Sustainable agriculture and natural resource management in India's semi-arid tropics.

Increasing support for sustainable development has stimulated institutional change for international programming. In the late 1980s, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), in response to a Congressional request, created the new Collaborative Research Support Program (CRSP). That initiative focused on the research needs of sustainable agriculture and natural resource management (SANREM). Because of the broad range of the CRSP, the National Research Council was asked to design an integrated research approach, help define research priorities, and suggest management arrangements that would enable sharing knowledge with other AID development activities. The recommended research approach was interdisciplinary, intersectoral, participatory, and systems-based. It was also expected to link socioeconomic and ecological systems (National Research Council, Toward Sustainability: A plan for Collaborative Research on Agriculture and Natural Resource Management. Washington, D.C.: National Academy Press, 1991).

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Education for Sustainable Agriculture and Natural Resource Management on Bougainville

Science Education in Context ◽

10.1163/9789087902490_005 ◽

2008 ◽

pp. 33-43

Keyword(s):

Resource Management ◽

Sustainable Agriculture ◽

Natural Resource Management ◽

Natural Resource

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Rural Roads and Natural Resource Management in the Semi-arid Lands of Kenya

Journal of Applied Sciences ◽

10.3923/jas.2004.242.249 ◽

2004 ◽

Vol 4 (2) ◽

pp. 242-249

Author(s):

S.M. Mwakubo ◽

H.K. Maritim ◽

W.K. Yabann

Keyword(s):

Resource Management ◽

Natural Resource Management ◽

Natural Resource ◽

Arid Lands ◽

Rural Roads ◽

Semi Arid

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INTEGRATING GENETICS AND NATURAL RESOURCE MANAGEMENT FOR TECHNOLOGY TARGETING AND GREATER IMPACT OF AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH IN THE SEMI-ARID TROPICS

Experimental Agriculture ◽

10.1017/s0014479708006340 ◽

2008 ◽

Vol 44 (2) ◽

pp. 235-256 ◽

Cited By ~ 15

Author(s):

STEVE TWOMLOW ◽

BEKELE SHIFERAW ◽

PETER COOPER ◽

J. D. H. KEATINGE

Keyword(s):

Resource Management ◽

Natural Resource Management ◽

Natural Resource ◽

Agricultural Research ◽

Crop Improvement ◽

Research Approach ◽

Genetic Management ◽

Potential Yield ◽

Smallholder Farm ◽

Semi Arid

SUMMARYGood management of natural resources is the key to good agriculture. This is true everywhere – and particularly in the semi-arid tropics, where over-exploitation of fragile or inherently vulnerable agro-ecosystems is leading to land and soil degradation, productivity decline, and increasing hunger and poverty. Modern crop varieties offer high yields, but the larger share of this potential yield can only be realized with good crop management. The International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), working over a vast and diverse mandate area, has learned one key lesson: that technologies and interventions must be matched not only to the crop or livestock enterprise and the biophysical environment, but also with the market and investment environment, including input supply systems and policy. Various Natural Resource Management (NRM) technologies have been developed over the years, but widespread adoption has been limited for various reasons: technical, socio-economic and institutional. To change this, ICRISAT hypothesizes that ‘A research approach, founded on the need to integrate a broad consideration of technical, socio-economic and institutional issues into the generation of agricultural innovations will result in a higher level of adoption and more sustainable and diverse impacts in the rainfed systems of the semi-arid tropics.’ Traditionally, crop improvement and NRM were seen as distinct but complementary disciplines. ICRISAT is deliberately blurring these boundaries to create the new paradigm of IGNRM or Integrated Genetic and Natural Resource Management. Improved varieties and improved resource management are two sides of the same coin. Most farming problems require integrated solutions, with genetic, management-related and socio-economic components. In essence, plant breeders and NRM scientists must integrate their work with that of private and public sector change agents to develop flexible cropping systems that can respond to rapid changes in market opportunities and climatic conditions. The systems approach looks at various components of the rural economy – traditional food grains, new potential cash crops, livestock and fodder production, as well as socio-economic factors such as alternative sources of employment and income. Crucially the IGNRM approach is participatory, with farmers closely involved in technology development, testing and dissemination. ICRISAT has begun to use the IGNRM approach to catalyse technology uptake and substantially improve food security and incomes in smallholder farm communities at several locations in India, Mali, Niger, Vietnam, China, Thailand and Zimbabwe.

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