A conversation with Bill Payne, Director of the CGIAR Research Program on Dryland Systems
The Dryland Systems program – the newest of the 16 CGIAR Research Programs (CRPs) – takes a highly innovative approach to tackling problems of poverty, food and nutrition insecurity and environmental degradation in some of the world’s most challenging conditions. The drylands are home to 93% of the world’s malnourished people.
The multi-disciplinary systems research model underpins the entire Dryland Systems program and sets it apart from most other research initiatives, based on single commodities or solutions.
This holistic method combines several research disciplines, including crop, livestock, rangeland, aquatic and agroforestry systems, while addressing issues related to natural resource management, socio-economics, market linkages, policies and other livelihood options.
Behind this ambitious initiative, led by the International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA), is a wide-ranging partnership of researchers, national agricultural institutes, rural development agencies, civil society organizations and the private sector.
Launched in April 2013, the next stage will be to design, test and deliver intervention packages in action sites, before these trial initiatives are assessed and scaled out in similar agro-ecological dryland sites with comparable conditions.
Using the systems approach, the Dryland Systems program aims to improve food security and generate higher and more secure incomes for 87 million people over the next 15 years. It also seeks to raise the productive capacity of natural resources and reduce degradation across 11 billion hectares of land.
In an interview, Bill Payne, Director of the Dryland Systems program, talks about rapid progress in drawing up targets and testing interventions on the ground. He also discusses links with other CRPs and the need for setting up impact assessment mechanisms, so that all the many stakeholders involved can work to a common goal.
The Drylands System is one of the youngest CRPs. What stage are you at?
At our recent launch workshop we produced seven Intermediate Development Outcomes (IDOs). These weren’t produced out of the blue. These were outcomes that were common to all five of the regions where the Dryland Systems research program works. But we have to implement the Dryland Systems program in five different regions, which are each distinctly different. And there are two very different categories – those that are highly vulnerable, where we would focus on mitigation, and those where we would focus on sustainable intensification. So really you have at least ten action sites, and obviously the partners in each of those regions will be different. So now we have to go to the individual regions to discuss with partners how to implement this program on the ground.
What is a systems approach and why it is needed in the drylands?
Most problems are complex and they don’t lend themselves to one-off silver bullet approaches. Historically, much of the success we have had in food production and security has been based on single technologies and responses. A classic example is a better variety of wheat that produces more grain. But some more intractable problems are much more complicated than that and nowhere is that more true than in the dry areas, because there is not enough rain, soils are degraded, people tend not to have much capital and there are cultural issues, such as marginalization of women or certain ethnic groups or youth that make it very difficult for people to benefit from these one-off type responses.
How can a systems approach help?
One of the first things a systems approach can do is to diagnose the underlying characteristics that are contributing to food insecurity and poverty. Then we look at an entire range of options that might lend themselves to alleviating these problems. After that, we prioritize research interventions that may improve parts of the system, using tools such as modeling, statistical analysis or other modern techniques. And then we try to bring those parts together with a view to affecting people’s livelihoods or improving food security. This may involve halting land degradation, giving credit or empowering women so they can make decisions that affect nutrition within a household or their access to certain natural resources. These are generalities that apply almost universally to all the dryland systems where we work. The actual implementation ends up being quite different according to specific regions, provinces or even villages, but the overall approach is common.
Is the systems approach unique to this CRP?
There are three systems CRPs – the Drylands System, the Humidtropics and the Aquatic Agricultural Systems – and each one is associated with a different agro-ecological zone. The approaches and tools are somewhat similar. But the region or site-specific solutions and the different components in a system that are most important to resolving problems of food security and livelihoods are going to be quite different. So we are not unique in the sense that we are doing systems research. But the solutions that we are arriving at on the ground are very much related to our specific to the drylands.
How important is to find common targets and impact pathways among the CRPs?
We have to have somewhat common approaches to identifying our IDOs and our approaches to describing our theories of change and our impact pathways. But the specific nature of them is quite different. The strategies and approaches are fairly diverse. We all have to have IDOs, we all have to have theories of change. We all have to have impact pathways. Those are the common approaches.
Is the Dryland Systems program interacting with any other CRP?
Yes, with a great many. All the CRPs are linked, ultimately because they are all trying to achieve the same goals. There have to be linkages in terms of outputs, scale, and there are also going to be commonalities and cross-cutting themes, such as capacity building or gender.
How important is it to draw up targets and then establish measurements by which to gauge the impact?
In systems research you include so many different disciplines and stakeholders that a clear set of targets is needed to keep the focus. Stakeholders will have diverse views on what is most important, so you have to have a clear target and measures to measure impact to keep everybody on board.
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More information:
CGIAR Research Program on Dryland Systems
See CGIAR Research Program Engagement with Donors and External Stakeholders for more resources relating to the setting of targets and gauging impacts across the CGIAR Research Program portfolio. #LELP2013 #Ag4Dev (Listening Engaging Learning Progressing – LELP2013)
Photo credit: Neil Palmer (CIAT-CCAFS)