CPWF Research for Development Series

Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://hdl.handle.net/10568/3653

The CPWF R4D (Research for Development) Series is one of the main publication channels of the program. Papers within the series present new thinking, ideas and perspectives from CPWF research with a focus on the implications for development and research into use. Papers are based on finalized research or emerging research results. In both instances, papers are peer reviewed and findings are based on on sound scientific evidence and data though these may be incomplete at the time of publication. The series brings together multi-disciplinary research, global syntheses and findings that have implications for development practitioners at various levels.

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Now showing 1 - 11 of 11

Innovation Platforms to Enhance Participation in Rainwater Management: Lessons from The Nile Basin Development Challenge with a Particular Focus on Political Economy and Equity Issues
(Working Paper, 2014-09-30) Tucker, Josephine; Cullen, Beth; Amsalu, Aklilu; Ludi, Eva
This paper draws lessons from two years of work with ‘innovation platforms’ that were established by the Nile Basin Development Challenge (NBDC) program in an attempt to strengthen landscape-level rainwater management in Ethiopia. The NDBC’s work included the use of an innovation fund to support pilot interventions. This paper particularly reviews questions of political economy and equity in platform activities and examines decision-making processes, the roles and level of influence of different platform members, the nature of platform-community relations and the extent to which different groups are benefiting. The information presented in this working paper was gathered from a mixture of sources: interviews conducted with platform members; observation of meetings and activities by NBDC staff; official minutes of platform meetings and other associated events (e.g., training sessions) and informal discussions between NBDC staff and platform members.
Agricultural Water Management Technology Expansion and Impact on Crop Yields in Northern Burkina Faso (1980-2010): A Review
(Working Paper, 2014-06) Morris, Joanne; Barron, Jennie
Agricultural water management (AWM) interventions, such as soil and water conservation or small-scale irrigation around small-scale water reservoirs, have repeatedly shown benefits to yields, soil fertility and water availability – at the field and experimental farm scale. It is assumed that these benefits will result in better and more sustainable livelihoods. However, there has been little published evidence of such wide-scale beneficial impacts. This study synthesizes evidence, at the sub-national scale of region, across northern Burkina Faso, of adoption rates of AWM interventions compared with indicators of impact on livelihoods in the form of yield changes, poverty indices and food security. Using several independent sources (national statistics and independent reports and peer papers), the study has found multiple pieces of evidence that since the 1990s provincial adoption rates have been a minimum of 10-20% in provinces with >700 mm of rainfall and up to 40% in several other provinces. Over the same time period, regional cereal yields have had similar rates of increase (ca 3%) as the adoption of soil water conservation and small reservoir expansion. The link to poverty and food security is less clear, highlighting that at the provincial and regional scale much more data is needed to establish the causality between AWM adoption, crop yields and poverty/food security impacts. Multiple methods exist for developing knowledge on provincial and regional level AWM technology adoption and livelihood impacts, but such information is not readily available in the public domain for decision making, research or policy. The methods for measuring indicators of development impact should be explored further. It is particularly critical to capture indicators linking field-scale improvements to the broader socioeconomic and institutional pro-poor development agenda of rural livelihood systems in semi-arid West Africa.
Messages from the Ganges Basin Development Challenge: Unlocking the Production Potential of the Polders of the Coastal Zone of Bangladesh through Water Management Investment and Reform
(Working Paper, 2014-05) To Phuc Tuong; Humphreys, Elizabeth; Khan, Zahirul Haque; Nelson, Andrew; Mondal, Manoranjan K.; Buisson, Marie-Charlotte; George, Pamela
The coastal polders of Bangladesh are characterized by extremes in terms of both challenges and opportunities. The polders are home to about 8 million people, where 85% of rural householders live under the national poverty line. The polders are subjected to flooding during the rainy season; drought and salinity during the dry season, and cyclones. In addition, the impacts of climate change, especially sea level rise, will be most severe in this region. Much of the poverty of the region has been attributed to soil and water salinity and flooding, which constrain agricultural and aquacultural productivity and cropping system intensification. The CGIAR Challenge Program on Water and Food (CPWF) Ganges Basin Development Challenge (GBDC) research shows that this need not be the case! This document draws on the GBDC research findings and discussions over the last decade and presents seven key evidence- based messages. The aims of the messages are to correct misperceptions about water resources and the production potential of the coastal zone, and to advocate for changes in resource-use technologies, resource management policies, institutional coordination and governance mechanisms. The seven messages are summarized below; their details with explanatory notes and supporting evidence are included in the main text.
Linking Knowledge: A Qualitative Analysis of Gender and IWRM-related Policies in the Upper East Region of Ghana
(Working Paper, 2014-03) Lasiter, Kalie; Stawicki, Stephanie
While this study was originally conducted to gather baseline data on the general activities, issues, and concerns of women in the Upper East Region in northern Ghana, the initial data collection led to the discovery that women in the Upper East Region are organized, either by their own accord or through the recommendation of local governing bodies, in social groupings that fulfill specific needs such as access to credit, access to agricultural inputs, and access to reciprocal labor and support. The objective of the study shifted to include an analysis of the processes, opportunities and constraints of how and why women organize themselves in these particular social groupings. The paper concludes with an evaluation of how, if at all, IWRM-related district, regional and national level policies from government departments such as the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MOFA), the Ministry of Women’s and Children’s Affairs (MOWAC), and the Ministry of Water Resources, Works and Housing (MWRWH) address women and their social networks in Ghana.
Lessons from the Nile Basin Development Challenge Program: An Institutional History
(Working Paper, 2013-10) Merrey, Douglas J.; Swaans, Cornelis P.M.; Le Borgne, Ewen
The Nile Basin Development Challenge (NBDC) program is a multi-disciplinary, multi-institutional participatory “Research for Development” (R4D) partnership. It is aimed at improving the resilience of rural livelihoods in the Ethiopian highlands through a landscape approach to rainwater management (RWM), with a special focus on the Blue Nile (Abay) River Basin. The R4D paradigm has several elements, including: using scientific research as a means to achieve specific development goals rather than as an end in itself; a focus on achieving tangible systemic changes over the long run; the use of a transparent model or “theory of change” to guide the program; inclusive partnerships among all participants based on mutual respect; and, a strong emphasis on collectively learning from experience and sharing that experience more widely. The NBDC uses multiple means to learn lessons from its experience as a basis for adapting its activities. This Institutional History consolidates and communicates some of those lessons. This Institutional History is intended to contribute both to setting a new rainwater management R4D agenda in the Nile Basin and to influence the approach taken in future R4D programs such as the CGIAR Research Program on Water, Land and Ecosystems (WLE).
Rural poverty and Food insecurity mapping at district level for improved agricultural water management in the Limpopo River Basin
(Working Paper, 2013-10) Magombeyi, Manuel Simba; Akpofure, Taigbenu; Barron, Jennie
The Challenge Program on Water and Food (CPWF) Phase II for the Limpopo Basin Development Challenge (LBDC) project aims to develop methods, processes, and technologies to help resource- constrained smallholder farmers mitigate poverty and food insecurity through improved agricultural water management (AWM) strategies. The purposes of this paper are to: 1) Identify areas in the Limpopo River Basin with high levels of rural poverty and food insecurity; 2) Identify areas where AWM interventions are taking place; and 3) Check whether current activities of the CPWF in the Limpopo Basin are located in areas of need as per poverty profiles and geographical location of smallholder farms. The generated poverty and food insecurity maps were based on food security surveys and estimates of consumption or income-based welfare outcomes at the district level from 2003–2013. Based on existing district level poverty and other relevant data in the basin, the study shows that the LBDC study sites are located in poor areas in the Limpopo Basin, and poverty reduction efforts should prioritize vulnerable female and child-headed households as they are the most negatively impacted by poverty and food insecurity in the four countries. Hence, with the overall aim of CPWF under LBDC to reduce poverty and food insecurity, and improve livelihoods, poverty indices should rank highly as one of the factors for project site selection. Poverty and food insecurity mapping plays an important role in identifying areas lagging behind in social and economic development, and also in facilitating targeted developmental programs such as education, health, access to credit, agricultural production support and food aid. However, it should be recognized that using district-level information often masks the existence of poverty pockets in otherwise relatively well-off districts, which could lead to poorly targeted AWM schemes. In addition, the poverty index is limited by the subjective nature of community-level and household-level factors that influence it, and this is reflected by the responses from research participants. Whereas a common poverty line for a particular time frame enables poverty comparisons across countries, local level poverty assessments, however, usually require more in-depth and diverse information that can be used in designing cost-effective and efficient anti-poverty programs and livelihoods enhancement opportunities. In order to achieve the research project’s goals of poverty and food insecurity reduction, and livelihood enhancement of smallholder farmers in the Limpopo Basin, it is of greater significance to understand trends in poverty rates rather than 1-year values at CPWF-LBDC study sites. Poverty maps that highlight areas marginalized by resource constraints help in setting priorities for developing technologies and in deploying resources where they are most needed and likely to alleviate poverty and food insecurity. This work provides background information on the Limpopo Basin.
Rhetoric versus realities: A diagnosis of rainwater management development processes in the Blue Nile Basin of Ethiopia
(Working Paper, 2013-02-21) Ludi, Eva; Belay, A.; Duncan, Alan J.; Snyder, Katherine A.; Tucker, Josephine; Cullen, Beth; Belissa, M.; Oljira, T.; Teferi, A.; Nigussie, Z.; Deresse, A.; Debela, M.; Chanie, Y.; Lule, D.; Samuel, D.; Lema, Zelalem; Berhanu, A.; Merrey, Douglas J.
Evolution of agricultural water management in rainfed crop-livestock systems of the Volta Basin
(Working Paper, 2012-08-29) Douxchamps, Sabine; Ayantunde, Augustine A.; Barron, Jennie
This study of the evolution of AWM in the Volta Basin yielded key recommendations for research-for-development interventions and new concepts for research on water management. When promoting AWM strategies, projects should carefully study the available information on factors triggering adoption, and play on these to ensure sustainable uptake of the technology. Local capacities and agendas should be better accounted for when promoting AWM strategies or low-cost irrigation technologies. Participatory management of the water infrastructure should be carefully planned through integration of maintenance costs in project budget, capacity building of actors towards assumption of more responsibility, and ways to deal with turnovers within management committees. Farmers’ capacity building is definitely a key asset for enlightened risk management and constant adaptation to new variable conditions. Future research and development projects should concentrate on how to leverage the factors limiting adoption and enhancing system productivity while maintaining healthy ecosystem services. There is a need for a system perspective, to improve water-crop-livestock interactions, to develop off-season cultivation options and market access, and to balance distribution of gender benefits. There is a need for a multi-scale, landscape perspective, to understand ecological landscape processes and trade-offs between ecosystem services derived from and affected by AWM strategies adoption across different scales. There is a need for an institutional perspective, to facilitate management of AWM structures and to raise awareness. Finally, there is a need for a long-term perspective, to foresee the best strategies for adaptation to climate change and manage risk in the variable environment of the Volta Basin.
Fishery productivity and its contribution to overall agricultural production in the Lower Mekong River Basin
(Other, 2011) Mainuddin, Mohammed; Kirby, Mac; Chen, Yun
The Mekong River and its ecosystems have one of the most diverse and abundant fisheries in the world. The fisheries are a major factor in the well-being and livelihoods of the nearly 70 million people especially in the lower Mekong Basin who derive their livelihood from fishery and also depend on fish and other aquatic animals for nutrition and food security. Fishery production and value have been the subject of many studies and some data are available from national and international statistical databases. None of these, however, offer a reliable, consistent set of data on the spatial and temporal trends at a similar level of resolution across the basin. Because of the shortcomings in the data, there are major uncertainties in estimates of fishery production and its value in the four countries of the lower Mekong Basin: Cambodia, Lao PDR, Thailand and Viet Nam. Catch surveys tend to underestimate the production, while consumption-based estimates are regarded as more reliable indicators. We combined official statistics with several consumption-based estimates to examine the spatial and temporal trends in production and value of capture fish and aquaculture. The highest estimates of production range from 42 kg/capita/year in the Lao PDR to 65 kg/capita/year in Cambodia, the latter figure being comparable to consumption in Japan. Production is dominated by capture fisheries in Cambodia (where it is concentrated around the Tonle Sap and the Mekong River), Laos and Thailand. In Viet Nam, aquaculture dominates production and is concentrated around the main rivers in the delta and along the coastal strip. While there are uncertainties in the data, it appears that production until 2005 from capture fisheries has not increased significantly in all the four lower Mekong countries. In aquaculture, there has been a large increase in production in the Mekong Delta region of Viet Nam since about 2000. The highest estimates of value, using consumption-based estimates of production, mainly from capture fisheries, give an annual value of about US$3 billion. Other estimates place the overall value somewhat lower. The value is probably not changing greatly with time. Aquaculture in Viet Nam is rapidly increasing in value, matching the increase in production, and in 2005 was worth over US$1 billion. The contribution of the fishing sector to overall agricultural production (crops, livestock and fish) is small in the Lao PDR and Thailand, but larger in Cambodia and growing in Viet Nam. The demand for fish products will rise in the future, partly as a result of increasing population in the region and partly as a result of increasing incomes. Moreover, there may also be a continuing rise in the export of fish products. The lower Mekong fisheries face threats to production from changed water availability and quality, dams and other barriers affecting fish migration and productivity, and overfishing. If the increased demand is to be met, these threats must be managed so that production, especially of wild capture fish, does not decline. The increasing demand appears unlikely to be met through an increase in production of capture fisheries. The current rapid growth of aquaculture, if it can be maintained, does appear capable of meeting the demand. There are neither quantitative estimates of the limits to growth of this industry, however, nor whether it will pose risks for the capture fisheries since aquaculture needs huge quantities of fish fry as feed. Rice-fish farming may also contribute to increased fish production, but again the impact appears not to have been quantified
Mitigating the effects of hydrologic variability in Ethiopia: an assessment of investments in agricultural and transportation infrastructure, energy and hydroclimatic forecasting
(Working Paper, 2008) Block, Paul J.
Ethiopia is at a critical crossroads with a burgeoning population, a severely depressed national economy, insufficient agricultural production, and a minimal number of devel- oped energy sources. This study assesses how investment in and management of water resources, together with related policy reforms, may mitigate the negative effects of hydrologic variability on the performance and structure of the Ethiopian economy. This is accomplished by identifying interventions both aimed at managing hydrologic variabil- ity, and at decreasing the vulnerability of the economy to potential shocks. The areas of focus include increased infrastructure for agricultural irrigation and roads, large-scale hydropower generation, and a precipitation forecast model. A dynamic climate agro-economic model of Ethiopia is utilized to assess irrigation and road construction investment strategies in comparison to a baseline scenario over a 12-year time horizon. Although both investments create positive economic boosts, the irrigation investment, on average, slightly outperforms the road investment, producing an average gdP growth rate of 0.95% versus 0.75% over the baseline scenario, along with lower associated poverty and malnutrition rates. The benefit-cost (b-c) ratios for the projects also favor the irrigation investment. The upper Blue nile basin harbors considerable untapped potential for irrigation and large-scale hydropower development and expansion. An integrated model is employed to assess potential conditions based on hydrologic variability and streamflow policies. The model indicates that large-scale development typically produces b-c ratios from 1.6- 2.1 under historical climate regimes for the projects specified. Climate change scenar- ios indicate potential for small b-c increases, but reflect possible significant decreases. stochastic modeling of scenarios representing a doubling of the historical frequency of El niño events indicates b-c ratios as low as 1.0 due to a lack of timely water. An evaluation of expected energy growth rates reinforces the need for significant economic planning and the necessity of securing energy trade contracts prior to extensive devel- opment. A Ramsey growth model for energy development specifies project multipliers on total gdP over the 100-year simulation ranging from 1.7-5.2, for various climatologic conditions. The Blue nile basin also holds possibility for improvement in rain-fed agricultural pro- duction through precipitation forecasting. one-season lead predictors for forecasting of the Kiremt season precipitation are identified from the large scale ocean-atmosphere- land system. This forecast is of tremendous value, giving farmers crucial indication of potential future climatic conditions, and is a solid improvement over climatology, as currently utilized by the Ethiopian national Meteorological Institute. Using crop yield potential from the 1961-2000 period and general seed costs, farmers basing cropping decisions on the forecast model, in lieu of climatology, would have experienced superior net incomes.
Use of decision support systems to improve dam planning and dam operation in Africa.
(Working Paper, 2011-04) McCartney, Matthew P.; King, Jackie
After a hiatus in dam investment, through the 1990s and the early part of this century, construction of large dams is increasing again. Modern decision support systems can usefully input to this process by guiding the analysis of complicated hydrological, environmental, social and economic factors associated with water allocation and assessing the impact of different, often conflicting, management options both in planning and operation of dams. This publication highlights the constructive role that decision support systems can play in planning and operation of dams. It illustrates the importance of considering environmental and social issues in decision making so that positive benefits of large dams can be maximized and the negative impacts minimized.

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