Dr. William Payne delivered a presentation on the highlights of the CRO on Dryland Systems at the Launch meeting in Amman in mid-May. The Dry Areas of the world represent fragile ecosystems, which is to say areas with physical water scarcity, rapid natural resource degradation, groundwater depletion and drought. The prominent features of these, “dryland systems” are that they cover 41% of the earths surface, are home to 2.5 billion people – and the majority of the world’s poor, they have a youth skewed age distribution and 93% of the malnourished people in the world live in them. Consequently, the Dryland Systems CRP will target the poor and highly vulnerable populations of dry areas in developing countries and the agricultural systems on which they depend. System level outcomes to be addressed by the CG system through CRP1.1 include reduced rural poverty, improved food security, better nutrition and health and the sustainable management of natural resources. Specific outputs have been set for each of the strategic research themes. Target area selection criteria for SRT2 and SRT3 were chosen during the inception phase. They include the length of the growing period, distribution of poverty, malnutrition, aridity index, environmental risk, land degradation, market access and population density. The CRP will operate at multiple scales and in multiple disciplines from the microbial level to the watershed with 5 crosscutting themes; youth, gender, biodiversity, nutrition and capacity building. Partnership is a crucial part of he conceptual framework, it is critical to outscaling and impact, it sets research priorities and action sites and partners are an explicit part of overall governance.

1. CGIAR Research Program on
Dryland Systems
The global research partnership to improve agricultural productivity and income in the world's dry areas
Launch Meeting
Amman, Jordan
21-23 May 2013

2. The Dry Areas = Fragile Eco-systems
• Physical water
scarcity
• Rapid natural
resource
degradation and
desertification
• Groundwater
depletion
• Drought
• Climate change
will make it drier
-80
-70
-60
-50
-40
-30
-20
-10
1982 1985 1988 1991 1994 1997 2000 2003 2006
m
Decrease of the Souss
aquifer level in Morocco

3. CGIAR Research Program on Dryland Agricultural Production Systems – Launch Meeting, Amman 21-23 May 2013
TitleProminant Features of Drylands

4. CGIAR Research Program on Dryland Agricultural Production Systems – Launch Meeting, Amman 21-23 May 2013
Title Drylands Systems
Dryland Systems targets the poor
and highly vulnerable populations
of dry areas in developing countries
and the agricultural systems on
which they depend

5. CGIAR Research Program on Dryland Agricultural Production Systems – Launch Meeting, Amman 21-23 May 2013
TitleCGIAR System Level Outcomes
• Reduced rural poverty;
• Improved food security;
• Better nutrition and health; and
• Sustainable management of
natural resources.

6. CGIAR Research Program on Dryland Agricultural Production Systems – Launch Meeting, Amman 21-23 May 2013
TitleConceptual Research Framework
SRT1: Approaches and models for strengthening
innovation systems, building stakeholder innovation
capacity, and linking knowledge to
policy action
SRT2: Reducing vulnerability
and managing risk
SRT3: Sustainable
intensification for more
productive, profitable and
diversified dryland agriculture
with well-established linkages to
markets
SRT4: Measuring impacts and cross-regional
synthesis

7. Strategic Research Theme Output
• Approaches and models for
strengthening innovation
systems, building stakeholder
innovation capacity, and linking
knowledge to policy action
Approaches and models for strengthening innovation systems,
building stakeholder innovation capacity, and linking
knowledge to policy action
Enhanced capacity for innovation and effective participation in
collaborative “IAR4D” processes
Strategies for effectively linking research to policy action in a
dryland context.
• Reducing vulnerability and
managing risk through
increased resilience
Combinations of institutional, biophysical and management
options for reducing vulnerability designed and developed
Options for reducing vulnerability and mitigating risk scaled-up
and -out within regions
Trade-offs amongst options for reducing vulnerability and
mitigating risk analyzed (within regions). Knowledge-based
systems developed for customizing options to sites and
circumstances
• Sustainable intensification for
more productive, profitable and
diversified dryland agriculture
with well-established linkages
to markets
Sustainable intensification options designed and developed
Sustainable intensification options out-scaled
Trade-offs amongst sustainable intensification and
diversification options analyzed and knowledge-based
systems developed for customizing options to sites and
circumstances
• Measuring impacts and cross-
regional synthesis
Future scenarios and priority setting
Livelihood and ecosystem characterization.
Across-region synthesis of lessons learnt from SRTs 2 and 3
Program impacts measured.

8. Criteria Limits for SRT 2 Limits for SRT 3
Length of growing period <90 days 90-180 days
Distribution of poverty
Hunger and malnutrition (food security,
no of people, % of people)
Aridity Index 0.03 to 0.35 0.35-0.65
Environmental risk (Rainfall variability,
access to irrigation,
CV>15% CV<15%
Land degradation(soil salinity, soil
erosion)
High Low-medium
Market access Travel time >2
hrs
Travel time <2
hrs
Population density
Criteria for Target Area Selection
Characterization of Target Areas and Action Sites

9. Dryland Systems focuses on two broad categories of agro-ecosystems
SRT2: Reduced vulnerability and increased resilience to shocks
SRT3: Sustainable intensification to reduce food security and generate income

10. Target Area Potential
Action Site 1
Potential
Satellite Site 1
Potential
Satellite Site 2
Country
Geographical
location
Accessibility
Potential for
hypothesis testing
Representativeness
Potential for out-
scaling (impact)
Potential to attract
funds
Potential to interact
with CRPs
Characteristics of potential action sites in Target Areas
Criteria for selection of Action and Satellite Sites

13. Markets
Multiple scales and disciplines
Microbe-plant
Community,
watershed,
region…
Farm, household,
livelihood…
Field, flock, forest
Markets

14. CGIAR Research Program on Dryland Agricultural Production Systems – Launch Meeting, Amman 21-23 May 2013
Title Cross-Cutting Themes
• Gender
• Youth
• Biodiversity
• Nutrition
• Capacity building

15. Gender Matters in
Agroecosystems
No development if views and needs of
women are not addressed
 Land tenure
 Natural resource access (trees, fields)
 Food preparation and processing
 Household nutrition
 Varietal assessment
 Use of disposable income
 Landed and Landless labor
Culture- and agroecosystem-
dependent

16.  Part of conceptual
framework and one of four
Strategic Research
Themes
 Critical to outscaling and
therefore impact
 Partners set research
priorities and identified
“Action Sites”
 Partners are explicit part
of governance
Partnership in Dryland Systems

17. CGIAR Research Program on Dryland Agricultural Production Systems – Launch Meeting, Amman 21-23 May 2013
Title Inception Phase
• Groundwork for
baseline
characterization
• Workshops to set
Research Priorities
Common Ground
1) 21 Constraints
2) 20 Outputs
3) 16 Hypotheses
4) 20 Outcomes