1. Need for integrated, multidisciplinary and
international perspectives in research for
agricultural development in Africa
Thomas Rosswall, Chair CCAFS
ABSTRACT
The Millennium Development Goal 1, Target 3: Halve, between 1990 and 2015, the proportion of people who
suffer from hunger, will not be met by 2015. In addition, we face a number of environmental challenges (MDG7).
For example, climate change will worsen the conditions of African farmers, who are already vulnerable and food
insecure. Scientific research must provide knowledge for the development of alternative pathways to reach
sustainable development by jointly addressing MDG1 and 7. This necessitates a change in both what we do
research on and how we conduct the research.
Development and global change have been addressed, researched and funded as unrelated issues. We must
develop a multifunctional perspective of agriculture to lead this development looking at how we can further
strengthen the resilience of the farming systems, while ensuring increased productivity without major expansion of
land. Farmers must also have access to markets and the rural community needs different livelihood options with
focus on the smallholder farmers.
It is also necessary with a food systems approach to address the scientific basis for food security. Agriculture
should be analyzed in the context of ecosystem services looking at the ecological, economic and social basis for
human well-being. Efficient decision support systems and general access to information are crucial components in
order to escape poverty. By using a conceptual framework for research on ecosystem services for poverty
alleviation will it be possible to bend the curves and change the direction.

2. Need for integrated, multidisciplinary and
international perspectives in research for
agricultural development in Africa
Thomas Rosswall, Chair CCAFS

3. The Anthropocene
“We’ve now entered a unique century, the
first in the 45 million centuries of Earth’s
history, in which one species – ours –
could determine, for good or ill, the entire
planet’s future”.
Lord Rees of Ludlow
President, the Royal Society of
London
Editorial in Science, 25 June 2010

4. UN MDG Summit 20-22 September 2010
"It is clear that improvements in the lives of
the poor have been unacceptably slow,
and some hard-won gains are being
eroded by the climate, food and economic
crises,"
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon says
in the foreword to the Millennium
Development Goals Report

5. Millennium Development Goals
The number of undernourished
people is increasing, while we
are constrained by:
Nine
Planetary
Boundaries
Rockström et al., Nature, 461 472-475 (2009)

6. Trends in World Hunger

7. Rockström & Karlberg (Ambio 2010)
Human growth
20/80 dilemma
Ecosystems
60 % loss dilemma
Climate
550/450/350
dilemma
Surprise
99/1 dilemma
”The Quadruple
Squeeze”

8. The Big Disconnect
Development and global change
have been addressed, researched,
and funded as unrelated issues

9. A Question of Scale
Sachs et al. Nature 2010
28 September 2010 Agri4D
... and geographic diffrences
Differences
Brazil Africa
9

10. Global
IntegratedSiloed
Local
Business
As Usual
Development
Research
Business
As Usual
Global
Change
D4GΔ
Development
for Global
Change
Adapted from Sara
Farley, The World Bank
The Opportunity

11. A Multifunctional Perspective of Agriculture
International Assessment of Agricultural Science and Technology for Development (IAASTD, 2009)

12. A Changing Focus over Time

13. Smallholder Farmers in Africa

14. African Agriculture
• No other continent has been so closely
connected to smallholder farming
• Smallholders account for more than 90% of
production
• More than 400 million farms of less than 2 ha
operated mainly as family farms
• 25% have more than 2 ha, 50% have 0.5-2 ha
and 25% have ½ ha or less
• Agriculture employs more than 60% of the
working population and contributes more than
35% of GDP in most African countries
Assefa Adamassie (2010)

15. Main Elements of Food Systems
FOOD
UTILISATION
FOOD
ACCESS
• Affordability
• Allocation
• Preference
• Nutritional Value
• Social Value
• Food Safety
FOOD
AVAILABILITY
• Production
• Distribution
• Exchange
GECAFS conceptual diagram

16. DRIVER
Interactions
Socioeconomic
DRIVERS
Changes in:
Demographics, Economics,
Socio-political context,
Cultural context
Science & Technology
GEC DRIVERS
Changes in:
Land cover & soils, Atmospheric
Comp., Climate variability & means,
Water availability & quality,
Nutrient availability & cycling,
Biodiversity, Sea currents
& salinity, Sea level
‘Natural’
DRIVERS
e.g. Volcanoes
Solar cycles
Environmental feedbacks
e.g. water quality, GHGs
Socioeconomic feedbacks
e.g. livelihoods, social cohesion
Food System ACTIVITIES
Producing food
Processing & Packaging food
Distributing & Retailing food
Consuming food
Food System OUTCOMES
Contributing to:
Social
Welfare
Environ
Welfare
Food
Utilisation
Food
Access
Food
Availability
Food Security
Analysing Food Systems
From GECAFS

17. Ecosystem Change for Human
Well-being

18. Tools Needed
1. Ecology:
“what’s where?”
2. Economics:
“what’s it worth?”
3. Policy & finance:
“who pays and how?”
Chan, et al. 2006. PLoS Biology

19. 19
Tools Needed
1. Ecology:
“what’s where?”
2. Economics:
“what’s it worth?”
3. Policy & finance:
“who pays and how?”
Net Present Value
($ / ha)
Mbaracayu,
Paraguay
Five services
• Carbon storage
• Sust. hunting
• Sust. timber
• Pharmaceuticals
• Existence
Naidoo and Ricketts. 2006. PLoS Biology
$/ha NPV

20. Tools Needed
1. Ecology:
“what’s where?”
2. Economics:
“what’s it worth?”
3. Policy & finance:
“who pays and how?”

21. The Climate Change Challenge
• Climate change will worsen the living conditions
of farmers, fishers and forest-dependent people
who are already vulnerable and food insecure
• Rural communities ... face an immediate and
ever-growing risk of increased crop failure, loss
of livestock, loss of fisheries ......
• Hunger and malnutrition will increase
FAO 2009

22. Projected Impacts of Climate Change
Stern Review (2008)

23. The CGIAR Approach

24. Trends in Rainfall Variability; Sahel
WMO (2006)
What are the adaptation options?

25. We are asking for a
wide range of
agricultural sector
actors to change their
behavior, to
innovate, under
conditions of
incomplete and un-
integrated markets,
assymetric
information & missing
insurance and credit
markets
The Challenge

26. Greenhouse Gas Production from Different
Sectors in 2008
UN FCCC (2008)
What are the mitigation options?

27. Poverty Alleviation through Mitigation
Payments for GHG services
GHG Measuring and
monitoring system

28. Trade-offs and Synergies: Food
and Carbon (FAO 2009)

29. Failings in Decision Support
• Being driven by science alone (i.e., no
clear users)
• Targeting the wrong decision-makers as
users, or the right ones in the wrong way
• Failing to work across scales, given much
source work in local case studies
• Omitting to identify and use the modes of
engagement and leverage points
Mark Stafford-Smith (2010)

30. Research shows four key factors related
to escape of poverty:
Cellphones
Education of girls
and women
Access to mass
media
Improved physical
access to towns
P. Kristjanson (2010)

31. Conceptual Framework
Ecosystem Services for Poverty Alleviation
DFID, NERC, ESRC, LWEC (2010)

32. Per Olsson, SRC, 2009
What Next?