The document discusses the application of a systems framework to African farming systems, addressing challenges such as food security, climate change adaptation, and the need for integrated research methods. It emphasizes the importance of heterogeneity in farming systems, provides insights on system dynamics and change drivers, and outlines various strategies for research and agricultural practices. Additionally, it highlights pathways of system change and variations in farm income across East Africa.

1. Applying a systems
framework to research on
African farming systems
John Lynam
CGIAR Research Program on Dryland Systems
Regional Inception Workshop East and Southern Africa
Nairobi, 5-7 June 2012

2. Expanding Global Agendas
and Increasing Demands on
Agricultural Research
 Global food security under increasing
land and water constraints
 Provision of ecosystem services and
eco-efficiency of farming systems
 Adaptation and mitigation to climate
change
 Agroecological intensification of
smallholder agriculture and poverty

3. Changing Research Methods
and Technology Design
 Production systems research
 Integrating ecological science
 Place-based research methods
 Research consortia
 Scaling up integrated into research
design
 Flexible institutional arrangements

4. Design Issues in Production System
CGIAR Research Programs
 Target Area Selection
 Research Site Selection
-Target area characterization
-Research hypotheses
-Methodology for research site selection
-Baseline and monitoring of system change
 Methods for Research on Farming Systems

5. Developing the Science of
System Intensification
Data and Analytics for:
 Characterization and targeting
 Extrapolation
 Baseline and monitoring
 Causal relationships
-System change
-Comparative frameworks

6. Design Characteristics for Analyzing
African Farming Systems
 Heterogeneity: system boundaries and
classification strata
-Spatial Characterization
-Within site household stratification
 System Change and Dynamics: drivers
and intensification pathways
 Embeddedness: landscape,
market/sub-sector, agricultural sector

7. Livelihood Key variables
strategies
INSTITUTIONAL
MANAGEMENT
ENDOGENOUS EXOGENOUS
Livelihood Implementation Institutions and
Capitals programs policy network
Spatial Scale

8. Structure of Farm/Household
System
 Asset base: five capitals
 Production activities
 Household objectives:
-Subsistence/food security
-Risk management
-Income
Within site variability: typologies

9. System Boundaries and
Classification Frameworks
Hierarchical Classification
 Land use: Cultivated land within
managed natural ecosystems
 First order spatial classification
-Agroecology: eg semi-arid, highlands
-Crop-livestock interaction: eg pastoral
 Staple food crop: spatially contiguous?
 Sub-system speciation

10. System Speciation
East African Highland Banana Systems
Utilization
 Matoke: Uganda
 Beer bananas: Rwanda and Burundi
 Enset: Ethiopia
Crop Management
 Commercial: southwest Uganda
 Soil fertility constrained: Bukoba

11. System Variation and System
Performance
System Performance
-Productivity, profitability, income
-Vulnerability, food security
-Resource efficiency, resilience
System Variation
-Spatial/causal comparative frameworks
-Within-site socio-economic variation

12. Drivers of System Change
 Rural population growth
-Declining farm size
-Increasing inequity in farm distribution
-Pressure on common resources and
natural capital
 Improvements in Market Access
-Transaction costs and input/output
-Staple terms of trade
 Changes in agroecology from climate
change or biotic pandemics

13. Relative Prices and Marginal
Returns to Nitrogen Application
Marginal Return Relative Price
(kg)
Kenya: HYV Maize 19.9 16.0
Kenya: Recycled Maize 16.1 16.0
Uganda: HYV Maize 25.0 33.7
Uganda: Recycled Maize 25.2 33.7

14. Pathways of System Change
 Intensification of existing production
patterns: sustainable and unsustainable
 Diversification of production
 Expanded farm size or herd size: high vs
low population densities
 Increased off-farm income: expanding
non-farm rural economy vs transfers
 Exit from agriculture

15. East Africa: Average Farm
Income, 2004-06
Kenya Uganda Ethiopia
Per Capita Income 367 154 94
% Crop Income 36 64 53
% Livestock Income 24 13 34
% Non Farm Income 42 29 12

16. Kenya: Crop Diversification
Indices by Zone

17. Markets as a Driver of Farming
System Evolution
Stage in Farming Farmer Objective Principal Driver
System Evolution
Static Equilibrium Subsistence Dominates Rural Population Growth
Diversification Both Income and <Shifting Farm Gate
Subsistence Terms of Trade
<Staple Food
Productivity
Specialization Income Dominates <Price Signals in Efficient
Markets
<Regional Competition
and Comparative
Advantage