AR Research Framework T eam

1. Sustainable Intensification of Cereal-Livestock based Farming Systems in sub-Saharan Africa: M &E Meeting, Addis Ababa , Ethiopia, 5-7 September 2012 Research Framework Overview AR Research Framework Team

2. Research Design: Guiding Principles • Focusing on agricultural intensification • Applicable to all AfricaRISING countries • In line with the CRP 1.1 and 1.2 “systems” logic • Account for change at farm-level / “whole-farm productivity” • Integrate multiple stakeholders (innovation delivery and value chain linkages) • Focus on staple food intensification/productivity within major farming systems but with consideration of nutrition and diversification • Research that backstops other FtF investments • In line with USAID mission investments • Provide a logical structure for the AR research framework

3. Overview • Context: Opportunities and constraints • Purpose • Objectives and Outcomes • Guiding Principles and Conceptual Framework • Research Design

4. Constraints and Opportunities Constraints Limited access to: - improved technologies; - input and output markets; - pro-poor policies and effective intitutions; - land and water resources Environomental degradation Climate change/variability (rainfed production) Lack of knowledge and limited access to appropriate technologies; Overstocking and over-grazing Low productivity Biodiversity & Land cover loss Soil erosion Increased food insecurity, risk, and vulnerability of household livelihoods  Viable Pathways to Sustainable Intensification

5. Constraints and Opportunities (cont’d) Opportunities Community-based and participatory research: - identification and promotion of appropriate technological (production and post-harvest), institutional, and policy options; - agricultural productivity improvement; - better resource management; - alternative income generating activities; Growth in food/feed demand and food diversification Investment in input supply systems (seed and fertilizer); Export markets and multi-stakeholder partnerships Development of sustainable livelihoods Community capacity building Own-food security (self-reliance), improved nutrition, income security, conserved or enhanced natural resource base Sustainably Intensified Cereal-Livestock-based Farming Systems

6. Purpose Provide pathways out of hunger and poverty for small holder families through sustainably intensified farming systems that sufficiently improve food, nutrition, and income security, particularly for women and children, and conserve or enhance the natural resource base.

7. Research Objectives • To identify and evaluate demand-driven options for sustainable intensification that accelerate progress toward rural poverty alleviation, improved nutrition and equity, and ecosystem stability [H1, H2, H3] • To evaluate, document and exchange experiences on processes and mechanisms for integrating and delivering innovations for sustainable intensification to facilitate their uptake beyond the Africa RISING action research sites. [H4]

8. Development Objectives • To improve smallholder farm households’ livelihoods so that they can move out of poverty and improve the nutritional status, especially of young children and mothers, while improving or maintaining ecosystem stability within Africa RISING action research sites. [H4] • To facilitate partner-led dissemination of integrated innovations for sustainable intensification beyond the Africa RISING action research sites. [H4]

9. Research outcomes • Integrated innovations used for intensifying farming practices of targeted types of households in a sustainable manner within identified development domains. • Tools and approaches for identifying, evaluating and disseminating integrated innovations for sustainable intensification used for poverty alleviation and improving nutritional status of young children and mothers, while maintaining ecosystem stability. • The aggregated impact of integrated, innovative farming practices at the household level is used to improve the understanding of ecosystem stability (at the landscape level).

10. Development Outcomes • Small-holder farming households sustainably increase the overall productivity of their farms, and thus their agricultural output, income diversity, and improve nutrition and welfare especially young children and mothers, within the Africa RISING action research sites. • Small-holder farming households experience increased resilience of their farming systems, and thus reduced vulnerability to adverse environmental and economic challenges within Africa RISING action research sites. • The development community increasingly uses innovative outreach and support approaches, and related data & knowledge management systems to design integrated innovations for sustainable intensification at the farm household scale.

11. Guiding Principles & Conceptual Framework • Farm household scale : Africa RISING investments and activities focal domain • Decisions scale:e.g. production, gender and nutrition issues, household welfare, soil health, and productivity issues; • Decisions conditions: assets (e.g. land, labor, livestock, and financial resource endowments), and livelihoods, production objectives and aspiration of households within a given regional and landscape context; • Research activities focus:understanding household needs and incentives in order to better support evaluation, adoption and adaptation of the most relevant interventions.

12. Guiding Principles & Conceptual Framework Development domains: Condition SI challenges, opportunities, and potential impacts

13. National Level Regional Level District District No intervention Platforms: SI innovations “Counterfactual” Village Village Village Village Village Village No TF1 TF2 intervention R4D Platforms: Trials Design Degree of intervention/ method Limited /observation Limited /observation Some /exploration High/Fisher or classical experiment-ation: Mother-Baby; RCTS

14. Research Hypotheses H1. Adoption and integration hypotheses Adoption hypothesis:Demand-driven innovations are adopted in preference to supply-driven innovations. Integration hypothesis:Innovations that mutually reinforce whole farm performance/productivity produce greater and more sustained benefits than the joint adoption of equally effective single use/purpose innovations. H2. Trade-off hypothesis Tailoring sets of innovation options to the constraints and opportunities encountered in specific development domain-by-household type strata enhances the win-win outcomes of innovation use (e.g. reduces the scale of negative trade-offs between farm productivity and environmental integrity). H3. Innovation sequencing and sustainable intensification pathways hypothesis The likelihood of innovation adoption resulting in sustainable intensification pathways over time is conditioned by the sequence in which those innovations are integrated and applied. H4. Scalability hypothesis A stratified approach to targeting and evaluating SI-related innovations will increase the relevance and scalability of findings from action research sites to similar strata elsewhere.

15. Research Outputs RO 1:Situation Analysis and Programme-wide Synthesis: activities include site characterisation and stratification as well as identification of promising technologies. RO 2:Integrated Systems Improvement: participatory technology development and / or identification for wide propagation and adaptation. RO 3: Scaling and Delivery of Integrated Innovation: generation of integrated technology combinations that are more effectively targeted on farmer’s real development needs. RO 4:Integrated M and E Process: wrapping the three process-oriented outputs in a firm M and E framework that will ensure first two components will generate integrated technology.