Systemwide Livestock Programme

This week, research teams on the SLP-supported project ‘Optimizing benefits from crop residues in smallholder crop-livestock systems in Africa and South Asia regional case studies’ are meeting in Addis Ababa to review progress and workplans. The two-year project is carrying out regional case studies in South Asia, Southern Africa, East Africa and West Africa.

The meeting was opened by Systemwide Livestock Programme (SLP) Coordinator Bruno Gerard. He introduced the project and the three principal research questions:

• What determines the decisions about crop residue use (current crop management, agro-ecology, markets/institutions, resource endowments and dynamics)?
• What is the impact of those decisions on livelihood and system sustainability?
• What are the technology, institutional and policy options that would enhance livelihood and environmental benefits?

See his presentation:

He also introduced a survey of the participants to gather some information on who’s attending the meeting, their views on the project goals and approach, issues associated with crop residues, and on the SLP itself.

See the survey results online at http://tinyurl.com/slpsurvey

See the project proposal and flyer

See the meeting wiki page

See the December 2010 newsletter

Important components of the ‘Optimizing benefits from crop residues in smallholder crop-livestock systems in Africa and South Asia regional case studies’ project are village and household surveys in each of the four regions.

The village group surveys aim to capture: drivers and market access, communal feed resources, and systems evolution in term of feeding strategies and soil productivity. The thematic household surveys aim to capture: decision making for the allocation of crop residues, soil fertility management practices and feeding strategies, and retrospective questions to understand farm evolution and trajectories.

During is week’s project review and planning meeting, Diego Valbuena shared some comparative aggregated village data from the 7 different project sites – in Bangladesh, Ethiopia, India, Kenya and Zimbabwe.

See his presentation:

See the project proposal and flyer

See the meeting wiki page