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Selecting sites to prove the concept of IAR4D in the Lake Kivu Pilot Learning Site

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Relation http://oar.icrisat.org/7217/
 
Title Selecting sites to prove the concept of IAR4D in the Lake Kivu
Pilot Learning Site
 
Creator Farrow, A
Opondo, C
Rao, K P C
Tenywa, M
Njeru, R
Kashaija, I
Kamugisha, R
Ramazani, M
Nkonya, E
Kayiranga, D
Lubanga, L
Nabahungu, L
Kamale, K
Mugabo, J
Mutabazi, S
 
Subject Agriculture-Farming, Production, Technology, Economics
 
Description Selecting sites is an essential step in enabling the assessment of the impact of Integrated
Agricultural Research for Development (IAR4D) in the Lake Kivu Pilot Learning Site. This paper
reports on the process of identifying distinct administrative territories (sites) in which to establish
innovation platforms and to monitor similar communities that are experiencing alternative
agricultural research for development interventions. We show how the research design for the Sub-
Saharan Africa Challenge Programme (SSACP) has been modified to take into account the key
conditioning factors of the LKPLS without relinquishing robustness. A key change is the explicit
incorporation of accessibility to multiple markets. Candidate sites were stratified according to the
national political context, followed by good and poor accessibility to markets and finally according
to security considerations and agro-ecology. Randomisation was carried out at all levels, although
the need for paired counterfactual sites required the diagnosis of conditioning factors at the site
level. Potential sites were characterised in terms of existing or recent agricultural research
initiatives, as well as local factors that would have a direct effect on the success of interventions
seeking to improve productivity, ameliorate the degradation of natural resources and enhance
incomes through better links to markets. Fourteen sites were selected during the initial phase, and a
further ten sites were added one year afterwards due to the need for more innovation platforms to
test IAR4D. The site selection was successful in pairing action and counterfactual sites in terms of
the baseline socioeconomic conditions of farming households. The unavoidable proximity of action
and counterfactual sites, however, allows the possibility of spill-over effects and could reduce the
measurable impact of IAR4D.
 
Publisher African Association of Agricultural Economists
 
Date 2013
 
Type Article
PeerReviewed
 
Format application/pdf
 
Language en
 
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Identifier http://oar.icrisat.org/7217/1/AJARE_8_3_101-119_2013.pdf
Farrow, A and Opondo, C and Rao, K P C and Tenywa, M and Njeru, R and Kashaija, I and Kamugisha, R and Ramazani, M and Nkonya, E and Kayiranga, D and Lubanga, L and Nabahungu, L and Kamale, K and Mugabo, J and Mutabazi, S (2013) Selecting sites to prove the concept of IAR4D in the Lake Kivu Pilot Learning Site. African Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, 8 (3). pp. 101-119.