain fed and no fertilizer application was made. To minimize any virus infection, the multiplication fields were isolated by being at least 200 m from any old cassava crop and continuously rogued. c) Macro-propagation: To mitigate the challenge of plant losses during post-flask management and ensure sufficient numbers of hardened plantlets for field multiplication, two-to three-node cuttings were taken from the few surviving plants and planted for further multiplication. In the screen houses, these were hardened plants between two and three months old and ready for transfer to the field. In the multiplication fields, these were plants at four to six months after establishment. In both cases, the cut plants sprouted with multiple shoots in addition to three or more plantlets from stem cuttings. Through this technique, the countries that suffered early plant deaths during acclimitization were able to increase the number of plants of the affected clones. The technique helped to save time and reduce costs of acquiring and acclimatizing new sets of TC plants from GTIL by the affected countries. It also ensured that there were sufficient stem cuttings of at least 20 elite clones for regional trials to be established by the end of 2015 in all countries. This technique can also be helpful in multiplication of hardened virus-indexed cassava plants under insect-proof screen houses for pre-basic seed production under cassava seed systems (IITA 2014). d) Regional multi-locational trials: The immediate purpose of exchanging the elite germplasm between countries as discussed in this paper was to test and validate the clones' adaptability and tolerance to CBSD and CMD across five partner countries all severely affected by CBSD and CMD. Using stem cuttings obtained from the multiplication field discussed above, field trials were established in a total of 33 sites across the partner countries (Fig. 1). The sites were characterized by varying levels of CBSD and CMD pressure, climatic and soil conditions. With the exception of Kenya, the countries successfully established trials with all the 25 elite clones and standard susceptible checks (Albert, a susceptible check for CBSD and Kibandamendo, a susceptible check for CMD). In Kenya, only 23 clones were established in the trials and four clones (N'ziva, Okhumelela, Shibe, and Albert) were omitted owing to plant losses during the post-flask management stage. Comprehensive data were collected for agronomic traits, viral disease incidence and severity at different stages of crop growth (including harvesting), whitefly abundance, and yield components. The data will be analysed in the near future and are expected to help in understanding the genotype by environment interactions for CBSD/CMD resistance. Also, the data will be helpful in identifying superior clone/varieties and environments for the evaluation of resistance to CBSD/CMD. e) In-vitro conservation: The clean plants received from KEPHIS in all countries were meant to be conserved as in-vitro back-ups to serve both immediate needs to replace plantlets of any clone lost during the acclimatization process and long-term needs for clean stocks for pre-basic seed production systems of identified varieties in each country.Apart from Uganda and Kenya, the countries reported the loss of all or the majority of the clones (Table 4). Erratic power supplies faced by most NARS in TC facilities and the lack of TC reagent supplies were reported as the main causes of plant losses for the clones. Additional investments in tissue culture facilities in the countries where these losses occurred will be required in future in order to allow for long-term TC-based germplasm conservation.There were three major acheivements under the intiative reported here. Firstly, up to 30 clones (25 elite, two standard checks and four national checks) were successfully virus-cleaned and indexed, and 27 clones were exchanged among target countries. The other three were returned to their respective mother countries as national checks. The particularly unique aspect of this initiative was the sourcing and pooling of germplasm from five countries, the cleaning, and returning of the expanded pooled set. Additionally, the germplasm presented a unique opportunity to identify varieties with high levels of resistance to both CBSD and CMD under the diverse range of virus/virus vector/environmental conditions in these five countries of ESA. In addition to offering potential for use as parents to generate superior progeny with a background of high resistance, the clean stocks represented a great for initiating extension programs for the multiplication and dissemination of high quality pre-basic 'seeds'. Hitherto, most of the target countries have had no access to field-based stocks of high quality virus-tested planting material.The second achievement is the strong partnership built between breeders and virologists in national and international institutions (Fig. 2; Photo 1d) that has ensured the successful exchange of elite germplasm. It represents a joint action to reverse the devastating effects of the two deadly viral diseases. The partnership also allowed cross-learning between partners at all levels of the process. It has presented a unique opportunity for breeders and virologists to work together to combat these diseases through elite resistant germplasm and clean seeds. Legg et al. (2014) previously highlighed the importance of concerted multi-partner efforts to tackle the twin threats of CBSD and CMD to Africa's cassava production. The current initiative represented a significant achievement along the road map proposed for the 'War on Cassava Viruses' that was described in this publication. However, a key question is whether the partnership will continue after the project. Partner institutions will need to make concerted efforts to ensure that these linkages are sustained, and furthermore, that the lessons learned from the approach are shared with others who are faced with similar challenges affecting vegetatively propagated crops.The third achievement was the successful implementation of the trials across the countries. Following analysis, the collected data are anticipated to elucidate the magnitude of genotype by environment interactions for CBSD/CMD resistance, superior clones, and environments. Although these trials are still in progress, preliminary results are already helping to guide stakeholders on which varieties are likely to be most appropriate in which agro-ecologies and CBSD/CMD disease pressure conditions within the eastern and southern African region. Moreover, these preliminary data and the germplasm exchange approach described here are currently being used to inform the implementation of new CBSD mitigation programs in Burundi, Rwanda and the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.& Cleaning from virus infection was relatively easy for about 85% of the cassava clones. These were cleaned in the 'first cycle' of the virus indexing program and were thereafter ready for micro-propagation. This success was possibly due to the selection and use of stem cuttings obtained from asymptomatic plants by the breeders. The remaining 15% of the clones took about three cycles, i.e., three treatments of chemotherapy, thermotherapy, and tissue culturing, before becoming clear of viruses. These clones were Tomo, F19-NL, NASE1 and Kibandameno; all were symptomatic after sprouting at NRI/KEPHIS. Only Tomo, a check clone from Mozambique, could not be cleaned at KEPHIS despite several repeated cycles. Starting a virus clean-up process such as this with visually clean plants directly influences how quickly the target clones can be cleaned of viruses. However, specificity in the response of cassava genotypes to the cleaning and indexing protocols has been reported (Sesay et al. 2016).Future initiatives attempting similar work should recognize that a small proportion of plant genotypes are likely to be recalcitrant to virus eradication. & Responses of clones to micro-propagation protocols were varied at GTIL (Fig. 3). Although the majority responded positively to the protocols and yielded the required quantities by sub-culturing cycle 5 or 6, others such as Pwani, NASE1, Tajirika, and Okhumelela were recalcitrant and optimization of the medium was needed. The recalcitrant clones also caused delays and held up the timelines for delivery of the plants to countries (Fig. 2). TC recalcitrant behaviour among clones has previously been reported in cassava (Acedo and Corazon 2008). Further investigation is needed to establish the optimal protocol for micropropagation of most of the genotypes. & Extreme temperatures adversely affected the plants while being acclimatized. For example, extremely cold night temperatures in Nairobi either slowed growth or killed the plants in Kenya. On the other hand, hot screen house conditions scorched some of the plants to death at Kibaha and Maruku in Tanzania. These experiences suggest that temperature conditions are important in selecting a station where acclimatization of cassava plants should be conducted. Specifically, the choice is recommended of shaded cool or fresh environments with no extreme temperatures (FAO 2010). In Tanzania, the extremely hot conditions were overcome by introducing a shade net inside the screen house but this could also be overlaid on top of the white insect-proof net. & Bulk packaging of the TC plantlets (75 per container) at GTIL was cost-effective but presented several challenges. Firstly, the plantlets were exposed to contamination during shipment owing to ineffective sealing of large containers. Secondly, the plantlets were vulnerable to damage during removal for hardening. The roots of the plantlets grow and intertwine into a network, making it difficult to separate them without root or plantlet damage. Thirdly, for some clones (e.g., Tajirika) the plantlets in the middle of the container tended to be slow in developing roots resulting in plantlets with no roots or underdeveloped roots that had a high chance of early death during acclimatization. Single test-tube TC packaging is the commonly used method and is associated with limited contamination and damage during removal. However, testtubes can be expensive and bulky. & It was critical to have skilled and committed personnel to monitor the acclimatizing plants carefully and constantly, closely observing the progress of each plant. Therefore, training and supervision of personnel are vital. Best results were achieved in countries where the monitoring tasks were assigned to one committed technician. & We experienced variation across countries in capacities for in-vitro conservation of elite germplasm. During the course of the initiative, most partner countries except Uganda and Kenya (where plants were kept at KEPHIS) lost more than half of the in-vitro back-up plants from infrastructural difficulties such as the lack of reliable and stable electricity as well as of reagent supplies. Future initiatives should therefore pay particular attention to minimising the likelihood of infrastructural constraints having a negative impact on the work. & The coordination role played by IITA (Fig. 2) contributed greatly to the success of the entire exercise. The project leadership ensured effective communication, and the preparation of the different partners. Prior alerts of shipment schedules and departures to recipient countries were helpful in clearing the materials through plant health inspection offices at entry points and avoiding possible delays, as well as for country teams in making all the needed preparations.This initiative is the first of its kind in successfully facilitating the exchange of a large number of clean virusindexed elite germplasm clones to combat CBSD and CMD. However, the success achieved was the result of extensive preparation of infrastructure and trained personnel to manage the different sub-processes in the framework of an effective partnership. This could have been achieved only within the context of a large project, which in this case was supported through a grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Even where such project support may not be available in future years, the approach has provided a valuable model for other national, regional, and international stakeholders in African agricultural development that may have an interest in supporting similar initiatives in future. Although the programme achieved its goals, some important challenges were identified. In particular, it was noted that a small proportion of cassava genotypes were recalcitrant either to virus cleaning or micro-propagation, and these slowed down the overall process. However, more than 80% of the genotypes used responded well to all stages of the process and by the end of the exercise, one of the most extensive cassava germplasm evaluation trials ever undertaken was underway at more than 30 locations in the five target countries of ESA. The trial will allow the region's cassava researchers to assess the performance of this elite set of varieties under a diverse set of agro-ecological conditions, and to characterize varietal responses to the viruses causing CBSD and CMD under each of these conditions. This in itself will be a unique undertaking, and should provide a lasting legacy for cassava development and efforts to combat these diseases in one of the most important cassava-growing regions of Africa. In view of the importance of cassava to Africa's food security given the threats posed by future climate change (Jarvis et al. 2012), this represents a very significant contribution."}

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+{"metadata":{"gardian_id":"076a1ef33c6671830c077bd5b5409428","source":"gardian_index","url":"https://cgspace.cgiar.org/rest/bitstreams/58cc66bc-c30d-4e51-8d87-b178c9dcf18a/retrieve","id":"391901252"},"keywords":[],"sieverID":"c7b17ad2-fc5a-4d83-a1d7-76f699683308","content":"CIAT é''S una organi~acjón sin ánjmQ de lucrQ, dedicada al desarrollo agrícola V económico de las tH;traS bajas tropicales. El Gúbtetno de Colombia proporciona su apoyo como país sede del el AT V el terreno en qu.e Se encuentrall localizadas sus principales instalaciones, un\" tinca experimental de 522 hectareas cerca de la (;IU-di1d de Cali. StJ. lIellan a cabo proyectos cooperatrvo$ con el Instituto Colombiano Agropecuario OCA), I nnclpalmente en los Centros Experimentales de Turipaná y Can magua. El el A 1 está 1inanciado por .... mas miembros institucionales del Grupo1/ Su produecllll¡. mundial es de 87 millones de toneladas, aproximadamente -. América \" 2/ Latilla prOduce el 37 por ciento de la producción mtmd1al -.La yuca !le cultiva como producto comerclai pero también como medio de subIllatanela en una buena parte de la ZOD& tropical, especialmente en fincas pequellas. Po-\\ slblemenle la ~or parte de la prOduoeión es destinada al consumo humano. Se oonsume prtnclpaImente en cipo formas: fresca y seca. Su ñpldo deterioro y su bajo valor UlI1tarIo dificultan su \"'1OOso a los grandes centros de acopio e inducen al productor a utlliurla en forma intensiva dentro de la flnoa.La elevada cantidad y excelente calidad de carbohlóratos en la yuca, hacen de esta un importante alimento energético para la alimentación de animales dom6stioos.Una de las formas de Incrementar el uso de la yuca en las fincas puede ser su conversión en carne de cerdo, expecie animal que tiene la caracterfstlca de requerir cantidades apreciables de energía, con relación a las cantidades de protelha en su perfodo de ceba.• Este trabajo fue posible gracias a la gentilesa de los Integrantes del Programa de Porcinos del !.CA, quienes proporcionaron la Información de dos experimentos realisados por ellos y qu8\"a!1'Vieron de baile para éste anAlisla eoon6mioo.Agradezco especialmente la colaboración del Dr. G. GómeB en la parle descriptiva de loe experimentos. asr como a los Dres. P. Pinstrup-Ande..-. J.H. Msner y A. Valdl!s.•• fuvestigador A_lado, Economista, Centro Internacional de Agricultura Tropical, CIAT, Apartado Aé.-67-13, Call, Colombia, S.A.!! Gutiérrez, N. y P. PInstrup-Andersen \"La importancia relativa del fríjol, marz, arroB y yuca en la zona tropical\". eIA T, Departamento de ECOnomfll Agrfoola. Call, 1972. p.17,V ldem p.17.l,a producción de cerdos compite con alimentos utilizados en la diete hUlllJl.tlS., especialmente granos de cereales. Por lo tanto, una forma de aumentar la producción de cerdos en las zonas tropicales, serta la intensifiCación del use de prodcctos relativamente abundantes en las regiones agrfcolas marg1nales~ como es la yuca, ya sea en forma fresca o como subproducto (harina).Varios trabajos experimentales sobre el empleo de la yuca en la alimentación de cerdos han sido realizados conjuntamente entre el Instituto Colombteno Agropecuario (ICA) y el Centro Internacional de Agricultura Tropical (ClA '1). Parte de estos resulisdos y una exhanBtlva descripción del valor nutrlcional de la yuca en la a.' imentación de cerdos han sido informados por Maner !I .El objetivo del presente trabajo es examloar la convenienilia de rell:lplazar ma!Z comán por yuca fresca o barina de yuca en la alimentación de cerdos en las etapas de crecimiento y acabado. Para este fin se han utilizado los resultados de dos experimentos con los cuales se han estimado las posibles ganancias monelsrlas bajo diferentes precios rela.tivos de la yuca con respecto al precio del maíz camón.En 108 estadios experimentales que a continuación se describen, se usaron mezclas de rarees de diferentes variedades de yuca, normalmente utilizados para el consumo hu.mAno, que fueron obtenidas de la Estación Experimental del ICA en palm!ra.La yuca fue cosechada dos o tres veces por seIlUlllS con el fin de prevenir el proceso normal de necr\"\" .. miento y fermentación y asr asegurar un alimento aceptable por los cerdos. Luego de cosechada, la yuca fue lavado y picado diariamente. En el caso del neo de harloa de yuca, la yuca fresca, luego de picada fue secado al sol o al horno (aire forzado} a una temperatora de 82\" e por 24 a 36 horas. La yuca seca fue prevtsmente molida antes de incorporarla en las raciones experimentales.En el primer experimento y , 15 cerdo. Duroc, con un peso inictal promedio de sexo y camada. Cada grupo fue mantenido en confinamiento en corrales con piso de concreto y el agua y sl1mento fueron ofrecidos a voluntad en bebedero. y comederos automáticos. Los tratamientos experimentales fueron los slgutentes, 1) Diete control a bue de mafz, torta de soya, torta de s1god<In. harina de hueso.y una premezcls de mlnerale. y vitaminas.2) Yuca fretoca, picada a voluntad, mas un suplemento protelllJco ofrecido también s voluntad.3) Yuca fneea, picada a voluntad, mas el suplemento protellUco ofrecido en cantidades IlUftcien!.es para cubrir los requerimientos mfnlmos.La yuca pieIIda que no consumieron 108 cerdos en 24 lloras fue recogida, pesada Y descartad.. ~ composici6n de la diet& control y del suplemento protefnico usado. se Pnleeota ea el Cuadro 1.cuadro l. Composlcl6n de la dteta oontrol y del suplemento prol.efnlco.Torta de s1god<InMafZ !la.rlns de hueso.Premezcla. de yltam1nl. Los resultados obtenidos en eate experimento se presentan en el t:uadro 2. La ganancia de peso del grupo alimenlsdo con la dieta control y del alimentado con yuca fresca nuls suplemento protelD1co a voluntad, fUeron muy simUares, 0.843 y 0.834 kg de ganancia diaria de peso, respectivamente. La eficiencia de conversión aliménticia fUe igualmente .!mUar para ambos grupos. El grupo alimentado con yuca fresca nula una cantidad controlada del suplemento protefnico consumió menos yuca fresca y un promedio de s610 0.73 kg diario del suplemento cuando se ofrec16 a voluntad. Las gananoias de peso fueron menores, pero la eficiencia alimentioia fUe superior (Cundro 2) al de los olros dos grupos. De acuerdo a estos resultadoa cualquiera de las dos formas de suplementar la yuca fresca da resultados satisfactorios, aunque la suplemeniación diaria oontrolada implica mayor necesldnd de mano de obra.Una forma nula pr4ctica de utilizar la yuca en la alimentaci6n da cerdos podrfa ssr 1ncluyéndola en las dieias en forma de harina. '!J Total expresndo sobre un 10% de humedad, aproximadamente.!-/ idem, leA. Programa de Porcinos, Palmira. Experimento P-P-2-2-10 corporación de harina de yuca en lIíetas balanceadas oon el objeto de medir su valor 00-nu¡ fuente energGt1cs y como un substituto del malZ, en raciones de cerdos durante los per1'odos de crecimiento y acabado. La harina de yuca substituyO el 33 • 66 Y 100 por atento del maIZ de la rackln control con un contenido total de 16 por ciento de protetbs.cruda. EIlI1vel de torta de slgcd6n fue mantenido constaste, 7 por ciento de la dieta, para evitar, problemas de toxicidad de goslpol, Puesto que la harina de yuca tiene una c<Íllll!Stencla polvorienta. les mismo. tratamientos fueron repetidos ccn la adlckln de 10por ciento de melaza. La ccmpoeIc!6n de las dietas experimentales se presenta en el Q¡adro 3.Cuarenta y ocbo !)ardas destetos, con un peso promedie inicial de 18.5 kg, fueron dls-tr1buIdoa de acuerdo a peso, IIGD Y \"\"mada y ocho grupos experimentales. Los cerdos fue\"\"\", \"\"_&8 en con«uaml\"\"to sobre piso de concreto y reclbleron agua y dieta a wluatad darsnte lea 111 <HIts del período experimental.Cuadro 3. Composiokln de dietas experimentales ccnt.m1eodo diferentes nlvsls.de 'harina de yuca. ---Totales 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100;00 100.00 100.00!/ Secada en horno de aire forzado a S2\" c.y Contribuyó con la misma concentracl6n de vltamlnae y minerales trazas como en la premezcla del Cuadro 1.El resumen de los resultados obtenidos en este experimento se presenta en el Cuadro 4. Cada aumento en el nivel de yuca seca resultO en una disminución de la ganancia diaria promedio de peso con o sin la adici6n de.10 por ciento de melaza. La adición de 10 por ciento de mela>:a aumentó el consumo de alimento y se tradujo en prácticamente un 10 por ciento más en las gananclas'de peso, a! compararlas con los grupos correspondientes sin melaza. Los resultados de ente experimento demuestran la factiblblldad de uso de harina de yuca en rempla>:o parcia! o total del mal'2 en dietas balanceadas y su poslbilt6ad de empleo en raciones comerciales.Análisis estadfatlc.Se empleó awUIste de varianza para establecer si hablll diferencia significativa en la respuesta entre los tr_ento. en cade uno de los dos experimentos.En el Experimento 1 se toínó la variable incremento de peso como variable dependiente y como fuente de variación las tres dietas. Se observó que no IOXistfa diferencia este6fstlca significativa en la ganancia de peso entre las tres dietas. En el Experimento n, se plantesron tres modelos para el anállsls de varianza, de acuerdo oon el dlse-Cuadro \\. lnfluencia del ntvel de harina de yuca en el comportamiento de cerdos en crecimiento y acabado !I !I Seis cerdos por tratamiento; duración del experimento, 111 dra.; poso promedio inicia! 18.5 kg; peso promedio final 1 0 •. 8 kg.iIo del experimento y: el primero inCluyó las dietas como la llnic\" fuente de variación. al segundo.., le agregó la variable SlIlW y al tercero se le incluyO en término de Interacción entre sexo y dieta. Se obsertó que sr había difarencla estadística significativa entre s\"\"o y la variable Incremento de peso para las cuatro dietas del experimento;el término 4e Interaccl6n no resultó slgn!flcativo.No debe ol'i'Idarse sin embargo que se trata de dos experimentos en que el m!mero de repetIelonea f'ue probablemente insufloiente, condicionado por las instalaciones y el pre-.supueato 41spomb1e en la época de los experimentos.Au4l1sis EooDómico De ..... de comprobar si exis1fa o no difarencis slgnlflcstiva en tos inCrementos de peso entre loa tratamientos i en ambos experimentos. se procedió a evaluar la eficiencia eoonómlca de cada una de las dietas por medie de un sencillo modelo económinC.Se trató de establecer la ga;oa:DCia monetaria relativa de oada dieta definida como la diferencia entre los tngre_ adiol.ollales (desde la elspa de creobniento) y los costos parciales de cada dieta.El Ingreso adicional ro se detarmiD6 porel aumento de peso, dado el precio del cerdo en la época de venta.(1) 1 ~ (Wf -W ~ Pe en dondo 1 representa Ingreso adioional, W f es peso finsl en kilos, W I es peso Inicial en kilos, y P representa el precio del cerdo por kilos. e En el El\\perlmento l. coD;lO no se encontró diferencia significativa entre la. ganancia. de peso de los tres tratamientos. se optó por tomar un promedio Igual para las tres dietas.La diferencia en costo paroial de alimentos (CV) de las dietas lsoprotéicas alternativas (consel'VaIl<io teóricamente el mismo valor alimenticio) proviene de la sustimción  No se consideraron aquellos gastos comunes y constantes para todos los experimens, esto es gastos fijos principalmente y parte de las dietas, ya que ellos no inciden en comparación entre 105 tratamientos en cuesti6n.La ganancia relativa para cada tratamiento (U) Be mide entonces por la diferencia ene los Ingresos adicionales y loo costos parciales de los alimentos.(Dado los precios Pe y Pi' constantes para todos 108 tratamientos t se puede calcular uál es la dieta en .cada experimento que genera la mayor ganancia monetaria. asultados En el Cuadro 5 se presentan las estimaciones de las ganancias relativas de los exerimentos 1 y II. Con el objeto de medir la sensibilidad de los resultados ante vartaones en la raz6n de precios yuca: maíz !I, se calcul6 la ganancia (U) para un rango e raz6n de precios que va de 20 a 150 por ciento.El Cuadro 5 muestra, por ejemplo, en la primera columna, que cuando el precio mitarlo de la yuca fresca equivale .al 20 por ciento del mafz, todo 10 demás constante, :1 tratamiento de mayor ganancia relativa es el nt1.mero 3 en el experimento 1, en que le emplea solamente yuca fresca y suplemento controlado. Esta situación se mantíele hasta que el precio de la yuca fresca alcanza el 49 por ciento del valor del maíz; de ,hI en adelante, resulta mejor emplear mafz solamente, como en la dieta nt1.mero 1.-,os valores negativos de los cuadros indican pérdidas relativas.!./ Excepto para harina de yuca el resto de los ingredientes fue valorizado a los pre-  !I Para seleccionar la dieta óptima el lector debe pr!mtro Ident1f1car en la parte Su-..periar la relación esperada de precios; luego, comparar veriicalmente cwU tratamiento genera m.&3Or utilidad.En la parte inferior del Ccsdro 5 puede observarse el comportamiento de las gananel .... relativas con la Introduccl6n de harina de yuca (ElqIerimento II). El tratamiento 8 resultó ser el mejor h .... ta cuando el precio de la harina de yuca equivale al 90 por ciento oiento del precio del mafz. luego es mejor usar la dieta m1mero 6, que tiene menor contenido de harina de yuca, hasta e1130 por ciento, de este precio en adelante e8 mejor emplear la dieta nUmero 5 a base de maíz solamente.De los resultados experimentales y del ani1lisis econÓmico puede preverse un magnf-¡¡co futuro de la utilización de yuca para la allmentación de cerdos. Se obtuvieron ganancias relativas mayores con el \"\"'pleo de este producto que con el empleo de marzo La yuca fresca más suplemento proteico ofrecido en cantidades slÚicientes para cubrir los requerimientos mínimos, reemplaza econ6micamente a la dieta a base de mafz y suplemento proteico, solamente si el precio de la yuca equivale al 49 por ciento o menos del precio del mafz (a precios de 1973)1. Mlentra. el precio unitario de la harina deYUC¿t sea iguel o infer~r al precio unitario del marz, éste puede ser económicamente reempiazedo por harina de yuca.A los precios vigentes en el Valle del Cauca, durante el mes de agosto de 1973, la relaci6n de precios yuca fresca: mal'l< alcanzó el 20 por ciento. Por esta razón, el tratamiento ndmerc 3 del E>:perlmento 1 en el que s610 se empleó yuca fresca, genera la mayor ganancia relativa. Considerando barios de yuca (E>:perlmento II) resulta una relaclOn de precios de 60 per ciento. con una mayor ganancia relativa para el tratamiento nl1mero 8, en el que tampoco se utUlz6 malZ.Para febrero de 1974 las relaciones de precios cambiaron al 30 y 90 por ciesto respectivamente sin cambiar los tratamientos óptimos. Esto es, a la relaciOn de precios .vigentes en agosto de 1973 y febrero de 1974 en el Valle del Cauca, emplear yuca da una ración de menor costo, por unidad de ganancia de peso que el marzo Adems, puede concluirse qu~ a dicha razón de precios, emplear yuca fresca es relativamente más rentable que emplear barios de yuca. Esto varlarfz con la razón de precios.Con el uaO de esta técnica de análisis. el productor puede encontrar las proporciones de mezcla más e;onOmica para una dieta cuande dispena de dos alimentos sustitutos.!I Este resultado es válido bajo las condiciones que existieron al momento de hacer el anillsi •."}

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+{"metadata":{"gardian_id":"b96dc055e9f8defa6280cb93fa369f14","source":"gardian_index","url":"https://cgspace.cgiar.org/rest/bitstreams/cab50643-ccd7-4b88-931a-15c77e4c1b03/retrieve","id":"972760207"},"keywords":[],"sieverID":"407ec921-61f6-4b09-b276-62f10bda2b46","content":"Grasslands are important sources of livestock feed and form a major part of the vegetation cover in Ethiopia. Community grazing land management can contribute to sustainable use of grazing lands, alleviate feed shortage problems and contribute to the integral maintenance of the environment with efficient use and conservation of grassland. However, these communal grasslands suffer from overgrazing, competition, conversion to other land uses (croplands and tree plantations), and lack of responsible bodies, resulting in severe degradation.Through the Environment Flagship of the Livestock CRP, ILRI works to improve community-based natural resource management, particularly focusing on communal grassland management. The work in the Ethiopian highlands started with characterization of communal grasslands to address the exitance of general knowledge gaps around planned grazing, restoration and other management strategies.This report assesses (i) questions of access (who can use highland grasslands?) (ii) the use of highland grasslands and their roles in local livelihoods (iii) grassland management and (v) market linkages and links to animal disease.Though there is variation across communal grasslands, the major livelihood resources are herbaceous plants (grasses, legumes and forbs), stones and sand for house construction and selling, dung for fuel, spice plants for household consumption, clay for pottery, water for livestock and people, salt licks, fuel wood, and food from fruits and leaves.Beekeeping is practiced mostly in Abergele. These resources of communal grasslands could be accessed by all community members (men, women and youth). There was no difference between women and men in accessing and using most of these resources. In a few communal grasslands, pottery is practiced only by women and beekeeping only by men. Stones and sand for construction are mainly used by youths and people with disabilities through cooperatives. In some communal grasslands, special benefit was given for the youth by giving them land for crop production. There was also some youth who have no private land but practiced sheep breeding and fattening (in Menz) using the communal grazing land.All communal grassland resources contribute to the livelihood of farmers who keep livestock for fattening, milk production and general feed for animals. In some communal grasslands, and though not similar across the grasslands, there is income generation from selling resources like dung, stone, honey and some pottery.In almost all communal grasslands, there is moderate market linkage for livestock and livestock products. This could be because of price fluctuation, brokers disturbance of the market between farmers and traders, lack of sustainable demand and market at all time.There was no disease related to communal grasslands, but sometimes from June-November there could be disease outbreak in general. This did not prevent animals from grazing in communal grasslands.In most of the communal grassland, there was no management institution and governance structure that is responsible for communal grassland resources. However, there are a few users of communal grasslands that practice different strategies to protect the land from illegal usage, destruction, privatization and enclosures during rainy seasons. These practices are usually done through informal committees and traditional associations. For most of the communal grasslands, there was no rule/law established for communal grasslands management. From 21 communal grasslands, only two have legal certificate of ownership for the users. Most of the communal grasslands have no management plan and use. The status of productivity in terms of vegetation was low and biophysical degradation was high. As a result, the communal grasslands are dwindling in terms of area and productivity that might result in feed shortages.There could be significant opportunity for improving the management and governance of communal grasslands through adaptation of participatory rangeland management that is being implemented in the lowland pastoral areas of the country, restoration efforts by working with local communities, as well as establishing effective monitoring and evaluation systems so that changes can be better documented.1 IntroductionGrasslands are one of the major vegetation formations in Ethiopia. In the highlands of Ethiopia, community grazing land management can contribute to sustainable use of grazing lands and alleviation of feed shortage problems. Communal grazing lands are important sources of livestock feed (Haileslassie et al. 2012) and contribute to environmental protection through the efficient use and conservation of grassland. However, communal grasslands are suffering from overgrazing, competition, conversion to other land uses (croplands and tree plantations) and lack of responsible bodies, resulting in severe degradation of grazing lands (Yadessa 2015 andTesfaye 2010).There is little documentation about the status, management and governance of communal grasslands in the Ethiopian highlands. Through the Environment Flagship of the Livestock CRP, ILRI works to improve community-based natural resource management, particularly focusing on communal grassland management. The work in the Ethiopian highlands started with characterization of communal grasslands to address the exitance of general knowledge gaps around planned grazing, restoration and other management strategies. Hence, the objective of this report is to highlight the characterization of communal grasslands in terms of access to these resources, importance of the resources, management and governance status and challenges.2 MethodsThe study was conducted in North Shewa zone of Menz and Waghimra zone of Abergele in Amhara region, and Tanqua-Abergele woreda of Tigray region.Menz is found over the Central Highlands (1669-3563 masl) of North Shewa zone of Amhara region, where agriculture is mainly characterized by mixed crop-livestock production systems (Gebre 2009). The mean temperature ranges from 6.7-17oC and mean annual rainfall is 896 mm. Despite enduring efforts, intensive crop production is constrained by frost, poor soil fertility and unreliable rainfall in the higher altitude zones (Gebre 2009). This shaped the degree of dependency on livestock and crop enterprises. In the study areas, farmers are limited to barley and sheep production. Sheep is the major component of the livestock herd composition in Menz Gera and Menz Mama.Tanqua-Abergele is found between 12°-15° N latitude and 36°30'-40°30' E longitude in a tropical, semi-arid climate. Mean annual rainfall is between 488 and 645 mm/year-1 with an average of 562 mm/year-1. Mean minimum temperature ranges from 11-17°C and mean maximum temperature ranges from 26-34°C. The rainy season usually occurs between June and September with a growing period of 60-90 days. Mixed crop-livestock farming is the backbone of livelihoods in the study site. Exclosures range from 6-21%, and communal grazing lands range from 2-18% (Mekuria and Yami 2013).Abergele is one of the woredas in Wag Hemra zone located at 13°20' N' latitude and 38°58' E' longitude with 1150-2100 m.a.s.l altitude. The area's annual rainfall ranges from 250-750 mm. Mixed crop-livestock system is the main source of livelihood in the area.The research unit was \"communal grassland\" 1 and the users 2 who access it. About 21 communal grasslands across the study sites (11 from Menz and 10 from Abergele) were selected with the involvement of agriculture experts from woreda and respective kebeles. This report used data from a combination of field observation and focus group discussion (FGD) and key informant interviews (KII) with farmers (8-11 members from different communities) for each communal grassland selected. Synthesis of report used descriptive analysis of data to present the general information and information on access right, management, legal status and governance of communal grasslands.1. It is the unit of the study where data collection was based. One or two communal grasslands were selected from each kebele based on availability.2. The community member who uses each communal grassland. This may include a village or kebele based on the size of area.3 ResultsMost of the communal grassland resources are herbaceous plants (grasses, legumes and forbs), stones and sand for house construction and selling, dung for fuel, spice plants for household consumption, clay for pottery, water for livestock and people, salt licks, fuel wood, and food from fruits and leaves. The availability of these resources varies across communal grasslands and study sites. The most commonly found resources across the communal grasslands are grasses and stones.The grazing system is similar across all communal grasslands apart from two in Abergele of Tigray region that practice enclosure from July-September. For those not enclosed, grazing takes place by all livestock species (cattle, sheep, goats and equines) throughout the year without any rest, but the intensity of grazing differs across the year. Most of the grasslands are grazed during rainy seasons because productivity of communal grassland increases during this season. Other land uses such as crops and woodlots are protected from interference of livestock. Around all communal grasslands, the important livelihood strategy is both livestock and crop production with varying degrees of importance in different communal grasslands. About 10 FGDs indicated that livestock production ranks first as a source of livelihood and nine FGDs indicated that crop production ranks first. Livestock species found around these communal grasslands are cattle, sheep, goat and equines. Their dominance and importance differ across communal grasslands. Most of the FGD participants in Menz said sheep are the most important livestock in terms of importance but those in Abergele ranked sheep, goats and cattle equally.In most of the communal grasslands, there was access to credit services for the community but not specifically for communal grassland improvement. The community used these credit services to buy inputs like fertilizers and seeds, livestock and for petty trading. There are no organized extension services particularly focusing on communal grassland improvement, except for a few grassland communities that receive advice on grassland management from local agriculture offices.In Menz, respondents estimated that the size of communal grasslands ranges from 2-200 ha and the number of users could be 15-800 households (one village to three kebeles) (Eba and Sircely 2020a). In Abergele, the estimated area covered by communal grasslands ranges from 15-300 ha with 90-500 user households (many villages to a woreda) (Eba and Sircely 2020b). As the area increases the users also increase. As estimated by respondents in Menz, communal grasslands contribute 10-20% of feed resources while crop residues cover 40%. Hay and private grazing take about 38%. In Abergele, the contribution of communal grasslands for feed resources ranges from 17.5-50% next to crop residues. In Abergele, almost all feed resources come from crop residues, communal grasslands and hay making. This indicates that the communal grazing lands are declining whether in terms of productivity and/or size.In most of the communal grasslands in Abergele, respondents indicated that the biophysical status in terms of regeneration, availability and quality of vegetation is decreasing significantly. This could be because of heavy grazing, shortage of rainfall, increasing number of livestock, loss of fertility of soil due to erosion and invasive species that are harming important grasses. As result, there is severe degradation in communal grasslands. Milk yield in these areas decreased significantly, whereas body condition of livestock for meat slightly improved around some communal grasslands (management practices related to feeding improved) and slightly decreased around others (where management practices did not improve). Around all communal grasslands, the number of livestock has increased significantly. Goats (in Abergele) were among livestock species that increased in terms of number (Eba and Sircely 2020b).In all the communal grasslands assessed in Menz, the area under grasslands is decreasing from time to time due to land given to youth for cultivation, planting eucalyptus trees and taken under watershed programs. In very few communal grasslands, the area under grasslands has remained the same within the last ten years although the availability, quality and ability of vegetation to regenerate on communal grassland have decreased significantly. This is because of the continuous growth of livestock population, grazing without rest, lack of appropriate management and monitoring, and stone digging in some communal grasslands. Because of this, most respondents said communal grasslands are in poor condition (Eba and Sircely 2020a).In Menz, respondents said there is moderate erosion in the area although there was severe degradation of pasture quality and productivity. In one communal grassland, a respondent said, '10 years ago, there were only 10 households who had access to the communal grassland; but now there are 21 households for the same communal grassland. This significantly decreases the regeneration of vegetation, and the quantity and quality of vegetation on the communal grassland'. Livestock productivity, like milk yield, has decreased, but condition of livestock, especially sheep, has improved because of improved management practices (fattening practices). Generally, the number of livestock in the area has increased, with sheep (in Menz and almost all communal grasslands that are linked to market access) having the highest number.Access rights and purposes of communal grassland resources All resources of communal grasslands are accessed by all community members equally (men, women and youth). There was no difference between women and men in accessing and using the resources of communal grasslands. Communal grasslands resources are used by the community with number of users ranging from occupants of just one village to three kebeles in Menz, and up to woreda level in Abergele. The main usage of communal grasslands is for grazing. Livestock are kept in the communal grazing areas during the day throughout the year, the grasslands serving as waiting areas. Most of communal grassland are used for grazing, stones and sand for house construction and selling, dung for fuel, spice plants for household consumption, clay for pottery, water for livestock and people, salt licks, fuel wood, and food from fruits and leaves. All communal grasslands are used for livestock production like fattening, milk production, and for ploughing oxen as source of feed (Abergele of Tigray region).Stone and sand extraction on the communal grasslands are done by cooperatives mainly made up of youth and people with disabilities. In some communal grasslands, irrigation benefits were given to youth for crop production within the communal grasslands. In Menz, some youth who have no land are using the communal grasslands for sheep breeding and fattening.In some communal grasslands in Menz, cow dung can be sold near towns in addition to its use as fuel in households.All community members who have interest can collect dung from communal grasslands and sell it in markets. In a few communal grasslands, grasses that are specifically used for thatching houses and making household equipment. Pottery and beekeeping are practiced in some communities.In most of the communal grassland the resources, especially grazing, can be shared with neighboring communities if it's big enough. Where the size of communal grasslands is small and used only within one village, there was no sharing of grazing land.All respondents said they have access to woreda markets, which takes them about 0.2-5 hours of walking to reach, but only some of the communal grasslands in Menz have access to the kebele market. In Abergele, almost all users of communal grasslands don't have access to kebele markets. In almost all communal grasslands, there is moderate market linkage for livestock and livestock product. This could be because of price fluctuation, brokers disturbance of the market between farmers and traders, lack of sustainable demand and market at all times. There was no disease related to communal grasslands, but sometimes from June-November there could be disease outbreak in general at woreda level. This did not prevent animals from grazing in communal grasslands.For most of the communal grasslands, there was no management institution or governance structure responsible for communal grassland resources. However, some communal grasslands are using different strategies to protect the land from illegal usage (Table 1). For example, some communities use \"edir\" 3 for communal grassland management. The community selects two people that are members of their edir to protect the communal grassland from destruction and privatization.The two selected people represent the community to manage the communal grassland. If certain issues are beyond the two persons selected, they bring the matter to the general meeting of the edir for decision.In all communal grasslands, resources were not controlled and there are no formal mechanisms of giving permission for usage of and access to resources. For example, when the government wants to give part of the grassland to youth groups for crop production, the decision is made based on the decision of the majority of users. There is considerable lack of planning and management on communal grassland resources to ensure sustainable use of resources. In some communal grasslands such as in Menz Mama woreda, some conservation activities such as planting trees and watershed management can be seen.There was no rule/law established for management of communal grasslands. Only in one communal grassland on the Tigray side of Abergele, they have a bylaw formed at kebele level with social law affairs which was implemented with the involvement of user groups. This bylaw specifically focused on protecting communal grasslands from livestock during rainy seasons. There is another bylaw at the woreda level specipically targeted at protecting trees (Table 1). In all villages, there are committees who only protect trees on communal grassland and are responsible for issuing penalties. Legal status, existing institutions and governance of communal grasslands and government policies pertaining to their management Almost in all communal grasslands, there was no legal governance and institution for communal grassland management. There are informal institutions established at village levels in some communal grasslands, such as edirs and church committees, to prevent abuse of resources and privatization of grazing land. In one communal grassland in Abergele-Tigray, the users have a bylaw formed at kebele level with social law affairs where the decision-making body (committee) is registered at kebele level. The main function of this committee is to protect grazing land from livestock interference during rainy seasons.During the land redistribution in Amhara in 1997, communal grasslands were left for communal grazing for members of different villages. Some communal grasslands owned by government (woreda/kebele level) are used by the surrounding communities. There were only two certificates of ownership among communities in the study area; one was given by the kebele (Menz Gera) and the other from woreda (Menz Mama). As a result, in Menze Gera, 90% of communal grasslands assessed have no certificate of ownership. The certificate of ownership given by the kebele has the names of two people representing 42 users of the communal grassland in Menze Gera woreda. In case somebody marries in to the users' lineage, they have the right to use the communal grassland. Respondents said that after the community got the certificate, they have developed a sense of ownership and confidence as no one can take away their land and give it to other uses and they can avoid conversion of the grazing land to other land uses. Respondents also said that having certificates also helps to plan on how to use communal grasslands. In one of the kebeles, the respondents refused to participate once we started to discuss about communal grassland. This was because once, the woreda forest enterprise tried to convert the communal grasslands to other land use through a similar discussion. The respondents suspected that this was a similar scenario.Government provides advice on how to use the communal grasslands and that free grazing should be avoided. A kebele leader who participated in the key informant interview said that those who have no certificate of ownership on communal grasslands have no guarantee that the communal grassland won't be used for other purposes by the government, whereas those who have a certificate retain ownership of the communal grassland even if the government imposes new policies.In some communal grasslands, the community asked the kebele to get a certificate of ownership but have not received response. Participants said that lack of ownership is worsening the already poor condition of communal grasslands.In most of the communal grasslands, there was no legal enforcement regarding the management of communal grasslands.There are only mutual understanding among users that the communal grasslands are to be protected from conversion to cultivation land for private ownership. Any member of the user group graze at any time, but no one controls it and no payment is made to use all resources. The users are not allowed to cultivate communal grasslands and if someone violates this rule, they are reported to the kebele land administration and ordered to leave the cultivate land.All respondents of FGDs in this study indicated that communal grasslands can be improved if the community can get support in better management techniques, better planning for resource usage and methods of controlling unwanted weed plants. So far, no interventions have been done to improve the productivity and quality of the pasture in the communal grasslands assessed for the purpose of this study except in a few areas in Tigray where enclosures for three months during rainy seasons have been practiced.The degree and types of challenges vary across communal grasslands. Some of the challenges are high degradation of grazing land, grazing without rest, lack of full ownership on communal grasslands, no rules/law for management of grassland resources, dwindling size of communal grassland area, lack of usage plans, lack of management plans, illegal use of the resources, crop production and tree planting inside communal grasslands and poor land security. All these result in feed shortage.Communal grasslands across the study areas are mainly used for grazing. In some areas, they are used for stone digging to be used for house construction and selling, collection of dung for fuel and marketing, collection of fire wood, drinking water sources for livestock and people, spice plants for household consumption, wild fruit and leaves for human food, and clay for making pottery.All resources are accessed by all community members (men, women, and youth) with no difference between women and men in accessing and using the resources with the exception of beekeeping practiced only by men and pottery practiced only by women. Communal grasslands provide many resources in all of the areas assessed in this study but their use for grazing and stone extraction take the leading place. Most users use communal grasslands for grazing of their livestock that are left wandering most of the time regardless of pasture availability. Respondents indicated that land productivity in terms of vegetation was low and biophysical degradation was high.Most of the communal grasslands have no management and governance system; they are mostly left open for all the local population with livestock to use without resting. A few communal grasslands have established informal committees and traditional associations. Except for these informal structures formed by users, there were no formal institutions of management and governance that have legal status. Unlike individual lands in the area, landholding certificates are not provided for most communal grasslands. From 21 communal grasslands, only two have legal certificates of ownership for the users, resulting in poor security for tenure in most of the communal grasslands. There are efforts underway to include communal grasslands under watershed programs, planting trees and encouraging unemployed youth by giving them land for crop cultivation and mineral extraction. Most of the communal grasslands have no management plan and use. As a result, the communal grasslands are dwindling in terms of area and productivity.There is significant opportunity for improving the management and governance of communal grasslands through adaptation of participatory rangeland management that is being implemented in the lowland pastoral areas of the country, restoration efforts by working with local communities, as well as establishing effective monitoring and evaluation systems so that changes can be better documented."}

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+{"metadata":{"gardian_id":"b60939cd08b884377febb5bb74512723","source":"gardian_index","url":"https://cgspace.cgiar.org/rest/bitstreams/34474f28-074e-4fd2-a17c-d9ee6fecbb34/retrieve","id":"1694953363"},"keywords":[],"sieverID":"5aa7a778-e1d1-45ce-8250-0392196e3fdb","content":"Outbreaks of Rift Valley fever (RVF) occur periodically in eastern, southern and western Africa with human and animal health burdens and socioeconomic losses. The zoonotic disease is caused by a virus which is transmitted by various species of mosquitoes. The disease mainly affects cattle, sheep, goats, and camels, leading to abortions and mortality in young animals. Humans can be infected if they contact infected tissue or are bitten by infected mosquitoes.Outbreaks occur following periods of above normal and persistent precipitation and flooding which establishes good breeding grounds for mosquitoes.Of all the available control measures, livestock vaccination is considered the most promising for preventing human and livestock RVF cases when used appropriately. There are at least three types of RVF vaccines that are available in the sub-Saharan Africa. Whereas vaccines can be effective in the prevention of RVF, strategies for their deployment have been suboptimal. Veterinary departments, for example, maintain a tight control on the distribution of the vaccines. The private sector often has limited access to these vaccines even in high potential areas where it could support their deployment. More importantly, multiple barriers limit the uptake of the vaccines at the community level. These barriers include cost, access to information on vaccination campaigns, and time/ability to drive animals to vaccination points.The project has three components:• Gender: Testing gender-responsive modifications to an RVF vaccination campaign with the goal of reducing barriers for women who want to vaccinate their livestock.• Nutrition: Predicting the impact of RVF outbreaks on nutrition using dynamic models, to demonstrate potential benefits which an RVF control measures would offer.• Business plan: Capturing costs of vaccination and identifying stakeholders and incentives which could be used in horizontal and vertical scaling.Isiolo County, KenyaIsiolo County Government Department of Veterinary Services, KenyaJanuary 2022 -December 2023 (Phase III)The initial project began in September 2019.$600,000 USDUnited States Agency for International Development (USAID), grant number 720BHA22IO00221.Bernard Bett [email protected] Project PI Zoë Campbell [email protected] GenderEsther Omosa [email protected] Nutrition Francis Wanyoike [email protected] Business planPage 1: ILRI/Adan Abdi ILRI thanks all donors and organizations which globally support its work through their contributions to the CGIAR Trust Fund.The International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) is a non-profit institution helping people in low-and middle-income countries to improve their lives, livelihoods and lands through the animals that remain the backbone of small-scale agriculture and enterprise across the developing world. ILRI belongs to CGIAR, a global research-for-development partnership working for a food-secure future. ILRI's funders, through the CGIAR Trust Fund, and its many partners make ILRI's work possible and its mission a reality. Australian animal scientist and Nobel Laureate Peter Doherty serves as ILRI's patron.You are free to use and share this material under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Licence .better lives through livestock ilri.org"}

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+{"metadata":{"gardian_id":"8e1b2751efb72883ef94ec1e1b397d3d","source":"gardian_index","url":"https://cgspace.cgiar.org/rest/bitstreams/453d981e-449a-4013-92d2-5e0e3d7948d5/retrieve","id":"-1485540834"},"keywords":["Andes-Amazon foothills","fragmentation","connectivity","fragstats","conefor","SPS Citation: Argote, K.","Rodríguez-Sánchez, B.","Quintero, M.","Francesconi, W. One Tree at a Time: Restoring Landscape Connectivity through Silvopastoral Systems in Transformed Amazon Landscapes"],"sieverID":"d1f10dac-92d0-496a-8c0a-0a6c4b985d89","content":"Due to the continued expansion of pastures and illicit crops, the Andes-Amazon foothills in Colombia are one of most threatened biodiversity hotspots in the country. Halting and restoring the connectivity of the landscapes transformed over the last 40 years and now dominated by extensive cattle ranching practices, represents a challenge. Silvopastoral systems (SPSs) have been proposed as a strategy to help conserve the biodiversity by improving landscape connectivity. However, understanding the contributions of SPSs to biodiversity conservation still requires additional research. At the farm scale (here called farmscape), we compared different landscape fragmentation and connectivity metrics under two SPS conditions (with and without). Overall, the adoption of SPSs increased the probability of connectivity (PC) index in all cases. However, the contributions of SPSs to landscape connectivity were not linear. Greater PC increases were observed in highly degraded farmscapes (ΔPc = 284) compared to farmscapes containing patches that were better connected and had larger habitat areas (ΔPc = 6). These variables could play a fundamental role in enhancing the landscape connectivity through restoration activities that seek to improve biodiversity conservation. Even if they are relatively small and scattered, in highly degraded cattle ranching systems, SPSs could significantly improve the landscape connectivity, which in turn could improve wildlife conservation.Colombia ranks among the top most biodiverse countries in the world [1]. Yet, the country is facing some of the highest losses in humid primary forests (1.69 Mha lost from 2001 to 2020, corresponding to 36% of its total forest cover loss during the same time period) [2]. As a result, we are witnessing the accelerated habitat destruction of a large number of species across taxonomic groups, from reptiles such as the Amazon river turtle (Podocnemis expansa), amphibians such as the golden frog (Phyllobates terribilis), birds such as the harpy eagle (Harpia harpyja), to mammals such as bats (Diphylla ecaudata), the titi monkey (Callicebus caquetensis), the jaguar (Panthera onca) and the spectacled bear (Tremarctos ornatus), all of which considered critically endangered (CR) by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) [3]. The Andean-Amazon foothills are a transition area between the Eastern Cordillera of the Andes and the Colombian Amazon. The region provides a clear example of how forest fragmentation and deforestation have greatly reduced the flow of organisms and their genes between ecosystems and populations [4]. According to Colombia's national environmental institute IDEAM, 57% of this transitional area has been converted from natural habitats to agriculture [5]. From 2000 and 2017, the average deforestation rate was approx. 63,000 ha/year, and cattle ranching is the preferred (80%) agricultural activity in the region [5]. The loss of natural habitat puts at risk one of the most important ecological corridors in the continent, which connects four national protected areas: Picachos, Tinigua, Sierra de la Macarena, and Chiribiquete.In the midst of the Colombian post-conflict era and during the last 5 years (2017-2022), after the national guerrilla group known as FARC (which in Spanish stands for Colombian Revolutionary Armed Forces) left the territory, the situation for Colombia's biodiversity is even more uncertain. The expansion of grasslands for cattle ranching and monoculture agriculture continues to increase at an alarming rate and at the expense of native forests and other species-rich ecosystems [6,7]. The development and implementation of post-conflict economic plans in the region are contributing to increases in deforestation [8]. Many of these plans are based on the exploration and extraction of minerals and hydrocarbons [9,10]. The stable generation of financial resources and income for local communities is also a key objective in the region. While the plans are meant to bring development into what has been an impoverished region, the problem may lay in the poor transition between government administrations, to make these plans sustainable in nature [11]. What's worse, is that new armed groups have emerged and are invading the region. These groups are carrying out illegal activities, such as growing illicit crops, and illegal mining and logging. The complex and multidimensional factors in the Andes-Amazon foothills has and continues to make the implementation of appropriate sustainable development and biodiversity conservation strategies very difficult in the region. Putting forward options for maintaining and improving landscape connectivity is one of the challenges for biodiversity conservation in highly fragmented landscapes [12]. As a main deforestation driver, cattle ranching in the Andes-Amazon foothills is characterized by poor water and soil management, resulting in very low grass productivity (0.62 head ha -1 ) [13]. An attractive alternative would be to work with the local communities to increase their environmental awareness and become land stewards through the adoption of silvopastoral systems (SPSs) [14]. SPSs are multifunctional agroforestry practices that intentionally combine cattle ranching production with grasses, legumes, and trees, to produce fodder and forage, as well as timber and fruits or nuts in some cases [14][15][16]. Hence, compared to conventional pastures dominated by monocultures, SPSs optimize land productivity and contribute to conserving water, soil, and nutrients. SPSs could integrate their components in a mutually beneficial way, by providing nutrient recycling and by enhancing productivity, animal welfare, soil retention, and carbon sequestration, which results in greater income and well-being for farmers. Thus, these systems benefit producers and society as a whole at the local, regional, and global scale [17,18].The above-mentioned benefits of SPSs have been well documented in the literature [18,19]. However, understanding the contributions of SPSs to biodiversity conservation still requires additional research [20,21]. It would be valuable to identify the criteria that could optimize the impacts of SPSs in increasing landscape connectivity for biodiversity conservation. We hypothesize that the contributions of SPSs to structural connectivity vary as a function of fixed-variables (i.e., size, location, shape) that could be manipulated during the design of SPSs. In other words, site-specific planning and implementation of SPSs could potentiate the impact of these to increase the landscape connectivity for conservation purposes. The research intends to better understand the potential conservation benefits of livelihood practices that work in synergy with the interests and preferences of farmers.To address the hypothesis, we conducted a three-level research approach to: (i) understand the deforestation trends in the Colombian Amazon ecoregion during a twenty years period (2001-2021) (1st Level), (ii) estimate the landscape fragmentation changes in the Andean-Amazon foothills of Colombia (2nd Level), and (iii) compare the landscape connectivity and the fragmentation metrics under two SPS conditions (with and without) at the farm scale (3rd Level).The study was carried out in one of the most deforested areas of the Colombian Amazon (1st level), located at the transition between the Eastern Cordillera of the Andes and the Amazon. This area is characterized for its biodiversity and high levels of endemism, as well as by its cultural significance. At the same time, it is one of the most threatened areas due to habitat degradation, loss of biodiversity, disruptions to the water cycle, social pressure on natural resources, and forest fires [22]. The deforestation frontier in this region has been rapidly advancing from the Andes Mountain to the deep Amazon.By 2020, deforestation in this ecoregion has reached 11,519 km 2 [23].Within this area, we selected a 41 x 54 km window (2214 km 2 ) located in the Andean-Amazon foothills to the northwest region of the department of Caquetá, between 1°05' N, 76°02' W and 1°27' N, 75°33' W (2nd level). Finally, we selected 12 analysis sub-windows of 3 x 3 km (9 km 2 ) containing 24 farms where SPSs had been implemented (Figure 1). The selected study area is a predominantly agricultural landscape connected through a network of roads and small urban areas. Within this target region, habitat restoration was proposed through the implementation of the Sustainable Amazon Landscapes (SAL) project, an initiative that engaged and co-designed the restoration of cattle ranching pastures, in partnership with farmers and local environment organizations. The project promoted wildlife conservation through the adoption of silvopastoral systems in combination with the conservation of valuable natural areas such as forests, secondary vegetation, and water bodies within farms. In 2018, SPSs were implemented in a total of 24 farms. Each SPS system was designed according to the type of farm, their natural areas, their water accessibility, their land uses, and production activities, among other variables.As part of the SAL project, not only living fences and scattered paddock trees were established as SPSs, but practices such as: paddock rotation, forage banks, protection of secondary forest areas, and bodies of water to promote natural regeneration, were promoted along with other sustainable practices co-designed between experts and farmers.Two types of silvopastoral systems were established on these 24 farms. One system was the so-called intensive system composed of plots of Brachiaria decumbens in association with Kudzu (Pueraria phaseoloides) mainly, interspersed with strips of timber trees inside and around the edge of the plot, mainly shade trees, such as Chilco (Miconia elata), Madura-plàtano (Jacaranda copaia), Nogal (Cordia alliodora), and shrub species such as the Boton de oro (Tithonia diversifolia). The second system was a simpler SPS, composed of a strip of timber trees, such as Fono (Eschweilera andina), Lacre (Vismia baccifera), Melina (Gmelina arborea) planted at the edge of the plot (living fence) and interspersed strips of Tithonia diversifolia and Brachiaria decumbens. In both cases, the lines of trees were planted at a distance of between 6 m and 8 m (depending on the species or combination of species used) [24]. Native tree seedlings produced by the nursery of the Centro de Investigaciones Amazónicas Macagual at the Universidad de la Amazonia (project implementing partner) were used for planting. The survival rate of the seedlings depended on the species chosen in the design of the silvopastoral system on each farm, but on average, this value ranged between 70 and 80%. Additionally, larger plants (height between 60 cm and 90 cm) were transplanted to increase their probability of survival in the field. The silvopastoral systems on all farms were planted during the same period (between October and December 2018).Our methodology is made up of three types of analysis at three different scales, going from broad to focus (Figure 2):1. The first level analysis provides the contextual information about deforestation trends between 2001 and 2021, using the annual maps of deforestation areas for the entire Colombian Amazon ecoregion.2. The second level analysis corresponds to a temporal analysis of the landscape fragmentation, using the land use/land cover maps (LULC) for 2002 and 2018, generated by the Amazonian Institute of Scientific Research (SINCHI) [25,26].This analysis was carried out on a 2214 km 2 window located in the Colombian Andean-Amazon foothills.3. The third level analysis compares the probability of the landscape connectivity in 2018, under two SPS conditions (with and without the implementation of silvopastoral systems). This analysis was carried out at the farm level (here called farmscape) on 12 sub-windows each of 3 x 3 km. The Colombian Amazon ecoregion covers about 6.8% of the entire Amazon rainforest biome in South America. In Colombia, the ecoregion is located in the southeast of the country, representing 42.3% of the national territory. Yet, only 12% is protected under the country's National Park System, and about 46% of this percentage is designated as indigenous territories [27]. In Colombia, the Amazon ecoregion covers 10 of the 32 departments in the country, including Amazonas, Guaviare, Caquetá, Vaupés, Guainía, and to a lesser extent, Vichada, Meta, Putumayo, Nariño, and Cauca. To gain insights into the deforestation trends in the ecoregion, we used annual deforestation maps produced by the GLAD laboratory [2].Among the GLAD products, annual forest cover loss maps (here called forest cover loss) are generated using a supervised learning algorithm that processes Landsat (TM/ETM+) satellite images at a 30m spatial resolution. The classifications were implemented at per-Landsat pixel level, with a minimum mapping unit equivalent to 0.09 ha. The forest loss is mapped as a single dynamic class using a supervised bagged classification tree algorithm. The training data served as the dependent variable and the 1985-2000-time interval metrics as the independent variable in the tree model. The lab applies the classification trees yielding a map depicting the forest loss between 2001 and 2021. GLAD defines forest loss as the disturbance or complete removal of the tree cover canopy (below 25% tree canopy cover) [2]. This means that any conversion of natural forests, be it plantations, selective logging, or shifting the cultivation practiced by local communities, would be considered forest loss. The model accuracy represented by the commission error (false alerts), ranged from 95.5% ± 1.8 to 97.2% ± 1.7 in primary and secondary forests, and the omission errors (missed alerts), ranged from 82.6% ± 21.5 to 57.5% ± 8.3 in primary and secondary forests [28,29].These data were downloaded for each year between 2001 and 2021, and using QGIS [30], were cut for the Amazon ecoregion. Areas in the raster reported annually as new alerts of primary or secondary forest cover loss, were calculated. Additionally, and in order to improve the accuracy of the model by reducing the number of false deforestation alerts, the official national forest/non-forest 2001 layer for Colombia, generated by IDEAM, was used as a mask. All alerts reported outside of this area were removed.To reduce the heterogeneity within the 2214 km 2 analysis window, the area was subdivided into landscape units. These units shared similar characteristics in: relief, geopedological features, climate, biome, and physiography [31]. This was accomplished using the QGIS software by merging all of these geographic layers into a single layer. The input data were downloaded in vector format scale 1:100,000 from the WFS (Web Feature Service) of the Agustin Codazzi Geographic Institute of Colombia (IGAC) [32].Finally, using the resulting landscape units' polygons, the 2002 and 2018 land cover maps were cut using QGIS in order to create the inputs layers for FRAGSTATS. The fragmentation analysis in FRAGSTATS was run by landscape.Fragmentation metrics At the landscape level, a temporal analysis was conducted in the 2214 km 2 window for the four landscape units identified above. We used the software FRAGSTATS Version 4 [33], to quantify and evaluate the changes in the structural attributes, comparing fragmentation in 2002 vs. 2018. The fragmentation analysis was based on 12 metrics, but only those with the largest changes were reported in the results. The 12 metrics were grouped into the following three different categories, based on the type of information assessed:• Area-shape metrics: total area (TA), mean patch area (Area_MN), largest patch index (LPI), landscape shape index (LSI), mean shape index (shape_MN).Fragmentation metrics: number of patches (NP), patch density (PD), effective mesh size (MESH).Connectivity metrics: landscape division index (DIVISION), splitting index (SPLIT), patch cohesion index (COHESION) and Euclidean Nearest Neighbor Distance (ENN_MN).Generally, forest-non-forest layers are used as input for landscape fragmentation analyses [33]. However, not in this case since we are talking about highly fragmented areas, with a very low percentage of forest and where the dominant land use is pastures. Thus, in these degraded landscapes, not only primary forests could have a high ecological value, but also secondary forests, gallery and riparian forests, secondary vegetation, and established silvopastoral and agroforestry systems. Under this assumption, for the fragmentation and connectivity analyses, the LULC maps by the SINCHI Amazon Research Institute at a 1:100,000 scale [25,26] were used to prioritize not only the forest areas but also the areas that could be used as habitat for wildlife. The available LULC maps of the Colombian Amazon, for the years 2002 and 2018, were also used to compare the landscape's fragmentation changes over the 15-year period. Land covers and land uses that could be used as habitat by native species (defined as \"crucial areas\") were used as foreground, and other land-use types, such as pastures and crops, were assigned as the background. In order to rank the coverages, the concept of naturalness defined by Machado was used. Machado's (2004) naturalness index (NI), was used to define the level of naturalness of the different land cover classes [34]. The NI uses a 0-10 ranking system to define a minimum to a maximum relative degree of naturalness for a particular site (Table 1). In the present study and based on Machado's ranking, land cover/land use patches with a NI equal or greater than 4 (NI ≥ 4), were assumed to provide habitat to native species, hence contributing to their conservation within the landscapes. Cultural assisted system that combine tree growing, forages, and shrubs/trees with the production of livestock. Presence of wild native species and possible extended presence of exotic invader species. Natural elements intermixed with artificial ones, as managed wooded pastures, in patches or corridors.Active management of the water cycle.Highly intervened system: permanent areas with agricultural production. Natural biodiversity is severely reduced; its elements are isolated (intense fragmentation). The third level analyses were carried out at the farmscape level. A total of 12 subwindows (3 x 3 km) were created within the prioritized landscapes (Figure 1C). The subwindows represented real farm and surrounding landscape conditions to carry out the landscape connectivity analysis simulating the implementation of SPSs in 2018. The location of the sub-windows was defined based on the location of the 24 farms where the SPS interventions were carried out through the SAL project initiative. For each of the 24 farms participating in the initiative, the plot areas for the SPSs were planned and mapped in a participatory manner. Basically, the farmers decided where and how to implement the SPS interventions in their farms. The location and extent of the SPS polygons were measured on site with a Geographic Positioning Systems device. Three types of SPSs were adopted by farmers: (i) living fences, (ii) pastures with scattered trees, and (iii) densely planted patches (<0.5 ha) with shrubs and trees with edible foliage to feed cattle, known as forage banks. Among these, only living fence areas and pastures with scattered trees were considered for analysis. Forage banks were not considered due to their small patch size (<0.5 ha).Using Machado's land cover classification, the SPS areas were considered \"managed wooded pastures\" and ranked with a naturalness index of four (NI = 4). As land cover areas with NI ≥ 4 were considered important in providing habitat to wildlife, the SPS areas were added to the 2018 \"crucial habitat\" layer developed in the previous landscape fragmentation analysis (2nd Level). The probability of connectivity (PC) index was estimated using CONEFOR [35] for the \"crucial areas\" layer with and without the SPS polygons in each of the sub-windows. The PC is defined as the probability for two animals located at random in the landscape, to be found in habitat areas that are connected. The PC (1) is measured using the following equation:where, the PC index is the sum of the probability of interconnections (pij) among the number (n) of habitat patches \"i\" through \"j\", and the areas of those patches \"ai\" and \"aj\", over the total landscape area (AL). The total landscape area comprises both habitat and non-habitat patches [36].Following the method described by Saura and Rubio in 2010 [35], the value of each patch in increasing connectivity (i.e., the dPC value) was divided into three components to distinguish habitat availability and connectivity as follows:As illustrated in Equation ( 2), dPCintra represents the surface area of a patch, dPCflux represents the area-weighted dispersal flux between patches, and dPConnector represents the contribution of a patch as a connecting element or a stepping stone which allows to maintain the connectivity between patches [37].The impact of SPSs on landscape connectivity will be specific to the habitat conditions found in each sub-window. To mitigate the variability caused by the unique distribution and the availability of \"crucial areas\", and to simplify the analysis of the potential contributions of SPSs under different farmscape conditions, the 12 sub-windows were grouped based on the results from the PC index and landscape fragmentation metrics. Six variables were used to conduct a K-Means cluster analysis. All analyses were performed using R Statistical Software (v4.1.2) [38]: (i) change in PC (ΔPC): difference in dPC index in each sub-window between the two conditions, with and without SPSs; (ii) change in the number of patches (ΔNP): difference in the NP by sub-window between the two conditions, with and without SPSs; (iii) change in the total habitat area by the sub-window (ΔCA): difference in the valuable area in the sub-windows (crucial areas) between the two conditions); (iv) size of the largest patch (ΔLP) in 2018 with SPSs by the sub-window; (v) change in the average of patch crucial-areas; (vi) Naturalness value by the sub-window in 2018. A silhouette coefficient was calculated to determine the optimal number of clusters. Finally, a one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) was conducted using the sub-window clusters to compare the impacts of SPSs under different landscape conditions.As seen in Figure 3, the deforestation in the Colombian Amazon tripled in the last two decades. In 2001, the annual rate of forest cover loss in the Colombian Amazon was 74,000 ha per year. Despite the fact that a historical low was reached in 2003 with 34,000 ha/year, by 2007 deforestation doubled the 2001 values and quadrupled those in 2003 with 129,000 ha/year. By 2008, forest cover loss decreased and stabilized at an average annual rate lower than 60,000 ha/year. In 2018, Colombia reached a historical high of 250,000 ha of forest cover loss in the Amazonian ecoregion. More recent deforestation values continue to be high, surpassing 180,000 ha/year (data for 2021 is only for the first half of the year). As seen on the map (Figure 4A), four landscapes units were identified: i.Mountain Landscape: corresponds to the highest and most mountainous parts of the Amazon at the foot of the Andean region with slopes of 25-50%. Its forests have ecological and ecosystem characteristics of great importance, presenting high levels of diversity of fauna and flora species. This landscape is dominated by dense highland rainforest, fragmented woods, secondary vegetation, and small agricultural areas. ii.Mountain foot Landscape: represents a transition between the Andes and the Amazon plain, with slightly wavy reliefs and slopes >25%. Loamy-sandy and loamy-clay soils with good drainage and low fertility. Entisols, Inceptisols, and Ultisols dominate. This landscape is dominated by clean pastures and recent oil palm monocultures. iii.Lowland Landscape (lomerio Landscape): have plain to wavy reliefs with slopes of 3-7% and 12-25%, drainage ranges from imperfect to excessive. Soils formed by sedimentary rocks of the tertiary, moderately deep, well drained, clayey texture, low fertility, very acidic, low saturation base, low content of organic matter. Dominance of Oxisols and Ultisols. This landscape is dominated by pastures, mosaics of pastures with agriculture and secondary vegetation. The main economic activity is extensive livestock raising. iv.Floodplain Landscape: are part of the floodplain of rivers that are born in the Andes mountain range. Flat relief, with slopes of 0-3%; they suffer occasional floods every 3 or 7 years. Clay soils with a dominance of Entisols and Inceptisols with poor drainage; superficial and limited by the water-table; fertility is average. This landscape is dominated by pastures and crop-fields. Following the identification of the landscape units, the landcover maps from 2002 and 2018 were cut for each landscape polygon area. A detailed description on the landscape units and land cover/land use areas can be found in Supplementary Materials (Tables S1 and S2).Fragmentation metrics Here we describe the most relevant landscape fragmentation results from the FRAGSTATS temporal analysis, comparing the changes in the structural attributes, between two periods (2002 vs. 2018) in the four defined landscape units. Yet, all results by land-cover and by landscape can be found in Supplemental Materials (Tables S3 and S4):• Area-shape metrics: In the lomerio landscape, the number of patches classified as \"secondary vegetation\" in 2002, increased by 31% compared to 2018. In contrast, the number of patches classified as \"dense highland forests\", decreased by 58%. In mountain landscape, 71% of forest types (\"dense highland forests\", \"fragmented forest\", and \"riparian forest\") reported in 2002, were lost in 2018. With a lower percentage, in the foothill landscape, 35% of all forest types were lost.Fragmentation metrics: The mountain landscape was the most fragmented area during the 15 years of analysis. In this landscape, the Effective MESH Size metric decreased by 48% between 2002 and 2018 in the landcover classified as \"dense highland forest\", and by 99% in the landcover type called \"fragmented forest\". Similarly, in the lomerio landscape, the Effective MESH Size metric decreased by 75% in the landcover classified as \"dense highland forest\". This indicates that the primary forests (\"dense highland forest\") were considerably reduced between 2002 and 2018, both in the mountain landscape and in the lomerio landscape. Two landscapes with completely different dynamics and drivers of change.Connectivity metrics: The Euclidean Nearest Neighbor Distance (ENN_MM) metric increased in several forest covers in all landscapes. For example, in floodplain landscape, this metric increased in the riparian strips by 40% and in the fragmented forest, by 43%.In the same way, in the lomerio landscape, the same metric, increased by 34% in the \"dense floodplain forest\". In the mountain landscape, the ENN_MM metric increased by 46% in the \"dense highland forest\" and by 67% in the \"fragmented forest\". Last, in mountain foothill landscape, the ENN_MM metric increased by 16% in the dense highland forest and by 91% in the fragmented forest.The results show that across landscapes, the degree of isolation (distance between landcover patches within each landscape) has increased in all forest areas. However, the two most fragmented landscapes during the 15-year analysis were the lomerio and the mountain landscape.The results for the CONEFOR-estimated PC index are available in Table 2. The table shows the sum of the PC values for all of the habitat patches in each of the 12 sub-windows (farmscapes).Table 2. Results of the dPC index in the two analyzed conditions (with and without SPSs) by sub-windows of 3 x 3 km grouped by cluster. dPC corresponds to the sum of dPCIntra, dPCflux, and dPCconnector. The other variables in the table correspond to the descriptive variables of the sub-windows such as: CA (the crucial total area in the sub-window), NP (total number of patches in the sub-window, and Shape area (average patch area in the sub-window). As can be seen in the table, in all of the sub-windows, the dPC values increase when including the SPS implementations (with SPSs). This was expected, as the probability of connectivity in the landscape will increase if new habitat patches are introduced. However, according to the results, the specific contributions to the landscape connectivity by SPSs will vary depending on: the number of patches that are introduced, the arrangement of these patches within the landscape, and the habitat amount.Using the selected landscape connectivity (PC Index) and the relevant fragmentation metrics from the previous assessments, the k-means cluster analysis and the silhouette score, identified four groups (Figure S1A). The total variance in the data set was 78.2%, and the within cluster sum squares by cluster, was 0, 6.01, 2.65, and 5.71, for clusters one to four, respectively. Yet, according to the one-way ANOVA analysis, each cluster was significantly different to the others in terms of the six landscape connectivity and fragmentation metrics compared: (1)   S1B).Here we describe the observable characteristics for each cluster:• Cluster 1 was composed by only one sub-window (A03) and identified as an outlier.The sub-window has a large patch of secondary vegetation in what would be a pasture dominated matrix. By implementing two SPS patches (of 4 and 5 ha), the PC index increased by 18%.Cluster 2 was composed of four sub-windows (A04, A07, A11, and A12) (Figure 4B). Their average forest habitat with the SPS implementations was 15%. The sub-windows grouped in this cluster are characterized by having a low percentage of crucial areas, but with different values of naturalness (secondary vegetation, fragmented forest with pastures and crops, fragmented forest with secondary vegetation, rivers, dense highland forest, and riparian forest). The average change in the landscape connectivity (PC index) within each sub-window increased by 3%, when comparing before and after the implementation of SPSs.Cluster 3 was composed of three sub-windows (A09, A01, and A10) (Figure 4B) with an average of 22% crucial area habitat without SPS implementations. The farmscape of this cluster are characterized by having a large crucial area patch, with an average size of 44.5 ha and made up of secondary vegetation. In each farmscape, a total of four SPS plots were adopted, each measuring about 4 ha. The change in the landscape connectivity (PC index) with the implementation of the SPS plots was an average increase of 6%.Cluster 4 was composed of four sub-windows (A 02, A05, A06, and A08) (Figure 4B). The amount of crucial area habitat without the SPS implementation was on average 10% per sub-window. This group contains the farmscapes with the least amount of crucial areas. The average change in the landscape connectivity (PC index) within the sub-windows with the implementation of SPSs was an increase of 5%.The four clusters identified, showcase the variability that exists in the landscape in terms of habitat fragmentation and connectivity. Cluster 2 was characterized by an average isolation and an average habitat amount, where the addition of the SPS plots greatly contributed to the landscape connectivity. Cluster 3 was characterized by a low isolation and a high initial habitat amount, i.e., a landscape with a low fragmentation and well-connected remaining patches. In this case the SPS implementations did not have a relevant influence on the connectivity of the landscape, as the landscape was already well connected. In Cluster 4, the landscape was characterized by highly isolated patches and a low amount of habitat.Finally, the change of connectivity (ΔPC) comparing the two conditions (with and without SPSs) varied between clusters. For example, in Clusters 2 and 4, characterized by the establishment of small implementation areas in the sub-window (SPS lots < 5 ha), few new patches (between one to three lots in the whole sub-window), and a distance between the SPS areas and the crucial areas of a maximum of 0.5 km, the increment in the dPCflux and dPCconnect was slightly lower than in cluster 3.In contrast, Cluster 3, where the distance between patches does not exceed 300 m and where the number of large crucial habitat patches doubled (approx. 37.5 ha new areas in each sub-window, with an average SPS plot size of 12 ha), there was a greater increase in the DPCFlux. An increase in DPCFlux means that the flow between the patches improves. Basically, that there are more patches available to contribute to the dispersal of species. Likewise, an increase in the DPCconnector was observed (increases on average 72% in the sub-windows of this cluster), which indicates that these new patches are contributing as new connection areas (stepping stones) in the landscape. According to the results in the sub-windows A09, A01, and A10, the new silvopastoral implementations have the capacity to increase not only the flow but also the strength of the connections between the patches, helping facilitate the dispersal of species.During the last two decades (2001 to 2021), forest areas in the Colombian Andean-Amazon ecoregion have been reduced by more than 60%. This rate of deforestation is alarming as it disrupts the connectivity between two important biomes, the Andes mountain forests and the Amazon basin forests. From the results, it is clear that after the peace agreement was signed between the Colombian government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces (FARC) in 2016, deforestation rates increased reaching a historical high of 250,000 ha in 2018. This was likely a consequence of both, (i) the non-implementation of territorial management agreements in the peace agreement by the incoming government (period 2018-2022), and (ii) the illegal occupation of disenfranchised FARC dissidents (non-signatories of the peace agreements), lawless criminal bands and large-scale cattle ranchers with strong political connections, as well as newly engaged coca producers [39]. The observed socio-political restructuring and socio-ecological dynamics in the region have already been reported following the peace agreement signing. [40,41].Habitat loss in the Colombian Amazon ecoregion has been characterized by a reduction and fragmentation of natural areas such as the dense highland forests, the riparian and gallery forests, and the secondary forests and vegetation. As a consequence, landscapes dominated by pastures are evident today. Habitat destruction and fragmentation have driven many animal populations into remnant patches of varying size and isolation. Within this region, the mountain landscape (i.e., the Andes-Amazon corridor) was the most affected by habitat loss and fragmentation. In this landscape, the dense highland forests located in the transition area between the Alto Fragua Indiwasi protected area and the lomerio landscape, have been the most affected by increasing their patch isolation and reducing their patch size. These forests were reduced in terms of total area, patch area, increased perimeter, and porosity. Consequently, it increased the edge effect and reduced the total area available as habitat for wildlife. The combined impacts of habitat loss and fragmentation has severe consequences to wildlife and forest specialist species become more exposed and vulnerable to predation and hunting following habitat fragmentation [42].Moreover, in the lomerio landscape, the loss of crucial areas has led to patches more isolated, smaller in size, with larger perimeter vs. core proportions, and less connected to each other. The lomerio landscape is dominated by highly degraded pastures, yet there are a significant number of secondary vegetation areas in the process of natural regeneration. Some of these secondary vegetation areas are protected by farmers involved in different conservation projects in the region. However, this commitment to conservation is always made voluntarily, and due to various circumstances, especially cultural and economic, farmers end up burning or cutting down these areas of vegetation for the implementation of pastures or crops [43,44]. By demonstrating the benefits of intensification practices in agricultural production and through the diversification of income sources and practices, little by little, or one tree at a time, the benefits of restoration and conservation activities may become more apparent to farmers, in order to reduce additional deforestation and to promote the regeneration of forest areas within productive landscapes.It is clear that the introduction of arboreal areas in a degraded landscape can increase connectivity. Based on different authors [21,22,45], we know that the presence of living fences in pastures and agricultural areas can help reduce soil erosion, provide habitat to a variety of animal groups, and facilitate bird movement across the fragmented landscape, including several forest specialist species, such as the plain-brown woodcreeper (Dendrocincla fuliginosa). However, how other variables, such as the amount of habitat, patch size, distance between patches, or patch quality (its \"naturalness\" as per Machado's ranking [35]), can influence the probability of connectivity of a landscape. Our results provide evidence on how each of these variables influence the landscape connectivity. We found that small implementation areas with a large distance between the patches will lead to a smaller increase in the flow of the system, that is, the capacity for the patches to receive and disperse species. Furthermore, these characteristics will result in patches with less capacity to serve as stepping stones and connect crucial areas in the landscape. By contrast, the implementation of larger patches in the landscape, which are also arranged at shorter distances from the crucial areas, will result in an increase in the flow of the system, and therefore, in a greater probability of connectivity of the landscape.According to Calle, 2020 [14], the implementation of SPSs seems to be most favorable in landscapes with a high degree of fragmentation and a low habitat amount, i.e., landscapes such as the lomerio landscape in Caquetá, where the SPSs were implemented in our research. Our results would agree with this study. However, neither in Calle's investigation nor through this research, was an undegraded control area established. This is one of the limitations of the present study, which could be considered in future studies. In addition, it is important to be clear that this work is a geographical simulation of the potential of SPSs to increase landscape connectivity, but not an actual quantification of the connectivity increases, following the implementation of SPS systems in the degraded landscape. While silvopastoral systems based on the implementation of scattered trees in pasture plots and living fences is far from representing the restoration of a forest ecosystem, the PC index showed encouraging differences when comparing the two conditions simulated in GIS (with and without SPS implementations). This suggest that in cattle ranching landscapes, silvopastoral systems are a promising alternative to gradually introduce ecological restoration activities in regions where farmers have more than 40 years of conventional cattle ranching experience.Land cover conversion from native vegetation to extensive and poorly managed pastures, negatively impacts the structural connectivity of the landscape, leading to ecosystem degradation. Combining cattle ranching and trees in SPSs has shown to be valuable in restoring highly fragmented landscapes. For farmers, these systems provide an opportunity to increase productivity and improve their well-being. This study examined the potential of SPSs to decrease habitat isolation and restore functional connectivity through the evaluation of the state of fragmentation and structural connectivity, before and after their adoption. This assessment was possible due to the availability and accessibility of the geographic data and robust free access software, such as FRAGSTATS, CONEFOR, and QGIS. While the true impact of SPSs on functional connectivity and biodiversity conservation can only be confirmed through field monitoring data, the present study provides spatially explicit insight on the effects of their implementation in improving the structural connectivity of the landscape.Our findings suggest that the contributions of SPSs to landscape connectivity are not linear. There are other variables that must be considered, which could play a fundamental role when planning landscape restoration activities to enhance biodiversity conservation. According to the farmscape characteristics within the SPS implementation sub-windows, some of the main variables to estimate the potential impacts on connectivity include: the amount of initial habitat, the distribution of habitat patches, and the distance between habitat patches. In other words, the strategic adoption and implementation of SPSs could be co-designed to maximize pasture productivity for cattle ranching, while optimizing environmental benefits, such as biodiversity conservation.In conclusion, connectivity and fragmentation assessments could be utilized in decision making and prior to the implementation of conservation actions, to increase benefits. The evaluation approach described here could contribute to evidence-based policy development, by providing information on priority sites to increase connectivity through the implementation of new areas of SPSs or agroforestry systems, that could ultimately lead to faster positive conservation impacts. It is key to engage local communities, and co-design with them conservation agreements to protect natural habitats within their properties and throughout the landscape. As a final recommendation, it is important to align landscape-based initiatives with other existing conservation programs in the region, both from NGOs and from the government, and in the Andes-Amazon ecoregion, those initiatives that will be developed within the framework of the peace agreement implementation.The following supporting information can be downloaded at: https://www.mdpi.com/article/10.3390/d14100846/s1, Table S1: Landscape unit's composition in the 2200 km 2 analysis window; Table S2: Landcover areas by landscape unit in the 2200 km 2 analysis window; Table S3: Area-edge, Subdivision, and Aggregation metric results of FRAGSTATS, by"}

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+{"metadata":{"gardian_id":"70a6a55734a47b782dc98661c0cd68a9","source":"gardian_index","url":"https://cgspace.cgiar.org/rest/bitstreams/77a02690-b001-4835-997e-7d8f2b0ee788/retrieve","id":"-1218052998"},"keywords":["household surveys","market data","livestock","Tanzania"],"sieverID":"c0829ac6-c661-4e2e-9f25-25b572b4cfd4","content":"Linking farmers to markets is widely viewed as a milestone towards promoting economic growth and poverty reduction. However, market and institutional imperfections along the supply chain thwart perfect vertical and spatial price transmission and prevent farmers and market actors from getting access to information, identifying business opportunities and allocating their resources efficiently. This acts as a barrier to market-led rural development and poverty reduction. This paper reviews and analyses household information, and the major livestock market and marketing data available in Tanzania, in relation to market-led development possibilities. Household-level data collected by the Tanzania National Bureau of Statistics and market data collected and disseminated by the Livestock Information and Knowledge System of the Tanzania Ministry of Industry and Trade are reviewed and utilised together. Both types of data help identify market opportunities for livestock producers, but only their joint use could provide policy makers with the information needed to design and implement policies that facilitate access to markets for livestock producers. Options to promote integration of household-level data and market data are discussed, which would facilitate the implementation of the Tanzania Statistical Master Plan and contribute to the implementation of the Global Strategy to Improve Agricultural and Rural Statistics.Linking farmers to markets is widely viewed as a milestone towards promoting growth of agriculture and poverty reduction in the developing world. The 2008 World Development Report 'Agriculture for Development' identifies 'Enhance smallholder competitiveness and facilitate market entry' and 'Improve market access and establish efficient value chains' as milestones to support an agriculture-for-development agenda (World Bank, 2008). In sub-Saharan Africa, Pillar 2 of the Africa Comprehensive Agricultural Development Programme (CAADP) titles 'Market Access', and most governments in the continent have been developing policies and programmes aimed at linking farmers to domestic, regional and international markets. Any cursory review of Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers, Agricultural Development Strategies and CAADP Compacts endorsed by African governments reveals that access to markets and supply chain development are priority areas of interventions.Available agricultural data and statistics, however, are insufficient for governments and private investors in sub-Saharan Africa to design and implement interventions which efficiently and equitably link farmers to agricultural markets: 'Many countries, especially in the developing world, lack the capacity to produce and report even the minimum set of agricultural data necessary to monitor national trends' (World Bank, 2011). Improving the quantity and quality of agricultural data available to decision makers, including both public and private sector actors, is thus a precondition for formulating effective agricultural and rural sector investments, which help farmers tap into market opportunities.There are a variety of initiatives in place which aim at enhancing the quantity and quality of agricultural data, the major one being currently the Global Strategy to Improve Agricultural and Rural Statistics, endorsed by the UN Statistical Commission in February 2010 (World Bank, 2011). The strategy builds around three pillars: (i) the establishment of a minimum set of core agricultural data that countries should provide to meet current and emerging data needs; (ii) the integration of agriculture into the National Statistical Systems; (iii) governance and statistical capacity building of the National Agricultural Statistical System. This paper focuses on livestock sector data in Tanzania, with the objective to recommend ways to improve systems of livestock data collection and use so as to support the implementation of the Tanzanian Statistical Master Plan and, more in general, that of the Global Strategy to Improve Agricultural and Rural Statistics. In particular, the paper focuses on issues and challenges related to the joint use of different sources of livestock datawhich falls into the second pillar of the Global Strategy, i.e. integrating agriculture into the National Statistical System. Integrating different sources of data is in fact critical to support the implementation of the Tanzania National Strategy of Growth and Poverty Reduction: there are currently no datasets available that allow, on their own, to design and implement investments that help farmer access profitable markets, a requirement for sustainable growth and poverty reduction.The next section briefly presents prospects for livestock sector growth in Tanzania and related data issues. Section three and four review two major systems of livestock data collection, namely the Tanzania National Panel Survey (TZNPS) administered by the National Bureau of Statistics, and the Livestock Market Information Network and Knowledge System (LINKS) implemented by the Ministry of Industry and Trade. Section five attempts to infer some policy recommendations from the joint use of TZNPS and LINKS data, and then makes some proposals to facilitate the integration of the two data systems. Section six draws some conclusions.The Tanzania Second National Strategy for Growth and the Reduction of Poverty II (NSGRP II or MKUKUTA II in its Kiswahili acronym) 'is a framework to rally national efforts during 2010/11 -2014/15 in accelerating poverty-reducing growth by pursuing pro-poor interventions and addressing implementation bottlenecks' (MFEA, 2010). MKUKUTA II targets agriculture as one of the main sectors to develop to reduce poverty, as the majority of the population live in rural areas where poverty incidence is the highest (39 percent of rural households are estimated to live below the 'basic needs' poverty line, vis-à-vis about 26 percent of urban households). MKUKUTA II aims at increasing the agricultural growth rate from 3 percent in 2009 to 6 percent in 2015 (MFEA, 2010).MKUKUTA II plans to address 'the usual constraints to agriculture and rural development', such as limited access to inputs and extension services by farmers (MFEA, 2010). 'In order to have impact, emphasis needs to be on interventions that address bottlenecks along the value chains of strategic agricultural produceselected crops and livestock' (MFEA, 2010). MKUKUTA II will thus prioritize interventions that relax / remove those constraints which prevent farmers both from being efficient and from accessing lucrative agricultural markets, thereby contributing to a marketdriven and sustainable growth of agriculture.The development of the livestock sector is anticipated to contribute to the objectives of MKUKUTA II as livestock provide livelihood support to a total of 1,75 million households (37%) out of 4,9 million agricultural households (NBS et al., 2010) LSDP involves interventions all along the livestock supply chain, from input supply to husbandry practices to marketing, which only would ensure that livestock keepers be able to produce some surplus meat, milk and eggs to sell in domestic, regional and international markets. However, available data to implement the LSDP are scant at best. A recent review of the status of livestock data conducted by the Ministry of Livestock and Fisheries Development reads:'A lot of livestock data are inadequate to varying degrees as they lack consistence through time and between sources; and are not complete as they possess a lot of gaps. In addition, most of the data are unreliable due to lack of culture of data collection and data provision. There is general lack of responsibility of data verification for the purpose of ascertaining their adequacy at all levels. On the other hand, often livestock data are not readily accessible to users for a variety of reasons and available data are not always put to optimal use by data users as they are not made available in a timely manner, are not in the form required and are not disaggregated to appropriate levels' (MLFD 2010).The Tanzanian Statistical Master Plan 2009/10 -2013/14 (TSMP) aims to 'strengthen the NSS [National Statistical System] in Tanzania so as to enable it to produce quality statistics for decision makers in an objective timely and cost effective manner' (NBS, 2010a). It identifies five areas of interventions to improve statistics, including agriculture (and livestock) data. These are: human resource development; development of statistical infrastructure; data development and dissemination; physical infrastructure and equipment development; programme management and coordination. In coordinating the implementation of the Master Plan, the National Bureau of Statistics is expected to ensure that agreed 'statistical standards are used so as to facilitate the integration and comparison of the statistics produced both nationally and internationally' as well as 'to avoid duplication of efforts in the production of statistics' (NBS, 2010a). Comparability and integration of different sources of data is in fact critical to build an efficient agricultural NSS, which is consistent with the Global Strategy to Improve Agricultural and Rural Statistics that provides guidance to country governments to implement 'a coordinated data collection program to produce timely and accurate data that are coherent and comparable; and a strategy for data dissemination to ensure accessibility' (World Bank, 2011).Integrating different data systems to generate statistics which are comparable requires not only identifying strengths and weaknesses of different data systems and common elements for integration, but also appreciating the value added that combining different data systems can generate, particularly with a focus on the implementation of the poverty reduction strategy papers and major agricultural development programmes and policies. In other words, integration of different data systems should not be pursued for the sake of integration, but on the evidence that the joint use of data from different sources provides better information to decision makers to formulate and implement public and private sector investments. In what follows, two major systems of livestock data collection in Tanzania are described and briefly analysed; opportunities for improved integration are then identified, which is critical for the successful implementation of both MKUKUTA II and the LSDP.Living Standard Measurement Surveys (LSMS) are multi-topic household questionnaires designed to assess household welfare, understand household behaviour and evaluate the effects of various interventions on the livelihood of the population. Accordingly, LSMS surveys collect data from a nationally representative sample of households on their characteristics and many dimensions of their wellbeing, such household size and composition, education and assets, food consumption and health (Grosh and Glewwe, 1995).The Tanzania National Panel Survey (TZNPS) is part of a series of LSMS-type surveys and collects information from a sample of households sufficient to generate statistics which are nationally representative as well as representative at the level of macro-zones, including North, Central, Eastern, South, Southern Highlands, West and Lake. The main objective of the TZNPS is 'to provide high-quality household-level data to the Tanzanian government and other stakeholders for monitoring poverty dynamics, tracking the progress of the National Strategy for Growth and Poverty Reduction, and evaluating the impact of other major, national-level government policy initiatives' (NBS, 2010b).The first wave of the TZNPS was conducted over twelve months from October 2008 to October 2009 by the Tanzania National Bureau of Statistics (NBS). The survey was implemented by six mobile field teams, each composed of one supervisor, three enumerators, one data entry technician, and one driver. The survey, administered to 3,280 households (2,064 households in rural areas and 1,216 urban areas), consisted of a Household Questionnaire, an Agriculture Questionnaire, and a Community Questionnaire. 1 The Household Questionnaire comprises over 20 sectionse.g. on household education, on food expenditure, on household assets, etc.which allows for the construction of a full consumption-based welfare measure. The Agriculture Questionnaire contains 13 sections relative to household agricultural activities, such as on plots, crops, livestock and access to extension services. The Community Questionnaire includes 9 sections on physical and economic infrastructure and events in the surveyed communities. Respondents of the Household and Agriculture questionnaires are the household members most knowledgeable about each section; respondents of the Community questionnaire are the Village/Block Chairperson, the Village/Ward Executive officer, and several sub-village chair-people (NBS, 2010b).The Agriculture Questionnaire contains 21 questions on livestock on ownership / changes in livestock stock over the past 12 months due to sales/purchases, thefts, diseases and slaughtering. Noteworthy is that information is collected on cattle breeds, differentiating between local/indigenous and improved/exotic breeds. It also includes some basic questions on labour force used for tending livestock, on fodder and on animal diseases / vaccination. A final section is on the production and sale of major livestock products. On the consumption side, the Household Questionnaire contains questions on the consumption of different types of animal source foods.Overall, TZNPS questionnaires contain more (crop and) livestock-related questions in comparison with most LSMS-type questionnaires administered in developing countries.Analysis of the TZNPS data provides critical insights for implementing MKUKUTA II and the Livestock Sector Development Programme (LSDP). TZNPS data are appropriate to characterize rural households, appreciate livestock-livelihood relationship and may also help identify determinants of livestock production and productivity, thereby assisting in the design of investments that promote 'market developments, comparative and competitive advantages and domestic capacity to supply the markets' (MFEA, 2010). Livestock keepers are market-oriented and sell a large part, if not the majority of their livestock / livestock production, which is hard to store. Over a year, households in the bottom quintile sell about 67 percent of their livestock / livestock production, while those in the third and top quintiles sell about 49 and 35 of their livestock / livestock production respectively.  About 58 percent of households sell alive animals, while only about 4 percent slaughtered and sold some livestock during the past 12 months. 7 percent of households sell some milk and 11 percent eggs. Overall, sales of live animals contribute to about two-thirds of livestock derived income.Majority of households, i.e. about 60 percent, market their livestock through traders / intermediaries, but many also sell live animals / livestock products in the marketplace (25%) or to some neighbor (27%). Farmers sell their livestock in local markets and only about 2 percent have travelled to sell their animals in markets in other regions.Beyond insights on ownership, production and commercialization of livestock / livestock products, TZNPS data also provide information on the consumption of animal foods. Table 3 below presents some descriptive statistics on the consumption of livestock products by households in different expenditure quintiles, while table 4 presents estimated income-expenditure elasticities for major animal foods, i.e. the ratio of the percentage change in expenditure on animal food to a percentage change in income.About 59 percent of all households consume some meat, milk or meat (i.e. 41% of them do not eat at all livestock products). This proportion goes up to 68 percent among livestock keeping households, and down to 51 percent among non-livestock keeping households, which is suggestive that livestock ownership could be associated with better nourishment of household members, given the bioavailability of protein, iron and vitamin A in meat, eggs, and milk.With a per capita of 5.3 kg/year beef is the most consumed meat, followed by poultry (3.1 kg/year), eggs (2.3 kg/year) and goat meat (3.1 kg/year). About 11.4 liter/year of milk are consumed by the 'typical' Tanzanian. As expected, households in the bottom quintiles consume less livestock products than those in the upper ones, with the exception of goat meat.Beef is the most purchased meat: 32 percent of households, including in both rural and urban areas, reported to have purchased some beef in the week prior to the interview, a proportion higher than that for all other livestock products.  The value of the beef purchased by the typical household (i.e. about TzSh 70,175/year) is between 74 (milk) and 98 percent (goat meat) higher than expenditure for all other livestock products, suggesting the Tanzanians, when it comes to purchasing animal foods, primarily spend their money on beef products.The income-expenditure elasticities are positive for all animal foods but for goat meat, and are particularly elastic for beef. Expenditure for the latter is estimated to increase more than proportionate to a change in income for households in the second, third, fourth and top expenditure quintiles.A cursory look at the TZNPS data suggests that there are both supply and demand opportunities for a development of the livestock sector, which can contribute to economic growth and poverty reduction. On the supply side: (i) majority of rural households keep some livestockprimarily goats, cattle and chicken; (ii) the share of households keeping livestock, the average herd size and contribution of livestock to household income increase with welfare, as measured by expenditure quintiles; (iii) livestock-keeping households are market oriented and primarily market their live animals through traders / intermediaries. On the demand side: (i) beef, poultry, eggs and milk are the most consumed livestock products and their consumption is anticipated to increase with growth in real per capita income; (ii) the demand for beef is expected to grow faster than that for any other animal food; (iii) given that daily per-capita income is lower than US$ 5 for the largest majority of consumers, demand will be largely for relatively low-quality low-processed food items (McDermott et al., 2010). A rapid appraisal conducted by the Tanzania Ministry of Livestock and Fisheries in July 2011 highlights, for instance, that the largest majority of consumers purchase mixed cuts of beef in open-air markets and local butcheries (Pica-Ciamarra et al, 2011).Overall, TZNPS data provide critical insights into prioritizing investments for livestock sector development. However, 'due to the limits of the sample size it is not possible to produce reliable statistics at the regional or district level' (NBS, 2010), which are needed to design and implement investments on the ground. It is thus necessary to complement TZNPS data with other sources of data to fully exploit their potential.The Ministry of Industry and Trade (MIT) of Tanzania is mandated to 'facilitate the development of sustainable industry and trade sectors through creation of enabling environment and provision of improved services ' (www.mit.go.tz). With the aim to 'facilitate the development' of the livestock sector, since 2005 the Ministry of Industry and Trade has been operating, initially with support from USAID, the Livestock Information Network Knowledge System (LINKS), which collects, processes and disseminates livestock market data.In Tanzania there are currently over 400 primary, 12 secondary and 10 border livestock markets for cattle, sheep and goats, but none for pigs and poultry. Primary markets are under the jurisdiction of Local Government Authorities, and their functioning is often limited because of inadequate marketing infrastructure. Secondary and border markets are managed by the Central Government and are bigger and with better facilities than primary markets (MLFD, 2011). Most markets are held once per week while some are held twice per week. LINKS collects information from 53 livestock markets, of which 41 are primary markets and 12 are secondary markets in 18 out of the 21 mainland regions. 4   A so-called 'market-monitor' collects livestock market information on behalf of MIT every market day. S/he collects price information from buyers on concluded transactions for four types of animals, with details on breed, age, gender and grade. Livestock type: cattle, goats, sheep and donkeys.  Breeds: e.g. Ankole, Boran, Danakil, Exotic and other for cattle.  Age group: immature, mature, mixed, young.  Gender: female, male, castrate.  Grade: grade 1 to grade 4.For each type of animal, market monitors (are expected to) collect price information from five different buyers, while they obtain information on the total volume of exchanges from the relevant market authorities. Market monitors are local government officers with no direct reporting responsibilities to MIT. The Ministry of Industry and Trade, however, provides them with a mobile phone and some air-time, which market monitors use to send a coded text message to MIT, with average prices and total volume of exchanges for the various animals. To incentivise the data collection process, all market monitors are invited by MIT once a year to participate in a major meeting to discuss pressing issues / concerns and identify options for improvement.Market monitors send price and volume data to MIT every week. The data are first checked and validated. If inconsistencies are revealed, the relevant market monitor is contacted to ensure validity of the information. 'Weekly Summary Livestock Market Information Reports' for cattle, sheep, goats and donkeys are then prepared and disseminated by MIT, with information on average prices and total volume of exchanges from the different markets in the country. Details are given on breed, age, gender and grade of animals and the reports are released every Friday afternoon. A 'Monthly Livestock Market Information Report' is also released, which presents a comparison with previous-month-price and volume levels.Livestock weekly reports are disseminated through English and Swahili newspapers, such as the Guardian, the Citizen, the Mwananchi and the Majira, either weekly or daily. Data are also disseminated through Radio and TV programmes and market boards in the Community Information Centres. Price and quantity data are publically available through the LINKS website (www.lmlstz.net), with a search query that allows downloading information on selected markets and periods.LINKS dataset provides useful information about market size and trends in prices / volume of exchanges for major live animals, i.e. on trends in business opportunities for livestock keepers. What follows reviews LINKS monthly data available for cattle markets for the period January 2010 to December 2010, as TZNPS data showed that cattle are widely owned by Tanzanian rural households and that beef is the most consumed meat in the country, with its demand anticipated to growth fast in the next coming years.Out of the 53 markets monitored by LINKS, 45 reported market data for cattle during 2010. Cattle markets record an average volume of almost 1,400 heads of cattle purchased/sold per month and a median volume of about 1,125 heads. The biggest markets, with a volume of over 2,000 heads of cattle purchased/sold per month, are located in the northern regions (Arusha, Kagera, Kilimanjaro, Morogoro, Mwanza and Shyinyanga), which record a high density of cattle per sqkm (from about 10 TLU/sqkm in Arusha region to over 55 TLU/sqkm in Mwanza). The only large market outside of the Northern part of the country is Pugu market in Dar es Salaam, the capital city, where per-capita consumption of beef is the highest Tanzania. In 2010, only two breeds of cattle were traded in LINKS markets, including the Tanzanian short-horned Zebu (> 99% of heads sold/purchased) and the Ankole cattle (< 1%). The Tanzania short-horned Zebu is the most common indigenous cattle in the country and comprises a number of strains, such as Iringa Red, Maasai, Mkalama Dun, Singida White, Mbulu, Gogo, Chagga and Pare (Rege and Tawah 1999). Ankole is an indigenous breed largely kept throughout Eastern Africa, including Burundi, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda. Both Tanzania short-horned Zebu and Ankole cattle are kept as draught ox, dairy and beef cattle, as well as for by-products such as hides and dung for fuel and manure.The Tanzanian grading system for live animals is based on a variety of parameters (e.g. weight, dentition, etc.) and allows differentiating livestock into four uniform groups, from Grade 1 (G1) to Grade 4 (G4). G1 cattle are the best ones, while G4 cattle are the less valuable. mature males of grade G2 and G3 are the most traded animals. Mature males are used for breeding and beef, while mature females mainly for milk and re-production. Trends in volume traded and prices are unclear and LINKS data, at least for 2010, do not provide indications on if/where there are growing market opportunities for cattle keepers.Figure 2 shows average trends in volume (cattle head/month) and prices for G2 and G3 mature male and female cattle in LINKS markets.A quick review of price and volume data for the six markets which have reported data for all months in 2010, as well as for Pugu market in Dar es Salaam (data available from January through October 2010), provides some additional insights. First, there is hardly any correlation between volumes traded and prices of the different cattle in the various markets.Second, in all markets there appears to be more variability (as measured by the coefficient of variation) in the volume of cattle traded than price variability. Third, there is more price variability between markets than within markets. Overall, these findings suggest that markets are largely local, with limited inter-regional trade of live animals, and that cattle are considered more as investment rather than a consumption good by farmers, i.e. market price fro live animals reflects the present value of future monetary and non-monetary income stream that livestock are anticipated generate. A look at LINKS market data for 2010 shows that cattle markets are relatively small and that mature female and mature male cattle of grade G2 and G3 are the most traded animals. The price difference between animals of different grades appears significant, suggesting that investments that help farmers improve the quality of their animals could generate positive returns. As expected, the largest markets are located in the Northern regions and in Dar es Salaam, the capital city. An interesting finding is that trends in price and volume are uncorrelated, at least for 2010, and that there is limited correlation between cattle prices in the different markets. The often high difference in price for the same animals in different markets represents a major business opportunity for livestock keepers as well as for traders. Benefits for cattle keepers can be generated, therefore, if both policies are designed to enhance the grades of the animals farmers sell, as well as to facilitate inter-market trade and trade towards Pugu market in Dar es Salaam (and possibly other major urban centres).Overall, LINKS data provide critical insights into prioritizing investments for livestock sector development in terms of production and consumption areas. However, neither do they help identify bottlenecks along the livestock value chain nor they provide indication on how to design and formulate livestock sector interventions that benefit livestock producers, as they do not convey information on the (dis)incentives that influence cattle keepers' behaviour.Making joint use of TZNPS and LINKS data could assist policy makers in designing better policies which link farmers to markets. In particular, the two datasets may be used to identify bottlenecks and market imperfections along the value chain: they both provide information on price of live animals but at two different points along the value chain, i.e. at the farm gate (TZNPS) and in market places (LINKS). The agriculture questionnaire of the TZNPS contains in fact the following three questions:1. Have you sold any livestock alive in the past 12 months? 2. How many have you sold alive in the past 12 months? 3. What was the total value of the sale? Female mature, G3 Male mature, G2Male mature, G3Table 7 compares TZNPS and LINKS average prices for different types of live animals. Note that in the TZNPS dataset live animals are differentiated by gender and agei.e. mature male cattle (bulls) and mature female cattle (dairy cows)but not by grade. Figure 3 and 4 display LINKS and TZNPS prices for bulls and dairy cows in 14 and 12 regions respectively. LINKS prices are average annual prices of mature male and mature female cattle sold/purchased in the different livestock markets in the region at hand. TZNPS prices are farm-gate prices reported by individual households living in the selected region (TZNPS households are geo-referenced).Prices for live animals at the farm-gate and in the market place appear in most cases significantly different, with market prices being up to 220% higher that the price received by households, with the exception for animals of grade 4. The same trend is evident at the level of regions: for instance, in Arusha region, the average difference between farm-gate and market price for bulls is over TzSh 161,000, i.e. US$ 90; in Shingaya, a major cattle producing region, market prices for dairy cows are, on average, 76% higher than farm-gate prices. Inefficiencies in the market for live animals appear to exist in Tanzania, as the difference between farm-gate price and market pricerecall that data refer to the same animal at different points in the value chainappears particularly high in most regions. This finding is hardly surprising but, since based on two sources of data which are hardly comparable, should be taken with caution. However, if some formal integration were made between LINKS and TZNPS datasets, not only the same conclusion could have policy relevance but additional inferences could be drawn to design interventions that help farmers better tap into livestock market opportunities. Both TZNPS and LINKS data collect price data for live animals, but cattle are differently named or defined in the two datasets. Bulls, cows, steer, heifers, male claves and female calves are found in the TZNPS Agriculture Questionnaire; immature, mature female and male animals of different grades as well as mature castrate and young animals are found in LINKS.A common list of animals is a pre-condition for the joint use of TZNPS and LINKS data.Tanzania is one of the few developing countries where a grading system for live animals exists. The price difference between cattle of different grades is noteworthy, and LINKS data suggests that investments that assist farmers in improving the grade of their animals may generate handsome returns. The TZNPS questionnaires do not include any reference to animal grades: some additional questions on grades would facilitate the joint use of TZNPS and LINKS data.The TZNPS Community Questionnaire includes a question on the existence of a primary livestock market, either in the village or in the vicinity, a question on transport cost to the market and a question on the name of the market. The data released by NBS, however, do not include the name of the market, which makes it impossible to identify households selling in LINKS markets. Ensuring that the information on market name is collected and/or that the released TZNPS data include all information which has been collected would facilitate joint analysis of TZNPS and LINKS data. The same question asked to sellers, including of whether the seller is a trader or a farmer, would help appreciate transport cost for farmers and margins for traders, two pieces of information which are critical to design interventions that facilitate farmer access to markets. This would also facilitate comparison with TZNPS data, which allow identifying farmers selling to traders / intermediaries and those directly selling their live animals in the marketplace.Overall, some relatively small changes in both TZNPS and LINKS may help integrate the two data systems and better identify if and where there are bottlenecks along the livestock value chains which prevent farmers from tapping into lucrative market opportunities. The issue is about the feasibility of the proposed changes.First, TZNPS is a multi-topic survey aimed at measuring welfare / well-being and assessing ex-ante / ex-post selected policy interventions; neither does it have nor it is supposed to have a specific focus on livestock, i.e. additional questions on livestock may generate extra workload on enumerators and analysts which may generate negative externalities on the overall quality of the data. Second, there could be political economy issues in increasing the number of livestock-related questions in the TZNPS questionnaires, as stakeholders from different domains (e.g. gender, environment, etc.) may then ask that questions be added to respond to their specific needs and concerns. Note also that 2010/11 TZNPS agriculture questionnaire was already expanded to include additional questions on livestock, thanks to a partnership between NBS, the Living Standards Measurement -Integrated Surveys on Agriculture Project of the World Bank and the Livestock Data Innovation in Africa Project of the World Bank, the FAO and the International Livestock Research Institute. Third, LINKS' aim is to provide information on market prices and, whilst MIT is committed to improve LINKS, market monitors are local government officers who already find difficulties in regularly reporting to the Ministry of Industry and Trade, i.e. asking them to collect and report additional information maybe unfeasible. Fourth, if LINKS and TZNPS data were made comparable, a question is about who will make joint use of the two databases. Presumably, only if TZNPS data were processed and market indicators generated and uploaded on the LINKS website, which is user-friendly and targets the general public, there could be some chances that regular policy-oriented rather than sporadic research-oriented analysed be done by combining the two datasets.Linking smallholders to markets is widely viewed as a milestone towards promoting economic growth and poverty reduction, but rarely developing country governments have access to reliable data and statistics to design effective investments which promote a market-driven development of the agricultural sector. This paper focused on livestock sector data in Tanzania and reviewed two major systems of livestock data collection, including the Tanzania National Panel Survey (TZNPS) and the Livestock Knowledge and Information System (LINKS): it showed how their integration would be of value for policy makers and recommended some steps towards their integration.Both TZNPS and LINKS data provide critical information on market functioning but, on their own, neither is sufficient to design policies which help smallholder access livestock markets. TZNPS data help appreciate household's behaviour, including production and consumption of livestock products, i.e. to identify investment opportunities for livestock sector development. However, due to the limits of the sample size it is not possible to [use TZNPS data to] produce reliable statistics at the regional or district level' (NBS, 2010b), which are needed to design and implement investments on the ground. It is thus necessary to complement TZNPS data with other sources of data to fully exploit their potential. LINKS collects weekly livestock price and volume data from primary and secondary markets in almost all regions of mainland Tanzania, thereby providing useful information about market size and trends in volume / prices of major live animals, i.e. on trends in business opportunities for livestock keepers. Both TZNPS and LINKS collect information on price of live animals, TZNPS at the farm-gate through interviewing livestock producers and LINKS through interviewing buyers during market days. Ensuring comparability of the price data collected by TZNPS and LINKS would help identify bottlenecks along the supply chain for live animals and draw policy relevant recommendations. This would require some changes in both TZNPS and LINKS, including having a common list of animals, adding some marketrelated questions in the TZNPS questionnaires and ensuring that LINKS collects information from both buyers and sellers of live animals. Political economy issues and resource constraints, however, could make it difficult to implement those recommendations.The major lesson out of this paper, in terms of implementing the second pillar of the Global Strategy to Improve Agricultural and Rural Statistics, i.e. integrating different data systems, is however the following: joint analysis of existing datasets is critical to understand if and how it makes sense to integrate different data systems. While the basics of data integration are knowne.g. the development of a master sample frame for agriculture as indicated in the Global Strategy -it is the details that matter, and those differ from country to country. Institutional changes to integrate different datasets can be best identified when some analyses are done using different sources of data, with the explicit objective to arrive at some practical recommendations for policy makers and private investors. Given scarce resources, it is in fact critical to prioritize integration of those data systems whose joint use can generate information valuable for decision makers to design investments that contribute to economic growth and accelerated poverty reduction."}

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+{"metadata":{"gardian_id":"65695621680ac2a8d34a36649cc0afa2","source":"gardian_index","url":"https://cgspace.cgiar.org/rest/bitstreams/090ad055-bfaa-4d98-95b2-8bcd375310f0/retrieve","id":"-486157532"},"keywords":["technologies (production","markets","waste) • Capacity sharing (universities","cities","enterprises)"],"sieverID":"35a0f04c-fb27-4454-9adf-6a251ddbf66f","content":"• Interests/incentives of partners can be diverse but need to be 'connectable'• Catalytic role of CGIAR (not doing 'scaling') "}

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+{"metadata":{"gardian_id":"16ae886b821f4be7726621ac93d7ca4d","source":"gardian_index","url":"https://cgspace.cgiar.org/rest/bitstreams/afdefb6d-73fe-40e7-9ed8-71250309242d/retrieve","id":"-2077341921"},"keywords":[],"sieverID":"45d17d9c-972e-4827-8c38-ca238ccdc558","content":"There has been growing concern for policy level initiatives and investment priorities required for scaling climate smart agriculture practices (CSAPs). Over a period of 5 years (2013)(2014)(2015)(2016)(2017), science based evidence has been generated on key scalable climate smart agriculture under the CCAFS flagship project on CSA in collaboration with CRPs on Wheat, Maize, Rice agrifood systems as well as range of partnerships (NARS, NGOs, Private Sector, Farmer organizations etc). CIMMYT-CCAFS in collaboration with number of sub-national, national and international stakeholders informed the key policy planners, Governments and development agencies on these CSAPs through several consultations, communication materials (policy brief, video, research articles etc), organizing several events (field days, travelling seminars, workshops, policy dialogues, training programs etc) and generated awareness among the different stakeholders. These systematic efforts have led to up scaling of CSAPs through their mainstreaming in investment programs to address the issue of natural resource degradation, environmental pollution and climatic risks. This document provides evidence base on policy level engagement process, partnerships and events for outscaling CSAPs by the sub-national governments and other key stakeholders.1. Sharing the evidence base with stakeholders/policy planners:Several stakeholder consultation were organized to inform the policy planners and other stakeholders including Government development departments, private sector organizations, farmer organizations, NGOs etc on CCAFS science based evidence on CSAPs. These consultations/stakeholder engagements led to policy level impacts for mainstreaming CSAPs in sustainable development plans. The key events/consultations organized are listed below-There are workshops organized at multi-level partnerships to generate consensus over the  Using the CCAFS science based evidence generated from the Flagship project on CSA/CSVs, several policy briefs, videos, media reports etc (listed below) were developed and shared with key stakeholders specially policy planners, which led to large investments by the national as well as sub-national Government.Agriculture continues to be an engine of inclusive and accelerated economic growth and livelihood opportunities for the millions of smallholder farmers. Agriculture in North-West India (Punjab, Haryana), having made significant strides in food production and contributions in national food pool and Indian economy is now facing enormous challenges. However, the present day agriculture in the food bowl is confronted with daunting problems of hydrological imbalances, soil degradation, labour shortage, inefficient input use, decline in factor productivity, and high production costs, resulting in low returns to farmers. Agriculture has also emerged as a major contributor to air pollution, creating significant health hazards. The adverse effects of climate change and deterioration in quality of resource base (soil, water and biodiversity) as well as environment (especially air and temperature) poses new threats for the long-term sustainability of agriculture. Therefore, despite significant success on all fronts, it is increasingly being realized that the strategies adopted in the past for agricultural growth now need to be adjusted to address the country's emerging development challenges and opportunities in a comprehensive manner.To address some of the critical issues related to climatic risks and agricultural air pollution, the evidence on scalable and sustainable solutions generated by CCAFS and partners have led to a major policy impact and large investments by the Governments.Validating the success of CSAPs farmers were motivated at scale to adopt the technology. Successfully addressing the concerns of the farmers, the evidence base was used to convince policy makers in integrating agricultural development investment in their investment portfolio."}

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+{"metadata":{"gardian_id":"95cc6336fdc985dd4d89522e11f18efb","source":"gardian_index","url":"https://cgspace.cgiar.org/rest/bitstreams/21a84377-a1ba-42f2-bca5-3eb75ca05aaa/retrieve","id":"-194403596"},"keywords":[],"sieverID":"87ebaae0-44d0-41f3-b2dc-40232740bbf1","content":"IWMI encourages the use of its material provided that the organization is acknowledged and kept informed in all such instances.Front cover photograph shows two women watering a spinach plot with wastewater in peri-urban Hyderabad, India (photo credit: Priyanie Amerasinghe).The publications in this series cover a wide range of subjects-from computer modeling to experience with water user associations-and vary in content from directly applicable research to more basic studies, on which applied work ultimately depends. Some research reports are narrowly focused, analytical and detailed empirical studies; others are wide-ranging and synthetic overviews of generic problems.Although most of the reports are published by IWMI staff and their collaborators, we welcome contributions from others. Each report is reviewed internally by IWMI staff, and by external reviewers. The reports are published and distributed both in hard copy and electronically (www.iwmi.org) and where possible all data and analyses will be available as separate downloadable files. Reports may be copied freely and cited with due acknowledgment.IWMI's mission is to improve the management of land and water resources for food, livelihoods and the environment. In serving this mission, IWMI concentrates on the integration of policies, technologies and management systems to achieve workable solutions to real problems-practical, relevant results in the field of irrigation and water and land resources. Urban wastewater management has become a challenge in India as infrastructural development and regulations have not kept pace with population growth and urbanization. Annually, more and more people are moving into cities, and the figures are expected to reach about 600 million by 2030 making India more peri-urban than rural. Already, there is enormous pressure on planners to provide utility services, and water supply is a priority, especially where peri-urban water is exported formally or informally to fulfill city requirements. At the same time, the urban return flow (wastewater) also increases, which is usually about 70-80% of the water supply. This study attempted to analyze the current status of wastewater generation, its uses and livelihood benefits especially in agriculture, based on national data and case studies from Ahmedabad, New Delhi, Hyderabad, Kanpur and Kolkata.The challenge of the growing Indian economy is that, in many cities, the wastewater generated is a mixture of domestic and industrial wastewater which makes risk mitigation and reuse recommendations a challenge. Lack of systematic data on the different discharges makes it difficult to estimate the volume and quality of wastewater discharged and the total area under (usually informal) wastewater irrigation. Data from more than 900 Class-I cities and Class-II towns (with the population of each over 1 million and between 0.5 and 1 million, respectively) showed that more wastewater gets collected than eventually treated. In general, wastewater generation is around 60-70% over the established treatment capacity which varies from city to city. Governmental efforts to reduce surface water pollution remain jeopardized by the untreated wastewater fraction as well as by India's estimated 160 million latrines and septic tanks which contribute, according to Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), to 80% of the pollution of the national surface waters. The way forward will have to be built on further investments in treatment capacity for septage collected from on-site sanitation units, and in particular for industries to avoid interference in domestic and industrial waste streams. Reuse could offer business opportunities for cost recovery, while in smaller towns options like riverbank filtration, reed bed technologies and phytoremediation should also be explored to turn the waste stream into a resource. From the data set used for this study, it is evident that over 1.1 million ha could be irrigated if rendered safe for use.The major users of wastewater in the study sites include growers of cereal (like rice), horticultural and fodder crops and aquaculture (mostly in East Calcutta Wetlands [ECW] and also in Delhi), and to a lesser extent floriculturists. In Delhi and Kanpur, treated water was issued by farmers for agricultural production. However, with time the quality of wastewater had deteriorated, especially in Kanpur and it was no longer suitable for crop cultivation. In Hyderabad, although the government did not support the use of partially treated wastewater for irrigation, the farmers used it as it was the only source of water downstream of the city. Industrial pollution was highest at Kanpur and Ahmedabad so that both water quality and crop quality were affected at the heavily polluted sites. Data from the selected sites show that the financial benefits associated with wastewater farming were higher than those associated with freshwater-agriculture for cities where domestic wastewater does not mix with industrial sewage. Also, adverse health and environmental impacts were lower in such cities. The highest gains were reported from the ECW, where sewage farming has been practiced for over a century. However, a more holistic analysis which includes all household expenses like health, food, etc., and considers both direct and indirect costs and benefits would be required to calculate the net benefits. Particular attention is required to assess the effects of hazardous contaminants on water, soil and crops. Health risk assessments from most cities showed that wastewater farmers were more vulnerable than others to certain diseases and environmental hazards. However, site-specific health risk assessments are needed to investigate the short-and long-term health impacts of wastewater, so that effective remedial measures could be adopted.Given the increasing peri-urban character of India, this study showed that wastewater management needs much more attention than it has received so far. This is required from the perspectives of both health and water resources management. With nearly 70% of the population projected to live in cities, and water scarcity being reported from many parts of the country, planners need to have a strategy on how best to utilize the various water resources, including untreated, partially treated and fully treated wastewater, for different productive purposes. Monitoring and data collection are increasing in India but they must be carried out in a systematic manner. Institutionalizing the proposed data collection template which links into an extended AQUASTAT database could help collect uniform data sets for strategic planning.I n d i a ' s u r b a n c e n t e r s a r e w i t n e s s i n g unprecedented growth, propelled by new economic reforms. Its population, which is over one billion, is now fast converging on cities in search of opportunities and a new way of life. According to recent projections, India's urban population of 380 million ( 2008) is expected to increase to 590 million by 2030, twice the current population of USA (MGI 2010), with regional cities expanding at a faster rate than the larger cities. Increased migration of people to cities already exerts enormous pressure on city planners, especially for provisioning utility services. Already, many cities can be now considered as 'sponges' absorbing water from peri-urban and rural areas through formal and informal channels (Van Rooijen et al. 2005;Molle and Berkoff 2009;CSE 2012). In general, public services and infrastructural development are not keeping pace with urbanization, and indeed they may become a constraint on economic growth. Feeding the cities will also become a major challenge, where more and more food supplies will have to be brought from distant rural places, increasing costs and food prices (Hanjra and Qureshi 2010). On the other hand, the increasing urban 'return flow' is posing health challenges as well as production opportunities for feeding the cities.Sectoral demands for water are reaching new heights where irrigation, household supply, energy and industry seek increased volumes to meet growing needs. The 2050 projections for India report that it will reqire 1,447 cubic kilometers (km 3 ) of water of which 74% is identified for irrigation, while the rest is for drinking water (7%), industry (4%) energy (9%) and others (6%) (CPCB 2009). However, with rapid urban growth in its 498 Class-I cities and 410 Class-II towns (CoI 2001), the demand for drinking water is also rising and has a high priority, competing with rural water needs, including irrigation. The current water supply to these cities is estimated at about 48,000 million liters per day (mld) and is projected to increase further with the increased demand for different sectors (CPCB 2009). A large number of these growing cities are located in major river basin catchments, taking freshwater away and discharging wastewater back into the catchments and thus polluting irrigation water as well as posing major challenges for urban and rural planners, especially with regard to urban wastewater management. In fact, the density of the emerging cities makes India today more periurban and urban than rural (Figure 1). That the urban return flow is seen not only as a hazard but also as an asset was just recently documented in the struggle between Karnataka and Tamil Nadu for Bangalore's wastewater (Raghunandan 2012).Despite the keen interest of the government, infrastructural development for sewage and wastewater treatment has not kept pace with wastewater generation. As a result, vast amounts of polluted water are being discharged into natural waterways, with poor-quality water and pollutants above the permissible levels being released into  2005). Proactive adaptation to water-quality issues increases the cost of production while suboptimal crop choices reduce benefits of livelihoods to these farmers. With many components of the water cycle being affected for years and the increasing water demand for cities, there is a sense of urgency to explore sustainable water management strategies, while looking into the multiple uses of wastewater and alternative tanks constitute one of the most common forms of urban sanitation facilities in India. The major part of urban India has not been connected to a municipal sewer system which makes people dependent on the conventional individual septic tanks. Access to improved sanitation in urban India has risen but the management of on-site sanitation systems such as septic tanks remains a neglected component of urban sanitation and wastewater management. There are around 100 million septic tanks and 60 million latrines in India (World Bank 2006) without treatment facilities for the generated septage which contributes to 80% of the pollution of the national surface waters (CSE 2011(CSE , 2012)).Based on water pollution, five different classes of water quality have been identified (Table 1). Data show that, from a 45,000 km length of Indian rivers, 6,000 km had a biological oxygen demand (BOD) above 3 milligrams per liter (mg/l), making the water unfit for drinking. Matters relating to sewage treatment as well as the drinking and industrial water supply are dealt with at state level while the municipal authorities of cities are responsible for providing these services. The regulatory standards are overseen by the state pollution control boards, which are linked to the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB). Currently, only the networked sewage systems are targeted for treatment, while the vast non-point source discharges go undetected and untreated. Therefore, the pollution loads in rivers are highly variable, depending on the season, modulated by rainfall, sewage and solid waste management practices in towns and cities, and types of industry in the proximity. While the regulatory mechanisms have been outlined, uncontrolled industrial discharges contribute to heavy environmental pollution and potential health hazards (Rawat et al. 2009).wastewater treatment technologies (Lorenzen et al. 2010).In many Indian cities, the wastewater discharges comprise domestic and industrial wastewater, and are often mixed and not separately accounted for. Lack of systematic record-keeping of the different discharges makes it difficult to arrive at reasonable estimates of the wastewater discharged and its quality (Heggade 1998;Misra 1998). For the period 1947-1997, a sixfold increase in wastewater generation was recorded in Class-I cities and Class-II towns. Current generation for Class-I cities and Class-II towns is above 38,000 mld, out of which only 35% is treated (CPCB 2009).Conservation, augmentation and recycling of urban water are major foci in India's national water policy. The policy also advocates the reuse of treated sewage in view of the looming waterscarce future. Thus, the policy support for reuse of treated wastewater, primarily from sewage treatment plants (STPs), is inherently embedded in the overall water policy of India, although in practice, multiple factors affect its implementation at state level. The Ganga Action Plan (GAP) was one of the first restoration plans for water bodies, which commenced in 1985 and led to a larger program bringing the entire country under the National River Action Plan. In this program, the identification of pollution sources, interception or diversion and treatment were planned for 157 major cities along the main rivers. However, fast urbanization and industrialization have outpaced the installation of STPs and regulatory processes and, therefore, only marginal improvements are observed.Domestic sewage and industrial waste are the major causes of deterioration of water quality and contamination of lakes, rivers and groundwater aquifers (CPCB 2009). Septic On the reuse side, the primary users of wastewater are smallholder farmers living in cities and peri-urban areas. Generally, they do not seek wastewater but use the water their streams and rivers carry. This can be water with different degrees of pollution, or wastewater of different degrees of dilution or natural cleaning or, raw sewage, especially in the dry season. In many situations wastewater is the only available or reliable water source (Buechler and Mekala 2005;Qadir et al. 2010). While the number of farmers dependent on wastewater is not well documented, more livelihoods are likely sustained through informal than formal wastewater-related activities (Raschid-Sally and Jayakody 2008). An inventory of wastewater-dependent livelihoods is however lacking in order to assess the wastewater-driven economies within India.Against the backdrop of water scarcity and climate change, it is important to examine issues related to wastewater reuse more holistically, and to investigate the challenges and opportunities for its safe and efficient reuse. Many studies within India have documented site-specific contamination pathways and levels, as well as health risks, but they fall short of information on risk reduction and remediation along critical control points.The goal of this study was to assess the scope of wastewater generation and reuse challenges in India. Specifically, the objectives were to provide estimates of wastewater generation and treatment, synthesize existing data on agricultural use of wastewater, and assess the related benefits and economic value, as well as the potentially adverse environmental and humanhealth impacts. The study is based on primary and secondary data. In order to assess the wastewater generation across the country, secondary data were collected from relevant national-, stateand city-level institutions. Qualitative data were also collected from key informants including policymakers and institutional heads, using semi-structured interviews. To look at livelihood benefits and health impacts of wastewater use, five cities were selected as case studies. Availability of research data, infrastructure for wastewater treatment and access of wastewater to communities engaged in wastewater agriculture were the key criteria used for selection of the cities.Based on the above criteria, Ahmedabad (in the Sabarmati River Basin), New Delhi (Yamuna River), Hyderabad (Musi River), Kanpur and Kolkata (both Ganga River) were selected (Table 2). For questionnaire surveys and focus group discussions, households were randomly selected from village communities near wastewatercarrying water bodies covering different castes, landholding statuses (leased or owned), and gender categories, so that different types of responses and perceptions were included. Focus group discussions and participatory rural appraisal methods were used to collect qualitative data and perceptions on livelihoods, health and environmental degradation. Data were collected on family size, literacy levels, wastewater irrigated crops and cropping patterns, input use, cost of production, crop productivity, irrigation practices, livestock holdings, health problems, extent of wastewater use and treatment, livelihoods supported, and economic aspects associated with the use of wastewater in livelihoods. Data were also collected on surface water/groundwater irrigated crop production within the vicinity, which served as a counterfactual for comparison. Laboratory studies on water quality, and secondary data from the case study sites were also used for comparison. The data collected were used for assessment of current wastewater generation and treatment, livelihoods, health impacts and costbenefit analysis of agricultural production. Wastewater generation across selected Class-I cities (n=498) and Class-II towns (n=410) has been assessed by institutions involved in water supply and sewage treatment (municipal corporations, state water boards, municipalities, public health engineering department, pollution control boards and other concerned agencies) (CPCB 2009).Estimates show that about 80% of water supplied is returned as wastewater, without accounting for losses due to evaporation, percolation, and groundwater recharge, i.e., the actually available volumes will differ (CPCB 2009). The results show that, with the expansion of cities over time, wastewater generation has correspondingly increased while investments in treatment capacities have varied significantly. Although several cities could show an increase in treatment capacity, the majority struggled to keep pace with urban growth as data from more than 900 Class-I cities and Class-II towns showed (Bhardwaj 2005;CPCB 2009). In 2007, total urban wastewater generation was around 38,000 mld which was three times the existing treatment capacity of about 12,000 mld (CPCB 2009). However, the survey also revealed that nearly 39% of the treatment systems were not performing to their capacity due to lack of connectivity to the sewage network systems, and/ or other priorities and availability of funds of the respective municipalities. Figure 2 shows not only the share of collected wastewater across the 100 largest cities which varies from nearly 0 to 100%, but also the gap between collection and treatment. To meet the 2050 projected wastewater generation estimates of 122,000 mld for the country (Bhardwaj 2005) its strategies for wastewater treatment will need to have clear goals and investment plans in the years to come.Three interrelated water acts address issues of pollution of water bodies in the country, and include the Water Act, 1974 (Prevention and Control of Pollution), the Water Cess Act, 1977 (Prevention and Control of Pollution) and the Environment Act, 1986 (Protection). According to the law, pollution of water bodies is prohibited; however, enforcement of regulatory measures and infrastructural capability of the government as well as of the private sector (especially the small industries) fall short of achieving the desired standards. The CPCB sets the discharge standards which are expressed as effluent discharge concentrations with parameters set as minimum acceptable standards for selected parameters such as BOD (3 mg/l), Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD) (250 mg/l) and Total Suspended Solids (100 mg/l). As part of their environment planning action for the country, the CPCB has also prepared a district-wise zoning atlas (spatial environmental planning) depicting industrial areas and industries, and environmentally sensitive areas (http://www.cpcb. nic.in/, accessed on January 24, 2013).The river conservation plans fall under the jurisdiction of the National River Conservation Directorate (NRCD), which is under the Ministry of Environment and Forests, Government of India. It is responsible for coordinating several river conservation plans. Its main mission is to set up sewage management and treatment facilities for mitigation of pollution (domestic and industrial) through setting up of Individual or Common Effluent Treatment Plants. The GAP was one of the first activities commissioned by the directorate to address the pollution issues linked to major cities in the Ganga Basin. However, only 65% of the targeted wastewater volume was treated, and diverse issues prevented reaching the ultimate target set out by the GAP. These experiences led to the formation of the NRCD expanding the pollution abatement activities to a number of states.Monitoring of water quality is carried out at three levels as part of the Global Environment Monitoring System, Monitoring of Indian National Aquatic Resources System and Yamuna Action Plan. Twenty eight parameters are being tested including trace metals and 22 pesticides. Currently, 1,019 river sampling stations are monitored regularly including 592 rivers and 321 wells, as well as lakes, drains, tanks and creeks. In the latest assessment, the highest BOD levels were recorded as 714 mg/ml, in the Sabarmati River in Gujarat (Table 3). Three states, namely Gujarat, Punjab and Andhra Pradesh had some of the most polluted rivers. Overall, 64% of the 1,019 control points indicated BOD levels less than 3 mg/l, 18% between 3 and 6 mg/ml and 18% over 6 mg/ml. Fecal coliform concentrations in 21% of the stations exceeded 5,000 MPN/100 ml, and 53% showed levels less than 500 MPN/100 ml. Fecal coliform concentrations were highest in certain stretches of the Yamuna River (MPN 5.2 x 106 to 3.7 x 106). The STP discharge standards for fecal coliform (MPN/100 ml) are 500 desirable and 2,500 maximum permissible, and for BOD 3 mg/l or less (CPCB 2008), a value not met in any of the river sampling points listed in Table 3.While concerted efforts are made to monitor the water quality of large surface water bodies and groundwater, with the involvement of many ministries and institutions at state level, water quality in man-made stormwater canals and drains is not measured. The water from these drains is used for urban and peri-urban agriculture, as well as for other activities in many cities and, therefore, monitoring all types of water sources would help plan for reductions in pollution loads reaching the open waterways.Activities related to abatement of water pollution range from simple sedimentation to more capital-intensive STPs, most of which utilize conventional technologies with activated sludge processes (ASP) and the Upflow Anaerobic Sludge Blanket being common technologies (CPCB 2009). The systems are often not operating to their full capacity and treatment is hampered due to various reasons, such as lack of trained staff and inadequate supply of spare parts. There is a growing interest in adopting new technologies for water recycling within cities among which are bank filtration (Lorenzen et al. 2010), reed beds, natural wetlands, constructed wetlands (Mittal et al. 2006) and soil aquifer treatment systems (Kumar 2009). Successful natural treatment systems are exemplified by the ECW, which have been in existence for hundreds of years, natural treatment ponds with aquatic plants in Pune, and numerous constructed wetlands in other cities of India (CPCB 2002).The value of wastewater can be expressed in many ways. Wastewater is a reliable water supply for crop production (cereals and vegetables) where freshwater is scarce; high nutrient content helps reduce input costs; it provides an ideal medium, e.g., for aquaculture, and can replenish groundwater reserves. Where trees or fodder are produced, land application provides at least a lowcost, but productive, way for sanitary disposal of municipal waste. Use of wastewater for irrigation and aquaculture is a common practice in India, but Valuing Wastewater Use in Agriculture is usually part of the informal sector which does not receive much recognition from the government (Buechler et al. 2002;Buechler and Mekala 2005).Assessing the economic value of sewage farming is facing many challenges (e.g., where does diluted wastewater end and polluted freshwater start?) affecting estimated areas under irrigation and related indicators (Weldesilassie et al. 2011).With increasing urban water demands, and realization that wastewater irrigation is a common reality, the economic value of municipal wastewater is being gradually recognized. In addition, Water Boards of different municipalities started exploring the possibility of revenue generation from the by-products of wastewater treatment (CPCB 2007;WABAG 2012). In an assessment done by CPCB, for coastal Class-I cities and Class-II towns, the annual value of the N, P and K loads from a total of about 5,000 mld of wastewater was estimated at INR 1,091 million (wastewater, INR 76 million; nutrients, INR 1,015 million) (CPCB 2009), not counting the environmental damage it is causing. This computation is of course theoretical but sets an important signal towards resource recovery and environmental conservation.With the available data for Class-I cities and Class-II towns and other studies, we attempted to estimate the area irrigable with wastewater, which can be used for farming directly from treatment plants or indirectly (wastewater discharged to rivers). When water channels were directly used for irrigation, accounting for the irrigated areas with wastewater (treated and untreated) was possible. However, when large volumes of surface water (rivers and ponds) containing wastewater were channeled and lifted for irrigation, calculating the wastewater irrigable land became more complicated, challenging also any related economic assessment. Some assumptions made in arriving at the estimates were soil types, wastewater ratio and application rate per hectare. Crop varieties were not considered due to limitations on data availability. For direct use, it was assumed that the wastewater was partially treated, and the volumes were calculated using the design capacity of the sewage channel or treatment plant. For indirect use, wastewater applied was calculated as a percentage of the water supply to the city (following Van Rooijen et al. 2005). The estimates of wastewater-irrigated area for direct use were about 6 hectares (ha) per mld, and for indirect use 39 ha per mld. The area under indirect use accounts for mixing with non-wastewater sources of irrigation. Using these volume-area relationships, the data for Class-I cities and Class-II towns indicate that the potential irrigable land can be estimated to be around 1.1 million hectares (Mha) (Table 4).A more detailed analysis for all India and beyond is currently underway by IWMI using remote sensing (RS) and hydrological modeling. It will extend the FAO AQUASTAT database which distinguishes between treated and untreated wastewater use but, so far, considers only the direct use of collected and treated wastewater. It is suggested to build any data collection on the larger AQUASTAT data format (treated and untreated wastewater) to develop strategies for its treatment and/or appropriate use, especially for agriculture.The format proposes a participatory method of data collection to the extent possible, so that the same terminology is used across institutions, and country and all input sources are integrated into the calculation and data management process.The upper part of the FAO template (Figure 3, wastewater production) could be expanded, as shown in Figure 4, to take into account the different sources of water supply for the cities, and it attempts to record the different streams of water inputs that eventually contribute to the total wastewater volume generated in a city. Together with the FAO framework, it can cover the different treatment options the cities might have, and attempt to assess the quantities discharged into the ecosystem. Water quality assessments and treatment capabilities, coupled with studies on Geographic Information Systems (GIS) (Box 1) can support an assessment, which can provide a better understanding of the potential uses and area under wastewater irrigation. Variable not present in the AQUASTAT database but information, if available, included in the metadata.   Variable not present in the AQUASTAT database but information, if available, included in the metadata. GIS-based irrigated area mapping was carried out in selected sites in Hyderabad, India, and Faisalabad, Pakistan, to assess the extent and the different sources of irrigation. The study investigated the health and food safety issues from rapidly expanding wastewater irrigation in these two locations. GIS layers of soil quality, irrigation water typology, land use patterns, water quality, prevalence of infections, and other demographic information produced a rich contextual visualization of agronomic, health, environmental and economic implications related to wastewater use in the area. While all of these individual data sets could be analyzed in their own right, additional layers of information helped link the different components of the study, bringing together different stakeholders to discuss a common issue. The example of a GIS map given in Figure 5, shows the sources and the extent of water used for irrigation in two zones (peri-urban and rural) along the banks of the Musi River, Hyderabad India. Such maps can be overlaid with other indicators like soil and water quality or disease incidence to visualize their spatial distributions and possible associations with wastewater irrigation.In particular, data on crops grown during the year in different plots, crop yield, input use including wastewater, input costs, labor days, outputs, markets and prices, etc., as well as disease incidence and treatment cost and preventive expenditure can be overlaid to estimate the economic value of water for each crop and use.Source: Philipp Weckenbrock and Axel Drescher, University of Freiburg, Germany.T h e u r b a n w a s t e w a t e r c h a l l e n g e s w e r e investigated looking at the water supply to selected cities, wastewater generation, sanitation c o v e r a g e , s e w a g e t r e a t m e n t s c e n a r i o s , wastewater use, water quality and perceived health impacts. Secondary and primary data together with livelihood analyses of 289, 80, 50, 193 and 432 farmers from Ahmedabad, Delhi, Hyderabad, Kanpur and Kolkata, respectively, formed the basis for the analyses. These cities were considered as a representative cross section of the country.Current wastewater generation figures are an estimation based on the water supply to the cities. In all five cities the drinking water supply was met by surface water and groundwater sources in different proportions, with surface water being the primary source (Table 5). The data have to be used with caution as there are indications of much greater groundwater exploitation within cities, but without data to support these indications. City water supplies have increased over the years as demand has grown and water is lifted from more distant sources with the consequent estimated wastewater generation. Percentage treatment capacities varied widely between the cities, and the current treatment capacities have been increased in keeping with the increase in water supply in cities like Hyderabad (Van Rooijen et al. 2010). However, the waterways are still polluted, due to sewers ending in streams, indiscriminate disposal of non-networked wastewater drainage and industrial discharges, and also because a new treatment capacity does not imply households are already connected.Wastewater treatment has improved in some cities like Hyderabad and Ahmedabad, but has fallen far behind the requirements in cities like Kanpur and Kolkata, which is not surprising given the rates of urbanization and decadal population growth in the cities and government development plans (Table 6). It should be noted, however, that the figures in Table 6 are continuously changing, linked to population growth, reporting and infrastructural development. Thus wastewater generation and treatment values given in different publications of the CPCB often do not match. An example is Hyderabad where about 585 mld of wastewater were generated in 2008. This exceeds the current treatment capacity by far, but with new treatment plants getting commissioned the capacity will soon be at the same level. However, this will again not be enough to catch up with the increased population at that time (Van Rooijen et al. 2010). Ahmedabad has today four STPs with a capacity to treat 633 mld, sufficient to cater to all wastewater, but infrastructural development lags behind and the plants run below capacity. Under the GAP three treatment plants were set up in Kanpur; however, even the treated water is reported not to reach the basic standards of irrigation water quality as defined by FAO (Pescod 1992). In short, it is very difficult to get reliable data, and even if there are data, they might not tell what is really on the ground.Irrigation with wastewater was practiced in all five cities, but varied in terms of area, types of crops, and the quality of water used (Table 7). The major users of wastewater in the study sites were farmers growing cereals (rice), horticultural   and fodder crops, aquacultural businesses (mostly in the ECW and Delhi), and to a lesser extent floriculturists. In Delhi and Kanpur, wastewater irrigation was supported by the municipalities where treated effluent was discharged into specified locations for a fee, so that the farmers could cultivate crops. In Delhi, 22 major drains and STPs (Keshopur and Okhla) provide partially treated and untreated wastewater for agriculture, and the survey revealed that 71% of market produce in Keshopur and Okhla areas was met by the crops grown in these two sites. In contrast, in Hyderabad, only 1-2% of the wastewater-grown vegetables contributed to the market, and the municipality discouraged using wastewater for agriculture (IWMI 2008;Amerasinghe et al. 2009). Over time, the farmers have observed that the quality of wastewater has deteriorated due to the mixing of domestic and industrial wastewater, and many downstream users complain that vast areas of agricultural land that previously received clean river water are now irrigated with increasingly saline water. Since there is no alternative source of water, users have adapted themselves to the situation (by changing the crops) and have continued to use the water available, irrespective of its quality. Low-cost technologies like riverbank filtration are also being tested for their relative merits (Lorenzen et al. 2010), and their wider use can be expected in the future.In general, community reflections on the past and present uses of wastewater, and the related advantages and disadvantages were similar to those stated by wastewater farmers of many other countries, but the responses were mixed for the same location, reflecting the individual experiences (Table 8). The most common response was that wastewater provides a reliable water supply, despite concerns of water quality. In Ahmedabad and Delhi, for some, the high nutrient content boosted vegetable production (Table 9), but for others the soil fertility had declined and impacted agricultural productivity. The latter attributed it to poor water quality affecting the soils. Some used less fertilizer, and felt that it was profitable, while those who received treated wastewater noted that the soil quality is being restored gradually and the income generated was significant (Table 10). Livestock-rearing was a popular livelihood activity in the study villages, but some reported that the health of livestock was affected due to wastewater consumption. In Kanpur, income was higher among the farmers using wastewater than those who used groundwater for fodder (Table 11). In the same city, staple crops like paddy and wheat appeared to have had a better profit margin than fodder or floriculture (roses), when wastewater was used for irrigation (Table 12). In Hyderabad, over 13 types of vegetable crops were grown with wastewater to supplement the household income, especially by women farmers living in the peri-urban regions (Jacobi et al. 2009). However, the landscapes were changing with vegetable farms being gradually pushed further afield, to accommodate the new city limits. The pattern these data show is that there is no clear-cut answer for how far and where the use of wastewater (or highly polluted stream water) is perceived as an advantage or disadvantage. There is a high degree of variability between soil and crop responses and water quality (Weldesilassie et al. 2011).The ECW ecosystem is a well-known example where wastewater is made an asset. These ecosystems support four principal r e s o u r c e -r e c o v e r y a n d r e u s e p r a c t i c e s namely, vegetable farms (using urban waste), wastewater-fed fishponds, paddy fields using fishpond effluent, and sewage-fed brackish water aquaculture. The wetlands cover an area of around 12,742 ha (water bodies: 4,728 ha; degraded water bodies: 1,124 ha; agricultural area: 4,960 ha; (urban waste) farming: 603 ha; and settlements: 1,327 ha) where up to 1,300 mld of wastewater are absorbed (IWMED 2004). The total area of sewage-fed fisheries is around 3,900 ha, with around 308 ha of fisheries managed by private concerns (93%), cooperatives (6%) and the State Government (less than 1%) (IWMED 2004;Kundu et al. 2005). In 1999-2000, estimated production for the ECW was 12.8 million kg of paddy, 6.9 million kg of fish and 69 million kg of vegetables (Chattopadhyay 2001), supporting a population of around 60,000. The     revenue generated was impressive, especially under vegetable cultivation (Table 13). The gross revenue across paddy, vegetables and fish of INR 266 million resulted in net returns of INR 80 million (Chattopadhyay 2001). However, the revenues were not used at all to improve the sanitation service chain as those benefiting from the wastewater are not linked to those responsible for its management.Wastewater carries many biological and chemical agents that pose hazards and can impact environmental and human health. Wastewaterrelated health impacts could be direct or indirect, manifesting as short-or long-term illness episodes. Most studies tend to look at potential health risks by identifying contaminants in water rather than actual crop contamination and human exposure during farm work or consumption of contaminated food. The well-known agents of wastewater-associated health hazards (biological and chemical), routes of infection and their relative importance are listed in Bos et al., 2010. The state-level Pollution Control Boards in India have the capacity to test a range of these parameters in their routine water-quality monitoring, including physical, chemical and biological parameters such as heavy metals and a variety of pesticides and polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons (CPCB 2008). The soil and agricultural products are not monitored routinely although they could be tested on request.Wastewater used for agriculture in the four cities is contaminated with sewage, and hospital and industrial wastes at different degrees, and the possible health impacts will depend on the pollution load, irrigation history and level of exposure on the respective sites. The water and soil-quality studies in all four study sites (Table 14) clearly showed the presence of elements that can have potential health impacts. Ahmedabad and Kanpur have a larger number of industries than the other three cities, and the impacts were evident in the water-quality parameters.There is plenty of evidence in the literature that particular chemical hazards have to be expected. Water, soil and grain analysis in sites close to Sabarmati River (Ahmedabad) showed elevated levels of some metals (Cd, Cr, Cu) in the river water and chromium and copper in the well water. High levels of lead were found in wheat irrigated with groundwater which was also contaminated (Table 14). Heavy metals (Cd, Pb and Zn) were a serious concern in and around Delhi, as several studies showed elevated levels (above the Indian standards under the Prevention of Food Adulteration Act) (Awasthi 2000) in commonly eaten vegetables like spinach, okra, and cauliflower (Marshall et al. 2003;Singh and Kumar 2006). In Kanpur and Delhi, the surface water and soils were contaminated with a variety of metals (Cu, Cd, Cr, Fe, Mn, Ni, Pb and Zn), discharged by small-scale industries which are not monitored stringently (Rawat et al. 2003(Rawat et al. , 2009)).However, Kaur and Rani (2006) found that in peri-urban farming lands of Delhi, bioavailability of metals like Cd, Cu, Fe, Mn, Ni, and Pd in the soils and surface water/groundwater was within permissible limits, with the exception of one or two samples showing elevated levels, and the geological, soil pH, overirrigation and leaching characteristics of metals bringing out differential   occurrences of metals at specific sites. This shows that the contamination can be site-specific, and containment and abatement strategies need to map areas of actual pollution for realistic action plans.In general, data on short-and long-term illnesses due to wastewater handling were not available. Hospital-based data on wastewaterrelated diseases are in general difficult to separate from other exposures. Even more challenging are consumer surveys as in markets, where produce from different farms (safe irrigation water, poorquality water) gets usually mixed. The responses to illness episodes were therefore gathered from survey questionnaires and key informant interviews of health personnel in the cities.Responses to the questionnaire revealed that in Delhi, Kolkata and Hyderabad farmers complained of skin irritations, apart from the \"smell\" that caused breathing problems, but they did not consider it a major problem. Kolkata farmers were aware of the deteriorating water quality, and were taking precautionary measures to safeguard their skins when engaging in wastewater-related activities, using natural herbs and oils. Both Ahmedabad and Kanpur sites were cities with heavy industry, especially tanneries and, thus, their complaints were more pronounced, with visible ulceration, callous tissue formation, heavy skin irritations and dark finger nails. Public health concerns were raised over the high prevalence of helminth ova in commonly consumed vegetables like mint, lettuce, spinach, celery and parsley (Gupta et al. 2009). Increased risks of hookworm infections were observed in farmers (Hyderabad) engaging in sewage farming with high levels of helminth eggs (Asacris lumbricoides: 70 ova/l; hookworms: 76 ova/l; and Trichuris trichura: 4 ova/l) increasing the risk of nematode infections among wastewater farmers while further downstream of the Musi River waterrelated risks decreased significantly (Ensink et al. 2008). Significantly higher morbidity rates were also observed among wastewater farmers in Hyderabad compared to the morbidity rates of the control group that used groundwater for irrigation (Srinivasan and Ratna Reddy 2009). Although the communities did not complain, the health officials in the hospitals stated that dysentery/diarrhea, worm infections and skin problems were common among the communities, and a good majority did not seek treatment at government hospitals. Therefore, private practitioners and local quacks play an important role in treating these communities. As a result, these episodes never get into the overall health statistics. Epidemiological and microbiological investigations along with health economics studies are required to assess the health risks and economic costs associated with wastewater farming in the communities.I n s e v e r a l c a s e s , p r o d u c e g r o w n with contaminated water and soils showed contamination with heavy metals, and worm and bacterial agents. While a risk assessment of Pb and Cd in rice and fodder grass along the Musi River did not show critical levels (Simmons et al. 2007), a study in Varanasi (Sharma et al. 2009;Singh et al. 2004) reported heavy metals (Cd, Pd and Ni) in vegetables at the production and market sites, partly however due to dust deposition. A risk assessment study in Kanpur developed a risk quotient (RQ) for selected contaminants (Cd, Cr, Cu, Fe, Mn, Ni, and Pb), taking into account the daily intake via the medium -water, food grains, vegetables, milk, etc. -in which each toxicant would be transported into the human body and compared with the acceptable daily intake to study the health impacts. Setting the positive risk at an RQ of 1.0, none of the elements exceeded values above 1, although the contaminant levels were above the permissible values for vegetables. Long exposure to heavy metals is known to cause a number of neurobehavioral disorders (fatigue, insomnia, decreased concentration, depression, irritability, and gastric, sensory and motor symptoms), and farmers exposed to wastewater and contaminated sludge had significantly higher scores for neurobehavioral functions tested, than the controls (Table 15). Urine and blood samples of residents working in the wastewater sites of Kanpur had heavy metals and pesticide residues so that long-term impacts can be expected unless exposure is minimized (Singh et al. 2004).The threshold values of biological as well as chemical hazards associated with wastewater use in agriculture were the foci of previous 1989 WHO guidelines while the newer guidelines adopted a more holistic approach, including a multi-barrier approach and health-based targets for reduction of health risks (WHO 2006). Risk minimization along the exposure pathway from producer to consumers of wastewater irrigated produce offers more opportunities where lowquality water is used than reliance on farm restrictions (Scheierling et al. 2010;Drechsel et al. 2010).Disease burdens associated with wastewater cannot be studied in isolation, as sanitation infrastructure, general hygienic behavior and socioeconomic factors contribute to the overall health status of a community. Low socioeconomic status, poor housing and lack of access to basic amenities like clean water can further confound findings. Cross-sectional and longitudinal health surveys, as well as market surveys for contamination and economic analyses are needed to assess the real health impacts of wastewater use in agriculture (Hanjra et al. 2012, Forthcoming).This study attempted to look at the overall urban wastewater challenges in India (generation, its uses, livelihood benefits and health impacts). It shows that wastewater management in India is becoming an enormous challenge, as urbanization and economic development are outpacing the required infrastructural development. In an attempt to keep up with the demand, municipal authorities are giving high priority to accessing drinking water, to the extent that large volumes of water are being transported from long distances (150 km) that are part of the rural agricultural waterscape. With concerns over high costs of lifting water, energy prices, river pollution, impacts on groundwater and, above all, water scarcity, a renewed interest is generated in looking at wastewater as an asset. However, much needs to be done to explore its full economic potential as direct and indirect reuse of untreated wastewater dominates formal reuse by far. Clearly, this study shows that wastewater needs to be considered as an important component of the water cycles within catchments, if meaningful water management plans are to be implemented within the country. In each landscape, water augmentation has to be considered in conjunction with different wastewater treatment strategies for multiple uses, and should be supported by public policy and social incentives. It can then potentially not only safeguard the downstream users but also provide economic opportunities for alternative uses of wastewater within cities and support the ecosystem services that constitute an integral part of all forms of life. A countrywide approach for wastewater use in agriculture could capture the diversity seen in the Indian context, and could best be done at state level, by identifying nodal agencies for systematic data collection. Indeed, all states must look at the alternative uses of wastewater for their cities, emphasizing the regional priorities, so that effective wastewater management plans can be developed to face the future with less freshwater. The ongoing dispute between states within India for freshwater as well as for wastewater-turned-freshwater shows the urgency of this matter.Assessments of wastewater generation and treatment in the country have improved within the last 10 years although there are still many sewers ending without treatment plants in rivers as well as with treatment plants with a large enough sewer network to reach treatment capacity. The wastewater generated needs to be treated in order to protect the groundwater and ecosystems, and reduce downstream impacts where many livelihoods are supported (CPCB 2009). However, treatment levels can also be designed to meet the requirements of end users but this requires adequate discussion at locations where wastewater is to be used. If at sectoral level, categories of treatment for end use can be agreed upon, and it can be part of the municipal development plan, making effective use of wastewater generated in the cities. Moreover, if annual assessments are made at the city/state level, based on an agreed format, CPCB can perform nationwide projections more effectively, and in a timely manner. With advances made in the IT sector, India could well afford to develop an information management system that connects the entire country. However, capacity-building and the infrastructure have to be developed side by side for an overall positive outcome.Assessments on wastewater irrigated agriculture and livelihood benefits of wastewater are complex. Estimates of potential irrigable land using simple or complex methods have been attempted (Raschid-Sally 2010;Van Rooijen et al. 2010). Using a crude method of calculation, this study found that over 1.1 Mha of land could be irrigated with wastewater generated from Class-I cities and Class-II towns across India. Where wastewater supplies for irrigation are provided through dedicated channels and infrastructure, calculation of potential irrigable land is easier than when wastewater is mixed with, and supplied via, natural waterways. This is because dilution changes the water quality, and estimations may require a different modeling approach altogether as currently underway by IWMI. More methods can be developed by using water-quality parameters, crop types and soil conditions. Modern tools like RS/GIS and more precise mapping of drainage networks can also provide better overall outcomes that can help assess the nutrient loads leaving the city. The urban planning sector which is currently embarking on GIS-based mapping of municipal areas can make land-use mapping as part of their program of work, to develop baselines, upon which future studies can be modeled. Wastewater irrigation can be a dynamic process in the periurban areas, and land-use patterns can change with development and socioeconomic change; therefore, assessments need to involve robust methods to capture this dynamism, spatially and temporally.Benefits in terms of income generation from wastewater use for marginal farmers were more than evident from the case studies. For many, wastewater agriculture was a primary or secondary income source. Case studies showed that wastewater farmers spent less on inputs, and where the nutrient sources could be balanced the outcome was more positive (Delhi, Kanpur and Kolkata) in terms of cost savings and economic returns. This was only based on agricultural production, and a more holistic economic analysis needs to be done to capture the net private benefits to the households and social benefits to the communities.Wastewater agriculture is however not without negative externalities, and health impacts on farmers and consumers are of significant concern as reported above. From an Indian context more studies are required in the areas of wastewater irrigated agriculture, health and food safety, and health economics, specifically at the farm and consumer levels, to capture the diverse settings in which the problems exist. Risk assessment tools like Quantitative Microbial Risk Assessment (QMRA) and Quantitative Chemical Risk Assessment (QCRA) can be used to assess the potential risk, which should then be addressed through multiple barrier approaches with health-based targets for risk reduction (WHO 2006). In contrast to the African situation, in India, more emphasis needs to be placed on wastewater treatment processes that remove heavy metals, which appear to have much higher levels than in most parts of Africa (Raschid-Sally and Jayakody 2008).This study suggests a data collection and collation template for assessing the wastewater generation and use within the country. It requires inputs from many sectors and can be further developed at sectoral level, to identify the gaps and include the required institutional capabilities. Such a template will also help strategize on treatment scenarios for respective cities together with economic aspects of wastewater treatment and reuse in India (Mekala et al. 2008a(Mekala et al. , 2008b)). Further, decision makers may find it useful for developing a more holistic national approach for wastewater use in agriculture, with the advantage of feeding national data straight into international databases.Wastewater management and treatment cannot be planned in isolation. They have to be a core part of the strategic plans for water supply and sanitation, irrigation and drainage, energy, and environmental services and other uses (World Bank 2004). Moreover, it becomes very important to consider these aspects in light of water availability for cities, and to highlight the need for continuous inter-sectoral dialogue and action plans to address the ever-increasing water demands (World Bank 2010). Integration of water resources development with water services can provide more support for agricultural water management. India being today more urban and peri-urban than rural, it is time safe wastewater use for agriculture was made a priority in its water development agenda."}

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+{"metadata":{"gardian_id":"6c2652c605769d91cc8f176a06d8448e","source":"gardian_index","url":"https://publications.iwmi.org/pdf/H_11971.pdf","id":"1439510380"},"keywords":[],"sieverID":"33bd3f1a-dade-4907-9bb4-fd061814dde2","content":"This Progress Report on the Project \"Managing Irrigation Systems to Minimize Waterlogging and Salinity Problems\" covers the half yearly period ending December 31, 1992.During the Report Period fielc research activities a t the established research locales on the Upper and Lower Gugera Branch canal of the Lower Chenab Canal (LCC) system and on the Fordwah Sadiqiia Canal System were completed for the Kharif (summer) season and extended, with modifications, for the following Rabi (winter) season.The analytical work based on the field data, focussed on the identification of management interventions which could improve the canal operations in conjunction with groundwater use and also mitigale the adverse impacts of emerging secondary soil salinization. The result of this work were presented in substantive papers presented at IIMl's 1992 IPR (IIMI Internal Program Review).The management intervention: taken up with the Punjab Irrigation Department (PID) in one Division of the LCC were extended t o another Division of that system and proposals were drawn up for initiating similar work on the Fordwah Branch from early 1993. Progress was also made with the development of Decision Support \"Tools\" t o be used in managing the irrigation systems.The use of GIS was advanced 3y developing base maps at different scales and with progressively greater detail down to the tertiary level for the areas for which field research data had been collected.A number of reports were biought out during the report period and work progressed on the forthcoming publications. This Progress Report, following the format of the earlier Reports, describes all the above activities in greater detail.The field research activities Llnder the Project, complementing other IIMI-Pak research activities, were continued a t the three established locations in the Punjab. These consisted of the follow through of the Kharif season program and the initiation of the activities for the following Rabi season starting from October 1992. In addition, special research activities were carriad out at the main system and tertiary levels. A brief description of these activities is given in the following sections.In the data collection program laken up for the Rabi season for the Upper Gugera and Lower Gugera sites, the collection of irrigation application data was terminated except for the Kharif crops yet t o be harvested and at the main system level the focus was shifted t o canal performance. A1 the watercourse level in the Upper Gugera area, continued monitoring of the tubewclls was restricted to four watercourse on the Mananwala distributary. Watercoursi? level work in the Lower Gugera was confined t o the monitoring of groundwater levels only and collection of rainfall data.The data on canal performance, which would relate to the on-going interventions, includes the measurement of the water surface elevations and flow velocities at selected locations on the distributaries including a complete hydraulic survey of the Pir Mahal distributary.In addition t o this data collectioi program a Rapid Appraisal t o extend the results of earlier research findings, has been proposed for the Mananwala distributary which will involve a tubewell census and a surface salinity survey. This is expected t o refine RA techniques for wider application in Punjab. As mentioned in the previous Report, the analysis of the data pertaining t o the role of tubewells in a conjunctive environment was carried forward, with additional data covering the Karkan Minor of the Marianwala distributary. In this work, apart from the physical aspects of groundwater de telopment as related to the availability of canal supplies (tubewell characteristics, densities, usage, water quality) attention was also directed t o the socio-economic facto1.s and in particular t o water markets. Secondary information on cropping patterns and cropping intensities was collected for this purpose. While the preliminary analysis did not establish clear trends, it was apparent that tubewell water quality was a maior determinant of tubewell operation timewith lower usage rates related to groundwater of higher salinities. Similarly, the results indicate that both the availability of ttie irrigation water from the canals and the quality of groundwater determine the extent of water trading. The results of this work would be reported in early 1993 after all thl? analyses are completed.The analysis of canal water otiservations for Mananwala distributary (4 years) and its minor Karkan (2 years) was concluded and an internal report was prepared by Erik van Waijjen entitled: Performance of Mananwala Distributary and Karkan Minor. This paper discusses in detail the observed trends along the canals of (variations in) water levels and outlets discharges, cising many graphs to show the results of different ways of aggregation and analysis of the data. Several factors are identified that affect the amount and variability of the wEter supply to the outlets, such as outlet design, siltation of the canals and diverse interventions such as temporary pipes, cuts by farmers, breaches of 'ghat' points, etc:., and their relative importance for different canal reaches are discussed.Apart from the continuing Kharif data collection activities, a data collection program for Rabi, similar in scope t o lhat at the other field sites, was taken up. A t the main system level, the canal perform,mce of the Fordwah Branch was included and at the watercourse level the focus W E S on the monitoring of tubewells in 5 sample watercourses and a tubewell censiis for three distributaries. In addition, it was proposed to monitor water tables along the Chistian Drain in collaboration with WAPDA Planning (Central).In continuation of the work executed by 2 groups of research associates from Delft University in Rabi I99011991 and Rabi 199111992. reported upon in previous progress reports, a study was initiated on the performance of the Fordwah Branch and its off-taking secondary canals in Kharif 1992. Because the system is non-perennial, hydraulic conditions and requirements are distinctly different in both seasons. Clearly the stress on the system is greater in Kharif than in Rabi as the main canal in Rabi carries only 30% of the average discharge of Kharif. The results of this study were presented at IIMl's Internal Programrrle Review IIPR) in Colombo, Sri Lanka in a paper entitled \"Irrigation Management in the Fordwah Branch Command Area South East Punjab, Pakistan\" by Marcel Kuper and Jacob W. Kijne. The abstract of this paper is attached as Annex 111. The authors found that the information on which operational decisions by the system managers are made are not reliable and even fictitious in some cases. Gauge readings often reflect the official situation rather than actual conditions. Operations are often not transparent, both for the operating agency and for the farmers. As a consequence operating instructions are often contradictory. farmers put pressure on personnel at various levr!ls of the ID and ID does not have the data to counter requests from influentials.Another finding is that while operating staff appears very independent, guidelines t o operate the various structures in the system by the system managers are very limited, resulting in a high variability in the discharge throughout the system and a declining amount of water delivered to secondary canals going from head t o tail due t o limited local objectives of staff. On to/) of this it was found that most structures in the study area do not have rating tables or have rating tables that are outdated. Finally it was established that farmers are irrigai ing very efficiently with Relative Water Supplies between 0.8 and 1 .O both in Kharif 1991 and in Kharif 1992.Early in 1993, a collaboration will be initiate with the Irrigation Department on a number of issues that were raised in this paper. A management intervention, focussing on the information systerri, will be designed with the Irrigation Department to assist in improving the performmce of the irrigation system. Along with that, modelling of the Fordwah Branch will continue to assess the impact of present operational practices and to forecasl the effect of management interventions.The Discussion Paper No. 6 (the Appropriateness of Canal Water Supplies: the Response of the Farmers1 has highlighted the importance of water trading in the 5 watercourses studied by IIMI. To gain a better understanding of water markets, further data analysis was undertaken since the last Progress Report. The first draft of a forthcoming Discussion Paper on water markets was prepared.It seems very important now to go further into the analysis of these water markets. Data collected by IlMl in o:her field stations has shown that water markets are common but quite diversified ac1:ording to the quality of the groundwater or the supply of canal water. Of first impotance will be t o understand the impact of water markets on the allocation of water o f different qualities within watercourses, on the process of salinization and eventualllr on the agricultural production.The progress on the continuing special activities mentioned in the last Progress Report is detailed hereunder:The study that was mentioned in the last progress report, on the processes of planning, coordinating and implemenl ing the maintenance and repair (M&R) activities during the annual canal closure perioc, was finalized. The results were reported in the form The Study of the land reclamstion operations of the PID undertaken by the Department jointly with the Directorate of Land Reclamation (DLR), through the provision of 'reclamation shoots' was initiated before the onset of the operational Kharif season, as brought out in the last Prcgress Report. The study was intended to bring out the organizational and operational constraints of the DLR and PID which detract from the realization of the fullest tienefits from the additional irrigation supplies sanctioned for the reclamation of sali7e soils. It was expected that the study would help t o define management interventions which could be undertaken cooperatively to address the problems of emerging secondary soil salinization manifested by the past IlMl work.This study covering both the institutional and physical aspects, was taken up jointly by the IlMl Irrigation Management Specialist and the Principal Irrigation Engineer, in close collaboration with the staff of the DLR.Relevant information was collected from a sample of 20 watercourses on the Upper Gugera, Lower Gugera and Burala Branches of the LCC, where the 'reclamation shoots' were operational in different stages of the 3-year cycle or where they had been terminated earlier. Flow conditions on the 7 channels on which 'reclamation shoots' were operational were monitored at the head and tails during the operational period July to mid October through periodic measurements to relate discharge with the sanctioned amounts. The respective! roles of the DLR & ID staff at different levels in the sanctioning, installation, operai:ions and closure of the 'shoots' and for the distribution of the additional supplies were determined through interviews. Interviews with farmers and in particular with resource persons were conducted t o collect information on the actual conduct of the reclamation operations through the 'shoots' and their imDact.With the completion of the ficld work the analysis of the data was taken up which would be reported in early 1993. The preliminary analysis so far undertaken has indicated many areas where improvwnents may be possible. Some of the relevant findings are:-Although originally intended lor lands with salinity, based on visual annual surveys, classed as Thur Juzvi (land salt affected t o be extent of 20%) and Thur Nau (land gone out of cultivation during preceding five years) reclamation operations in practice cover all types of land.-Against the officially prescribecl period ( 1 6th April to 15th October), reclamation supplies are restricted t o a period of only 3 to 3 1/2 months from July 1 t o Oct 15, with water allocation of 1.56 litlslha in perennial and 1 . I Glitlslha in nonperennial canal commands.-Although the DLR prepares a comprehensive documentation for the selected watercourses for the reclamation of about 45 acres (in a compact block owned by one farmer, or scattered) tcl qualify for a pipe outlet of I c l s capacity, the selection process is subjective znd not strictly related t o the salinity status of the soils.-The superior role of the PID staff in sanctioning and installing 'reclamation shoots' results in deviations frcim the plans developed by the DLR.--'Reclamation shoots' are genc!rally given in the upper half of the channels which impacts adversely on the equity in water distribution.The farmers are keen t o get 'reclamation shoots' sanctioned for their lands as they contribute t o greater agricultural production and improvement of the lands.On the warabandi study initiated by the Manaqement SDecialist two field visits were made by the Senior Field Resesrch Economist, 6 the Punjab sites, and a detailed questionnaire was prepared for colltction of more field data through the field teams. Meanwhile, data already collected by the field teams in connection with the normal field activities were reviewed on the corisideration that fresh data collection may not be necessary if the existing data base could be optimally used. This data base was scrutinized t o find out which aspects of it could be used. This involved the identification of a common set of watercourses between those to which available data relates and those on which crop yield data had been collected for earlier studies, isolation of data that correspcnded to the same period as for earlier study, identification of the institutional variables included in this whole data set irrespective of the categorimtion given above, so that they can be used appropriately in the waraband I study.The objective of the warabandi study includes an assessment of the potential of farmer-managed water distribution a1 the watercourse level with a view to finding out ways in which farmers can be involved in solving salinity related problems. Another important issue under investigation is the operation of equity criterion embodied in the warabandi system as the inequitable water distribution is seen as a major cause of exacerbating the salinity problem at :he tail-end command areas.Based on the review of the existing data, it has been established that additional data will have to be collected from the field for which a programme would be launched in Jan. 1993.The work on the study of Saliqity Prevention Flows which was to be initiated during the report period, could not be taken up, due t o the engagement of the Irrigation Specialist o n other more pressing assignments. This work would n o w be taken up from early 1993. During the report period activiiies related to the development of an operational Geographic Information System (GI31 progressed t o a stage where the ability of generating value-added maps specific to irrigation concerns was satisfactorily established. Given the variety of data sets collected from the field pertaining to the physical performance of the irrigation system and associated farmers' practices, the task of spatial and temporal representations across a wide range of map scales was t o be an important prelude to the geographic synthesis of GIS-related archives. As such, much of the initial work focussed on map-entry from originals as disparate as Survey of Pakistan map sheets, PID, irrigation system command maps, and SPOT Panchromatic satellite imagery.Following operational set up of the GIS facilities at Lahore office, there was an early need (and expectation) within the IIMI-Pak Staff regarding some demonstrable utility of spatially-attributed irrigation-specificconcerns, especially in respect of the data collected from a host of IlMl Field Staiions. Prior t o any such undertaking, the primary requirements for geographical referencing for variables of interest had to be satisfied. Selection of appropriatevariables for mappedloverlay representations had to encompass the following constraints: level of detail for a given variable of interest varied considerably amongst field sites; i * some sampling sites were too few and far between; watercourse plans for sampl ng sites required updates for their respective boundaries; coordinate referencing ( t h r o u ~~h Survey of Pakistan top0 map sheets) was unavailable for a geographic aiea covered by a field station (Hasilpur); irrigation system plans for soine of the distributary commands had not been updated for over 50 years, and ones that did exist lacked geo-referencing and contained scale anomalies; * * the rigorous nature of detail (lathered from some watercourses necessitated minimum mapping unit of sizt! of Ca. 1 acre, which when compared across Mauza (village maps) resulted n discrepancies of alignments and identification (according to irrigation revenue scheme) These, and many other constraints conditioned choices of initial mapped products. Much work focussed on t7e collection of PID irrigation system plans, the aggregation of tabular data specific t o the mapping units, and selection of control points for georeferencing PI0 maps for subsequent digitizing. The choice of inputs for the mapped inventory was inclusive <if the following: x 40 K m came from interpreted SFOT satellite imagery at a of 1:40,000. The coordinate referencing was against the 1:50,000 scale Survey of Pakistan sheets. The essential hydrologic parameters were, in turn, used to correctlupdate the PID command maps of Lagar and Mananwala distributaries. For Lagar distributary in particular, the ccimplete tubewell census data (399 tubewells) was georeferenced for interpolation on silanificant physical and chemical parameters. Also as part of the support activity for the Rabi season 1992-93 data collection program, the preparation of watercourse-level maps was taken up so that the collected data sets could be absorbed within a spatial framework. Previously collected information on Lagar and Mananwala distributaries will also be referenced accordingly.As an initial step in the spatial analysis of the variables of interest, a Case Study was undertaken for the Fordwah-Eastern Sadiqia System both a t the distributary and watercourse level. This involved the preparation of working base maps using information from different sources and interpolating the point source information for spatial representation. The results, of this study were reported by the IIMI-Pak Consultant, Ms. Nanny Gijsen in a paper entitled; \"Geographic Information System -Perspective for //MI-Pakistan\" This study also indicated the approaches to be used for extending the utility of GIS by carryirig out rapid appraisals to capture the variables of interest impacting on the cropping and soils through variation in irrigation water quantity and quality.As part of projection of IIMI-Pak's emerging GIS capability and achievements t o date, a Pakistan Corner was arranged at the inauguration in December 1992 of IlMl Headquarters at Sri Lanka. Poster displays were set up which depicted the irrigation system layout and its performance iri the context of IIMI-Pak's field operations in the Hasilpur and Farooqabad Field Statioii coverages.In line with IIMl's theme on Improving Public Irrigation Organizations and Operational Management of Water delivery and Disposal, the Watercourse Monitoring and Evaluation (WM&E) Directorate of WAPDA approached IlMl for technical assistance in the adoption of GIS technology for the Fordwah/Eastern Sadiqia (South) Irrigation and Drainage Project. The Project ha:; as its objectives t o remove severe water supply constraints in the area by improving delivery efficiency besides lowering of the water table through surface drainage. The objective of the TA component, spread over 5 years, is to enhance WM&E's monitoring and planning capabilities, and with its operationalizing, a cooperative progi'amme of GIS applications is foreseen in the near future.Relating to management intervention of Delivery Accountability, the joint IIMI-ID program of discharge measurements and calibration of submerged structures was completed successfully in Lower Gugera Canal Division of LCC East Canal Circle during April, 1992 as reported already in the last Progress Report. As per decisions taken in Working Group meeting of IIVII-ID, held at Lahore on 23 June 1992, a seminar was arranged at the PID's Faisalabacl Zone headquarters on 30 July 1992. A total of 38, ID professional (SE, XEN , SDO) and semi professional staff participated in the proceedings of the seminar.The utility of the data for addressing the operational problems was fully explained to the participants of the seminar. The Executive Engineer Lower Gugera Division was requested to develop an Action Plarl according to which the inventory of all control points in the Lower Gugera Canal was to be completed as early as possible and t o be followed with the calibration of remaining structures. ID was also requested to assess the needs of structural remodelling.ID completed inventory of remgining control points in Lower Gugera Division b y the end of October 1992 and the same was submitted to IlMl for review in the first week of November 1992.It was clearly mentioned durirlg the execution of Stage I and Stage II of joint discharge measurements that the ID has to purchase a set of current meters for utilizing the built up capability and to calibrats the system as a whole. As the ID had t o face procedural difficulties, IlMl decided :o procure a complete current meter for loan t o the ID. With the availability of the i l o w measuring equipment the follow-up on the activity of calibrating all the control points in Lower Gugera Division, was scheduled t o be decided in a meeting with the Exeixtive Engineer and his Sub Divisional Officers in early Jan 1993.As per decision taken by the llbll-ID working group to extend the program in LCC West Circle, a reconnaissance of the channels along the Jhang Branch of Faisalabad Division, West Circle was carried out on 29 July, 1992. A detailed visit of the control points in Faisalabad Division was caried out for t w o days, from 5 October to 6 October, 1992. The list of contrA points for calibration and the selection of participants for training was finalized during this visit. The start of the activity in Faisalabad Division was fixed for 11 November through 13 November. This was however, not possible because of sudden transfer of the Executive Engineer. The revised program is to be chalked oui in consultation with the new Executive Engineer.It is planned it would be started immediately after the end of annual canal closure of 1993, from the 1st week of Febiuary 1993.As mentioned in the Seventh Progress Report efforts were under way t o select only one model for both Main and Secondary Canals. Accordingly, during the period under report, the use of SIC software was tested the CRBC Canal and Lagar Distributary. This model like RAJBAH is a simulation model which has been used for many irrigation canals worldwide (CIEMAGREF-1990). The main feature of the model is to represent the canal hydraulics while at the same time possessing an interface that is user friendly. The model can provide answers t o practical problems that the canal managers face.The application of the softwarci consists of three modules: a topographic module; a steady state module and an unsteEidy module. The application of this model t o both CRBC main canal and Lagar distriliutary indicated that the model would require modifications/ additions for general use t o Pakistan Canals such as proper structural representation of offtakes etc.The operational aspects of Main Canal and optimal benefits of limited maintenance for the distributary were taken up for study using SIC model. Activities under taken during the period comprised of the following: 1.The SIC model was used for studying the design limitations of the CRBC, a system intended for crop-based operations.The SIC model was applied to Lagar distributary for testing of different operational and maintenance options. The model verification and calibration were completed and thereafter desiltation as a management option was tested. The preliminary results indicated that the impact of desiltation as a management activity can be fully simulated in terms of full desiltation from head to tail or partial desiltation with varied depth of excavation. The resulting improvement in tail supply and reduction in discharges of outlets in headreach can be monitored easily on the basis of which the final maintenance option can be selected.Every year during Kharif seiison the Irrigation Department allows some temporary outlets along the distributary for reclamation. The present practice is t o allow these temporary outlets without any regard to their effect on tail supply. With the use of the niodel the flow distribution along distributary could be simulated by adding the proposed temporary outlets providing a rational approach for the authorization of these outlets, The use of the model was taken up for the large Pir Mahal Distributary simulating the maintenance options. The paper describes preliminary results of SIC model applications for t w o different canal systems, a main canal system designed for crop based irrigation (CRBC) and a supply driven distributary system designed t o distribute available water equitably. Simulation scenarios for the first system were related t o the study of hydraulic evaluation, design limitations and operational problems while for the second system simulation technique was used t o prioritize the maintenance requirements.In the workshop the IIMI-Pak Pakistan team actively participated in group discussion which covered different aspects of the subject; e.g. the data requirements of mathematical models, their field calibration and cost effectiveness. In IlMl Research area, ID during annual closure of 1992 desilted t w o main channels namely Lagar and Pir Mahal from head to tail with heavy investment. IlMl Pakistan therefore, decided to underlake a special research activity t o determine the impact of this maintenance on the pwformance of the channel and also to know the rate of deterioration with time. maintenance but also for making effective use of maintenance investments.The research methodology consisted of monthly measurements of velocity at various points along the length of i e channel. The tail gauge was also monitored simultaneously. The preliminary analysis of data collected has provided a good insight as to the locations where the actual silt deposition is taking place. It is proposed t o extend this activity following the canal closure at the end of the year. First and foremost is the continuatiori and strengthening of collaboration with system managers of the Irrigation Department in the implementation of management changes. These activities follow directly from the work done in preceding years o n 'management interventions', particularly on accouiitability within the system with respect t o the amount of water received and passed on to the next (sub-) division, and on the collaborative development of a decision support package for making management decisions on maintenance and operation of the systems. These activities include among others, the establishment of formal workplans with the SDO's and XEN's in charge of the systems where these activities take place, in order to gain a degree of commitment from the concerned irrigation staff.Another element of the same item clf the Workplan is an assessment of the data need of system managers. In other words, what is the minimum set of data needed t o operate rather than t o administer the system. This would include listing of essential control points t o be calibrated for distribution of flows in accordance with the objectives as specified by the system manager. The research question we aim t o answer through this set of activities is whether it is possible to effect a management change that would lead t o an alteraiion of water distribution and allocation within the system.The second main part of the Workplan for 1993 is to synthesize the results of various studies of salt and water balances cirried out at watercourse, farm and field level, The underlying question that needs t o be answered to the extent that the available data allow, is: h o w do current managemf nt practices affect the development of secondary salinity, and what are the expectelj benefits and costs of suggested management changes. There is an obvious link with the work described in section 2.2.2, the collaborative study with the Directorate of Land Reclamation. From the results of this field study it is apparent that improvements in the management of reclamation flows could be attained. Strong data on the impact of current water management practices at farm level on the incidence and dlwelopment of secondary salinity are expected to help bring about a desire t o make changes in the management and allocation of reclamation flows. An economic analysis of expected benefits and costs is an essential component of the study for 1993.Another element of the same set of activities under this part of the Workplan is a study of the water distribution at watercoLrse level, the so called warabandi. The objective of the study, which will be brought i o closure during 1993, is to assess the potential of farmer involvement in the water distribution at watercourse level in order to mitigate the development of soil salinity. In theory, water distribution among farmers on the same watercourse is equitable, in prclportion to the land holding, but in reality it is not. Power and influence are often decisive in the allocation of water. The resulting inequitable water distribution is seen as a major cause of secondary salinity in tail reaches of command areas. An impoitant objective of the study, therefore, is t o assess the effect of restoring equity of distrilJution through organized farmer behaviour on the development of soil salinity.The next main area of the Workplan is the implementation of a rapid appraisal of the occurrence of profile salinity and wat8?r quality of pumped groundwater in areas whereIlMl has not set up detailed field studies. The methodology for the rapid appraisal has been developed based on measuring techniques and data analysis of the detailed studies done in IIMI-P's research arf!as. It is expected that the results of the rapid appraisal study will help to understaiid the spatial distribution of the salinity effects. This knowledge is essential in dealing with sector-level management issues. In other words, sector-level institutions (provincial irrigation department, or federal agencies such as the Ministry of Water and Fower and WAPDA) should react differently t o a perceived threat to the sustainability of irrigated agriculture from secondary salinity if it occurs incidentally, or when it is widespread.An additional study of IIMI-P. is t o review the irrigation goals in Pakistan. The purpose of the activity is t o document and critically examine the hierarchy of goals which presently govern irrigation operatioris and investment in Pakistan. The activity is central t o a more comprehensive and systematic assessment of irrigation performance in the country. One of the componerits of the review is t o the goals for the water resources, irrigated agriculture, and irrigation subsectors. This part of the review deals separately with (a1 official public goals, such as equity of distribution mentioned above, and (b) the interpretation given these goals by irrigation system managers.These can be regarded respectively iis formal and operational goals. The operational goals might contain also some personal goals which do not have official sanction or legitimacy. The study is carried out ointly with staff of the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), and it is cxpected that the findings of the review will be presented at a workshop during the !;econd half of 1993.Another study by IIMI-P., also jointly undertaken with IFPRI, which has relevance for the salinity project, is a study of wzter markets. Preliminary work was done during 1992, and it is hoped that more exteisive field work can be undertaken during 1993.It has been observed that informal water markets exist in Pakistan, mainly with respect t o pumped groundwater, but some instances of a water market of canal water have also been recorded. While there is considerable interest from the Government of Pakistan and from donors in greater piivate sector involvement t o stimulate agricultural production, not much is known about how water markets work, nor h o w they affect the quality of irrigation services, agricultural production, and environmental sustainability. Obviously, informal markets of pumped groundwater could compensate for inequity in water distribution and allocation of canal water, but not without a cost in terms of the quality of irrigation water. "}

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+{"metadata":{"gardian_id":"7b7f7ed942408341ec61a8276305ed47","source":"gardian_index","url":"https://cgspace.cgiar.org/rest/bitstreams/9e2ffc8e-8f48-4980-bf0e-25eb498e01de/retrieve","id":"87856687"},"keywords":[],"sieverID":"a594311b-eb88-4292-ac58-b5664f205615","content":"with its partners, leads the implementation of the WISER project \"Enhancing Climate Change Resilience in East Africa (ECREA),\" funded by the Foreign, Commonwealth, and Development Office (FCDO). This two-year initiative directly targets 400,000 bean farmers and indirectly impacts 3 million bean value chain actors across Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, and Uganda.Through ECREA, bean crop farmers in these countries, particularly women and youths, will gain access to crucial climate and weather information and advisories. This empowerment will enhance their adaptive capacities and resilience against climate shocks, leading to increased productivity for food security and income generation. These sentiments were expressed by ECREA project partners and stakeholders during the official kick-off and launch workshop held at Hotel des Mille Collines, Kigali, from November 29th to 30th, 2023.The kick-off and launch workshop convened stakeholders and implementing partners, including National Agricultural Research Systems (NARS), National Meteorological and Hydrological Systems (NMHS) from the four target countries, ICPAC, media houses, UK Met Office, FCDO, Rwanda Water Board (RWB), and Rwanda Ministry of Agriculture and Animal Resources (MINAGRI). The workshop's objectives were to officially launch the ECREA project, understand, review, and design project activities, work plans, approaches, budgets, timelines, Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning (MEL), Gender Equality and Social Inclusion (GESI), and facilitate cross-learning of best practices from each country's bean production hub.Africa (ECREA) Project, an initiative of the Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT, funded by the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) through the WISER program. As we continue to face the profound impacts of climate variability and change, particularly in regions like Eastern Africa, it is more crucial than ever to strengthen our resilience and adaptability.The ECREA Project was conceived in response to the pressing need for improved Weather and Climate Information Services (WCIS) in East Africa, where smallholder farmers face significant challenges due to unpredictable seasonal climate conditions. Our primary objective is to enhance the quality, accuracy, user responsiveness, and reach of WCIS in Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda, and Tanzania. By doing so, we aim to close the critical gaps that currently undermine climate resilience for bean value chain actors at various levels.A key aspect of our project is the focus on both the supply and demand sides of WCIS. We are working closely with local and international partners to ensure that the information provided is not only scientifically robust but also accessible and actionable for those who need it most-our smallholder farmers. The anticipated outcome is to empower these farmers and other stakeholders to make informed decisions that will mitigate the risks associated with climate variability and enhance their overall resilience.The Project officially launched with a kick-off workshop held at Hotel des Mille Collines in Kigali, Rwanda, from November 29th to 30th, 2023.The workshop brought together key stakeholders and implementing partners, including representatives from National Agricultural Research Systems (NARS), National Meteorological and Hydrological Systems (NMHS) from the four target countries, ICPAC, media houses, the UK Met Office, FCDO, Rwanda Water Board (RWB), and Rwanda's Ministry of Agriculture and Animal Resources (MINAGRI)Subsequently, we have conducted Participatory Integrated Climate Services for Agriculture (PICSA) trainings in Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, and Uganda. These trainings are instrumental in equipping our stakeholders with the necessary skills and knowledge to effectively utilize climate information in agricultural decision-making. Through PICSA, we are building the capacity of farmers and extension workers to interpret and apply climate data to enhance agricultural productivity and resilience.The ECREA Project is more than just a response to climate challenges-it is a commitment to building a resilient future for the people of East Africa. We are excited about the journey ahead and look forward to working with all of you to achieve our shared goals.Thank you for your continued support and collaboration.Scientist & Project Leader Enhancing Climate Change Resilience in East Africa (ECREA) Project Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT Dear Partners and Stakeholders, of the ECREA project will be enhanced WCIS utilized to inform plans, policies, and decision-making at regional, national, and local levels.Why ECREA?ECREA is a regional project spanning four countries in East Africa, with a primary focus on bean farming systems. Why beans? Because, as Livingstone, the ECREA Project Coordinator, pointed out, \"most households in East Africa are engaged in bean production, and every bean farmer also cultivates other crops within the bean farming systems.\" ECREA builds upon the previous work of PABRA by targeting various bean production hubs (Figure 1), where the majority of ECREA's target farmers derive their food, income, and sources of proteins and carbohydrates. However, bean research leaders from Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, and Uganda participating the ECREA project launch asserted that the production of beans in these hubs does not reach its full potential due to various stresses, including abiotic and biotic factors, with the effects of climate change being particularly detrimental to bean production. Timely and tailored provision of weather and climate information in these bean production hubs could enhance farmers' resilience. Unfortunately, the current reach of Weather and Climate Information Services (WCIS) provided by government-funded National Meteorological and Hydrological Services (NMHS) does not meet expectations.Livingstone emphasized that ECREA will contribute to supporting existing efforts in bean production hubs by empowering vulnerable farmers with access to contextualized information and the capacity to interpret and utilize it effectively in their farming activities. This sentiment was reiterated by John, the coordinator of WISER in East Africa, who emphasized that ECREA targets beans because they are one of the most crucial food crops grown by vulnerable smallholder farmers in the region, prone to climate shocks. Additionally, beans offer numerous nutritional and financial benefits, thereby contributing to increased household incomes. \"During the launch of the ECREA project, John noted, \"ECREA will collaborate with NMHS from the four countries for the provision, translation, delivery, and utilization of WCIS. It will engage in coproducing agro-advisory services for the bean value chain actors across the four countries.\"Why ECREA Embraces a Multidisciplinary Approach?During the ECREA launch, it was emphasized that leveraging PABRA's bean production hubs enables ECREA to seamlessly integrate its Agro-Climate Advisory Committees (AACs) into established bean production hubs across Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, and Uganda. Participants at the launch workshop were informed about the necessity for the ECREA project to employ multiple approaches to directly disseminate agro-climate advisory services to 400,000 bean farmers and indirectly reach three million bean farmers. The project aims to achieve this through three main strategies: a. Strengthening the institutional capacity of National Meteorological and Hydrogeological systems to deliver co-produced Impact Based Early Warning Systems (IBEWS) and Weather and Climate Information Services (WCIS) products in formats and delivery modalities that enhance uptake and inclusive use by farmers and value chain actors in the bean sector.b. Enhancing the institutional capacity of National Agricultural Research Systems (NARS) to effectively translate and deliver Agro-Climate Advisories to bean value chains. This will be achieved by operationalizing regional WCIS/IBEWS fora, promoting knowledge sharing, and guiding the development of effective regional strategies and approaches towards national adoption.c. Employing Agro Advisory Committees (AACs), Radio Listeners clubs (RLCs), Participatory Integrated Climate services for Agriculture (PICSA) methodology, and both digital and non-digital tools to empower and capacitate farmers (including women and youth) to demand, access, and utilize a co-produced suite of WCIS and IBEWS.The project team lead and other workshop facilitators at the ECREA launch dedicated time to emphasize the crucial role of innovative approaches in propelling the dissemination plan of the ECREA project. Here are three key initiatives: Livingstone further explained to the plenary in the workshop that the above innovative approaches work together with usage of digital platforms and regional forums. This will be achieved in a close collaboration in the implementation of the ECREA project with national stakeholders from public institutions including NARS, NMHS, Rwanda Water Resources Board and private institutions including Shamba Shape Up and iShamba, private mass media (e.g. Radio Huguka), regional agencies such as ICPAC, as illustrated in the figure on the next page.ECREA aims to address gender disparities related to women's vulnerability to climate shocks by prioritizing their inclusion across all levels of ECREA's activities.During the project launch, CIAT gender expert Eileen Nchanji elaborated on the roles of gender and sex, highlighting how their interpretations evolve over time. Eileen emphasized the importance of collecting data on the roles of men and women and decisionmaking processes for effective gender inclusion in ECREA. This will enhance women's participation in planning meetings and provide increased access to technologies and information.ECREA seeks to reach, benefit, empower, and transform the lives of marginalized women. The project lead ensured that ECREA has clear activities to empower women with technologies and capacities to access, translate climate information, and make informed decisions. ECREA commits to inclusivity by ensuring that 50% of participants in the training of trainers on PICSA are women and youth. This initiative will enable 250 extension agents to train 400,000 farmers, with a target of 50% women and youth.Livingstone emphasized that Agro-climate Advisory Committees will be pivotal in empowering women and youth, ensuring that quality and accurate WCIS reach predominantly women in the bean value chain. The ECREA project team will implement a continuous, in-built Performance, Accountability, Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning (PAMEL) system. The Project Manager, along with project staff, will periodically monitor project implementation and collect data (in line with the PAMEL plan) to track progress of activities and outputs towards outcomes and impact. This data will also be used to inform decisions on adjustments that may be needed to ensure that the desired objectives and impacts are achieved. Monitoring measures will capture feedback from end users (the immediate target group) of the project deliverables. Risk monitoring will also be included in this process to monitor identified and new risks and mitigation strategies to minimize potential impact.ECREA will utilize various techniques for stakeholder feedback collection for Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning (MEL) purposes, including:• Utilizing the 5Q Approach for two-way feedback loops (using Weather and Climate Information) at national and subnational levels. The ECREA project stands as a vital initiative addressing the pressing challenges faced by bean farmers in East Africa. With a comprehensive approach spanning Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, and Uganda, ECREA aims to directly impact 400,000 bean farmers and indirectly benefit 3 million individuals within the bean value chain. The project's focus on providing crucial climate and weather information to these farmers, particularly women and youths, underscores its commitment to strengthening adaptive capacities against climate shocks. By bridging critical gaps in Weather and Climate Information Services (WCIS), ECREA strives to empower farmers with the knowledge and tools necessary for informed decision-making, ultimately enhancing productivity, food security, and income generation.Notably, ECREA's multidisciplinary approach, employing innovative strategies such as AACs, RLCs, and PICSA, demonstrates a commitment to inclusivity and effective knowledge dissemination. These methods, bundled with digital platforms and regional forums, are poised to revolutionize WCIS and Impact-Based Early Warning Systems (IBEWS) delivery, benefiting millions across the region.Gender inclusion is at the forefront of ECREA's agenda, recognizing the unequal impact of climate variability on women and their vital role in agriculture. The project will empower women and youth through tailored training programs and inclusive co-production, ensuring their active involvement in climate initiatives. Moreover, ECREA's sustainability approach emphasizes capacitybuilding within existing networks and institutions, fostering long-term resilience by integrating innovative tools and empowering stakeholders. The Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning (MEL) framework incorporated into ECREA will ensure continuous feedback loops, enabling the project to track progress, identify challenges, and make informed decisions for optimized outcomes.In essence, the ECREA project represents a significant step towards sustainable agriculture, resiliencebuilding, and inclusive development in East Africa. By leveraging partnerships, innovative approaches, and a strong focus on inclusivity, ECREA sets the stage for transformative change, benefiting both current and future generations of bean farmers in the region.Participants at PICSA lite Masterclass in Namulonge, Uganda.A WISER approach for Enhancing Bean Farmers Decision-Making in East Africa  ). This project is one of the Weather and Climate Information Services Africa programme (WISER) funded project that aims to improve the adaptive capacity and resilience of people from Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda (Figure 1) to prepare for and respond to the effects of extreme weather, seasonal events and longer-term climate change.\"ECREA project is part of a suite of activities that the UK is engaged in with Rwanda and also with governments across the East Africa region to take action on climate (challenges). This is also in line with the work at the central government working on climate finance architecture in governance. This process can support mobilize sufficient resources and ensure we have the projects in the pipeline to spend those resources on, on adaptation and other issues in climate effective countries\". Added Anna.John Mungai, the East African region WISER project coordinator highlighted \"One of the reasons ECREA project is deemed important is that it addresses every crucial area of food security in East Africa and beans are major source of proteins for the people in this region\".In her remarks, Anna commended the ECREA project's actions against climate change including early warnings, building resilience and adaptation. She highlighted this vis-à-vis to the 2023 devastating floods in Rwanda and extreme weather events around the world that are becoming too common. Anna further mentioned that climate change issues are not something we can tackle through one project, it is however something we need to look at in all of our work and to mainstream across all our activities and requires action from partners across governments, private sector, academia, civil society. John further stated that ECREA project is being run by experts in the agricultural sector. ECREA project brings together National Meteorological and Hydrological Services (NMHSs), National Agricultural Research Systems (NARS), farmers, digital and mass media and other bean value chain actors.John stresses that \"these partners come together to co-design and co-produce weather and climate services that are impactful to the bean farmers. We Through, the ECREA project, bean crop farmers especially women, youth, and other vulnerable groups are set to gain access to vital climate and weather patterns information that will help them in increase of productivity and reduce post-harvest losses.Livingstone, the ECREA project coordinator said the project will bring together all stakeholders and partners who are going to be implementing this project together across four countries in East Africa to transform the agricultural systems, with special focus on beans.\"We focus on beans because that's where we find most of our households engaged in bean growing. You find in these countries we are focusing on having different bean hubs where most of our farmers are gaining their resources, incomes, and nutrients as they are the main sources of proteins and carbohydrates,\" Livingstone said.He points out that governments have invested significant funds in bolstering the meteorological department's capabilities. However, they have found that the communicated information is not meeting expectations due to poor outreach.\"We aim to explore methods of influencing families by providing them with contextualized information, empowering them to interpret and utilize it effectively in their bean farming endeavors\". Livingstone added. Desire, the project team leader at the Alliance Bioversity and CIAT, emphasizes that the project specifically targets beans as a commodity, acknowledging its profound importance in East Africa. Beans play a critical role in nutrition and provide essential support for the financial stability of small-holder farmers. By prioritizing beans, the project aims to enhance household incomes and strengthen food security across the region.Desire outlines the collaborative approach of the project, which involves working closely with national meteorological and hydrological institutions across the four countries. This collaboration will facilitate the provision, translation, delivery, and utilization of climate information services tailored to the needs of bean value chain actors. The project will engage in coproducing agro-advisories for these actors, ensuring that every stakeholder in the bean value chain is involved in the process. This approach highlights the project's commitment to ensuring that climate information and advisory services are accessible, relevant, and actionable for all stakeholders involved in bean cultivation and distribution. By fostering collaboration and co-production, the project aims to maximize the effectiveness of climate resilience strategies within the bean value chain across East Africa.Pascaline from the Kenya Meteorological Department (KMD), acting as the ECREA project focal person in Kenya, highlights the importance of the project in providing valuable services to farmers, particularly bean growers in rural areas. She emphasizes that climate change has altered traditional rainfall patterns, rendering historical indigenous knowledge unreliable for farmers. Consequently, farmers who rely solely on this outdated information risk crop failure. However, with support from the ECREA project in delivering tailored climate information, farmers can make informed decisions, enhancing their chances of successful crop cultivation.Pascaline's insights align with the experiences of the WISER program, where collaborative efforts among organizations and stakeholders have facilitated the timely dissemination of information to farmers, aiding adaptation efforts. Anna, reflecting on the WISER program's impact, notes the reduction in climate-related losses due to the provision of timely information. She expresses anticipation for staying updated on the ECREA program's activities, recognizing the importance of anticipation, resilience-building, and access to appropriate information in addressing climate challenges effectively. This underscores the critical role of initiatives like the ECREA project in supporting agricultural communities in adapting to climate change and improving resilience.Eileen, a Gender Equity Social Inclusion (GESI)expert, highlights the disproportionate impact of climate change on women compared to men, exacerbated by discriminatory social norms that limit women's resilience capacities. She emphasizes the importance of addressing gender inequality in agriculture, noting that existing communication channels often overlook the needs of women, who are disproportionately affected by climate change impacts. Livingstone emphasizes the need to prioritize women, youth, and other marginalized groups in climate change initiatives, ensuring their inclusion in decision-making processes and access to relevant information.GESI is a fundamental pillar of the WISER program, recognizing the need to address gender disparities and ensure inclusivity in all aspects of its activities. John emphasizes the importance of GESI principles in fostering equal participation from all segments of society, including women, the disabled, youth, and others. He underscores the commitment of UK-aided projects, including the WISER program, to ensure that no one is left behind, emphasizing the importance of inclusive approaches in achieving collective progress. The event in Kigali ended with the official launch of the ECREA project. It drew participants from implementing partner institutions from Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, and Uganda where ECREA project will operates. Presentations embarked on the understanding of ECREA aims, goals and objectives, MEL and GESI considerations in project implementation, guidelines on project work plans and activities, collaboration in the co-production of WCIS, required capacities to co-produce WCIS. Activities included cross-learning and finalization of work plans and activities and cross-sharing of the best practices. Also, participants learned and shared experiences and devoted themselves to collaborating for the project success.Eileen Nchanji, Desire Kagabo, Livingstone Byandaga, Patrick Mvuyibwami, Patrick Gatsinzi, & Nasson Ntwari Women as drivers of climate information in their communities?Including women in climate action projects is paramount to improving not only women's resilience and livelihoods but also that of households and communities. Women are more vulnerable to climate change than their male counterparts, as their livelihood depends mainly on rainfed subsistence agriculture in sub-Saharan Africa. Women are often the first to experience severe climate shocks like droughts and floods, though they are expected to provide food, energy and water for the households. Often, men leave their spouses and migrate for better livelihoods leaving them to provide for the household. But information on climate often does not reach their vulnerable group, nor are they part of the decision-making processes that define what (information is needed), by whom, when (timely) and how it is used.To address these women's challenges, the Alliance of Bioversity International and the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT), in collaboration with its implementing partners and stakeholders, launched the Enhancing Climate Resilience in East Africa (ECREA) Project on 30 th November 2023 in Kigali. The project aims to reach 400,000 farmers (direct beneficiaries), including 50% vulnerable women and youths with climate information co-designed and driven by women and youth farmers.During the launch, the gender and social inclusion expert Eileen Nchanji said we need to be intentional in including women and youths not only as beneficiaries but also as co-designers and drivers of climate information at the household, community and regional levels. She called for increased women's leadership and participation and the need to not just reach women but make sure they are empowered, can make decisions and influence policy and institutional change. She further advised that for effective gender inclusion in such a project, data has to be gender disaggregated to understand better the needs of all genders and address them.decisions is what ECREA is about. According to Desire Kagabo, the ECREA Project team leader, the ECREA will ensure that women are empowered with the technologies and capacities to access and translate climate information and make appropriate decisions that significantly improve and transform their agricultural livelihoods. The ECREA project would address multiple Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) like SDG 5 (gender equality) and 13 (climate action). Our focus will be on supporting and enhancing women's effective participation and equal opportunities for leadership at all levels of decisionmaking to enhance the improvement of food security and income generation as a result of accessible and timely climate information customized for diverse farmers.The ECREA project targets bean producers of which about 80% are women. According to Livingstone, the ECREA Project Coordinator, the agency and voice of 50% of women and youths in the bean sector will be enhanced through coproduction and use of Weather and Climate Information Services at the farm and household levels. We shall ensure that women and youth are included in the training of trainers on participatory and integrated climate smart agriculture (PICSA), which will enable 250 extension agents to train 400,000 farmers (50% women and youths) so that they can implement accurate early warning systems. Furthermore, women and youths will be leaders in the Agro-climate Advisory Committees to co-design, adapt and pilot innovative tools and approaches that enhance farmers' digital adoption. \"We envisage that through enhancing the quality, accuracy, user responsiveness, and reach of WCIS across the aforementioned countries, women and other farmers in the bean chain will be empowered and resilient against the increasing climatic shocks.\" Noted Livingstone.Notably, \"It is clear you can't achieve poverty reduction and the sustainable development goals without action on climate change and we need to pursue action on climate change in a way that supports everyone and that tackles inequality and poverty globally in a sustainable manner\", highlighted Anna Willson, Development Director of the Foreign and Commonwealth Development Office (FCDO) in Rwanda, Kigali. Other speakers during the ECREA project launch emphasized more concerted partnerships; access and delivery of accurate, timely and contextualized climate information to demystify indigenous climate information, which is most trusted by local farmers; downscaling climate information services to empower vulnerable farmers' agricultural decision making; and using the Monitoring, evaluation and learning approach to monitor the progress and address challenges in the implementation of the ECREA project in each regional bean production hub.The expected ECREA project outcome will be enhanced by enhanced and usable WCIS by the community for the community, driven by women to inform plans, policies and decision-making at the community, local, national, and regional levels. An empowered woman has the capacity to access information and resources; make appropriate decisions to improve their livelihood; solve conflicts, own resources and income; and participate in decision making that impacts society.Livingstone Byandaga leading participants group discussion during PICSA lite Masterclass Kenya.What Constitutes MEL?According to Chris, MEL is a system that constitutes the MEL plan which is a tool that supports management of project activities during implementation to achieve the desired results (outputs and outcomes leading to impact). Project implementers have to understand how each component interlinks. That is why MEL is participatory function that calls for close engagement between implementing partners when it comes to interventions implementation. In addition, MEL during implementation entails planning, controlling, monitoring, evaluating, and learning as a cross-cutting function within project activities dictated by the scope. Further, the MEL plan comprises of approaches as tools not limited to project description (goals and objectives), M&E frameworks, indicator matrix and reference sheets, roles and responsibilities, data flow management, analysis, and reporting, as well as plans for data use and dissemination.During the ECREA Project kick-off and launch workshop that took place on 29 th to 30 th November 2023 in Kigali, the bean production hub leaders were equipped with MEL capacities to successfully implement the Project. These leaders were among the workshop participating partners. They came from Uganda, Tanzania, Kenya, and Rwanda. Chris, the MEL expert from the Alliance of Bioversity International-CIAT was the main MEL facilitator. He provided effective MEL techniques and instruments that will be crucial for the project implementation in each bean production hub. \"MEL plan helps to track and assess the results of the interventions throughout the life of a program in an efficient, within scope and timely manner\" asserted Chris. Eileen, a CIAT Scientists and Gender and Social Inclusion Expert expressed that MEL is very crucial to monitor and evaluate how gender roles in making decisions are interpreted, and played so that gender conflicts are detected and avoided.Alignment of implementing partners work plans with MEL.Workshop participants during cross-learning sessions aligned their work plans with the project results as per the logframe. Each bean production hub worked in groups, aligned their project activities and outputs to and targets and timelines in a standardized MEL plan template. Then they presented their MEL activities implementation planning along with approaches that will lead to desired results.Participants were equipped with knowledge on how the ECREA MEL system works, MEL plan that will be adopted during implementation, MEL instruments, MEL learning approaches, MEL dissemination approaches, how to use MEL in executing project work plans Besides, they were able to know each project staff role as well as what, when and how to report. It is expected that using the MEL system will facilitate adequate monitoring function to reach the 400,000 target project beneficiaries.Partners from radio Huguka-Rwanda, during PICSA lite Triaining in Karagwe, Tanzania Success of the ECREA Project with the PICSA Approach in Strengthening Bean Farmers' Climate Resilience in East AfricaIn the diverse agricultural landscapes of Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, and Rwanda, the Enhancing Climate Resilience in East Africa (ECREA) project is revolutionizing how farmers access and utilize vital agricultural and weather and climate information. Central to ECREA's success is the Participatory Integrated Climate Services for Agriculture (PICSA) approach, a comprehensive strategy that leverages multiple platforms to deliver bundled services, ensuring farmers are well-equipped to manage the effects of climate and variability as well as improving their productivity.The Multifaceted PICSA Strategy PICSA's approach is built on a foundation of participatory engagement and multi-platform dissemination, creating a robust support system for farmers across East Africa. To ensure the success of PICSA approach, the following mechanisms and systems are worth mentioning:Bean Production Hubs: These hubs are specialized bean production regions within which bean farmers can receive tailored information on bean cultivation, which is crucial for food security in the region. By focusing on specific crops, these hubs ensure that farmers get precise, actionable advice to enhance their yields. Wilber Ssekandi, a Research Officer at the National Crops Resources Research Institute (NaCCRI) of the National Agricultural Research Organization (NARO) in Uganda said that \"We have selected bean hubs from eight districts in Uganda, known for their bean production, to ensure that all our bean farmers benefit from training in weather and climate information. This will enhance their resilience to climate variability and improve food security in Uganda.\" Digital Tools: Embracing the digital revolution, PICSA utilizes mobile applications and online platforms to provide real-time weather updates, agricultural advice, and decision-support tools. These digital resources ensure that farmers have timely access to critical information, enabling them to make informed decisions.A key element of PICSA's success is its participatory approach, which actively involves farmers including women and youth in the entire process. Farmers are not merely passive recipients of information but active participants who shape the content and delivery of climate information services. This engagement ensures that the services provided are relevant and effective, fostering a sense of ownership and empowerment among farmers. The PICSA approach is strengthened by the involvement of key stakeholders and technical experts. Organizations such as the Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research Organization (KALRO), Tanzania Agricultural Research Institute (TARI), Rwanda Agriculture and Animal Resources (RAB), and Uganda National Agricultural Research Organization (NARO) provide invaluable expertise. Additionally, meteorological departments like the Kenya Meteorological Department (KMD), Tanzania Meteorological Authority (TMA), Meteo Rwanda, and Uganda National Meteorological Authority (UNMA) ensure that the advice and information disseminated are grounded in scientific research and practical experience.Participants engage in an onsite learning during the PICSA Lite Master Class held that was facilitated by NARO-NaCCRI, at Namulonge in Uganda from 24 th -28 th June 2024.The involvement of high-level government officials has been crucial to the success of ECREA's PICSA approach in East Africa. County Executive Committee Members, such as Edwin Seroney from Elgeyo Marakwet and Leonard Bor from Nakuru, have shown strong commitment. In addition, Henritta William, Acting District Executive Director of Karagwe District, and Mr. Kanali Evance Malasa, District Commissioner of Kankoko District in Tanzania, have also supported the initiative. Their support will facilitate the integration of PICSA strategies into community development plans and increase farmer participation. This high-level endorsement has been instrumental in scaling up the approach, ensuring its sustainability, and maximizing its impact on enhancing climate resilience among bean farmers in the region.The success of PICSA in these four countries is a testament to the power of collaborative, multiplatform approaches in addressing agricultural challenges. By fostering a participatory culture and leveraging diverse dissemination channels, PICSA is building a resilient agricultural community across East Africa. This approach not only equips farmers to better manage climate risks but also enhances their overall productivity and livelihoods.The PICSA approach, integral to the ECREA project, is making significant strides in empowering farmers across Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, and Rwanda. Through its multifaceted strategy and participatory engagement, PICSA ensures that farmers have access to the knowledge and tools they need to thrive in the face of climate change and variability. As this initiative continues to grow, it promises a brighter, more sustainable future for agriculture in East Africa, driving collective action and resilience in the region's agricultural sector. Additionally, the scalability of PICSA's approach offers potential for implementation in other African contexts, further extending its positive impact on agricultural resilience across the continent. Enhancing Climate Resilience for Beans in East Africa through a High-Level Governments' Participation Approach Through our ongoing cascading series of workshops in East Africa, we have trained over 300 farmers and extension officers face to face on the PICSA tool as part of the Enhanced Climate Resilience in East Africa (ECREA) project. These workshops were supported and endorsed by key agricultural and meteorological institutions, as well as high-level government officials, demonstrating significant buy-in and ownership. They focused on utilizing weather and climate information to enhance resilience to climate change and variability. This initiative aims to promote sustainable agricultural practices for the better livelihoods of actors in the bean value chain.\"In the picturesque Kagera and Kigoma regions of Tanzania and Nakuru, Machakos, Elgeyo Marakwet and Homabay counties of Kenya, regions known for being bean production hubs, agriculture is not just a means of livelihood but a way of life. Here, farmers are the backbone of the economy, working tirelessly to cultivate the land and provide for their families. However, like many agricultural regions in Sub-Saharan Africa, these areas face significant challenges due to climate variability. Addressing these challenges requires more than just technical In the period between April -June, a series of workshops were held in Rwanda, Kenya and Tanzania respectively. These workshops aimed to equip local bean farmers with weather and climate information services and other agro-advisory services to enhance their resilience to climate change and variability. So far, in Kenya, Rwanda and Tanzania, over 300 farmers and extension officers have received a face-to-face training using the PICSA approach which will enable them to cascade the trainings to 400,000 farmers In Tanzania, the PICSA training workshop was led by the Tanzania Agricultural Research Institute (TARI). The training began with a courtesy call to the offices of the Acting District Executive Director of Karagwe District, Henritta William and Kanali Evance Malasa, the District Commissioner of Kankoko District respectively.The involvement of the government representatives significantly bolstered the credibility of the PICSA Master Class which is a training of Trainer of Trainers (ToTs). When high-level government officials actively participate in such initiatives, it sends a powerful message to the community. Their presence underscores the importance of the project and demonstrates the government's commitment to supporting local farmers. This endorsement is crucial for gaining the trust and buy-in of end-users -the farmers themselves.Enhanced Awareness and Visibility: The presence of government officials at the workshop heightened awareness and visibility of the initiative. It attracted attention from the farmers and other stakeholders in the agricultural sector. This increased visibility is essential for the project's success, as it encourages more widespread participation and support. For instance, during his welcoming remarks, Kanali Evance Malasa, the District Commissioner of Kankoko District emphasized, \"Our commitment to this initiative underscores the importance of building resilience among our farmers. By supporting these efforts, we are ensuring sustainable agricultural practices and improving the livelihoods of our communities.  of this project and are ready to provide logistical assistance whenever needed during your stay here.Mainstreamed Policy Support and Integration: The support of high-level officials facilitates the integration of agricultural initiatives into broader policy frameworks. This alignment with government policies ensures that the programs are sustainable in the long term. It also helps in scaling up successful models and replicating them in other regions. During the welcoming remarks, Henritta William, Acting District Executive Director of Kankoko District, emphasized, \"By aligning these initiatives with our existing policy frameworks, we ensure their sustainability and pave the way for scaling successful models to other regions, thereby strengthening our agricultural sector and enhancing food security for all.\"  \"Administrative support in increasing farmer engagement is of utmost importance. We thank the Alliance of Bioversity and CIAT for partnering with government agencies organizations to enhance weather and climate information services awareness in our country.\" This was said by David Karanja, Bean Research Team Lead at KARLO as he was making his presentation during the training that was held in Kenya. The speeches by government representatives underscored even further their recognition of the challenges faced by farmers and emphasized the government's steadfast support. This assurance is crucial for building community cohesion and motivating farmers to utilize weather and climate information services for informed decision making in agricultural activities and other livelihoods. This collaboration demonstrates the power of direct interaction with farmers which helped demystify meteorological data and fostered trust among farmers regarding the reliability of climate information provided to inform their agricultural decision making. Rehema, a farmer from Karagwe, expressed her newfound confidence by saying, \"Since I was born, I have never met anyone from the Tanzania Meteorological Authority. Seeing them here and getting firsthand information on how they produce the weather forecasts gives me a lot of confidence that the information is correct and from now on, I will utilize it in my day-to-day decisions at my farm. Another farmer, Bendetter from Machakos, said, \"I'm grateful for learning how to access and use climate information to make better decisions about planting, crop varieties, and how to take care of my plants which will greatly increase my yield and reduce climate risks.\"The presence of these reputable institutions adds credibility to the initiatives. Farmers are more likely to trust and adopt practices recommended by recognized authorities, leading to better implementation and outcomes. \"As a farmer, I feel more confident in adopting new practices when they are recommended by reputable institutions like KALRO whom we have worked with for a long time. Their expertise and support give us the assurance that we are on the right track to improving our productivity and resilience.\" Reiterated Eunice Sakong, a farmer from Elgeyo Marakwet during the workshop.The involvement of the government agencies, alongside scientists from the Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT brought a wealth of technical expertise to the table. The collaboration enriched the workshop's content by offering farmers reliable and actionable information, ensuring that advice and data were based on scientific research and practical experience. This comprehensive technical support ensured farmers received top-notch guidance for improving agricultural practices and resilience to climate change and variability using the PICSA approach.The collaborative model involving government bodies, research institutions, and meteorological services paves the way for sustainable agricultural practices. It also creates a framework that can be scaled to other regions, ensuring broader impact and long-term resilience. Additionally, this model opens opportunities for farmers who are direct partners in this project, as well as private sector entities such as community radios (FADECO and Huguka) who are already partnering with the ECREA project to engage in profitable businesses. Farmers can leverage the insights and resources provided through these collaborations to enhance their productivity and profitability. For community radio, the increased listenership and improved quality of radio content can lead to higher trust and credibility across all levels. This, in turn, may motivate the owners to invest further in Weather and Climate Information Services (WCIS), recognizing the business potential.In Tanzania, where agriculture sustains livelihoods, the impacts of climate change and variability, such as recent prolonged drought spells and extreme floods experienced across East Africa, are increasingly felt by farmers. These extreme weather events threaten both crop yields and food security, highlighting the urgent need for localized and accurate climate information to help farmers adapt and thrive.Like their counterparts in other East African countries, Tanzanian farmers often struggle with access to relevant weather and climate information, hindering their ability to effectively manage risks associated with bad or poor weather in a cropping season for better agricultural production. Drawing inspiration from the success of a similar initiative in Rwanda, where over 100,000 farmers are being reached with Weather Climate Information Services (WCIS), the Enhancing Climate Resilience in East Africa (ECREA) project is pioneering a transformative approach to disseminating WCIS in Tanzania through Radio Listeners Clubs (RLCs). At the forefront of this initiative is Radio Huguka from Rwanda and FADECO radio, a community radio station with an audience of over 7 million in Tanzania.Radio Listeners Clubs Boost Engagement and Feedback, Enhancing Climate Resilience for Bean Farmers in Tanzania By: Joseline Kiogora, Desire Kagabo, Livingstone Byandaga, Patrick Mvuyibwami, Chris Ngige Recently, during a Participatory Integrated Climate Services for Agriculture (PICSA) workshop in Karagwe and Kigoma region, FADECO radio, a key partner in the ECREA project, benefited from the interactive workshop training sessions held on the sidelines of the main event. Participants from FADECO radio were trained by their counterparts from Radio Huguka on establishing Radio Listeners Clubs (RLCs) across the Great Lake Victoria region of Tanzania. These clubs will feature multidisciplinary members and ensure gender inclusion. Other activities are scheduled for implementation in the subsequent quarters to enhance discussions and co-produce content tailored to local needs.ECREA is leveraging the successful model piloted in Rwanda, where Radio Listeners Clubs (RLCs) harness the combined reach of broadcast media and participatory processes. In this model, 225 RLCs were created, and Farmer Promoters/Champions were trained to lead weekly village meetings where they listened to and discussed climate information service radio programs. They actively participated in live call-in shows, shared and recorded their action plans based on their learnings, and disseminated this information within their communities. This approach is being adapted to enhance climate information dissemination and resilience efforts in Tanzania.Brigitte Uwamariya, Deputy Director of Radio Huguka, Rwanda, training her counterparts at FADECO Radio, Tanzania, on how to establish Radio Listeners Clubs while at the same time emphasizing the role of RLCs in raising farmer voices and increasing climate awareness.RLCs approach includes an editorial committee tasked with producing content tailored to the local context of the listeners for broadcast. This committee features multidisciplinary representation from the National Meteorological and Hydrological Systems (NMHS), National Agricultural Research Institutions (NARS), agricultural extension services, and other project partners. Their role is to translate weather and agricultural advisories into accessible formats, customizing them for various contexts and ensuring timely discussions relevant to different activities and seasons. This approach ensures that RLCs effectively disseminate information that is practical and pertinent to local farming communities, enhancing their resilience to climate change and variability.The collaborative model involving government bodies, research institutions, and meteorological services ensures sustainable agricultural practices and creates a scalable framework for other regions. This approach promises a broader impact and long-term sustainability, especially through the Radio Listeners Clubs (RLCs). By integrating farmers and private sector entities like community radios (FADECO and Huguka) into the ECREA project, the model supports profitable business opportunities and enhances farmers' productivity and profitability. For community radio stations, increased listenership and improved quality of content boosts their trust and credibility. This, in turn, motivates station owners to invest further in climate information services, recognizing their significant business potential.RLCs play a crucial role in raising the voices of farmers and increasing climate information awareness, which is essential for building climate resilience. A prime example of this impact was the electrifying live talk show at FADECO Radio in Tanzania, which captivated a massive audience. Invited by the director of FADECO Radio, Joseph Sekeku, the show featured the ECREA project team led by Project Lead Desire Kagabo, alongside officials from the Tanzania Meteorological Authority (TMA) and Tanzania Agriculture Research Institute (TARI). This collaboration highlighted the critical role of radio in disseminating vital agro-climate advisories to farmers.During the broadcast, community members actively called in to express their willingness to attend the PICSA Lite workshop. They also showed great interest in accessing and learning how to use weather information. This enthusiastic response highlighted the community's eagerness to engage with climate information and training opportunities. The live show boosted ECREA project awareness and showcased radio's effectiveness in disseminating vital agricultural climate advisories. For instance, Evaria Leonidas, a farmer from Karagwe, called in during the live show and shared her experience: \"This opportunity provided by Radio FADECO to speak directly to representatives from the Tanzania Meteorological Authority is a once-in-a-lifetime occurrence. It has given me the chance to access weather information firsthand.\" Additionally, farmers were provided with contact numbers for TMA officials, enabling them to directly inquire about location-specific weather information. This initiative has facilitated better communication, addressing a significant challenge, and has greatly improved the availability of weather information for farmers. James Elias, another caller, said, \"I can't believe that I am now able to call the authority and get all the weather information I need to make sound decisions for my farm.\"More than 100 callers responded during the broadcast, providing valuable feedback, although only a few could be accommodated due to time constraints. Nonetheless, this overwhelming response underscored farmers' eagerness to engage with agro-climate advisories through radio broadcasts. This interactive platform ensures farmers are not passive recipients but active participants in dialogue, fostering a more informed and resilient farming community. At the heart of ECREA project lies the recognition of the pivotal role played by the common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) in African households. Beans have evolved from a traditional subsistence crop to a vital staple and market-oriented commodity, thus becoming instrumental in enhancing food security, gender roles, and income generation across the region. As such, the bean sector serves as the primary testing ground for the project's interventions.Central to the project's approach is co-production, which prioritizes inclusive partnerships with women, youth, and marginalized groups to ensure that WCIS are diverse, accessible, and responsive to the needs of all stakeholders. Through a multi-faceted strategy encompassing capacity-building, institutional strengthening, and knowledge-sharing, the project aims to empower smallholder farmers to navigate the complexities of climate change with confidence and resilience. This project is not merely about disseminating information, rather, it's about fostering a culture of resilience, collaboration, and empowerment that transcends borders and generations. Patrick Kesiem, the Institute Director, KALRO Katumani emphasized the importance of equipping farmers with the knowledge and tools they need to thrive in a changing climate. The Kenya Meteorology Department also played a crucial role, with the deputy director-Technical Services, Kennedy Thiong'o reiterating their commitment to providing accurate seasonal forecasts that inform farmers' decisions. Supported by regional and national coordination mechanisms as well as County Governments, research institutions, and governmental departments, the PISCA approach is paving the way for a more resilient and sustainable agricultural sector. Together, this partnership is empowering farmers and communities alike to thrive in the face of climate change. Integrating women and young people in climate action projects is crucial for enhancing resilient agriculture. This approach improves not only the livelihoods of women but also of their households and communities.According to Gender and social inclusion expert Eileen Nchanji, women are more vulnerable to climate change than their male counterparts because their livelihoods depend mainly on rainfed subsistence agriculture in sub-Saharan Africa. They are often the first to experience severe climate shocks such as droughts and floods, yet they are expected to provide food, energy, and water for their households. Many men leave their spouses behind to seek better income opportunities elsewhere, leaving women to provide for the remaining household members and make decisions on resource use. However, weather and climate information often does not reach this vulnerable groups, nor are they part of the decision-making processes that define what information is needed, by whom, when, and how it is used.According to estimates by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), women are responsible for more than 50% of food production worldwide, including up to 80% of food production in Africa. This highlights the critical need to include women in climate information services to improve their resilience and ensure the sustainability of food production and community wellbeing. Gender and social inclusion expert Eileen Nchanji, together with the implementation team, has been at the forefront of ensuring that women and young people are not only beneficiaries but also codesigners and drivers of climate information at the household, community, and regional levels. The team has emphasized the need for increased women's leadership and participation, ensuring that women are empowered to make decisions and influence policy and institutional change. To achieve effective gender inclusion they have advocated for the collection of gender-disaggregated data to better understand and address needs.Integrating women and youth in climate action projects is crucial for enhancing agricultural productivity. This approach improves not only the resilience and livelihoods of women but also those of households and communities.Women are more vulnerable to climate change than their male counterparts, as their livelihoods depend mainly on rainfed subsistence agriculture in sub-Saharan Africa. They are often the first to experience severe climate shocks like droughts and floods, yet they are expected to provide food, energy, and water for their households. Men leave their spouses to seek better income opportunities, leaving women to provide for the household and make decisions on resource use. However, Weather and Climate Information often does not reach this vulnerable group, nor are they part of the decision-making processes that define what information is needed, by whom, when, and how it is used.According to Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) estimates, women are responsible for more than 50% of food production worldwide, including up to 80% of food production in African countries. This highlights the critical need for including women in climate information services to improve their resilience and ensure the sustainability of food production and community well-being. To address these challenges, the Alliance of Bioversity International and the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT), in collaboration with its implementing partners and stakeholders, has been implementing the Enhancing Climate Resilience in East Africa (ECREA) Project in four East African countries: Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda, and Tanzania. By June 2024, the project has reached 400 Lead farmers and extension workers (direct beneficiaries), including 50% vulnerable women and youths, with face-to-face training on Weather and Climate Information Services (WCIS) co-designed and driven by women and youth farmers. Additionally, the training has been part of the project's efforts on interventions to ensure gender equity and social inclusion is realized among women and youth bean actors.Gender and social inclusion expert Eileen Nchanji, along with the entire implementing team, has been at the forefront of ensuring that women and youths are not only beneficiaries but also co-designers and drivers of climate information at the household, community, and regional levels. The team has emphasized the need for increased women's leadership and participation, ensuring that women are empowered to make decisions and influence policy and institutional change. To achieve effective gender inclusion, they have advocated for the collection of gender-disaggregated data to better understand and address the needs of all genders.Youth and women farmers participating in the PICSA Lite Master class in Karagwe Tanzania \"The ECREA project is ensuring that women are empowered with the technologies and capacities to access and translate climate information, enabling them to make appropriate decisions that significantly improve and transform their agricultural livelihoods, \" said Desire Kagabo, the ECREA Project team leader. \"Our project addresses multiple Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), such as SDG 5 (Gender Equality) and SDG 13 (Climate Action). We focus on supporting and enhancing women's effective participation and providing equal opportunities for leadership at all levels of decision-making. This approach aims to improve food security and income generation through accessible and timely climate information customized for diverse farmers.\"The ECREA project targets bean producers in East Africa, of whom about 80% are women. According to Livingstone Byandaga, the ECREA Project Coordinator, the agency and voice of 50% of women and youths in the bean sector has been enhanced through the co-production and use of Weather and Climate Information Services at the farm and household levels.Women and youth are included in the Training of Trainers on Participatory and Integrated Climate-Smart Agriculture (PICSA). This initiative has equipped 400 extension agents and lead farmers to train 400,000 farmers, ensuring that 50% of the trainees are women and youth. The ECREA project has already begun to show promising results. With training sessions conducted in Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda, and Tanzania, 200 women and young farmers have been included and empowered to lead their communities in adapting to climate challenges. The enhanced and usable Weather and Climate Information Services (WCIS) driven by women inform plans, policies, and decision-making at the community, local, national, and regional levels. An empowered woman has the capacity to access information and resources, make appropriate decisions to improve their livelihood, solve conflicts, own resources and income, and participate in decision-making that impacts society.By focusing on gender and social inclusion, the ECREA project is not only addressing the immediate challenges posed by climate change but also laying the groundwork for a more resilient and equitable future for all.Further reading https://alliancebioversityciat.org/stories/radiolisteners-clubs-engagement-feedback-climateresilience-bean-farmers-tanzania https://alliancebioversityciat.org/stories/enhancingclimate-resilience-beans-east-africa-high-levelgovernments-participation https://alliancebioversityciat.org/stories/empoweringeast-african-farmers-weather-climate-informationservices"}

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+{"metadata":{"gardian_id":"e116ae225b1a92f24c98c9c833abbfb9","source":"gardian_index","url":"https://cgspace.cgiar.org/rest/bitstreams/56e7993a-9170-40a3-b4b9-4a099c64af1c/retrieve","id":"-619060267"},"keywords":[],"sieverID":"828e7589-487d-426c-a2e4-62ab88e2e50c","content":"ii ©2022 This publication is copyrighted by the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI).It is licensed for use under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Licence. To view this licence, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0. Unless otherwise noted, you are free to share (copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format), adapt (remix, transform, and build upon the material) for any purpose, even commercially, under the following condition:ATTRIBUTION. The work must be attributed, but not in any way that suggests endorsement by ILRI or the author(s).For any reuse or distribution, the licence terms of this work must be made clear to others. Any of the above conditions can be waived if permission is obtained from the copyright holder.Nothing in this licence impairs or restricts the author's moral rights.Fair dealing and other rights are in no way affected by the above. The parts used must not misrepresent the meaning of the publication. ILRI would appreciate being sent a copy of any materials in which text, photos etc. have been used.Editing, design and layout-ILRI Editorial and Publishing Services, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. To develop the capacity of researchers in genetic evaluation and animal ranking using BLUP, and how to optimize the ongoing breeding programs 17-20 May 2022 Debre Berhan, Amhara Region, Ethiopia Tesfaye Getachew (International Centre for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas, ICARDA) Aynalem Haile (ICARDA) Berhanu Belay (ICARDA) A total of 41 participants from 29 in Ethiopia, the Livestock Development Institute (LDI), the Water and Land Resource Center (WLRC) and research centres. Two of the participants were women.The course covered pedigree and performance data preparation using Excel and R software, genetic analysis using Wombat software, interpretation of results, economic value estimation for traits, index selection and breeding value estimation in uncertain sire scenarios. Some of the data management and analysis training sessions in Debre Berhan, Ethiopia (photo credit: ILRI-ICARDA/Tesfaye Getachew). Tesfaye Getachew: [email protected] Sustainable Animal Productivity for Livelihoods, Nutrition and Gender Inclusion (SAPLING) This work was conducted as part of the CGIAR Initiative on Sustainable Animal Productivity. CGIAR research is supported by contributions to the CGIAR Trust Fund. CGIAR is a global research partnership for a food-secure future dedicated to transforming food, land and water systems in a climate crisis.CGIAR's Sustainable Animal Productivity for Livelihoods, Nutrition and Gender inclusion (SAPLING) is working in seven countries focusing on livestock value chains to package and scale out tried-and-tested, as well as new, innovations in livestock health, genetics, feed and market systems. SAPLING aims to demonstrate that improvements in livestock productivity can offer a triple win: generating improved livelihoods and nutritional outcomes; contributing to women's empowerment; and, reducing impacts on climate and the environment. Its seven focus countries are Ethiopia, Kenya, Mali, Nepal, Tanzania, Uganda and Vietnam."}

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+{"metadata":{"gardian_id":"c8d474e2db294f5bc078ccc5c94c6dba","source":"gardian_index","url":"https://cgspace.cgiar.org/rest/bitstreams/0929a2b8-01e0-442f-bcbb-e9e849a0a564/retrieve","id":"1970086836"},"keywords":[],"sieverID":"cd4d9692-38e1-4d50-896f-2939b9fdbe76","content":"In the late 1930s, the leader of Thailand introduced the dish to his country in an effort to define a national identity and improve nutrition. The Thai government distributed the recipe and encouraged vendors to sell it throughout the country. Ironically, the dish's iconic chiles aren't very tied to Thailand.The not so Thai Pad Thai THE ORIGINS OF FOOD Darker regions on the map indicate where more ingredients in pad Thai originate. Native to Mexico and Central America, the chile peppers used in pad Thai are common in many Asian dishes. Sources: Origins of ingredients: Khoury et al. (2016) Proc Roy Soc B 283(1832): 20160792. Highlighted areas are world geographic regions where the plants and animals in food ingredients were domesticated. Calories: USDA Food Composition Databases (2018), www.nutritionix.comContribution to calories Sugar (shown), vinegar, and fish sauce are combined to make the sauce.Palm oil (shown) is commonly used in cooking pad Thai. Butter and other vegetable oils are also used.Each map shows the origins of common ingredients found in the dish."}

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+{"metadata":{"gardian_id":"896f186e132c0cfdcc5820ddf058b6d3","source":"gardian_index","url":"https://cgspace.cgiar.org/rest/bitstreams/027d0e83-a1d2-4997-8e48-5ddaaf0009b7/retrieve","id":"1652440893"},"keywords":[],"sieverID":"cac3f83b-f3ff-426b-a0b5-830fdbe56dde","content":"In its commentary on the original version of CRP5, the ISPC recognized the fundamental importance and potential of this CRP to fill a critical gap in the CGIAR research for development portfolio. The rationale remains compelling for a coordinated international research effort on water scarcity, land degradation and threats to ecosystem sustainability related to agriculturefocusing on research and outputs at the landscape to river basin scale. While the original proposal identified questions to be pursued and the outputs and outcomes expected from on-going projects, not enough was said about new science and innovative approaches that take advantage of the new CGIAR and its partners. The CRP appeared to be a collection of existing research activities placed into a Strategic Research Portfolio (SRP) without benefit of a prioritization framework to guide the amalgamation and resource allocation process. As such, the eight SRPs proposed were seen as largely independent and self-contained. The original CRP also had not provided the critical analysis, theory and narrowing of issues and hypotheses that could support a prioritization framework for the SRPs and the overall research agenda. Other issues raised in our commentary dealt with the logic of the SRP structure, variable quality of science in some SRPs, the weak IPG content of research outputs, justification of budget, and the proposed management structure. In short, the ISPC felt that a more coherent and compelling proposal could be developed, and recommended that the proposal be substantially revised and re-submitted paying particular attention to eleven key areas (summarized list below).The revised CRP5 proposal has been substantially re-written, and is now a much tighter and much improved document. CRP5 partners have taken the concerns and issues cited above seriously and have, for the most part, addressed them satisfactorily. We agree with the proponents that the revised proposal is more focused, has a better integrating framework and proposes a set of clearer targets and deliverables. The revised proposal is also markedly different in that more emphasis is given to new directions rather than a continuation of wellestablished research projects. It is particularly satisfying to learn that the process of revising the document has greatly enhanced cooperation between the major partners in the CGIAR such that there is a genuine sense of common intent and focus.Although a few concerns remain-as discussed below under each of the -Must Haves‖-the ISPC considers that the CRP5 partners have taken into account the bulk of the recommendations made in the initial review process in a conscientious and adequate fashion. The result is a more cohesive overall research focus and stronger logical structure developed through a smaller number of SRPs.The ISPC recommends that the revised CRP 5 proposal be approved subject to minor revision taking into account the following commentary, with particular attention given to:  While the link to the ‗cause-effect' thinking stated as the overall research aim of the Program is clear in some SRP components, it still needs strengthening in others and in many of the specific projects.  A more ‗hypothesis-driven' approach is being taken throughout the proposal; a remaining concern is that some of the hypotheses being formulated are pre-assigned beliefs for which information will be sought to provide justification, rather than undergoing rigorous, objective testing.  The ecosystem services perspective permeates the proposal, but elements of this perspective and respective analysis are absent in problem sets in some SRPs.  Productivityecosystem services trade-offs are explicitly mentioned at the ‗overall aim' level of the proposal but are sometimes missing conceptually at the lower, project level.  The Rainfed System SRP is better presented, but is not yet better integrated and could easily be a standalone CRP; it remains weak in terms of focus and likely impacts, and also in its IPG content. The links between the work on pastoral systems and relevant work in other CRPs should be strengthened at the design stage.  The degree of independence of the steering committee is questionable given the Lead Center DG as a cochair and the use of the word ‗implementing' in relation to the prioritization process which goes further than ‗strategic oversight'.Below is the ISPC's assessment of how the revised proposal responds to each of the 11 ISPC -Must Haves‖. In all but a few instances, the proponents have added key gap-filling sections, or re-written or re-structured the proposal to address these concerns in a comprehensive and satisfactory manner. Because there was quite a bit of coincidence and overlap between the -Must Haves‖ from the ISPC and the FC members commentaries (especially in terms of the need for a more coherent structure, for conducting innovative research and avoiding the status quo, comparative advantage issues, and the need to revise the governance structure and to provide authority to an oversight body), the FC -Must Haves‖ have not been listed here separately. For the most part, we believe that they too have been addressed satisfactorily.Adequately addressed: A compelling set of challenges for the program and for agriculture in the developing world is presented. Additional literature is reviewed in Chapter 1 and in the Appendices, which provides a sound basis for selection of specific natural resource management (NRM) issues to be included in CRP5 and provides the motivation for new research on water, land and ecosystems. The stated overall research aim of CRP5 is strong, innovative and vital for the evolving direction of research in developing country agriculture to address questions such as ‗how changes in production systems affect ecosystem services?' and, ‗how to measure and use information to improve policy and management at the basin and landscape scales?'The prioritizing framework (Chapter 2) is based on global visioning of the key issues (water scarcity, land degradation and ecosystem decline) surrounding agricultural intensification and their environmental impacts. Regional consultations and strategic reasoning underpin the definition of the researchable problems that can be dealt with in the next 5-10 years. More emphasis is now given to how solutions can be developed to deal with NRM and ecosystem services constraints on sustainable intensification and a number of major ‗problem sets' have been defined based on theories of change and research questions (hypotheses).The choice of the eight sets of river basins in section 2.8 reflects the need to capitalize on past and current work by the CGIAR and its partners. There is little doubt that the basins chosen are major river basins with a total population approaching one billion, and that the long-term nature of NRM work makes it desirable to fully exploit past research activities. It is therefore not surprising that the selected basins are those where Centers and the CPWF have been working until now. The motivation for the research to be undertaken is adequately described in the presentation of these basins (p38-55).CRP5 gives every indication of being a great opportunity to explore the ‗cause-effect' relationships between production systems and the full suite of their outcomes: one of these is the ecosystem services outcomes but also of significance (and importance in understanding incentives for up-take) are the financial (especially the impacts on farm costs and revenuesand thus profits) and social (gender and equity issues) impacts. In most of the research projects proposed, there is a link to this ‗cause-effect' thinking, and hence the overall research aim of the Program. However, it is not sufficiently well developed in some elements of the SRPs and in many of the specific projects.It is pleasing to see a more ‗hypothesis-driven' approach being taken throughout the proposal. That together with the development of research priorities through more evaluation work and the inputs of the Steering Committee should see a more ‗science-based' and ‗policy-driven' research agenda. A remaining concern is that at times the hypotheses being formulated appear to be based on beliefs for which information will be sought to provide justification. This is possibly a function of the way the CRP5 proposal sets out the anticipated outcomes of the research work. By its nature, research is a process of enquiry in which the hypothesis should be the target of falsification not justification. Nowhere is this more (potentially) problematic than in the research agenda for groundwater. In Problem Set 3 (p75) the focus is on the ‗over-draft' of groundwater in South Asia. 1 The proposition is put forth that the problem has been the result of subsidized electricity prices. The solution to the problem is envisaged to be through the electricity sector (rather than on other options such as conservation agriculture or choice of different crops). Yet in the fourth problem set that focuses on the Ganges Basin, it appears that the envisaged solution is to subsidise electricity supplies. Why is the solution in one system described as the problem in an adjacent basin? A preferable way of framing the research is to propose numerous management strategies as options and test them against a base of doing nothing. The common property nature of the groundwater resource is not addressed in either case, yet alternative management strategies could be framed around that condition.In this light, it would be constructive to ensure that each component research project has a sound hypothesis that relates back to ‗cause-effect' theory and that research methods are designed explicitly to seek the falsification of the hypothesis. In each case, this process should be focused on the specific issue / problem to be considered, the establishment of a range of potential solutions, the testing of those alternatives in the context of the overall ‗cause-effect' aim of the CRP, consistent with a specific hypothesis and the drawing of conclusions that are relevant to the established issue / problem. In a similar way the goal expressed on p143 that River Basins can be managed ‗to maximise the value of ecosystem services and benefits' seems to miss the point that there are trade-offs involved. These trade-offs are explicitly mentioned at the ‗overall aim' of the proposal but are sometimes missing conceptually at the lower, project level. For instance, it is not necessarily desirable to seek maximum ecosystem services from a basin when that means losses in financial and social benefits. The critical question that the overall CRP5 is addressing is how to come up with resource management solutions that maximise social well-being, given that this comprises ecological, financial and social contributions. Put simply, the overall aim of CRP5 is laudable but it has yet to be sufficiently ‗infused' throughout all levels of the SRPsto the problem sets and the individual research projects.The ISPC hopes that the above considerations are taken into account during the prioritization process (described in Chapter 3) where, it is understood, the Steering Committee will guide selection of future problem sets over the next six months, and also in the implementation phase, at which time the specific activities to be undertaken will be delineated in detail.Adequately addressed: This is achieved primarily through development of the specific problem sets to be tackled in the first five years. Problem sets are defined through analysis of previous work in the area, the specification of theories of change, research hypotheses to be tested, partnership strategies and outputs, outcomes and contributions to the SLOs of the CGIAR Strategy and Results Framework. A concern is that key problem sets that are established underneath the overall goal of the CRP are sometimes disconnected from it. This is particularly the case for SRP1 where hardly any mention is made of the linkages between production and ecosystem services. A good test for the CRP5 proponents would be to require every problem set and every research issue to show how it addresses the overall CRP aim.1 Questionable research structures are also apparent in other problem sets. For example: On p105: ‗we will help pastoralists secure rights and access to resources'. Why do the rights of pastoralists trump the interests of others? The issue should be one of investigating the consequences (or effects: financial, ecosystem, social) of alternative rights allocations (the cause). And on p146 it is ‗decided' that groundwater use is to be increased by 30% in SSA. Why is this the ‗answer'? Rather, alternative strategies for groundwater use should be investigated (cause and effect) and the analysis so undertaken should be used to provide policy advice regarding the development of the groundwater resource. Again, are there ecosystem services implications, along with financial and social impacts?Generally, however, the narratives in Chapters 4-9 describe the activities to be undertaken in adequate detail, and provide justification for the problem sets chosen under each of the SRPs-presumably selected in the consultation, vision and strategic thinking process described in Chapter 2. In Chapter 4 on Irrigated Systems, five problem sets are listed for the first five years. It is hard to argue about the relevance of the problem sets chosen, given the vast experience of the CGIAR Centers working on this topic. Impact pathways are more clearly delineated, and the specification of levers of change and uptake strategies (Table 3.1) is a very positive development in this proposal. However, uptake strategies will need further development and detail (e.g., ‗sit at the table with policymakers' is itself a major milestone... how to ensure CRP5 gets a seat at the policymaker's table is also an issue. The only criticism, which is problem set dependent, is that research outputs are often quite modest relative to the ambitious nature of the goals addressed in the write-up. For example, see Table 4.2 on the expected outputs for ensuring the success of irrigation in Africa. Other problem sets are more focused and have more tangible outputs, such as the one on the role of energy in managing groundwater overdraft.The proponents emphasize that annual work plans will keep the work focused and on track with respect to time. In addition, the priority setting processes and more detailed listing of deliverables and critical operational aspects (e.g., interactions with the other CRPs; identification of indicators, etc.) will be specified during the implementation phase.Adequately addressed:The revised CRP5 gives considerably more attention to the critical question of whether or not we can intensify and expand agriculture without significant environmental consequences. The program also introduces the concept of using ecosystem services to monitor agricultural impacts. The proponents do acknowledge that the proposal builds (rightly) on past work of the Centers and CPWF, but at the same time introduces innovative approaches and integration between Centers and partners. Thus, while the program builds on IWMI and CPWF work on river basin management, it will integrate soil and water information in a manner not yet attempted in the CGIAR. It also builds on other successful initiatives such as the African Soil Information System, IWMI's water productivity and drought assessment work, ICRISAT's watershed studies and ICARDA's water harvesting work. CRP5 plans to integrate some of this single Center type activity into new projects to deliver greater value. In theory, this program should provide a single point of access for all CGIAR water, land, soil, ecosystem and environmental information, which in combination with the FAO, will enhance the CGIAR's capability to deliver authoritative global and regional resource and environmental assessments related to the impacts of agriculture.The choice of the five SRPs and decision to mainstream ecosystem services perspectives across all SRPs are generally consistent with the conceptual framework and responds adequately to specific suggestions of the ISPC, though not completely. The SRP structure is not actually a nested one with Basins as the highest order, but the Irrigation and Groundwater SRPs and the Dryland and Pastoral Systems SRPs were merged, and the Information and Resource Use and Recovery are stand-alone. The CRP 5 partners have made an effort to integrate the work on ecosystem services across CRP5 by developing some guiding principles. The criticism that the SRP may remain largely independent and self-contained is addressed in section 2.5, where a number of examples are provided to highlight the possible interactions among SRPs. Such interactions are plausible but will only occur if there is a coherent program, driven by a Steering Committee with sufficient authority to foster cooperative work among the SRPs. CGIAR scientists working on NRM understand that research alone is not enough, and this point is well highlighted in 2.6, which describes -research to impact philosophy‖ and the scope of the Program.CRP5 is now built around a series of river basins and these make sense as priorities. The SRP that is still an outlier is SRP2 on rainfed systems. Although this SRP is now much better presented, it is not better integrated and it could easily be a stand-alone CRP. Landscapes are barely mentioned and so the link between landscapes and basins is not evident, which leaves considerable potential for overlap and duplication with other CRPs. The clear distinguishing features to avoid such overlap is that the other CRPs should address onfarm productivity issues in rainfed farming, while CRP5 should focus at the landscape level.Adequately addressed:The ecosystem services perspective, broadly speaking, permeates the proposal. Chapters 2 and 3 in particular give adequate attention to the definition of ecosystem services (supported by Appendix 1). However, because elements of this perspective and analysis appear to be absent in some SRPs and problem sets, it would be useful, as suggested above, to test to see that every problem set has adequately addressed the trade-offs between productivity and environmental services in an appropriate fashion.Not adequately addressed:The Rainfed System SRP is still the weakest in terms of focus and likely impacts. The IPG element is also fairly weak although the revised proposal indicates that tools and methods will be the IPGs. Some of the activities, however, such as providing supplementary irrigation to farmers are clearly not IPGs.Five problem sets are defined in this SRP. The first one addresses the restoration of the fertility of African soils and the reduction of land degradation. It focuses solely on the nutrient limitation and the access to fertilizers. Research outputs are quite general and vague (Table 5.2). The next two problem sets are also quite undefined and lack focus. The one on revitalizing productivity of responsive soils proposes to identify soils of high production potential that are not fully exploited. Here is an opportunity to develop and concentrate on innovative approaches for yield gap analysis, an issue that is mentioned as one of the research outputs but that deserves considerably more attention in the work planned in this proposal. The third problem set aimed at increasing agricultural production while enhancing biodiversity is even more general than the previous one, and is based on the hypothesis that it is possible to increase agricultural output and enhance biodiversity in rainfed areas through improvements in soil and water management practices. The activities planned here are too general. The last two problem sets are more specific and have a clear focus. One of these deals with availability and access to water and land for pastoralists, while the other expands on past successes in extending supplemental irrigation into rainfed areas. Both are well defined and have a clear pathway to impact.Overall, the earlier criticisms of the Rainfed SRP are only partially resolved. Because CRP5 concerns land and water, the overall focus should be the management of both rainfed and pastoral systems. It is imperative to address the water and soil components of rainfed agriculture to raise the very low efficiencies of resource use, and to protect the fragile ecosystems. Two of the five problem sets are quite diffuse and the proponents have been less successful in defining relevant problem sets than in the irrigated systems. It is puzzling that the concept of conservation agriculture (even the term) is not mentioned. Is it because it is covered under a different CRP, or that the subject is not amenable to a landscape-level analysis? Given that conservation agriculture proponents often exaggerate its benefits, it is an approach that cannot be ruled out for productivity enhancement and resource conservation in some situations, including some in small-holder agriculture.Beyond the farm level, there are issues at the landscape and higher levels that need to be researched.This SRP has the largest share of the budget -40% of the total CRP program budget ($28.5m out of a total of $71.6 m in 2011) and retains that share (with total budget rising) over the 3 years. Curiously, in the original proposal, the combined Rainfed + Pastoral Systems SRP budget was only 31% of the total, so the relative importance here has grown. The proponents are apparently open to revisiting the resource allocation but it is now locked into special project funding. In any event, as it is such a large program, it deserves a very much stronger and more compelling research program than currently described.Not adequately addressed: Section 5.7 provides some discussion on the links between the work on pastoral systems and other CRPs, but generally the response is disappointing. The ISPC recognizes the difficulties of describing in detail the links between CRPs while most are still at an early planning stage, but the text in section 5.7 emphasizes use of results from one CRP in another, whereas it might be more effective to engage in joint planning of research. In fact, interacting at an early stage to ensure that the results will add value to respective CRP outputs seems a better bet. The question raised above about conservation agriculture may be answered by the planned cooperation with CRP1.1.Adequately addressed: Connections with sentinel sites are now addressed adequately. In their response on this issue, the proponents indicate they are currently engaged with World Agroforestry and other CRPs to ensure that this happens.Reference is also made to expecting guidance on methods and monitoring opportunities from outcomes of the ISPC NRM workshop in Beijing in October. At the same time, the ISPC agrees with the proponents' suggestion that leadership from the Consortium Board and Office would be useful here.It would also be useful for the overall aim of the CRP5 to be better linked to those of the other CRPs. How do ‗cause-effect' relationships explored in CRP5 manifest themselves as inputs to the other CRPs? For instance, such inputs would be particularly appropriate as considerations in CRP 2 (policy) as they would in CRP 6 (climate change). In short, the overall aim of CRP5 is very powerful and could be more explicitly linked across to the other CRPs and down to the project level within CRP5.Adequately addressed: This issue is adequately covered in the revised proposal as a specific problem set under the Irrigated Systems SRP.Adequately addressed:The description of the partnership strategy at the program level is more focused and there is evidence within each SRP of a more focused (and strategic) approach to new partnerships than was apparent in the original version. The partnership strategy is built around the concept of having core research partners, implementing partners and outreach partners. Each SRP lists existing and potential partners by region. The Irrigation, Resource Recovery and Reuse, Basins, and Information SRPs include specific examples of how partnerships will work in terms of roles and responsibilities.Partly addressed: Figure 13.1 (p187) illustrates a good response to the first 2 points in this recommendation. The Steering Committee, now merged with the advisory committee, has a long list of responsibilities including oversight of strategic direction and partnerships and developing and implementing the prioritisation process. It will be cochaired by the Lead Center DG and an independent member, reports to the Lead Center Board and only appears to be scheduled to meet once per year-which would seem too infrequently. It will provide ‗independent scientific advice and strategic oversight' for CRP5, but its independence is questionable given that the Lead Centre DG is a co-chair and the use of the word ‗implementing' in relation to the prioritisation process goes further than ‗strategic oversight'. Surely implementation should be left to the Management Committee? Also, the composition of the steering committee should include scientists of international reputation that are not involved in ongoing programs, such as CPWF. This will not be easy given the wide involvement of the scientific community in CPWF and IWMI research, but it should be attempted. In summary, a strong and independent Steering Committee is a prerequisite for such an ambitious CRP.The description of monitoring is expansive and includes the setting up of a Monitoring, evaluation and learning unit to provide support to managers across the program. Reference is made to the importance of ‗learning' and providing ‗an adaptive environment, but there is not an explicit statement of how and who will be responsible for adjusting research design and focus within projects in response to the results of monitoring."}

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+{"metadata":{"gardian_id":"3a1c85862610db60a3fa3f8d7585e0a5","source":"gardian_index","url":"https://repository.cimmyt.org/server/api/core/bitstreams/2134b17c-c675-4c88-a78d-5f4c50b1799d/content","id":"410468015"},"keywords":[],"sieverID":"72795627-8098-488a-8d41-97f3e8eb3f12","content":"The International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) is an internationally funded, nonprofit scientific research and training organization. Headquartered in Mexico, the Center is engaged in a worldwide research program for maize, wheat, and triticale, with emphasis on food production in developing countries. It is one of 13 nonprofit international agricultural research and training centers supported by the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR). which is sponsored by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations, the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (World Bank), and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). The CGIAR consists of 40 donor countries, international and regional organizations, and private foundations.CIMMYT receives support through the CGIAR from a number of sources, including the international aid agencies of Australia,The practice of growing varieties, lines, or Summary hybrids resistant to attack by insects, and their subsequent effectiveness in reducing pest populations and corresponding crop losses, is well documented for several agricultural crops and pest species.The development of many of these resistant cultivars has resulted from or been facilitated by ( 1 ) many years of study of the insect pests, (2) the development of techniques to mass rear the insects, artificially infest the crop species, and screen the germplasm of the species (or their wild relatives) for resistance, and (3) the successful application of appropriate breeding procedures for improvement of the resistance characteristic over succeeding cycles or generations of population improvement (Guthrie, 1974(Guthrie, , 1980)).The basic components necessary to identify or develop germplasm with resistance, or with higher levels of resistance than present cultivars utilized by farmer/producers, include:(1) A colony of the insect species, which exhibits the vigor and vitality of the damaging pest population within the geographical area that is affected.(2) The capability to efficiently mass culture the species, including the rearing facility, trained personnel, natural, meridic, or defined diets, and rearing procedures and containers.(3) Germplasm resources that are representative of the genetic variation within the crop and/or its closely related species.(4) Methods for uniform artificial infestation.(5) Methods for assessing resultant damage, or lack of damage, to the plants subjected to deliberate infestation (rating scales to determine classes or categories of resistance or suscep. tibility).(6) Screening to determine whether adequatB levels of resistance exist within suitable agronomic types (equivalent or better 1lmlThis bulletin presents the techniques developed at CIMMYT and used over the past six years for the efficient mass rearing and infestation in screening and improving host plant resistance to the corn earworm, Heliothis zea (Boddie), in maize. (The species of He/iothis occurring in Mexico can be seen in Figure 1.) The techniques described show promise of adaptation to other pest species, crop species, and screening/breeding initiatives in other parts of the world.These techniques include the establishment of the insect colony and provision of the basic requirements for efficient mass rearing. The latter focuses on the rearing facility, diet, containers, and procedures for the various life stages (Figure 2). A method of efficient field infestation is presented along with a description of the rating scales used to evaluate re:;ultant damage and aid in the identification of resistant genotypes.Guidelines established and recommended by some entomologists who have developed crop cultivars with resistance (Guthrie, 1980), and proven by experience under CIMMYT conditions, are followed to maintain a healthy, vigorous H. zea colony.As there is only one crop and infestation cycle per year in the tropical highlands of Mexico, the earworm colony is replaced or rejuvenated by using ( 1) progeny of larvae collected from a lateplanted trap crop of sweet corn (Figure 3), or (2) progeny of adults captured in a light trap in spring at the beginning of the rainy season (Figure 4). The colony is replaced or genetically mixed with wild stock at least every ten generations.   2The basic requirements for successful insect colonization and rearing were listed by Needham et al. (1937), and include (1) food, (2) protection from enemies, (3) a suitable physical environment, and (4) fit conditions for reproduction.The components necessary in an efficient mass-rearing operation include (1) the physical facility, (2) diet(s), (3) rearing containers, (4) rearing procedures or management of the various life stages of the insect (Figure 2), and (5) qualified trained personnel.Rearing facilities. In many countries, physical facilities may consist simply of a room or two, a few boxes and cages, electrical power, and perhaps some means of temperature and humidity control. In some of the most developed countries, insect \"factories\" exist. Leppla and Ashley ( 1978) have compiled a valuable reference on the types of physical facilities which are presently being used for insect rearing, from small chambers to grand scale, semi-automated production. Anyone contemplating starting or expanding rearing programs should consult this reference for ideas which may apply to their conditions.The physical facility should be simple, practical, and functional. Entomologists with experience in rearing the insect or species desired should be involved in the design or modification of the facility as applicable to their situation. If the entomologist has not had a great deal of experience in mass rearing those species, he should visit one or more facilities where the species are being successfully reared. In most cases, he will gain ideas on how he might design or modify his facility to make it more efficient. He should, however, be aware that not everything he observes will be appropriate for his conditions, and that he may need to modify or adapt existing techniques to his circumstances.The rearing facility that serves the CIMMYT maize program is a simple, inexpensive structure which satisfies the most basic requirements for insect rearing. It has undergone many changes and modifications, as necessary, and this process is expected to continue. Most of the changes which have been made since its establishment fall into three categories: improvement in general sanitation, in storage facilities, and in making it more independent from other facilities.Insect rearing is a seven-day-a-week job at CIMMYT. Four or five species are produced twice a year for field infestation at appropriate plantgrowth stages over two-month-long periods. Therefore, the laboratory has to be independent of other units which operate only five or six days a week. This includes separate facilities for electrical power, refrigeration, water, storage, and general supplies.One useful component in the CIMMYT facility that many rearing facilities do not have is a small workshop. It has the necessary tools and materials for basic maintenance of much of the physical facility and for the construction of rearing dishes, cages, or any spur-of-the-moment necessities. This small facility makes the rearing operation much more efficient.Diet. Singh ( 1977) lists seven meridic diets which have been used successfully for rearing H. armigera Hubn., and 16 diets which have been used for either H. virescens (Fabricius) or H. zea (Boddie) or both. The adults of these He/iothis species are illustrated in Figure 1.The diet used at CIMMYT for rearing CEW is presented in Table 1. Use of the checklist-register (see Appendix) is recommended in order to avoid errors in diet preparation and for use as a record to identify material lots that may coincide with  problems encountered in rearing. The only item unique to this diet is dried, sterilized maize tassel powder used at the rate of 20 g/kg of diet. (The tassels are collected and processed prior to pollen shed.) In tests under CIMMYT conditions, better larval establishment, shorter larval period, larger pupae, and better oviposition were obtained from insects reared on the diet with tassel powder than those on the standard diet.  Guthrie et al. ( 1969) found that Ostrinia nubilalis larvae could survive to pupal stage on only maize pollen, indicating that it is a nutritious food source. Trials at CIMMYT indicate that it acts as a feeding stimulant and/or makes the diet more palatable. It has been used with consistent results for the past four years in their diets for rearing five lepidopterous species. And since maize is continually undergoing improvement at CIMMYT, tassel powder is a low-cost diet ingredient.Prepared commercial diets for rearingHe/iothis sp. are now available from several sources in the USA. CIMMYT experience with these, however, has shown that they need a few ingredients, mainly supplemental vitamins and microbial inhibitors, for successful use in the rearing facility. They have the advantage of saving time and effort in preparation, while providing the necessary quality assurance. Walker et al. (1966) list• criteria for diet suitability: (1) high larval survival, (2) vigorous adults with high reproductive capacity, (3) normal rate of larval development, (4) low-cost ingredients, (5) easy preparation from readily-available ingredients of uniform quality, and (6) good keeping quality. No one diet exists, however, which will measure up to all these criteria for mass rearing a given species under all conditions or at all locations. However, after testing several diets that have been used successfully by other scientists, and after experimentation with various concentrations of ingredients, it is possible to develop a suitable diet.New information on diets, diet ingredients, suppliers, and rearing techniques is available in the \"FRASS Newsletter,\" (Anon. 1981), pub- rearing insects in 27 countries. It is provided free of charge to interested scientists and is a valuable reference.Rearing containers. Containers suitable for rearing Heliothis sp. range from individual glass or plastic vials or cups (Sparks and Harrell, 1976), Hexcel units (Roberson and Noble, 1968;Raulston and Lingren, 1969), polystyrene light diffusion cell blocks (Raulston and Lingren, 1972), and cell webs processed and infested by a modified in line formfill-seal machine (Sparks and Harrell, 1976).Figure 11. The eggs are then rinsed under tap water to wash off the sodium hypochlorite.Figure 12 The rinsed eggs are then decanted into a graduated cylinder to estimate production. There are approximately 2,000 eggs per milliliter.Any of the above may be utilized efficiently in a mass rearing program. Choice may be dictated by the size of the rearing operation, the cost and amount of labor available, and the supply, availability, and durability of a given container. The ultimate and most efficient system would appear to be the lnline form-fill-seal machine and system. However, at CIMMYT and in many other locations in the world, it is probably not the best choice, because of the cost of the initial unit and subsequent materials and the problems likely to be encountered in its operation and maintenance. In fact, because of high costs associated with such production, a study was done to see if H. zea could be produced more economically on maize plants in field cages (Sparks et al., 1971) .CIMMYT has adapted the system used by Raulston and Lingren (1972) to meet its needs (Figure 5). The cell grids are made from polystyrene light-diffusion louvers available in Mexico, the boxes are made locally from 3 and 6 mm Plexiglas, and the cap for the unit is a layer of paper toweling, a 50-mesh bronze screen, and a sheet of the polystyrene grid, held in place by inexpensive large rubber bands. To minimize problems with microbial contamination, the units are sterilized by soaking in a 1 Q.percent sodium hypochlorite solution, and the boxes and grid blocks are surface treated by spraying with a 5-percent sorbic acid/5-percent methyl parabenalcohol solution. This treatment does not affect insect growth and aids in confining any chance contamination to a few cells within the box.Hot diet is poured into the dishes and the grids are forced into the diet manually. The unit is exposed to UV radiation prior to infesting to further minimize microbial contamination.Adult stages. When CIMMYT first began rearing H. zea in 1975, colonies were frequently lost because of sterility. Callahan (1962) reported that one of the major problems in rearing H. zea involved their unpredictable mating habits in the laboratory; consequently, he obtained a higher incidence of mating by using large cages containing host plants, with controlled temperature and humidity, and a 10-percent honey solution for adult nutrition.Since 1977, a similar mating cage (Figure 6) has been used with continued success. It consists of a 0.5 x 0.5 x 1.0m Plexiglas cage with screen on two sides so that the moths can hang and rest easily. A pot containing several whorl stage maize plants is placed within the cage; a dish containing cotton moistened with a 10-percerit sugar solution is also provided. Moths are left within the cage for 48 hours before they are transferred to oviposition cages.Oviposition cages used at CIMMYT consist of a simple wire frame support and a bag of nylon mesh (Bridal Illusion) material (Figure 7). This system has been found to be superior to cotton cheese cloth either placed over paper ice cream cartons (Burton, 1969;Raulston and Lingren, 1972), or on the front or sides of other style cages (Callahan, 1962;Knott et al., 1966). Its advantages include ease in changing oviposition substrate without adults escaping, ease in cleaning, maximum oviposition surface area, no need for cage liners, and no problem with hatching larvae since the entire cage walls are replaced daily.Changing the cage (Figure 8) is accomplished by simply placing a new bag over the mouth of the egg-laden one. As the egg-laden bag is pulled off, the new one is pulled over the frame. A small Figure 15. A mixture of sterilized corn cob grits and first instar H. zea larvae is applied to the rearing container until there are ap. proximately 5 larvae per cell in the grid.Figure 16. Infested boxes are capped with a layer of paper towelling and a fine mesh bronze screen. Rubber bands and a section of the plastic grid seal the cells during larval J growth to pupation.8 plastic box with cotton, moistened wit h a 10-pecent sugar solution, is placed inside fo r food.Egg stages. Egg-laden bags are placeasmall, inexpensive portable wash ing mach• agitated for 2-3 minutes in a 0.2-percent hypochlorite solution. Egg-laden water • decanted onto a fine mesh screen , and thee immersed in a 10-percent sod ium th i solution and then rinsed with water. (Figures 9--_ Eggs are washed onto a paper towe l, the e moisture is removed, and they are placed i s plastic dishes for incubation.Once larvae have hatched (0-8 hours old • they can be stored in a refrigerator (at 1QOC 1 for up to five days, or used immediately to re infest diet or plants in the field.Larvae. At CIMMYT, newly-hatched larvae (< 12 hours old) are used for infesting diet to maintain the laboratory colony.Infestation of the rearing boxes is accomplished easily and rapidly: 100-200 cc of sterilized corn cob grits are placed in the dish containing larvae, and the dish is rotated gently to mix uniformly. The mixture is transferred to a simple shak•r jar (Figure 14) and shaken over the boxes containing diet and the cell grid unit until there are 2-5 larvae per cell (Figure 15). After capping, the rearing boxes are moved to shelves in rearing rooms at 70-80 percent R. H. with temperatures ranging from 20-320C, depending on how quickly the next generation is needed.Depending on temperature, larvae mature and begin pupating in 18-30 days. The developmental stage can be easily checked through the clear Plexiglas box. Boxes are not opened until the pupal stage. Only one larva per cell survives to pupate (Figures 16,17). Other rearing programs (Raulston and Lingren, 1972;Burton, 1969;Sparks and Harrell, 1976) use eggs for infesting diet and rearing containers because they are more appropriate to their systems.Pupal stage. Many rearing operations, particularly those where much or all of the procedure is mechanized, have developed various machines for pupal extraction (Harrell et al., 1968;Raulston • and Lingren, 1972;Harrell eta/., 1974;Sparksand Harrell, 1976).CIMMYT, by modifying the polystyrene cell unit into a split unit (three layers glued and one layer below), eliminated the need for any special machine for pupal collection. Nearly all pupae are encountered below the surface of the diet in the boxes. The split cell unit, when removed, splits the diet layer and the pupation cell so that the pupae can be gently dumped from the dish. If desired, the few remaining pupae which pupated above the diet plug can be removed by hand or simply discarded.Pupae are placed one layer deep in boxes or dishes of various sizes, depending on the quantity desired, and provided with a screen so that newlyemerged adults can hang and spread their wings (Figure 18). These containers are then put inside the mating cages when the first adults have emerged (Figure 6).infestations with He/iothis sp. have been done with both eggs and larvae (newly hatched, second instar, and third instar). Manual infestation with newly-hatched larvae (using a camel's hair brush) was first done over forty years ago (Blanchard et al., 1942). It was an effective method (Josephson et al., 1966), but very inefficient because of the time and labor involved.  Figure 19. Plants with fully .. merged, fresh silks to be infested ere tagged with date of infestation for later identification. This is done prior to infestation to avoid ' dislodging the l1rv1l grits mixture. 10 More efficient methods in use today include (1) infesting with eggs suspended in a 0.2 percent agar solution and applied to the plants in controlled amounts (hypodermic syringes or pressure applicators) or uncontrolled amounts (squeeze bottles) (Wiseman et al., 1974), and (2) infesting with uniform numbers of newly-hatched larvae, using the Bazooka applicator. The second technique was developed by Mihm and colleagues at CIMMYT in 1976(CIMMYT Review, 1977). The use of the technique and its advantages for use with several lepidopterous species are described in detail by Ortega et al., 1980. Infestation of maize with H. zea larvae is illustrated in Figures 19, 20.Larval infestation is more efficient than othe means of infesting because it is more rapid, uses fewer insects per plant, and is more effective (fewer escape plants) than other techniques. The Bazooka, in original or modified versions (Wiseman et al., 1980), has been used efficiently and effectively for field infestation with at least 11 species of lepidopterous insect larvae (Diatraea saccharalis, D. grandiose/la, D. lineolata, Ostrinia nubilalis, Chilo partel/us, Sesamia cretica, S. calamistis, Busseo/a fusca, He/iothis zea, H. virescens, and Spodoptera frugiperda) and one leafhopper (Dalbulus maidis) in three crop species-corn, sorghum, and cotton. To use the technique in cotton, the plants were simply sprayed first with water (Hall et al., 1980). If done after rain or heavy dew, infestations in cotton would be even more efficient as it would then be unnecessary to spray the plants.For infesting corn in the whorl stages, the larval-corn cob grits mixture is simply dispensed into the whorl. For infesting developing maize ears, the mixture is dispensed onto the fresh silks. Care must be taken not to disturb the plant for a few minutes after infestation, so the larvae have time to attach themselves.If corn cob grits are not readily available, other materials may be used in preparing the larval mixture; corn meal (Hall et al., 1980), millet seed (Pers. comm.), and sorghum meal have been used successfully. Other materials will likely be reported as they are tried.Rating scales are generally used to quantify the resistant (or susceptible) performance (Figure 21) of the plant(s) after infestation in the field or greenhouse.For corn earworm damage in whorl stage corn, a scale similar to the one devised by Wiseman et al. ( 1976) is generally used. It is a 0-10 scale, where 0 is no damage and 10 is a completely destroyed plant. For damage to ears, the revised centimeter scale (Table 2 and Figure  22) developed by Widstrom ( 1967) is recommended as the most effective in indicating plants with heritable resistance. The techniques and experience described in this bulletin for efficient mass rearing and infestation show promise of adaptability to other pest and crop species and to screening and breeding initiatives in other parts of the world. The final objective in the application of these techniques to any program of efficient mass rearing and infestation is to identify resistant genotypes for immediate use in farmers' fields or to identify the most resistant genotypes (plants) for use in a breeding program. Varieties with improved resistance can serve as one of the major components in the effort to manage the Heliothis sp. pest populations.references Anon., 1981    "}

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+{"metadata":{"gardian_id":"ced06ec1d352954fa86231a7b4411a41","source":"gardian_index","url":"https://cgspace.cgiar.org/rest/bitstreams/dd46bccf-861c-4898-9e71-db0cc91b808a/retrieve","id":"2136604595"},"keywords":["P616 -Activity 2.4.1: Animal Health Service provision","P608 -Activity 2.2.2: Establish protocols for survey of antimicrobial use and for monitoring AMR","P607 -Activity 2.2.1: Development and evaluation of herd health packages","P782 -Activity 5.2.4 Gender Methodologies OICR: Outcome Impact Case Report"],"sieverID":"dc947f2d-8793-4788-a15e-82a09dbb84de","content":"Community conversations, developed jointly by ICARDA and ILRI, have resulted in successful behavior change and transformation of gender relations at household and community levels amongst 1,600 farmers in Ethiopia. Local service providers, local government and a large-scale development program have expressed interest in adopting this participatory tool. A training of trainer module that includes livestock health management, gender and zoonotic disease risks has been developed to expand and facilitate uptake of community conversations into the national extension system.Women in rural households in developing countries play an important role in livestock health management, however their role is often not fully recognised. To address this, the International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA) and the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) developed a gender transformative participatory tool called community conversations, consisting of training modules to guide discussions amongst rural farming communities focused around livestock health management, gender and zoonotic disease risks. The modules were tested with 1,600 farmers in Ethiopia, held from 2018 to 2019 amongst five communities in the highland and lowland regions in Ethiopia. Knowledge and practices of participants were recorded before and after the trainings. In open community discussions, men and women farmers offered different perspectives and solutions to common issues. Commitments were recorded, then monitored. An evaluation study showed that concrete changes in attitudes and behaviour had taken place. Some of these include the adoption of safety practices when handling sick animals, improved access for women to farming information, more equitable sharing of responsibilities in the homestead, inclusion of women in non-traditional income-generating activities, increased awareness of the risks of anti-microbial resistance among community members and a better understanding of responsible anti-microbial use amongst local animal health service providers. The impact of community conversations and their successes in changing the behavior of livestock producers have attracted the interest of service providers and local government representatives, who are keen to embed the approach in their national extension system. ICARDA and ILRI researchers have since developed a training of trainer (ToT) module, to facilitate uptake and expansion of the tool. The ToT has been tested and is now embedded in the 4-year EU-funded development program HEARD (Health of Ethiopian Animals for Rural Development) launched in 2019 and aims to strengthen the quality of veterinary services, improve food safety and control zoonotic diseases in Ethiopia. Future activities include the addition of more topics and to fully integrate the approach in the extension system in Ethiopia.Contributing Flagships:• F5: Livestock Livelihoods and Agri-Food Systems • F2: Livestock Health Contributing Regional programs: <Not Defined> Contributing external partners: <Not Defined> CGIAR innovation(s) or findings that have resulted in this outcome or impact: Herd health interventions (such as Innovation 746) developed to address animal health constraints identified and documented in the flagship in the past years required a suitable training approach. We had also clearly shown the need for gender sensitive approaches -hence community conversations which faciliate dialogue across communities, inlc. men and women, were identified as a promissing option.• 573 -Community conversation as a gender transformative approach in livestock health management (https://tinyurl.com/2hq5mm99)• 746 -Community based gastrointestinal parasite control in small ruminants in Ethiopia (https://tinyurl.com/2oxv8yex)Gender inequalities and zoonoses are concerns in livestock production systems worldwide with especially huge impacts in low and middle-income countries. Livestock keepers are at a high risk of zoonotic diseases due to direct contact with their livestock. Risky practices include home slaughter, poor sanitation, handling sick animals, attending births, handling and preparing animal source food and the consumption of such food when raw or undercooked. Gender differences in roles, access to and control of resources and power relations influence the perceptions and practices to manage risks of zoonotic disease transmission. Using participatory action research, ICARDA and ILRI researchers tested the effectiveness of a transformative approach -community conversations (CCs) -in shifting gender relations and practices that expose livestock keepers to zoonoses in 3 districts in rural Ethiopia. A total of 583 women and 1,005 men in Doyogena, Menz and Borana districts participated in CC sessions. Findings from an evaluation study in Doyogena and Menz covering the first 4 modules showed that CCs are an effective approach to shift mindsets and practices regarding unequal gender roles, access to and control of resources and power relations as well as handling sick animals and the consumption of animal-source foods to minimize zoonoses (1). Researchers found significant attitude and behavior changes throughout the process of CCs. Changes occur through a social learning and reflective process whereby community members first recognize and analyze the problem, reflect collectively on their perceptions and how they inform their day-to-day practices, make shifts in mental models and then commit to action (2). The change process is influenced by social structures, networks, institutions, complementary activities, and facilitation processes. The level of engagement by the communities in the CC activities and the ensuing community transformations has attracted the interest of extension agents, official veterinarians and other service providers. A training of trainer module (3) has since been developed to increase the uptake and expansion of the CC tool across the country. To date a first batch of development and local researchers was trained in how to run the modules independently, with an action plan for trainings developed and enacted (4)."}

main/part_2/0292480025.json

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+{"metadata":{"gardian_id":"1896ee2b5e98736200ec14cda1dfa3d7","source":"gardian_index","url":"https://cgspace.cgiar.org/rest/bitstreams/d1dbfa86-98a0-4e1c-9532-e343f3940db8/retrieve","id":"403495234"},"keywords":[],"sieverID":"1b0c7125-81c0-4fc9-8aee-40143ac0bb1e","content":"For a dairy industry to function effectively and efficiently all actors, whether producers, market agents or consumers, need good information on a variety of subjects (table 1). Facilitating the flow of such information presents a particular challenge in Kenya, where the dairy industry is a major source of livelihood and is predominantly based on small-scale production and marketing.A comprehensive review of the knowledge system of the complex smallholder dairy subsector was conducted by the Smallholder Dairy Project (SDP) between November 2002 and May 2003 (box 1).Table 1. Some types of information important for the dairy sector ■ Access to information is a constraint for many actors in the smallholder dairy subsector, and uncertainty exists regarding the quality and reliability of the information that is available.In a liberalized dairy sector the respective roles played by public and private sector actors in information dissemination need to be clarified and coordinated.■ Professional associations and industry bodies could take a lead in improving accountability and quality of information, to the benefit of all in the industry.Groups play a critical role in the sector, and need better support and information on effective group management.■ Particular benefit could be gained from addressing the information needs of small-scale milk traders.A network of information centres could improve access to information by all actors.The survey used the rapid appraisal of agricultural knowledge systems (RAAKS) method, a participatory methodology for understanding information flows in complex systems 1 . The method involves working with multiple actors to describe and understand how they generate, access and pass on relevant information. Findings are used to facilitate action planning to address constraints and utilize opportunities found in the system.A series of workshops and interviews was held at national level and in three districts -Nakuru, Vihiga and Kiambu. Workshop participants identified a wide range of actors to be interviewed (table 2). Various RAAKS tools were used to explore the roles, objectives, linkages and impacts of different actors from their own perspectives. Feedback meetings of the study teams clustered findings and brought out key areas of constraint and opportunity.These were explored in further key informant workshops to verify the findings and to start working towards action plans for improvement.Key policy-relevant findings of the study are presented below, and illustrated with some specific examples.A large number of private, civil society and public actors are involved in generating and making available information. Linkages between actors are complex but are presented in a simplified manner in figures 1 and 2. Figure 1 presents information flows between actors at a local level (including the local extensions of national groups); figure 2 presents information flows between high-level actors at a national level, indicating where information feeds through to local level actors. Information flows are classified by colour (see key); more important flows are represented by thicker arrows. In some instances (for example informal milk traders in figure 1) internal flow among individuals in some actor categories is also represented.Linkages between these actors are often weak, and almost all actors in the study had problems accessing and passing on information 2 . Particular constraints were identified as follows:■ Lack of awareness of sources: Several actors, such as small-scale farmers and traders, were unaware of where or how to access information. Licensing of small-scale traders, who play a crucial role in the dairy sector, may help them to access information, and this issue is now being addressed by the Kenya Dairy Board and non-governmental organizations, supported by SDP research 3 . ■ Inability to access sources: It is difficult, for example, for individual farmers to link with the wide range of actors who could provide technical information on milk production and handling. Public researchers and extension workers have limited resources or opportunities for accessing and passing on information.Information gaps: There is a lack of information provision in such areas as markets and prices, credit, finance and legal services, business services and effective group formation and management.Weak links in the chain: Formal public research-extension linkages exist but are often ineffective 4 . Some of the most effective sharing of information was based on informal links between individuals, including spread of information between farmers. Problems may arise when both public and private sector actors provide information within a recently liberalized dairy sector: ■ Inconsistent quality of information from private sector: Private suppliers of feeds and drugs provide information on their products to farmers. However, farmers have no means of judging the accuracy of this information. In addition, there is little effective regulation of the quality of this information through enforced advertising standards.Lack of information on animal health: Private animal health workers (vets and artificial insemination practitioners) are generally viewed as service providers rather than sources of information. They often lack support from their professional organizations towards providing a service in which information is valued.Low appreciation of the value of information: Dairy farmers show greater willingness to pay for inputs and services than to pay for information. This may be because of limited farmer capacity to convert information into tangible benefit; or because it is felt that information should be provided free. Private and public sector roles are not clearly differentiated by actors. "}

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+{"metadata":{"gardian_id":"b094d95d75a66cc1b9606b94e2474ce3","source":"gardian_index","url":"https://cgspace.cgiar.org/rest/bitstreams/8515f0ee-eef9-4455-976e-342f5aeeff18/retrieve","id":"1905568236"},"keywords":[],"sieverID":"0340db7a-a4e7-409b-81bd-03894b4dc79c","content":"Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. cubense Tropical Race 4 (Foc TR4), the causal agent of Fusarium wilt of banana (FWB), is currently the major threat to the banana industry worldwide (Dita et al. 2018).Restricted to South Asia for more than 20 years, Foc TR4 has spread in the last years to the Middle Further analyses to identify the presence/absence of full sequences for the putative effector genes (Secreted In Xylem -SIX) and their allelic copies, also revealed that the SIX genes profile of the strains isolated from Querecotillo matched with previously reported Foc TR4 isolates (Czislowski  "}

main/part_2/0300511052.json

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+{"metadata":{"gardian_id":"24c12e8471d49f398ba4630382b73eff","source":"gardian_index","url":"https://cgspace.cgiar.org/rest/bitstreams/b76db559-3630-48c3-bda2-6aa27330eaaa/retrieve","id":"625835763"},"keywords":[],"sieverID":"6d879a96-8c20-404a-8ac6-4b4ddf56eb5d","content":"Emerging evidence suggests that working towards multiple objectives, including those related to mitigating and adapting to climate change, increasing gender equity and youth inclusion, and improving nutrition increases the chances of interventions to achieve their goals and the likelihood that they have long-lasting positive impacts across a range of development objectives (Tallis et al. 2019, Yavinsky et al. 2015). Conversely, interventions that do not follow a more integrated approach may miss tradeoffs across well-being outcomes, exclude vulnerable groups, or even increase the marginalization and vulnerability of others and ultimately might fall short of their objectives. To address this problem and favor the integration of the mainstreaming themes in IFAD operations, a team of researchers at the International Food Policy Research Institute developed a conceptual framework for understanding the linkages between climate change, gender, youth, and nutrition within the larger context of resilience for development drawing on different bodies of literature on these topics (Figure 1). Resilience is particularly suited to develop a coherent, inclusive and rigorous method to plan for interventions and to analyze on-going interventions that work at the intersection of multiple disciplines. Resilience is integrative by construction; it facilitates collaboration among experts of different disciplines and combines relations among human and natural systems.Central to the concept of resilience are people's capacities. This puts an emphasis on how interventions and programs can support the building of capacities for different groups of people to achieve specific well-being outcomes. People's capacity to respond to shocks and stresses and to negotiate for their preferred solutions determines the range of viable responses. Existing capacities also influence the type of impact that interventions have on households' wellbeing and the potential for people to fully take advantage of interventions.Gender and age are critical social distinctions that influence vulnerability, capacities, impacts, and the feasibility of interventions. In particular, women and youth often have different needs and preferences from others in the community or other individuals in the household and typically have less bargaining power and control over resources. Other social distinctions also strongly influence resilience and capacities, including ethnicity, class, race, caste, and sexual orientation among many others.Figure 1. The Climate Change, Gender, Youth and Nutrition integrated analysis framework Drawing on this framework, the IFPRI mainstreaming team has engaged with IFAD missions in four sub-Saharan African countries (Ethiopia, Ghana, Malawi and Uganda) to generate lessons for the mainstreaming of climate change, gender, youth and nutrition in IFAD's operations. The IFPRI team engaged with IFAD missions at various stages of the project cycle to test the applicability of the framework to the mainstreaming process.In July 2019, the IFPRI mainstreaming team joined an IFAD mission in Uganda for the design of the National Oilseeds Project (NOSP). The goal of this engagement was to facilitate the inclusion and integration of the mainstreaming areas in the project design and implementation plans. This experience made clear the importance and advantages of a mainstreaming team to work embedded in the project planning phase. This report situation analysis that the team used to support recommendations on entry points for more integrated mainstreaming of climate change, gender, youth and nutrition in the design of the NOSP.Uganda experiences relatively humid conditions and moderate temperatures throughout the year, with mean daily temperatures of 28 °C with the average monthly temperatures ranging from a minimum of 15 °C in July to a maximum of 30 °C in February. The highest temperatures are observed in the North, especially in the North-East, while lower temperatures occur in the South.Historical data indicate that during the period the 1975 to 2009 average temperature during the two rainy seasons (March-June and June-September) has warmed more than 0.8 °C. This transition to an even warmer climate is likely to amplify the impact of decreasing rainfall and periodic droughts and will likely reduce crop harvests and pasture availability. A significant warming has been measured in Uganda for instance the Uganda's National Adaptation Programme of Action (NAPA) cites an average temperature increase of 0.28 °C per decade in the country between 1960 and 2010, being January and February the most affected by this warming trend, averaging an increase of 0.37 °C per decade.The frequency of hot days in the country has increased significantly while the frequency of cold days has decreased.The annual rainfall totals vary from 500 mm to 2800 mm; mean annual rainfall ranges between less than 900 mm in the driest districts to an average of above 1,200 mm per year in the wettest districts located within the Lake Victoria Basin, eastern and the north-western parts of Uganda (37,38). Precipitations have a bimodal distribution in the south to central parts of Uganda, with two rainy seasons (March-June and October-January), while northern-easterly region experiences one long rainy season. Floods and droughts are the most frequent weather hazards. For instance, the cattle corridor, located in the dry-land region, is prone to drought, while the northern region is especially vulnerable to both floods and droughts.Time series indicate that rainfall, on average, has been decreasing. Several analyses find an overall decrease in average rainfall of about 12% during the past 34 years in Uganda, with the greatest decreases in the regions of central and western Uganda. Furthermore, during the period 2000-2009 rainfall has been, on average, about 8 percent lower than rainfall between 1920 and 1969.Climate projections based on data from Fifth Assessment Report (AR5) of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) using Representative Concentration Pathway (RCP) 8.5 scenarios indicate the possibility of an increase in the country's average temperature in the order of +2.5 °C in the next 50 years (Figure 3, panels e-h). Projections for the next 80 years point to a possible increase of 4.5 °C.Many climate models predict an increase in short rains (September -November) as global temperatures rise (Figure 3, panels a-d). However, the Horn of Africa region has become observationally drier during the 20th century. This drying trend against the projected increase in rainfall place East Africa into an apparent climate paradox which is generally considered as an indication that more accurate model simulations and an improved understanding of the geophysical processes governing the rainfall over East Africa is necessary. Given these inconsistencies and the errors in climate models' ability to simulate the current climate, whether or not the future climate in East Africa will become wetter as a result of climate change is an open question. Keeping in mind the existing uncertainty in climate projections, we analyze the projected effects of climate change on some of Uganda's major crops. Figure 4 reports the projected changes in yields for eight crops and four different climate models. Even though we do not have projections for sesame, we can use the effects on millet and sorghum as rough proxies. According to GFDL projections sesame could be not negatively affected by climate change but all other climate models show a decrease in yields. Groundnut is negatively affected under all climate scenario while soybean fairs better than all other crops. Given the climate projections of GFDL and MIROC, yields appear to increase but using the other two climate models (HADGEM and IPSL) yields are expected to decrease. One of the main challenges being faced by the oil seed producers is the late on set of rains and late cessation of the first season that results in replanting in some cases or late planting and harvesting of the produce. The late harvesting results in drying challenges and thus increased post-harvest losses. Farmers also complained about the increasing risk of droughts and prolonged dry spells that adversely impact their yields. The rainfall variability is compounded by the low accuracy of the climate information being disseminated to the framers.The priority reflected in Uganda's Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) is adaptation. The country aims to reduce vulnerability and address adaptation in agriculture and livestock, infrastructure and water sectors, among others. The strategy to build climate change resilience includes the scaling-up of sustainable land management and climate smart agriculture.Given the particularly uncertain climate outlook for this region of Africa, it is essential that farmers are given the necessary support and information to develop flexible adaptation and contingency plans. A range of technologies are already being promoted and implemented in the country. Among these are: integrated soil fertility management, agro-forestry, crop diversification, conservation agriculture (crop rotation, mulching, green cover crops and low-or no-till), intercropping legumes with other crops, water management practices and adaptable planting times. These practices, which are climate smart agriculture practices already indicated as viable adaptation option in the country's NDC, must be evaluated considering crop specific performance given soil and other local conditions. Furthermore, to ensure crop performance and to protect farmers' livelihoods and the implementation of important instruments like crop insurance, the availability of climate information and early warning systems is necessary.The priority actions that NOSP can contribute to in the agriculture sector include expanding climate information services and early warning systems, climate smart agriculture practices, expanding value addition and post-harvest handling and storage, encouraging agro-forestry and water use efficiency.Uganda intends to follow a climate resilient and low carbon development pathway. The priorities for mitigation include the forestry and wetlands sectors.Agriculture is the main occupation of women in Uganda-72% of all employed women and 90% of all rural women work in agriculture, compared to 53% of rural men (Garcia 2006). Women play a prominent role in planting, weeding, harvesting, post-harvest processing, storage and food preparation, while men focus on land clearing and marketing of high value crops. Food crops (such as plantains and tubers) are typically controlled by women while men tend to have greater control over cash crops and income (Kasente et al. 2001;Garcia 2006). Other studies confirm that women are at a disadvantage in terms of crops sold in formal markets that generate higher revenues, while maintaining more control over lower-revenue crops (Njuki et al. 2011). Moreover, Peterman et al (2011) find persistent lower productivity on female-owned plots and among female-headed households, after controlling for a range of socio-economic variables, agricultural inputs and crop choices with important differences based on crop choice, agroecological zone, and biophysical characteristics. De la Ocampos et al. ( 2016) attribute differences in productivity largely to differences in crop choice and factors of production, including women's labor constraints, and lack of access to agricultural inputs and extension.Promotion of non-traditional exports, such as oilseeds, is considered an important agricultural development strategy for the country, given risks of over-reliance on world markets for traditional cash crops like coffee, tea and cotton (Kasente et al. 2001). However, investments in value chains for nontraditional exports, like oilseeds, have important gender implications given women's more limited involvement in cash crop farming. In particular, there are inherent risks to women's empowerment with commercialization of traditional food crops that they control, like groundnut and sesame.Constraints. While women are increasingly involved in the cash crop production, including in the oilseed sector, they lack control over income and benefits from it given men's control over marketing activities (Garcia 2006;Vorley et al. 2015). Other constraints to women benefiting from oilseed production relate to their lack of ownership of land, greater risk aversion, lack of access to inputs (like seed), and labor burden. Production of certain crops, such as soybean, and post-harvest processing practices using traditional methods are particularly labor intensive (Kasente et al. 2001;Vorley et al. 2015). Women's priorities to increase their participation in oilseed value chains include access to labor-saving technologies, access to finance, and group formation and strengthening (Vorley et al. 2015). Women also tend to lack access to agricultural information as well as information on climate change and climate-smart practices compared to men (Katungi et al. 2008;Kisauzi et al. 2012), which can limit their successful participation in commercial oilseed production.Data shows that 31 % of households across the country are female-headed and the rate is only slightly lower in rural areas at 30 % (UNHS 2017). Female-headed household often have particular vulnerabilities related to lack of access to family labor for agricultural production, weaker social networks, and limited access to resources and information (Katungi, et al. 2008). Widows in Uganda are considered to be particularly vulnerable due to social norms, which limit their control over physical and financial resources (UNHS 2017). Married women often have more access to resources and family labor but may be at a greater disadvantage in terms of other aspects of empowerment such as decision-making and mobility.In terms of access to and decisions on credit, 66 % of women report having access to credit from any source, with the most common sources being friends or relatives (41.3 %) and group-based micro-finance (31.8 %). Most women have input into the decision to borrow (69.4 %) and how to use the loan funding (73.3 %) across all loan sources. Reasons for taking loans were similar across men and women, according to UNHS data (2017). Primary reasons for both men and women include: to smooth consumption (reported by % of men and 25 % of women who borrowed), to pay education expenses (26 % of men and 23 % of women), and to purchase inputs/capital for non-farm enterprises (19 % of men and 18 % of women) (UNHS 2017).Women Empowerment in Agriculture Index. The Feed the Future baseline survey conducted in 2012, showed an overall WEAI score of 0.86. The measure of individual empowerment without considering the gap in scores between men and women (the 5DE) shows that 57.8 % of women achieve empowerment (5DE score of 0.80 or above). Among women who did not achieve empowerment, access to and control over productive and financial resources (credit), time burden, and community leadership appear as the domains where women have the lowest scores. Women are much more likely to achieve adequacy in the domains of production decision-making and control over income. Sixty-one percent of women achieve gender parity with the main adult male decision-maker in the household. Baseline WEAI data were analyzed in relation to other development outcomes. Findings show that women in households with moderate to severe hunger are significantly less likely to achieve adequacy in autonomy in production, ownership or control of assets, control over the use of income, and satisfaction with leisure time, while women in households with moderate to severe hunger are significantly more likely to achieve adequacy with respect to access to and decisions on credit. The correlation between hunger and access to and decisions on credit is likely related to credit being used to smooth consumption among the most vulnerable agricultural households rather than for productive purposes. Women with higher decisionmaking scores have statistically lower levels of wasting of children under 5 years.Similarly, with respect to decisions on the use of income from these activities, results show that women that participate in cash crop farming report having input into most or all decisions related to income from this activity (91.8 %). These results suggest that increasing women's involvement in cash crop farming would lead to other gains in terms of decision-making over production and income. DHS data from 2016 show similar results with 91 % of currently married women participating in decisions about the use of their earnings (53 % make decisions on their own, and 38 % make decisions jointly with their husband).In terms of specific decisions related to agricultural production and expenditures, WEAI data show that the majority of women are involved to a medium or high extent in decisions related to getting inputs for agricultural production (79 %), the types of crops to grow (85 %), whether to take crops to market (75.8 %), minor household expenditures (90 %), major household expenditures (65.6 %), own wage or salary employment (86.9 %). DHS data show that currently married women (age 15-49) participate in household decisions either alone or jointly with their husbands on their own health care their own health care (74%) and visits to their family or relatives (72%) than in decisions about making major household purchases (64%) (FtF FEEDBACK, 2015).While the results for Uganda related to women's participation in production decision-making and income decisions are promising, women's actual influence in production and income decisions may vary by crop and the level of profitability. More disaggregated analyses at the crop level and at various stages of commercialization are needed to understand gender roles in and benefit from cash crop value chains, including oilseeds.Given that there are various dimensions of women's empowerment in agriculture, interventions in the sector are likely to have different impacts on these various aspects. Commercialization of oilseeds is no exception. In particular, positive and negative impacts are expected to occur. Hypotheses include:1) Commercialization of oilseeds traditionally controlled by women as food crops (i.e. groundnut and sesame) will reduce the share of household income and assets that women control.Similarly, commercialization of oilseeds may reduce women's involvement in decisions related to production of and income received from these crops. The use of the Gender Action Learning System (GALS) should mitigate this negative impact to some extent.New labor-saving technologies and services introduced by service providers will save women's time-particularly for those women already involved in oilseed production and processing. Women not previously involved in oilseed production may see their labor burden increase if they are adding new activities to their existing workload.Incentives and capacity building to increase women's active participation in and leadership of farmer organizations and service provision (agronomists, machine operators etc.) will increase women's leadership roles in the community.Agriculture and related jobs are likely to dominate the employment opportunities for rural youth for the foreseeable future, making the welfare of youth closely tied to trends in agricultural development. Environmental risks related to climate change, land fragmentation and degradation, therefore, pose considerable risk to young people whose livelihoods will depend on agriculture (Brooks et al. 2019). Investments in agricultural research and development and agricultural infrastructure are essential to mitigate these risks and protect rural livelihoods into the future (ibid). Wage labor in the agri-food system will also become an increasingly important source of employment for youth (Dolislager et al. 2019).Young people under the age of 35 are also more likely to migrate for reasons including: following family, income, marriage, and education (UNHS 2017). Increasing land scarcity due to high population growth will likely drive employment and migration decisions of rural youth into the future (Yeboah et al. 2019). Therefore, policies are needed to increase youth access to land and security of tenure in order to sustain agricultural productivity growth and drive rural transformation (ibid). Educational attainment is increasing over time, suggesting that young people are being educated at higher rates than in the past. Between 2012/13 and 2016/17, the percentage of persons aged 15 years and above that lacked any formal education dropped by 9 percentage points from 21% to 12% (UNHS 2017). The main reason for leaving school was lack of funding/not affordable (68% for boys and 65% for girls). Ten percent of both boys and girls left school because their parents decided to take them out or they had a calamity at home. Four percent of girls also left due to pregnancy. Overall, only 6% of both boys and girls left school because they reached their desired education level (UNHS 2017).It is often argued that youth present opportunities for agricultural transformation given special characteristics, qualities, motivations, and abilities. While these claims are widely made, there is currently no research to support the notion that youth are more innovative, creative, and more likely to adopt new agricultural technology like improved seeds, fertilisers, irrigation and mechanisation; engage with value chains, integrate ICTs into their livelihood activities, or seize new business opportunities as service or input providers (Sumberg and Hunt, forthcoming).Despite limited evidence about the economic or transformative benefits of investing in rural youth, addressing the needs of this large and growing demographic is essential from a social equity and longterm sustainability perspective. Agricultural value chains both on-farm and off-farm could offer promising career opportunities for young Ugandans, if appropriate information and start-up resources were available for rural youth.Investment priorities for rural youth depend on the level of transformation of the country and the existing opportunity structure (Arslan et al. 2019). Opportunities for rural youth vary by local context depending on the natural resource base, market access, social norms, and preferences, as well as household characteristics (RDR 2019;Sumberg et al. 2019). In countries, like Uganda, with low levels of rural transformation, investments should focus on building the capacities of rural youth through investments in infrastructure and education and on increasing the productivity, connectivity, and agency of youth in agriculture (Arslan et al. 2019;RDR 2019;Sumberg et al. 2019). Commercialization should increase the rural opportunity structure for youth to participate in and benefit from agricultural transformation.Programs targeted at increasing the opportunities for rural youth should consider gender differences in constraints and needs by young men and women. Young women and men experience the transition to adulthood differently depending on the level of structural and rural transformation of the country (Doss et al. 2019). Research using sex-disaggregated data across 42 countries shows young women are more likely to have transitioned into domestic and reproductive roles and less likely to be in school or employed, and less likely to own land (ibid).The NOSP offers an opportunity to assess youth opportunities and engagement in the process of commercialization. During field visits, smallholders in the NOSP areas described education as the most important thing for the youth and were concerned about consistent ability to pay school fees and disruptions to their education. Some youth groups visited was not explicitly or predominantly made up of youth and thus did not likely address their particular needs or priorities. The older generations were maintained as group members with the justification that they pass on knowledge and provide guidance to other members who are youth. Youth farmer groups have been formed at schools as part of GoU guidelines. These groups consisted of young girls and boys who were trained in agriculture and farming techniques and engaged in practical demonstrations and field work. VODP2 also conducted trainings and field work as a pilot in two schools and reported generating positive results in informing young farmers about benefits and production/harvesting techniques of oilseeds and in increasing their interest in agriculture sector.The UNHS 2016/17 Report provides per capita estimates of calorie consumption by food group based on household consumption estimates. Figure 2 shows that total calorie consumption and the shaded orange area of the figure shows the food energy gap for each sub-region, which is the gap between average population dietary energy requirement (ADER) for Uganda, which is 2091 calories per person per day, and per capita consumption in that sub-region. Most sub-regions face significant estimated food energy gaps. Only Teso and West Nile are just above the cut-off, though it is likely that some proportion of their populations do fall below. For those with higher calorie consumption, the share of calories from staples tends to be higher. Table 2 breaks down estimated per capita calories consumption by food group within each sub-district. Overall, staple food consumption makes up a higher than optimal share of the diet, and nutrient rich foods are greatly under consumed. The Uganda Nutrition Action Plan 2011 sets a target of 75% of calories coming from foods other than staples. Only Bugishu/Elgon meets this target, but it also has the lowest per capita calorie consumption across all food groups. Of interest to NOSP, the share of calories from nuts and pulses is very low. For most sub-regions considered, improving diets will require increasing the amounts of nutrient-rich foods while maintaining the quantities of staples consumed. While for Lango and Bugishu/Elgon, improving diets will require increasing consumption of all food groups. While increased production of nutritious foods like oilseeds may increase supply and decrease prices, participation on high-value supply chains can also disincentivize consumption as people prefer to sell for profit, such as in the example of quinoa among indigenous Peruvian communities (McDonell, 2016). The inadequacy of diets of children from six months to two years in Uganda is a major challenge. An alarming 15% of children overall received both sufficient diversity and meal frequency to yield a minimum acceptable diet in 2016 (UBOS & ICF, 2018). This rate falls to an alarming low of 2.5% of children under-2 receiving a minimum acceptable diet in Acholi, where stunting is also very high. Other sub-regions with high prevalence of stunting and wasting also have very low rates of adequate child feeding, except for West Nile which is above the national average for minimum diet adequacy but still suffers among the highest rates of stunting and wasting, suggesting that non-diet factors like health shocks may be exacerbating child nutrition outcomes.Stunting and wasting. Based on the 2016 Uganda Demographic and Health Survey (2018) data collected in 2016, national stunting prevalence is 29% nation-wide. In Uganda, stunting is associated with rural residence and low levels of mothers' education. In the target areas, Bugisu, Karamoja, Acholi and West Nile experience higher stunting rates than the national average by between 2 and 7%.Wasting is higher than the national average in all NOSP targeted sub-regions except for Teso, by between 2 and 7%. In particular, Bugisu, Karamoja, Acholi, and West Nile all have wasting rates of 9-10%, which is extremely high. In particular, in Karamoja and West Nile the prevalence of severe wasting is nine times higher than what would be expected in a well-nourished population (UNICEF-Uganda, 2018). Furthermore, in West Nile, wasting increased from 6.2% to 10.4% from 2011 to 2016. While in Karamoja, wasting increased from 7.1% to 10% from 2011-2016(UBOS & ICF, 2012, 2018;UNICEF-Uganda, 2018).These statistics suggest that these areas have experienced major population-wide health or income shocks, and national-wide analysis finds that wasting is correlated poverty (UNICEF-Uganda, 2018). In Karamoja during this same time period (2011)(2012)(2013)(2014)(2015)(2016), the proportion of the population relying on subsistence agriculture increased from 6% to 51%, highlighting the need to better understand the vulnerabilities associated with shifts in livelihoods approaches (UNICEF-Uganda, 2018).Drivers of food and nutrition insecurity. Some national studies provide additional insights on the potential drivers of food security and nutrition problems in the North. In particular, the source of household income and women's role in food production and marketing play a role in nutrition outcomes (Azzari et al., 2015;Kirk et al., 2018;Whitney et al., 2018). For instance, women's control over which crops are produced supports them to deliver diverse diets for the family (through own consumption) and fulfil cash needs (through small-scale sales) (Whitney et al., 2018). While animal foods are an important part of a healthy diet, only ownership of small ruminants appears to influence nutrition outcomes in Uganda (Azzari et al., 2015). And finally, non-agricultural self-employment (in contrast to wage labor) seems to support better nutrition outcomes (Kirk et al., 2018).The IFPRI team joined the Uganda mission and design team to support mainstreaming in the NOSP. Through this engagement, the IFPRI team helped the IFAD mission by applying a mainstreaming lens to the process of stakeholder engagement, preparing the project's SECAP, and by suggesting components, project activities, and indicators for monitoring and evaluation to be included in the project plans. The IFPRI team identified clear entry points for mainstreaming activities and suggested a series of activities that weaved mainstreaming in the project operations (see the appendix for details). Specific areas of engagement included:• Situation analysis for each mainstreaming topic • Develop a protocol for stakeholder engagement/assessment using checklist linked to framework • Meet each component lead to define mainstreaming activities (shown in Figures 2-4 • Conduct a social diagnostic assessment within each hub to identify social dynamics that should be addressed in the design and implementation of the project. Through this assessment high risk communities with a critical gender imbalance will be identified and intervention approaches will be tailored to mitigate these risks.• Ensure social inclusion in farmer organizations as part of the stakeholder platforms as well as trainings, information/extension, demonstration to farmers. This may include specific targets for women-led groups in areas where women's active participation in mixed groups is limited and where women prefer this approach. All facilitators/brokers should be trained in gender dynamics to solicit input from women and youth and other marginal groups in mixed groups to ensure that their priorities are reflected in investment plans and selection of services.• Use of Household Methodologies (GALS and HH Mentoring) to ensure women's participation in household expenditure decisions. The GALS also includes nutrition and climate change. The methodologies will enable farmers to identify common areas of gender inequality limiting women's and youth's development specifically in value chains and household/community progression.• Provide incentives to increase women's and young people's participation in and benefit from service provision, including mechanization. Increasing the participation of women in the provision of the services envisaged, either as auxiliary or technical, will build the capacity of women along the value chain to participate in and benefit from the commercialization effort.• Promote good agricultural practices and technologies that are environmentally sustainable, and nutrition-and gender-sensitive. Promotion of renewable energy such as dryers that use crop residues instead of fuel wood to avoid deforestation, precision fertilizer application to increase resource efficiency, integrated soil fertility management and crop rotation and diversification.• Provide equipment and training to support greater aflatoxin control and awareness. In field practices aflatoxin control measures include selection of drought tolerant seed varieties and good agriculture practices to reduce crop stress. Managing moisture levels post-harvest with appropriate drying technology, such as simple drying racks, and improved storage facilities would also limit further contamination.• Improve access to nutrition knowledge and health food culture through nutrition trainings and other awareness raising activities. This can be done through partnerships with existing programs to address challenges high levels of stunting, wasting and micro-nutrient deficiencies.• Build capacity of facilitators/brokers in climate risk mapping/vulnerability assessments. Using downscaled future projections the existing adaptation strategies can be improved and options provided through the NOSP advisory services.• Invest in the development of climate information services and R&D on drought tolerant varieties.The project can also promote different climate smart agriculture practices to contribute to the NDC priorities by scaling up practices such as minimum tillage, mulching and other soil and water conservation measures and improved water use efficiency and farm management.• Ensure the design and construction of rural roads is informed by climate risk analyses. The downscaled climate risk models will be used in the risk mapping and integrate measures such as water harvesting structures and improved drainage.• Incorporate sites for the land degradation surveillance framework and their operationalization to monitor the health of the soil and land use changes.• Adhere to the SECAP and national environmental regulations in the development of the roads infrastructure. The impact assessments will have to be included in the budgets for the infrastructure development and approvals obtained from NEMA.• Appoint dedicated staff for social inclusion and environment and climate change at management as well as implementation levels."}

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+{"metadata":{"gardian_id":"2471b9d6571a3b6af8cf21e4817f268d","source":"gardian_index","url":"https://cgspace.cgiar.org/rest/bitstreams/1d6fe332-8ca1-4442-ba1b-de9d2492b5d8/retrieve","id":"-750570386"},"keywords":[],"sieverID":"cd576c56-4ec5-45d4-80ae-c624184b98a8","content":"Fair dealing and other rights are in no way affected by the above. The parts used must not misrepresent the meaning of the publication. ILRI would appreciate being sent a copy of any materials in which text, photos etc. have been used.As in many southern African countries, cattle is the traditional indicator of wealth in Swaziland and, since prestige is derived from the number of cattle owned rather than their quality or commercial value, overgrazing is rife. There is however an opportunity for smallholder livestock keepers to increase their income from livestock sales as national and regional demand for meat is increasing and there are unmet export quotas for Europe (European Union and Norway).Extensive production systems are common for cattle producers with little investment as capital is limited to buy inputs and adopt new technologies in order to increase productivity and improve the quality of their animals. The above and dependency on rainfall, have been making formal lenders hesitate to disburse loans to farmers to boost productivity. However, increased access to irrigated land through various rural development programs such as the Lower Usuthu smallholder irrigation project (LUSIP) offers new opportunities to farmers. There is a potential to start grass/forage based fattening of animals which will significantly reduce the production costs and improve quality.The research conducted looks into cattle producers, fatteners and traders' production and marketing behavior and access to credit in two areas of Swaziland in order to inform the development of a financial instrument (a loan) that will help producers, fatteners and traders improve their competitiveness.The initial study (focus group discussions) was conducted between October 2013 and February 2014 followed by individual in depth interviews that lasted up to June 2014. In total one hundred and eleven persons were interviewed: fifty three cattle producers, thirty six cattle fatteners and twenty two cattle traders. The average age of cattle producers is 50.3 years, and 51.3 years for cattle traders. Cattle fatteners have the lowest average years (45.4), and mostly females (44%) compared to the producers and traders groups. The collected data was coded and entered into excel and analysed using STATA version 13.0.Main findings are:• Sales of beef cattle are the main source of income for all three groups, although this is of least importance for cattle traders. Traders obtain more than one third of their income from other agricultural activities such as livestock production, fattening, transport, etc. The high percentage of revenue derived from livestock by producers and fatteners is because many of them are unemployed and have no other source of income, selling a head of cattle will pay for household expenditures including school fees. About one third of cattle producers interviewed had not sold cattle in the past two years. Revenues from sugarcane farming contribute 30 to 35% for producers and fatteners. Around half of the producers, almost all fatteners and two thirds of traders interviewed were part of an association. • The area surveyed falls under Swazi national land. The average land size for cattle producers, fatteners and traders interviewed was 3.5, 2.3 and 3.8 hectares respectively. This land is mainly used for vegetables, maize and cotton farming. During the off-season, cattle are allowed to vii graze in the fields. Apart from land and cattle ownership, farmers own a number of assets such as vehicles, plough, and permanent houses. • All three groups deal with multiple livestock species (cattle, goats, sheep, pigs and chickens).Forty-one per cent of cattle producers own less than ten animals. For cattle fatteners, livestock ownership is almost evenly distributed for herd size of up to 50 cattle. Almost all the traders have been involved in cattle trading activities with different intensities during the past 12 months. Herd composition varies; more than half of the herds of producers are cows older than 4 years. Fatteners have mostly animals less than 24 months of age for both sexes. • Extensive systems are the most common for cattle producers and cattle fatteners. Twenty-five per cent of fatteners has indicated the exclusive use of stall-feed system (zero grazing), while other cattle producers and cattle fatteners indicated relying mostly on grazing supplemented in the dry season. Only 7% of the fatteners use commercial feed. The use of sugarcane tops still very low among farmers albeit this residue of the sugarcane industry is abundant in the region. • The average number of cattle sold during the last 12 months by cattle producers is 3.47; traders sold 37 and fatteners 18. The two main market channels for all groups are butchers and Swaziland Meat Industries (SMI). For producers, selling to other producers is also important. Producers are the most important cattle suppliers. There is a preference to purchase animals up to 2 years, although purchase of 3-5 year male cattle and old cows during the last 12 months does also happen. About half of the traders indicated that the quantity of animals on offer was less than in previous years, while the others thought it had remained the same or even increased. Seventy-three per cent of traders operate only in the Lubombo region. For producers, the mean selling price of cattle is SZL4382.68/animal. Cattle fatteners mostly sell animals on the basis of live weight (in Emalangeni per kilogram), the mean price being 20.51 SZL/kg (USD2/kg). • All existing agreements among the different groups are verbal and the following aspects are considered: time of sale, price, body condition, weight, age, animal health, regime followed, conditions and timing of payments and transport of animal at the time of sale. The majority of respondent groups are willing to be on a written contractual fattening agreement with the other stakeholder. Almost two-thirds of both cattle fatteners and cattle traders accepted to bear these operational costs. The majority of cattle producers prefer sharing the benefits with the traders rather than asking for a fixed amount. • Access to extension services is below 40% and knowledge on the use of suitable feed resources to fatten the animals is limited or inexistent among respondents. Access to market information is high (over 64%); for other farmers, extension services and buyers are important sources of information. • Almost all cattle fatteners and traders have a bank account compared to 70% of producers. Only around half of all respondents have access to credit for livestock/farming activities mostly due to lack of collaterals. Informal sources of credit such as friends/relatives were the most sited source of borrowing money for cattle producers and cattle fatteners. Almost two thirds of the traders declared preferring getting the loan individually and directly from the financial institution.Beef consumption is rising throughout the southern Africa region, providing opportunities on local, national and regional markets (IAASTD 2007;World Bank 2007). A variety of export initiatives, increased consumer income, population growth, and urbanization of southern African countries (growing influence of supermarkets), have increased the demand for quality beef, differentiated by grades and requiring formal slaughter and inspection (Katz and Boland 2000;McDermott et al. 2010;Scoones et al. 2010). This increase in demand should ideally translate to increasing income for cattle farmers including smallholders. However, as production is not market oriented incomes from livestock are low and irregular for many smallholders in the region.The increased demand for livestock and livestock products -livestock revolution (Delgado et al., 1999) in the European Union (EU) markets has also brought about opportunities for countries in southern Africa. The region was able to negotiate a deal with the EU for export of boneless beef under a generous reduced tariff, thus opening new markets and enabling the payment of premium prices to farmers (Scoones and Wolmer 2008). Some southern African countries such as Namibia and Swaziland have been allocated quotas for beef exports to the EU under the Lome's Convention (Sartorius Von Bach et al. 1998).Under this trade agreement, commercial beef producers have been gaining premium prices while smallholder farmers were excluded because inferior quality animals due amongst others to lack access to financial markets, land, irrigation, and production chains. Developing countries have initiated policies that promote, develop and encourage smallholder cattle farmers to produce into a more market oriented way.New opportunities have risen for Swaziland as recently the quota allocated to the country to supply boneless beef to the EU and Norway markets was increased (by 90% for the Norway market), and local demand for livestock products remains high. Furthermore, Swaziland Meat Industries (SMI), the country's only exporting abattoir, is adding more production lines that will focus on processed meat products. This will result in value addition in this industry and will reduce importation of these products. This is another development that may encourage farmers to engage more in commercialization.On the supply side, there are also a number of developments happening that may encourage increased cattle production and commercialization. The Swaziland the Livestock Development Policy provides the policy framework for smallholder farmers to improve their social and economic status through improved cattle production and commercialization. Access to irrigated land by smallholder farmers allow for improved production through growing of forages as well as the use of crop residues for animal feeding from the sugar cane industry. This area is still very under developed with most cattle farmers keeping their animals in extensive systems without supplementation.In 2011 Lidwala Insurance Company introduced an agricultural insurance package targeted at both the small and large commercial farmers. The package includes a comprehensive livestock policy which covers various livestock species. This access to insurance has encouraged commercial banks and microfinance institutions to invest in agricultural production although no particular financial products have been made available to date.As in many southern African countries, cattle is the traditional indicator of wealth in Swaziland and, since prestige is derived from the number of cattle owned rather than their quality or commercial value, overgrazing is rife. Many of the cattle are grazed on communal Swazi nation land (SNL), and there is therefore no incentive to preserve pastures and avoid overgrazing. As a result, Swaziland has one of the highest density grazing rates in Africa, one beast to each 1.6 hectares (Vilakati, 1994). This situation is further aggravated by the continuously expanding areas dedicated to sugar cane production reducing the available grazing area.The subsistence nature of livestock rearing in the country characterized by weak and low investments in the sector and poor linkages of most farmers to formal markets and value addition chains has led to low cattle off-take. According to data from 1998 (FAO), off take is 6.3% for smallholders on SNL which is similar to figures for the communal areas in South Africa (6%) (Scholtz and Bester 2010). Cattle production, and more particularly the beef industry value addition, is of little interest to investors and to the financial sector beyond a small number of large scale producers with strong links to or also owning slaughterhouses, processing and retailing facilities.Farmers generally need working capital to buy inputs and adopt new technologies in order to increase their agricultural productivity and improve the quality of their produce. Access to formal credit from financial and/or microfinance institutions is a key point. Dependency on rainfall and poor farming systems, have been making formal lenders hesitate to disburse loans to farmers for large-scale investments to boost productivity. In addition, a land title is one of the essential prerequisites for loan qualification set by the lending institutions, but which has been denied to most small-holder farmers. Smallholders in Swaziland are located in SNL, thus do not possess a land title.Despite various interventions of supplier-led approaches to credit, limited success has been achieved in improving access to credit, and Swaziland is still searching for better ways to improve access to credit for smallholder farmers. If the aim is to reduce poverty of smallholder farmers and to promote rural economic development, a shift in paradigm to a demand-driven approach in rural financial market is the way forward (Manganhele 2010). In Swaziland, there has been a renewal of interest in improving access to agricultural credit especially for sugarcane and vegetable farmers (Msibi 2009). Cattle farmers are still lagging behind as the livestock sub-sector is engulfed by poor animal husbandry practices, and limited market incentives.Few comprehensive attempts have been made to analyse Swaziland's credit policy for smallholder farmers in order to improve smallholders' access to credit. In Swaziland, smallholders have been targeted in a large number of projects with multiple pro-poor development objectives. In some cases these have been strongly technical and organizational in impact, with somewhat limited power to integrate the value chain to deliver business models that sustain the associated income streams (Wetengere and Kihongo 2012). Many attempts to support the establishment of feedlots or organizing livestock auctions in dry areas have failed mostly because they were not economically viable (grain-fed fattening systems are expensive) or due to the low prices paid to farmers (Msibi 2009).This study is part of an International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) funded project implemented by the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) which aim is to enhance smallholders' cattle famers' access to credit form formal lending institutions through the implementation of a viable lending scheme directed to cattle producers, cattle fatteners and cattle traders. The main objectives of this study are to: i. characterize the type of producers, fatteners and traders involved in the beef value chain as well as their production systems and marketing channels; ii. determine the current credit access status of smallholder cattle producers, fatteners and traders; and iii. assess cattle producers and fatteners' willingness to adhere to a contractual fattening scheme with cattle traders and the different modalities that such contracts should include.The study was conducted in the Swaziland Water and Agriculture Development Enterprise (SWADE) project areas, as shown by the green colour in Figure 1, in the Lubombo District about 300 km from Mbabane (Capital city of Swaziland) and in the Hhohho District about 170 km from Mbabane. The study area is located in the lowveld which is one of the ecological zones in Swaziland. This area was chosen because of various SWADE implemented projects: LUSIP; Lower Usuthu smallholder irrigation project-Global Environment Facility (LUSIP-GEF) and the Komati downstream development project (KDDP).These projects allow smallholder rural farmers to have access to irrigated land for sugarcane farming and other agricultural activities and at the same time being able to conserve natural resources and the environment.The mean annual rainfall ranges from 440 mm to 570 mm and the mean annual evapo-transpiration is 2,057 mm. About 70% of the annual rainfall within the hot summer rainy season is from October to March. The mean annual temperature in winter ranges from a minimum of 5°C to a maximum of 20°C.As mentioned in the introduction section, three types of stakeholders participating into the beef value chain in Swaziland have been targeted:• Smallholders, either facing grazing constraints in dry or remote locations (graziers). These are referred hereafter as cattle producers.• Smallholders with access to fodder/feed who are located in irrigated areas 1 but do not have capital for livestock purchase (potential fatteners). Some of these stakeholders have already been involved in cattle fattening activities. We will refer to this group as cattle fatteners , and • Rural cattle traders and those developing small enterprises for rural economic development.Exhaustive lists from the three types of stakeholders have been elaborated from individual data provided by SWADE, the Ministry of Agriculture (MoA) and local committees. Table 1 reports the different locations, districts, and the type of actors involved segmented by the gender.From the above list of stakeholders, a stratified random sampling procedure was applied. Random selected samples were obtained from each type of actors leading to a total one hundred and eleven (111) numbers of interviewed stakeholders and composed as: fifty three (53) cattle producers, twenty two ( 22) cattle traders and thirty six (36) cattle fatteners. In few cases some farmers 2 were not available or it was not possible to contact them, in that case they have been replaced by other respondents from a \"reserve\" random list. Socio-demographic characteristics of sampled farmers are summarized in Table 2. Most individuals who own cattle are males this especially the case of cattle producers and cattle traders (this trend is also observed in other developing countries in Africa). Women are more presents when it comes to cattle fattening activities. The average age of cattle producers is 50.3 years, and 51.3 years for cattle traders. Cattle fatteners have the lowest average years (45.4), and mostly females (44%) compared to the producers and traders groups. The term \"farmers\" will refer hereafter to the three types of actors: cattle producers, cattle fatteners and cattle traders.Fifty-eight per cent of cattle producers had formal education and 9% had informal education while almost one third were illiterate (respondents older than 60 years). Cattle fatteners had the highest percentage of secondary school education (36%). Out of all the cattle farmers, cattle traders (14%) had tertiary level of education with 6% of cattle fatteners while cattle producers had none. On average cattle farmers were in-between informal and primary school education level. Data was collected from both primary and secondary data sources. Focus group discussion (FGD) with cattle producers, fatteners and traders were first conducted during the period of October 2013-February 2014 to collect general information on cattle famers' husbandry practices as well as the relationships between the different actors involved in the value chain. In a second step, the information collected through FGDs was complemented by face-to-face interviews with the three types of stakeholders during the period of April-June 2014. Both open-ended and closed ended questions were used in the questionnaires because of the nature of the data that had to be collected from each group of stakeholders. Data that were collected through the questionnaires comprises of each stakeholders' socio-economic characteristics, cattle production and marketing practices, income received from cattle trading and other activities, involvement in contractual agreements and, access to credit. The questionnaires for cattle producers/fatteners and cattle traders are reported at the end of this document in Appendix 1 and 2 respectively.Secondary data were obtained from the MoA, Department of Veterinary and Livestock Services, SWADE, GIS unit from the LUSIP information management system (LIMS) department and the internet using published and unpublished documents.The collected data was coded and entered into excel and analysed using STATA version 13.0. Descriptive analysis was mainly used to analyse the data accompanied in some cases by graphics and figures to a better visualization of the results. For specific variables, cross-tables were estimated to assess possible correlation between these variables.As expected, cattle husbandry is the main business activities for the majority of cattle producers (91%), while for cattle fatteners, cattle production is the main source of income for two thirds of the respondents, and only 41% of cattle traders confirmed that cattle trading is their main business activity.Cattle farmers are generally involved in other agricultural and/or non-agricultural activities (Figure 2). Taking into account that the respondents were sampled from the LUSIP and KDDP areas where sugarcane and vegetable production are the main agricultural activities, 30% and 36% of cattle producers and cattle fatteners respectively depend on sugarcane farming. Due to diversification, 30% of cattle producers depend on other agricultural activities, such as vegetable and maize production. In addition to cattle trading, cattle traders are also involved in other activities such as farming and retailing (mainly as meat retailers).From a list of different items, respondents were asked to specify exactly which type of livestock and other agricultural related activities they are engaged in. Results (Figure 3) confirm the previous ones and what was expected. In fact, livestock producers are mainly concerned with livestock production and cropping, with few of them who are also providing slaughtering services. Almost the same pattern is observed for fatteners who are mostly involved in two types of activities: livestock production and As expected, traders are involved in many livestock and agricultural activities which enable them to reduce risk by diversifying their activities and generate additional incomes and liquidity. These activities vary from livestock production, fattening, transport, slaughtering, up to meat processing and retailing. Almost a fifth of the respondents from the traders' group also indicated that they are involved in cropping. Respondents were asked to rank the three main types of livestock species they are involved with in production and or/marketing activities (Figure 4). The first result is that, as expected, all cattle producers and cattle traders indicated cattle among the ranking of the three important species. This is not the case of fatteners where only 69% of them ranked cattle among the three main important species. In fact, in this group some fatteners have abandoned cattle fattening activities from many years because it was not economically viable. It's important to highlight that all traders as well as almost all producers ranked cattle as the first most important species, while for fatteners this proportion goes down to 72% (from the total number of fatteners' respondents who are currently involved in livestock activities).  The second result from the analysis is that more than two-thirds of cattle traders are also trading other livestock species especially poultry, goats and pigs. This proportion is even higher (three-quarter) in the case of cattle producers who also rear poultry or goats, and less (slightly more than half) for cattle fatteners who are also involved in poultry or piggery activities.The mean level of monthly income in other business activities for both cattle producers and fatteners, and cattle traders ranges between SZL1,000-2,000 and SZL2,001-5,000 3 , respectively. The share of income from cattle trading for cattle traders is 40% of their overall income. The high percentage of cattle producers (72%) deriving their income from beef cattle is attributed to the fact that most cattle producers are unemployed, they sell cattle for household income and to pay school fees. But this does not mean that they are involved in beef cattle production commercially. About 28% of cattle producers interviewed had not sold cattle in the past two years. This has led to the encouragement of cattle producers to commercialize livestock production in order to derive more income from the business and improve the economic status of livestock production in the country.Land is the most important asset as the majority of the respondents derived their livelihood from farm-based activities. The area surveyed falls under SNL, which is held in trust for the nation by the King through Chiefs who allocate usufruct rights to individual Swazi families or inherited from relatives. From the results, it can be gathered that the average land size for cattle producers, fatteners and traders interviewed was 3.5, 2.3 and 3.8 ha respectively. This land is mainly used for vegetables, maize and cotton farming. During the off-season, cattle are allowed to graze in the fields. A minority of the cattle farmers interviewed either share land with other family members or members of their association for farming (sugar cane or vegetable production). Assets' ownership of cattle farmers are reported in Table 3. Apart from land and cattle ownership, farmers own a number of assets such as vehicles, plough, and permanent houses. Only minority of cattle farmers from SNL own rental buildings in urban areas. Assets play a crucial role when it comes to access to credit as they are considered as collateral. From the survey results cattle farmers do not have assets that can be considered as collateral when taking up a loan for livestock production because their permanent houses are located in SNL (not considered as collateral), and most of their vehicles are imports (insurance companies do not insure this category of cars).In general, livestock keeping forms part of the Swazi tradition and is still considered a source of social status. From the survey results, all cattle farmers interviewed own livestock such as, cattle, goat, sheep and chicken. For cattle traders, trading activities (number of cattle purchased and number of cattle sold during the last year), was documented and results indicated that almost all the traders (95%) have been involved in cattle trading activities with different intensities. Figure 5 shows cattle distribution among cattle producers and fatteners. Farmers interviewed owned cattle ranging from 2 to 74. The number may not necessarily represent the actual number of cattle owned by the farmer as some respondents were reluctant to reveal their real cattle numbers. The government of Swaziland through the Swaziland Revenue Authority is investigating and exploring ways on how cattle farmers can start paying tax (Times of Swaziland 2014). Cattle ownership distribution is skewed with 41% of cattle producers owning less than 10 cattle while at the other extreme, 2% have more than 60 cattle. The rest of cattle producers fall within this continuum. For cattle fatteners, livestock ownership is almost evenly distributed for herd size of up to 50 cattle. Only 3% of cattle fatteners own more than 60 animals. The composition of the herd size is reported in Table 4. The mean herd size for cattle producers and fatteners are 17.4 and 18.4 respectively with high standard deviations, which confirms the disparity of cattle ownership within both groups. More cattle producers have female cattle than male cattle.  Forty per cent of cattle producers own male cattle older than four years (Min=1; Max=9; Mean=3.4), while 22% of cattle fatteners own this category of cattle. Results also indicate that most cattle farmers own young cattle than old cattle, which could points out to a possible increase in cattle fattening activities and a possible slightly higher propensity of farmers to sell their animals.Results in Table 5 indicate that extensive systems are the most common for both cattle producers (all respondents) and cattle fatteners groups (two-third of respondents). As indicated earlier, most cattle are grazed on SNL, which is confirmed by the survey's results. This is also the case for almost 90% of cattle fatteners.Seven out of 28 fatteners (25%) has indicated the exclusive use of stall-feed system (zero grazing), while other cattle producers and cattle fatteners indicated the use of a mixed system where grazing prevail when pasture is available with supplementation of crops residues, fodder and feed during the dry season. Only very few, seven out of 36 cattle fatteners use of industrial feed. This has 2 important implications: first, the daily weight gain per animal will be very low resulting in a longer fattening period; second, it indicates that commercially available feeds are expensive which discourages cattle fatteners to opt for stall-feeding system. This is also confirmed by the low success of the fattening contracts programme established between SMI and cattle fatteners in the past.As previously indicated, sampled farmers are located in regions where access to irrigation water is available, which explains that 60% of cattle producers and cattle fatteners use also crop residues for animal feeding. Sixty per cent of cattle producer and cattle fatteners use also crop residues for animal feeding which mostly entails letting the animals into the cropping areas after harvest or feeding them residues from legume production. There is very limited crop residue conservation taking place. (Table 5). The use of sugarcane tops still very low among farmers albeit this residue of the sugarcane industry is abundant in the region. Cattle producers in Swaziland, as stated earlier are reluctant to sell their animals. This is confirmed by the average number of cattle sold per year by cattle producers which is 3.47 (Table 6). As expected, cattle traders have the highest number of cattle sold per year (more than 37) but the standard deviation indicates that the data is widely spread among the group. Cattle fatteners occupy the second position with around 18 head of cattle sold per year. This could be considered as relatively a low average taking into consideration that fattening activity represents the main source of income for an important proportion of the sampled fatteners. However, the high standard deviation indicates that cattle sales vary significantly within the group of fatteners. Cattle producers generally sell different types of cattle ranging from 1-2 year steers/bull up to old cows, while cattle fatteners mainly sell mature male cattle (3-5 year) which they consider the best animal age/weight to market. Less frequently, cattle fatteners do also sell weaners and young cattle (1.-2 year steer/bull). On the other side, cattle traders' sales vary from weaners up to mature male cattle. They also sell old cows but less frequently.Almost 53% of cattle fatteners did not sell any cattle the previous year, as some of them ceased feedlotting in the year 2009. Almost a third of cattle producers (28%) have not sold any cattle during the last 12 months, said reasons were either stock building or there was no need to sell. Only one cattle trader never sold cattle the previous year because of lack of capital. Cattle producers market their animals through mainly two channels: butcheries or selling cattle to other producers. A smaller proportion of producers market their animals to processors/abattoirs (Figure 6), however butchers remain the first ranked customers for cattle producers. The trend is somehow different in the case of fatteners who also mainly work with two types of buyers: SMI and butchers. Although this result was expected, it's important to highlight the difference between both marketing channels when it comes to the first ranked customer. In fact, around 44% of the sampled fatteners indicated that SMI is their first client, while only 19% of the respondents reported that butcheries are their first customer. This highlights the impact of the contractual fattening programme between SMI and the fatteners. These contracts are verbal agreements that may also exist between fatteners and butchers.As expected, traders have more diversified marketing channels where for the majority of them butchers are among the important customers. A more focused look on the ranking of these buyers indicates that producers (36%) and SMI (32%) are ranked as the first customers for cattle traders which once again highlight the important role of SMI as cattle buyers during the last years.The mean price of selling cattle for producers is SZL4,382.68/animal; this is an average price including all types of cattle being sold by the producers. Cattle fatteners mostly sell animals on the basis of live weight (in Emalangeni per kilogram), the mean price being SZL20.51 /kg (USD2/kg).Traders were also asked about their main purchase channels for cattle. Results indicated that all respondents (those who bought animals during the last 12 months) indicated cattle producers among their suppliers, followed by collectors/traders (47%), and then brokers (21%). Again, if we only focus on the first ranked cattle supplier, almost all respondents (95%) indicated that cattle producers are their main supplier. This result shows the importance of cattle producers within the beef value chain in Swaziland and how vital to get them more market oriented and more involved in cattle business activities. This could be probably further improved if market infrastructure would exist as currently all transactions take place at the dip tanks.Table 7 indicates the type of cattle purchased by cattle traders from cattle producers and the reasons/purpose for purchasing, changes in number of cattle being purchased and reasons for the changes. Almost two-thirds of traders purchased weaners, almost half of them purchased 1-2 year steers/bulls, and one-third purchased 3-5 year male cattle, while only one-fifth (23%) purchased old cows during the last 12 months. A majority of cattle traders indicated that they sell the animals soon after purchase acting as brokers or intermediaries, and more than half of them fatten the animals for later sale (adding value through fattening activities). Cattle trading in Swaziland is not operated as a commercial business, for this reason contractual arrangements are rare and if done it is usually under verbal agreements. From the interviewed value chain actors around 43% of cattle producers, 65% of cattle fatteners and 52% of cattle traders are engaged in verbal/purchasing agreements.Farmers (producers, fatteners and traders) who indicated having verbal agreement with their buyers were asked to indicate with whom they have such agreements (Figure 7). Cattle producers have verbal agreements mainly with butchers and other cattle producers, which in some way confirm the previous results on the main marketing channels (Figure 6). As expected, fatteners are mainly verbally/written engaged with SMI, and some of them have also verbal agreements with butchers. The case of traders is different from the other stakeholders. In fact traders are for some reasons less proponent to have contractual written/verbal agreements with their clients and if it's the case, they'll prefer to stick to few of them. This is indicated by the relatively low proportion of traders who have verbal agreements with butchers: only 45% from the sub-group of traders who have contractual agreements with their customers while previously (Figure 6) it was shown that 82% of the traders are selling beef meat or live animals to the butcheries. that cattle buyers and/or cattle sellers are looking for when buying/selling the animals. Cattle buyers (such as, butchers, SMI, abattoirs , traders and farmers) and cattle sellers (producers, fatteners, traders) agree on the following important modalities before transacting: season (time of year), price, body condition of animal, weight of animal, age of animal, animal health regime followed, conditions and timing of payments and transport of animal at the time of sale. These are the general trends observed for the three studied cattle value chain actors; however it's important to highlight that in few cases, the importance of specific agreements varies among the farmers. For instance, the feeding regime followed is in general an important aspect for cattle fatteners and not important for a high proportion of producers.Generally the following aspects are not very important for the three groups of actors when negotiating the verbal contract: the animal breed, transport and supply of feed (except for fatteners), supply of any other livestock/cropping services or inputs by buyer, agreements surrounding labor or wage, exchange of any consumer goods and transport of animals at any time during growth. It's interesting that results from cattle fatteners are relatively different compared to the two other groups of producers and traders. In the latter case, there is somehow unanimity of responses from cattle producers or cattle traders (the proportions generally range between 70 and 100%) while in the case of fatteners for many responses it's possible to observe quasi-equal proportions (40 to 50%).  As the main objective of this project is to provide producers, fatteners and traders with loans to buy cattle and also to pay for operational costs, we were interested to check whether cattle producers and cattle fatteners were able to collaborate with the traders on the basis of a contractual agreement which specifies the technical and operational requirements for the fattening. Table 9 reports the different modalities discussed. First it's important to highlight the fact that the proportion of farmers involved in fattening activities is very low (less than half) and none of the producers reported that he has been involved in such livestock activities. Almost one third of traders have been involved in cattle fattening.The majority of fatteners' respondents started their activity recently (5 years ago) and almost all of them have feedlot premises with varying capacities.The three famer groups have provided approximately the same information about their preferred characteristics for weaners to be fattened and the fattening period. However some differences do exist and it's worthy to highlight them. First, it seems that fatteners prefer buying younger animals (15.2 months on average) compared to traders (17.9 months) and producers (18.3 months). The former are also willing to pay slightly a higher price compared to the two other groups, and prefer selling the fattened animal at around 450 kg weight which is higher compared to the targeted average weight of the other groups. This probably indicates the expertise and experience of the fatteners compared to traders and producers. Interestingly, it's the traders' group who are proposing the highest selling price this is probably due to their experience in cattle trading and the availability of potential buyers for quality beef.When assessing the average daily weight gain (the ratio between the average weight gain during the fattening period by the average number of days of the fattening period) from the results in Table 9, fattener (1.436 kg/day) and trader (1.421 kg/day) groups present the highest average indicators compared to the producer group (1.263). This was expected since that the former groups have some experience in fattening activities. However, these daily weight gains are very high compared to other experiences in Africa and in other developing countries. For instance, in Nigeria, Ayoola and Ayoade (1991) found that feeding a two-year cattle with crop residues supplemented with agro-industrial byproducts (cottonseed cake (CSC), brewers' dried grains (BDG) and molasses) for 120 days resulted in a daily weight gain of 0.67Kg/day. The same pattern was recorded in the case of Vietnamese cattle producers who have grown fodder (forage grasses) and used concentrate feed from farm-grown ingredients (such as cassava and rice bran) to fatten thin cattle provided by the traders and reached acceptable weight gain of 0.775 kg/day for a 3 month period of time (IFAD 2011).The majority of respondent groups are willing to be on a written contractual fattening agreement with the other stakeholder. Two-thirds of cattle producers and more than 80% of cattle fatteners accept to sign fattening contract with traders. Almost three-quarters of the traders are also willing to contract cattle producers/fatteners for fattening activities. These results indicate that the important enabling condition of partners' willingness to collaborate on a contractual and clear basis exists.Cattle producers are on average willing to fatten around five animals per year. Fatteners are willing to fatten on average 10 animals/year while for the traders' group the average is around 22 animals/year (the standard deviation is very high and the median is 10 animals). Generally the three groups prefer growing weaners and/or 1-2 year old steer/bull, although a slightly higher proportion of fatteners (45%) prefer weaners and higher proportions of traders (44%) and of producers (54%) prefer 1-2 year old steer/bull.When asked if they would agree to bear the operational costs of animal feeding, animal health and transport, less than half of cattle producers accepted. Almost two-thirds of both cattle fatteners and cattle traders accepted to bear these operational costs. The majority of cattle producers prefer sharing the benefits with the traders rather than asking for a fixed amount. In the former case, on average producers want to almost equally (48%) split the benefits with the traders after deducting operational costs. Nearly the same proportion of fatteners is willing to share on average 38% of the benefits with the traders. The latter stated that on average they are willing to share 27% of the benefits with the producers/fatteners after bearing the operational costs.These differences in profit sharing were expected since every group of actors tries to allocate the highest profits and also because this type of contract scheme is innovative/new for the different stakeholders involved. In a similar study in Vietnam (IFAD 2011), traders contracted loans from development bank and allocated cattle to producers for fattening. Feeding and labour costs were bear by the producers/fatteners. The agreement stated that the farmers would receive 90% of the benefit of the increased live weight gain during the fattening period. The trader would benefit from trading and receive 10% of the value of the weight gain generated to compensate him for his time and cost of loan (IFAD 2011).Almost the majority of respondents from the three groups indicated that they prefer monitoring the different production and fattening activities related to growth rate, feeding levels and types, and animal health and vaccination. This indicates that both contracted parties are concerned by the fattening activities and want to be involved in order to decrease the risks of financial losses due to poor fattening programme and animal health issues. However when it comes to taking responsibility of animal death, the responses differ among the three groups. A high proportion of cattle fatteners and more than half of cattle traders agree that if the animal dies within one month of the start of the fattening programme, it is the trader who is responsible. If the animal dies after one month it will be the responsibility of the fattener. For the producers' group, the majority of respondent stated that the trader is always held responsible for the cattle death. If the animal is stolen again the majority of fatteners and traders stated that it will be the responsibility of the fatteners, while the majority of cattle producers indicated that the trader will be held responsible of the stolen animal.Interestingly, a high proportion of producers and fatteners accept to share repaying the loan if the fattening activity was not successful. They generally prefer to agree with the trader on a specific amount that will be paid cash. When the three cattle value chain actors were asked what they will do if they have a better offer, more than half of respondents indicated they will stick with the actual contract.Others indicated they will renegotiate the contract and only one-fifth of the producers indicated they will abandon the contract.To conclude, from the results on this section, the general perception of establishing fattening contracts between cattle traders and cattle fatteners or cattle producers is positive and very promising. The majority of respondents are willing to take part to this scheme and want to be involved and monitor the fattening activities to increase the chances of success.Tables 10 and 11 provide information on access to extension services, market information, training and credit which play a vital role in the promotion of livestock production and marketing, thereby improving farmers' income and human capital. According to the survey results in Table 10, the proportion of cattle producers who have access to extension services is relatively low (29%), and slightly higher (42%) in the case cattle fatteners. Access to extension services is one of the factors for successful fattening and cattle production as farmers need the relevant expertise to improve their production skills. Results show that farmers are still unable to access these services. The provision of extension services to farmers in Swaziland is mainly the government's role. SWADE has taken over some of these services as government extension officers have difficulties in accessing the remote areas (limited support in terms of transport).The survey results indicate that cattle farmers have access to a selection of market information sources (Table 10). On average, 64% and 81% of cattle producers and cattle fatteners respectively have access to market information, such as market price information, type of animals to purchase/sell, type of buyers and quality of animals. For cattle producers, the main sources of information are other farmers (including traders), butchers, extension officers (government). While for cattle fatteners government extension officers are the most cited source of information followed by butchers and farmers.Training is an important factor in production and marketing of livestock in any developing country; however, a number of smallholder farmers are still unable to access training as a service. This service is mainly provided by government and non-governmental organizations. As shown in Table 10, almost half of cattle producers and cattle fatteners received cattle production training mainly on the following: record keeping, beef cattle marketing, beef cattle health, general farm management, pasture/rangeland establishment and management, and beef cattle feeding. Access to credit is one of the factors for successful livestock production and marketing as farmers need credit to improve their investment in new and improved technologies and purchasing of cattle. Inability to access credit inhibits production and hence there is a need for the improvement of credit availability. But to access credit from a commercial bank for instance; you need to have at least a bank account. The results from the sampled farmers indicate that the majority of cattle fatteners and cattle traders (around 91%) have a bank account (Table 11). These accounts were savings, investments and transmission accounts. The proportion of cattle producers with a bank account is lower (70%) compared to the other two groups; however, this is still higher compared to other cattle producers in developing countries.Almost half of cattle producers and cattle traders contracted a loan from a bank or a financial institution, and it is also the case for 70% of cattle fatteners. The latter who usually have written purchase agreement with SMI (or other meat processors) are logically more disposed to get the loans. Interestingly the Swaziland Development Finance Corporation (FINCORP), which is a private bank, is the main loan provider for cattle producers (almost two-third of cattle producers who contracted a loan) and cattle fatteners. Almost half of cattle traders who had contracted a loan declared that Swazibank (also a private bank) was their provider. Surprisingly, the majority of the financial institutions named by the three types of respondents are private banks. The role of micro-finance institutions as loan providers for the livestock sector seems very limited.  Generally, the loans contracted by cattle producers, cattle fatteners and cattle traders are for livestock and farming activities, although in few cases farmers could contract loans for other non-agricultural activities. Almost half of cattle producers and 55% of cattle fatteners and cattle traders indicated that they got access to credit for livestock/farming activities. But in addition to these formal money borrowing institutions, informal ways represent also an important source of credit. In fact, friends/relatives were the most sited source of borrowing money for cattle producers and cattle fatteners.Traders were also asked if they prefer getting directly an individual loan from a financial institution or if they prefer to get the loan from a traders' association after allocation from the bank. Almost two thirds of the traders (64%) declared preferring getting the loan individually and directly from the financial institution. The rest of respondent preferred borrowing the money from the traders' association.Establishment of farmers groups registered as farmer companies are encouraged in the LUSIP and KDDP area, as this will maximize the outreach of the project. According to the survey results (Table 12), 55% of cattle producers, 92% of cattle fatteners and 64% of cattle traders are members of an association. The main type of association that cattle farmers are involved in is sugarcane farmers association as this was the purpose of the SWADE projects.In addition there are feedlot farming association, maize farmers' association, and savings and credit cooperatives. It is evident from the results that the main benefit of being in an association or cooperative is that of improved income, access to credit, acquisition of new technologies and ideas, collective action and access to piped water for farming and production. Even though there is a national farmers' association called Swaziland National Agricultural Union (SNAU), the cattle farmers suggested that there is a need for a beef cattle farmers association if beef production will happen in a more market oriented way. The aim of this study was to assess smallholder cattle producers, fatteners and traders' access to credit and strengthening vertical coordination for cattle production and marketing in Swaziland. Specifically the study characterized cattle farmers' production and marketing activities, their access to credit, and their involvement into a beef value chain contractual agreement with other actors of the chain.Cattle production and trading plays an important role in the livelihood of cattle producers, cattle fatteners and cattle traders. For cattle producers it's a source of income and it also provide draught power for crop farming. Cattle traders are generally also involved in many others agricultural and nonagricultural activities which enable them to reduce risk and generate additional income and liquidity.Extensive systems using SNL is the predominant production system for the sampled populations, which has not only environmental implications (overgrazing and land degradation), but also affects animal growth as without supplementation it will only produce low quality animals. The existence of irrigation systems, acceptable plot sizes and crops should be better valued by cattle producers and fatteners, by growing fodder and using crop residues as feed resources for cattle.A large majority of cattle producers, cattle fatteners and cattle traders have limited or inexistent knowledge on the use of suitable feed resources to fatten the animals. Although the Swazi government is providing extension services, the proportion of cattle producers and cattle fatteners who have access to these services are low. More work is needed to reach a higher number of beneficiaries.The recent experience of fattening scheme contracts between SMI and cattle producers or cattle fatteners was not successful because of the feeding programme mainly based on grain intakes (high production costs) and also because of the monopolistic position of SMI. Lessons should be learnt to avoid such failures.Written fattening and/or selling contracts are very rare in Swaziland. However, value chain actors have verbal agreements (between buyers and sellers) which specifies the date of selling, the price, etc. The majority of respondents who were involved in this study are willing to be sign written contractual agreement between traders and producers/fatteners specifying the number of animals, who pays the operational costs, the profit share, the payment mode, etc. Surprisingly an important proportion of cattle producers/fatteners accept to share repaying the loan contracted by the trader if the fattening activity is not successful. This is of good notice for further possible implementation of written fattening contacts.The majority of producers, fatteners and traders have a bank account, but less than half of them were able to access credits from the banks or any other financial institutions. The lack of collaterals is the main constraint because the majority operates on SNL which is held in trust of the Swazi nation by the king. Swazi government and the private banks should agree on acceptable solutions that overcome this constraint. In other countries, private banks accept to consider animals as collateral. Currently, informal credit sources such as friends and relatives represent the most accessible lenders. However this is not a long term sustainable solution if there is real willingness from the Swazi government and the other value chain actors to develop and improve the beef sector."}

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+{"metadata":{"gardian_id":"17713974159501b8cce9096d9a0d87a9","source":"gardian_index","url":"https://cgspace.cgiar.org/rest/bitstreams/b4180084-30b4-43c1-b867-6d820ee5a933/retrieve","id":"-1317737154"},"keywords":["tropical forages","improved forages","cultivated forages","agroecology","mixed crop-tree-livestock systems","environmental co-benefits"],"sieverID":"1472bbaf-1107-430f-893d-30b822b4ce03","content":"Improved Forages and Agroecology scale to fully understand the role of forages in the sociological and process aspects of agroecology. We make the case for further genetic improvement of cultivated forages and strong multi-disciplinary systems research to strengthen our understanding of the multidimensional impacts of forages and for managing agro-environmental trade-offs. We finish with a call for action, for the agroecological and livestock research and development communities to improve communication and join hands for a sustainable agri-food system transformation.Livestock are critical for incomes, livelihoods, nutrition and ecosystems management throughout the global South. Livestock production and the consumption of livestock-based foods such as meat, cheese, and milk is, however, under global scrutiny for its contribution to global warming, deforestation, biodiversity loss, water use, pollution, and land/soil degradation. This paper argues that, although the environmental footprint of livestock production presents a real threat to planetary sustainability, also in the global south, this is highly contextual. Under certain context-specific management regimes livestock can deliver multiple benefits for people and planet. We provide evidence that a move toward sustainable intensification of livestock production is possible and could mitigate negative environmental impacts and even provide critical ecosystem services, such as improved soil health, carbon sequestration, and enhanced biodiversity on farms. The use of cultivated forages, many improved through selection or breeding and including grasses, legumes and trees, in integrated crop-tree-livestock systems is proposed as a stepping stone toward agroecological transformation. We introduce cultivated forages, explain their multi-functionality and provide an overview of where and to what extent the forages have been applied and how this has benefited people and the planet alike. We then examine their potential to contribute to the 13 principles of agroecology and find that integrating cultivated forages in mixed crop-tree-livestock systems follows a wide range of agroecological principles and increases the sustainability of livestock production across the globe. More research is, however, needed at the food systemEven though the role of animal based proteins as part of a sustainable twenty-first century food system is a highly debated topic (Meybeck and Gitz, 2017), the livestock sector currently plays a key role in food and nutrition security, particularly in developing countries. Livestock products (meat, milk and eggs) contribute 15% and 31% of the global per capita calorie and protein supply, respectively (Godde et al., 2021). Large regional differences characterize the nutritional contributions of livestock, with low intakes of animal-source food in the Global South compared with excesses in the Global North (Meyfroidt, 2018). Livestock are kept by more than half of rural households (FAO, 2018(FAO, , 2021)), with more than 844 million people worldwide receiving some income from agriculture, and the livestock sector contributing about 40% of the value-added in agriculture (Gontijo de Lima et al., 2015).In general, family farming-often by smallholders cultivating less than two hectares-is still the predominant form of livestock production in the global South, in terms of numbers as well as occupied area (Lowder et al., 2021). On these family farms, livestock production mainly occurs in mixed crop-livestock systems (Herrero et al., 2010), where livestock has a multitude of functions, ranging from the provision of food, nutrition, income and risk reduction to farmers as well as the contribution of essential nutrients and draft power to reduce drudgery and improve crop productivity. The farms are further connected to-mostly local, regional, and national-markets where they generate a plethora of other jobs along livestock value chains (Lie et al., 2017;Bravo et al., 2018;Enciso et al., 2018).In response to increasing demand for livestock products, these traditionally mixed systems increasingly intensify and are thereby replaced by specialized livestock production systems with spatially decoupled crop and livestock production and high levels of resource depletion and/or environmental pollution (Garrett et al., 2017a;Jin et al., 2020). For instance, about 51% of total feed nitrogen (N) in China was imported in 2015, greatly increasing energy requirements for transport, greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions abroad, and causing nutrient surpluses in China (Du et al., 2018;Zhang et al., 2020). The spatial decoupling of crop and livestock production is further associated with smaller fractions of manure returned to cropland and larger losses of manure N to surface and ground waters and GHG emissions (Bai et al., 2018). Hence, specialized crop production systems increasingly rely on synthetic fertilizers, and have higher environmental costs per unit of crop product (Zhao et al., 2017). Lastly, the proportion of grain-based feed ingredients and thus direct competition with human nutrition typically increases in the specialized livestock production systems. At the same time, their dependence on antibiotics and growth promoters is harmful for public health (antibiotic resistance, foodborne, and zoonotic diseases) (Peterson et al., 2020).Globally, the livestock sector has a huge environmental footprint. It is responsible for emitting 14.5% of the total anthropogenic GHG emissions (Adegbeye et al., 2020), 33% of the total reactive nitrogen emissions (Mueller and Lassaletta, 2020), and is utilizing 30% of the total ice-free land area (Havlík et al., 2012). While large regional differences exist, many of the current livestock production systems in the tropics are responsible for undesirable environmental effects. Expansion of grazing land for livestock is a major driver for deforestation especially in Latin America, leading to about 57% of pasture land replacement with forests over the last decades (Graesser et al., 2015). Overgrazing in pasture and rangelands has resulted in severe soil degradation through compaction and erosion (Martinez and Zinck, 2004), especially in the drylands, with SOC losses creating a large carbon deficit in soils globally (Sanderman et al., 2017). In addition, livestock production is associated with biodiversity loss and high water use (Alkemade et al., 2013;Heinke et al., 2020) Among the most recognized and studied side effects of livestock production related to environmental damage in the tropical areas are: GHG emissions contributing to global warming, deforestation, biodiversity loss, high water use, and land/soil degradation (Martinez and Zinck, 2004;Alkemade et al., 2013;Chirinda et al., 2019;Boddey et al., 2020;Butterbach-Bahl et al., 2020). Widely publicized recent reports, such as EAT-Lancet (Willett et al., 2019), prompted a wave of media outreach arguing that one of the main solutions to the climate change and human health crises, globally, is to eat no or little animal-source foods (Paul et al., 2020a). Although we concur that the growing demand for livestock products presents a threat to environmental sustainability, we question the notion that stopping livestock production altogether is the most suitable or feasible option. Firstly, the political will is lacking and the necessary behavioral change of the majority of consumers is unlikely to occur (Winders and Ransom, 2019). Under these circumstances, it is important to have complimentary strategies that do not eliminate livestock but instead transform its production to reduce the environmental damages from the livestock sector. Secondly, livestock is not only of vital importance for low-income societies in socioeconomical terms, but-when managed well-also plays various complex and often positive environmental and social benefits (Paul et al., 2020b). To reduce the consumption of animal source food could be a valid option for the Global North where diets show an excess in protein and energy consumption, but not for low and middle income countries where most people are under recommended nutrition standards. There, it is, thus, critical to identify sustainable management strategies. These strategies should be applicable to the local context, socially-acceptable, economically viable and avoid the environmental degradation that in the long-term undermines their existence.Agroecology has been put forward as a solution to modern crises such as climate change and malnutrition, contrasting with the dominant industrial agricultural model based on the use of external inputs (Wezel et al., 2020), while improved forages have been proposed as an important entry point for the sustainable intensification of livestock production systems (Rao et al., 2015). This paper takes a closer look at and links up both these proposed solutions. It explores the benefits of including improved forages in integrated crop-livestock-tree systems and investigates the role of such forage-based systems in agroecological transformation. We thereby specifically focus on mixed cropping systems and cultivated forages in the tropics, i.e., crops that are specifically grown as animal feed, be it for grazing or cut-and-carry purposes; and exclude from our analyses the native and naturalized pastures and rangelands.Based on a review of literature and expert opinion, we aim to demonstrate the importance of cultivated tropical forages, with their emerging environmental co-benefits, for ensuring sustainable livestock production based on agroecological principles. In section The Agroecological Framework, it starts by briefly introducing agroecology as (i) a science, (ii) a practice and (iii) a movement supporting the application of 13 principles-and their underlying values-to the design of farming and food systems. The next section, section Ensuring System Sustainability Through Integrating Improved Forages in Mixed Crop-Tree-Livestock Systems in the Tropics, summarizes how cultivated forages have been put into practice by farmers in the global south and how this provides benefits across different sustainability domains and barriers to further adoption at scale. Section Contributions of Improved Cultivated Forages to Agroecological Transformation proceeds by (i) outlining through which pathways and mechanisms this practice is in line with each of the agroecological principles and (ii) assessing to which extent applying these principles is covered in the scientific literature about forage-based livestock production systems in the tropics. Based on field experience and literature review, we summarize our understanding of the mechanisms and pathways through which the integration of forages in animal production systems can contribute or has shown to contribute to each of the 13 agroecological principles. Based on this understanding, search strings were developed for agroecology as a whole and separately for each principle. They were combined with a general search string capturing the integration of cultivated forages in smallholder mixed crop-tree-livestock systems in the tropics (see Supplementary Material). We report the number of hits in Web of Science as a metric for the availability of evidence of this contribution from the perspective of the scientific community. After reviewing the science at the forage-agroecology nexus, section Future Outlook finally identifies critical knowledge gaps and recommends the next steps for scaling up the contribution of cultivated tropical forages to the agroecological transformation of agri-food systems.The principles of agroecology have evolved in history, from agriculture-centered to a holistic food system approach (Gliessman, 2018;Wezel et al., 2020). The most common definition of agroecology, \"the application of ecological concepts and principles to the design and management of sustainable agroecosystems, or the science of sustainable agriculture, \" has recently evolved into an integrated concept bringing the three dimensions of sustainability-ecological, economic, and social-to all parts of the food system. The approach is grounded in ecological thinking where a holistic, systemslevel understanding of food system sustainability is required (Gliessman, 2018). An agroecological perspective on agri-food systems links the nutritional value of food and dietary choices to the environmental and social impacts of food production (Lamine and Dawson, 2018). Hilbeck et al. (2015) write that \"agroecology is neither a defined system of production nor a production technique. It is a set of principles and practices intended to enhance the sustainability of a farming system, and it is a movement that seeks a new way of food production. Scholars thereby agree that the term incorporates three components (IFOAM EU, 2019). First, it is a scientific discipline, studying the ecology of agricultural systems. Second, it has evolved into a set of agricultural practices. Finally, it has turned into a movement that incorporates social justice, food sovereignty and the preservation of cultural identities (Méndez et al., 2013). As such, it operates at different levels and engages different stakeholders ranging from scientists to farmers and communities in the context of the sustainable agri-food systems.As happens with multi-dimensional concepts, operationalization often ends up focusing on one or a few components and fails to maintain a holistic approach. While promoting unidimensional agroecological practices, often mainly technical, still contributes to an agroecological transformation, these approaches are less sustainable as they often lack the sociopolitical support needed e.g., to reverse the power balance with conventional agriculture (Le Coq et al., 2020). Practically, neglecting the multidimensionality of the agroecology concept results in confusion with other concepts like organic agriculture, conservation agriculture, nature-positive agriculture or the more recent regenerative agriculture. Organic and conservation agriculture are based on simple principles around soil fertility management at plot level, aiming at avoiding the use of agrochemical and protecting the soil through permanent soil cover. The two differ in their market orientation, with organic agriculture strongly driven by product certification. Regenerative agriculture proposes a more holistic approach, trying to reconcile agroecology and sustainable intensification under the same banner, but seems to generate just more confusion (Giller et al., 2021). Nature-positive solutions, in turn, are less specific and englobe anything where nature works to address societal challenges, in agriculture or other sectors (Seddon et al., 2021), which includes the agroecology concept. The difference would be that nature-positive agriculture focusses on practices, whereas agroecology focusses on processes. But a common feature between all these different concepts is their meager integration of the livestock component. Until 2015, only 5% of indexed studies concerning agroecology dealt with livestock (Soussana et al., 2015).As the concept gains prominence as a way to sustainably transform agriculture and food systems, particularly in a post-COVID world (Altieri and Nicholls, 2020), attempts to recognize all its dimensions and make it operational have culminated recently with the development of a clear framework and evaluation tool (FAO, 2018(FAO, , 2021;;Mottet et al., 2020). The framework is composed of ten interlinked and interdependent elements: (i) diversity, (ii) synergies, (iii) efficiency, (iv) resilience, (v) recycling, (vi) co-creation and sharing of knowledge, (vi) human and social values, (vii) culture and food traditions, (viii) responsible governance, (ix) circular, and (x) solidarity economy. The first five describe common characteristics of agroecological systems, the sixth and seventh describe foundational practices and innovation approaches, and the last three describe context features and enabling environment (FAO, 2018(FAO, , 2021)). These 10 elements imply a series of requirements for farming system management that can be articulated in 13 principles: recycling, input reduction, soil health, animal health, biodiversity, synergy, economic diversification, co-creation of knowledge, social values and diets, fairness, connectivity, land and natural resource governance, and participation (Wezel et al., 2020). A farming system that scores high in these principles can be seen as transitioning toward a sustainable food system via agroecological transformation. Figure 1 presents a schematic overview of the different agroecological principles at play in a mixed crop-treelivestock farm.In section Contributions of Improved Cultivated Forages to Agroecological Transformation, we assess the role of improved tropical forages as a potential catalyst for enabling livestock systems to contribute to the 13 principles and support an agroecological transformation. As a background, the next section defines improved forages, summarizes documented uptake, the multi-dimensional impacts of this uptake and barriers to more wide-spread uptake.Livestock production in the global South takes place in a variety of livestock production systems. The grassland-based systems, in which crop-based agriculture is minimal, cover the largest areas (Robinson et al., 2011), while most production (i.e., meat, milk, eggs) occurs in mixed crop-livestock systems (Herrero et al., 2010). Cultivated forages include a wide variety of sown or planted grasses, herbaceous legumes, trees and shrubs (mostly legumes) that are integrated in a variety of mixed systems, including intensive or extensive mixed agricultural systems with grazing or cut-and-carry systems, agro-pastoral and silvopastoral systems (Rao et al., 2015). In Latin America and the Caribbean, permanent pastures are the most common use of forages, while in Sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia cut-andcarry systems prevail.There exists a large diversity of forages allowing adaptation to various production contexts. The so-called genetic improvement of tropical forages is relatively recent and was for several decades relying heavily on the agronomic selection of wild relatives. The agronomic/genetic evaluation of forages has been focused not only on productivity and feed quality but also on tolerance to biotic (insects, diseases) and abiotic (low soil fertility, aluminum toxicity, drought, waterlogging) stress factors. Through this selection from the wild it was possible to identify superior germplasm which resulted in substantial and sustainable productivity gains (per head and per unit area) as well as enhanced resilience (e.g., Peters et al., 2013;Rao et al., 2015;Schultze-Kraft et al., 2018). Recently the importance of bred forages has increased (Jank et al., 2014) and this has allowed attention to specific constraints, where diversity in the natural populations reached limitations in identifying productive, nutritive and stress-tolerant materials. For example, in well-drained environments in Latin America and the Caribbean with a wide distribution of Urochloa (previously known as Brachiaria; Cook et al., 2020) decumbens, resistance to a major insect, spittlebug, became an issue to be addressed by the breeding efforts, while for waterlogged environments there remains a scarcity of high-quality forages (Argel et al., 2007). Bred forages with a combination of desirable traits (e.g., productivity, quality and resistance to biotic and abiotic factors) are also attractive to seed suppliers for targeting specific agro-ecological niches, allowing a greater market differentiation providing incentives for development of the forage seed sector. For example, in the case of crop-livestock systems in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC), we see expanding demand for forages requiring soil fertility management and greater attention to environmental concerns. There is also an increasing demand for shade-tolerant forages for silvopastoral systems with high resilience to vulnerable climates with extreme and unpredictable weather conditions. Throughout the rest of this paper we will use the term \"improved forages\" when we refer to forages that have gone through a process of agronomic selection from wild relatives or breeding and selection leading to genetic gain in desirable traits.At first sight, such improved forages seem similar to the high yielding crops such as wheat and rice, widely promoted by the international agricultural research centers in the 1960s and 1970s and adopted as part of the Green Revolution (Byerlee and Lynam, 2020). We do, however, not expect the well-documented drawbacks, such as high input prices, environmental pollution and increased inequality, of the green revolution to re-occur with improved forages. First, the technology in itself differs significantly, with the improved forages not requiring intensive application of pesticides, herbicides and synthetic fertilizers. On the contrary, many have been selected or are specifically bred for their capacity to perform well in marginal areas facing climate variability and change, low fertility or acid soils, water logging, and for pest and disease resistance. In addition, they are being promoted as a component of mixed cropping systems to improve the overall system performance and efficiency in using local resources. Finally, a wide variety of forage species and varieties, including indigenous trees and so-called neglected or orphan crops, are considered for system improvement.Decades of efforts to promote cultivated forages for their productivity and environmental benefits have contributed to widespread adoption, particularly grasses in LAC (White et al., 2013;Baptistella et al., 2020, REDE ILPF ref). It is worthwhile to have a closer look at some successful scaling examples. Maass et al. (2015) estimated that the adoption of hybrid Urochloa cultivars in East Africa was about 1,000 hectares (20,000 households). Labarta et al. (2017) and ISPC (2018) reported that adoption of improved Urochloa cultivars in Colombia, Peru, Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Honduras occurred on approximately 7.9 million hectares. According to White et al. (2013), Stylosanthes varieties (from the CGIAR genebank) have been adopted on at least 200,000 hectares. Valentim and Andrade (2005) estimated the early adoption of Arachis pintoi for the Amazon region of Brazil to have reached 1,000 cattle producers and to have generated a gross profit of US$ 4,000 per year per producer. Wunscher et al. (2004) and Lascano et al. (2005) reported a successful early adoption of Arachis pintoi in Colombia and Costa Rica.The benefits of integrating improved forages in livestock production systems have previously been described as part of the LivestockPlus concept (Rao et al., 2015). The authors describe how the sustainable intensification of forage-based systems, combining genetic, ecological and socio-economic intensification processes, increases the efficiency of the systems, has the potential to improve livelihoods, and yields a range of environmental co-benefits-including improved soil health, reduced erosion, reduced GHG emissions and improved GHG balances (emissions vs. carbon accumulation/life cycle), and improved adaptation to climate variability and change. Figure 2 illustrates how forages can be integrated in mixed crop-treelivestock systems and summarizes how this positively impacts on livelihoods and the environment.The relatively wide adoption of improved tropical forages in LAC has convincingly demonstrated their capacity to increase productivity while reducing livestock-related GHG emissions per unit product. On one side, their ability to increase soil carbon sequestration has been demonstrated (Fisher et al., 1994) while the ability of certain grasses (e.g., Urochloa and Megathyrsus) to modulate the rhizosphere interactions through biological nitrification inhibition has proven to reduce soilborne N 2 O emissions up to 60% (compared to similar genotypes without this ability) either after fertilization or urine deposition (Subbarao et al., 2009;Byrnes et al., 2017). Another strategy is the improvement of cattle diets through supplementation with forage legumes, which has the potential to reduce up to 67% cattle enteric CH4 emissions based on a legume (i.e., Leucaena) inclusion proportion of 36% when compared to a grass alone diet (Gaviria-Uribe et al., 2020;Montoya-Flores et al., 2020).In addition to these environmental co-benefits there is a huge body of evidence about their economic benefits. Zooming into forage grasses, the implementation of improved foragebased cattle production systems in Latin America, for example, increases the Internal Rate of Return (IRR) 1 by 10-100% compared to traditional grazing systems (Seré and Estrada, 1982;Seré et al., 1993). The implementation of improved Urochloa brizantha cultivars in Colombian beef cattle systems is expected to reduce the producer's risk of obtaining economic losses and lead to economic benefits of US$ 11.3 million at the national level (2022-2048) from which 62.5% would fall on the producer and 37.5% on the consumer. Supplementation by 35% with the forage oats (Avena sativa AV25T cv. Altoandina) in a Kikuyu grass dairy system increases the net present value (NPV) 2 by >100% when compared with a Kikuyu monoculture and leads to an 1 The IRR is a financial indicator for estimating the profitability of potential investment projects. Although the IRR calculations are based on the same formula used for estimating the Net Present Value (NPV) of an investment project, it does not estimate the actual dollar value of the project but the expected annual return. Those potential investments with the highest IRR are generally the ones most desirable. 2 The NPV is an economic indicator that describes the difference between the present values of cash in-and outflows over a defined period of time and is used in investment planning for analyzing the profitability of a potential investment. The NPV considers the time value of money, is used to compare different investment alternatives, and relies on a discount rate related to the cost of required capital for making the investment. Investment options with a negative NPV are most likely not profitable and should be neglected.IRR of 49.9% (Rivas and Holmann, 2000). The implementation of spittlebug-resistant Urochloa hybrids was estimated to have potential benefits equivalent to 43% of Colombia's beef and dairy production volume of 2003 (Rivas and Holmann, 2004a,b). The implementation of different planted forages in West Africa during the period from 1977 to 1997 was estimated to result in an social internal rate of return 3 on investments of 38% over 20 years (Elbasha et al., 1999).Examples also abound around the dual economicenvironmental benefits associated with forage legumes. The introduction of forage legumes in the crop-livestock systems of Nicaragua has proven benefits to tackling degradation and restoring land and soil health. When introduced into the smallholder traditional crop-livestock production system of the Nicaraguan hillsides, Canavalia brasiliensis derived on average 69% of its N from the atmosphere by symbiotic N 2fixation, and increased the soil N balance when used as green manure (Douxchamps et al., 2010). In this case, 12% of the N from Canavalia was recovered in the subsequent maize crop (Douxchamps et al., 2011). However, when used as forage to increase milk yields and annual net income, Canavalia bears the risk of triggering soil N depletion, unless animal manure is recycled. Therefore, biophysical and socioeconomic tradeoffs must be carefully balanced at the farm level to maximize nutrient use efficiency and ensure a sustainable farming system intensification (Douxchamps et al., 2014). Pastures on highly weathered soil in forest margins in Caquetá, Colombia increased dry matter and N/protein yield in farmers pastures containing legumes; because of additional N input via symbiotic N 2 fixation; greater P uptake in productive grass-legume than grass-alone pastures in spite of low plant available P in soils, which likely resulted in greater P recycling (Villegas et al., 2020). Furthermore, the inclusion of the legume Arachis pintoi in grasslegume associations in the same study area doubles beef and milk production and leads to an IRR of between 19.3 and 21.1%, which is significantly higher than for a traditional production system (Rivas and Holmann, 2000). For Costa Rica, grass-legume associations with Arachis pintoi and Cratylia argentea (Rivas and Holmann, 2000) lead to an estimated 30% reduction in production costs per kilogram of milk (Peters et al., 2001). Profitability evaluations in Costa Rica, Michoacán (Mexico) and the Colombian Caribbean region report an IRR that oscillates around 33% for a Leucaena leucocephala-grass association (Jimenez-Trujillo et al., 2011;González, 2013;Murgueitio et al., 2015). The inclusion of Leucaena diversifolia in a Urochloa brizantha cv. Cayman hybrid production system in Colombia is financially profitable and improves all risk and performance indicators when compared with Cayman as a monoculture. This legume increases the Net Present Value (NPV) and the IRR and decreases the minimum area required for generating two basic salaries, the payback period and the risk of obtaining economic loss (Enciso et al., 2020). Also in south-east Asia, forage legumes have proven to play multiple roles, supporting at farm level an increase of N recycling intensity, of N balances and of land productivity. However, the magnitude of the effects there depends strongly on the type of farming system, with more important effects where potential for improvement was high (Epper et al., 2019). While in Queensland, Australia, Leucaena leucocephala has been identified as the most productive and profitable legume, doubling the gross margin (expressed per unit of area), when compared with perennial grasses. At the regional level, economic benefits from the adoption of L. leucocephala have been estimated to be more than US$ 69 million/yr for 2006 in a planted area of 150,000 ha (Shelton and Dalzell, 2007;Bowen et al., 2016).Also tree-based forage species have been demonstrated to have multiple benefits. Pilot sites in Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger, for example, show that more successful restoration outcomes are achieved when combining slow-growing indigenous trees or shrubs with fast growing native fodder species for livestock (Sacande and Berrahmouni, 2016). Fodder species have been used to incentivise restoration for example in Burkina Faso (Vinceti, 2020) leading to more resilient restoration outcomes and great adoption of restoration by farmers. Dry forest species can provide critical reserves during extreme drought offering important food and fodder for communities (Valette, 2019). Early effects of silvopastoral systems with improved forages also show improved soil health and increased abundance and diversity of soil macrofauna as documented by e.g., Barros et al. (2003), Lira et al. (2020), andVazquez et al. (2020). Mixed systems with a strong tree component are thus gaining prominence because of their true multiple environmental wins: increased soil quality, GHG emission mitigation, higher biodiversity and improved water use efficiency.As a final example, cactus pear (Opuntia ficus-indica) is gaining increasing interest across the globe because of its unique features that could help alleviate hunger in arid regions thanks to its ability to survive in harsh conditions. This spineless species is not invasive and is used as livestock feed that can improve meat and milk production for cash earnings, while helping to reduce groundwater use through its high-water use efficiency (species with CAM photosynthetic pathway). Furthermore, its evergreen cladodes can provide \"at any time of the year\" high palatable green fodder with a high Ca to P ratio. Despite its low crude protein and fiber content, the cactus pear cladodes are high in water, sugars, ash and vitamins A and C representing a digestible energy-rich feed when incorporated into livestock diets (Rocha Filho et al., 2021). Because of their high-water content, cactus pears also reduce the need for livestock watering. In fact, cactus pear is a very versatile, resilient crop. It is very easy to establish and able to grow on lands where no other crops can grow. Cactus pear is a multi-functional plant that can be utilized to restore degraded land, control soil and water erosion, regulate climate through carbon sequestration, and its fruits and cladodes are consumed by humans (Inglese et al., 2018;Hassan et al., 2019).Even though the research on gender and social benefits has started later, good evidence on positive impacts in that dimension of sustainability is also emerging. A case study from Kenya shows that the adoption of improved planted forages in dairy systems leads to additional roles of women in feed and dairy production and thus more control over the derived incomes from the production system, but also to higher labor burdens, which might affect technology adoption (Lukuyu et al., 2021). Ba et al. (2013) report an average of 50% reduction in amount of labor and time spent by smallholder farmers in supplying forages to their animals in south Central Vietnam. The adoption of Urochloa hybrids and other improved forages in Ugandan pig production systems has led to time savings among male and female farmers (reduced time for collecting feed) and thus made it possible for the producers to engage in other economic activities (e.g., farming, small-scale enterprises). It also changed the decisionmaking structures in the households and empowered women to join their husbands in the decision on which forage to adopt and how to grow and manage it (Lukuyu et al., 2020). In Ethiopia and Kenya, women and youth are increasingly starting to engage in forage businesses, from which they retain income, and which is a promising pathway for women's economic empowerment (Njuguna-Mungai et al., under review).Despite the growing evidence on the multiple benefits of integrating cultivated forages in mixed crop-tree-livestock systems and some successful scaling examples, overall the adoption rates of improved forages remain relatively low, especially outside Brazil and Latin America. Many of the determining factors for the adoption of forage technologies have been studied and include risk factors (perception of risk about future returns from implementing the technology, risk aversion of the producer) (e.g., Marra et al., 2003;van Winsen et al., 2014;Trujillo-Barrera et al., 2016), the availability of commercial seeds, forage establishment costs, the availability of technical information on the establishment and management, the promotion and availability of knowledge about potential benefits and risks (CIAT, 2004;Wunscher et al., 2004;Lascano et al., 2005), labor requirements (Kaimowitz and Angelsen, 2008), farm size and farm management, the proximity to input markets (ISPC, 2018), the growth of output markets (Kaimowitz and Angelsen, 2008), as well as the general access to productive inputs (e.g., fertilizer, manure, pesticides), capital (e.g., credits, payments for ecosystem services, product differentiation) (e.g., Charry et al., 2019), and extension/technical assistance (Ruiz et al., 2016;Bravo et al., 2018;Enciso et al., 2018;Charry et al., 2019), social capital, and membership of farmer groups (Oulu, 2020). Likewise, structural conditions can influence the adoption of improved forages, such as the prevailing extensive nature of the cattle production systems, low land prices (which can lead to an expansion of area instead of intensification) (White et al., 2001), land tenure rights (Kaimowitz and Angelsen, 2008), land speculation (Smith et al., 1997), political violence and warfare (ISPC, 2018), and missing regulatory and monitoring frameworks. When it comes to promoting the adoption of forage technologies, it is also important to analyze and understand how livestock producers make their decisions and how their decisionmaking process is influenced by factors such as trust (in the information provided or in its sources), social networks and socio-cultural contexts (e.g., Jones et al., 2013;Martínez-García et al., 2013;Rossi Borges and Oude Lansink, 2016;Ambrosius et al., 2019;Hidano et al., 2019).As partly demonstrated in the previous section, integrating improved forages in mixed crop-tree-livestock systems is associated with a wide variety of practice changes. These changes include agronomic and animal husbandry practice change, awareness creation, capacity building, and multi-stakeholder engagement approaches to actions associated with the broader food systems, such as waste reductions and dietary shifts. As amply described in the scientific literature (see Table 1), they thereby align well to all 13 agroecological principles.The first principle, recycling, prescribes to use local renewable resources as much as possible and close as far as possible resource cycles of nutrients and biomass. Forages take up nutrients available in the system, including from deep soil layers, and make these available to livestock. This results in improved nutrient use efficiency. More options to close nutrient cycles through animal manure also exist. In terms of input reduction, the second principle, forages are associated with a reduced need for external inputs, such as feeds, agro-chemicals and water. First, they are associated with a reduction of the need for commercial feed/supplements/concentrates through higher feed efficiency and quality. Well-managed high-quality forages can eliminate or minimize the need for concentrates by moderate producing animals, because intensive utilization of forages (cutting or grazing at the right moment of the phenology) increases the production of metabolizable energy and protein per unit of area. Second, they often are associated with a reduction of the need for off-farm manure or chemical fertilizers. This is facilitated through symbiotic N 2 fixation by forage legumes and the use of forages (partly/fully) as green manure. In addition, there is higher availability of on-farm animal manure because of increased livestock productivity (through higher stocking rates and betterfed animals) and increased availability of crop residues for soil amendments as they can be replaced by forages in the feed basket. Third, the use of forages as a cover crop reduces the need for weeding and chemical weed control, while the use of forages with TABLE 1 | Key references describing the contribution of tropical forages in mixed crop-tree-livestock (MCTL) systems to the 13 agroecological principles described by Wezel et al. (2020).Recycling Andriarimalala et al., 2013;Epper et al., 2019;Paul et al., 2019;Dias et al., 2020;Dahlin et al., 2021 A. Reduction of the need for commercial feed/supplements/concentrates through higher feed efficiency and quality: Snijders et al., 2011;Lukuyu et al., 2013;Silva et al., 2017 B. Reduction of the need for off-farm manure or chemical fertilizers: Nyambati et al., 2006;Douxchamps et al., 2010Douxchamps et al., , 2014;;Schultze-Kraft et al., 2018;Boddey et al., 2020 C. Decreased use of chemical weed and pest control: Xuan et al., 2006;Njeru et al., 2020D. Decreased water requirements: Ríos et al., 2006;Nefzaoui et al., 2014;Mayer and Cushman, 2019;Rocha Filho et al., 2021 A. Improved chemical soil health: Fisher et al., 1994;Schultze-Kraft et al., 2018;Baptistella et al., 2020;Lira et al., 2020;Olaya-Montes et al., 2020;Vazquez et al., 2020B. Improved physical properties: Schultze-Kraft et al., 2018;Baptistella et al., 2020;Boddey et al., 2020 C. Increased below-ground biodiversity and biological activity:  Byrnes et al., 2017;Boddey et al., 2020;Vazquez et al., 2020 A. Improved animal nutrition: Hoste et al., 2012;Sousa et al., 2015;Améndola et al., 2016;Sordillo, 2016;Nwafor et al., 2017;Mangwe et al., 2019;Mayberry et al., 2020B. Increased animal welfare: García-Cruz et al., 2013;Cuartas et al., 2014;Lerner et al., 2015;Pezo et al., 2018 C. Positive indirect effects on human health:  Harvey et al., 2006;Moreno and Pulido, 2010;Rivera et al., 2013;Montoya-Flores et al., 2020Synergy Khan et al., 2008;Descheemaeker et al., 2010;Peters et al., 2012;Cheruíyot et al., 2020;Wan et al., 2020;Zahoor et al., 2021 A. Commercial livestock production: Rivas andHolmann, 2000, 2004a,b;Peters et al., 2001;Shelton and Dalzell, 2007;Murgueitio et al., 2015;Bowen et al., 2016;Schiek et al., 2018;Charry et al., 2019;Enciso et al., 2019Enciso et al., , 2020;;Chizmar et al., 2020;Ruden et al., 2020 (Continued)  Pezo et al., 2007;Nakamanee et al., 2008;Gontijo de Lima et al., 2015;Negassa et al., 2016;Charry et al., 2019;Creemers and Alvarez Aranguiz, 2019;Harrison et al., 2019;Mwendia et al., 2019;Burkart and Urrea-Benítez, 2020;Ntakyo et al., 2020;Ohmstedt, 2020a,b;Dey et al., 2021;Neres et al., 2021 Co-creation of knowledge Peters and Lascano, 2003;Pezo et al., 2007;Bautista Solís, 2012;Geng et al., 2017;Dumont et al., 2019;David et al., 2020 Social values and diets Rudel et al., 2015;Gupta, 2016;Charry et al., 2019;Shapiro et al., 2019;Ruden et al., 2020Fairness Calle et al., 2009;Broom et al., 2013;Cibils et al., 2015Connectivity Chakoma et al., 2016;Lie et al., 2017;Lema et al., 2021 Land and natural resources governance Kaimowitz and Angelsen, 2008;de Oliveira Silva et al., 2016;Garrett et al., 2017b;Tapasco et al., 2019Participation Ayele et al., 2012;Lie et al., 2017Lie et al., , 2018;;Bravo et al., 2018;Enciso et al., 2018;Tapasco et al., 2019;Burkart and Urrea-Benítez, 2020 genetic tolerance against certain pests and diseases or the use of forages in the push-pull system replaces chemical pest control measures (e.g., against stemborer and striga). Fourth, forages are associated with decreased water requirements. Increased soil water retention and infiltration is observed as a result of forages used as a cover crop or green manure to improve soil structure and limit run-off and in the case of improved forages established in areas previously covered by degraded pastures. Drought-tolerant and water-saver forages reduce dependence on water for irrigation compared to currently used forages grown in similar conditions.Integrating cultivated forages in the systems enhances different dimensions of soil health, the third principle. The chemical soil health is improved through root exudation or forages used as green manure, through the stimulation of nutrient cycling, soil organic matter (SOM) accumulation, increased soil carbon stocks and sequestration. The physical soil properties are improved as a result of increased soil aggregation, improved soil structure and aeration, increases in particulate organic matter in soil, roots remaining in soil after harvest/grazing, forages as green manure or cover crop, or the use of forages to prevent soil erosion. Below-ground biodiversity and biological activity is increased through increased soil microbial diversity and activity, presence of rhizobia. Diverse pastures (mix of various species) of diverse functions (secondary compounds, root system) improve the conditions for biological activity at deeper horizons, while increased use of tree-based forages can improve soil quality through improved mycorrhizal networks. The integration of forages, with their capacity to sequester and store carbon in the soil and to inhibit biological nitrification, finally, can significantly enhance the climate change mitigation function of the soil.Different mechanisms are at play for improving animal health and welfare, the fourth agroecological principle. High-quality forages (incl. legumes) in the systems improve the overall quality and quantity feeding and thus animal health, amongst others through enhanced immunity and resistance to pathogens. The conservation of forages (e.g., hay, silage, pellets) thereby increases the availability of feed during seasons where scarcity of feed leaves the animals most vulnerable to disease. Forages from diverse pastures (a mix of various species) complement each other in their contents of critical nutrients for the animal and secondary compounds. Some can, for example, be more efficient in utilizing P or pumping Cu or Mg, providing balanced nutrients and secondary compounds (antibloat, antiparasite agents), while recent results indicate that bioactive tanniniferous plants represent a valuable option as an alternative to commercial drugs for the control of gastrointestinal nematodes. Animal welfare is increased in silvopastoral systems. The trees/shade create more favorable microclimatic conditions and reduce heat stress, which has in turn been associated with more stable social/hierarchical behavior. In addition to animal health and welfare, also positive indirect effects on human health have been documented. Improved plant health, including those of forages, under minimal use of agrochemicals improves animal and human health through reduced exposure to chemical residues. Well-fed animals require less antibiotics thus reducing the need for antibiotics and risk of antimicrobial resistance. Well-fed and healthy animals cause a lower pathogen load in manure that can be transmitted through the food chain and feeding healthy forages can reduce feeding of feeds with high aflatoxins such as maize in East Africa.The fifth agroecological principle, biodiversity, can be enhanced by increasing biodiversity across the landscape. Enhancing land productivity, through high-yielding forages, can spare land for biodiversity conservation and prevent the need for further land conversion to agriculture. The introduction of alternative forage species increases the diversity of species and genetic resources at farm and landscape level as compared to grass monocultures or degraded/intensivelymanaged pastures. This can include the use (and in-situ conservation) of local/neglected species. The broader variety of forage species in combination with reduced use of chemical weed/pest control is likely to attract/maintain wider diversity of e.g., pollinators and below-ground fauna. such well-managed pastures increase the natural introduction of native plant species with desired feeding value and resilience to extreme environmental conditions. In silvopastoral systems, the presence of shrubs and trees has been demonstrated to have a positive impact on biodiversity by creating complex habitats for wild animals and plants and harboring a richer soil biota as compared to conventional grazing systems. Cultivated forages enhance positive ecological interactions and complementarities among system components at the interface between the system's soil, plant, and animal components and thus align well with the sixth agroecological principle of synergy. Using for example tree-based forages can help to increase on-farm above and below ground carbon storage, leading to additional climate mitigation benefits. Different mechanisms contribute to economic diversification, the seventh principle. In first instance, forages enable further commercialization of livestock production. Feed represents the highest cost of production in any livestock system and cultivated forages can substantially reduce the feed input costs. In combination with enhanced productivity, this results in increased rates of return and opens opportunities for income diversification with cattle fattening or commercial milk production. Also the forages in themselves allow for income-diversification. Incomegenerating opportunities along the forage value chain include forage seed supply, marketing and distribution, the sale of hay, silage, pellets and timber or fruits in the case of forage trees.Approaches that encourage co-creation of knowledge and horizontal learning used in research and development efforts around cultivated and improved forages include: on-farm variety trials and participatory monitoring and evaluation, capacity building and knowledge exchange activities such as field days and farmer exchanges. These approaches promote farmer-tofarmer contacts as well as more equal relationships between farmers and researchers. This encourages sharing knowledge and skills and triggers innovation in combination with encouraging community-level seed production and \"passing on the gift, \" the existing technology (and associated management practices) scale out quickly.In terms of social values and diets, principle number nine, animal sourced foods (ASF) are an important source of proteins and readily available micro-nutrients, especially important for improving the nutritional status of especially young children and pregnant and lactating women. Integrating cultivated forages in livestock production systems can increase both the quantity and quality of ASF production. The forages also enable the production of sustainably produced ASF, with simultaneous social, economic and environmental benefits.Efforts to ensure the affordability of quality and environmentally-friendly animal products and the creation of opportunities for smallholders, including for women and youth align well to principle ten, fairness. Forages support dignified and robust livelihoods along the livestock value chains. In line with connectivity, the eleventh principle, local feed, seed, and ASF production allow re-embedding food systems into local economies. Actors along the forages and ASF value chains have more proximity and confidence and are better connected to markets. Principle twelve, land and natural resources governance, prescribes to strengthen institutional arrangements to improve, including the recognition and support of family farmers, smallholders and peasant food producers as sustainable managers of natural and genetic resources. Forages create a need for land-use planning and offer opportunities for development of new resource management strategies, for instance to mitigate soil degradation (e.g., fanya juu terraces). Participatory land-use planning processes can ensure the optimal use of land areas that would not be suitable for crops, use in rotation/intercropping/life barriers/under trees and at times promote land use options for carbon-neutral agriculture. In line with the last principle, participation, the Forage community has started to apply a wide array of participatory approaches. Through participatory system dynamics modeling and participation in multi-stakeholder innovation platforms or round-table discussions, farmers can be included in the design of livestock and forage sector strategies. These approaches promote equal relationships and balanced powers between farmers, researchers and policy makers.Between 2005 and 2021, a total of 1,183 peer-reviewed publications addressed the use of cultivated forages in smallholder systems. The most studied principles concerning the forages are economic diversification, social values and diets, biodiversity, and recycling, all illustrated by more than 200 peer-reviewed publications, mostly at farm scale. Animal health renders 126 hits, then the other principles with less than a hundred. Connectivity was the least represented, with only five hits. These results show that the most evident agroecological impact of forages, according to the scientific community, can be observed in terms of market opportunities and income diversification. The high number of hits for social value and diets illustrates how high the topic of animal-source food and vegetarianism is currently on the global agenda. The principle of biodiversity includes particularly papers reporting options to include forages in rotation or intercropping with different types of systems and pastures' diversity. Finally, the capacity of forages to provide options to close nutrient cycles at the farm level was well-documented. The scientific community's interest in these topics has evolved: social values and diets are high on the agenda since 2012, recycling emerged a bit later in 2015, while economic diversification and biodiversity display a sawtooth but generally increasing interest (Figure 2). Besides connectivity and participation, which are both only sporadically addressed, the documentation of the other principles increased during the period 2005-2020, with some promising peaks for animal health and synergy. More research is needed at the food system scale to fully understand the role of forages in agroecology, particularly on sociological and process aspects, which are both at the core of the four principles less documented. This also indicates a yet to be filled opportunity for forage experts to engage more with the agroecological movement and make forages part of sustainable agri-food system transformation. The finding that despite the existence of scientific literature about cultivated forages and each of the agroecological principles, only 38 out of the 1,183 publications in our WoS search explicitly mention agroecology corroborates this action gap.As illustrated in sections Ensuring System Sustainability Through Integrating Improved Forages in Mixed Crop-Tree-Livestock Systems in the Tropics and Contributions of Improved Cultivated Forages to Agroecological Transformation, there is increased research interest and understanding of the economic, social and agroecological dynamics related to improved forages and their integration in mixed crop-tree-livestock systems. However, several knowledge and technology gaps still exist. At the actual technology level, it is important to continue the genetic improvement and identify or develop forage varieties tolerant to a wide range of biotic and abiotic stress factors. Supported by state-of-art genomics and phenomics, this can be done more efficiently and rapidly than before (Chang et al., 2019). Ensuring genetic diversity at forage level provides an insurance with respect to the impact of biotic and abiotic stress factors on yield and quality (Finckh, 2008). Livestock production, however, does not only take place in heterogeneous agro-climatic conditions, but also in a wide diversity in farm systems, and socioeconomic or policy contexts (Umunezero et al., 2016). To guide the choice of forage species and their integration into farming systems more systems agronomy is needed to produce robust socio-ecological niches for various systems that can be scaled (Paul et al., 2020c). This must be combined with increased research investments in the forages-soil health nexus which seem to have remained stable but low, with <100 WoS hits in total (Figure 3).Further research is also required to strengthen our understanding of the multiple interacting impacts of improved forages at the food system level. An increased understanding of particularly the social dimension has a lot to offer, also in terms of understanding the drivers, underlying causes and impacts of changes linked to the productivity, economic, environmental and human dimensions (Rietveld et al., 2021), while our WoS search results show a low coverage of these issues in the scientific literature. Based on empirical data, foresight analyses and farming systems modeling can be used to estimate multidimensional impacts of forages and for reducing agro-environmental trade-offs (Groot et al., 2012;Paul et al., 2020c). In addition to developing context-specific data on the potential trade-offs associated with integrating forages in mixed crop-tree-livestock systems, a better understanding of what drives uptake of improved forages, especially within agroecological initiatives, is needed for guiding large-scale investments and supporting the decision-making processes around that.At a more immediate action level, to ensure agroecologicalbased farming sustainability, there is a need for demand for the resultant products driven by sufficient public attention. To achieve the level of attention that results in changes in policy and consumer demand, there is a need for influential communication targeting policymakers and the different publics. Raising awareness at different decision-making levels should aim to differentiate, label and promote livestock products derived from agroecosystems based on agroecological principles. Concurrently, cultivated forages should be promoted as a versatile and multi-purpose crop through public campaigns (social media, workshops, leaflets, lobbying) (Louhaichi et al., 2018). However, from the literature search (Figure 2) these aspects seem to be understudied which would imply limited innovation in awareness raising. Yet, by highlighting the evidence-based benefits of integrating cultivated forages in agroecosystems, we can increase the visibility of crop-livestock systems and inform the flow of scaling-up investments. In addition, promotional and educational activities, along with results from further research involving farmer participation, in combination economic incentives, such as payments for ecosystem services and the development of inclusive business models, should be further explored (Schultze-Kraft et al., 2018).The environmental and social consequences of the prevailing agri-food system have sparked a lively societal discussion on how to feed an increasing population in a socio-ecologically sustainable and equitable way. In response, agroecology has been presented as a practice, scientific discipline, and socio-political movement that applies ecological concepts in the sustainable management of agricultural systems. Although some literature highlights the important role livestock play in sustainable food systems and specifically agroecology, the prevailing narrative, especially so in the popular media, argues that one of the leading solutions to climate change and human health crises is to eat no or little animal-source foods.In this paper, however, we point out that the narrow climate/diet framing misses the valuable role livestock can play, especially for family farmers in the south. Integrated systems present an opportunity to improve livestock production, support livelihoods, enhance and protect biodiversity, close nutrient loops etc. and forages play a key role in catalyzing this transformation. Scientific literature and documented practice change by farmers indicate that integrating cultivated forages in mixed crop-tree-livestock systems follows a wide range of agroecological principles and increases the sustainability of livestock production across the globe. We, therefore, have reason to believe that livestock production in the tropics based on improved forages can boost the sustainability indicators of this system, moving toward an agroecological transformation of the food system. It is, however, clear that a lot of this promise is yet to materialize and calls for an urgent coming together of the agroecological and livestock research and development communities. The specific role of the scientific community is therein to generate and use nuanced evidence on what is possible and what is not (taking multi-scale trade-offs into account). As part of the overall movement, they can help ensuring that forages gain more prominence in agroecological initiatives and that more investments are made in sustainable agri-food system transformation with explicit livestock and forage components. from the CGIAR Fund to Donors and bilateral funding agreements (https://www.cgiar.org/funders)."}

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+{"metadata":{"gardian_id":"eda5efc8693f27e44b3bfe56955be8c2","source":"gardian_index","url":"https://cgspace.cgiar.org/rest/bitstreams/4bcc5382-df03-46c1-b024-4e407bed4b2a/retrieve","id":"1079755498"},"keywords":[],"sieverID":"02412c6b-088c-4019-9f2f-474cadd1d5a3","content":"Cattle play significant social and economic roles in the subsistence production systems of the East African highlandas a store of value, measure of wealth, and source of cash flow, fuel, food, draught power and manure. However, the productivity of indigenous breeds is relatively low, with milk offtake rarely exceeding 300kg for a lactation period of about 7 months. Currently indigenous cattle constitute some 77% of cattle in Kenya, but are more than 98% of the total Ethiopian cattle population. Low productivity is due to relatively late ages at maturity, low genetic potential, heavy parasite burden, seasonal variation in feed and little policy emphasis on livestock development. In recent years, however, policy environments for dairy production have improved, including liberalisation of dairy markets. Encouraging intensified dairying is one strategy of the Ethiopian and Kenyan governments to address the low productivity problem of indigenous cattle and to enable resource-poor smallholder mixed crop-livestock farmers to raise incomes.In periurban Addis Ababa, market-oriented smallholder dairying (MOSD) is based on the use of crossbred cows (CBC) that are fed crop-residues such as barley straw, and natural grass and hay, and locallyproduced wheat bran and oilseed cake. While some CBC's are kept on mixed crop/livestock farms, many animals are kept in the urban centre, and are confined to backyard stalls. Milk is mainly marketed directly to consumers by the producers themselves.In the Central province of Kenya, MOSD is based on the intensification of smallholder mixed farming systems through the close integration of CBC's into the mainly maize-based farms. Cows are fed planted fodder (Napier grass), maize stover, weeds and grass, and grain millings or compounded dairy feed. In many cases where landholdings are small, cattle at not allowed to graze at all, but are instead stall-fed. An important element of this system is the heavy use of the manure to fertilise food and cash crops, allowing sustained multiple cropping on the small landholdings (usually less than 2 acres).MOSD increases dairy production and sales of dairy productsespecially liquid milk, i.e. the milk is treated as a \"cash crop\" resulting to greater market orientation of smallholder farm households (Shapiro et al., 1998). Intensification of dairy production has been shown (Pankhurst 1996) to potentially raise milk production and income, especially where demand and infrastructure are favourable (Staal et al., 1997). Further, since milk consumption globally is seen to grow with income levels, it thus has the potential to improve incomes of smallholder farm households in an economically sustainable manner. Because milk is sold daily throughout the year, more regular daily cash incomes enhance dairy households' ability to purchase needed food items during food shortage periods and hence smooth consumption throughout the year.Under some circumstances in relatively extensive farming systems, the use of CBC as draft animals eliminates the need for draft oxen (and their replacements) required for only a few weeks in a year (Zerbini et al., 1996). Fewer but more efficient animals on the farm could reduce stocking rates and overgrazing, thus contributing to the establishment of a more productive and sustainable farming systems. In other circumstances in more intensive farming systems, where much of feed resources are imported from offfarm and animals are not grazed, MOSD leads to higher stocking rates, yielding more manure and so more rapid cycling of nutrients, again contributing to more productive and sustainable systems.Farmers in the highlands of East Africa have a comparative advantage in dairying intensification because of the relatively low animal disease incidence and conducive climate for cattle rearing. As a result, the region has the largest number of both indigenous and CBC cattle in the continent, good traditional animal husbandry skills, and high demand for animal products.As indicated, intensified dairying has been shown to potentially raise milk production and household incomes. However, the consequences on different household membersparticularly women -are not well understood. In particular, the implications on women's labour contribution to the dairy activity, women's dairy income share and control, and female dairy operators' access to productive inputs have not been well established. In both the Kenya and Ethiopia cases, intensive dairying means greater reliance on cut-andcarry of fodder to stall-fed animals, thus requiring a greater labour input per milk unit produced. Understanding women's dairying responsibilities, access to resources and control of proceeds (products and income) from intensified dairying enterprise is crucial in the sustainable development of MOSD and dairying technologies. This paper therefore seeks to identify the consequences of MOSD on East African (Kenya and Ethiopia) women's wellbeing. We focus on their labour contribution, control of benefits, and access to productive resources and then discuss the implications of these to the sustainable development of MOSD.Data were gathered in Holeta, Ethiopia (some 40 kms outside of Addis Ababa) dairy research project involving the Ethiopian Agricultural Research Organisation (EARO), the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), and the Ethiopian Health and Nutrition Research Institute (EHNRI). One of its goals is to develop technologies that enable resource-poor mixed crop-livestock farmers to participate in MOSD. Data from 120 farm households were collected beginning in 1996 from both households with introduced crossbred cows (CBC) and households with locally bred cows (LBC), with gender disaggregation where appropriate. With the CBC's were also introduced complementary dairy technologies. Those farmers with introduced CBC are encouraged to plant fodders such as oats, vetch, and Napier grass, and were trained in improved hygiene and restricted grazing. Veterinary and breeding services were also provided.The data from Kiambu, Kenya (centred some 25kms from Nairobi) was gathered in 1996 as part of a collaborative dairy research project between the Kenya Agricultural Research Institute (KARI), the Kenya Ministry of Agriculture and ILRI. Some 365 households of all types were randomly interviewed during a characterisation survey, out of which 260 were found to be dairy farmers and owned CBCs. Unlike those in Ethiopia, these dairy farms were not project-established. From the identified dairy farms, a sub-set of 27 households was selected to conduct a more detailed interview on gender-differentiated roles and resources related to the dairy activity.From the same KARI/MoA/ILRI collaborative project, data from eight districts in Kenya covering Central, Eastern and Rift Valley provinces is also used mainly for comparison purposes. These derive from a larger characterisation undertaken in early 1998. The eight districts selected represent a wide range of levels of dairy productivity potential and market access within the Nairobi milkshed.Results from the survey carried out in Kiambu (Kenya) indicate that 70.4% of dairy operators are women and 29.6% are men, underlining the traditionally important role of women in milk production in Kenya. In the male-headed households (MHH), 66.7% of the total of 365 sampled, 61.1% of the dairy operators are women and 38.9% are men. In the female-headed households (FHH) (33.3% of the sample), 88.9% of the dairy operators are women and 11.1% are men. In the larger dairy characterisation survey in Kenya (1998), adult females are more involved in such dairy activity tasks as collecting and processing feed, milking, and marketing of milk in comparison to adult males, children and hired labour as shown in Table 1. However, marginally more men are reported involved in the spraying and dipping task than women are. The above numbers suggest that women are the dominant dairy operators in the intensive, mostly stallfeeding MOSD system of Kenya. These results compare to those reported by Mullins et al. (1995), who found that women supplied 48% of the labour input in dairy farms Coastal Province of Kenya. This corresponds both to women's traditional role as the agriculturalists in Kenyan farming communities, and as the milkers in its pastoral communities. Mullins et al. also reported that although women's' overall work load increased with under MOSD, women consistently stated that they were nevertheless better off due to income increases and stability.In contrast, as evident from Table 2, intensified dairying apparently does not significantly increase women's dairy-related labour in Ethiopia, as a result of which their labour supply to other activities is not likely to change. The monitoring survey in Holeta showed that women's' labour contribution to dairy was only 5.5% in the CBC households, compared to 5% in those with indigenous cattle, a difference which may not be significant. While the household's children provide most of the labour in the LBC households, hired men and children provide much of the additional labour required for intensified dairying. Differences in the traditional roles of women in agriculture and cattle keeping mainly explain the variation in women's labour contribution to MOSD in Kenya and Ethiopia. As is suggested in Table 2, women are not generally responsible for cattle keeping in Ethiopia. Differences in the type of dairy technology employed also explain some of the differences. The stall-feeding dairying technique practised in Kenya is labour intensive, requiring animal feed and water to be carried to the cow. In Ethiopia, on the other hand, MOSD technology includes open grazing, with herding tasks traditionally designated to children (the Holeta site does not include urban stall-feeding farms). The results indicate that adoption of MOSD does not necessarily raise the labour burden to women in the household, depending on traditional roles in cattle keeping and on the specific MOSD technology employed.Earlier studies (Pankhurst, 1996;Walshe et al., 1991;Sanders et al., 1996;Shapiro et al., 1998, Baltenweck at al., 1998) of income impacts of MOSD indicate that cash incomes increase as a consequence of higher milk production and increased market-orientation. The Holeta data indicate that men and women in households with introduced CBC had 14 and 4 times higher dairy incomes than men and women in households with LBC, respectively. Thus, although both women and men benefit from MOSD in Holeta, men's cash incomes rise significantly more as a result, compared to those of women.In Kenya, results from the dairy characterisation survey indicate no significant differences in the net cash flows from the dairy enterprise per household per annum by household headed type i.e. FHH and MHH. This implies that dairy production has the same opportunities for both household types. This appears to be a significant result, in that it indicates quite strongly (with a sample of over 1,300 households) that the income-generating potential of MOSD is equally available to women, in spite of their apparent restricted access to many resources (discussed below). At least in this cultural setting where women are the agriculturalists, MOSD technology offers them important opportunities.The important question to be answered is whether the introduction of intensified dairying causes women to lose control over the income generated. Income growth from intensified dairying is expected to improve households' purchasing power, as well as change expenditure patterns. Such changes are governed by household needs, intrahousehold resource allocation, and gender division of labour and responsibilities. It is therefore important to examine whether intra-household changes in income control exist, and if it does whether it adversely affects women's responsibilitiesparticularly food expenditures.In traditional dairy production practices in Ethiopia, women via the processing and sale of butter and cheese earn 69% of the dairy income. Whalen (1983) notes that Ethiopian women maintain control of this money and spends it to purchase household items. Men and women use the incomes they control to meet different objectives. For example women, by virtue of being responsible for food preparation, spend more money in food purchases than men (Quisumbing et al. 1995). The data from Holeta show that women in households with CBC spend only 4% more on food compared to women in LBC (while their incomes were 4 times higher, as above). On the other hand, men in households with MOSD technologies spend 28% more on food than men in households with traditional dairy production practices. Thus women's incomes increase under MOSD in Holeta, and while they do not appear to spend more on food for the household as a result, men do. The higher expenditure by men on food may reflect their greater effective control over the dairy income in this setting -women's control over that income is apparently low.The detailed survey in Kiambu, Kenya showed women solely control the dairy income in 50 % of interviewed MOSD households, with husbands and wives jointly controlling income in another 25 % of the cases. In male-headed households, wives control dairy income in 41%, husbands in 23%, and both husband and wives in 35 % of the cases. In FHH, dairy income is controlled by either the wife or the children. Even in the MHHs, therefore, women have at least some control of the dairy income in 76% of households, and sole control in 41%. These results confirm earlier studies (Mullins et al, 1996;Maarse 1995 ) that indicate that women do indeed gain an important, if not majority, share of the income generated from intensified dairying. The apparent differences in this regard can again be attributed to differences in traditional gender roles towards cattle keeping in Ethiopia and Kenya. In central Kenya, where women do traditionally have a role in milking of cattle, intensification has led to higher incomes not only for their households, but for their own uses. It may be important to note that, at least in this case, the common scenario of commercialisation leading to more male control of activities and incomes is not apparently occurring.Female dairy operators in Kiambu stated that they would have been more productive, if they had access to financial resources to purchase more feed and feed supplements and also more land to grow forage. This section focuses on women's access to productive inputs and highlights resources essential for improvement of dairy production, not available in sufficient quantities and quality in the East Africa Highlands.The main sources of funds to start stall-fed dairying in Kiambu were through savings and sales of assets in 54.2% and 25.0% respectively, in all the sample farm households. Farmers in Holeta-Ethiopia, were given pregnant high milk yielding heifers at a subsidised price to be repaid over a specified period of time. Farmers in both Kiambu and Holeta do not utilise formal loans because of high interest rates, unavailability and required collateral. Another reason for not taking loans from formal institutions is because of the uncertainty of raising money from dairying with CBC in sufficient quantities to repay the loans. Risks associated in dairying with CBC are animal diseases, unstable dairy product prices and payments, scarcity and costs of feed, etc. The risks of loan defaults include forced sale of land and other valuable asset. Women dairy operators thus do not have the cash to invest in productivity-increasing dairying technologies. Also, female dairy operators typically lack secure title to property that eliminates them from obtaining credit from formal financial institutions, even if it is available. Since women are the main dairy operators in Kenya, their inability to obtain necessary cash and credit may be a constraint expanding MOSD production.The detailed survey in Kiambu found that the average farm size of FHH is 1.86 acres compared to MHH who have 2.26 acres of land. The larger survey over 8 districts found, however, no significant difference between the land size per household by gender of the household head, with mean size of 6.2 and 6.7 acres for male and female headed households respectively, though the standard deviations are greater than the means. This is far much higher than what is reported in Kiambu, where there are higher intensification levels.An important factor that enhances women's dairy productivity is the extent to which they have access to education and training (Overholt et al., 1985). Studies (Lloyds and Niemi 1979;Cloud, 1985) show positive effects of education and training on agricultural productivity. Yet in Kiambu-Kenya, where women are the main dairy operators, 26% had no formal education, 57.8% had primary education and only 15.7% had secondary school education. In comparison, 75% and 25% of the male dairy operators in the same area had primary and secondary schools education respectively. This is also true for the dairy characterisation survey results where 23 % of the female-headed households do not have formal education in comparison to 8 % of the male headed households.Traditional gender differences in household and farm roles largely explain the variations observed in impact of smallholder dairy production on women's labour input and control of resulting income. In Kiambu, Kenya, it was reported that MOSD both increased women's labour input, which was in turn compensated through women's control of most of the income from dairying. In Holeta, Ethiopia, in contrast, women's labour input did not apparently increase when MOSD was introduced, and their income from dairy activities similarly remained small, although in percentage terms it increased. Some of these differences can also be attributed to the different technologies employed in the two locations under study, with the stall-feeding Kenyan system requiring a larger labour input.Evidence from Kenya also shows that access to resources may be a constraint to women's participation in smallholder dairying, even in this setting where women are the main dairy operators and control most of the income from dairy sales. Women will benefit more from MOSD, if they have more access to land for fodder production, credit to purchase needed veterinary services and supplements, and advice of the extension agents on the management skills required for profitable operations of the dairy enterprises. Inspite of the fact that women have resource constraints, dairying with CBC is still profitable. Comparisons of income from dairying between MHH and FHH show no significant differences.The high demand of women's time for MOSD in Kenya may have negative effects on their other responsibilitiescrop production, childcare, household chores and other non-farm activities etc. This hypothesis requires further examination.The hypothesis that market-orientation of smallholders will result in women losing control over income to men is not supported by data from MOSD in the East African Highlands. This is in contradiction to findings from other smallholder commercialisation processes (von Bruan and Kennedy,1994).Clearly, the development of smallholder dairying offers opportunities to improve the livelihoods and welfare of smallholder households and the women among them. Although constraints remain, there does not appear to be the threat to women of losing livelihoods to men through commercialisation, in those cases where women's role is traditionally linked to agriculture and milking. In areas where women's roles are primarily in the household, more change may be necessary before women can capture a greater share of the opportunities offered by MOSD."}

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+{"metadata":{"gardian_id":"7a7efffed617e276d98811dcf0691c72","source":"gardian_index","url":"https://cgspace.cgiar.org/rest/bitstreams/a2d024f3-a78d-4bc1-9bc7-dfd316e84e9b/retrieve","id":"-1032240365"},"keywords":["genomic prediction","adversarial validation","feature selection","leave one family out","within family genomic prediction"],"sieverID":"080ba2c0-058f-452b-be01-5c71ceb201bf","content":"Genomic selection is revolutionizing plant breeding. However, its practical implementation is still very challenging, since predicted values do not necessarily have high correspondence to the observed phenotypic values. When the goal is to predict within-family, it is not always possible to obtain reasonable accuracies, which is of paramount importance to improve the selection process. For this reason, in this research, we propose the Adversaria-Boruta (AB) method, which combines the virtues of the adversarial validation (AV) method and the Boruta feature selection method. The AB method operates primarily by minimizing the disparity between training and testing distributions. This is accomplished by reducing the weight assigned to markers that display the most significant differences between the training and testing sets. Therefore, the AB method built a weighted genomic relationship matrix that is implemented with the genomic best linear unbiased predictor (GBLUP) model. The proposed AB method is compared using 12 real data sets with the GBLUP model that uses a nonweighted genomic relationship matrix. Our results show that the proposed AB method outperforms the GBLUP by 8.6, 19.7, and 9.8% in terms of Pearson's correlation, mean square error, and normalized root mean square error, respectively. Our results support that the proposed AB method is a useful tool to improve the prediction accuracy of a complete family, however, we encourage other investigators to evaluate the AB method to increase the empirical evidence of its potential.Addressing the demands of a rapidly growing global population requires a focused effort on bolstering food production. However, achieving a substantial production increase is a complex endeavor, given a host of challenges. These encompass the depletion of natural resources, the scarcity of arable land, and the unpredictable shifts in climate patterns. Consequently, innovative strategies, such as the genomic selection (GS) methodology introduced by Meuwissen et al. (2001), have become indispensable for driving genetic advancements in vital crops such as wheat, rice, and maize. The application of GS holds the potential to fortify yield stability, increase productivity, bolster disease resistance, and enhance the nutritional and quality attributes of these essential crops (Crespo-Herrera et al. 2021).Genomic selection stands as a transformative paradigm within both plant and animal breeding, capitalizing on high-density markers that span the genome's entirety. Its central premise revolves around the idea that genetic markers can (1) be in linkage disequilibrium with quantitative trait locus (QTL) responsible for a specific trait (Meuwissen et al. 2001) and (2) capture relationship patterns (Habier et al. 2010(Habier et al. , 2013)). Genomic selection is redefining breeding practices through an array of innovative mechanisms, encompassing (1) proactive genotype identification, (2) heightened selection precision, (3) resource optimization, (4) accelerated variety development, (5) intensified selection efforts, (6) assessment of complex traits, and (7) enhanced selection accuracy. In sum, genomic-assisted breeding selection represents a paradigm shift in both plant and animal breeding, reshaping the landscape through predictive analysis and precision driven selection; its versatility and merits position GS as a potent instrument propelling progress and ingenuity in agricultural enhancement endeavors.The challenge of achieving accurate genomic predictions stems from the intricate nature of genomic data and the intricate interplay between genes and traits. While GS holds the potential to revolutionize breeding strategies, the precise prediction of complex traits based solely on genetic markers presents a formidable complexity. The polygenic nature of numerous agricultural traits adds to the complexity, as multiple genes with subtle effects collectively contribute to the phenotype. Additionally, the accuracy of predictions is intricately tied to the quality and representativeness of the training population used to construct prediction models. Inadequate or biased data can lead to suboptimal predictions and hinder breeding progress. Genetic interactions and environmental influences further complicate genomic predictions, as these interactions often remain incompletely understood or challenging to incorporate into predictive models. Consequently, ongoing research, advancements in data analysis techniques, improved genotyping technologies, and a deeper understanding of genotype-phenotype relationships are pivotal to address these challenges and fully unlock the potential of genomic prediction within agricultural breeding programs.In the search to enhance the prediction accuracy of the GS methodology, various modeling approaches have been proposed. These ranges from Bayesian frameworks encompassing the Bayesian alphabet (BayesA, BayesB, BayesC, and Bayesian Lasso, etc.) to machine learning methodologies such as random forest, support vector machine, gradient boosting machine, and deep neural networks for genomic prediction. Nonetheless, mixed models remain prevalent in genomic prediction due to their reliable performance in terms of prediction accuracy, computational efficiency, interpretability, and straightforward tuning processes.However, despite the considerable promise held by GS and the diverse modeling approaches explored so far, translating these concepts into practical implementation remains a complex challenge. This complexity arises from the multitude of factors that must be optimized to achieve high prediction accuracies. The simultaneous optimization of these factors introduces intricacy, often yielding unforeseen outcomes. Consequently, the successful integration of GS into real-world scenarios calls for ongoing research, robust methodologies, and a comprehensive understanding of the intricate interactions underlying these contributing factors. Addressing these challenges is imperative to fully realize the potential of GS and facilitate its seamless integration into breeding programs and agricultural practices (Montesinos-López et al. 2022).Precisely predicting family performance is a cornerstone of effective plant breeding, enabling the maximization of genetic gains, efficient allocation of resources, strategic parental selection, and the tailoring of breeding strategies. Furthermore, it enhances disease resistance, adaptability, end-use quality, and consistency in crop varieties. Accurate family prediction empowers breeders to channel their efforts toward superior families, leading to the development of enhanced and resilient crop varieties with desirable traits.When crossing two diploid organisms, each offspring inherits one allele from each parent, and the selection of which specific allele an offspring inherits occurs through a stochastic process. This process creates genetic diversity within a family, a phenomenon referred to as Mendelian segregation variance or within-family variance. In statistical terms, the genetic value of a quantitative trait in an offspring is composed of the four alleles contributed by the two parents, guided by a Mendelian variable from each parent. Wang and Xu (2019) proposed a mixture model that allows for the dissection of the total genetic variance into between-family variance and within-family variance. With no inbreeding, the genetic variance is evenly split between-family variance and withinfamily variance. When inbreeding is present, there is an increase in the overall genetic variance due to an increase between-family variance at the expense of the within-family variance (Foulley and Chevalet 1981).However, predicting family performance within plant breeding is fraught with complexities stemming from factors such as pronounced genetic diversity, intricate trait architectures, limited family sizes, erratic environmental variations, genotype-byenvironment interactions (GE), data quality and quantity challenges, trait trade-offs, and extended breeding cycles. Overcoming these challenges requires advanced methodologies, refined technologies, expansive datasets, and a profound understanding of intricate trait genetics. Despite these challenges, accurate family prediction is pivotal for the development of superior crop varieties and to address global agricultural challenges.The interplay of genetic diversity, recombination, genetic segregation, population-specific variation, incomplete data, environmental elements, and statistical intricacies collectively underscore the challenges associated with genomically predicting full siblings resulting from a single cross. While advancements in genomics and statistical methodologies continue to enhance prediction accuracy, achieving precise predictions of genetic relatedness remains a multifaceted endeavor, particularly when working with limited data from a single cross. Predicting full siblings from a single cross requires the handling of intricate relationships and uncertainties, further intensifying the complexity of the analysis and prediction processes.As such, innovative methodologies to enhance family prediction accuracy are indispensable. In this pursuit, we explore the fusion of the adversarial validation (AV) approach proposed by Montesinos-López, Kismiantini et al. (2023) with the Boruta feature selection method, as examined by Montesinos-López, Crespo-Herrera et al. (2023). Although the AV method adeptly detects training-testing mismatches and optimizes training sets, its efficiency may diminish when dealing with smaller training sets or moderate to high mismatches. Conversely, the Boruta method, a feature selection technique, effectively mitigates prediction errors by selecting a fraction of the most important features, but may not consistently elevate selection accuracy, since when the selected variables are not optimal, decreases prediction accuracy.Thus, in this research, we introduced the AB method, which leverages the strengths of both AV and Boruta. The AB method primarily functions to mitigate disparities between training and testing distributions without reducing the training set and original inputs. This is achieved through the attenuation of weights assigned to markers that manifest the most substantial differences between the training and testing sets. In the AB method, a binary classifier is trained for each family using a combination of original and shuffled markers. Feature importance scores for the original markers are computed, and these weighted markers are employed to construct a genomic relationship matrix (GRM). This weighted GRM is then incorporated into the genomic best linear prediction model (GBLUP), forming the core of the AB method.We hypostatize that the AB method holds the potential to enhance prediction accuracy and mitigate prediction errors, particularly in cases where a substantial disparity exists between the training and testing sets. Conversely, in scenarios where such a discrepancy is inconsequential, the AB will not affect the prediction performance. This assertion is grounded in the contention that the AB method addresses a notable limitation of the AV method (Montesinos-López, Kismiantini et al. 2023). Specifically, the AV method struggles when confronted with small datasets, either failing to identify an optimal training set or, when the dataset is so diminutive, adversely impacting prediction performance. In contrast, the AB method using all original inputs with appropriate weighting, circumvents these issues. By eschewing the selection of a mere sample or fraction of inputs, as seen in variable selection methods (Boruta method), the AB method sidesteps the pitfalls associated with a suboptimal sample of inputs, which can detrimentally affect prediction performance. We assess the AB method against conventional GRMs without weights (GBLUP), utilizing 12 real-world datasets.The model used in this study can be represented aswhere Y ij denotes the response variable in the environment i and genotype j. E i are the fixed effects of environments, g j , j = 1, . . . , J, denotes the random effects of lines, gE ij denotes the random effects of the genotype-by-environment interaction modeled through a compound symmetry structure, and ϵ ij denotes the random error components in the model assumed to be independent normal random variables with mean 0 and variance σ 2 .Furthermore, it is assumed that g = (g 1 , . . . , g J )where Z E is the design matrix of environments of order n × I, ⊙ denotes the Hadamard product, and Z g is the design matrix of genotypes (lines) of order n × J, G is the genomic relationship-matrix computed using markers (VanRaden 2008). Let X denote the matrix of markers and let M, be the matrix of centered and standardized markers. Then G = MM T p (VanRaden 2008), where p is the number of markers. The implementation of this model (1) using the computed G was done in the Bayesian Genomic Linear Regression library of Pérez and de los Campos (2014).The Boruta algorithm was developed to identify covariates that have significant relevance to the response variable, whether strong or weak. Specifically designed for high-dimensional datasets with noisy features, Boruta addresses the challenges of feature selection in such datasets (Kursa and Rudnicki 2010). Its operation involves the creation of a shadow (permuted) feature set, which is a replicated version of the original feature set with values randomly permuted, i.e. shuffled. These shadow features act as controls to assess the statistical significance of the original features. The determination of the relevance of the original features is based on whether their importance scores significantly surpass the importance scores of their corresponding shadow features.In datasets containing numerous noisy features, where conventional feature selection methods may face difficulties, Boruta proves to be an efficient solution. However, it is important to note that it can be computationally intensive and requires careful parameter tuning to achieve optimal results (Kursa and Rudnicki 2010).The Boruta algorithm operates through a series of well-defined steps for effective feature (marker in our application) selection. The process is as follows:Step 1: A shadow feature set is generated by randomly permuting the values of each feature in the original dataset.Step 2: A random forest model is trained using both the original feature set and the shadow feature set. This model serves as the foundation for assessing feature importance.Step 3: The feature importance scores for each original feature are calculated by comparing them to the importance scores of their corresponding shadow features.Step 4: The maximum importance score is determined for each feature based on the results obtained in Step 3.Step 5: The Binomial test is employed to evaluate the statistical significance of each feature. If a feature's importance score is deemed statistically significant, it is marked as \"important\"; otherwise, it is labeled as \"unimportant.\" The Binomial test is a statistical evaluation used in Boruta to compare the observed number of successes (e.g. instances where a feature's importance score exceeds a certain threshold) with the expected number of successes under a null hypothesis. This test determines whether the observed results are statistically significant or merely due to chance. In Boruta, the Binomial test is applied to assess whether the feature importance scores are significantly higher than those of the shadow features, thereby indicating the relevance of the original features (Kursa and Rudnicki 2010).Step 6: The process outlined in Steps 1-5 is repeated for a predetermined number of iterations to ensure robustness and consistency in the feature selection process.Step 7: Finally, the features are ranked based on their importance scores. Within Boruta, features are categorized as \"Confirmed\" if they are considered important, \"Rejected\" if they are deemed unimportant, and \"Tentative\" if further investigation is required or if they are considered less important. This categorization provides valuable insights into the relevance and contribution of each feature to the predictive model.Step 1. We assume that we have a multi-environment or single environment data set in which there are at least 2 families and for each family there are some lines. Since our goal is to predict a complete family, the information of this family constitutes the testing set { X tst , y tst }, and the information of the remaining families is the training set { X trn , y trn }. Then, in the original dataset { X trn , y trn , X tst , y tst }, we remove the original response variable column { y trn , y tst }, and add a fictitious (new) response variable column { y f trn , y f tst } that replaces the source of the data by 0 (that is, y f = 0) for samples (observations) on the training set and by 1 (i.e. y f =1) for the samples in the testing set (Montesinos-López, Kismiantini et al. 2023). In other words, the fictitious response variables with 0 s correspond to the remaining families and the 1 s for the family we want to predict.Step 2. We then implement the Boruta algorithm with inputs { X trn , y f trn , X tst , y f tst } and we extract the variable important scores (IS) for each marker.A marker weighting approach | 3 Downloaded from https://academic.oup.com/g3journal/advance-article/doi/10.1093/g3journal/jkad278/7469083 by guest on 08 January 2024Step 3. The next step is to compute the inverse of the IS as Inv_IS = 1/IS, then compute the final weights as w = Inv_IS ×p /sum(Inv_IS), where p denotes the number of markers.Step 4. Each row of the standardized matrix of markers ( M) is then multiplied by the vector of weights (w), in matrix notation we build the diagonal matrix of squared weights, as D = Diag( w 2 1 , w 2 2 , . . . , w 2 p ), and finally, with this weighted matrix, a weighted GRM is computed as G * = MDM T p . The implementation of model (1) using the weighted GRM (G * ) is what we call method AB. It is important to point out that the GBLUP and AB methods were implemented in the R statistical software (R Core Team 2023).The AB method works primarily from its capability to minimize the mismatch between the training and testing distributions. This is achieved by diminishing the weight assigned to markers that exhibit the most pronounced differences between the training and testing sets. In simple words, the weights resulting from the AB method originate from a binary classification model and reflect the significance of each variable (marker) in distinguishing between training and testing sets. By assigning a value of one to observations belonging to the testing set and zero to those from the training set, the weights indicate the relative importance of independent variables (markers) in this differentiation process. In essence, higher importance scores associated with certain variables imply a more substantial contribution to the ability to differentiate observations between the training and testing sets. Also, it is important to point out that the proposed AB method is not restricted only to family prediction, since it can be used for any type of prediction where there is a significant mismatch between the training and testing distributions.Details of the 12 data sets are shown in Table A1 (Appendix).The cross-validation approach used in this study involved leaving one family out. In each iteration, the data from a single-family served as the testing set, while the data from all other families constituted the training set (Montesinos-López et al. 2022). The number of iterations was equal to the number of families to ensure that each family was used as the testing set exactly one time. This method was employed to assess the model's ability to predict information from a complete family using data from different and diverse families.To assess the predictive efficacy of the proposed AB method in contrast to the GBLUP model, three metrics were employed. Initially, the mean square error (MSE) was utilized to gauge the model's prediction accuracy by measuring the squared deviation between observed and predicted values on the testing set. Subsequently, the average Pearson's correlation (COR) was calculated to ascertain the strength and direction of the linear relationship between the observed and predicted values on the testing set. Additionally, the normalized root mean square error (NRMSE), serving as another metric for prediction error, was computed. To derive this metric, we first calculated the square root of the MSE and then divided this value by the average of the observed values in the testing set. These evaluation metrics provided valuable insights into the performance of the proposed AB method relative to the GBLUP method in predicting information across an entire family.In addition, we computed the relative efficiency (RE), in terms of MSE, NRMSE, and COR of each model with the following expressions:where M GBLUP and M AB denote the models compared, the GBLUP and the AB model. The RE for COR was computed as:Across the three measures of relative efficiency (RE_MSE, RE_NRMSE, and RE_COR), a value greater than one signifies a superior performance of the AB method. Conversely, a value <1 indicate the GBLUP method's superiority. A value equal to 1 suggests equivalent performance between the GBLUP and AB methods.The results are organized into 5 sections. The 4 first sections present the results for Data 1 (GDM), Data 2 (Maize_1), Data 3 (Maize 2), and Data 9 (Soybean_4), while section 5 presents the results across all data sets under study. For each data set, we compared the results between the GBLUP and the proposed AB method in terms of MSE, COR, and NRMSE. The results for Data 1-3 and Data 9 and across data sets are shown in Figs. 1-5 and Tables 1-5, respectively. Supplementary Material contains results for the rest of the data sets, Data 4-8 (Maize_3, Maize_4, Soybean_1, Soybean_2, Soybean_3, respectively) and Data 10-12 (Maize_Bi_2018, Maize_Bi_2019_D, and Maize_Bi_2019_O, respectively), are presented in Supplementary Tables 1-8, respectively, and displayed in Supplementary Figs. 1-8, respectively.Note that for simplicity purposes, Supplementary Materials only show the description of results from Data 4-8 and of Data set 10 (Maize_3, Maize_4, Soybean_1, Soybean_2, Soybean_3, and Maize_Bi_2018, respectively) given in Supplementary Tables 1-6 and Supplementary Figs. 1-6. Although results from data sets Data 11 to 12 (Maize_Bi_2019_D and Maize_Bi_2019_O, respectively) are shown in Supplementary Tables 7-8 and Supplementary Figs. 7-8, respectively, they are not discussed in the text of Supplementary Material.In this section, we compared the GBLUP and AB methods for each family across traits for the \"GDM\" dataset. The comparison was done using three metrics (MSE, COR, and NRMSE) and for each metric, the RE was computed, comparing the GBLUP and AB methods (Fig. 1 and Table 1).In terms of MSE we found that in 11 out of the 13 families the RE > 1, this means that the AB method outperformed the GBLUP method in 11 out of the 13 families. However, across traits and families we got an RE = 1.061, meaning that, on average, the AB method outperformed the GBLUP method by 6.1% in terms of MSE (Table 1 and Fig. 1).Furthermore, in terms of COR, we found that the AB method was better than the GBLUP method in 12 out of 13 families, since in 12 of these families, the RE, in terms of COR, was greater than 1. Meanwhile, across traits and families, the gain of the AB method regarding the GBLUP method was 1.6% since the RE = 1.016 (Fig. 1, Table 1).Finally, in terms of NRMSE values, Fig. 1 and Table 1 show that 12 out of 13 of the RE values are larger than 1, which means that the AB method outperformed the GBLUP method in 12 out of 13 families. Across traits and families, we found an RE = 1.033, which means that the AB method gains the GBLUP method by 3.3% in terms of prediction performance. In sum, across traits, RE > 1 means that the AB method outperformed the GBLUP method, RE < 1 means that the GBLUP method outperformed the AB method and RE = 1 means that both methods performed equally. In this section, we conducted a comparative analysis of the GBLUP and AB methods across traits for Data 2. The same three metrics (MSE, COR, and NRMSE) were used to measure the performance of both methods. The results are presented in Fig. 2 and Table 2.Regarding MSE, we observed that the AB method outperformed the GBLUP method in all six families, with RE values >1. This indicates that the AB method displayed superior predictive capability in all instances. Across all traits and families, the overall RE of the AB method was found to be 1.315, representing an average improvement of 31.5% over the GBLUP method in terms of MSE (Table 2 and Fig. 2).Similarly, in terms of COR, the AB method displayed a better performance than the GBLUP method in all six families, as evidenced Fig. 3. Data 3 (Maize_2). Relative efficiency (RE) between the proposed method (AB with Boruta for variable selection) and the GBLUP method for each family and across family (AF) in terms of a) mean square error, MSE; b) average Pearson's correlation, COR; and c) normalized root mean square error, NRMSE. RE > 1 means that the AB method outperformed the GBLUP method, RE < 1 means that the GBLUP method outperformed the AB method and RE = 1 means that both methods performed equally. Relative efficiency (RE) between the proposed method (AB with Boruta for variable selection) and the GBLUP method for each family and across family (AF) in terms of a) mean square error, MSE; b) average Pearson's correlation, COR; and c) normalized root mean square error, NRMSE. RE > 1 means that the AB method outperformed the GBLUP method, RE < 1 means that the GBLUP method outperformed the AB method and RE = 1 means that both methods performed equally. Fig. 5. Across datasets. Relative efficiency (RE) between the proposed method (AB with Boruta for variable selection) and the GBLUP method for each family and across family (AF) in terms of a) mean square error, MSE; b) average Pearson's correlation, COR; and c) normalized root mean square error, NRMSE. RE > 1 means that the AB method outperformed the GBLUP method, RE < 1 means that the GBLUP method outperformed the AB method and RE = 1 means that both methods performed equally.  by RE values >1 for each family. The overall gain of the AB method relative to the GBLUP method, considering all traits and families, was 20.8%, with an RE value of 1.208 (Fig. 2 and Table 2). Additionally, when considering NRMSE values, we again observed that the AB method outperformed the GBLUP method in all 6 families, with RE values consistently above 1. The overall RE across traits and families was 1.126, indicating a 12.6% improvement in prediction performance for the AB method compared to the GBLUP method.In this section, we conducted a comprehensive comparison between the GBLUP and AB methods across traits for the Maize_2 dataset with the same metrics. Regarding MSE, our analysis revealed that the AB method outperformed the GBLUP method in all six families, as evidenced by RE values >1. This indicates a consistent superiority of the AB method over the GBLUP method within each family. When considering all traits and families together, the overall RE value was 1.553, indicating an average improvement of 55.3% in favor of the AB method in terms of MSE (Table 3 and Fig. 3).Furthermore, in terms of COR, the AB method displayed a higher performance compared to the GBLUP method in all 6 families, as indicated by RE values larger than 1 for each family. Across all traits and families, the AB method achieved an RE value of 1.339, representing a 33.9% gain over the GBLUP method (Fig. 3 and Table 3).Similarly, the NRMSE values exhibited a consistent pattern of improvement for the AB method. In all six families, the AB method outperformed the GBLUP method, with RE values surpassing 1. When considering all traits and families collectively, the overall RE value was 1.203, indicating a 20.3% performance gain of the AB method over the GBLUP method.Regarding the MSE metric, our findings indicate that the AB method outperformed the GBLUP method in 8 out of the 10 families,  Prediction accuracy in terms of mean square error (MSE), average Pearson's correlation (COR), and normalized mean square error (NRMSE). The metrics that end with_GBLUP denotes the results under the GBLUP, while those that end with _AB denotes the AV method with variable selection using the Boruta algorithm. Relative efficiency (RE) denotes the RE for each metric, RE_MSE and RE_NRMSE were computed dividing the MSE_GBLUP by the MSE_AB, and the NRMSE_GBLUP by the NRMSE_AB, while the RE_COR was computed dividing the COR_AB by the COR_GBLUP. RE values larger than one indicate that the AB method outperformed the GBLUP method. Prediction accuracy in terms of mean square error (MSE), average Pearson's correlation (COR), and normalized mean square error (NRMSE). The metrics that end with_GBLUP denote the results under the GBLUP, while those that end with _AB denote the AV method with variable selection using the Boruta algorithm. Relative efficiency (RE) denotes the RE for each metric, RE_MSE and RE_NRMSE were computed dividing the MSE_GBLUP by the MSE_AB, and the NRMSE_GBLUP by the NRMSE_AB, while the RE_COR was computed dividing the COR_AB by the COR_GBLUP. RE values larger than one indicate that the AB method outperformed the GBLUP method.with an RE value >1. Across all traits and families, the average improvement achieved by the AB method vs the GBLUP method was 39.2% (RE = 1.392, Table 4 and Fig. 4).Similarly, regarding the COR metric, the AB method displayed a higher performance in 9 out of 10 families, as indicated by RE >1. Across all traits and families, the AB method showed a modest gain of 2.7% compared to the GBLUP method (RE = 1.027, Fig. 4, Table 4).Additionally, the NRMSE metric analysis revealed that in 8 out of 10 cases, the RE values exceeded 1, highlighting the advantage of the AB method over the GBLUP method. Overall, across all traits and families, the AB method displayed a 9.0% improvement in prediction performance, as evidenced by an RE value of 1.090.Regarding the MSE metric, our findings across data sets and families indicate that the AB method outperformed the GBLUP method by 19.7% (RE = 1.19.7, Table 5 and Fig. 5). Turning our attention to the COR metric, the AB method displayed a higher performance with a gain of 8.6% compared to the GBLUP method (RE = 1.086, Fig. 5, Table 5). Additionally, in terms of NRMSE, the AB method exhibited an improvement of 9.8% over the GBLUP method, as indicated by a RE value of 1.098 (as depicted in Fig. 5 and Table 5).In sum, our findings consistently found AB method superior to the GBLUP method across diverse datasets, traits and family categories. These results indicate that the AB method is indeed effective in predicting untested families when trained on tested ones.Family prediction in breeding programs is of paramount importance, since it is essential to optimize the use of resources, accelerate the breeding cycle, reduce environmental impact, and produce new plant varieties with improved traits. Family prediction allows breeders to identify and select superior genotypes based on their genetic potential. By predicting the performance of entire families rather than individual plants, breeders can make informed decisions about which families are likely to exhibit desirable traits such as higher yield, resistance to diseases, and improved quality.Family prediction is very important since enables breeders to allocate their resources more efficiently by focusing on families with the highest predicted performance. This targeted approach accelerates the breeding process, allowing for the identification of promising plant varieties more quickly. As a result, resources such as time, manpower, and field space are utilized more effectively, leading to the development of improved crop varieties in a timelier manner. This efficiency is crucial in addressing global challenges such as food security, climate change, and evolving pest and disease pressures.Challenging family predictions in plant breeding can arise due to several factors, which can complicate the process and impact the accuracy of predictions. Some of these challenges include (1) genetic variation within families, (2) quantitative traits and polygenicity, (3) epistasis and gene interactions, (4) recombination and linkage disequilibrium, (5) limited sample size, etc. Addressing these challenges requires a combination of advanced statistical methods, cutting-edge genomic technologies, robust experimental designs, careful consideration of environmental factors, and iterative model refinement. Although genomics and statistical modeling continue to improve the accuracy of family predictions in plant breeding, it is likely that these challenges will continue to be important.For this reason, in this research, a novel method was proposed that integrates the strengths of the AV method and Boruta method and it is called the AB method. This method trains binary classifiers for each family with a fictitious response variable. The fictitious response variable is labeled as 1 (testing set) when the input belongs to the family of interest, while the inputs of the remaining families are labeled as 0 (training set). During the training process with the Boruta method, each original marker and its permuted (shuffled) version is used as input. This process helps determine marker importance. Original markers are then weighted using the inverse of their computed scores, and with these weighted markers, the weighted GRM is computed. The GBLUP model is then implemented using this weighted GRM. From our results we speculate that the AB method is simply picking up the SNPs segregating on the test set. In which case, a quality control process on the SNP set could be used to tailor the model to specific families. The proposed AB method was compared to the GBLUP model that uses a GRM without weights on 12 real datasets.We found the AB method outperformed the GBLUP method between 0% (Data 12, Maize_Bi_2019_O) and 55.3% (Data 3, Maize_2) in terms of MSE, between 0% (Data 12, Maize_Bi_2019_O) and 33.9% (Data 3, set Maize_2) in terms of COR and between 1.1% in Data 12, Maize_Bi_2019_O) and 33.9% (Data 3, Maize_2) in terms of NRMSE. On average across data sets, traits and families, we observed that the AB method outperformed the GBLUP method by 8.6, 19.7, and 9.8% in terms of COR, MSE and normalized root MSE. These results are very promising, since they provide empirical evidence that the proposed AB method can help to significantly increase the prediction performance of complete families.The power of the AB method mostly is attributed to the fact that it reduces the mismatch between the training and testing distribution by reducing the weight of those markers that most differentiate the training from the testing set. This adjustment is possible to be carried out due to the hybrid nature of the AB method that uses the AV approach proposed by Montesinos-López, Kismiantini et al. (2023) for the context of plant breeding to quantify the magnitude of the mismatch between the training and testing sets, followed by the Boruta method to identify those markers that are more important in the differentiation between the training and testing set. Then with the inverse of the importance scores a weighted GRM is built that is used coupled with the GBLUP model with the goal of improving the prediction performance. Our results are encouraging since we not only reduced prediction error (with MSE and NRMSE) but also increases predictive ability (as Pearson's correlation between predicted and observed values) which is one of the most popular metrics used in GS, and that guarantees a better selection process of the best (top or bottom) candidate genotypes. Also, it is important to point out that the proposed AB method is not restricted to only hybrid predictions since this method can be applied to any prediction problem in which exist a significant mismatch between the training and testing set, also the size of the training and testing set have not restrictions, that is, the percentages of observations in the training and testing can be quite different.However, even though the results are very promising, in some data sets we did not find a significant improvement in the prediction accuracy of some families, which in part can be attributed to a not significant mismatch between the training and testing sets and in other to difficulties of building robust statistical machine learning methods for complete family predictions since, as mentioned above, many factors that interact in complex ways affect A marker weighting approach | 9 Downloaded from https://academic.oup.com/g3journal/advance-article/doi/10.1093/g3journal/jkad278/7469083 by guest on 08 January 2024 the family performance. Also, it is hard to predict some families because the heritability for a single family within a single environment is very low, unless this family happens to be segregating to a major QTL and in these cases, the test is too noisy to validate the methodology.For example, the number of individuals per family (family size) is key to improving the prediction accuracy of a complete family, since the larger the family size, we will have more information to train the genomic prediction model efficiently. In addition, it is key to have many families in the training set since, in this way, the probability that the family to be predicted has more similar families in the training set increases.Also, the size and structure of the training population affect the accuracy of genomic prediction models (VanRaden et al. 2009;Daetwyler et al. 2010;Habier et al. 2010;de Bem Oliveira et al. 2020). Furthermore, incorporating more than 10 individuals within each family will diminish the sampling variability of both allele frequency and phenotypic mean, ultimately leading to enhanced genomic accuracies (de Bem Oliveira et al. 2020). However, we are aware that not even the family can predict itself well because of factors such as G × E (Alencar 2021).For the situation mentioned above, it is crucial to highlight the significance of genome-wide family prediction in breeding practices, particularly considering that numerous species are cultivated within large full or half-sibling family populations, often serving as commercially viable populations with varying degrees of relatedness, as seen in certain forage species such as alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.) (Annicchiarico et al. 2015;Biazzi et al. 2017) and ryegrass (Lolium perenne L.) (Fè et al. 2016). Within these species, the family unit, whether composed of full or half-siblings, constitutes the fundamental entity for phenotyping, typically performed at the plot level to measure attributes like yield, as opposed to the individual plant level. This approach is required by the allogamous nature of their mating systems (Poehlman 1987). Notably, individual plants hold limited significance, given that commercial varieties are essentially homogeneous populations comprising heterozygous individuals (Poehlman 1987).Significantly, the application of genome-wide family prediction has already been reported in crops that are intentionally bred and cultivated as family pools, particularly in cross-pollinated forage species (Fè et al. 2016;Annicchiarico et al. 2015;Biazzi et al. 2017). For this reason, the proposed AB method is a promising tool that helps to improve the prediction performance of complete families, but still further research is required to be able to improve the modeling process in family predictions in such a way that, it is highly probable that we can guarantee a high prediction accuracy of each family, in any trait and in any data set. The application of the AB method generally improves the prediction accuracy or, in case this does not occur, the genomic prediction accuracy will not be negatively affected by the application of the AB method.Due to the need to improve family prediction accuracy in plant breeding programs, we proposed the AB method that integrates the AV method with the Boruta method. The former detects the presence and magnitude of the mismatch between the training and testing set using a binary classifier using the original features (inputs) and a fictitious response variable, while the Boruta computes feature importance, also using the same fictitious response variable, then with the inverse of the feature importance scores the original features (markers) are weighted, and using them, a weighed GRM is computed. Finally, the GBLUP model is used with the weighted GRM. We found that the proposed AB method outperforms the GBLUP by 8.6, 19.7, and 9.8% in terms of Pearson's correlation, MSE, and normalized root MSE across data sets, traits, and families. The proposed AB method was shown to be efficient in most data sets under study, but for cases in the AB method did not produce any increase in genomic prediction accuracy, the AB method did not produce any decrease in the accuracy of the prediction. Certainly, more empirical evaluations are welcome to support our findings. "}

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+{"metadata":{"gardian_id":"e4ba85cf54d27d941a0619fcf7c4d71d","source":"gardian_index","url":"http://www.tropenbos.org/file.php/1344/5_historical_co2_emissions_agus_et_al.pdf","id":"-913318029"},"keywords":["Land use change","CO2 emissions","peat oxidation","low-carbon shrubland rehabilitation"],"sieverID":"06173a91-4d30-4749-b3a1-fbef72cae210","content":"The CO2 emissions from land use change (LUC), peat fires and peat oxidation due to the establishment and operations of industrial oil palm plantations were estimated for the major palm oil producing regions of Indonesia (Sumatra, Kalimantan and Papua), Malaysia (Peninsular Malaysia, Sarawak and Sabah) and Papua New Guinea. Measurements of oil palm expansion were based on the visual interpretation of Landsat images from 1990, 2000, 2005, and 2009/2010 that produced a 22 x 22 LUC matrix, which was used in conjunction with emission factors calculated from the differences in the mean value of published reports for above ground carbon (AGC) for each land cover class (e.g., 189 Mg C ha -1 for undisturbed forest, 104 Mg C ha -1 for disturbed forest, 30 Mg C ha -1 for shrub land, 36 Mg C ha -1 for oil palm plantations). The emission factor for peat oxidation for oil palm plantations operating on peat soils (43 Mg CO2 ha -1 yr -1 ) was based on a review of the scientific literature, while the emission factors for peat fires were based on the assumption that fires were used historically to clear land when establishing oil palm plantations in swamp forest (333 Mg CO2 ha -1 ) and swamp shrub land (110 Mg CO2 ha -1 ).The total area of oil palm plantations increased from 3.5 to 13.1 Mha between 1990 and 2010 at a mean annual rate of approximately 7%. Over this 20 year period, the direct conversion of natural forest preceded the establishment of approximately 3.5 Mha (36.6%) of new oil palm plantations, with the remainder resulting from the conversion of moderate to low biomass vegetation types, including 1.7 Mha of shrub and grassland habitats (17.6%) and 3.5 Mha of land cover types (37.5%) that had been converted previously to field crops, agroforest or other types of plantations, and 0.9 Mha of other land cover categories (9.5%).The net emissions of CO2 from oil palm plantations in the study area resulting from changes in AGC due to LUC, peat fires and peat oxidation increased from 92 to 106 to 184 Tg CO2 yr -1 between the first (1990 -2000), second (2001 -2005)  and third (2006 -2009/10) temporal periods. The proportion of CO2 emissions that originated from AGC due to LUC decreased between the first and second temporal period, but increased in the third (55 to 42 to 67 Tg CO2 yr -1 ); the emissions from peat fires linked to LUC tracked those of AGC (12 to 8 to 29 Tg CO2 yr -1 ). In contrast, the emissions from the oxidation of peat from plantations operating on partially drained peat soils increased steadily over all three temporal periods (26 to 56 to 88 Tg CO2 yr -1 ). Emissions from AGC due to LUC and peat fires are one time emissions that occur at the time of plantation establishment, but peat oxidation results in long-term, annual recurring emissions. By 2010, plantations on peat constituted 18% (2.4 Mha) of the spatial footprint of palm oil, but emission from peat fires and peat oxidation were the source of approximately 64% (118 Tg CO2 yr -1 ) of the total emissions from land use linked to industrial scale oil palm plantations.Finally, we compared the CO2 emissions from oil palm with the emissions from AGC due to LUC and peat oxidation from other types of land use; emissions from peat fires were excluded due the lack of data on the incidence of fire in other land use categories. We estimate that oil palm was responsible for approximately 13% of the total of these two types of emissions between 2000 and 2005 and 18% between 2006 and 2009/2010, based on total estimated emissions of 698 and 792 Tg CO2 yr -The palm oil industry has grown from providing less than 5% of the global supply of vegetable oils in 1970 to providing approximately 35% of the global market demand (Teoh, 2010). The rapid growth in the production of palm oil reflects the success of a highly efficient plantation system and the inherent productive capacity of the oil palm (Elaeis guineensis). The palm oil industry is expected to expand in the near to medium term in response to the demand for vegetable oil as food in emerging economies and developing countries, and potentially, as a biofuel feedstock in North America and Europe. The plantation model of production is widespread and has existed for more than a century in Africa, Latin America and Southeast Asia (Corley & Tinker, 2003), but it has reached its most sophisticated level of operation in Malaysia and Indonesia, which together produce approximately 85% of global supplies of palm oil. Indonesia is expected to expand the area under cultivation by about 50%, from approximately 8 million ha in 2010 to 12 Mha by 2020 (Teoh, 2010), while Malaysia is expected to increase its oil palm plantations by only 28% due to the limitation of available land resources (Dompok, 2011). Other areas, particularly Papua New Guinea, Thailand, West Africa and South America also are expected to increase oil palm plantations in response to the demand from world markets.The rapid expansion of oil palm plantations has generated a heated debate about the environmental impacts of palm oil production, particularly as it relates to impacts on climate change, biodiversity and the use of pesticides; social conflicts associated with land disputes and the loss of access to forest resources by local communities have also generate controversy (Panapanaan et al., 2009). The environmental disputes are linked to the widespread assumption that a large proportion of palm oil plantations have been created as a direct consequence of forest clearing. This assumption is challenged by the palm oil industry that asserts that most existing oil pam plantations have been established on lands that were degraded forest, shrub land and rubber plantations (Smith, 2011). Recent studies from Indonesia provide evidence that land cover is dynamic and complex. Deforestation has been associated with the expansion of plantation estates and cropland; however, agroforest landscapes where coffee, cacao, citrus and timber are grown as part of a diversified smallholder production system have decreased gradually since 1990 and so are also likely to be involved. Simultaneously, the loss of forest cover has been linked with the increase in shrub land between 1990 and 2000, presumably due to forest degradation, but this type of land cover decreased between 2000 and 2005, as it was converted to more productive types of land use including oil pam (Ekadinata & Dewi, 2011).Several studies documenting deforestation have been completed for both Malaysia and Indonesia (Stibig & Malingrea, 2003;Hansen et al., 2009;Miettinen et al., 2011Miettinen et al., , 2012a) ) and both governments provide periodic reports to the global database on forest resources (FAO, 2010). However, detailed studies that quantify land use change (LUC) specific for the palm oil sector are nonexistent or incomplete. In Indonesia, Ekadinata & Dewi (2011) analyzed land cover changes for two temporal periods: 1990 -2000 and 2001 -2005, but treated all types of industrial plantations as a single category, including oil palm, pulp and paper and rubber. Similarly, the Indonesian Ministry of Forestry (MoF, 2008) analyzed land use change for 2000 -2003 and 2004 -2006 and likewise grouped all plantation types into a single category (see WRI, 2008). In Malaysia, a variety of government institutions have tracked forest cover and land use change and have provided detailed information on the expansion of oil palm plantations and changes in forest cover; unfortunately, those studies use different data sources and classification methodologies and lack consistency in the definition of forest between temporal benchmarks making the palm industry in Indonesia, Malaysia and Papua New Guinea Reports from the Technical Panels of the 2 nd Greenhouse Gas Working Group of the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) 67 estimates of change between oil palm expansion and deforestation difficult to verify (Rashid et al., 2013 -this publication). The most widely cited estimate of deforestation attributed to oil palm plantations is based on a reinterpretation of the national reports provided by government ministries to the Forest Resource Assessment program of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO, 2010) covering the period between 1990 and 2005.This information has been reinterpreted to provide an estimate that approximately 55 -59% of oil palm expansion in Malaysia and Indonesia has occurred at the expense of forests (Koh & Wilcove, 2008). It is important to note, however, that this conclusion is based on secondary sources unverified by remote sensing studies, and the FAO database is not considered to be reliable for many tropical forest countries by some remote sensing scientists (Grainger, 2007;Olander et al., 2008).The controversies surrounding CO2 emissions and land use are compounded by the uncertainty in the dimensions and variability of above and below ground carbon stocks in natural, degraded, and anthropogenic landscapes. This uncertainty is a function of the variability inherent in any natural ecosystem (Saatchi et al., 2011) and the temporal changes that occur as one class transitions into another (Lambin et al., 2003). Land use change may be abrupt in the case of the conversion of forest habitat to a plantation estate or gradual when primary forest is logged, logged again, and exposed to wildfire prior to its conversion to agriculture. Moreover, the identification of transitional categories is subject to the time span used for the study; for example, a temporal comparison spanning a decade or longer will often document a transition from undisturbed forest to plantation, but a multi-temporal study with shorter periods might reveal that undisturbed forest first become degraded forest and then shrub land, prior to its conversion to some form of productive activity. In addition, the selection of carbon stock values can greatly impact the estimates of net CO2 emissions, particularly in light of the capacity for plantation landscapes to capture and store significant amounts of carbon (Wautersa et al., 2008;Henson, 2009).Another major controversy is related to the conversion of coastal peat swamps to plantation estates; this type of production strategy requires the partial drainage of these wetland habitats, which leads to the oxidation of peat and the emission of CO2. Drainage and oxidation causes the peat soils to subside and reduces their capacity to regulate the surrounding hydrology; if the process continues, the underlying mineral soil layer will eventually become exposed or, more likely, the subsidence will approximate the level in adjacent coastal water bodies that are often chemically saline (Hooijer et al., 2010). The dimensions of CO2 emissions from drained and converted peat swamps are subject to numerous uncertainties and have been a source of contention over the last decade. Estimates of the emission from peat oxidation vary widely, ranging from a low of 26 Mg CO2 ha -1 yr -1 (Jauhiainen et al., 2001) in agricultural land to a high of 100 Mg CO2 ha -1 yr -1 in oil palm plantations (Hooijer et al., 2012;Page et al., 2011). The uncertainty in these estimates is related to both the physical nature of tropical peat and a lack of studies that adequately address the natural sources of variability, as well as disagreements among soil scientists on how to directly measure CO2 emissions and the components of a modelling approach that estimates emissions in the absence of direct measurements (Melling et al., 2005;Hooijer et al., 2010;2012;Agus et al., 2012).This paper seeks to clarify some of the uncertainties outlined in the previous paragraphs and provide a more robust estimate of CO2 emissions linked to land use change caused by the palm oil sector. To do this, we documented the full trajectory of the conversion of forest landscapes to oil palm plantations, as well as evaluating how other land cover types have contributed to the expansion of the oil palm plantations. Our primary goal is to provide an objective estimate of the CO2 emissions from the establishment of new oil palm plantations and to model the emissions from plantations established on peat soils. As part of that process, we provide estimates of the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions linked to other productive sectors and place the emissions directly linked to palm oil in the broader context of land cover and land use change.This paper represents a synthesis of information that comes largely from two different sources:1) An original analysis of land cover and land cover change for two decades for the principal palm oil producing regions in Indonesia (Sumatra and Kalimantan) and Malaysia (Peninsular Malaysia, Sabah and Sarawak), as well as the regions most likely to be the focus for future palm oil expansion (Indonesian Papua and Papua New Guinea) (Gunarso et al., 2013 -this publication). 2) A review of the published literature of carbon stock values for above and below ground biomass for these same geographies and a critical evaluation of the range of values reported for CO2 emission from peat and the underlying assumptions that are used when estimating them (Agus et al., 2013 -this publication).The spatial extent and expansion of oil palm estates was documented for three temporal periods (1990 -2000, 2001 -2005 and 2006 -2009/2010) based on a visual interpretation of Landsat satellite images (Gunarso et al., 2013 -this publication).The land cover stratification is composed of 22 classes, which was based on a harmonization of two similar systems used by the Ministry of Forestry (21 classes) and the Ministry of the Agriculture (23 classes) of the Republic of Indonesia (Table 1). The same system was used for the Malaysian states and Papua New Guinea to ensure uniform criteria for all regions (see Table 1 - Gunarso et al., 2013 -this publication). Experienced GIS technicians visually identified similar groups of pixels based on spectral attributes, geometric patterns, and landscape context to digitally trace polygons on the computer screen. Land use change between each of the different land cover categories was documented and summarized via a 22 x 22 land use change matrix for each temporal period and for each sub-region included in the study. The results were pooled using aggregate categories to facilitate the communication of the results (see first column in Table 1). Above ground carbon (AGC) can be either a source or sink of atmospheric CO2 depending on the difference between the carbon stock of the land prior to and after land use change (LUC). The emission factors from changes in AGC due to LUC are the differences between the mean values of published reports of the carbon stocks for each of the 22 land cover types listed in Table 1 (see review by Agus et al., 2013 -this publication). The variability in the above ground carbon of forest and shrub land vegetation types is due to the interactions of biodiversity and ecological processes, as well as human disturbance from logging and fire. In contrast, crop land and plantation estates are characterized by simple vegetation structure and uniform planting density. Nonetheless, published reports for the carbon stock of oil palm plantations vary by as much as 50%, because different studies include or exclude below ground biomass, ground vegetation, litter and persistent leaf bases that represent short-term carbon pools. The value of 36 Mg ha -1 adopted in this study is the mean of several studies that estimate the time-averaged carbon stock of an oil palm plantation that starts near zero to reach more than 155 Mg C ha -1 for a 25-yr old plantation (see Agus et al., 2013 -this publication). In the case of bare soils, a transitional category of uncertain origin, we use a value of 36 Mg ha -1 as default carbon stock value in order to avoid introducing artifacts into estimates of oil palm emissions. Similarly, obvious errors in land cover classification that produced illogical land use change outcomes (e.g., apparent conversion of water bodies to oil palm) were excluded from the analysis. The decomposition of peat, also known as peat oxidation, is the most important source of CO2 emission in oil palm plantations operating on peat soils. Upon partial drainage and conversion, the functional attributes of peat soils change from being a net sink to become a net source of CO2 (Hooijer et al. 2006;Agus & Subiksa 2008;Agus et al., 2012). The rate of emission is primarily a function of the depth of drainage, but other factors such as local climate and peat maturity also influence the rate of decomposition. Estimates of CO2 emissions from peat oxidation under different conditions remain uncertain, in part due the difficulty of distinguishing between the autotrophic respiration from roots and the heterotrophic respiration from the soil biota that mediates decomposition (see review by Agus et al., 2013 -this publication). We used as a basis the emission factor of 0.91 Mg CO2 ha -1 cm -1 (Hooijer et al. 2010), but modified that value by a coefficient of 0.79 to correct for the root-related emission based on the studies by Jauhiainen et al. (2012). In our model, we assume that oil palm plantations on peat soils have a mean water table depth between 50 and 70 cm, which generates emission estimates between 36 to 50 Mg CO2 ha -1 yr -1 with an average value of 43 Mg CO2 ha -1 yr -1 .Peat fires are another major source of CO2 emissions linked to the cultivation of oil palm on peat. Although the use of fire is on the decline, it was a common management practice throughout the temporal periods described in this study (Schrier-Uijl et al., 2013 -this publication). Peat soils must be drained prior to plantation establishment, but the depth of the water table and the degree of soil dryness varies widely across years: When peat soils are dry, they catch fire and burn. The depth of peat fires range from more than 50 cm during severe drought, such as the mega El Niño event of 1997/98 (Page et al. 2002), to zero during unusually wet years. We assume that when swamp forest is converted to oil palm, an average of 15 cm of peat is consumed by fire and, because fire is less intense when shrub land is cleared, an average of only 5 cm of peat is lost. In both cases, we assume that peat has a mean carbon content of 0.06 Mg m -3 . This combination of peat depth and carbon density were used to calculate an emission factor of 330 Mg CO2 ha -1 for plantations established on forest landscapes and 110 Mg CO2 ha -1 on shrub land (Agus et al., 2012;2013 -this publication). We assume that fire has not been used and there were no emissions when oil palm plantation were established on cropland, agroforest, other types of plantation or any of the miscellaneous land cover categories. In the case of bare soil, in those areas where this land cover class was documented as being an integral part of the oil palm land use dynamic (Peninsular Malaysia and Sarawak), we treated that proportion of bare soil area as oil palm plantations according to the relative area of bare soils that had been planted to oil palm in the previous temporal period.The estimate of the net carbon emissions was based on IPCC ( 2006):Activity data is the area under specific land use or undergoing land use change (LUC) within a defined period of time. The Activity data is based on the 22 x 22 LUC matrix for each subregion for each period at national or sub-national level. Emission factor is the change in carbon stock in every major pool or emission rate in case of peat oxidation. The net emission can be calculated as:where E is net CO2 emission, Ea is emission from AGC due to LUC, Sa is sequestration of CO2 from the atmosphere into crop biomass of the succeeding land uses, Ebo is emission from below ground soil organic matter decomposition (peat oxidation), and Epf is emission due to peat fire.Emissions from AGC due to LUC are calculated based on carbon stock change: The coefficient 44/12 or 3.67 is the conversion factor from C to CO2, based on atomic weights of C and O of 12 and 16, respectively, t is the period (number of years) of analysis and A is the activity data or area of land use. Quantitative information are expressed using the standard prefixes of the International System of Units (SI): a metric ton is Mg (g x10 6 ), a million metric tons is Tg (g x10 12 ) and a million hectares is Mha (ha x10 6 ).The total land surface dedicated to the cultivation of oil palm has increased dramatically in Southeast Asia expanding from 3.5 Mha in 1990 to more than 13.1 Mha in 2009/2010 (Table 2); much of that expansion has occurred at the expense of forest. When summed over all regions and for all three temporal periods, forest landscapes were the source of approximately 36.6% of all new oil palm plantations: 25.4% from upland forest and 11% from swamp forests, including both undisturbed and disturbed forest (see Gunarso et al., 2013 -this publication). The comparison of soil and land cover maps show the proportion of all oil palm plantations on peat soils at approximately 2.4 Mha in 2009/2010, representing about 18% of all plantations in the study area (see Gunarso et al., 2013 -this publication). The mean rate of expansion has increased from approximately 373,000 in the 1990s to more than 735,000 ha yr -1 in the last temporal period, maintaining an annual growth of approximately 7% over two decades (Figure 1). The development and early expansion of the industry occurred first in Peninsular Malaysia and Sumatra prior to 1990, but expanded over the next two decades to include both the Indonesian and Malaysian regions on the island of Borneo (Gunarso et al., 2013 -this publication). Growth in Malaysia has been more or less constant, but slowed slightly in the last temporal period, and shifted from Peninsular Malaysia to the states of Sabah and Sarawak over time. Indonesia surpassed Malaysia as the world's largest producer of palm oil in 2007 due largely to expansion in Sumatra; however, growth of new plantations in Kalimantan predominated between 2006 and 2009/2010. In the last five year period, expansion slowed in Peninsular Malaysia, Sabah, and Sumatra, but increased dramatically in Kalimantan, while holding steady in Sarawak, Papua and Papua New Guinea (Figure 1). The trajectory of land use change is fundamentally different in each of the three countries. In Papua New Guinea between 2001 and 2010, only 3% of total deforestation (800,000 ha) was the result of oil palm plantations; nonetheless about 54% of all new oil palm plantations (42,600 ha) originated due to deforestation (see Gunarso et al., 2013 -this publication). In Indonesia, the land use change trajectory is more complex and the forest degradation process is often compounded by wildfire, particularly in Kalimantan, which has led to the development of large areas of quasi-natural habitat dominated by shrubs and grasses (Figure 2). Oil palm plantations have expanded into these so-called \"degraded lands\" in approximately equal proportions as compared to forest when considering both upland and swamp forest habitats.  In Malaysia, the establishment of new plantations tends to be a more straightforward process: Forests are first degraded by intensive logging and although there may be a time lag between logging and conversion, these disturbed forests are then converted directly into oil palm plantations (Figure 3).In Indonesia and Malaysia, large areas of existing agricultural land and other types of plantation estates were converted to oil palm between 1990 and 2010; at the same time, the agricultural frontier continued to expand at the expense of natural forest landscapes. The total area of the other types of plantations and agroforest decreased, however, because more of these two land cover types were converted to oil palm than were replaced by the conversion of forest (see Figures 2  and 3). The area dedicated to annual crops remained constant in Malaysia, while increasing by about 46% (3.6 Mha) in Indonesia (see Table 6 - Gunarso et al., 2013 -this publication). Land use and land use change is best described as dynamic and complex. Different types of agriculture and plantation production systems are responsible for the conversion of natural forest. A large but variable fraction of deforestation is due to the establishment of new oil palm plantations, which is displacing simultaneously other forms of productive land use. In almost all cases, all forms of agriculture and plantation forestry follow forest degradation, which presumably is initiated by logging and aggravated by wildfire.The relative proportion of land allocated to oil palm varies among regions. In Malaysia, there is a clear preference to establish oil palm plantations rather than other forms of agriculture and plantation forestry; at the national level, approximately 47% of all productive land (11 Mha) is dedicated to oil palm, a preference that is even more marked in Sabah where 67% of all previously deforested lands (2.3 Mha) are occupied by oil palm (See Figure 4). This trend is reflected also in the land cover category identified as bare soil. Although it is not possible to identify precisely the source and eventual end-use of this land cover type, trends identified in the land use change matrix indicate the preference for oil palm. For example, in Peninsular Malaysia about 9% of bare soil originated from forest landscapes between 2006 and 2009/2010, while 49 % originated from agroforest and other types of plantation landscapes; simultaneously, 6% of bare soils in 2005 were part of the oil palm estate in 2009/2010, a number in line with a replanting cycle of 25 years. In contrast, the previous land cover for bare soil in Sarawak was largely forest habitat, including upland (27%) and swamp habitats (48%). Approximately 50% of all bare soils were eventually planted to oil palm in Malaysia; consequently, the emission estimates for Peninsular Malaysia, Sabah and Sarawak have been adjusted accordingly (see Supplementary Material). In Sumatra, Papua and Papua New Guinea, the category bare soil was employed to identify non-productive land cover types, such as beaches, rock slopes and similar areas, while the bare soils category was not used when classifying land cover in Kalimantan. In the three regions of Indonesia included in this study, approximately 24% of productive land cover types dedicated to some type of intensive agriculture, agroforest or plantations estate (32 Mha) have been allocated to oil palm plantations, due mainly to the more diverse productive landscapes that characterize the island of Sumatra (Figure 4). An additional distinguishing characteristics of land cover in Indonesia when compared to Malaysia, is the abundance of quasinatural non forest habitat categorized as shrub and grassland. These land cover types are often referred to as \"degraded lands (Fairhurst & McLaughlin, 2009;Fairhurst et al., 2010) and in 2009/2010 covered an estimated 20% (10.5 Mha) of the total surface area of Kalimantan compared to 5.4% (2.9 Mha) occupied by large scale oil palm plantations (Gunarso et al., 2013this publication).The conversion and drainage of peat soils for the production of palm oil also varies across the region. Sumatra has the largest area of peat soils and the largest area that has been converted to oil palm production (Figure 5). palm industry in Indonesia, Malaysia and Papua New Guinea Reports from the Technical Panels of the 2 nd Greenhouse Gas Working Group of the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) 75 Although the overall rate of growth of oil palm in Sumatra decreased in the last temporal period, the rate of conversion of peat swamps increased with an annual rate of conversion that grew from 44,000 in the 1990s to almost 77,000 ha yr -1 between 2006 and 2009/2010 (Gunarso et al., 2013 -this publication). Sarawak has the largest proportion (41%) of its total peat swamp area converted to plantations with about 476,000 ha, which also happens to be about 36% of the total oil palm plantation area in the state. Plantations on peat expanded at 59,520 ha yr -1 in the last temporal period, translating into an annual loss of 7% of the remaining peat forest habitat in Sarawak (see Supplementary Material, Gunarso et al., 2013 -this publication). Kalimantan converted relatively small areas of peat soil prior to 2005, but converted more than 307,000 ha in the last temporal period, a 10-fold increase in area that represented 11% of all the oil palm plantations on the Indonesian sector of Borneo Island in 2009/2010. Only about 2% of all oil palm plantations in Papua occur on peat, although between 6 and 8 Mha of peat soils have been reported for the region (Wahyunto et al., 2011).Only small areas of peat soils have been reported for Papua New Guinea and there are no reports of oil palm plantations occurring on any of them.Net annual emissions from land use change and emissions from peat soils linked to the expansion of oil palm plantations in the study area were estimated at approximately 92 Tg CO2 yr -1 in the first temporal period, which increased to 106 Tg CO2 yr -1 in the second, and then increased markedly to 184 Tg CO2 yr -1 in the most recent period (Figure 6). In the three regions of Indonesia included in the study, total net annual emissions from land use in the oil palm sector for the same periods ranged from 58 Tg CO2 yr -1 in the first period, 65 Tg CO2 yr -1 in the second and 127 Tg CO2 yr -1 in the last period. In Malaysia, total net annual emissions for oil palm and land use for the same periods ranged from 33 Tg CO2 yr -1 in the first period, 40 Tg CO2 yr -1 in the second and 57 Tg CO2 yr -1 in the last period. Emissions from Papua New Guinea were estimated at 0.5 Tg CO2 yr -1 between 1990 and 2000, which increased to 0.6 Tg CO2 yr -1 between 2000 and 2010.The relative importance of the emission source varied over the twenty year period (Figure 6). Between 1990 and 2000 emissions from above ground carbon due to land use change (AGC due to LUC) represented about 60% of total emissions, but emissions from peat oxidation represented 53% of total emissions by the last temporal period. Deforestation as a source of land for the expansion of oil palm became more important in the last temporal period; nonetheless, the incremental emissions originating from existing plantations operating on peat had come to dominate the emission profile. Emissions from peat fires varied over the three temporal periods, essentially tracking land use change on peat soils.As expected, the total emission profile varied among regions and over time. Sabah, Papua and Papua New Guinea were all characterized by emission profiles dominated by above ground carbon due to land use change, although Sabah's were large when compared to those of Papua and Papua New Guinea (Figure 7). In contrast, the largest source of emissions in Peninsular Malaysia and Sumatra were due to the oxidation of peat, the consequence of declining rates of land use change, but also due to the incremental expansion of oil palm plantations operating on peat soil. Low rates of land use change have stabilized the emissions profile in Peninsular Malaysia, but in Sumatra the relatively large incidence of peat fires indicates that emissions from peat oxidation will continue to increase in the near future. Sarawak and Kalimantan both had emissions profiles that changed over time: AGC due to LUC was the major source of CO2 emissions in the first period, but the importance of peat oxidation increased as plantations expanded on that soil type. As in Sumatra, the large component of estimated emissions from peat fires is an indication that emissions from peat oxidation will increase over the near term in both Kalimantan and Sarawak (Figure 7).  To evaluate the relative importance of oil palm as a source of CO2 emissions in the land use sector, we compared emission estimates for oil palm plantations to similar emission estimates for other major land use categories in Malaysia and in the Indonesian study area (Figure 8). This comparison was restricted to emissions from AGC due to LUC and peat oxidation; the impact of peat fires was excluded because of lack of data and a logical framework for developing a model to estimate those emissions. Similarly, only the second and third temporal periods are considered, because we lacked data on land cover change for the other sectors between 1990 and 2000.Over all, emissions in Indonesia increased from 562 Tg CO2 yrin the second temporal period to 679 Tg CO2 yr -1 in the third, with oil palm plantations representing approximately 11% (61Tg CO2 yr -1) and 16% (107 Tg CO2 yr -1 ) of the total from AGC due to LUC and peat oxidation. The largest source of CO2 emissions came from AGC due to forest degradation with 226 Tg CO2 yr -1 (40%) between 2000 and 2005 and 277 Tg CO2 yr -1 (41%) between 2006 and 2009/2010. The second largest source was peat oxidation from disturbed swamp forests and shrub land, which typically have lower water tables than undisturbed swamp forests due to the construction of canals built to extract timber; our model showed these emissions decreased between the second and third temporal periods from161 Tg CO2 yr -1 (29%) to 152 Tg CO2 yr -1 (22%), a decline that can be attributed to the conversion of these areas to oil palm plantations, a type of land use change that essentially transfers pre-existing emissions to the palm oil sector (Figure 2). Mean annual emissions from agroforestry and other types of plantations represented about 8% in both periods (43 and 53 Tg CO2 yr -1 ), while those from intensive agriculture increased from 7% (42 Tg CO2 yr -1 ) to 11% (74 Tg CO2 yr -1 ).Over all, emissions in Malaysia decreased from 136 Tg CO2 yr -1 in the second temporal period to 112 Tg CO2 yr -1 in the third, with oil palm plantations representing approximately 21% (29 Tg CO2 yr -1 ) and 32% (36 Tg CO2 yr -1 ) of the total amount from both AGC due to LUC and peat oxidation combined. Changes in AGC due to forest degradation were the source of 32% (43 Tg CO2 yr -1 ) of total emissions between 2000 and 2005, but decreased to about 8% (8.5 Tg CO2 yr -1 ) between 2006 and 2009/2010. Emissions from peat oxidation on degraded swamp forest and shrub habitats decreased from 16 Tg CO2 yr -1 (12%) to 14 Tg CO2 yr -1 (13%); the consequence of these land cover types being converted to oil palm plantations. Annual emissions from agroforestry and other types of plantations declined from 34 Tg CO2 yr -1 (25%) to 27 Tg CO2 yr -1 (24%). The emissions from the AGC due to LUC and peat oxidation linked to intensive agriculture decreased from 0.8 to 05 Tg CO2 yr -1 .The impact from peat oxidation on the emission profile of oil palm production is becoming increasingly important. Unlike emissions from peat fires and AGC both of which track land use change (Figure 7), the increase in emissions from peat oxidation has been consistent, linear and unidirectional (Figure 6 and 7). The impact of peat oxidation is particularly evident in the case of Sarawak, where it represented less than 11% (0.9 Tg CO2 yr -1 ) of total palm oil emissions in the first temporal period, but represented 40% (12.5 Tg CO2 yr -1 ) by 2009/2010. Moreover, these statistics do not include the future emissions from an additional 98,000 ha of bare soils on peat documented in the last temporal period (Gunarso et al., 2013 -this publication); historical patterns predict that approximately 80% will be planted to oil palm plantations. Once these lands are incorporated into the oil palm estate, our models predict that emissions from peat oxidation will increase by approximately 30% in Sarawak. Sumatra has an even greater legacy of long-term CO2 emissions from peat oxidation, which represented 77% (56 Tg CO2 yr -1 ) of total emissions linked to oil palm plantations for the island by 2009/10.In Peninsular Malaysia, where approximately 8% of oil palm are operating on peat soils (Gunarso et al. 2013 -this publication) they are now the source of about 84% (9 Tg CO2 yr -1 ) of the emissions profile of oil palm linked to land use, a statistic that is not likely to change significantly over the short term. In the case of Kalimantan, AGC due to LUC remains the predominant source of emissions, but emission of peat oxidation will increase in the short term. Only Sabah shows consistently low levels of emissions from peat oxidation, due to the relative scarcity of peat soils in that state. Over all seven regions, plantations operating on peat soils occupied about 18% (2.4 Mha) of the spatial footprint of large-scale oil palm plantations, but peat oxidation from these plantations represented 48% (88 Tg CO2 yr -1 ) of the total emission profile in 2009/10.This report provides the first sector-wide estimate of CO2 emissions linked to land use and land use change for the palm oil industry in the geographic region that produces 85% or more of the world supply of palm oil and palm oil products (Teoh, 2010). The primary objective of this report was to estimate the sources, dimensions, and trends of emissions over the past twenty years; as a secondary objective, we compared these emissions in the broader context of emissions caused by other types of land use. Previous reports of CO2 emissions linked to land use and palm oil have either been based on bottom up models that estimate emissions as a function of palm oil mass or unit of energy (Reijnders & Huijbregts, 2008;Wicke et al., 2008) or on landscape-scale analyses that do not provide a global estimate of emissions, nor capture the geographic variability characteristic of the industry (Uryu et al., 2008;Koh et al., 2011;Carlson et al., 2012a;2012b;Miettinen et al., 2012aMiettinen et al., , 2012b)). This report provides detailed information on the historical emissions linked to the expansion and operations of oil palm plantations stratified according to land cover source, soil type, geographic region, and temporal period. This information is essential for establishing the industry's baseline emissions and for developing future scenarios to evaluate the impact of different development options (see Harris et al. 2013 -this publication).Like all studies that document the complex phenomenon of land use and land use change, our study addressed the challenges linked to the quality of available data and the difficulties of interpreting dynamic processes that change over time. These challenges, and the decisions on how to manage them, are sources of variation and uncertainty inherent in a study of this nature. For example, the stratification of land cover types into undisturbed forest, disturbed forest, shrub land and grassland is an approach used by ecologists to qualitatively describe a continuous gradient; however, deciding where one category ends and the next begins is imprecise, and sometimes arbitrary, particularly when relying on satellite imagery covering large heterogeneous areas characterized by varying levels of human activity. Many academic studies choose to manage this challenge by using automatic classification techniques based on the spectral signature of image pixels (Hansen et al., 2009;SarVision, 2011;Broich et al., 2011;Carlson et al., 2012b;Miettinen et al., 2012a;Margono et al. 2012), but that approach limits the number of categories that can be discriminated and excludes useful information that can be reasonably interpreted from the landscape context. Moreover, as the number of strata increase, automatic procedures require extensive human editing, which in terms of labour and objectivity, are not unlike visual recognition techniques. Fortunately, oil palm plantations are easy to identify in satellite imagery and the results from Gunarso et al. (2013 -this publication) are similar to other studies that have been conducted on shared landscapes (see below). The same cannot be said for the ability to distinguish among other natural, quasi-natural and human-derived land cover types, however, and the level of confidence in the transitions among these different land cover types is less robust. To improve accuracy and facilitate communication, we aggregate similar types of land cover categories based on edaphic attributes (upland vs. swamp), vegetation type (forest vs. shrub and grassland), and land use (plantation and agroforest vs. agriculture).One of the largest sources of uncertainty in estimating the emissions from land use change linked to oil palm plantations is the variability in carbon stock estimates in above ground carbon for the different land cover types. The source of this variability has three origins: 1) natural spatial variability of AGC in forest and non forest land cover types, 2) the impact of logging and fire on above ground carbon in intact but disturbed forest habitats, and 3) the temporal period which is used to calculate emissions from land use change.For forest, shrub and wetland categories, we use the mean value of all published reports from Indonesia, Malaysia and Papua New Guinea, while values for agriculture, agroforest and other plantation categories were based on scientific and technical publications (see Agus et al., 2013 -this publication). Agroforest, which is sometimes referred to as mixed tree crops in the Indonesian classification system, is a heterogeneous category of different land use intensities, including secondary forests, small farms, pastures, coffee and cocoa, and even small-scale oil palm plantations. The border between agroforest, disturbed forest and shrub land is subject to interpretation and, consequently, a source of uncertainty in emissions estimates.The estimates of the carbon stock in oil palm plantations, which represent a uniform cropping system and a species with simple allometry, have also been the subject of discussion among workers who seek to estimate the GHG footprint of palm oil as part of a life cycle analyses. For example, a fully mature 25-yr old plantation can have as much as 155 Mg C ha -1 , while time-averaged estimates range from 23 to 50 Mg C ha -1 (Dewi et al., 2009;Khasanah et al., 2011). The timeaveraged value adopted in this study (36 Mg C ha -1 ) does not account for differences among new high yielding dwarf varieties or short rotation cycles favored by some companies, nor low stand densities in poorly managed plantations, senile plantations on peat soils, or smallholder's crops that might have a low carbon stock value.Soil type and climate influence plant growth and lead to differences in AGC in humid, semi-humid and dry forest formations (Saatchi et al., 2011). Carbon stocks are also influenced by species composition and the Dipterocarpaceae, a plant family that dominates many forests in Southeast Asia, is characterized by tall trees with high wood density which endows undisturbed forests in the study area with unusually high values for above ground carbon (Slik et al., 2009). The relative abundance of this family, which is also known for its high quality timber, also influences logging intensity; and timber extraction rates in Borneo have been estimated at 230 m 3 ha -1  an order of magnitude greater than is common to Amazonian forests (Butler, 2009). This level of logging intensity reduces the carbon stocks in a standing forest, and is a major cause of forest degradation that is magnified by conventional logging practices (Sist et al., 2003). In spite of the loss of above ground carbon, the logged forests in Southeast Asia retain much of their original biodiversity and as many as 75% of the original complement of birds and dung beetles persist in disturbed forests (Edwards et al., 2010). The innate value of this biodiversity, coupled with the inherent capacity of these forests to regenerate and restore carbon stocks, motivate some ecologists and environmental advocates to refer to these disturbed forest as \"natural forests\" or \"intact tropical forests\" or \"primarily intact forests\" or even the oxymoronic \"degraded primary forests.\" Some ecologists and many foresters use the term \"secondary forest\" to describe disturbed and degraded forests; this term has its origin in classic ecological theory that describe how ecological processes mediate a succession of vegetation types following severe disturbance (Clements, 1916). The terms \"secondary forest\" and \"degraded forest\" are used by advocates of the palm oil sector to emphasize that palm oil expansion has not occurring at the expense of \"primary forests,\" an affirmation supported by the land use change study that underpins this report (Gunarso et al., 2013 -this publication). This view emphasizes the economic advantages of palm oil production in the context of the low residual economic value of intensively logged forests, the contribution of palm oil to national GDP and its benefits to rural livelihoods (Cramb & Cury, 2012).We avoid these pitfalls in terminology by using the terms \"disturbed\" and \"undisturbed\" forest, as well as document the transition from undisturbed forest to disturbed forest, and then to shrub and grassland, with separate categories for both upland and wetland habitats (Table 1). In addition, we relied on five year temporal comparisons to capture the intermediate stages that distinguishes our study from others that used longer temporal periods (Koh & Wilcove 2008;Carlson et al., 2102b; see Discussion in Gunarso et al., 2013 -this publication). Unfortunately, we were not able to fully document the changes in land cover change between 1990 and 2000 in Indonesia when both logging and forest conversion were at their highest (Hansen et al., 2009); nonetheless, evidence from the two subsequent periods shows that the oil palm sector is not responsible for the loss of the largest part of the carbon stocks of the original forest cover in these regions (Figure 9). Forest loss via degradation was greatest in Kalimantan where 40% of forest loss between 2006 and 2009/2010 was caused by the degradation of approximately 0.9 Mha of forest to shrub land and the release of 155 Tg CO2 yr -1 , almost 52% of total emissions for the region excluding all emissions from peat fires. The historical emissions from above ground carbon due to forest degradation, presumably due to logging and wildfire, were more than four times greater than emissions from above ground carbon due to land use change caused by the establishment of new oil palm plantations in the same temporal period (32 Tg CO2 yr -1 ).Emissions from peat oxidation and peat fires have increased in both absolute and relative terms over the 20 year period and now represent a total of 64% (118 Tg CO2 yr -1 ) of all emissions from land use and land use change linked to the palm oil sector. If the one-time emissions from peat fires are excluded, then emissions from peat oxidation represent 48% (88 Tg CO2 yr -1 ) of total emissions. Moreover, CO2 emissions from peat oxidation are not subject to the temporal fluctuations linked to land use change and the establishment of new plantations. Unless these plantations are abandoned and restored as wetlands, they represent a long-term attribute of the palm oil production system (Schrier-Uijl et al., 2013 -this publication). Although the direction and trend of CO2 emissions from peat oxidation are clear, the actual dimensions of these emissions remain uncertain. This uncertainty is the consequence of four factors: 1) the spatial extent of peat soils, 2) the depth of drainage, 3) the rate of oxidation of peat, and 4) the incidence of fire at the time of plantation establishment (see Agus et al., 2013;Schrier-Uijl et al., 2013 -this publication).The spatial data used to model emissions in this and other studies are based on soil maps derived from satellite imagery, and thus are subject to the uncertainty linked to that technology. Gunarso et al. (2013 -this publication) had access to two sources of information on the distribution of forest wetland: a peat soil map distributed by Wetlands International for Indonesia (Wahyunto & Subagjo, 2003;Wahyunto & Suparto, 2004;Wahyunto et al., 2006) and data from the Harmonized World Soil Database for Malaysia (FAO 2009). However, a more recent study for Sumatra and Kalimantan has reduced the spatial extent of peat swamps by approximately 15% (Wahyunto et al., 2011), while a study using official soil maps developed for Malaysia reported that peat formations were 5% greater (Omar et al., 2011). Since the emissions from peat are dependent on a model that uses data derived from these information sources, improvements in the accuracy and precision will impact estimation of emissions from peat fires and peat oxidation.Assumptions made regarding the depth of drainage impacts the outputs from models that estimate CO2 emissions due to peat oxidation. According to better management practices recommended by the Roundtable for Sustainable Palm Oil, the recommended depth of drainage is 60 cm, a level which both maximizes plant productivity and minimizes CO2 emissions. In many plantations, water table depths are not actively managed and often fall below 80 cm during the annual dry season, particularly during periods of severe drought (Lim et al., 2012). Since the models used to estimate emissions from peat oxidation are simple linear correlations, the mean level of drainage used in those equations will directly impact emissions estimates.The heterotrophic respiration linked to the degradation of the peat, here referred to as peat oxidation, is perhaps the most uncertain of all the emission factors used to model emission estimates from oil palm plantations. Studies conducted over the past decade have generated estimates of heterotrophic respiration that range from 20 to 95 Mg CO2 ha -1 yr -1 (see review in Agus et al., 2013 -this publication). The differences stem from methodological challenges associated with the two main experimental approaches employed to measure peat oxidation. One approach correlates soil subsidence with peat oxidation, a method that can confound soil compaction with peat degradation and, consequently, requires research protocols that document bulk density (weight per volume) and carbon density (% carbon content). The other approach directly measures CO2 flux on the soil surface using closed chamber systems; however, this method must discount for autotrophic respiration from plant roots, which produce CO2 while consuming carbohydrates produced by photosynthesis in the leaves of living plants. Failure to adequately account for autotrophic respiration will inflate estimates of CO2 emissions from peat oxidation. The selection of 43 Mg CO2 ha -1 yr -1 was based on a review of recent studies and is near the median value of the range of these values (see Agus et al., 2013 -this publication); other recent studies have based their models on a substantially higher emission factor of approximately 95 CO2 ha -1 yr -1 (Uryu et al., 2008;Koh et al., 2011;Carlson et al., 2012a;2012b;Miettinen et al., 2012aMiettinen et al., , 2012b) ) Peat fires are an important source of CO2 emissions in Southeast Asia and the haze linked to those fires is an important transboundary issue within the region. Estimation of historical emissions from peat fires has high uncertainty, because of the difficulty in documenting the intensity, depth and spatial extent of fire data collected by satellite sensors. For example, modeled estimates of CO2 emissions during the unusually severe El Niño event of 1997/98 produced values between 2.9 and 9.4 Pg CO2 when extrapolated across all of Indonesia (Page et al., 2002). A similar approach that included fires in both mineral and peat soils reported emissions of 3.5 Pg CO2 for the same event, as well as estimating annual emissions from fire in Southeast Asia that fluctuated between 0.09 and 1.3 Pg CO2 between 2000and 2009(van der Werf et al., 2010). We did not calculate region-wide estimates of peat fire emissions due to lack of data on the distribution and severity of peat fires across all land cover types. Our modeled estimates of historical emissions from peat fires for oil palm plantations are based on the assumption that differential amounts of peat are consumed by fire at the time of plantation establishment from forest and shrub (see Agus et al., 2013 -this publication). Our estimates of emissions from peat fires on oil palm plantation correspond to 2% of total mean annual fire emissions between 2000 and 2005 (481 Tg CO2 yr -1 ) and 6% between 2005 -2009/2010 (467 Tg CO2 yr -1 ) (van der Werf et al., 2011 and Supplementary Material).Taken individually, the variability of any single emission factor can lead to relatively large differences in the final estimate of the CO2 emissions; taken together, these uncertainties become multiplicative and lead to very different estimates of the carbon footprint of palm oil (Reijnders & Huijbregts, 2008). Based on published reports, the range of potential carbon stock values in forest land cover types is from 74 to 360 Mg C ha -1 , the emission from peat oxidation may be half as much smaller or twice as large, and the potential depth of burning can vary from zero to as much as 50 cm depending on the severity of seasonal drought. The values selected for the modelled estimates presented here are based on the mean value of all published peer reviewed studies (above ground carbon), a critical evaluation of peer reviewed studies (peat oxidation) and recommendations from informed individuals (peat fire depth).A comparison of a subset of our results based on land use change data from Kalimantan (Gunarso et al. 2013 -this publication) with a similar study focusing on palm oil and CO2 emissions from the same region (Carlson et al., 2012b) provides an opportunity to evaluate how different emission factors, land cover stratification methodologies, and temporal perspectives impact model outputs. Both studies were based on land use change data derived from similar satellite imagery covering two decades between 1990 to 2009/10. Both are in close agreement as to the rate of growth of oil palm plantations (293% for Gunarso et al. vs. 278%,for Carlson et al.). Both have similar estimates of the spatial footprint of oil palm plantations in 2009/10 (2.9 vs. 3.2 Mha), and both arrive at similar estimates of the total area of oil palm plantations established on peat soils in 2009/10 (307,000 vs. 402,000 ha). However, the two studies have very different emission estimates (Table 3). Understanding the source of these differences is essential for organizing emission monitoring protocols that will allow the palm oil sector to accurately quantify its CO2 emissions, as well as identifying strategies to reduce those emissions. In the first temporal period, the expansion of oil palm plantations on peat soil was relatively small; consequently, the difference in the emissions estimates is due largely to assumptions regarding how land cover classes were defined and how land use change was quantified. Carlson et al. (2012b) recognized two forest classes, agroforest and non forest, while Gunarso et al. (2013 -this publication) recognized four forest types and four non forest types, as well as separate agroforest and plantation categories. The relative abundance of these categories and their associated carbon stock values was the source of 91% of the variance in the emissions profiles between the two studies (see discussion in Gunarso et al., 2013 -this publication). There is an element of subjectivity to any land cover classification, particularly when attempting to stratify a continuous gradient, which in this case is a transition from undisturbed forest to grassland. In that context, Carlson et al., (2012b) recognized more area as forest along that gradient, while Gunarso et al. (2013 -this publication) recognized more area as shrub and grassland.An alternative methodology is to use pixel-based estimates of carbon density that reflect the variability of ecological gradients (Saatchi et al., 2011). In a companion study, Harris et al. (2013 -this publication) used this type of information to model future emissions scenarios for different oil palm development strategies. As part of that effort, they used the polygons developed by Gunarso et al. (2013 -this publication) in combination with the pixel-based data from Saatchi et al. (2011); their objective was to train the forward looking model using historical land use change data between 2000 and 2010 (see Table 4 in Harris et al., 2013-this publication). That training exercise revealed that the AGC stock values selected for the four forest habitats were similar to the mean values derived from the pixel-based map of carbon density (see Table 4, Harris et al., 2013 -this publication). In contrast, the mean values selected for AGC for shrub categories were about 50% lower for upland habitats and 25% lower for swamp habitats. If we had used mean carbon stock values for shrub land similar to those derived from pixel-based values, the modelled emission estimate from above ground carbon due to land use change in Kalimantan would have increased by about 35 Tg CO2 yr -1 (a 40% increase) between 2000 and 2005 and 86 Tg CO2 y -1 (a 50% increase) between 2006 and 2009/10. Nonetheless, these modified values would still be less than 50% of the modelled estimates reported by Carlson et al. (2012b) (see Table 3).In the temporal period spanning 2001 to 2009/2010, the source of variance is more complex with 65% of the difference attributed to AGC due to LUC with the remaining variance originating from the use of different emissions factors for peat: 17% from peat oxidation and 18% due to peat fire. In the case of peat oxidation, the major factor was the selection of an emission factor of 95 Mg CO2 ha -1 yr -1 by Carlson et al. (2012b) versus a value of 43 Mg CO2 ha -1 yr -1 recommended by Agus et al. (2013 -this publication). Similarly, Carlson et al. (2012b) assume that on average 203 Mg C ha -1 are lost during a fire event on peat soils, while Agus et al. (2013 -this publication) recommended values of 90 Mg C ha -1 lost from peat soil fires from forest conversion and 30 Mg C ha -1 from peat soil fires on shrub land. The difference in the modelled estimates are the consequence of the assumption made concerning the depth of peat fires: Carlson et al. (2012) assumed a mean burn depth of 33 cm based on studies documenting the impact of fire during El Niño drought years (Ballhorn et al., 2009), while Agus et al. (2013this publication) assumed that on average 15 cm are lost when forest is cleared and burned and 5 cm when shrub land is cleared and burned.Finally, the time frame in which the comparison is made is an additional factor that can influence the estimation of CO2 emissions and, subsequently, allocating those emissions to the appropriate economic or social actor. Between 2000 and 2010, Gunarso et al. (2013 -this publication) stratified LUC into two five year periods (2000 to 2005 and 2006 to 2009/2010), while Carlson et al. (2012b) evaluated change between 2000 and 2010. As the authors point out in the supplementary information of their article: \"Due to the 10-year interval between the land cover product and the oil palm coverage, our analysis likely overestimates the amount of intact forest converted to oil palm\" (see Supplementary Information, page 7 from Carlson et al., 2012). The adoption of two five year periods allowed Gunarso et al. (2013 -this publication) to document the sequential degradation of undisturbed forest to disturbed forest and then to shrub land prior to its conversion to oil palm plantations (see Figure 10, Gunarso et al., 2013 -this publication). The recognition that land is degraded and partially depleted of carbon stocks prior to its conversion to oil palm plantations should be taken into account when estimating the CO2 emission profile of palm oil. At least some of those historical emissions are more properly allocated to the forest sector due to the intensive logging regimes that characterize the region (Putz et al., 2008) and the impact of forest fires on peat soils that are a combination of bad luck due to drought and the difficulty in fighting wildfires in remote regions of Indonesia (van der Werff et al, 2010).The rate of expansion of oil palm plantations has been remarkably constant at approximately 7% per annum from 3.5 to 13.1 Mha between 1990 and 2010. The growth in the spatial extent of oil palm plantations has been accompanied by a concomitant increase in the CO2 emissions, which including all CO2 emissions from AGC due to LUC, peat oxidation and peat fires, has grown from 92 Tg CO2 yr -1 between 1990 and 2000 to 106 Tg CO2 yr -1 between 2001 and 2005 and 184 Tg CO2 yr -1 between 2006 -2009/2010. In the third temporal period, 67 Tg CO2 yr -1 (36%) originated from AGC due to LUC and about 90% of these emissions came from deforestation, which has been the source of about 3.5 Mha of the land that has been used for the establishment of new plantations. A smaller area of approximately 3.3 Mha originated on landscapes classified as agroforest or other types of plantations, while 1.7 Mha was developed on land that had been covered by forest in 1990, but which had been degraded to shrub and grassland prior to its conversion to oil palm plantations between 2000 and 2010.The documentation of this land use trajectory, which includes the transition from undisturbed forest to disturbed forest to shrub land and eventually grassland, dominates the historical CO2 emissions of the region. Forest degradation, presumably due to intensive logging and its subsequent conversion to shrub land due to wildfire, contributed approximately five times greater emissions (285 Tg CO2 yr -1) between 2006 and 2009/2010 than the AGC due to LUC component of the palm oil emissions profile (55 Tg CO2 yr -1 ) for the same period. This explains, in part, why our estimates of oil palm emissions from AGC due to LUC are less than a third of other studies whose models assume that oil palm plantations are established on forests landscapes of high carbon density. The results from a companion article (e.g., Gunarso et al., 2013 -this publication) show that the land cover types used for oil palm plantation expansion has varied over time and among geographic regions; emissions from AGC due to LUC, not surprisingly, track those differences. Emissions from AGC due to LUC can be reduced by promoting oil palm plantation expansion on landscapes with low to moderate levels of AGC, such as the approximately 9 Mha of shrub and grassland in Kalimantan and 8 Mha of agroforest in Sumatra (see Gunarso et al., 2013 -this publication).Plantations on peat soils now represent about 18% of the spatial footprint of the palm oil industry (2.4 Mha), but represented almost 64% (118 Tg CO2 yr -1 ) of the total CO2 emissions profile in the last temporal period. About 16% (29 Tg CO2 yr -1 ) are linked to peat fires, while almost 48% (88 Tg CO2 yr -1 ) originate from peat oxidation from existing oil palm plantations operating on peat soils. The emissions from peat fires are one-time events that occurred in the past when forests and shrub land were cleared for new oil palm plantations; these fires are now illegal and unlikely to contribute to future emission profiles. In contrast, emissions from peat oxidation will continue to grow in absolute terms as oil palm companies develop new plantations on existing concessions on peat soils in Sumatra, Kalimantan and Sarawak. Even if the industry acts to halt new development on peat soils, the existing oil palm plantations on peat soils will continue to emit CO2 at approximately these levels for the foreseeable future. Emissions from peat oxidation can only be terminated by restoring the natural hydrological and ecological conditions that cause peat to form in the first place. Similarly, enforcing the ban the use of fire for land clearing will significantly reduce emissions, especially on peat land.Just as CO2 emissions from AGC due to forest degradation are greater than those linked to land use change from the palm oil sector, emissions from peat oxidation from degraded swamp forest with altered hydrological regimes are greater than similar emissions from oil palm plantations (166 vs. 88 Tg CO2 yr -1 ). Emissions from degraded swamp forests have declined in the last temporal epoch, in part because logging of remnant swamp forests already has declined, but also because this land cover type is being converted into oil palm plantations. Consequently, CO2 emissions from degraded swamp forests are being transferred from that category to the oil palm plantation sector.Finally, by comparing our results with other recently published studies, we show that the uncertainties in estimating CO2 emissions are subject to the methodological approaches and assumptions used to model emissions from land use and land use change (see review by Agus et al., 2013 -this publication). In spite of the differences in the dimensions of the CO2 emissions between our models and those employed by other studies (see Carlson et al., 2012b;Page et al., 2011), the overall trends are nearly identical. The rapid expansion of palm oil sector over the last two decades has been responsible for the emissions of several gigatons (Pg) of CO2 from land use and land use change.Understanding the sources of these emissions, which have been variable in time and space, is a necessary first step in identifying strategies for reducing, eliminating or even reversing the net CO2 emissions of the industry."}

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+{"metadata":{"gardian_id":"108e83a2cce736111d89d3e591fdb0bd","source":"gardian_index","url":"https://cgspace.cgiar.org/rest/bitstreams/72ed9618-b58d-4ffa-8d7e-4b7cd457af43/retrieve","id":"1898471101"},"keywords":[],"sieverID":"a70b4438-891e-4707-a23e-a6d07c74526e","content":"The application of biotechnology tools has made it possible to make significant advances in the detection of pathogens and in the study of the genetic variability of pathogen populations. As a result, adequate disease management strategies can be planned, and disease resistance markers for plants as well as DNA regions associated with resistance can be identified. Diseases, mainly those caused by microorganisms that cannot be cultivated in artificial media such as phytoplasmas, can be diagnosed using PCR. The bacterium Xanthomonas axonopodis pv. manihotis (Xam) can be identified using a specific probe and the identification of Ralstonia solanacearum in the soil is also facilitated by PCR. Species of Phytophthora can also be identified, phytoplasmas classified, and pathogen diversity established by using PCR-RFLP, thus improving the understanding of action mechanisms and how they co-evolve with the host. Other techniques such as RAPD, AFLP, and RAMS have made it possible to study the genetic variability of pathogens such as Sphaceloma manihoticola, Colletotrichum gloeosporioides, C. acutatum, Sphaerotheca pannosa, Ceratocystis paradoxa, and X. axonopodis pv manihotis. The identification of QTL markers associated with resistance to different species of Phytophthora in cassava has helped elucidate the genetics of resistance, whereas the identification of SSR markers associated with resistance to Xam is a tool that facilitates the selection of resistant genotypes. Functional genomics tools such as microarrays will give initial insight on the molecular basis of cassava's defense response to X. axonopodis pv manihotis. Also, the identification of resistance genes and resistance gene analogs in cassava contributes to the genetic improvement of this crop. Biotechnology is evolving continuously, offering modern tools that help solve plant health problems.La aplicación de las herramientas que ofrece la biotecnología, han permitido lograr grandes avances en la detección de patógenos, adelantar estudios de variabilidad genética de poblaciones de patógenos, lo cual permite planear estrategias adecuadas de manejo de enfermedades, identificar marcadores asociados a la resistencia de las plantas a las enfermedades e identificar regiones de ADN asociadas con resistencia. Mediante la Reacción en Cadena de la Polimerasa (RCP) se pueden diagnosticar enfermedades, principalmente las causadas por microorganismos que no se pueden cultivar fácilmente en medios artificiales, como los fitoplasmas. Mediante una sonda específica es posible identificar la bacteria Xanthomonas axonopodis pv. manihotis. La identificación de Ralstonia solanacearum en suelo se facilita mediante PCR. Mediante PCR-RFLP es posible identificar especies de Phytophthora, clasificar fitoplasmas y establecer la diversidad de patógenos, los cuales permitirán un mejor entendimiento de los mecanismos de acción y su co-evolución con el hospedero. Otras técnicas como RAPD, AFLP y RAMS, han permitido estudiar la variabilidad genética de patógenos como Sphaceloma manihoticola, Colletotrichum gloeosporioides, C. acutatum, Sphaerotheca pannosa, Ceratocystis paradoxa y X. axonopodis pv manihotis. La identificación de marcadores QTLs asociados a la resistencia a diferentes especies de Phytophthora en yuca, han contribuido a dilucidar la genética de la resistencia, mientras que la identificación de marcadores SSR asociados a la resistencia a X. axonopodis pv manihotis es una herramienta que facilita la selección de genotipos resistentes. Herramientas de genómica funcional como los microarreglos permitirán una comprensión de la base molecular de la respuesta de defensa de la yuca a X. axonopodis pv manihotis.In the tropics, many diseases cause severe crop losses but their causal agents are not yet identified. Biotechnology tools are useful for efficiently detecting pathogens. Below we describe the detection and identification of the pathogens causing or associated with the following diseases in specific crops: lethal wilt of oil palm (Elaeis guineensis), frogskin disease and superelongation disease of cassava (Manihot esculenta), phyllody of lulo (Solanum quitoense), crispiness of coffee (Coffea arabica), and anthracnose of soursop (Annona muricata). Also discussed are pathogens that can affect several crops such as Phytophthora spp. (cassava, cacao, and Heliconia sp.) and Ralstonia solanacearum, which affects plantain (Musa AAB), Heliconia sp., tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum), tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum), hot pepper (Capsicum sp.), potato (Solanum tuberosum), eggplant (S. melongena), and canna (Canna indica).Plant diseases caused by bacteria can be severe, especially in warm, humid zones. Cassava bacterial blight (CBB), caused by Xanthomonas axonopodis pv. manihotis, is a major constraint for cassava production, causing losses of the entire crop. X. axonopodis pv. manihotis can be detected by polymerase chain reaction (PCR), on amplifying an 898bp fragment. Using a specific probe, Verdier and Mosquera (1999) detected the bacterium in affected leaf and stem extracts, fruits, and sexual seed.Bacterial wilt is caused by different races of Ralstonia solanacearum. It is a serious soil-borne disease of many economically important crops, including tomato, potato, tobacco, banana, plantain, and eggplant. The pathogen can also be transmitted through contaminated irrigation water, equipment, or personnel, and spreads very easily by transplanting infected plants and propagules. Bacteria in plant tissues and soil can be accurately detected by PCR, using specific primers that amplify a 288-bp fragment on a 16S rRNA gene (Martins, 2000). CIAT (2004a). reported, and registered at the GenBank database sequences obtained through PCR from different crops affected by different R. solanacearum races (Table 1).Phytoplasmas are bacteria that have no cell walls. Being plant pathogenic, they are associated with diseases in more than 300 plant species. Because culturing them in vitro is not yet possible, their detection and identification have been based largely on their molecular characteristics. Furthermore, preliminary classification of unknown phytoplasmas can be accomplished through RFLP analysis of PCR-amplified 16S rRNA groups. Some phytoplasmas have been found to cause diseases previously considered to be viral.Based on the similarity of observed symptoms and reported diseases caused by phytoplasmas, researchers at CIAT amplified DNA fragments of phytoplasmas from oil palm, cassava, lulo, and coffee, using nested PCR. Moreover, these phytoplasmas could also be classified, using RFLP (CIAT 2002(CIAT , 2004b;;Álvarez et al. 2003a, 2003b, 2004).In addition, CIAT (2004b) confirmed the association of a phytoplasma with cassava frogskin disease through DNA amplification with specific primers. This pathogen was detected in affected roots and leaves by nested PCR and transmission electron microscopy. A total of 320 DNA samples were obtained from infected plant tissues and another 80 from healthy tissues (Table 2). DNA sequencing of PCR products and banding patterns obtained after digestion of the amplified products with the enzymes AluI, RsaI, TaqI, and MseI enabled us to identify the products as belonging to the 16SrIII group (or X-disease group). Of the methods used in this study, PCR was the most sensitive for detecting, identifying, and classifying phytoplasmas.The first report of a phytoplasma being associated with lethal yellowing disease of oil palm was described by CIAT (2004b). A protocol was developed to identify the phytoplasma through nested PCR and DNA sequence analysis of the 16S rRNA region obtained from oil palm, glands and intestines of insect vectors, and weeds. Likewise, DNA sequence analysis revealed that X-disease group phytoplasmas were associated with coffee crispiness (Galvis et al. 2003) and \"machorreo\" of lulo (Álvarez et al. 2003a).Fungi and pseudo-fungi (Cromista, Oomycota) cause diseases that result in serious yield losses in many crops around the world. One such disease is Phytophthora root rot (PRR), which attacks the roots, stems, and sometimes leaves of cassava crops grown in many different agroecological areas of Africa, Latin America, and Asia.Sequence-based identification of fungi is actually based on an rDNA gene complex, which is present in all microbial pathogens. Fungi carry three genes (18S, 5.8S, and 28S), which have spacers (ITS1 and ITS2) located between the genes. Within the rDNA gene complex are (1) highly variable sequences that provide unique signatures that identify species, and (2) conserved regions that contain genomic codes for the structural restraints present within organism groups. The ITS regions contain the major variability and, under most circumstances, these regions are useful for species recognition.Knowledge of an unreported Phytophthora species, P. tropicalis, and P. melonis in cassava was generated by a DNA sequence analysis of the ITS region of the 18S rRNA gene. An alternative technique, the PCR-RFLP, was also applied, using amplification with ITS1 and ITS2, or ITS4 and ITS6, and digestion with the enzymes AluI, TaqI, and MspI. Phytophthora palmivora from cacao and P. cryptogea from heliconia were also identified by ITS-region sequencing (Table 1) (CIAT 2004b).Superelongation disease of cassava (SED), caused by Sphaceloma manihoticola, is an important foliar and stem disease, causing crop losses of more than 80% in different areas in South America and the Caribbean. PCR fragments, obtained with ITS4 and ITS5, were isolated, cloned, and sequenced (CIAT 2004b), the sequences reported in the GenBank database (Table 1). PCR fragments, obtained with ITS1 and ITS4 from DNA of Glomerella spp. isolated from soursop were also cloned and sequenced (CIAT 2004b), and the sequences reported in the GenBank database (Table 1).The successful identification of pathogens through molecular tools such as PCR and DNA sequence analysis will help improve host resistance and accelerate the identification of potential insect vectors and alternative hosts. Thus, it will encourage the development of new and effective practices for controlling these diseases.Once we have identified a pathogen, we can conduct genetic diversity studies to enable us to better understand it, its mechanism of action, and its co-evolution with its hosts. With such knowledge we can direct management strategies towards increasing crop productivity through disease resistance to that pathogen. That is, we can develop plants that resist targeted populations of the pathogen rather Manzana 20 20 0 0 -a Total number of samples processed from plants obtained from the field and grown in the greenhouse and screenhouse. P = leaf petioles; MR = leaf midribs. b The same number of samples was taken for both greenhouse and screenhouse. P = leaf petioles; MR = leaf midribs. c Moderately infected. d Severely infected.than fulfill a specific objective. Thus, we can prevent the potential economic imbalances that so often negatively affect the poorest farmers, who are the main producers of many important crops such as cassava.We now describe some of the genetic diversity studies carried out by CIAT researchers on several pathogens causing major crop diseases such as CBB, SED, powdery mildew, anthracnose, and bud rot.By characterizing Xanthomonas axonopodis pv manihotis's genetic diversity, we can select a set of strains to search for resistance factors in cassava varieties targeted for an area carrying a given X. axonopodis pv manihotis population. Through RFLP and AFLP analyses, pathogen diversity was found to be limited in Africa but broad in South America, cassava's center of origin. High genetic diversity was also found in Brazil, Venezuela, and Colombia, with different pathotypes specific to each ecozone. The very high genetic diversity is possibly related to the also very high levels of genetic diversity observed for the host plant (Verdier et al. 1993;Restrepo et al. 1996;Restrepo 1999;CIAT 2002). The X. axonopodis pv manihotis isolates also showed that the structure of bacterial populations is also shaped by the spatial and temporal distributions of their diversity.Using molecular techniques such as RAPDs, AFLP, and RAMs, Álvarez et al (2003c) detected variability in isolates of Sphaceloma manihoticola from south-central Brazil and Colombia, although genetic variation in the Brazilian population was narrower than that of the Colombian population. The RAPD analysis revealed high polymorphism, that is, considerable intraspecific genetic diversity, indicating that the pathogen may be able to adapt readily to changes in the environment, overcome resistance of new cassava varieties, or develop to fungicides. The groups of isolates identified by genetic and pathogenic characterization of the pathogen showed no strong correlations, although high correlations existed between geographic origin (country and municipality) and genetic variation, hence indicating a possible center of diversity.For Brazilian isolates, we could distinguish between isolates of S. manihoticola from cassava and those from milkweed, and also between S. manihoticola and S. krugii. In addition, RAPD analyses clearly differentiated among the levels of genetic variation among the host-plant populations of S. manihoticola. One study (Álvarez and Molina 2000) of Colombian isolates collected from cassava plants affected with SED and from Euphorbia heterophylla (a Euphorbiaceae species like cassava) showed how useful molecular markers are to better understand the movement of pathogen populations between geographically isolated regions and the effectiveness of host resistance (Álvarez et al. 2003c). These results would have been difficult or impossible to obtain on the basis of morphology alone.Powdery mildew is caused by the fungus Sphaerotheca pannosa var. rosae, and is a major constraint to rose production. In Colombia, this disease is widely distributed, affecting the quality of Rosa spp. grown in greenhouses and causing serious economic losses. Molecular and pathogenic characterization of isolates generates information on the pathogen's genetic structure, thereby helping to make the most appropriate and durable crop management decisions.Using RAPD and RAMS techniques, DNA polymorphisms were detected among isolates obtained from six rose cultivars grown on farms located in Cundinamarca (Colombia). Molecular analyses revealed considerable genetic diversity among the populations of S. pannosa var. rosae. The relationship between origin and genetic diversity suggests that different disease management practices will be needed according to farm and environment. The genetic variability observed with the analyzed primers proved that the pathogen is able to mutate and, depending on the environment in which it is found, can adopt several forms by which to survive in different tissues of the rose plant (Álvarez et al, 2000).Broad genetic variability was detected by AFLP and RAMS in isolates of Colletotrichum acutatum and C. gloeosporioides, collected from citrus and soursop (Annona muricata), respectively. In soursop, these results showed a relationship of the variables \"pathogenic variability\" and \"colony diameter\" with \"genetic variability\". The genetic variability observed with this technique was high. If we consider that sampling was restricted in terms of the study area, then we can deduce that (1) high variation exists among the pathogen's populations in different agricultural and climatic regions with geographic isolation, and (2) high variation exists within groups of isolates selected previously for their morphological traits such as colony diameter. This suggests that a broader, more systematic sampling must be planned to answer doubts arising from this preliminary study of Colletotrichum populations (Ospina y Álvarez, 2003).To evaluate genetic variation in C. acutatum, the causal agent of citrus anthracnose, isolates were collected from a wide range of citrus species under varying conditions and from different geographic zones of Colombia. We used AFLP to analyze them and found considerable genetic variation, but no consistent relationship between the groups and host species or collection zones. These results confirmed the variability, both phenotypic (i.e., morphological traits) and genetic (molecular traits), that exists within the causal agent of citrus anthracnose. The results also confirmed that different species of the pathogen are associated with the disease (Ospina, 2002;CIAT 2003).Isolates of Ceratocystis paradoxa and related fungi were collected from oil-palm plantations and other crops in Colombia and characterized. Morphological comparisons, mating systems, and phylogenetic analyses (including the use of molecular markers) revealed a complex of five different taxa: C. paradoxa (banana), C. radicicola (date palm), C. fimbriata (cacao), C. paradoxa sensu stricto (oil palm) and a clearly distinct species in its ITS sequence and morphology (oil palm) intermediate between C. paradoxa and C. radicicola that should be described as new (CIAT 2000). These findings demonstrated that a disease may result from the activities of a complex of pathogens. Another eX. axonopodis pv manihotisple is the Phytophthora-Pythium soft rots that attack oil palm. Disease management strategies should therefore be oriented towards dealing with such complexes.Molecular markers also comprise an important tool for breeders. In cassava, for example pv manihotis, they were studied to identify their association with genetic resistance to cassava bacterial blight (CBB). More than 400 simple sequence repeats (SSRs) were evaluated, leading to the identification of one SSR marker. This was associated with CBB resistance in a segregating cassava backcross family under field conditions (Hurtado 2004).Another example is QTL mapping for resistance to root rot in cassava, which was performed in family K, using simple marker analysis. We detected and mapped nine QTLs associated with P. tropicalis resistance, two QTLs with P. palmivora, and two with P. melonis (Álvarez et al, 2002;Llano 2003;Loke 2004). The QTLs were located on different linkage groups. Some QTLs would be expressed in one crop cycle but not in another, depending on the environmental conditions for crop development. The low phenotypic variance explained by the identified QTLs support the hypothesis of minor genes controlling Phytophthora resistance, as suggested by Llano et al. (2004).The presence of conserved domains permitted grouping of resistance genes (R genes) into at least four classes and to propose their possible function in the defense response as part of signal transduction pathways. R genes are clustered in the genome of several species and different genes within the same cluster can determine resistance to diverse pathogens. Based on sequence similarity between R genes, Llano et al. (2004), using degenerated primers designed from resistance genes of different crops, obtained four resistance gene analogs (RGAs), corresponding to NBS candidate genes, whereas Hurtado and Álvarez(2003) obtained 10 RGAs (NBS, Pto, kinase, amd LRR). One RGA showed association with CBB resistance in a segregating cassava population. The sequences were reported in the GenBank database.Identifying genes associated with defense responses is a highly critical step, leading to the elucidation of disease-resistance mechanisms in cassava. Soto-Suárez et al. (2004b), using subtractive hybridization, identified genes differentially expressed during CBB pathogen attack. From two resistant varieties, 1536 clones were isolated. Sequence analysis of these showed that 16 cDNA clones shared homology with plant genes involved in defense responses. Another 70 clones were either homologous to plant genes of unknown function or showed no homology, thus representing potentially new genes involved in cassava's defense responses.Soto-Suárez et al. (2004a) performed microarray hybridization, using as treat ent cDNA from resistant cassava plants collected at different times after infection and, as control, cDNA from healthy plants. Functional genomic tools such as the cassava microarray provided a preliminary comprehensive overview of the molecular basis of the cassava defense response to the CBB pathogen. It will help in the future understanding of the defense mechanisms used against other important pests and diseases.A PCR approach was used, with specific primers for the Xa21 gene (which confers resistance to Xanthomonas in rice), to isolate a 900-bp fragment (PCR250) in cassava cultivars showing high resistance to X. axonopodis pv manihotis (López et al, 2004). The PCR250 fragment showed 56% similarity with the Xa21 gene, and was located in the linkage group X and associated with a QTL that explained 13% of resistance to X. axonopodis pv manihotis (Jorge et al. 2000). The PCR250 fragment was also used by López et al. (2004) to screen a BAC library. The complete sequence of cassava Xa21 homologue gene was identified and named RX. axonopodis pv manihotis-1. It was 3600 bp long and contained an ORF of 1181 amino acids. This gene was induced 72 h after infection by X. axonopodis pv manihotis."}

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+{"metadata":{"gardian_id":"3e890d7a3f4b783e77fe1196c6a7cf55","source":"gardian_index","url":"https://cgspace.cgiar.org/rest/bitstreams/4db476a9-5798-4b83-8330-f5f5fe331b52/retrieve","id":"-801008277"},"keywords":[],"sieverID":"b56703b8-826c-47ed-ba86-58501a801bb4","content":"Young people in agriculture: the key to strengthening Africa's future Across Africa, young and innovative entrepreneurs are channelling their energy into a vast array of agricultural initiatives. Their goal is clear: to create new economic opportunities and to contribute to the development of their communities. Yet because these agripreneurs often work out of public view, their contribution is not always fully appreciated by their communities.To inspire other young people, in 2016 CTA supported the creation of Agribusiness TV following a call for projects launched as part of its ARDYIS programme. The objective was not only to promote the development of the businesses of young agripreneurs, but also to showcase their experiences and encourage young Africans to consider agriculture as a vocation.I am pleased to report that Agribusiness TV has been a resounding success. The stories published in this book show that it has helped to promote young entrepreneurs and enable them to reach new clients and establish themselves in markets that were still unexplored, while at the same time reaching other young Africans. Through these video stories, some were able to talk to entrepreneurs and find ways to overcome the challenges they faced, while others simply embarked on the great adventure of agripreneurship by drawing inspiration from shared experiences. As a sign of its success, Agribusiness TV has received many international awards, including the 2017 WSIS Forum Prize from the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), and the Prix francophone de l'innovation dans les médias (Francophone Award for Innovation in the Media) from Radio France Internationale and the Agence internationale de la Francophonie (International Organisation for the French-Speaking World). This publication comes from CTA's desire to further highlight the methods and achievements of a number of entrepreneurs to inspire others, and bring them to a wider audience of both young people and those involved in agricultural entrepreneurship.This publication comes from CTA's desire to further highlight the methods and achievements of a number of entrepreneurs to inspire others, and bring them to a wider audience of both young people and those involved in agricultural entrepreneurship. Supporting young people in this sector is a CTA priority, which can only be effective if we better understand the fundamental aspirations of this generation, the challenges they face and the strategies they choose to implement. Beyond highlighting the entrepreneurs and charting their individual paths, each story raises questions as varied and as crucial as access to finance, the impact of the activities carried out, relations built with other young people, and the use of digital technologies in agripreneurship.Youth is one of CTA's three areas of intervention, and we therefore implement a number of programmes to develop agricultural entrepreneurship among this group: AgriHack Talent, PEJERIZ in Senegal and Mali, VijaBiz in Kenya, and DAIRY Profit in Eastern Africa. By focusing on the new generation, CTA is helping to accelerate the fight against underemployment and youth unemployment, while strengthening the agricultural sector.All these programmes are already bearing fruit, but a huge amount of work remains to be done. It is essential for all partners to collaborate, together with young people, to give them every opportunity to make the greatest impact, locally, nationally and globally. CTA is ready to contribute. Enjoy this booklet!Director PREFACE Over the next decade, 11 million young people are expected to enter the workforce in Africa every year, yet only 3 million formal jobs are created annually.Millions of young people therefore run the risk of being unemployed or underemployed. At the same time, urban areas continue to attract young people from rural areas, while not always being able to create enough job opportunities.For many African countries, however, agriculture is and will continue to be the main source of employment and income for the foreseeable future.Agriculture represents around 60% of employment on the continent, making it a fundamental sector, not only for food security but also for economic growth.The wider agricultural sector remains an important source of employment in rural areas, of course, but also in peri-urban and urban areas. It is particularly important to increase agri-food processing initiatives aimed at reaching out to a changing urban clientele, and to increase opportunities for the creation of non-agricultural economic activities in the technology and services sector.In spite of its potential, many young Africans are not attracted to agriculture because of its poor image, insecurity, and lack of competitiveness and support. The average age of farmers is currently over 50, so it is vital that younger generations join a sector that is so essential to the economies and to the food and nutritional security of the entire continent. Halatou Dem is a 32-year-old Malian entrepreneur.With a degree in finance, in 2011 she took over management of Danaya Céréales, an agricultural processing and marketing company founded by her mother in 1992. With regional and international markets in her sights, the company is in the process of obtaining ISO certification. The couple is also working to help other young agripreneurs by connecting them with distributors and providing them with advice.Ollasset Djoro Ahoua, 29, has a degree in tropical agriculture. In 2009 she launched her career in organic market gardening in the town of Agnibilekrou, in eastern Côte d'Ivoire.Elizabeth Gikebe is a 27-year-old Kenyan. A graduate in commerce and information technology, in 2016 she founded Mhogo Foods, an agri-food For many African countries, however, agriculture is and will continue to be the main source of employment and income for the foreseeable future.THE ENTREPRENEURS processing company specialising in gluten-free cassava production, based in Banana, in Kiambu.Grâce-Marlène Gnintoungbe is a 30-year-old Beninese entrepreneur. Her agricultural company, Les Jardins Chez Marlène, which is based in the town of Abomey-Calavi, specialises in organic fruit and vegetable production.Mohamed Ouedraogo is a 38-year-old entrepreneur who works in the commune of Kaya in Burkina Faso.In August 2012 he started producing and processing products using moringa, a shrub known for its high nutritional value, before creating his own company, Yeepaoum Production. Awa Caba is a 30-year-old entrepreneur from Claude Arsène Savadogo is a 32-year-old from Burkina Faso, with a master's degree in rural economics and agri-food business strategy, and another in economic and financial engineering of projects and public policies. In 2011, he created Bioprotect, a company producing and marketing organic inputs and pesticides, based in Fada N'Gourma. Imported goods are often cheaper and better presented, so convincing consumers to eat local products developed by agripreneurs is a real challenge.Young people are vulnerable as they work to build their reputation, they have few assets and struggle to build key partnerships to access profitable markets or capacity building.Taxation is often a heavy burden for start-up businesses, which also face ineffective agricultural support. Women in many communities often also struggle with accessing land.For a sector that relies so heavily on the weather, the impacts of climate change are a real risk for already fragile youth agribusinesses.Across Africa, farming has a very poor image; too often seen as a career for those who have not been to school. Education systems often do not encourage young people to take risks but instead seek the comfort of the civil service, or simple private-sector employment. Agripreneurs are unanimous: \"Our education system plants the seeds of discouragement: in primary school those who failed to move up to the next grade were sent back to their families and told they might as well go and farm the land.\"As agripreneurs work to make their businesses a success, the role of their family, friends, teachers and colleagues is decisive. In many cases, family and friends do not understand the potential of agriculture and do everything they can to convince them to give up their farming project.\" Young entrepreneurs face many challenges in developing successful businesses.A lack of financing, human resources, expertise, technology and access to markets are just some of the 10 challenges the 24 agripreneurs have highlighted, along with some strategies and solutions they devised to overcome them.The agripreneurs all agree that the best way to prove to family and friends that investing in agriculture is the right choice is to get training and carry out research to gain a full technical understanding of the field in which you want to invest. Agripreneurs need to be dedicated and take their enterprise seriously, and when success happens family and friends are usually convinced and their support follows.In many cases family is the primary source of funding allowing a young agripreneur's business to expand, so it is therefore important to avoid head-on conflict with parents, and to find the right approach to explain the value of the decision.Women agripreneurs face an additional problem in crossing very significant cultural barriers, especially when they opt for a production activity which requires access to land: \"In our culture, women cannot inherit land, so this is an additional problem for investing,\" Ollasset from Côte d'Ivoire recalls.\"Personally, I had to leave my village and move far away from home to rent some land, because tradition wouldn't allow me to have land at home.\" The agripreneurs' advise finding technical and commercial solutions to diversify sources of revenue, and increase the profitability of products:• Tomato producer Jean-Marie from Cameroon works around three annual growing cycles to maximise his turnover.• Ismaël from Togo is working to develop a new product from fresh tomatoes, targeting the broader population in order to increase his profits.• Ollasset from Côte d'Ivoire has chosen to target off-season market gardening, which means she faces less competition at harvest time.• Richard from Burkina Faso has successfully diversified by breeding rare poultry.• In Senegal, Souleymane built his company on originality, as he was the first to grow strawberries, creating a niche that gives him a significant advantage.Financing is critical in the development of a business. Interestingly, the 24 agripreneurs found ADDRESSING CHALLENGES that it is not so much the initial capital that is important -because this can be built up gradually -but the investment needed once the company has proved its technical ability, market demand is well established and the time has come to scale up. This is the point when increasing production capacity requires mechanisation, which means significant investments and specialised knowledge. Access to finance is also essential for businesses that require preliminary investment in research and development.Yet despite their innovative and promising ideas, entrepreneurs are often denied access to credit by banks. Roméo from Côte d'Ivoire faced this challenge when trying to develop his organic fertilisers using earthworms and cocoa waste.Young agripreneurs have developed a wide range of strategies to finance their businesses and make them profitable:• Looking for funding (gifts or loans) among friends and family: known as mobilising 'love money', or 'Family, Fools and Friends', this can provide a first investment to help launch a business.This was the approach adopted by Caroline from Côte d'Ivoire. • Turning to 'business angels': a kind of sponsor or financial partner who will provide financing and technical advice to young agripreneurs.• Appeal for sponsorship from private companies.• Keep a salaried job or consultancy work in order to ensure a stable or regular income that can be invested in the business: this was the path followed by Richard from Burkina Faso, who has a paid job at an NGO, and Awa from Senegal who does occasional consulting work, including for the United Nations.• Join a local tontine, where each member pays a monthly subscription which then provides regular annuities that can be used for investment in the company, as in the case of Stéphane from Cameroon.• Take part in competitions for the chance to win awards that generally take the form of grants (like Awa from Senegal); however, focusing too much on competitions could be harmful to the long-term development of the business.• Bring in an associate to invest in part of the business, like Régis from Benin.Nevertheless, the best strategy to get funding and develop a young enterprise is undoubtedly to offer quality products and efficient services that clients are prepared to pay a reasonable amount for on a regular basis. This should generate profits that can be reinvested when a company goes through harder times. Ismaël is currently working on an even more ambitious project which will require about 250 million CFA francs (€380,000). \"I plan to work with tomato growers, but in order to guarantee basic supplies, I want to start my own greenhouse production that will belong to the company,\" Ismaël explains. He also wants to improve the packaging of his product, offer other products that are more accessible for low-income consumers, and set up a tomato farm to ensure a basic supply for the company. To access the necessary funding, Ismaël has engaged in discussions with various institutions.Finding available, skilled and motivated human resources is a major challenge when it comes to starting a business. By itself, the motivation of the entrepreneur is not enough. As the business grows, an entrepreneur needs to be able to rely on a committed and responsible team. Qualified human resources are very expensive, and many agripreneurs opt to hire young people with few qualifications, whom they train as they go along.The agripreneur must also be careful not to be the only one who knows all the ins and outs of the business, leaving them unable to delegate when necessary. Trust in team members, employee supervision techniques and retention strategies, can all be significant challenges. With poor uptake of products and access to markets such common challenges, the 24 agripreneurs have developed extensive ways of overcoming these issues:• Make friends and family your first customers. • Become a processor as well. \"One solution in order not to be so dependent on prices imposed by traders on perishable vegetables is for the producer to become a processor,\" proposes Grâce-Marlène from Benin.• Develop partnerships. In order to be able to offer her customers a wide range of vegetable products, Grâce-Marlène has also entered into partnerships with other vegetable farms specialising in agro-ecology.• Stand up for yourself. \"You have to know how to stand up for yourself and not allow supermarkets and mini-markets to walk all over you with their system of sale on consignment,\" advises Halatou from Mali.from their client before confirming any order.\"• Engage in direct sales. \"We chose to market our products mainly through direct sales (85%), and we refuse to accept sale on consignment,\" reveals Ismaël from Togo. \"As a result, we now have about 40 serious sales outlets in Togo.\" (See box, Promoting tomatoes through social media and 'ambassadors').• Using social media to promote your product is the best option for new companies. According to Richard from Burkina Faso, \"You have to be aware just how important social media is in getting consumers interested in your product. To do so, be eloquent in describing your product in order to inspire people.\"• Take part in fairs or organise specific marketing events. \"Since 2016, Sooretul has been organising tasting and sales sessions in companies and institutions to convince middle-class customers of the benefits of using our platform to source quality local products,\"explains Awa from Senegal. \"During these sessions, we present Sooretul and the products that are available;we give advice on how to prepare certain products, and we offer direct sales. We have developed basket formulas that include an assortment of products from the female processors that we work with, alongside a system of registration and immediate discounts on delivery: it's a way of promoting the product. We've also established another kind of more 'selective' event -Sooretul nibbles -where we invite our customers and prospective clients to an after-work meeting, at which a nutrition expert presents the benefits of one of our products -fonio for example -and we have tastings of fonio-based dishes produced by the female processors.\"• With regard to the promotion of natural fertiliser products, agripreneurs have developed a strategy of guided visits to farms, where they explain how the products are used and the impacts that farmers can expect from them; a farmerto-farmer sponsorship system has also been developed, for example by Samuel from Kenya, who encourages producers to talk to others about their product, in exchange for discounts.For a sector that relies so heavily on the weather, the impacts of climate change are a real risk for agripreneurs. Ollasset from Côte d'Ivoire revealsTanko Timati has never used radio or television for marketing, only social networks -Twitter, Facebook and WhatsApp. We have several marketing strategies: first, we took advantage of a government programme with the national employment agency that provided us with three interns who carried out a communication campaign on the ground.We also have a sponsorship system, through which we offer free products to clients appointed as 'ambassadors' whenever they manage to convince another customer to take our products. The peak tomato production period is from August to October, so we offer a promotion during that period when the price of a bottle goes down from 500 CFA francs (€0.75) to 200 CFA francs (€0.30) per unit. As our packaging is in glass bottles, we try to collect returns as much as possible, and direct sales makes this easier; moreover, we provide incentives to our sales representatives to collect empty bottles by rewarding them according to the number of bottles collected and the number of new customers they have gained. Finally, and this is a crucial element, we are really trying to create a community and become a 'love mark': so every last Saturday of the month we organise a tomato race with a coach recruited for this purpose.Ismaël, founder of Tanko Timati, TogoADDRESSING CHALLENGES that in her first year of organic market gardening, drought destroyed almost all of her produce. She came close to giving up but held on, and her aim now is to be able to control her water supply by using drip irrigation, as soon as she is able to access the necessary funds.10. Poor public policies on entrepreneurship and agriculture As agripreneurs work to make their businesses a success, the role of their family, friends, teachers and colleagues is decisive.PASSING THE BATON… Boubacar Diallo, GuineaThe 24 young agripreneurs featured in this publication have not only dared to innovate and create wealth in their countries, while transforming the agricultural sector, but they have also become role models, coaches and creators of opportunities for other young people.Creating jobs for other young people In addition to providing employment, successful agripreneurs often inspire other young people to follow suit.PASSING THE BATON...In Burkina Faso, Claude Arsène's company By itself, the motivation of the entrepreneur is not enough. As the business grows, an entrepreneur needs to be able to rely on a committed and responsible team. Given that its main target audience is young people, who are ever more connected to the internet through their phones, Agribusiness TV has been designedspecifically for mobile viewing. The videos are available via mobile applications that can be downloaded for free, or they can be shared via Bluetooth where internet connections are poor.In addition, since young Africans are very active on social media, Agribusiness TV also has aFacebook page, a Twitter account, a LinkedIn page and an Instagram account. Facebook statistics show that 80% of page visitors connect via mobile phone.Agribusiness TV has produced more than 100 videos, which have been viewed more than 7 million times.Agribusiness TV's Facebook page has more than 168,000 likes and its YouTube channel and Twitter account each have more than 10,000 followers.Find out more http://agribusinesstv.info/en/"}

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+{"metadata":{"gardian_id":"14b55e4aafe7ed393fc7cd06696b4a2c","source":"gardian_index","url":"https://cgspace.cgiar.org/rest/bitstreams/decb0a62-659b-4f54-8e8a-a41f7a8a14b4/retrieve","id":"1980219695"},"keywords":[],"sieverID":"122d84e1-b0e5-4896-8c23-35975481f11d","content":"~ ' \" o z , \\ FlgrHfJ ..J. Charcaa! rOf :ít mature f.eid-grown beans Qften extends :;) l~fJ pods resI.Jltmg Ir mfec!lOn ':>f the se€td 'S 45 Kenya 6,0 Relltstant 743.7 :.(Deutaromycetes: Coelomycetes} IS found throughout t\"le troolCS and subtroplcs and has a wide host rMge Together with most 01 tila legume crops, Ihe col'nrnon bean (phaseofus vulgaris) is a goad nost for the fungus which causes a ranga 01 symptoms, dependlng on environmental conditJOns and age oí the p¡ant. In addltlcr :0 charcoa! rot, which is a s1em or stal\" rot disease. the pathúgen alSÚ causes damping-<tff and seedling. blight in oeans, Char:::oal fO! JI; the mature plant is associated w¡th senescence which!s accelerated by water stress. The disease is mosl damag'ng in afeas of un\"ehable rainfall ano high tempera1ure. In Kenya. beans 8!'€ us~ally grown In míxed stands with maize, sorghulT, or mille: POpl,.;latlon pressure has led to the culttvation 01 beans on land pro'le to crought M. phaseolma is ene of the most importan: pathogens affectlng al! the main crops of the iarming systems In the semi-arld areas of eastern Kenya and resistance to charcoal rot lS a pnerity ¡f besns are to be mcreasmgly grown in these areas The paper reviews Ihe literature 00 charcoal rot of beans and on other crops where sHn¡lar work has not beso reported specH¡cally tor beans, 1. Inlroducllon Charcoal rot 01 beans (PhaseoJus vuigaris) is caused by Macrophomina phaseolina (Tassi) Gojd. (Deuteromycetes: Coelomycetesj. The pathogen ís widely distributed in the tropics and sub-trapics and has a host range which ¡neludes more than 300 plant .pecíes (Cottíngham. 1981). The lungus can cause seedling disease in legumes and other crop species and is responsible tor stalk rots in cereal craps as well as root and stem diseases in numerous crop specles. These diseases are known variously as charcoal rot, black rot and ashy stem, depending on the host. For the sake 01 consistency the disease will be referred to as ehareoal rot in this review.The fungus causes economic losses in areas with a ho: climate where crops are exposed to periods of moisture slress (e. g., Dhíngra and Chagas, 1981). II is quoled as tne single mast important pathogen of cowpeas, sorghum and mung beon in the Bay regían 01 Somalía (Gray el al ., 1990) and IS the maín disease affecling legumes in the sem¡~arid areas of Nigería (liTA, 1984), Charcoal rot is important on beans in the warmer areas of produetion in the USA (Hagedorn, 1991). L.lin Ameríca (Díaz-Franco, 1984). Indl. (Salí.ch.ndra el al., 1979), the Carribean (Echavez•Bedeland Beaver, 1987) and Atrlca (Emeehebe andMcDonald, 1979: CIAT. 1981).In Kenya, íncreasing population pressure has led te the cultlvation of tood crops tn eastern parts of the country, prevrously regarded as unsuitable for crop production owing to their unreliable rainfalL The semi-arid areas of Kenya, whlch include most ot Eastern Provmce (Figure 1). contributa 35% of the country's total bean production (Gítu and Ngalyukia, 1989), Wíth their continued cldtlvation in increasingly drier environments, there is a need to produce bean varíeties with improved drought tolerance and resis~ tance to Maerophomina (Muigai and Rano, 1990),Having a worldwide distribution and wide host range, there ig a large literature on M. phaseaJina. The Internahonal Centre for Research lO the Semí-Arid Troplcs (ICRISAT) has publlshed a bibliography of Iiteralure up to 1987 (Síngh el al .. 1990) and the bioiogy and pathogenicity of the fungus was reviewed by Dhingra and Sinclaír {1978}, The purpose of this paper was to revlE~w the literatura concerning M_ phaséoJina on beans, in relation to conciusions drawn from work on other crops and to emphasize its importance in the semi-arid regions of eastern Kenya. 2, Symptoms M. phaseoJina causes seedling disease ¡n bean as well as the more cOflspicuous ashy stem or enareoal rot symptom in older plants. AI1hough they are manifestatlons of the same syndrome, the nature of the aetiologlcal link between seedling disease ané chareoal rot IS not clearThe first visible symptam on the seadliog is a sma!! dar\\( brown ¡asioo en the cotyledon which spreads down cnto tha hypocotyl (Figure 2) or, sometimes, the lesion may appear first at the base 01 the nypocotyL Early infection results in pre-emergenee damping-off Or seedling mortalíty, soon atter emergence (Figure 3), In established seedlings, ¡esions spread down the hypocotyl, girdle it and cause the plant to collapse. If the lesion develops late or the plant has some reslstanee, the hypocotyl ls not comp~etely glrdled and the plant may recover from the rnfection. Plants which surVlve the first 2-3 weeks aftar sowing usuaJly survive until1lower~ ing when the first symptoms of the ehareoal rot phase of disease appear at the base of the stern as grey, necrotic areas, bearing numerous smal! black sclerotia, As senescenee progresses, the infeclion spreads up the stem and selerotia may eventually appear on the pods (Figure 4), ieading to seed ¡nfecHon. Plants which develop charcoal rot symptoms relatively early in their growth exhibit signs 01 accelerated senescenee, such as foliar chlorosis and fewer seeds reach maturrty.  Macrophomina phaseofina (synonym: Macrophomina phaseoli, AhlzoctOntB batatícofa, ScJerotium bataNco/a) can be readily 'so(ated fmm mfected host tissues on standard medIa. It has a ~lgh optima! !emperawre tor mycei¡aJ growth 0132-34 C. covenng a 9cm Petn dish or potato dextrose agar (PDA! ¡n 480 Young hyphae are colourless, becornmg :¡ght brown wíth age. Within a few days of growth on PDA. abundant sclerotja are produced which range rrom 100 to 300 ¡1m In diameter. These are smooth or ¡rregular i:1 shape, black In colour and r:ch in O¡IS (Hol!íday and Punítha¡¡ngam. 1970. Dhmgra ane SinclalL 1978). Sc'erotia constitute the pnncipa. propa-gu¡es for dlssemination and are resístant to extremes 01 temperature and humldity. Within ',he mfected host sc!erotia appear in large numbers when the tissues beg1n :0 senesce i Siack, globose pycnidja are $ometlmes sean on the host and can be induced jn culture (Watanabe, 1972). They are 100••••20011m in diameter anct contain smgle-ce!led fusiform cOnldla (Dhingra and Sinc!alr. 1978),Macrophomina phaseoJina 15 a plJnvorous pathogen ana isO lates from one plant spec¡es are aften found to ,nfect a ranga of other hosts (Ho¡¡¡day and PLJnithalingam. 1970). ;\"ee et al. (1986) for instanc8, found that Isolates trom bean. cotton and groundnut were al! pathogenic on cotton, Similarly. Diourte (198?) reported that isolates from sorghum, growildnut, bean and cotton all cross•moculated each of the other hosts although there was a trend towards greater virulence on the host from which each strain was initlally isolated.However, there r$ some evtdence that certain Isolates exhibit a degree of host specíflcity. Isolates causing ashy stem of cQwpea in Botswana also ínfected beans. bul not sorghu m (Burke el al., 1986). Care must be exercised in ínterpreting this result as 1t is easier to induce symptoms on legumes, following artificial ¡noculatian, than on the cereal5 which are so dependent on pred!sposítion. Further support tor the occurrence of host specificity ís to be found in the work of Chohan and Kaur (1977) who found that three tBolates of  and Smclalr, 19730), exhibit wide vanation in cultura! anó morphologtcal characters Such as growth rate, sclerotia! proouctlon, sclerot!al size and ab¡ltly to produce pycmdia (Watanabe, 1972, Ch,damberam andMatnur, 1975), However, these differences hava not been IlOked to host specialization or to aggressiveness.Under warm. mOlst conditíons, fo!lowing a long dry season and In the presence of higt1 inoculum levels of M, phaseolina. seedling mortality 10 legume crops can be high\" For Instance, in 1983 in southern Nigeria the fungus was responsible for 70 Q /o cowpea seedlíng mortahty {liTA. 1984;. However, seedling loss is not normally as h!gh and the survíving plants, especJally among the long season va,..iet¡es, have sorne capacity to compensate tor early stand loss. Loss estimates tor Africa are not available but yield losses of up to 65% have occurred in bean crops grown in the USA (Zaumeyer and Thamas, 1957),Although the disease has been known in Kenya for many years (J. M. Wa!ler,personal communica1ion) it has become more prevalent in recent years wíth the cultivatlon of land in progressively drier areas. M. phaseofina was observed on sorghum, causing extensive lodging in the crop produced on the short ralns (Oct.-Jan.) near Makuen 1 in Machakos District (see fígure 1} (Waite et al., 1984). Mukunya el al., {1983) reported serious incidences of the dlsease at spedfic locations in the semi-arid area 01 Kenya. SeedJ¡ng mortality ot 10-14'% has been observed in beans grown in experimental plots and farmers' fíelds in Machakos Otstrict (W. Songa. unpublíshed). The disease has since been observed aU over eastern Kenya on many crops inctuding beans (Stoetzer er al., 1984). Tabla 1 shows a list ot lsolates collected •in eastero Kenya by Songa (1995) and the crop spec,es ¡rom which they     Songa. unpubl'lshed). A recent report r€cords charcoal rot as en important cause oi yteld 105S in beans grown in the semi~arid areas of Kenya with losses oUen exceedmg 300 kg ha-1 (Wortmann and Aller:. 1994).Tn€ pathogen surviv€s in the soii m crop residuas jn the form 01 sc!erotl8 and the ínítla! infection derives either from so¡¡~borne inoculum or from tne plantlng of ínfected sead íS!ngh and Singh, 1982), The pathogen is known to be seed-borne In a number of hosts including soybean (Gangopadhyay el al\" 1970) and camman beans (Abawi and Pastor-Corrales, 1990a) and can be carried within the seed coat (Dhingra and Sinclair, 1978). The fungus was detectad tn 30% 01 cowpea seed samples collected from markets In northern Ntgeria (Emecnebe and McDonald, 1979).Dry conditions favour surviyal oÍ sclerotia in the soí! but mycehal growth and ¡nfection raQuire mols1 condttions and are favoured by a temperature above 27\"C (Hageoorn, 1991). Provided there ís sufficient soil moisture tor fungal growth and high mocuJum levels. seedling lOS ses jncrease with increaslng temperature up to 45 •C. While 5eedling 1055 ;n beans 15 dependent on hlgh inoculum potenUal, adequate soil moisture and temperatures aboye 27 C. symptom expression in the mature plant is not related directly to soil inoculum but is depenaent on the physiological predisposition of the host (Songa, 1995). Predisposition í5 tríggered by flowering afld subscQuent oosel of sene:scence, provlded this occurs at oigh temperatura (above 32•C). Moisture stress at flowenng seems to be an important predisposing critenon, at least ín sorghum (Edmunds, 1964). It is still uncertam whether this is due directly to the physiological eftects of moisture stress, or, beca use drought condltions lead to early senescence. In beans. plant mortality increased from 9;% under ideal soil moisture conditions to 64%' after 18 days of water defic¡t (Magalhaes el al., 1982).The exact nature ofthe aetiologica¡ link between seedling JnfectlOn and symptom express!on in the mature plant is not fully understood. The evidence from work with cowpea (Bourne, 1992) is that infection of the root and crown region may occur at any time during the life of the plant. The pathogen appears to invade the base of the stem, then remains dormant untll the plant becomes predisposed to infecrion after toe onse:t of flowering. Demooy and Burkeld {1990} reported that lesians on cowpea hypocotyl could ramain cormant tor up to 1 month befare becoming activated by drought or senescence,There is littla reported work on the aetiolo-gy of Macrophomina infection in beans, more has been published on the subject with respeet to other crops but some of the reports are contradictory. The apparent contradictions exist because of the faHur€ to distinguish between infecHon and symptom expression or te d¡stingufsh between seedling djsease and mature plant d¡sease~ Charcoal rot seventy in eottan (GhaHar and Erwln. 1969, Thakar, 1984) and in sorghum (Edmunds, 1964, Odvody andDunkle. 1979) tS tnversely correlated with soll mOlsture leve!s. However, Bruton et ar (1987) showed that ¡nfechon of cantaloup vines was favoured by wet conditions which led later to hi.gh levels of disease.The stage of development at which a plant is most Ilkely tú exhibít symptoms 01 Macrophomina tnfectlon varies to soma extent with hos! species. Legume crops tend to De more susceptible at the seedling stage than are the cereal crops. However, here again the distinction needs to be made between the optímum time far ¡nfecHon and the main penad of sympfOm development which are cften temporal1y separated, Norton (1958) consldered that the pathogen can invade sOíghum root5 at any stage, but no further development oeeurs untB the plant becomes drought stressed, The alternatlve v!ew ís that drought stress lS a prereGut51te for root penetratlon (Edmunds, 1964. Odvody andDunkle, 1979). Some have argued that root invasion only occurs at physlologleal matunty, even if dry condittons preva!! at an earlier stage 01 erop development. However, Cloud and Rupe (-:994) found that sorghum roots were invaded by the fungus well befare flowerLng, during a períod ot crop moisture s1ress, Ycung and Alcorn (1984) were also able to isolate Macrophomina trom 1~month-o¡d plants 01 Euphorbia lathyrys aUhough symptoms did not become evident until 7 months later. In soybean, plant maturity was found to be the only factor affeetlng sclerotial production whicn was independent of mOlsture stress and temperature. The main factor required tor severe disease was senescence whlch was enhanced by moísture stress. F!ower remova! has been shown to delay or orevent the appearance al charcoal rot symptoms (Wyllie and Calvert, 1969).Macrophomina has a pcor cornpetitive saprophytlc abllity and is very responslve to changes ¡n soll lungistas!s.Reductlon of bacterial populations has been correlated wlth increased sclerotial germination. while increased microbial activity can decrease sclerotial viability (Filho and Dhingra, 1980), Rhlzobium strains indigeneus te Pakistan were reported to ínhlbit growth of M. phaseofina in culture (Zaki and Ghaffar, 1987). Aspergillus flavus, a common soí¡~ inhabiting fungus. has besn reported to decrease ¡nfecHon by M. pnaseolina in peanu! kernels (Jackson. 1965).Nematodes may al50 have sorne potenhal to íncrease susceptibility to Macrophomina, either through íncreased root invasion or by enhancing the effects 01 water stress AI-Hazmi (1985) has demonSlraled increased rool rol of bean in the presence 01 root-knot nematoce íMeloidogyne incognfta). Ths fsaion nematode Pratylenchus zeas and M, phaseolina act synergisHcally ta reduce plant growth ¡n sorghum (Bee-Rodriguez and Ayala. 1977). Norlon (1958) reported similar results with P. hexincJSus. Root~knot nematodes cause serious yield losses of beans Jn sorne parts of Kenya (Ngundo and Taylor, 1974) and leslon nematode 15 more or less ubiQuitou$ in the country's malze-based cropplng systems and the common bean is a gQod alternative host for p, zeae (Jones and Hillocks, 1995). The rOle of the nematode complex 10 eastern Kenya ;n predisposing beaos to charcoal ro! (aquires further research~ 8, Control 8, 1 . Crop management systems that raduce Inoculum levels and conserve soil moisture are effective in reduc:ng :he incidenee of stalk roL Stalk rot incidef1ce in sorghum was decreased from 39% to 11 % In minimai tillage compared with conventional tillage (Doupnlk el al., 1975). Sow¡ng date can also be manipulated in sorne areas to ensure that the crop is less Ilkely to mature during periods of hlgh temperatura and unreliable rainfalL Intercroppmg has been reported as a method of reducmg charcoa! ~ot inc!dence. Disease Iflcidence in eotton was decreased :)y ¡ntercToPPlng Wlt~ Phaséo!us aconitifolia due tú tne son cover provlded and consequent lowering oí soll temperatura (Rajpurghlt. ~983).In Kenya however, beans are usually grown as an ultercrop {Njungunah et al .. 1981) with maize or sorghúm, both of which are good hosts for the pathogen. Sorghum grown as a mixed crop ras been reported to suffer !es$ damage trom charcoal rot than sole erap sorghum (Khune et at, 1980). Crop rotation may be useful in decreasmg dlsease mCldence If asusceptlble erap is grawn after a Ie-ss suscept!ble crop (e.9\" Frankie el aL. 1988), A contrasting view was expressed by Short el al., (1980) who found that viable sclerotta persist aver a 2-year fallow penad and thei( numbers ínerease rapidly when a susceotiDle host IS grown. They conclude that rotatlOn is unlikely to be effective as a control measure.There are few reports of fungícides being usad tú control charcoal rot on beans. However, there has been sorne mterest Ir. their use tar this purpose on soybean. In order of efflcacy, benomyL thiophanate methyL thiram, thiabendazo!e, tnforine and captan deereased viability of sclerotia in soil and in soyoean stem pieces (!Iyas et al\" 1976) Seedling infe::tlon was controlled best by Denomyl and thiabendazole (lIyas el alq 1975). The use of fungicide applled to the seed rnav be effective in decreastng losses to M. p(¡aseo{ma in crO:JS which are partlcular!y vulnerable at the seedllng stage In toe case ot ¡ute tor instance íChattopadhyay el al .. 198;\\. significant contro,1 al seedhng disease was obtamed wltb carbendazim and pentachloronitrobenzene íPCNB). Aoawl and Pastor-Corrales {1990b) state that seed trea:ment vvnh benomyl or éarboxm is eftectlve in controllmg charcoai \"ot 01 beans during the seediing stage. In India. carbendazlm was no! effective as a seed !reatment to control root rol on beans but PCNB and captan gave sorne control (Satischandra et al., 1979). Soil fumigation with methy! bromide decreased the number oi viable sclerotia and controlled infectlon 01 pino seediings (Watanabe el a'\", 1970). However. In the case of sorghum, where the e ¡seas e ís more prevalent atter flowerlng, PCN8 djd not control the dlseasc in {he f¡eld despite giving 87% inhlbitior. 01 fungel growth in vdro (Anahosur et al .. 1983) The eftect 01 organic .sorl amendments or pOf;ulatíon levels 01 M. phaseolina, depends On the carbon to n¡trogen ratio 01 the resldues, A decline in sol! popuiatlOn 01 the pathogen foilowed the applicat;o~ of resldues of vanous crops or of glucose~sod¡um nitrate. However. pOQ'Jlatlúns ¡ater increased in sail treated with wheat or com straw Out not in soil treated with glucose sodium nltrate ar wíth nitrogenenriched straw (Filho and Dhingra,19S0}. Treatment wfth Trichoderma harzianum oecreased dls~ ease incidenls by 37 % in beans grown in pots and decreased charcoal rot of maize in the fleld by 28'% (Elad et ar.,,Root rot 01 mung bean and other crops caused by Macrophomina was controlled after seed was dlppec In a suspenslon of Rhlzobium stralns (Zakl and Ghaffar, ~987) Similar results were reported lor soybean by CnakrabGrty and Purkayastna (1984) who concluded that the effect \\Nas due to the fungitoxie action 01 rhizobitoxlne.Soil solarization was found to decrease the populatlon ot viable sclerotia of M, pnaseoJina bLt many rernaíned viable due to the high temperature tolerance 01 the tungus (M¡hail and Aleorn, 1984).Resistane€ to Macropnomina has been identi11ed in some bean varieties such as •Negr¡to • (Oruogra and Sínclair, 1978). The beao improvement programme at CIAT (Centro Internacional de Agricultura Tropical} has developed metnods to screen for resistance to charcoal rot {Abawi and Pastor- Corrales. 1986). Using these methods a number of lines witn sorne resistance to the disease haya been fdenti1ied {Pastor-Corralesand AbawL 1988).10 sorne cases resistance is linked to drought toleranee {CIAT, 1983). Sean lines resistant to Macrophomina are avallable trom the CIAT germplasm collection and are IIsted by\" Abawi anó Pastor-Corrales (1990b). The fines A70 and A474 are particularly susceptible and are useó as susceptible standards In screening tests.Avila et ai. (1982) founo sorne correlation between resistance and seed coat colour and recammended the use 01 blackseeded types on heavily infestec soils. Abstraet Studies were conducted in eastcrn Kenya 10 determine lhe common legume crop and weed hosts of Afacrophol1lino phaseolino (Tassi) Goid .. the inciter of charcoal rol dlsease. The cfreet of maize. sorghurn. bean. and cO\\\\'pea 011 lhe soil inoculum leyel \\\\as also investigated after field inoculation. Al! the legume crop~ and \\veeds tested \\\\'ere found 10 be infected by the pathogen after artificial inoculation. C0111mon bean. soybean. cowpea \\\\ ere the 1110S1 susceptible while pigconpea. green gramo and hyaCl11lh bean wcre moderately susceptible. Groundnut. chickpea. Cas.\\ia spp. and C/'ow!al'ia spp. were least susceptible after artificial inoculation. Monocropp1l1g 01\" sor,ghullL maize. cowpea and C01111110n bean for three consecutive crop scasons increa~ed ;\\1. P/w.\\('o/úw soil 1Il0culu111 in a::.cending order. Alacropho111i1w phaSl 'o!inll. the eharooal rot di::.ease pathogen. has a wide host range exceeding 300 planl species illcluding legume and cereal erap plants (Reichert andHellinger. 1947: Ohingra andSinclair. 1977). In legumes. infection is evident from the seedling lo mature plant stage \\\\'hile in cereals infection is usually observed after onset of anthesis. At the seedling stage infection usually occurs during moist conditions and at te111peralures above 27 e (Hagedorn. 1991) while al lhe mature planl stage physiological predisposltion of the host precedes infection. Predisposition may be trig,gered hy droughl stress (Anonymous, 1985: Sehwartz. 1989). ftowering and subsequent onset of senescence. provided this occurs at high temperature (above 32 e). In beans.plant monality was found to increase from 9% under ideal soil moisture conditions to 64% after 18 days of waler deficil (Magalhaes el al .. 1982). Oisease evalualion in legumes can be easi!y done at both seedling and mature plant stages.The plurivorous nature of ll1. phaseolina enables this pathogen to survive on many alternative hosts in the absenee of crop hOS1S. Although this natore of lhe pathogen limits the effectiveness of sorne cultural management melhods sueh as crop rotalion, the manipulation of cropping systems to reduce the inoculum level in soils is stiJl promising (Singh el al., 1990: FrancI et al.. 1988). erop species vary in their reaction to M. phaseolina depending on their inherent resistance. The more susceptible crop speeies suceumb 10 lhe palhogen earlier and enable lhe pathogen lO mulliply on them and inerease lhe levels of inoculum in the soi!.Phosl'o/us bean is one of the favoured legume crops grown in the maize-based cropping systems of eastern Kenya. It is. however. highly susceptible to M. p/lUseolinCl. The objectives of this study were to compare the reaction of common bean and other alterna ti ve legume crops to M. phaseolina. The effecl of monocropping lwo legul1)e and two cereal crops for three seasons on soil inocuium levels of Macrophomilla phaseolina, and charcoal rot dlsease incidence in a subsequent bean erop was ,,150 inves~ tigated,Legume crup und irl!l!d hosls o/M. phaseolina \"ine Iegume CTOpS ¡¡nd níne !eguminous weeds common in charcoal rot disease 'hol SpOIS' were used In ¡he sludy, The legume eraps were: common bean (P!wseo/us L'u(qans L¡. cowpea (Vigila unquiclI/tlla (L) Walp). grecn ¡¡ram IViql10 radiaw (LJ Wilcz, Soybean (G/ni\"e lIIax (L) Merr.), chickpea (Cicer ariefÍnum L), hyaeinlh bcan (Dolic[¡os lab lah L). garden pea (Pisam salifa\", L Sens ampl,). pígeonpea ICajanas cajan (L) evlillsp.l \"od grouod nUI (Arachis hvpogea L), The germination of the weed seeds was not uniform and only three species whleh had good germination were eventually used in inoculatioo tests. Two of lhe se¡ected weeds were Crota/\"rf\" spp. and ooe was a Cassia spp. Of lhe two Crola/aria spp_ one \\Vas early tlowering and the other late.The ,!Ud, 01' legume erop and weed hosts 01' J/_ pilaseolinu \\Vas (arded out in a greenhouse maintained at ! 8-30 C. Fise secds 01' each legume erap aod weed were planted per po! in four replications. Inoculation was done using rice grains colonized by M. plwseolilla (Abawi and Pastor-Corrales, 1986: Songa, 1995) iso!ate WS !7 from common bean. A single planl was removed from eaeh 01' ¡he pOI' al 15, 30, aud 60 d\"y' after emergence for determination of the presenee 01' t he fungus in the rool, lower 'lcm alld upper stem. The procedure for isolation of the pathogeo was as follows: nine pieees were cut from eaeh ofthe plant parls ¡¡ud washed thoroughly in dislílled water, slerilized in 05% NaOCl for I min and then rinsed m distllled waler. The plan! tÍssue pieees were lhen dried on blottrng paper and plated on POA. Three tissue pieees from eaeh plam pan were plaled per Petri dish in lhree replicati011s_ Observations fOl growth of JL plwseolllla were made after mcuhation at 33 e for 6 days_ Eralualion uf/ere! oIM, phaseolina in mO!locropped 1'101\\\" by iso/afion /ron1 lite ¿mil The :C\"d of ,cleratia m the soil at the beginning oi' ¡he experíment was found to be on average 11.2 s(.•lerotw per g of soi!. Significant dífferences (P 0_05) were found betwee~ plOIS with diff.:rent crap treatment, in the level of sclerotia at each sampling (Fig. 1). There was 11 general tendency for the :'.clerotta le\\\"el to increa::.c JI1 the soil from harH;,sting lO the planting 01' the next crop. Cowpea ~md comman bean plots had signifieantly (P = 0_05) higher average number oi' sc\\erotia per g of ::;oil than 50rghum and falJow control plots after three seasons of monocropping (Table 2). The ,clerolia levels in the maize ánd sorghurn plats were not signifieantly !p = O.05} different   ' - 3,09•~eum w¡th toe same [CHef nol slgmncantly (p = í).Ú)) dltfcrent.but \\Vere significantly higher than in the control plots.There was no sigmficant (p (W5) difference in lhe number of scferotia isolated from different deplhs in lhe monocropped plors of the same erop spl3cies.El\"atufltioH oOerel (~f'rvL phaseolina in p/ots lising commolI bean Tile number ol' germinaled bean plant, in the different previously monocropped plots was nOl signíftcantly diíferent I P 0.05), The plots previously monocropped \\\\ jth commoll bean had significuntly (P = IlJ15) higher bean seedling infection than those monocropped wilh malle. sorghum and fallow (Table 3). There was no sigmlicant difference (p ~ 0,05) in the number of infected bean seedlings in plots previously monocropped with r.:ommon bean ami eowpea but there was a significant difference between these plots and (he lallow control plOlS, The number of infected plams at harvest did not significanllv (p ~ (W5) dilfer by monoeropping, The nwnber vf plants al harve,t was signíficantly IP = 0,05) lower in p!ots prcviously monocropped with eommon beall ;:han \\vith cowpeu. maize, sorghum and fallow. -, , ---HO!>ll' nf _ti\"\" I to carry out more studies on eomman weed species to determine those \"eed, that maj be susceptible and conlributing to ¡nnease leveh; or íno<.:ulum in the soil.Monocropping \\\\'lth commOn bean.c()\\vpea, maize and sorghum inCTea~ed charcoal rot diseasc incidence compared with fallo\\\\ plot,. The increase \"as more ir. the plots monocropp~d with common bean and cowpea. The number of infected seedlings. lhe llumber of mfecled planlS al harveSI and number of plan!s al harvesl appear lO be good paramelers for indicating lhe level ofinoculnm in the 5011. The significant negalive correialion between Ihe number ofmfecled seedlings and Ihe number of plants at harvest suggcSls that most infected seedlíngs do not survivc tú maturi(~, Comnwn bean and cowpe~-J. mature earJier than malze or sorghum. This probably permits early formation of sclerOli\" on tileso erap residues. Wyllié and Calven (l96q 1 showed flowéring aod pod formalian !O be the eondil1oning factor> for sclerotla formation. This may explain ¡he obsened tendenc)' of sclerolíal propagules to increast;: in the ':ioil after harvestíng, especialIy the susceptíbie Iegumes.It \\Vas interesting to observe that the plo!s Illonocropped witÍl legumes resulted in signlficanll)' (P = 0.05) more disease incidenee lhan those lJ1onocropped with cereals. This was unexpected since majze and sorghum have more dry maner and provide more organic substrate for the pathogen•s lJ1ultiplication. 11 could be tha! due to thelr late muturil\\• M. plla.leaNlla is not able to colonize the malze and sorghum erop debri, effectively due 10 the ver)\" dry condilions usualI) experienced at the end of the seasol1. 1n addiüon the hlgher organic maneI' content from the crop debri, in these pIOIS may encourage olher competitive micro-organisms like bacteria and actinomycetes which reduce colonÍzalion b~ Al. plwscolinll when soil mOlsture conditions improve fGhafTar el aL 1969: Dhingra el al .. 1976). Inoculum level5 were increa sed by common bean. cowpea. maize and sorghum in lhat order. Francl el al. (1988) also reponed thal soybean-sorghum rotalions were slightly better than soybean-com rotations in jowering;\\4. phaseolil1G in the soil.These results suggest that crop rotation among hosts of M. plzaseolina ma\\' s¡ill be a good charcoal rol managemenl option. Work on longer elfeCIS of crop species and popu~aüon dynamics of the associated micro-organisms in the sollls required. 50\",4,. Seeds from plants with no disease symptoms were 2.5°j\" Infectad while seeds from severely lniected piants had UP to 13.5% mfectlon. Survivat of too pathogen In crop rasIDua was investigated 10 fie!d so!! in eastern Kenya. Up to 3tY?ó ot sclerotla were found 10 be vIable atter 21 mon1hs in ñeJd $oil. SoU molswr€ and temperatura did not influence survlval up 10 a depth of 20 cm.The mes1 serious disease of common bean (Phaseolus vulgans L) in semi-arid easlem Kenya is charcosl ro! (Songa and Hillocks. 1996a,b) caused by Macrophomina phaseolína (Tassi) Goid. Yield loss lo charcoal rot has besn estlmateo to be up lo 300 kglha (Wortmann and Allen, 1994). The incidence of charcoal rot disease has increased in recent years because of increasing cultivation 01 marginal land due to population pressure (Songa and Hillocks, 1995b). Ssedlíng mortality of 10-14% ís common in experimental plots and farrners' fields (Songa and Rano. 1995). M. phaseolina is a soll•lnhabillng fuogus that grows poorly in soil and survives as sclerotia which provida Ihe inrtial inoculum (Smith, 1969;Walanabe et al., 1970).This pathogan 1$ also seedbome (Andrus, 1938: Gangopadhyay el aJ., 1970;Abawi and Paslor•Corrales. 1990). Sinee the level of sead Inlection depends on severity 01 plant Infeelion, selecllon of seed from symptomless plants ís expeclad to reduce the initlal imaclían. Infected seeds are distortad. blemíshed and carry sclerotia and pycnidia of the pathogen. Five percent reduction in seed weígh1 and as much as 600/(, reduction in emergence fmm diseased ssed has been reported in susceptible varietles (Gangopadhyay el al .• 1970). Andrus (1938) found natural seed transmisslon of M. phaseolina In Hendersoo Lima bean sead to be approximately 85% in unsteritized seed and 57% in surlace~ sterilized seed, indícating that the fungus is found not only on the surtaee but also beneath lhe ssed coal. Gangopedhyay el al. Severe infechon early in the season results in more seed infection due to high inoculum levels on Ihe planl and soi!.Conditions favouring ear1y ¡ntectton, such as warm temperaturas or low soil moisture, will encourage systemic seed infection, whereas moiS! condítlons towards the and of the growing season would be expected to encourage pod infectlon. This natural seed infection may account ter ssrious outbreaks of the dfsease occasionally observad in farmers' fields, The majonty of smallscale farmers who produce common bean use their own seed from the previous crop tor cuUivation in the next season (Rono and Shakoor. 1990). The use 01 clean dlsease-free seed would reduce the ¡n¡tital inoculum and lower the severity ot me dlsease. In arder. theretore, to develop effectíve control measures tor charcoal rot di5ease basad on cultural control practicas, it is essential to delerrmne the role 01 seed and erop debris in the survival of (he pathogen. In fulfilment of 1his requirement, this study haO the lollowlng oblecllves:1, To determine the extent 01 common bean seed inlec!Ion in relalion to seventy 01 plant inlection,To determine the extent 01 intemal inlactlon and surlaea ¡nlestation 01 saed.3. To determine the ellect of storage on viabilíty 01 sclerotia. 4 To Cletermone the survival 01 M phaseolína sclerotia in bean residue al vanous depths.Common bean genotype GlP 1004 was planted in a ehareoa! rot 'hot spaf at Kiboko ;n eastem Kenya. The trial was malntalned following recommended production practices including :ertiiizer application, ¡nsed control and weeding, A1 r.arvest the plants were harvested In ¡hree categolies depend~ ing on the :evej of infectioo. The categol1es were:(1) plants with no ashy stem symptoms.(2) plants wíth ashy stem symptoms but pods w,thout symtoms, and(3) plant. with ashy stem symptoms and pods bearing M phaseolina scleratia.Seeds lrom each category o! planls were tested for lhe presence ot the pathogen wíthout surface sterílization and after surlace stetilizaúon as ctescribed below. T o test the effect ot stOf\"dge on the pathogen. enough seed was reserved and keot in Kilner jars at room temperatura and the expeliment was repeated 6 months later.Fifty unstenlized seeds rrom each category were placad on múlst filter paper placad on plastlc trays previously cleaned and wipad with alcohol and enverad. Them were tour replícations in a campietely randomized design. The trays were incubated al 33 e with a 12 h dL. 12 h D lighl reg,me. The trays were maintained moist by adding distllUed waler when they became dr)'. Obs€lVation lar the presence of M. phaseolina was done using a binocular microscope from 3 to 7 days after jncubation at 33 C. The number of seeds that produced colonies of M. phaseolina on the seed coat, characterízed by numerous black sClerotia, were notad, Seeds wlth other fungal growth W9m lransferred 10 PDA for identificatioft The expeliment was repea1ed once.The procedure trere was as descnbed above tar unsleri!ized seed and the only difference was that the seed was surface sten!lzed by Irnmefslng 111 1% NaOel (10°.-;, dilutíon of commer~ c,ally available solution diluted with distilled water) lor 5 -B min and thoroughly rinsad in distilled water (Mihail and Alcom, 1982). Ona percenl NaOCI kills M. phaseolina \",ycelia lhat may be on lhe seeds and reduces sign<!icanlly lhe viability 01 .elerolia (Papavizas and Klag. 1975).An experiment to determine the longevity 01 M. phaseolina In bean debris was conducted at Kiboko research station in eastern Kenya where charcoal rot dlseasa iS prevalent. The soll 15 a wel! drained sandy clay loam overlaying a sandy elay (tabla 1). About SOO 9 01 bean debris (root and stem segments measunng 6~8 cm), heavdy intested with sclerotia of M. phaseofina were placed in nylon net bags and bulied in the soil al lour depths (0-5. 5-10. 10-15. 15-20 cm). There were eighl samples butied lor each deplh in three replícations. A tabelled wire peg was insertad at each point where a sample was burlad ta facilitate retrievaL The experimental design was a randomized complete block. The lield plo! was kept lallow and W8S mamtalned to keep the labanad wire pegs Visible. Sojl moistU(9 ánd temperature measurements were taken as descrlbed below. The experiment commenced in ADnl 1993 and ended in December 1994, covenng a :olal penod 01 21 monH,;s.The sclerotia vlabillty at the begll\"lnrng of the experiment was determined by plating 100 sclerotra from infectad erop debrís on selectiva medium PDA•DOPCNP (basal medium comaming p-(dimethy!amino) benzenediazo sodjum sulpho~ nate [DASS, Dexonj, oxga!L and pentachloronitrobenzene [PCNBí al SO. 2.000 and 100 mgíl respectvely) (Papavlzas and Kiag, 1975). The debris retrieved from the soil was air dned and ground using a caffee grindec The debris was transferred to 177 !Im and 44 ,Hrn Sleves ;f'¡ tandem and wet sH?ved using dis;iI!ed water. The ccntents of the 44 ¡1m slsve were transferred to a beaker contaíning 0.5°•;:. NaOe! for 5-8 mln and the contents oi the 177 um sieve were discarded.The contents of the beaker were transferred back to the 44 um Sleve and rinsed thorough!y with distllled water, The coments of the $ieve con1aining sclerotla were carefully tansferred 10 a mter funnel fittad w,!h f'lter ::lape! uSlng a wash bottle Wlth distilled water. The scle:olla on the filter papG( were picked out using a stenlized pm under a binocular microscope and plated 071 the selectiva medium, Observa110ns for M. phaseo¡ina COIOnles were made afier 6 days' incubation at 32 e, Percentage gem:lnatlon was taken  , 1981), The fungus can cause disease in seedlings and mature legume plants and it is responsible for stalk and root rols in cereal crops, In hot areas prone to moisture stress the fungus causes economic losses (Dhingra and Chagas,198/), Increasing population pressure has led to the cultivatíon of food erops in the castern parts of Kenya previously regarded as unsuitable for erop production due to the unreliable rainfall (Gitu and Ngalyukia, 1989;Songa and Ronno, 1995;Songa and Hilloeks, 1996). These arcas experience severe chal'coal rot incidence and sustainable management of M, phaseolintt is vital ífbean production is to inerease in the regíon, An integrated approach to the management of diseases and other pests is tPreSf'nt addres¡;: Kenya Agrkuhural Res:earch Institute, Nacional Dryland Fanning Research Centre, Katumani, PO:&x 340, Machakos:, Kenya. preferred because it relies on several methods for control. Host plant resistanee, where available, usually assumes a central position in the integrated disease management approaeh. This is because it is easily adopted, requires few inputs and is therefore economically advantageous. Common bean is reported 10 have resistance 10 ivl. phasealina (Pastor-Coralles and Abawi, 1988;Echavez-Bedel and Beaver, 1986;1987). Pastor-Corrales andAbawi (1988) developed an international charcoal rot bean nursery of 40 accessions based on greenhouse and field data. However, resistan ce to disease may vary depending on the environment and the cultivar (Beebe and Pastor-Corrales, 1991). For this re aso n it is important for each country to screen germplasm and develop resistant varieties which are adapted to the environmental and climatic conditions that prevail within a given country. Screening for resistance to M. phasealina was done at charcaal rot 'hot spots' at Kiboko and Katumani in eastern Kenya (Songa et al., 1992;Songa and Hillocks, 1996). In addition, early maturing (drought escaping) genotypes were compared with late maturing genotypes for resistance to M. phasealina under field conditions. The objectives of the work in this paper were therefore: l. To screen common bean germplasm for resistance to M. phasealina. 2. To develop a common bean charcoal rot nursery for use in bean improvement programmes in the semi-arid areas of eastern Kenya and other areas of eastern Africa. 3. To test the hypothesis that a drought escape mechanism may confer resistance to M. phasealina.Screening common bean germplasm for resistance to M. phasealina was conducted at KARI centres, Kiboko (960 m asl) and Katumani (1575 m asl) in eastern Kenya. The inoculum used for field inoculation consisted of a mixture of isolates of M. phasealina from eastern Kenya. It was prepared as follows: whole grain rice seeds in beakers covered with aluminium foil were sterilized by autoclaving with water in a one-lO-one ratio (1 g rice seeds to 1 mI water) at 121°C for 15 minutes and then caoled. A 0.8-cm disc, cut from a seven-day-old culture of M. phasealina on patato dextrose agar (PDA) was transferred into each beaker containing rice seeds and incubated at 30-32 oC for 15 days. The fungus colonized the rice seeds within 14 days. The colonized rice seeds were used for inoeulation al planting by placing three rice seeds per bean seed before covering with soil. This rate ofinoeulation was found suitable in preliminary experiments in this study (Songa, 1995).A IOtal of 313 cammon bean accessions eonsisting of local, improved and introduced germplasm were evaluated for their reaction to M. phasealina. They were evaluated in batches over three seasons. Eighty, 101 and 162 accessions were evaluated during lhe long rains, March-July 1993, the short rains, October 1993 toJanuary 1994, and lhe long rains, ~arch-July 1994, respectively. Orthe 313 accessiom evaluated ínitially, 30 accessions were evaluated a second time. The susceptible líne A 464 from CIAT was used as a control in each 01' the evaluatíon trials. Each accession was planted in two rows, each 2 m in length per replication.Each row was planted with 30 seeds. One of the twa rows for each accession was inoculated and the other was left as a control. Inoculation was with AJ. phaseolinacolonized rice seeds as described eadier. The experimental design waS a randomized complete block with three replicatíans. The parameters measured were plan¡ stand count al 14 days aner emergence, number of infected seedlings, number ofinfected plant' at harvest, total number of plants al harvest, grain yíeld (kg ha -)) and percentage charcoal rot incidence. The accessions that performed at least three times better than lhe susceptible control, A 464, with respect lo the number of infected plants at harveSl, yield and good agronomic characteristics, were selected la constitutr lhe charcoal rol nursery. Lines with good adaptabilíty but marginal performance in the aboye mentioned parameters were re-evaluated.Reactions of early-and late-maturing accessions lo !v!. pha.reolína were compared 10 determine if time to maturity influenced resistanee to the pathogen. Field experiments were eonducted at lhe KARI centres, Kiboko and Katumani. Ten early-and ten late-rnaturing aecessions were used in the sludy and the early-and late-maturing lines reached 50% flowering between 25--37 and 38-45 days after emergence respectively. Each aceession was planted in two rows (30 seeds per row) of which one was inoculated using rice seed colonized by the pathogen and the other left as !he control. The early and late maturing accessions were planted alternately in a randomized complete block design in three replicatíons. The susceptible line A 464, which is early maturing, was included as a control. The parameters measured were number of emerged plants, disease incidence at 14 days after emergence, number oC days to 50% flowering, disease incidence and number of plants at harvest. Due to the difference in malurity lhe parameters taken at harvest had a time difference of ten days.The 313 accessions evaluated varied in their rcactions tú M. phaseolina at both !he Kiboko and the Katumani screening sites. The disease incidence was usually higher at Kihoko than at Katumaní (Table 1). Significant differences in emergence count, number of infected plants at harvest, stand eount al harvest and seed yield were abserved between accessians (Table I and :1;. Charcoal rot incidence ('lo) and seed yield (kg ha -!) were lhe most indicative of the overall response af common bean accessioIlS lo !v!. phaseolina (Table 2) Sorne accessions, for example V 8025 and BAT 1651, appeared susceptible at lhe end of the season, but the seed yield was still satisfactory. No significant differenee in charcoal rot  inódence withín accessíons was observed between inoculated and uninoculated plols. The susceptible control, A 464, was also useful as an indicator of !he uniformity ofinoculum in the field. Based on ¡he field data collected, a nursery of 54 accessions (Table 2) is now lo be lested against infeclÍon by M. phaseolína in difrerent bean growing areas of eastern Kenya.Early maturing accessions had sígníficantly more seedling ínfeclion and more ínfected plams al harvesl Ihan the late maturing accessions. The numher of seedlings ¡ha¡ emerged and the number of plants al harvest were no! sígnificantly difrerem for ¡he two maturily groups (Table 3.). The early maturing accessions were observed lo have more ínfectíoll and wíltíng than the late maturing accessíons al both Ihe seedling and post-flowering slages at Kiboko (Table 3 43316, 43335 and GLP 1130 were found to be relatively more susceptible íTable 4_;. The average numbers of days to 50% flowering in the early-and latemaluring accessions were 33.3 and 4.0.1 respectively at Kiboko and the average ternperatures at the time of flowering \\Vcrc 25.5 oC and 23.5 oC for the early-and late-maturing accessions respectively (Fig. 1). No significant difference was observed between inoculated and uninoculated rows for any of lhe parameters measured.Several bean accessions were found to be resistant to Al, pilaseatina and the field evaluation procedure was effective in separatíng bean accessions into two general groups according to their reacdons, oamely, promising material for further evaluation and highly susceptible accessiollS. The absence of significant differences between the inoculated and uninoculated plots indicated adequate levels of inoculurn in the plots which had been used to grow beans for several seasons. This was confirmed by the susceptible control, A 464. The reactions of susceptible cultivars wcre evident soon afler germination, Emerged seedlings of these accessions showed ¡he typical dark sunken lesions on the cotyledons caused by M. phaseotilla infection. The lesions often expanded and killed the seedlings wilhin 14 days. High levels of seedling infection usual!y resulted in lower stand counts al harvest (Table 3). These observations agreed with Gangopadhyay el al. (1970) who reported severe damping-off of soyabean seedlin¡,'S with plant losses up to 77 %. M ost of the accessions with good resistanee had low levels of seedling infection and smal! numbers of plants infected at harvest. However, sorne accessions, such as EAT 165 J, V 8025 and BA T 1669, had about 50% or more of lhe emerged plants infecled al harvest but stiU had satisfactory seed yield (Table 2). In these acce5sions the fungus was evident only on ¡he plant 5tems in advanced senescence and the lines were still selected for possible high toleranee to the pathogen, Late infections were more obvions after flowering during periods of high temperature and rnoisture stress especíally at Kiboko, This observation supported the severe infectíons of charcoal rot reponed ar high temperatures during períods of moislUre stress (CIAT, 1983;Dhíngra and Sinclaír, 1977).Infected plants were chlorotíc and less vígorous in growth. It was encouragíng to find thar sorne of the ímproved accessions for semí-arid arcas, such as GLP 1206, GLP 1092, GLP 914, E 10, :;¡ 36, N 1 I and :;¡ 43, performed well. Thís was partícularly so [or accessíons from the Uníversity ofNairobi bean programme that had also been found resistant to several foliar diseases (A, \\V. Mwang'ombe, Universíty ofNairobi, personal communication).With a few exceptions lhe early-rnaturing lines were significantly more infected at both lhe seedling stage and at harvest (Table 3). Early-maturing GLP 967 and lale-maturing GLP 41 appeared lo be susceptible at the seedlíng stage but were re,islam at lhe mature plam stage. Both had 6.0-6,6 seedlíngs infected but only 1.8   Iines, 43316 and K23¡45A had a high incidence of seedling infectíon and also large numbers of infected plants at harvest. Sinee drought-to1erant accessíons may be late maturing, these observations did not lend much support to lhe view ofPastor-Corrales and Abawi (1988) who found that drought-tolerant cultivars were also highly resístant to lvf. pkasealina.The reactions of the early-and late-maturíng accessions tú 1'11, phaseatina at Katumani were generally similar to those observed al Kíboko bul much less bevere (Tahle 4), Sorne aecessions fOf example GLP 65,43316, GLP 1130,43335, and 43309 had almos! egual numbers of infected plants at harvest at both sites. These accessíons were al! oflate maturíty and were the most susceptihle at Katumani, lt appeared therefore, that early maturing accessions escaped ¡nfectíon al Kalumani due to less favourable cOllditions Jor the pathogen early in the scason, A! Katumani Iloweríng occurred between one and e¡gh! days later than at Kiboko dependíng 011 the accession. Delayed Ilowering al Katumani was particularly obviaus for Ihe accessíolls GLP 768, GLP 1130, K23¡45A, N 13 and 43309 which look 43.2, 43.0, 43.2, 43.0 and 44.8, and 39.6, 40.1,40.5, 38.5 and 36.8 from emergence to flowering at Katumani and Kiboko respectively (Table 4). These observations were expected sinee Katumani is higher in altitude (1575 m asl) and the mean temperature is lower lhan al Kiboko (960 m asl). The lower temperalures al Katumani may have been responsible for lhe lower incidence and seventy of lhe disease al this site. Sderotia ¡ormation has been linked mainly with flowering (Wyllie and Calven, 1969). The early-flowering accessions would probably be earlier in displaying susceptibilily and at a time when the temperature was still relatively high and more conducÍve to the pathogen. The general trend for temperature was to decrease gradually [rom the beginning to the end of the scasan before increasing again al the beginning of the next scason as índícated in Fig. 1.as an index oí viabílity. During subsequent samplings. a mmimum 01 30 sclerotia from each sample refrieved every 3 months were pletOO on Ihe selecliva medium and observed tor germination,A single aluminium access tube with an internal diameter of 50 mm was installed In the middle of each plot repllcate to a depth of 40 cm al Ihe lime lile infected crop debris was buried. Using a soil moisture neutron probe (Didcot Instruments, Abingdon, UK) readings were taken al 0-5, 5-10. 10-15 and 15-20 cm twlce a monlh during the fírsl and lasl week 01 each month tm the duration of the experiment. The following ealibration equation was obtained from fjeld measurements at 10 cm depth:where O is the percentage volumetric mositure content and {:i is the neutron proba eount expressed as a fracUon of the eount in waler ( Sell. 1976). SIX and eight soll samples were used lo determine bulk density anrl gravimetric soil water contenl respect\\ve\\y. The volumetric water content was then calculated from average bulk density and gravimetric water content.Soil temperatura was measured at the tour depths at which the infested crop debris were bunad in the plots. The measurements were taken daily at 3~h ¡n'ervals trom 06.00 h lo 18.00 h using portable soil thermometers (EL504-024) rn rugged brass cases wtth stems graduated al 5. 10. 15, 20. 30 cm to enable measurement at various depths. The temperature was not laken in aaeh replicate bu! randomly wrthin the plOIANOVA was used to compare the seed Infection and jnfestatlon 01 surface sterilized and unsterilized see<:!. The Least Significanl Dmerence (LSDj test was usad to separate group means where ANOVA indiealed significanl differance (P=O.05). ANOVA was also usad to compare sclerotial survwal at different depths in the soll.Seeds Ihat produced colonias oí M. phaseolína were soon eoverOO willl blaek sclerolia and were easily rdentiliOO. ANOVA showed signiffcant dlffarence F: 38.21; dt:2.36: P:0.05) in seed ínfection and infestation batween surtace steriljzed and unsteri/ized seed o, the thrae categories of seed. LSD test for mean. <¡Qm¡la(¡SQ(\\ showOO no signifIcan! difference (P= 0.05) between surtace sterilized and unsterílized seed ot category one, in the number of seeds that produced M phaseo/ina at harvest and 6 monttls later (table 2). However, there was a significan! difference (P=0.05) between slenlized and unster• ¡¡izad seed of category two and three fn the number of seeds infected wi!h M. pIlaseolina at ha\"'as!. Category three had a signifieantly higher number of seeds infectad comparad wnh categories one and two for unsterilizs,. seed (table 2), Afier 6 monlhs 01 storage there was no signlflcant diffarence (P = O .05) be1ween category two and three in the number of seeds infected wlth the pathogen and for the unsterifized seed, this was signfficantly (P= 0.05) lower than at harvest. 80th categories two and Ihree seed hád signihcanlly higher inlected seed Ihan calegory one. 6 monlhs after ha \",es!. Olher lungi found lo be assoclated with the infected and Infestad bean seeds were Aspergi/lus niger van Tiegh.   ,,.  . 1938;Abawi andPastor•Corrales. 1986. 1990). However. previous authors did not consider the etfect of s'orage on the viability 01 the pathogen. Abawi and Pastor•Corrales (1986)    other fungi isolated from the bean seed and have oeen reported to reduce M. phaseoiina rnfection 111 pe-anut kernels (Jackson, 1965). This phenomenon needs further investigation and suggests the potenrial use 01 biocontrol agents in seed treatments.At the beglnning of 1he experiment 96<Vo (n= 1 DO) sc\\erotia taken from infected crop debns and plated on the selectlve medlum PDA•DOPCNB germina1ed. Survíval of sclerotia there~ after declined wlth time) as shQwn In figure 1, The depth at wh!ch the sclerotia were bUrled dld not slgnificantly (P;;;;; 0.05) influence survival (jable 3). Soíl tamperature decreased with Ciépth. as shown in figure Th€ results in thís study mdlcate that up to 30C:•'Ó of M, phaseoJina sc!erotia ín bean crop debris were stlll viable aíter 21 months in the soi!. Théy suggest that crop rotations w!th non• hosts or lallow periodo 01 less than 2 years are unlikely to be effective in reducmg charcoa! rot drsease in ínfested fíelds, Our studyalso indlcates tt1a~ sclerotial survival was not influenced by soU moisture, sol! temperature or depm of bunal in 1he present study.The average soi! temperatura during the day was lowest at 29°C al Ihe 15-20 cm deplh and h.goes! at 3S•C a! 0-5 cm deplh (figura 3). These .emperaturas are wíthin the optimal range lor good growlh 01 M. phaseolina ISmith, 1969;Dhingra and Sinclair, 1975) and this could explain jn part the absence of significan1 difference in the survival Of sclerotia with depth.Soil moisture was 6% and 20%, VWC a1 the 0-5 and 15-20cm depths respectively. Satischandra el al, 11979) observed that saprophytic activity was hlghes1 1m M. phaseolina at 2oo/Q MHC and was reduced tour times at 80% MHC. The diflerence in moislure con!ent at Ihe deoths lnvestigated was probably not large enough to inf!uence SClerolia survívaL This pathogen does not survive tor long under anaerobic conditions (Satischandra et al., 1979) and too moislUre effects would be more obvious in pooriy dralned soils. Tne soil lex!ure 01 the s!udy fteld (table 1) ¡ndlcales Ihal ¡t is welr drained and anaerobrc conditions would not easily oceur even after very héavy erratlc rajns that are typical of this region. Too Insignificance (P\"\",O.05) of depth on survlva! (table 3) suggests Iha! deep ploughing \",tended lo bury crop debris would n01 control charcoa! rot dlsease Removal and burning mfestad crop debris wouid be a more useful cultural contrOl practice."}

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+{"metadata":{"gardian_id":"9cf5d3c40d295ea671f22615e9a076b0","source":"gardian_index","url":"https://cgspace.cgiar.org/rest/bitstreams/24bd0ed3-40db-49b7-8652-a91e34889008/retrieve","id":"792087366"},"keywords":[],"sieverID":"b607c52b-918f-458e-af7f-3edebd702ecb","content":"This paper presents results of a workshop on partnerships in agricultural research for development (AR4D) organized by the Institutional Learning and Change (ILAC) Initiative of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR). The workshop brought together members of the ILAC Learning Laboratory to discuss a wide range of issues related to partnership, including how and why partnership is important for their work, the types of partner they engage with, the various roles played by partners in achieving common objectives, and the types of relationships developed over time. They also discussed obstacles and issues that need attention to enable more effective partnering. Drawing upon these discussions, the workshop participants produced this paper, which summarizes their experiences and draws out common themes and lessons. It presents an overview of the role of partnership in AR4D and summarizes experiences with partnership in the Learning Laboratory, including success factors and areas requiring further attention. Beyond documenting the experiences of the Learning Laboratory members, the paper aims to stimulate dialogue about the use of partnership and improvements needed in the way organizations participate in and manage partnerships in AR4D.In September 2009, several collaborative agricultural research for development (AR4D) programmes came together under the umbrella of the ILAC Learning Laboratory to explore their experiences with organizing and managing partnerships. Partnerships are fundamentally important to collaborative research and are of increasing importance to the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR). In fact, partnership management has emerged as a critical issue in the ongoing reform process in the CGIAR.In the context of AR4D, a partnership is a collaborative relationship with mutually agreed objectives and the exchange or sharing of resources or knowledge for generating research outputs or fostering innovation. These partnerships include networks, alliances, consortia and similar forms of multiorganizational collaboration. The Learning Laboratory meeting included working sessions and plenary discussions where the participants addressed such topics as:• experiences in partnership management • the added value of partnering and the costs in terms of time and effort • learning objectives of partnerships • key lessons learnt • the most critical ways of addressing themThe experiences were synthesized into major success factors for AR4D partnerships.After the workshop, a small writing team organized the information produced during the workshop, and added information on the participating programmes (e.g., their aims, organizational features, membership, and evolution since establishment). Examples from the programmes were included to illustrate the main points made in the paper. This paper is therefore the result of the Learning Laboratory workshop and its follow up, building directly on the experiences of Learning Laboratory members.On behalf of the ILAC Initiative, I would like to thank the programme representatives, who enthusiastically participated in the workshop and the later development of the paper, the staff of Pico Team Southern Africa, who facilitated the meeting and documented its results, and Kay Sayce, who edited the paper.We hope that readers will find this summary of experiences with partnership in a range of contexts useful for informing their own work and that it will stimulate further discussions about the organization and management of partnerships in AR4D. The ultimate aim of the paper is to contribute to improving the role of partnerships in making agricultural research more relevant, effective and user oriented. Jamie L. Watts, ILAC Co-ordinator 1. IntroductionOrganizations throughout the world are working in partnership to address complex social, economic, and environmental problems. Partnership arrangements (co-operative relationships between people or groups who share responsibility for achieving common goals) include such entities as networks, alliances, consortia and partnership programs (Horton et al., 2009). Partnership has become central to the modus operandi of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) and other organizations concerned with international agricultural research for development (AR4D) -research carried out by international, regional and national organizations that aim to produce development results in the medium term (in 5-10 years).In the 1970s and 1980s, research networks were commonly used to test potential new crop varieties, implement regional programmes and strengthen research capacity. Since then, declining donor support and local funding for national agricultural research institutes (NARIs), increasing recognition of the importance of market forces in driving technological change and the emergence of innovation systems approaches have all stimulated the development of partnerships to promote agricultural innovation, reduce poverty and achieve other development goals. Partnerships frequently emerge when organizations are faced with complex socio-economic and environmental problems and realize they lack the capacity to address them on their own. The R&D partnerships that have been used for many years to generate and test agricultural technology have generally engaged agricultural researchers from different disciplines or organizations, to the exclusion of other potential actors in innovation systems. In contrast, AR4D partnerships that address broad social, economic or environmental problems typically involve a much more diverse set of actors, which might include not only researchers but also policy-makers, extension agents, market agents and representatives of universities, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), farmer organizations, community-based organizations and other civil society organizations (CSOs).In the context of AR4D, some partnerships aim to produce high-quality research outputs; others focus on 'downstream' objectives, seeking to improve a situation (e.g., reducing poverty) or to change behaviour (e.g., encouraging the uptake of new farming practices). Many partnerships span the continuum from research to the application of new knowledge and sharing lessons from experience. The specific objectives of a partnership might include:• increasing knowledge of under-used or threatened plant or livestock genetic resources, and identifying opportunities for their use to improve the livelihoods of the poor • enhancing opportunities for the exploitation of high-value agricultural and forest products by the poor • developing options for the sustainable management of water, land and forest resources upon which the poor depend • improving policies and facilitating institutional innovation to increase support to the poor Partnerships in AR4D tend to emphasize collective knowledge generation and the adaptation of new information or technology by users to site-specific situations. Because of imbalances among partners in terms of their access to resources, information and power, AR4D partnerships also commonly emphasize capacity building and empowerment in order to establish the conditions and relationships for effective collective action.Although partnerships are central to AR4D, few organizations working in this field have taken stock of their experiences with partnerships or have thoroughly reviewed the knowledge about partnerships that has accumulated in other fields. Additionally, few agricultural research organizations have developed and implemented formal partnership strategies, policies or guidelines that embody lessons from experience, promote consistency and coherence across their partnership work, and enhance the impact of research on development.This paper aims to provide professionals who are engaged in, or support, AR4D with actionable information on the organization and management of partnerships in international AR4D. It summarizes the partnership experiences of the managers of six AR4D programmes. We developed the paper based on a meeting of the ILAC Learning Laboratory held in Nairobi, Kenya in September 2009.The ILAC Initiative aims to strengthen the capacity of collaborative research programmes to facilitate propoor agricultural innovation. Central to ILAC's strategy is a Learning Laboratory in which professionals from collaborative AR4D programmes come together to share knowledge and experiences, experiment with new approaches for facilitating pro-poor innovation, and evaluate the results. The current Learning Laboratory programmes are:• African Highlands Initiative (AHI), in Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda (www.cgiar-ilac.org/content/african-highlands-initiative-ahi) The paper has five main sections. After this introductory section, which provides background information, Section 2 discusses what partnerships are and why individuals and organizations engage in them. It also identifies various dimensions of partnerships and four broad types of partnerships in international AR4D.Section 3 describes the Learning Laboratory programmes in more detail, including the context, history, objectives and organization of their partnerships. Section 4 presents the main lessons for organizing and managing partnerships, illustrated with practical examples from the programmes. Section 5 presents ways forward for the programmes and for ILAC that address unanswered questions and concerns.The Annexes include a list of the authors of this paper (the participants in the 2009 Learning Laboratory workshop), useful websites and references (including those cited in the paper), and summaries of each of the six Learning Laboratory programmes.Partnership has been defined in many ways in different contexts. In the business world, a partnership refers to a type of business entity in which partners (generally individual owners) share in the profits or losses of a business. In AR4D, however, when people refer to a partnership, they are usually thinking of a collaborative relationship involving people from two or more organizations pursuing common objectives.In the context of the ILAC Learning Laboratory, we define partnership as a collaborative relationship among individuals, groups or organizations who pursue mutually agreed objectives and exchange or share resources or knowledge for the purpose of generating research outputs (i.e., new knowledge or technology) or fostering innovation (i.e., the application of new ideas or technology for practical ends).This definition is broad enough to cover many types of informal and formal arrangements that seek to promote the generation of knowledge and its practical application in AR4D, ranging from loose knowledge-sharing to more integrated collaborative arrangements. It includes public-private partnerships and those that involve individuals and organizations from only one sector (e.g., researchers in the public sector), but it excludes teamwork that does not cross organizational boundaries, as well as contract work or outsourcing where there is a strictly commercial exchange of resources, rather than a sharing of resources and knowledge.The central feature of a partnership is the sharing of resources, benefits and risks. Typically, it is also characterized by a tendency or aspiration to develop enduring inter-personal or inter-organizational relationships. Another common feature of partnerships is that they tend to change and evolve over time. In some cases they begin as arrangements hosted and managed centrally and evolve into more horizontal arrangements with broader decision-making and mutual accountability. In other cases, they begin as the 'grassroots' initiatives of researchers or development professionals and then evolve into more formalized arrangements. Examples of both of these patterns of evolution are found among the ILAC Learning Laboratory programmes.Partnerships inevitably involve costs associated with communication, negotiation, participatory decisionmaking and collective action. In view of these costs, which are seldom inconsequential, one must ask: 'Why partner'? Three reasons are commonly identified in the literature on partnership. One reason is to gain access to resources (including knowledge) that are not available within a single organization. A second reason is to improve knowledge management across the boundaries separating organizations that share similar long-term goals (e.g., sustainable poverty reduction) but traditionally work in isolation. 2 A third reason is to build the capacity to influence policies or economic activity by participating in social networks. The experience of the Learning Laboratory programmes suggests that there is a fourth reason, which is to create a safe and nurturing space for learning and innovation that is not present within one's own organization.Relationships that fall under the broad umbrella of partnership vary in many ways, such as:• degree of formality of the relationship In the ILAC Learning Laboratory, we have found it useful to think in terms of four broad types of partnership in AR4D, categorized according to their overall objectives:• Research partnerships aim to produce research outputs in the form of public goods. The members of the partnership are usually researchers in either public or private organizations. The degree of formality ranges from highly informal, in the case of professional communities, to highly formal, where the participating organizations sign letters of understanding that detail issues of budget and intellectual property rights. • Partnerships for capacity development and knowledge sharing aim to develop the capacity of partners to share and use new knowledge, rather than produce new knowledge per se. Such partnerships typically involve partners with distinct but complementary knowledge bases (e.g., 'learning alliances', as described by Lundy et al., 2005) or those with different levels of capacity (e.g., North-South partnerships). • Partnerships for market-or value-chain development aim to strengthen market chains or their support systems (e.g., local governing councils or regulation bodies) in ways that benefit poor producers, traders or consumers. Such partnerships tend to involve diverse members, all of whom have a stake in the development of the market or value chain in question. Typically, an R&D organization initiates this type of partnership to improve communication and mediation among market-chain actors in order to stimulate innovation within the market chain. Leadership might later be transferred to one or more of the participating market-chain actors and become institutionalized within the partnership itself. These partnerships are often thought of as 'innovation platforms' (Thiele et al., 2009). • Advocacy partnerships aim to influence public opinion and policies. They involve diverse partners in order to improve communication among them and strengthen the capacity of researchers, CSOs and economic actors to influence public opinion and policy-making. Such partnerships often draw ideas and principles from networks and use a wide range of communication and networking strategies to achieve these goals.Although it is useful to think in terms of these four types of partnership, they are seldom found in practice exactly as described. Frequently, the different types are combined in a single partnership, or the main thrust of a partnership evolves over time, as progress is made on one front (e.g., research) and the main constraint to development shifts from knowledge production to knowledge sharing, market-chain development or policy influence.The Learning Laboratory has brought together six AR4D programmes to share their knowledge and experiences, experiment with new approaches for facilitating pro-poor innovation, and evaluate the results. This section describes these programmes from the perspective of their experiences with partnering, to show the environment in which the partnerships have operated and lessons have been drawn.The programmes represent both 'mature cases', with a track record with several years of research or propoor innovation, and more recently established 'emerging cases'.All the Learning Laboratory programmes aim to reduce poverty and engage resource-poor actors (e.g., farmers and informal traders) in the R4D process. They use different entry points and modes of farmer engagement to achieve these goals (see Table 1). Three of the programmes are regional in scope and three focus on areas within one country (see Table 2).The geographic scope of the partnerships affects management and operations. For example, in multicountry partnerships there is likely to be considerable language diversity. Even with collaborations within a single country, at the level of farmer participation a partnership can be linguistically complex where there are many sub-regions or cultural groups with their own language.Differences in policy and objectives among countries can also make it difficult to identify common ground for collaboration. Although UPWARD and KIA are presented here as single-country partnerships, they are linked to international efforts. UPWARD Philippines is part of UPWARD's Asia-wide networking programme for participatory research and KIA is linked with other countries through informal practitioner and advocacy networks. Each partnership has its own history and expectations. The oldest partnership is MUSALAC, which has operated for 22 years. UPWARD and SDP have operated for 20 years and AHI for 14 years. All these programmes have been able to retain the interest of the partners and to attract resources for their activities, usually from donor agencies. CA and KIA are more recent initiatives that are still developing their modus operandi.The issue of expectations is often complicated by the fact that the participants generally would like the partnership to continue for several years, but this often depends upon obtaining external donor resources. For example, CA currently has funding for its operations for only one more year, but the participants hope to obtain new funding for further work. Similarly, AHI has funding for 4 years, but hopes to continue beyond 2010. SDP expects to continue operating for several years, with the partners tackling emerging challenges and opportunities as they arise. MUSALAC, the most formal multi-country partnership arrangement, also expects to operate for several more years by obtaining a series of short-term grants. Table 4 presents the categories of partners involved in each programme. AHI and SDP have partners in all categories, and CA and UPWARD have partners in six of the seven partner categories. This is consistent with the objectives of these four programmes to bring about change by helping to create new products and increase the engagement of resource-poor farmers in the market system. KIA involves CSOs, donors, extension, policy and research, but does not engage directly with farmers or market agents. MUSALAC involves only researchers, representing a broad range of within-country partners, but with its new project focused on increasing the links between smallholder banana producers and researchers, it is becoming engaged with a wider range of partners along the production-to-market continuum. The partners in the Learning Laboratory programmes play a range of roles (see Table 5). Advocacy is pursued by CSOs, donors, extension agencies and policy-makers. Technology development is an activity in which donors, extension agents, policy-makers, producers and researchers are involved. Donors, extension agents and researchers usually carry out the monitoring and evaluation (M&E) activities. There is often an effort to involve resource-poor farmers and other marginal groups in programme decisionmaking and M&E.Different types of partners play different roles. The groups that have played most diverse roles in the programmes are donors, researchers and CSOs. Donors not only provide resources, but also engage in policy support, M&E, technology development, capacity development, and advocacy. In the KIA programmre, the donor facilitated dialogue and knowledge sharing by establishing a Google Group. The diverse roles played by researchers include policy support, M&E, technology development, capacity development, management and governance. CSOs have also played roles related to policy advocacy, technology development, capacity development and governance. In the KIA case, they have also contributed to value addition, insofar as this term includes extending the System of Rice Intensification (SRI) to other crops, such as wheat and finger millet.The specific partner contributions are listed in Table 6. Over time, each partner's contributions (including leadership) might change as the partner's circumstances change and as the partnership itself evolves.   All the Learning Laboratory partnerships, apart from one, have some level of engagement with CGIAR centres. In five of them the level of engagement is high. One partnership considers that it has an adversarial relationship with the CGIAR centre with which it is engaged; this cannot be considered a partnership and therefore is not included in Table 7. The CA and MUSALAC programmes involve partnerships with more than one CGIAR centre.These centres play a variety of roles in the partnerships. In four programmes the CGIAR partners play more than one role. These include research (4 programmes), capacity strengthening (3), facilitation (2), management (2) and governance (1). Research roles include technology development, technology assessment, evaluation and generation of information for policy processes. We have identified a number of factors that we believe have influenced the success or failure of the Learning Laboratory partnerships. These can be grouped into eight broad areas related to partnership establishment and management and two areas related to the environment in which the partnership operates (see Table 8). The first group of factors can be viewed in terms of a 'management and learning cycle', with different factors assuming importance at different times during the life of a partnership. Factors that relate to the management and organization of the partnership itself, shown as the small blue circles in Figure 1, are affected by the organizational and external environments (the larger circles) in which the partnership operates.In this section we discuss these success factors, how they relate to one another and how they influence the performance of partnerships. Section 5 discusses gaps in our knowledge and priorities for future work in this area.  In MUSALAC, the Bioversity International regional scientists combine technical expertise with administrative and facilitation support to the network, working with the president of the network steering committee who is elected every 2 years. The regional scientists' leadership is strengthened by access to information and experiences from other regions and to the experiences of advanced research partners.In UPWARD, the partners are recognized as leaders in their own field of expertise. For example, experts at the Tarlac College of Agriculture (TCA) with field experience lead the Farmer Field Schools on integrated crop management and the production of clean planting materials, while local government representatives lead targeting and extension work. The UPWARD co-ordinator leads the institutional learning processes.In the SDP partnership, a leadership mechanism was established that ensured that each of the lead partners -the Ministry of Livestock Development, the Kenya Agricultural Research Institute (KARI) and ILRI -contributed to the project decision-making processes. Formal processes (through a well-structured and systematically interacting steering committee) and informal processes (where the lead partner representatives consulted each other regularly) were used to inform the decisions taken.The KIA case shows that leaders do not necessarily have to be experts. One of the partners, the Xavier Institute of Management Bhubaneswar (XIMB), created a 'learning alliance' to encourage the flow of information between government departments, CSOs, farmers and researchers, many of whom were working independently on the new SRI way of growing rice. The XIMB soon assumed a leadership role in organizing learning alliance meetings that brought together these actors and used its own research on scaling up SRI to encourage dialogue among them at a meeting in Orissa State. The meeting included people from outside the State and the country, as well whose presence helped take the discussions beyond regional considerations and introduced a culture of sharing and innovation. This institutional innovation of State-level learning alliances has since been taken up in SRI work in other States in India.To ensure partners' commitment to the partnership and the coherence of its activities, a common vision and agenda needs to be developed based on shared interests and goals. It is important to recognize that each partner comes to the table with distinct interests, priorities and agendas that need to be understood and respected. The challenge is not to try to change these positions and values, but to identify common ground on which the partnership can develop a shared vision, goal and agenda. This requires discussing the positions and values of all partners in the initial stages of developing the partnership. Once these are well understood, it is more likely that an effective and shared vision, goal and agenda for the partnership, which respects individual interests, will be developed.As the priorities and interests of partners change over time, along with the external environment, it is important to revisit the partnership's vision, goals and agenda in order to sustain partner interest and commitment.In the MUSALAC partnership, country representatives raise issues of national interest, while the Bioversity International regional scientist and network advisor add an inter-regional and global perspective. Priorities are identified for short-and medium-term action. Since 2007 MUSALAC has been mobilizing national, regional and private sector interests on greater quarantine vigilance on Fusarium Tropical Race 4, a potentially devastating new disease. Other priority issues are addressed through multi-country grants for AR4D.In UPWARD, the partners considered it important to trace back to own-institution goals, and connect them to the goals of the partnership. The new Sweet Potato R4D Phase 2009-2012, for example, benefited from a series of workshops that reviewed past activities and individual institutional agenda. These were brought forward when partners held a meeting to establish a common vision, goal and agenda on enhancing research involvement in improving the livelihoods of sweet potato farmers in disaster-prone communities.The SDP had a binding goal that respected the individual missions of each partner -poverty alleviation among livestock-dependent households, which required, as a first step, creating a policy environment that accommodated millions of resource-poor dairy farmers, informally operating small-scale milk traders and associated dependants. These organizational objectives were shared among the partners. When the regulations were changed to accommodate resource-poor actors in the dairy industry, the priority shifted to increasing the benefits they derive from participating in specific market chains.Establishing a common vision and agenda in the CA partnership was difficult in the initial stages because of the different institutional backgrounds of the partners. For example, the impact evaluation component involved both researchers and evaluators, who had different objectives and evaluation criteria, and there was disagreement between researchers and development practitioners about the future orientation of the project and the time needed for changes in behaviour and knowledge to become evident. The impact pathway model had to be used for the programme in order to determine a clear vision of the future and establish a working agenda. Within this pathway, the partners found common ground that reflected their own visions and agendas and were able to formulate the theory of change for each participatory methodology. This made the planning process easier and the specific contributions more evident, especially in terms of their evaluation.In KIA, open and frequent sharing of information has played an important role in shaping the partnership vision and goals. An e-group originally meant for the partners has sought the participation of social science research institutes such as XIMB. The nascent SRI community now has more than 350 topics under discussion in this virtual space, tackling such issues as appropriate agricultural tools, pest management and how 'organic' the practice of SRI can become. In complex environments, such open spaces do help to create the vision, goals and agenda for network-based alliances and in many cases can also help in policy dialogue and interventions.Forming an effective partnership involves 'knowing your partner' and attracting partners (both organizations and individuals) who not only have the resources and capacities needed to achieve the partnership goals, but who are also strongly committed to the partnership and its goals. Potential partners need to negotiate what each intends to 'give' (resources and capacities) and what each expects to 'take' (the potential benefits of partnering). Productive and committed partners have appropriate resources to contribute to the partnership and they also derive significant benefits from partnering.The important point to stress is that partners should make deliberate contributions to the partnership and should derive benefits from it. Individuals or organizations might join a partnership for the wrong reason. If they engage in joint activities mainly to obtain funding, rather than to achieve a common objective, their participation can become a burden. On the other hand, if their expectations are unrealistically high, they might become disillusioned and lose interest in the partnership. Potential partners also need to understand the risks of joining a partnership. Working with a group tends to slow down decision making, and if one partner 'drops the ball' this could affect the commitment of the others.Often, insufficient time and skill is put into assessing the knowledge and other resources of potential partners, or their expectations of the partnership. This can result in including individuals or organizations who have little to offer to the partnership or who feel they are not getting enough out of it to justify the costs of their participation. Lack of attention to partners' competencies can also result in a failure to tap valuable skills and resources that do exist within the group. Lack of attention to expectations and commitment can lead to turf wars and self-promotion that damage group morale and hinder dialogue, learning and joint activities.The factors involved in assessing and engaging partners and managing the diversity among them highlight the importance of cultural competence in partnership management. An especially difficult issue is how to handle significant imbalances among partners in their access to resources or their commitment to the partnership. Resource imbalances can sometimes be reduced over time through training and other capacity-building strategies. Lack of commitment can be contagious and it requires quick action, either to rebuild commitment or to arrange the 'graceful exit' of an uncommitted partner.Levels of commitment, enthusiasm and energy fluctuate over time, pointing to the need for a continuous process of partner assessment and dialogue around issues of costs and benefits.In addition to the annual and bi-annual face-to-face meetings of the partners, MUSALAC also organizes training and scientific exchanges alongside network meetings, provides multi-country grants for AR4D, organizes technical assistance missions on emerging problems and produces specialized publications. Although all partners are not guaranteed the same benefits, they do all have access to some benefits.In the initial stages of the SDP and during the regular project review meetings, the roles of each partner and their contribution to planned activities were reviewed, along with how the their strengths could be exploited and their weaknesses compensated for, in the context of achieving the partnership goals .When AHI activities are being implemented, workshops are held to enable partners to talk about their expectations of the partnership and their potential contributions to it. This indicates which partners will be appropriate in addressing the various issues in the project. A strategy for achieving the partnership goal is then jointly drawn up, and is subsequently reviewed and updated regularly to ensure commitment and the ongoing relevance of activities to the partnership as well as to the partners themselves. AHI also organises regular capacity-building efforts for the partners and mobilizes multi-country grants to share with the partners according to their roles in the partnership.When significant funds are available for a programme, there is always the possibility that some partners will be involved mainly to have access to the funds. To avoid this, the CA programme developed a scoring model matrix that features partner attributes that contribute to programme objectives as well as potential benefits for the partners. Higher values are given to partners that make a significant contribution to the partnership (via skills, competences, resources, etc.), as well as to those who stand to benefit most from the partnership. Appropriate and committed partners tend to be those who benefit most, as they usually find a way to contribute more in order to maintain the partnership.Process facilitation is needed to stimulate and channel dialogue, prevent conflicts, build trust and balance competing interests in a partnership. As dialogue and joint decision-making are central to partnering, it is important that leaders be active listeners who ensure that all interests are heard and taken into consideration. Leaders also need to cultivate open and frank discussions, knowledge sharing among partners, and transparent and participatory decision-making. A challenge for many partnerships is to cultivate awareness of the value of professional group facilitation and to mobilize the resources needed for facilitation.With the support of ILAC, MUSALAC engaged a facilitator to help the group reflect on achieving greater impact in the forthcoming decade, with special regard to achievements to date. For a partnership activity focusing on plantain production, processing and added value, the inaugural workshop used a participatory planning approach, Participatory Impact Pathways Analysis (PIPA), in order to move beyond individual research outputs and look at cumulative research and uptake in pilot communities.In explaining the CA initiatives to policy-makers in Bolivia, a young female policy analyst was used as the facilitator and proved invaluable to the process. In a context where there is a large gap between institutions and the public sector, she was able to present research evidence neutrally, thus avoiding mistrust. Her non-threatening image and her good understanding of the interests of both sides enabled her to act as a bridge between actors who later found common ground for collaborative work.The roles and responsibilities of individuals in a partnership need to be clearly defined and based on an understanding of and respect for individual interests and capabilities. A common problem with partnerships is the poor understanding of partners' roles and contributions. Early in the establishment of a partnership, it is useful to 'map' the potential roles of partners, and then enable them to 'try on' their new roles and responsibilities to see how well they fit with their work in their 'home organizations'. A common error is to assume that individuals from different organizational settings (e.g., research organizations and NGOs) need to change their 'paradigm' and work together in a totally new way. In many cases, however, successful partnering involves linking up the activities of different organizations more effectively, rather than changing what each organization considers its core activities.In UPWARD, the current sweet potato R4D partnership benefited from collaborative proposal development, particularly in setting the goals and agenda. The partners then set down the specific activities they would undertake to achieve the goals, allowing them to clearly identify where they could make a clear contribution and add value to the partnership. They pieced their views together to form a comprehensive plan of action with clearly delineated roles for each partner. This was a critical step for the partnership because some partners initially had seen themselves as competitors rather than collaborators.The case of AHI is similar. AHI engages in collaborative proposal development in which the roles of the partners are clearly spelt out. This is followed up by a joint effort to create work plans and specific activities where partner contributions to common goals are determined.In the CA partnership, linking the impact assessment component with the implementation component has been crucial in determining responsibilities during the M&E studies (e.g., who should collect the information, and who should make judgements and reach conclusions).An important recommendation from the Learning Laboratory workshop was: \"Never leave your partner behind, always keep them informed and engaged.\" Appropriate mechanisms and processes are needed to promote effective communication, knowledge sharing and joint learning, with time and resources available for this at the initial planning phase and throughout the duration of the partnership. Partners need 'safe spaces' in which to voice constructive criticism and share experiences. Individual and, in particular, group accomplishments also need to be acknowledged.Much of the knowledge that needs to be shared within a partnership is 'tacit knowledge' that is best communicated through face-to-face interactions, preferably in a field environment. Collective learning is a particular challenge. As one participant noted: \"Someone needs to seriously hold up the learning flag.\" A clear learning strategy needs to be developed and implemented.All these observations highlight the importance of effectively facilitating interactions to ensure good levels of knowledge sharing and collective learning. In addition, non-controversial entry points for learning are useful. For example, systematic evidence on progress and goal attainment is a useful starting point for discussions in the planning stage on the clarity of goals and the effectiveness of strategies and theories of change. This highlights the potential value of M&E, an area that has received little attention to date.Face-to-face encounters are, however, not enough. It is also important that key information and lessons be converted into 'explicit knowledge' (e.g., in the form of text, photographs, videos and other media) that can be shared widely and contributes to the institutional memory.MUSALAC usually follows a pattern of intense interaction during the face-to-face biennial meeting and then a quieter period. Electronic communication has greatly facilitated ongoing interaction between meetings, with some partners being very active but others rarely heard online. The network has discussed the value of new electronic tools, but has not yet expanded their use to any great extent.In UPWARD, the sweet potato R4D partnership holds learning workshops that encourage knowledge sharing. These include the UPWARD network meetings of the past and the less formal workshops of more recent years. The basic elements of these workshops include a review, a reflection and a course of action to take, with specific tasks allotted. Efforts are made to link these workshops, or at least to recall them in subsequent ones order to provide follow-up as well as learning.All the major SDP review events (e.g., logframe revisits) are held in up-country retreats away from distractions and the strong influences of the individual partner organizations.In the CA partnership, joint learning activities on empowerment and market articulation were established; they included virtual learning modules as well as online and face-to-face discussions. Some partners were able to link adequately, but others, particularly those with many technicians in the field, suffered from poor connectivity and frequently missed the events. The methodology therefore had to be changed and more field visits were organized in order to use face-to-face meetings as joint learning opportunities. Particularly important are the annual planning meetings, because they provide an opportunity to co-ordinate and share perspectives and goals.In AHI, the partners are establishing a knowledge-sharing and communication plan in which all the partners state how they can contribute to the common goal, based on their core goals and interests and on the mode of communication to be used to disseminate different knowledge materials to different partners, depending on their needs, capacity and interests. The AHI partners also benefit from frequent face-to-face interactions through workshops and meetings to plan, monitor and review activities.As noted earlier, for partners to remain committed to a partnership, the benefits they derive need to outweigh the costs they incur. On a broader scale, for a partnership to 'add value' to an AR4D effort, the total benefit it generates for individual partners as well as other (intended or unintended) beneficiaries should exceed the costs incurred by the partners in establishing and maintaining the partnership. Too often, these costs are not adequately anticipated in the partnership design, or partners join with false expectations of the likely benefits, leading to disillusionment and loss of commitment. Even when partners join the effort well aware of the potential costs and benefits, maintaining their commitment over time requires the partnership deliver benefits to them over time.Experience shows that for a partnership to be sustained over time, it needs to deliver significant benefits above and beyond those flowing to the individual members. In strong partnerships, the synergy of individual and social objectives results in overall benefits that significantly exceed the costs. Recognition of collective or social benefits helps to energize the partnership and renew the partners' commitment to it. The benefits might not always be equal, but they need to be equitable.A recent activity completed by MUSALAC partners focused on soil and root health. An earlier symposium had raised the issue for scientific debate and FONTAGRO funded a 3-year project on the subject, covering four countries. During the project, the countries benefited through capacity building and site-specific research results useful to targeted groups of growers. There were collective benefits from the cross-country comparisons and from the greater capacity of partners to attract additional funding. A system of homologue zones has been set up to facilitate the extrapolation of results from countries participating directly in the donor-funded projects to other countries that are in the network but not involved in the projects.In UPWARD, the effort to link sweet potato farmers in the Philippines to markets builds on the principles of collaboration described by Bernet et al. (2005). The partnerships develop out of individual interests in making the market chain work both for actors and for support institutions such as research institutes, although they are also aware of the potential collective benefit -demonstrated impact on household incomes due to help from research.In the SDP partnership, staff from partner organizations (regardless of academic level or professional status) were encouraged to use emerging project information to develop and produce knowledge products (papers, reports, news or book articles, etc.), and these were promoted for use as reference materials. Resources were made available for the staff to make presentations in workshops and conferences in order to communicate emerging knowledge, but also to build the staff's professional careers.In the CA programme, the challenge of how to evaluate participatory methodologies was the starting point for those involved in the impact assessment component (including researchers from universities, professional evaluation networks, and agricultural research organizations) to discuss experiences and approaches. The work began with an intensive phase of debates and the preparation of glossaries, guides and theories of change. Later, evaluation methods were developed and tested, and the results were published. The work has generated both individual and collective benefits, with each participant having shared experiences and acquired new learning.Critical management tasks vary depending on the stage of development of a partnership. For example, in the start-up phase particular attention needs to be paid to partner selection. Later on, more attention needs to focus on establishing adequate mechanisms for communication, managing joint activities and maintaining partner commitment. Later on still it becomes important for partners to take stock of their accomplishments and shortcomings and consider revising their goals and strategies.But partnering seldom follows such a neat three-stage model. Partnerships are complex and inherently unstable arrangements that can take unpredictable courses. External or internal shocks might occur at any point, requiring adjustments in activities or strategies, or even transitions to new institutional arrangements.Over time, partnership priorities are likely to evolve and the activities and output should evolve as well.For example, a partnership that initially focused on research might later need to engage in capacitybuilding or other development-related activities. The circumstances in which partnerships operate also shift, sometimes dramatically. In some cases (e.g., CA and UPWARD), partnerships are established with donor support and it can be a major challenge to sustain the partnership when the initial funding ends. UPWARD provides a good example of how this can be achieved. Since the AR4D domain supported by UPWARD reflects the core institutional mandate of the partners, the commitment is not limited by a shortterm project. In addition, UPWARD has nurtured personal relationships that have sustained interactions beyond the project setting. In all cases, partners can be expected to come and go over time, and as their interests and priorities change so should their roles and the relationships among them. These dynamic elements of partnering highlight the fact that managing change is central to effective partnership management.MUSALAC began as the Latin American and Caribbean Network (LACNET), which brought together prominent banana scientists with the emphasis on genetic resources. This reflected the high priority being given at the time to breeding, new cultivars and genetic resource conservation. In the late 1990s, however, the agenda for banana expanded and the regional network was re-organized based on country representatives. More recently, a change in donor funding to shorter-term targeted projects has led to a shift to biennial meetings, with greater use of electronic communication.The objectives of the SDP programme have changed considerably over 20 years. These changes were influenced by the frequent reviews of the project's progress goal based on information from the dairy industry and on observations by external actors, especially the donor, on how the project could achieve the greatest impact. Initially, the project sought to develop technologies to enhance production at farm level.Mid-way through it, the focus shifted to exploring milk marketing and engaging all types and levels of partners to address what was emerging as the major constraint -access to appropriate and effective markets.The project finally focussed on using information generated over its lifetime to inform policy formulation, especially on the importance of the dairy industry to the country's economy and the constraints inherent in the marketing regulation framework.AHI has undergone an adaptive learning process, responding to changes in its external environment and taking account of the views of it partners. It is currently in its fourth phase since inception. Initially, AHI was organized around regionally determined technical priorities (e.g., characterization and diagnosis, integrated pest management, and improved soil productivity). It then shifted its approach to participatory research with an integrated systems perspective and multi-institutional and multi-disciplinary teamwork. It funded work at pilot benchmark sites as a way of testing and demonstrating the value of new technologies and modes of working. It later linked farm-level work to improve productivity with collective action to address issues at higher levels. Over time, action research approaches and participatory M&E have been introduced, and AHI now focuses on promoting the use of integrated natural resource management (NRM) approaches, including self-led institutional change (where institutions realize the need to modify and adapt to changing situations as a result of learning) and the development of farmer institutions (supporting capacity building to improve leadership, management and governance). It also empowers farmer institutions to exercise their rights and engage in pro-poor policy development and landscape governance (management of natural resources at landscape level through participatory by-law formulation).The effectiveness and benefits of working in partnership depend not only on the management and relationships within the partnership itself, but also on the culture, policies and procedures within the partnering organizations and on socio-economic, political and other factors in the broader external environment.The ways that partnerships operate and the results they produce are strongly influenced by the culture, policies and operating procedures that prevail within the partner organizations. If, for example, a partner organization values individual achievement over teamwork, then individuals from that organization might be discouraged from engaging substantially in the co-production of outputs through a partnership.Similarly, if a partner organization has strict rules on intellectual property rights, this could also discourage partnering.If an organization wishes to work productively in partnership with others, it therefore need to examine its own culture, policies and management practices and, where necessary, make changes to encourage and facilitate partnering behaviour. Management elements that typically require special attention include: human resources (e.g., performance assessment criteria), administration and finance (e.g., procedures for letters of understanding, contracts and audits; and IPR rules that cover the co-production of outputs), planning and M&E (ensuring partners' needs and views are reflected) and assessment of partnership processes.A common challenge in partnerships is that each partner has its own bureaucratic processes, and these need to be respected. Organizations with hierarchical and rigid structures and procedures can have difficulty operating effectively in a partnership. Bringing about changes in such structures requires support from the highest level of management and, even where this exists, making procedures more partnership friendly requires a change process in the organization that elicits the support and active involvement of middle-level managers.In a multi-country project that brought together partners from MUSALAC, one partner (a national coffee institute run by growers' organizations) designated its involvement to an organization in another country (a university looking for research opportunities for young professors and students) due to the latter's greater research capacity.In UPWARD, a lot of time and effort has gone into sorting out project reporting, fund disbursement and reporting, management and co-ordination of a multi-agency sweet potato research activity. These factors were addressed through explicit provisions in memoranda of agreement (MOA), while existing umbrella MOAs and memoranda of understanding (MOUs) were reviewed. What could and could not be undertaken by the different partners, and how others could fill the gap, dictated operational details. Transparency in all areas of the partnership was found to be essential to maintain trust among the partners.In the SDP programme, the three major implementing organizations differed considerably in their accounting procedures, and none was willing (or able) to change their procedures to be more compatible with those of the other partners. To address this, at the beginning of the project the partners developed a unique accounting system for the SDP, which satisfied the donor's reporting requirements, suited the fieldwork and met other accountability requirements. This system was then implemented and hosted in a partner institution (ILRI) that could accommodate separate accounting processes.Partnerships operate in a macro context affected by political and socio-economic currents. In some cases, these favour the partnership mode, in others they do not. When establishing and managing a partnership, it is important to be sensitive to shifting currents in the macro context that can affect the partnership. Where partnerships cross national boundaries, they need to be aware of national issues and trends that influence individual partners' priorities and room for manoeuvre (e.g., one country's national policies might favour market-chain development over small-farm organization, whereas another might favour the opposite; a regional partnership ignores such differences at its peril).Three specific challenges that the participants in the Learning Laboratory meeting identified were: how to recognize and manage the diversity of partners' contexts; how to build and maintain partnerships in unstable environments; and how to manage the effects of an unstable political environment.In a current multi-country MUSALAC project, three of the four partner research institutes are experiencing a period of instability due to personnel changes in the management team, national elections and a rumoured dissolution of the institute. In two cases, the situation is temporary, with little impact on the proposed work, but in the third case a major overhaul of the partnership might be necessary.The SDP mission was to be implemented in the context of strong socio-economic and political currents and its success depended on a thorough understanding of this context. This was achieved in two ways: carrying out a study of the policy environment and framework that affected the dairy industry (SDP, 2004); and working with representatives who were insiders in the country's policy structures. The Project Steering Committee had representatives from the Ministry of Livestock, KARI and the Kenya Dairy Board who were all senior government officials who were well informed about the country's policy dynamics and, to some extent, influential in the direction it would take.In the Andean region, while Peru and Colombia favour market-chain development and the decentralization of public policies, Bolivia and Ecuador focus on food sovereignty, recovery of indigenous knowledge and community development. These differences have led CA to be a partnership with different types of institutions in each country working differently according to the context. Having partners with different strengths and perspectives was possible because, despite the different approaches, they were all focused on development and poverty alleviation.The participants in the Learning Laboratory meeting identified a number of areas where partnering work could be improved, three of which stand out: partner organizations' policies and management practices in support of partnerships, capacity development in partnership management, and evaluation of partnership processes and results (for both learning and accountability).As indicated in Section 4, the policies and management practices of organizations can strongly influence the ways in which they partner with other organizations. Only one of the participating organizations in the Learning Laboratory programmes, ILRI, has developed a partnership strategy and management system, and this has been only partially implemented (ILRI, 2008). Other organizations involved in AR4D could usefully review their policies and management procedures and make needed adjustments in such areas as: priority setting and planning processes; financial management; legal procedures for developing and managing agreements involving partners; performance assessment procedures (for organizations and individuals); human resource policies (including incentives for individual and team achievements, and recognition of the diverse roles of researchers in partnerships); and management of intellectual property.Working in partnership requires a wider range of skills and abilities than is usually in place in agricultural research organizations. In addition to technical competencies, professionals working in partnership require new skills in management, knowledge sharing, communication, mediation, facilitation of group decisionmaking, and policy influence. One advantage of working in partnership is that individuals need not develop all the skills needed to achieve a complex task, but can draw on the skills of their partners. To do so, however, requires leadership and management.In support of the capacity development needed for effective partnering, ILAC offers training in facilitation, policy influence and social network analysis. Much more work, however, is needed in these and other areas if there is to be a significant impact on the capacity of AR4D organizations to work effectively in partnership.There was a broad consensus among the participants in the Learning Laboratory workshop that improvements are urgently needed in M&E to support both accountability and learning in partnership programmes. Improved M&E is needed in two main spheres: the evaluation of partnering processes (the types of processes outlined in Section 4) and the evaluation of the results of partnering (the value added by partnering, both for the individual partners and for society in general).The participants highlighted the need for improvements in estimating the costs and benefits of partnering.Prior to committing to a partnership, individuals and organizations would like to have better estimates of the costs, including both monetary costs and time required (for partnership meetings, administration, etc.). The partners and external stakeholders would also like to have better ways of gauging the benefits or 'value added' of partnering (the net benefits of partnering compared with other ways of working). Special attention needs to be given to assessing the intangible benefits. All this information would help potential partners in their decision-making, and would also help to justify and legitimize the involvement of individuals and their organizations in partnership work.Working in partnership generally involves doing different things and doing things differently. Traditional evaluation methods are better at judging the merits of the former than the latter. Working in new ways in partnership with others produces intangible benefits (e.g., knowledge sharing, capacity development and institutional innovation), which are difficult to evaluate. Having better documentation and evaluation of such benefits would be useful for comparing the potential and actual costs and benefits of working in partnership. Another evaluation concern relates to impact pathways. It is seldom clear how partnering activities and outputs lead to socio-economic and environmental outcomes and impact. Clarification of the impact pathways could help planning partnerships and documenting their results.Among the Learning Laboratory programmes there are few examples of good practice in this area. Some of them are experimenting with new approaches to partnership M&E. For example, the CA programme is experimenting with a methodology for participatory M&E in the Andean Region in which farmers and other stakeholders in a development initiative evaluate the initiative and propose alternatives for its improvement. The programme also has developed an impact assessment component based on practical methods for evaluating the effects of interventions on changes in stakeholder attitudes and practices. In its future activities, the SDP intends to support improving the capacity for participatory evaluation among resource-poor dairy farmers and other market actors. Thiele et al. (2009) have developed an approach for participatory evaluation in the context of a partnership or network; known as Horizontal Evaluation its aim is to foster knowledge sharing, learning and programme improvement.In 2010, the ILAC Initiative will begin methodological work on impact evaluation for pro-poor, collaborative research programmes which will address these and other questions.What have we learned from the Learning Laboratory workshop that was not already documented in previous reports and publications on partnership (as reviewed by Horton et al., 2009)?One important thing is that there is substantial diversity in partnership experiences in AR4D programmes, reflected in the six programme experiences that we reviewed in the meeting. Some partnerships focus on research, others on value-chain development and yet others on stimulating policy dialogue. Reflecting these different goals, the types of partners engaged range from researchers alone to highly diverse groups, including extension workers, policy-makers, market agents, small-scale farmers, donors and CSOs. The geographical scope of the partnerships varies, from focusing on one region in one country to working across 12 countries, and the duration of the partnerships ranges from 2 years to more than 20 years. The degree of formality of the partnerships and the management arrangements used vary greatly. For example, participation in MUSALAC is governed by written agreements and formal governance mechanisms, whereas the KIA learning alliance in India is highly informal in its operations. The level of engagement of partners also varies across the partnerships and over time.An important implication of this diversity, in just our six programmes, is that universal guidelines for partnership management are unlikely to be helpful. Nevertheless, we did identify several common concerns and a set of factors that appear to have influenced the performance of the partnerships. These factors related to the processes of partnership establishment and management and to the external environment in which the partnership operates. Within these two broad groups of factors we identified more specific success factors:• Factors related to partnership establishment and management: -Leadership -Vision, goals and agenda -Partner commitment -Process facilitation -Roles and responsibilities -Communication, knowledge sharing and joint learning -Individual and collective benefits -Change management • Factors related to the environment in which a partnership operates -Partner organizations' culture, policies and procedures -External socio-economic and political environment Although we have not identified universal guidelines for managing successful partnerships, and believe that the main challenges and locally appropriate solutions need to be identified in each case, we suggest that this list of success factors could serve as a checklist for those engaged in partnership design and management.We also learned that there a few common priorities for improving partnering work, which fall into three main areas: organizational policies and management practices that support partnering, capacity development for partnership management, and the evaluation of partnership processes and results. We believe that these three areas merit attention within the CGIAR and throughout the AR4D community to strengthen the role of partnerships in achieving development goals.A final point we would like to make is that the findings presented in this paper have emerged from discussions that took place over a few days in a single workshop, based on our personal experiences with partnerships in six AR4D programmes. The findings should therefore not be viewed as hard-and-fast conclusions based on thorough study, but rather as propositions to be validated, revised or rejected on the basis of further study. As noted by Huxham and Vangen (2005), we believe the best way to enhance knowledge in this area is through systematic action research on the organization and management of partnerships in AR4D. "}

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+{"metadata":{"gardian_id":"f7b5771039721aae32922e7c606c888c","source":"gardian_index","url":"https://cgspace.cgiar.org/rest/bitstreams/33220377-328b-4212-ade0-b86f8b651e3a/retrieve","id":"1721981091"},"keywords":[],"sieverID":"64aca991-a30b-4d8b-8093-0fd00a88a49c","content":"Description of the innovation: Multidisciplinary framework that identifies entry points for the design of potential food systems innovations, highlighting potential synergies, feedback, and tradeoffs within the food system."}

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+{"metadata":null,"keywords":null,"sieverID":"e7e925bb-f62c-4bef-b270-7ade324253b0","content":"tencia horizontal, la discusi6n sobre el tema tuvo el objeto de recoger sugeren­\ncias e ideas que permitieran enfocar las investigaciones de los fitomejoradores \npor vfas más seguras y prácticas. Se sugirilS que en los centros internacionales \ne instituciones nacionales se dé prioridad a la identificaci6n de: a) fuentes de ré­\nsistencia horizontal; b) técnicas que permitan aislar, en las poblaciones segre­\ngantes, las plantas con resistencia horizontal; y c) técnicas para inducir, bajo \ncondiciones de campo, buenas infecciones de piricularia, especialmente en el \ncuello de la panfcula. \nSe sugiri6 que la metodologra más adecuada podrra ser la prueba del material \ngenético directamente en el campo en condiciones de secano, seleccionando las \nplantas menos afectadas en el área foliar y descartando aquellas que muestran In­\nfecci6n en el cuello de la panrcula . \nInvestigaci6n Colaborativa sobre Piricularia en América Latina \nSe discutieron varios aspectos relacionados con la prueba de material genéti­\nco para evaluar la resistencia a piricularia. Se discutió la posibilidad de pro­\nbar el material en condiciones de campo y descartar las pruebas en camas de \ninfección, pero el consenso general fue que, mientras no se conozca el mé­\ntodo más adecuado para la evaluaci6n del material, se deben seguir utilizando \nlas camas de infeccilSn para determinar la reacci6n del material en estado de \nplántula; los programas que tengan las facilidades, pueden sembrar el mate­\nrial en condiciones de campo para evaluar la reacci6n en estado de planta a­\ndulta (infecci6n en el cuello de la panrcula). \nCon el fin de que el CIAT y el ffiRI puedan ayudar más efectivamente a solu­\ncionar el problema de piricularia en América Latina, se solicitó a los técnicos de \nlos programas nacionales que indicaran el tipo de materiales que desean reci­\nbir. Con excepción de Bolivia, Chile, Paraguay y Surinam. los delegados \nmanifestaron el interés de continuar recibiendo el germoplasma por medio del \nvivero de piricularia y/o material segregante y avanzado. Algunos delegados \nsugirieron que en el vivero de piricularia se incluyan las variedades comer­\nciales de la r egi6n y las variedades diferenciales. El delegado de Brasil su­\ngirió la inclusi6n de material precoz y adaptable al cultivo de secano. En el \nCuadro 20 se indica la clase de material que fue solicitado para evaluar la \nreacci6n a la piricularia y aislar el germoplasma con resistencia para utili­\nzarlo en cruzamientos o promoverlo a ensayos de rendimiento. \n56 \n01 ..., \nCuadro 20. Germoplasma solicitado en la Tercera Conferencia del ffiTP para América Latina \npara evaluar la reacci6n a piricularia. \nPaIses 11 \nG e r m o E 1 a s m a \nViveros-ª/ \nVIPAL ffiBN Material Segregante 11 Material avanzado 11 \nBrasil X X X \nColombia X \nCosta Rica X X \nCuba X X X \nEcuador X X X \nEl Salvador X \nHonduras X \nGuatemala X \nGuyana X X \nMéxico X X X \nNicaragua X \nPanamá X X \nParaguay X \nPero X X X \nRep. D:>minicana X \nUruguay X \nVenezuela X X \n11 Los paIses de América Latina no incluidos, no desean por el momento material para \npiricularia, \n11 VIPAL; Vivero Internacional de Piricularia para América Latina que despachará el \nClAT. \nffiBN ; Vivero Internacional de Piricularia que despachará el mRI. \ny Material que despachará el ClAT. \nParticipantes en la Tercera Conferencia \ndel IRTP para América Latina \n1. Wolfgang Jetter* \nEstaci6n Experimental INTA \nCasilla de Correo N° 57 \nCorrientes, Argentina \n2. Francisco paz Antelo \nCIAT \nCasilla 247 \nSanta Cruz, Bolivia \n3. Eulalio Garcra \nMinistry of Agriculture \nandLands \nBelmopan, Belice, C.A. \n4. Peter G. Lee \nMinistry of Agriculture \nand Lands \nBelmopan, Belice, C.A. \n5. Nguyen Van Tan \nIICA/EMBRAPA \nCaixa Postal 179 \nGoiania, GoiáB, Brasil \n6. \n7. \n8. \n9. \nPaulo Serg10 Carmona \nInstituto Rio Grandense \ndo Arroz \nCaixa Postal 1927 \nPorto Alegre, RS \nBrasil \nSidnei Bicca da Rocha \nInstituto Rio Grandense \ndo Arroz \nCaixa Postal 1927 \nPorto Alegre, R. S. \nBrasil \nDerly Machado de Souza \nInstituto Agrooomico de \nCampinas \nCaixa Postal 28 \n13.1000 Campinas, SP \nBrasil \nArlindo Bonifacio \nGerente Nacional \ndo Projeto Arroz \ne Drenagem e Irriga930 \nEMBRATER \nSEP /Norte-W3-Q515 \nLote 03 \nBrasilia, DF, Brasil \n* Lrderes de Programas nacionales que cancelaron su participaci6n. \n68 \n10. Jairton Almeida Diniz 17. Benjam!n Rivera \nEMBRATER ICA - Turipaná \nSEP /Norte-WJ-Q515 Apartado Aéreo 206 \nLote 03 Monter!a, Córdoba \nBrasilia, DF, Brasil Colombia, S.A. \n11. Selson Almir Melo Cruz 18. Alberto Dávalos \nEMBRATER !CA - La Libertad \nSEP /Norte-W3-Q515 Apartado Aéreo 2011 \nLote 03 Villavicencio, Meta \nBrasilia, DF, Brasil Colombia, S.A. \n12. Dierson Farias Novaes 19. Hernando Suárez \nEMBRATER \nFEDEARROZ \nSEP /Norte-W3-Q515 \nApartado Aéreo 52772 \nLote 03 \nBogotá, D. E. \nBrasilia, DF, Brasil \nColombia, S.A. \n13. Valdemir Moura Oliveira Lima 20. Rafael Robayo \nEMBRATER ICA - Nataima \nSEP /Norte-W3-Q515 Apartado Postal 02 \nLote 03 Espinal, Tolima \nBrasilia, DF, Brasil Colombia, S,A. \n14. César P. Martfhez R. 21. Gustavo Villegas V. \nICA FEDEARROZ \nApartado Aéreo 233 Apartado Aéreo 52772 \nPalmira, Valle, Colombia Bogotá, D.E. \nColombia, S.A. \n15. Darro Leal Monsalve \nICA - La Libertad 22. Patricio Vargas \nApartado Aéreo 2011 ICA/FE DEARROZ \nVillavicencio, Meta Apartado Aéreo 233 \nColombia, S.A. Palmira, Valle \nColombia, S. A. \n16. Edmundo Garc!a Quiroz 23. Kitty Cardwell \nICA ICA - La Libertad \nApartado Aéreo 233 Apartado Aéreo 2011 \nPalmira, Valle Villavicencio, Meta \nColombia, S.A, Colombia, S. A. \n59 \n24. \n25. \n26. \n27. \n28. \n29. \nPeter R. Jennings \nCIAT \nApartado 55, Coronado \nProvincia de San José \nCosta Rica, C.A. \nJosé l. Murillo \nMinisterio de \nAgricultura y Ganaderfa \nApartado 10094 \nSan José, Costa Rica \nManuel H. Carrera \nMinisterio de \nAgricultura y Ganaderfa \nApartado 10094 \nSan José, Costa Rica \nRolando Gonz:!lez \nMinisterio de \nAgricultura y Ganaderfa \nApartado 10094 \nSan José, Costa Rica \nGustavo Veitra Montero \nMinisterio de la Agricultura \nCalzada de Rancho Boyeros \ny Crucero Armada \nMunicipio Cerro \nCiudad Habana, Cuba \nAlfredo Gutiérrez \nMinisterio de la Agricultura \nCalzada de Rancho Boyeros \ny Crucero Armada \nMunicipio Cerro \nCiudad Habana, Cuba \n60 \n30. José Roberto Alvarado \nINIA \n31. \n32. \n33. \n34. \n35. \n36. \nEst. Exptal. QUILAMAPU \nCasilla 426 \nChill1ln, Chile \nFrancisco Andrade \nINIAP \nApartado 7069 \nGuayaquil, Ecuador \nJulio Delgado \nINIAP \nApartado 7069 \nGuayaquil, Ecuador \nLoyd Jolmson \nINIAP \nApartado 7069 \nGuayaquil, Ecuador \nWashington Peñafiel \nINIAP \nApartado 7069 \nGuayaquil, Ecuador \nA. Vivian E. Chin \nGuyana Rice Board \n1 & 2 Water Street \nGeorgetown, \nRep11blica de Guyana \nLeroy Small \nGuyana Rice Board \n1 & 2 Water Street \nGeorgetown \nRep11blica de Guyana \n37. Luis Alberto Guerrero* \nMinisterio de \nAgricultura y Ganadería \nCENTA \nSan Salvador, El Salvador \n38. Walter Ramiro Pazos \nICTA \n5a. Av. 12-31, \nZona 9 \nEdificio \"El Cortez 11 \n2° nivel \nGuatemala, Guatemala, C.A. \n39. Carlos Alburez \nJCTA \n5a. Av. 12-31, Zona 9 \nEdificio \"El Cortez\" \n2° nivel \nGuatemala, Guatemala, C.A. \n40. Claude Grand-Pierre \nService de Recherches \nAgrícoles \nDARNDR-DAMIEN \nPort-au-Price , \nHaití \nn. Napoleón Reyes' \nMinisterio de Recursos \nNaturales \nD. A. R. 113 \nSan Pedro Sula, Cortés, \nHonduras, C. A. \n42. .Leopoldo Crivelli \nMinisterio de Recursos \nNaturales \nD.A.R. 113 \nSan Pedro Sula, Cortés, \nHonduras, C. A. \n61 \n43. . Leonardo Hernández Arag6n* \nINIA \nApartado Postal 11 12 \nZacatepec, Morelos, \nMéxico \n44. José Manuel Bravo B. \nInstituto Nicaraguense de \nTecnologra Agropecuaria \nApartado 2648 \nManagua, Nicaragua, C. A. \n45. Ezequiel Espinosa \nUniversidad de Panamá \nFacultad de Agronomra \nEstafeta Universitaria \nPanamá, Rep. de Panamá \n46. Carlos Reyes \nUniversidad de Panamá \nFacultad de Agronomra \nEstafeta Universitaria \nPanamá, Rep. de Panamá \n47. Rolando Lasso \nIDIAP \nApartado 6-4391 \nEstafeta El Dorado \nPanamá 6, \nRap. de Panamá \n48. Jorge Esteban Rodas \nMinisterio de \nAgricultura \nEstación Experimental \nCaacupé, Paraguay \n49. José Hernllndez Leyton 55. Benito Rodrfguez \nMinisterio de Depto. de Recursos Externos \nAlimentaciÓn Secretarfa de Estado de \nCRIA TI Agricultura \nApartado 116 Centro de los Héroes, \nChic1ayo, Pero Santo Domingo, \nRepdblica Domtn1cana \nAlberto Jiménez \n56. José Miguel Cordero M. \n50. ELANCO \nUniversidad Nacional Santo Domingo \n\"Pedro Ruiz Gallo\" Repdbltca Dominicana \nLambayeque, Pero \n57. Mohamed J. Idoe \nRice Research and Breeding \n52. Rafael Olaya Station \nMinisterio de P.O. Box 26 \nAlimentaciÓn New Nickerie, Surinam \nCRIA n \nApartado 116 \nNicolás Cbebataroff Chic1ayo, Pero 58. \nCentro de InvestigaciÓn \nAgrfcolas \n\"Alberto Boerger\" \n51. Victorino Saavedra Estación Experimental del Este \nMinisterio de 33 Ute 23, Uruguay \nAlimentaciÓn \nCRIA n \nApartado 116 59. Anibal Rodrfguez Herrera \nChic1ayo, Pero ClARCOjFONAlAP \nEstación Expe r1rnental \nAraure \nApartado 102 \n53. Manuel E. Castillo M. \nAraure, \nSecretaña de Estado de \nEstado Portuguesa \nAgricultura \nVenezuela \nEstaciÓn Experimental Juma \nBonao, Repdbltca Dominicana 60. Alberto Salih \nFONAlAP \nEstación Experimental \nCalabozo \n54. Yin-Tieh Hsieh Apartado 14 \nMisiÓn Técnico-Agrfcola Calabozo, \nEstaciÓn Experimental Juma Estado Guárico \nBonao, RepdbUca Dominicana Venezuela \n62 \nI / \nj \n• Luis L6pez \nPrograma Delta \nCVG \nApartado 2224 \nCaracas, Venezuela \n62. Harold E. Kauffman \nIRRl \nP.O. Box 933 \nManila, Filipinas \n63. J. P. Crill \nlRRl \nP.O. Box 933 \nManila, Filipinas \n64. Héctor Weeraratne \nCIAT \nApartado Aéreo 6713 \nCali, Colombia, S. A. \n65. Sang-Won Ahn \nCIAT \nApartado Aéreo 6713 \nCali, Colombia, S.A. \n66. Joaqufn A. González, F. \nCIAT \nApartado Aéreo 6713 \nCali, Colombia, S. A. \n67. Manuel J. Rosero \nCIAT/IRRl \nApartado Aéreo 6713 \nCali, Colombia, S. A. \n68. Fernando Femández \nCIAT \nApartado Aéreo 6713 \nCali, Colombia, S.A. \n63 \n69. Alexander Grobman \nCIAT \nApartado Aéreo 6713 \nCali, Colombia, S. A. \n70. B. A. C. Enyi \nWARDA \nP. O. Box 1019 \nMonrovia, Liberia \n71 . Jean Loop Notteghem \nlRAT \nBP 604 \nBovake, Costa de Marfil \n72. lván Buddenhagen \nIITA \nP.M.B. 5320 \nIbadan, Nigeria \n73. Pablo Buriticá \nlCA \nApartado Aéreo 151123 \nBogotá, D. E, \nColombia, S.A. \n74. J. C. Lozano \nCIAT \nApartado Aéreo 6713 \nCali, Colombia, S.A. \n75. David R. MacKenzie \nThe Pennsylvania \nState University \nCollege of Agriculture \nDepartment of Plant \nPatology \n211 Buckhout Laboratory \nUniversity Park, Penn. 16802 \nU.S.A. \n76. Carmen de L6pez \nPrograma Delta CVG \nApartado 2224 \nCaracas, Venezuela \n"}

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+{"metadata":{"gardian_id":"6c1defef9b40b5bf0a77f2bea0cabeb4","source":"gardian_index","url":"https://cgspace.cgiar.org/rest/bitstreams/3fc49cf6-a13b-4b6a-90bc-ce3a39390555/retrieve","id":"825571294"},"keywords":[],"sieverID":"1b3773fc-3fb3-4bdf-bb3d-84a8483e9a74","content":"RESUME ' Cet article appuy6 sur une enqu6te socio-ticonomique 6tudie la productivit6 du bananier plantain en association et les con' traintes pour une production d grande 6chelle i partir des m6thodes pratiqu6es en cultutes associries ; on montre que ce dernier s]'steme produit prds de quatre fois plus. Ceci s'explique par I'application 16' gulidre de d6chets domestiques, une attention suivie du paysan et le ben6fice alimentaire retir6 par les plantains des arbres complant6s pr6rennes i enracinement profond. l.es limites du systime sont li6es i la fourniture de matirlre organique et au volume du march6. On peut accroitre la production pour la p6riode ereuse de juin d septembre et aussi en vue de la conqu6te des march6s 6loign6s grdce d de bons emballages.In the high rainfall areas of Eastern Nigeria plantain ranks high as a carbohydrate source. Although fairly large quantities are produced, it is not commonly found in the shifting cultivation systems in which most popular food crops are found. The bulk is produced in small intensively managed village cornpound gardens. These gardens are higNy productive when compared with plot in shifting cultivation or large scale commercial field lnterestingly, village compound garden plantains do not suffer from the rapid decline phenomenon obseryed in other fields. BRAI-DE and WILSON (l) concluded that the high productivity of the village compound garden plantain was the result of organic matter in the form of household refuse and kitchen waste applied regularly to these gardens that are usually close to the house and the kitchen.Important as these gardens are, they are not well understood. There have been cursory investigations into the biological factors, but the economics remain unknown. This report represents preliminary findings of investigation into the economics of plantain production in village compound gardens and their contribution to household income. The report is based on a sample survey of smallholder plantain producers in southeastern Nigeria conducted from January to December 1985. The objective was to describe the snallholder plantain production prac-tices and assess the value of resources used in it.  Mar. 1988, vol.43, no 3, p.161-166.ABSTRACT -This paper, based on a socio'economic survey, investigates the productivitl' of compound plantain production and consriaints to ^large scale production on the basis of the compound p::riuction .\"1hud.. The paper shows that production under the c\",rpound svstem results in nearly four times as.much yield as in non\"ornpornd system. This is ahributed to regular application of kitchen ind other compound wastes, close cultural attention given by the farmen, and to nutrient recycling to the benefit of the compbund plantains from deep tooted perennial tree crops interplanted' i',arge rale production employing the compound methods is limited by iupply of organic matter and by available market for plantains' Availablo markei can be expanded by increased production during the slack period of June to September when output is low and by packaging to reduce damage in transit to take advantage of distant markets.-hq',**.;.,'u*r'*\" Fruitsvol. 43,no3,lggg  Harcourt road. Every.household in this communrty had plantain mats (Fig. l) in the .o.pouud-unal t , also had some plantain mats in locations a titomet.r-o, ,*o uruy from the compound. Et\"u.n .o.fornJ'Of\"rr.,\" producers were purposely selected for the survey. The selection basis was the willingness of the farmers j affow free access to their compound farms to the enurnerator who collected the farmers compound plantain proaucti,on information, All non-compound plantain _plots in ,lre ;;, three in all, were also included in the studv for cornparatJe pLrrposes.The study was in the forrn of direct observatlon of the plantain production activities of the farrners ln their exist_ rng compound or nonrompouncl plantain for a period of l2 calender months. This was ,...;r\";;;;;use trre farmers did not keep records.Informat.ion including yiel<i rate attained ; and labour, organlc matter. and stake inputs were obtained by direct observation by the enurnerator on daily basis. At the end of each day during the l2 monthr p.rlfJ\"llrnuary I to December 31. i985 the enumerat\"; ;l;;.;'\", ,o nour.holds with a weishins.balance una u ,,ru.,r*rJ protbrmer. During the visit he ieterrnined ttr. urnrl.r-of plantain bunches harvested that day, the weigtrt oi each bunch, and whether the bunches were to be sold or eaten at home. He determined hours of labour ,rJ;i;;;;iJus prantain production operations such as tluru.rting, ,tutlni, *..aing, organrc matter appiication, etc. on tiat Aay.. Ue notes whether or not organic matter was applied, *n.ifl., .\"v plantain plant staked, and whether uny'pt*tuin plant fell over as a result of storm or other causes.In addition, retail market prices of plantain bunches were collected on weekly basis in tfre rurat martet, Eke Umuagwo, where the same farmers ,ofO. if,.'ft.e infor_ mation was also collected by direct meth;; u', follo*, , the enumerator bargained for and ,.ign.J a numUe, of bunches individually and bought on\". p];r.fruring ,orn. of the ,commodity was necessary so that the enumeraror would be regarded as a customer to whom competitive pnces would be quoted. In this *.uf .u.t.t l, ,n most other Nigerian markets commodities such as plantain bunches did not carry fixed p\".\". it.V-*\"ie sotO arra \"Tltn,t .by subjective apprarsat and haggling. Thrs necessrtated the bargaining process of gettin!\" -t-t? p.r.. information.The sample size was. srnall, but, in studies of this nature involving frequent collection \"i';f;;;;; by direct observation over extended period, iurr. ,u'rpr., *oufd prove too expensive. However, in'traa]tionat agriculture production practices pro d u ce rs in -,,.,u,,. uJi'r, r::';1' t_ jl1i,]I, :'#J:T\" ;T;i of accuracy of increa cant. .fhere ,u... no,r. rn sample size may not be signifi_ ,,,,. *..u I ;;;.;;_#:rJ#;::il:T::,l::ff: rely to highlight the producti\"itv \"iir,. i\";;;;ro sysrem.SMALLHOLDER ?LANTAIN PRODUSON PRACTICES .ln the compound, plantains are not grown in layed out fields or gardens. plar I o c a t e d \" t ;.,i;; \" ; ;;::l.U:n, X# :l \" X': J#:il':: ;:: trmes within compound *fr\".rop gurd.n. Cinr\"quently, the size of compoundplantain ;.;r;;;;r-;ay not be estimatable in terms of land area iut i; ;;;.; of number of mats. The eleven compound producers had an average of 44 mats each with a range of 12 to ll2. lna laid out plantain production system one hectare will take I 600 mats. The compound production system ls-,re;;;; \"\" a small scale and there is a wide ringe of uariurlo\"n-ln the scale from household to household depending on -iro* rnu.f, space was available in the compound ; h-ow many people in the household were need of the household :l:::::]:-d in owning mats ; the pound tree crops.Ior-numerous other possible com-The plantains wereerstimated to have been planted between 1971 and, 1980. The .ornrn;;;;;.tly\"\"*r, u rar. horn type known locally as <Abagba>. Most of them were interplanted with arable sia esculenta). All were ,:l:lj, :l:h, as. cocovam (coloca' ::.h u: o,r pui\",' (;;-,;\"';i::::;i Tli,irT#::H1;(Tr e c u tia afr i c a na), .o.onu i tco.r3,', \", ij)rri,' oir,.u, oru. (Dacryodes edulis), kolanut (Cota aiuriirini, orune\", (Citrus sinensis), and uon^, Gti)oc\"o^\"iii\"ii,,). Some of the plantains were originally pf.ni.J in\",J#ougn pits from where soit was taken ior h;r; ;;;r;r;;filo\"n. Ho*.u.., at the time of the study most of them stood o0-refuse mounds built up bv conlinuour or.pirg-.\"Ji tl,n.. rrr. most common items in the refuse *.r\" Z\"rr*a'peels and r Fruitrvol. 43ffi, 1988 -163 kitchen wastes especially wood ash. The corms of the plantains were covered with a mulch of applied organic matter from household wastes.Weeding was done occasionally because frequent appli_ cation of refuse suppressed weeds. Staking to prevent falling over of plants carrying bunches was very common. frr average of about l07o of all stands was staked each rnonth during the fruiting period.Two of the non-compound plantaii fields were established in 198 I and the third in 19g2.'The cultrvar used Vas the same as that used in the compound gardens. In all three, the fields were laid out in garden fashion with spac_ ing of 3 m x 3 m. The mean area for the three fields was 0.ll ha and hence they were at small scales. The owners were mere part time plantain producers. They all engaged in other agricultural and even non-agricultural activities. One owner had pineapple and another cassava intercropped with plantain on half of the fields. One field received a large quantity of poultry manure at planting. The others d1d-.not receive any special applicatior=pf organic marrer. All three fields had good weed control. Inorganic fertilizer was not applied in either the compound or non_compound plantains.  I shows estimates of yield and value parameters tn both compound and non-compound plantains. Bunch yield in terms of both number per hectare equivalent (1600 mats) and weight per bunch appear significantly higher in compound than in ,ron.ornporrrd plantains. This resulted in total yield per hectare being nearly four times as much in the compound as in the non_compound plantains (Table I ).The difference in yield could be attributed to the difference in production practices. O.ganic matter from household wastes was. applied on the iu..\"g, nearly 300 days in compound and less than 30 days in n?ncompounO plantains out of the 365 days of tfre ituJv ifrUt\" Z). tn other words, most compound plantains recelvea organic matter daily.While the corms of most compound plantains were completely covered with the organic mattei the corms of non<ompound plantains were in most cases exposed to adverse conditions. This could be responsible for severe attack by plantain weeviJ (Cosmopolites sordidus) in the biggest of the three non-compound helds in March and April. That incidence reduced yields significantly in that field.Labour input was also higher in compound than in non-compound plantain (Table 2). While in non_compound plantain the relatively limited labour input was used for weeding, harvesting and staking ; labour input in com_ pound plantain was used mainly for harvestingand staking. Consequently rate ofstaking was higher (TaUte 2t and stand losses lower in compound than in non{ompouncl plantain. The rates of stand losses, fallen over of plintain trees due to storm or other causes, were 24g plants per hectare equivalent in compound and 354 in non<ompound plantatns during the study period.Most of the cornpound plantains were under the shade of the other perennials also grown in the compounds. As deep rooted trees some of those perennials might have recycled nutrients to the benefit of plantains which are shallow rooted. Most of the noncompound plantains studied were not interplanted with such perennials.The plantain production in the area was mainly market oriented. As much as g0% of total output in both the  cempound and non-compound plantains was solcl for cash ; about 20% in either case was consumed at home. The value of production per hectare equivalent per year (E) was nearly N10,000 (N1.00 is approximately US g 0.25) in compound and less than N3,000 in non_compound plan_ tains (Table l).Most of these retums were Gross Margin because most of the inputs were obtained from household sources. Apart from the largest of the three non-compound producers who employed hired labour on monthly wage basis none of the producers studied purchased inputs during the study period. Stake was cut from the bush with family labour, and or_ ganic matter used in the compound plantain came from household wastes.At such a rate of retum it might be surprising that the compound production was still on small scale. The average compound farmer who owned 44 mats and made only N220 in cash and had N55 worth of plantain consumed at home could have made more if he froduced on a bigger scale. However, production on a larger scale may not be efficient given the constraints of the farmer.The compound which had an area of about 0.2 ha. also carried in ad<iition to houses, perennial crops which besides their direct benefits to the farmer may -hive en_ hanced plantain-production by aiding nutrient recycling. On the average,.lFe I I compound producers studied had, in addition to the 44 plantain mats, three oil palm (Elaeis guinensis), one African breadfruit (Treculia africana), Fruits _ vol. 48, nog, lggg three African pears (Dacryodes edulis), two cola (f,elo acuminata), two coconuts (Cocps nucifera), five Citrus (Citrus sinensls), and one <Ohi> (pterocapus soyauxii) trees all in the compound.The supply of organic matter is also regarded as a ma;or constrarnt to expaasion of production in the compound garden situation. Exact figures on the amount of organic matter to maintain high productivity in these gardens has not been determined. The potential of inorganic ferti_ Iizer in compound gardens is also not known, bui inorganic fertilizers do not maintain production under field conditions (l). Inorganic fertilizers do not supply mulch which appear to be a major factor causing the high yield of compound plantains.But as important as resource limitations to expanslon ,of compound plantain production in the area is aggregate demand limitation. Figures 2 and 3 show that yield was seasonal and followed the rainfall pattern. The total rainfall for Owerri in 1985 was about 2g00 mm. However, that was not evenly distributed over the 12 months, falling mostly between May and October. November to Februarv were the dry months. The major harvest season began in October and continued through May when bunches formed during the rains matured. The bunch took about thJee months to mature (2). Bunches that developed during the rainy months were more robust .than those that developed during the dry rnonths because of more favourable soil moisture dr.rring the rainy season (4).  -165 December was almost 60%. T-his situation would suggest that the market was easily saturated. The market could absorb expanded production, especially along present seasonal distribution of supply, only at give away prices and hence at capital losses to the producers. The market could however, absorb more output if the supply could be increased during the rainy months when output is at present low. Such a redistribution of supply may require irrigation which the small scale producers cannot afford.There is also possibility for expansion of available market in Nigeria when packaging and transporting are improved to allow the product to be presented in good condition in distant placesi Plantain bunches are bulky and perishable and hence expensive to transport to distant non-producing areas. It is estimated that an average piantain finger consists of 30% peel (3) which is not consumed by humans.Figure 5 shows the price differential between the village market in the study area and Oweri urban market only 20 km apart. The market price differential between the two locations over the study period was about l0%. This , could be considered substantial in reiation to the Limited distance between the two market centres. It might not all be due to differences in demand but also due to transportation costs especially because the Owerri urban consumers frequently made their purchases in the village market.;Plantain production in compound gardens in the Owerri area of Nigeria is. profitable, but expansion of production is constrained by limited resources and agggegate demand during the main season. The potential for expansion exists if supply jFn bg increased during.the off season which I occur during middle of the rainy season or when packaging and transporting are improved to alloi the pro'cluct to be presented in good condition in distant places. ,l llt 1. BRAIDE (J.) and WTLSON (c.F.). 1980. Plantain decline : a look at possi-ble cause. Paradisiaco, 4.5-7.2. NDUBIZU (T.9,c.1 and oKAFoR (E.r.  Fruits,Mar.19g8,vol. 43,no 3, RESLIMEN -Rste articulo apoyado en una encuesta socio.econ6mica estudia a productividad aef pi6tano \"n ^o.i.\"'i;\" -V ii.\"'\"riar.\"ionJ para una pmduccidn a gran eicata \" p\".ui a\"-.Jiodo.'!'r.iti.\"do, .n cultivos asociados ;se orueba qie €ste tiltimo sistema pr'oduce casi cua. tro veces m6s. Esro se i*pri\"a ior i\" alil;;\"-\".#i.ii?ii*\"r,o, ao.mesticos, una atenci6n sesuida re r ra a o io;io!\"pi;;il;f ; rX :,TH :fi ',n #:,bT|\"ffi \"1'T:l,T: mizamiento profundo. Los limites del .iste;; -;6n \"iig;i;, \", ,rrni. nistro de materia orgdnica v al :::\".,{;::_;;;,\",6\".;;:;#r:::iT\"Tr\"';'1.::; .i' "}

main/part_2/0476055222.json

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+{"metadata":{"gardian_id":"1290cdccf12ef9272e47f18849f94d5c","source":"gardian_index","url":"https://repository.cimmyt.org/server/api/core/bitstreams/fa5cd6d9-c414-474b-8742-0dc4306724a0/content","id":"720190757"},"keywords":[],"sieverID":"9055a5ff-4b2f-444d-8428-4e37fa1ddf48","content":"Desarrollo del cultivo de maíz en algunas parcelas, se observa poco desarrollo vegetativo, con poca oportunidad para generar grano y forraje, San Marcos Monte de León, Villa de Chilapa de Díaz Productor Fernando Santiago Velasco, de la comunidad de San Bartolo Soyaltepec, estableciendo la mezcla de forrajes en el sistema milpa tradicional Mezcla de canola y ebo, intercalada con maíz, en Villa de Chilapa de Díaz (Izq.), y Heroica Ciudad de Tlaxiaco (Der.), para mejorar la cantidad y calidad de forraje para el ganado, sin disminuir la superficie de siembra del maíz Cultivo de Frijol Ayocote en e perímetro de la parcela para facilitar el manejo del cultivo principal (maíz), el ayocote ayuda a disminuir la erosión del suelo, genera grano para consumo humano y biomasa para enriquecer el forraje para el ganado. San Isidro, Heroica Ciudad de Tlaxiaco (Izq.), San Marcos Monte de León, Villa de Chilapa de Díaz (Der.).Mezclas de forrajes para mejorar la nutrición del ganado, en la región mixteca de Oaxaca. Avena-triticalecebada (arriba), Sorgo-Ebo (abajo), evaluados en la plataforma de investigación de Santo Domingo Yanhuitlán Técnico Raúl Ramírez, realiza revisión de muestras de los forrajes producidos en las diferentes unidades agrícolas, San Marcos Monte de León Aprovechamiento de lo forrajes establecidos en las unidades de producción agrícolas mediante el ensilaje con bolsas plásticas herméticas, para conservarlo y utilizarlo en etapas criticas de escases de alimento para los animales, San Marcos Monte de León."}

main/part_2/0481987526.json

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+{"metadata":{"gardian_id":"e6f7d4f7586703be5774484667e4fc5a","source":"gardian_index","url":"https://cgspace.cgiar.org/rest/bitstreams/d6cb0da9-aa0b-4b7b-b9f2-cc96b762845b/retrieve","id":"-808779769"},"keywords":[],"sieverID":"8d714dac-665c-429b-9c62-e615bfd09770","content":"• We define migrants as those who have sent remittances to a rural area within the last 12 months • 14 percent of youth migrate (15.5 percent female and 12.3 percent male) • Among young females that migrate 75 percent are married • Among young males that migrate 33 percent are married Big differences between young males and females in Groundnut Basin in terms of employment opportunities, education and land access Increased climatic variability is associated with a decrease in population and decrease in young male/female ratio• Improving soil quality through sustainable programs in agriculture may increase yields and keep some of the rural residents in agriculture • Seek ways to keep youth employed not only in agriculture but also in other jobs across the groundnut value chain THANK YOU!!"}

main/part_2/0527981926.json

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+{"metadata":{"gardian_id":"0434af66fed6e6de25d86aded2fbcd5a","source":"gardian_index","url":"https://cgspace.cgiar.org/rest/bitstreams/765c3d93-74c9-4b0b-8ade-264e4683b971/retrieve","id":"734115681"},"keywords":[],"sieverID":"1eac5622-5ea7-43f8-832e-864270bcb649","content":"Women constitute nearly sixty percent of the world's one billion poor. Of one-third billion people living in absolute poverty, over seventy percent are women. Over the last two decades of the twentieth century, the number of women living in absolute poverty has risen by fifty percent (in contrast to thirty percent for men).As the world population doubles the need for food will more than double, and world agricultural output per unit of labor will need to increase by a factor of ten, mostly in the Third World (Marris,1999). FAO estimates show that women account for more than half the labor required to produce the food consumed in the developing world. In Africa -where female farming is of paramount importance, nearly seventy percent of the staple food in the continent is produced by women farmers and is of increasing importance as more men migrate from rural areas in search of work (Saito et al.1990;World Bank 1989) This makes women in the Third World an important group not only as beneficiaries of poverty alleviation but as contributors to the economic growth required to end poverty.The different roles, rights and resources that men and women have in society are an important determinant of the nature and scope of poverty. This is especially (though not uniquely) the case among rural populations in the Third World, where there is a central relationship between the capacity of rural households to produce enough income or food year round to meet their basic nutritional needs and the control women have over inputs and outputs in the food production-to-consumption system. This paper examines the dimensions of poverty and the relationship between gender and the poverty of rural people in the Third World. This analysis is applied to formulate a proposal for the application of science and technology to improving food production and environmental protection, an agenda of central importance to rural women in the Third World.Between 1965 and 1992 according to Marris(1999) global poverty was reduced by about one third to the extent that half a billion people came out of absolute poverty. Nonetheless by the year 2000 there will be 1.5 billion people in absolute poverty in the world.Absolute material deprivation is one dimension of poverty. The UN Human Development Report (1997) for example, uses five statistical indicators all of which affect men and women differently, and are pertinent to describing gender-differentiated deprivation: life expectancy; malnourishment under five years of age; illiteracy; access to safe water and health services. These indicators help to signal a degree of deprivation below which material survival is severely threatened, but cannot tell us much about a number of other dimensions of poverty which are especially important to women.Income is a key aspect of poverty because in the absence of any other material assets, it reflects the capacity of the individual or household to obtain the minimum amount of goods needed to survive in society by sale or exchange of their labor. For example, the United Nations classifies a Third World person as poor if they are trying to live on less than $1 per day (adjusting for international differences in price levels ). For the poor who lack material assets (the \"laboring poor\"), their income depends on the value of their labor . One interpretation is that unemployment, under-employment, low paid work and unpaid work necessary to the maintenance of social lifeand performed largely by women, subsidizes the cost of wage labor in the market and provides a pool of cheap labor when required, thus keeping down overall wages and production costs. Thus efforts to reduce the poverty of low wage people, and in particular women, through income generation need to take into account the possibility that poverty based on the low value of their labor is a functional component of global as well as local market structures. Alleviation of this kind of poverty over the next half century will depend on increased overall economic growth, population control to keep the supply of labor from growing faster than demand, and a demand for labor that exceeds supply (Marris, 1999). This has some important gender implications explored in the next section.Any discussion of the dimensions of poverty needs to go beyond the measurement of income needed to provide the minimum amount of goods needed to survive. A useful framework for analysing the gender dimensions of poverty differentiates four dimensions which complement each other: starvation, subsistence, social coping and participation (Dean, 1999:8, after George andHowards, 1991). Relative poverty is as important as material poverty once starvation is overcome or basic physical survival is achieved. Inequality therefore, remains an important dimension of poverty even when we consider subsistence, which has socially defined standards that vary from one culture to another. By the end of this century the richest countries of the First World (about one tenth of World population), with over half of world GDP will be more than ten times better off than the poorest countries of the Third World (Marris, 1999). Some analysts show that wealth is becoming more concentrated. According to a United Nations report, the world's 358 billionaires in 1996 were wealthier than the combined annual incomes of the poorest 45 percent of the world's population(2.3 billion people). Whereas the richest 20 percent of the world's population were 30 times better off than the poorest 20 per cent in 1960, by the mid-1990ties they were 61 times wealthier (cited in Dean, 1999). Sen (1997) provides a concept of relative poverty very pertinent to analysing the gender dimensions of poverty based on the individual's capacities or capability to do many of the things valued in the society . This is similar to Runciman's (1966) concept of relative deprivation and Peter Townsend's (1979:31-57) concept of relative poverty, defined as the \"lack of resources to obtain the types of diet, participate in the activities, and have the living conditions and amenities which are customary, or are at least widely encouraged and approved , in the societies to which they belong.\" An important contribution by Townsend was to define the poverty line as a situation in which people are excluded from participation in key aspects of the public life of ordinary citizens, a concept which has been built on by others (eg Scott 1994) to interpret poverty in terms of either participation in or \"social exclusion\" from the ordinary things which other members of the public enjoy.The high degree of global material inequality at the end of the twentieth century influences what it means to be poor in relative terms. An example is the emergence of a privileged group in the labor force and among consumers who have access to personal computers from childhood, are highly computer skilled and are internet literate. Their influence in the global economy can make access to computers and computer skills an important element of relative deprivation and social exclusion and ultimately, determine the value of the labor of vast numbers who have not aquired these skills.The concept of social exclusion is important for our purposes because it provides a framework for understanding poverty in terms of different dimensions of participation, whether privileged participation or deprived participation. Jordan (1996) distinguishes between communities \"of fate\" and communities \"of choice\" as dimensions of poverty or wealth. Communities of fate are entrapped by a particular set of social and ecological circumstances, including coercion and subordination, both very relevant dimensions of the poverty of women in Third World societies as discsussed in more detail in the next section. Communities of choice in contrast, have the freedom and the power to define and accrue to themselves forms of social exclusion and privilege.Powerlessness is therefore a key dimension of a definition of poverty, although it is poorly operationalized in research. One way to conceptualize poverty in terms of powerlessness is to analyse the social distribution of risk or opportunity. At the negative end of this powerlessness spectrum might be the risk loss of control over one's own body (eg. of being sold into slavery or prostitution). At the positive end of the spectrum might be the opportunity to migrate to wealthier and higher-wage societies.Understanding poverty in terms of powerlessness has to be related to lack of resources as well as social exclusion from participation or levels of income. For this reason the concept of asset accumulation is an important one. Assets may be material capital (land, usufructory rights of important natural resources, savings, jewelery, livestock or other kinds of physical capital); human capital (education and skills); or social capital (organization ). Different categories of impoverishment can be identified from the crossclassification of income with asset accumulation. For example, people with relatively high income but low asset accumulation will be more vulnerable to unemployment or business downturns that pitchfork them inrto poverty, than people with lower incomes but enough assets to tide them over. Asset accumulation is therefore, particularly important to identifying poverty in terms of exposure to the risk or vulnerability.In summary, a number of dimensions of poverty can be usefully defined for analysing relationships between gender and poverty related to starvation (or absolute material poverty), subsistence, social coping and participation.Income levels and in the absence of other assets, the value of labor are essential determinants of absolute material well-being as well as the capability to achieve the minimum goods defined by the society in question, as necessary for subsistence. Beyond material survival, socio-ecological factors (race, gender, geographical location) can be as important as income in determining access to or exclusion from the things that society defines as important for well-being, as well as degrees of participation and powerlessness. A factor in the capability of individuals to cope with hardship and to manage risk is asset accumulation.The different roles, rights and resources that men and women have in society are an important determinant of the nature and scope of their poverty. These differences are culturally constructed and historically determined; they are supported by social organization and economic systems. As such they can change; and it is a widely held thesis that the allocation of work and the valuation of women's labor has to change if poverty is to be eliminated.The relationship between poverty and gender is especially important because of the positive effect that increasing women's incomes and education has on nutrition, child survival and, as child survival rates improve, on declining birth rates. When unwaged household production is valued , women's contribution is estimated at between 40-60 percent of total household income ( Goldschmidt-Clermont, 1987). This means that efforts to control population growth and provide employment for the poor must build on the provision of decent incomes and education for poor women.Different types of women experience different degrees of poverty or wealth in society. Third World rural women may be unpaid or paid family laborers, they may be wage laborers outside the household, independent or joint entrepreneurs involved in a small business or in trading, they may be landowners in their own right or jointly with relatives.It is therefore, erroneous to discuss Third World women and poverty as if there were one generic situation common to all women. Unfortunately however, there is a dearth of comparative studies which relate different types of women to corresponding levels and types of poverty taking into account the several dimensions of poverty discussed in the previous section, and also compares their poverty with that of men. This is a serious gap in the research.At present therefore, the best we can do is to draw together a series of observations based on individual studies, each of which offer some insights for the overall picture of gender-related poverty and inequality.A number of studies conducted in the last decade show that poverty and food availability depend women's income, because men and women spend income under their control in different ways. The level of women's income is substantially and positively related to household calorie availability, child health and survival. Women typically spend a high proportion of their income on food and health care for children. Men use a higher proprtion for their own personal expenditures(studies by von Braun and IFPRI). For example one study in Guatemala estimates that average yearly profits from nontraditional export crops would double household food expenditures if they were controlled by women rather than their husbands.Women's assets, participation and poverty.Unequal rights and obligations , heavy time pressure to do multiple jobs, lack of access to land, capital, and credit, low levels of participation in agricultural extension support programs, education and collective organizations all prevent women from achieving the same levels of productivity as men. Many studies show that plots of land controlled by women have lower yields than those controlled by men, because of lower access to technology and inputs like fertiliser as well as labor. The potential for growth and food security that could result from improving women farmers access to resources, technology and information are as large or larger in some cases than the gains the expected from breeding \"superplants\". For example, some estimates show that reducing the time burdens of women could increase household cash incomes by 10 %. Estimates of how much women farmers' yields could increase just by giving them the the same level of inputs and education as men farmers range from 7-24 percent .Technology transfer aimed at women has been largely restricted to a few of women's existing activities, in particular traditional work related to housekeeping and childcare (Carr,1993). For example, cooking stoves have received a vast amount of attention worldwide. There have been several large-scale initiatives, such as the UNIFEM global 'WAFT\" program, along with a vast number of projects attempting to provide improved technology to women in their traditional productive work, but \"the transfer of larger and more complex technologies to women has been virtually non-existent\" (Everts, 1998). At the same time, the record is mixed with respect to the unintended or indirect effects of new agricultural technologies on women; in some cases women have succeeded in adopting new varieties and other production technologies; in other cases women have been unable to process high yielding varieties developed without attention to postharvest qualities; in other cases, women laborers have been displaced by the introduction of high yielding varieties together with less labor intensive or more male laborusing technologies.The violence which affects the lives of poor women in the Third World is better documented now than it used to be and shows the many facets of their powerlessness in the most elementary respects: millions of female babies destroyed at or soon after birth such that there is a big \"population gap\" in female vs male births in the Third World (Chambers, 1996); the sale of young girls into forced labor, prostitution or as child brides; the ritual mutilation of female sexual organs; and physical violence used to control women's labor in the household. Other forms of social violence include abandonment of mothers to cope in female-headed households, denial of property rights.Poor rural women are highly vulnerable to deprivation in terms of nutrition, health, education, asset accumulation, skill building and participation in collective organization because they tend to provide the \"safety net\" which protects their children and household against catastrophic poverty. The foundation of this safety net function is the division of labor which allocates a disproportionate share of un-waged or under-waged household and family maintenance work to women. UNDP estimated the value of this type of work at $16,000 billion of global output, of this $11,000 billion worth was carried out by women (UN, 1995).Third world women's un-waged work includes activities that make it possible for laborers, small farms and businesses to work and produce at lower returns to labor and capital than would otherwise be possible: for example, cooking meals, fetching water and firewood, caring for the sick. One example illustrates this process: we costed the labor family women put into a single activity--cooking for field workers--in the course of production of a field crop at what it would cost the male head of household to hire a non-family member to do this task. The cost of hiring made the production of the crop unprofitable; and the conclusions of the economic analysis were borne out by the decisions of male producers in the community not to produce this crop if they did not have a family member to cook for the field workers (Ashby and Guerrero, 1985).A detailed case study carried out in Kenya illustrates a situation of which there a multiple examples: women are increasingly the sole providers of labor on farms, because men migrate to higher wage opportunities, and women's labor is of lower value in the labor market. The added pressure on women's time led to low labor productivity on farm, particularly in femaleheaded households where women neglected on-farm taks in order to hire out their labor to obtain income to meet the immediate food needs of the household (Mutoro, 1997) Another study suggests that women's small enterprises such as food processing and trading provide a similar \"safety net\" function. Most of the enterprises owned by women are very small (maximum 25 employees), have low profit margins, are part-time or seasonal and are frequently run from the home so as to be combined with household responsibilities. Female entrepreneurs often do not increase investment in one specialized activity in order to maximize growth in their business; instead they diversify to minimize risks to stabilize income which guarrantees basic food security. This safety-first orientation is often a response to the more risky strategies undertaken by other family members which are underwritten by the women's provision of a safety net (Downing,1991). This finding that innovators' risk taking in poor households is underwritten by the family, and in particular the provision of basic food security by women, is similar to the results of a study which examined the family background of poor farmers introducing risky new agricultural technologies and found that the early innovators were more likely to belong to extended families. The individual innovators were young men who did not own much land and who worked as sharecroppers or farm laborers, but who belonged to an extended family unit with asssets of land and household labor which enabled them as a group to absorb losses and cushion the individual from economic catastrophe. Young women did not have access to this pattern of familial support for agricultural innovation (Rivera and Ashby, 1985).The low value of women's time and women's work is an important reason why development efforts which provide technologies and income earning opportunities directed at women's traditional activities have to a very large extent, failed to have a significant impact. Unless there is an activity with a higher return to labor, which generates additional income and which does not undermine the \"safety net\" function of women's economic contribution to the household, there is no incentive for women to save time in traditional activities especially if this requires expenditure on new technology.Therefore one of the key interventions needed in poverty eradication is the identification of new opportunities for income generation which have superior returns to labor compared with women's traditional work. These need to be combined with support mechanisms for the \"safety net\" functions for the household provided by women's work and income.Several actors in the international development effort to eliminate poverty have taken important steps towards mainstreaming attention to gender and impact on poor rural women over the past three decades: in 1979 the UN Convention on the elimination of all forms of discrimination against women was adopted; in 1989 the declaration on violence against women followed; the Bejing declaration and platform for action formulated in 1995 at the Un Fourth World Conference on Women was another milestone. Other important commitments are stated in the World Bank since the publication of its paper \"Enhancing Women's participation in Economic Development\" in 1994, the OECD with its position statement \"Gender Equality: Moving towards Sustainable People-Centered Development made in 1995, and the European Union policy statement \"Integrating Gender Issues in Development Cooperation \" also issued in 1995. However, action lags far behind the statement of good intentions. For example, the Consultative Group for International Agricultural Research, a $360 million consortium supported by the same donors who issued the above statements, integrated gender analysis as a program in its mainstream research agenda in 1996. A head count of the number of research studies considering gender reported shows a rise from 140 studies in 1995 to 227 in 1998. There is no reason for complacency about this steady improvement. An analysis of these studies shows that only 11 or 14% of the studies reported were specifically developing technology to benefit rural women.The full integration of gender analysis and the participation of men and women farmers as partners in international agricultural research and technology development requires a three pronged strategy that consists of:• catalysing collaborative research with the centers and partners, to generate sound evidence on the benefits in terms and impact of differentiating the needs of men and women as users of technology, and recognising their different contributions as participants in research ; • supporting capacity building with the Centers to increase skills and knowledge to use gender analysis effectively and appropriately • promoting information dissemination and exchange about best practices and lessons learned . Key elements of a proposal. If we are to take the phrase \"empowering women in agriculture\" as more than a cheap slogan, then we have to work from the foundation relationship between gender and the several dimensions of poverty outlined earlier.Mainstreaming gender into the existing research agenda will not be enough, if that agenda is systematically failing to take into account the sources of income and the assets that women in poor households depend on. Moreover, the effects of globalization which creates a pressing need to find alternative sources of income in situations where traditional means are no longer economically viable, require us to go beyond adjusting technology to fit with the traditional responsibilities and constraints faced by poor men and women farmers. We need to be actively looking at new alternatives in the global economy and the gender-differentiated needs for technology,skills and information required for a frontal attack on poverty.Strengthening the capacity of global agricultural research to take on this task has at least three important elements: 1. Link research institutions with existing sources of information and expertise so that researchers and client groups can readily access and make use of the large body of information on gender, agriculture and technology for women already in existence . These linkages need to focus on strong interactions between technology designers, technology producers (such as small scale artesans, some of whom may be women in the Third World) and technology users (see for an example, Everts, 1998) 2. Identify new livelihood opportunities for the poor in relation to a changing demand for agricultural technology which is analysed separately for men and for women.A coordinated diagnostic research initiative is needed to identify rapidly the priority geographical areas and populations in which genderdifferentiated research and technology development has potential for high payoff in combating poverty. This diagnosis needs to include:• Development of a GIS minimum database, using available data with expert input to identify areas of the world where women's special needs require priority attention • Design sample of areas using the GIS minimum data base to define priority geographic area for rapid appraisal of gender differentiated opportunities and needs.• In sampled areas, network with grassroots organizations and NGO's to select promising technology innovation opportunities for rural women 3. Research for technology development• Select priority entry points where research is needed to promote the development of innovative agricultural technology by and for rural women in selected areas, and the policy interventions needed to ensure access • Institutionalize regular technology evaluations by a network of gender differentiated user groups, as feedback to research on technology design.• Establish an interactive, user-friendly database on evaluations of technologies for women with appropriate institutions • Support regular review and exchange of results • Establish a regular consultation to update the diagnosis of needs and the evaluation of technologies, monitoring and evaluation of impact of gendered research.• Protecting women's traditional rights to land and other resources, including water, forest and grazing are essential. Often this requires participation in effective collective or community based organization . • In general women's access to collective organization for resource management, health and child care, credit, information, marketing and small enterprise development needs strong support. • Formal education and access to informal education and skill building is an essential ingredient of the effort to build women's access to secure non-traditional sources of income with forward linkages to improving child survival rates and decline in the birth rate."}

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