A presentation prepared by Bruno Gerard for the SLP Project Review and Planning Meeting, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, 9-10 December 2010.

4. Systemwide Livestock Programme ‘raison d'être’ Building and strengthening links between the crop-, agroforestry-, natural resource-, policy- and livestock-oriented CGIAR centres and programmes, their partners and other stakeholders, to develop integrated and coherent strategic and applied research on livestock feed development and related natural resource management and policies.

5. Ranking by LPG of Proposed Research Topics for SLP 2008 Funding TOPIC Ranking summary Total weight/ Grade Competitive (No. of persons) Commissioned (No. of persons) 1.1 Optimizing livelihood and environmental benefits from crop residues in smallholder crop-livestock systems in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia: regional case studies and their strategic lessons 71 6 4 2.1 Targeting interventions to benefit vulnerable groups in intensifying smallholder crop-livestock systems 62 4 5 2.2 Alleviating poverty in intensifying smallholder crop-livestock systems: methods for setting R&D priorities 48 1 8 3.2 Enhancing soil nutrient and water management for the sustainable intensification and diversification of smallholder crop-livestock systems in extensive areas 46 5 1 4.1 Assessing energy options from renewable sources for poor households in crop-livestock systems 41 8 1 5.1 Overcoming barriers to market access for smallholder crop-livestock systems in extensive areas 38 6 2 3.1 Institutional options for improving soil health in smallholder crop-livestock systems 25 5 2

7. Background Smallholders in mixed crop-livestock: very large fraction of farming enterprises in developing countries, crop residues (CR) being a strategic production component (multiple use). Mixed crop-livestock systems are very dynamic, responsive to external drivers such as demographic pressure, development of urban markets and increased demand for crop and livestock products, climate variability and change. In addition, the recent interest for bio-fuel production exacerbates further the pressure on biomass in production systems.

8. Background (cont) The major tradeoff in most systems is the short term benefits of using crop residues to feed livestock versus leaving the crop residues in the field to improve soil productivity (nutrient balance, erosion control, and soil health). The study focuses on the decision making processes at the farm/household level and will capture the diversity/contrasts and recent changes in CR uses at various scales in order to better target technical, institutional and policy options to improve livelihood without compromising long term system sustainability.

9. R esearch Q uestions W hat determines the decisions about crop residue use (current crop management, agro-ecology, markets/institutions, resource endowments, dynamics,…)? W hat is the impact of those decisions on livelihoods and system sustainability? W hat are the technological, institutional and policy options that would enhance livelihood and environmental benefits?