Current Research Activities

The research activities of the Division that started in 2010 focus on five areas:

(1) Making agricultural services work for the poor


To use the unique potential of agriculture for pro-poor development, it is important that smallholder farmers and livestock keepers have access to agricultural services, such as agricultural advisory services, veterinary services, rural finance, market services and land-related services. In the reporting period, research in this field was conducted on the following topics:

  • Impact of recent reforms in veterinary services on livestock keepers in Uganda, Kenya and Ghana (DAAD-funded PhD scholarship by John Ilukor and three M.Sc. theses)
  • The political process of reforming Uganda’s agricultural extension services (collaboration with Patience Rwamigisa, PhD candidate at Kampala University, Uganda)
  • Meeting the governance challenges of agricultural land registration in Nigeria (PhD thesis by Austen Okumo in collaboration with the Global Partnership for Land Governance Assessment and UK’s Department for International Development DFID).
  • The role of international agricultural research organizations for promoting innovations in Kenya and India (DAAD-funded PhD scholarship by Josey Kamanda with support of the International Center for Research in the Semi-Arid Tropics ICRISAT)
  • Opportunities and challenges for smallholder production of maize, rice and soybeans in Ghana (three M.Sc. theses financed by the International Food Policy Research Institute IFPRI)
  • Linking smallholders to high-value markets in the Philippines (M.Sc. thesis supported by the AFOS Foundation for Entrepreneurial Development Cooperation)


(2) Political and social dimensions of natural resource management


Developing institutional arrangements for the sustainable and equitable management of natural resources has remained a major challenge, in spite of wide-ranging efforts to promote community-based solutions to this challenge. Understanding the problems in this area requires research that takes the political and social dimensions of natural resource management into account. In this field, the following research activity is currently conducted at the Division:

  • Political and social dimensions of watershed management in India (Research by Dr. Saurabh Gupta based on his PhD research, download related paper here .

 

(3) Rebuilding agriculture in post-conflict regions


A substantial share of the world’s food-insecure and impoverished people live in regions that are affected by conflicts. Ensuring food security and rebuilding smallholder farming systems in such regions involves considerable governance challenges, and there are major research gaps on the strategies that can be used to meet these challenges. The following research activities in this field started in 2010:

  • Meeting the governance challenges of post-conflict agricultural and nutrition projects in Northern Uganda (DAAD-funded PhD thesis of Emmy Wassija and earlier research project with IFPRI and Oxfam – download Working Paper here .
  • Strategies for reforming agricultural sector institutions in the Democratic Republic of Congo (Collaboration with IFPRI funded by the US Agency for International Development USAID)


(4) Developing institutions for climate-smart agriculture


One of the major challenges faced by the agricultural sector in developing countries is the adaptation to climate change. Meeting this challenge requires agricultural effective innovation systems that enable smallholder farmers, including women farmers, to adapt “climate-smart” agricultural practices. At the same time, there are opportunities for smallholder farmers to benefit from climate mitigation, if institutional arrangements can be developed that link them to global carbon markets. The following research activities of the Division address these topics:

  • Enhancing women’s assets to manage risk under climate change: The potential of group-based approaches in Bangladesh, Kenya and Ethiopia (Joint project with IFPRI, funded by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development BMZ)
  • Institutional options improving pasture management und linking pastoralists to carbon markets in Uzbekistan (DAAD-funded PhD thesis by Makhmud Shaumarov)


(5) Reforming the global governance structures for agriculture


As underlined by the global food price crisis of 2008, ensuring food security and achieving agricultural development depends on effective global governance structures. Against this background, the research program of the Division includes research on reforms of the global institutions in charge of agriculture and food security. In this field, the following activity was carried out in 2011:

  • Assessment of the policy work of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), with specific focus on FAO’s governance structures for policy work (as part of a strategic evaluation conducted by FAO’s Office of Evaluation)