2. Goal of CSISA
Overall objective of CSISA
To help reduce poverty and improve the
well-being of rural and urban men and
women by increasing the annual income of
up to 7 million poor rural households
(farming about 1 ha/hhld) by at least
$289/hh/yr
- IRRI, CIMMYT, ILRI
3. Cereal Systems Initiative For South Asia
(CSISA)
Year 1-3:
8-12 hubs
+$300/yr for 60,000
farm households in
1500 villages
Year 4-10:
Upscaling through
project-related
investments to +400
hubs
+$350/yr for 6 million
farm households in
90,000 villages
4. Objectives of CSISA
1. Widespread delivery and adaptation of production and postharvest
technologies to increase cereal production and raise incomes
2. Crop and resource management practices for sustainable future cereal-
based systems
3. High-yielding, abiotic stress-tolerant, disease-resistant rice varieties for
current and future cereal and mixed crop-livestock systems
4. High-yielding, stress -tolerant and disease-resistant wheat inbred
lines and hybrids for current and future cereal and mixed crop-
livestock systems.
5. High-yielding, heat-tolerant and disease-resistant maize inbred lines
and hybrids for current and future cereal and mixed crop-livestock
systems.
6. Technology targeting and improved policies for inclusive agricultural
growth (IPR, constraints to adoption; policies) - IFPRI
7. Creating a new generation of scientists and professional agronomists for
cereal systems research and management.
8. Project management, communication and impact assessment
5. Hubs
• Focus on 9 hubs representing key intensive cereal
production systems in Bangladesh, India, Pakistan and
Nepal
• The hubs provide a basis for active learning about
mechanisms for rapid adoption and intensification of
improved cereal seed and crop management practices,
for understanding critical components of public-private
sector partnerships, and for developing business plans
and supporting policies to stimulate private-sector
investments.
• Improved cultivars and hybrids of maize, rice, and wheat
selected under conservation agriculture practices will be
developed and management concepts for future cereal
systems will be designed and evaluated, alongside
policy analysis and advocacy, and capacity building at all
levels
6.
7. Location of the hubs
• Punjab, Pakistan - CIMMYT
• Punjab, India - CIMMYT
• Haryana - CIMMYT
• Eastern UP - IRRI
• Bihar – IRRI and ILRI
• Tamil Nadu - IRRI
• Nepal – CIMMYT and ILRI
• Dinajpur, Bangladesh – CIMMYT and ILRI
• Gazipur, Bangladesh - IRRI
8. Research questions (Obj 6.2)
• What factors limit rapid productivity growth in
farmers fields in intensive rice based systems?
• What constrains farmer adoption of improved
germplasm & RCT?
• Are there gender/equity concerns?
• Where are the equitable growth opportunities
located?
• How attractive are the proposed interventions &
how can they best be adapted and enhanced?
9. Technologies
• Improving cereal productivity; nutrient
quality of crop residues for animal feed;
improving cropping systems
• Evaluation of rice genotypes for DSR in
rice-wheat systems
• Crop establishment methods, Water
management, weed management, nutrient
management, post harvest
• Resource –conserving technologies
(RCTs) eg zero tillage on rice and wheat
10. Current Technology Interventions in
Gazipur
Intervention Season Area Locations Collaborator
(Hac.) (No of sub-dist)
Delivery of AWD in Boro Rice Boro/Rabi 160 10 DAE/BRRI
2009-10
Seeding of Wheat by PTOMS Rabi - 4 BARI/DAE
2009-10
Seeding of Hybrid Maize by Rabi 1.3 1 BARI/DAE
PTOMS 2009-10
Relaying of hybrid Maize with Rabi 10 3 BARI/DAE
existing Potato 2009-10
Inclusion of short duration Rabi 24 3 DAE/BARI
mustard in Boro-T.aman 2009-10
cropping pattern
Mixed cropping of DSR Boro Rabi 5 4 DAE/BARI
Rice with Mustard 2009-10
Bed planting of different crops Rabi 3.1 2 BARI
under Wheat/Maize-mungbean- 2009-10
T.aman cropping pattern
BARI – Bangladesh Agriculture Research Institute
BRRI – Bangladesh Rice Research Institute
10
11. Objective 6.2 Baseline Surveys
Purpose & Design
• Collect data to analyze project influence on
– Technology adoption
– Success of various delivery models
– Incomes and livelihoods
• Provide results to inform
– Decisions on improving technology delivery
– Improve participation of the poor in new
technologies
12. Data collected
• Focus group discussions (different social
groups)
• Village Survey
– e.g. infrastructure, institutions, prices within village
• Village Census (all hh in selected villages)
– as sampling frame for hh survey
for classification
• Baseline Household Survey (IRRI, CIMMYT,ILRI)-
common structured questionnaire
• Cost and returns of farmers’ practice vs with technology
(IRRI)
13. Sampling Procedure
• 3 districts per hub
– selected by cropping pattern with hub
manager
• 3 sub-districts per district
– randomly amongst those with CSISA activity
• 2 villages per sub-district
– 1 each randomly amongst those with/without
CSISA activity
14. Household survey
• 18 farmers randomly selected
– per village
– 18 villages per hub
• Structured questionnaire
– Survey is on-going….
– delay in Tamil Nadu
• Expected completion: February, 2011.
15. Gender and equity concerns
• Women in eastern India, Bangladesh and Nepal play crucial roles
as unpaid family workers, farm managers, income earners in cereal
intensive production systems and livestock management
• Women are primarily caretakers of food security, children’s health
and nutrition
• With increasing migration of men, women’s roles are beginning to
shift from unpaid family workers to de facto farm managers
• Despite their crucial roles they have less access to assets and
resources compared to men in the same system
• Any technology will have different effects on men and women due to
gender specific roles and responsibilities
• International and national agricultural research institutions should
ensure that the poor and socially excluded groups benefit from
technologies
• Poor women farmers should be given opportunities to technologies
(seeds of improved rice and non-rice crop varieties), improved
knowledge on traits of new varieties, new cropping practices, and
inputs while landless women should be given access to land they
can rent
16. Research questions on gender
• What are the gender roles and gender-
differentiated constraints in farm (cereal
production, postharvest and livestock
management?
• What are the social and economic
consequences of labor saving
technologies on the welfare of men and
women? (farming and landless)
• In what ways will the project benefit the
poor men and women farmers?
17. Social, economic
and cultural circumstances
Physical and biological conditions
Social norms
-Climate -Pests
Kinship Farming
-Rainfall Social class
-Diseases Caste system
Practices and
- Abiotic stresses
-Topography -Weeds Farm wages Technologies
Male labor outmigration
Gender roles and relations
(labor, income generation, decision-making) ASSETS
Land, Livestock
Farm labor
Knowledge
New CNRM practices
Access to assets and resources Seeds, Machinery
Performance of Livelihoods systems
Rice Non-rice Livestock Fisheries Off-farm Non-farm
Increase productivity, Reduce poverty and hunger
GOALS Promote gender equality, Improve health and nutrition
Fig 1. Framework for understanding gender roles in agriculture
18. Typology of rice production
systems and gender roles
Rainfed
Production environments
Irrigated
Poor Access to market Good
19. Strategies for addressing gender
issues
• Site characterization and initial problem diagnosis – gender analysis
• Understanding constraints – collect information on livelihood
activities, and coping mechanisms – roles (labor, income, decision-
making) of men and women in crop production, post harvest,
livestock and other livelihood activities ( off-farm, non-farm)
• Identify opportunities and access to resources eg seeds
• Planning and evaluation – involve men and women in evaluation of
technologies eg new lines/varieties, and new farming practices
• Training – enhance women’s technical knowledge and skills in all
aspects of crop production and post harvest, production of seeds
(including storage)
• Training - enhance women’s roles as leaders* and as key agents of
change eg dissemination of technologies through networking
*Leadership training for women (professionals and women farmers and
provide support
• Encourage young women to engage their careers in agriculture eg
women interns and provide support eg. female interns
20. Village Level Surveys- Gender
disaggregated information
• Number of male and female headed households
• Educational attainment of boys and girls, adult
men and adult women
• Wage rates of male and female workers during
normal and peak periods
• Who does what crop and livestock major
operations?
21. Household surveys – Gender
disaggregated variables
• Sex of household head
• Human capital - Gender disaggregated family, hired labor
requirements in rice, wheat and maize by activity (by operation),
permanent labor
• Characteristics of principal male and principal female - age, years in
school, years in farming, primary occupation, secondary occupation
• Number of household members
• Total in households
• Working on farm, full time, partime
• Schooling/studying
• Working/employment off-farm
staying out of village (some tine of year)
• Male and female adults >15 years old
• Male and female members between 6 to 15 years old
• Male and female children (<6 years old)
• Average monthly household expenditure and involvement in
decisions
• Decision making: MaleFemaleJointly
22. Case studies
1. Assessing the economic and social
consequences of the widespread adoption of
RCTs and other labor saving technologies on
men and women agricultural workers
2. Water use efficiency and water saving from
DSR and laser land leveling
3. Greenhouse gas emissions under reduced
tillage for rice and wheat
23. Gender issues in resource conserving
technology (RCT)
Objective: To uncover how widespread
adoption of RCTs and other labor saving
technologies on agricultural labor
displacement:
– Changes in labor inputs in cereal
production have changed
– Changes on livelihoods
– Changes on family welfare
24. Village census
Purposive sampling of villages where
agricultural machines are used for almost two
years
Census was conducted among farming and
landless households with female members
actively involved in farming
Census was done to assess available labor
supply at household level
Select households and conduct household
surveys (December 2010)
25. Labor contribution in crop production of
female and male household members
Farming Landless
Crop production activity Households Households
Female Male Female Male
Nursery preparation 16 84 - -
Land preparation 19 81 - -
Transplanting 68 32 94 6
Direct seeding 40 60 55 45
Weeding 52 48 83 17
Irrigation 39 61 55 45
Fertilizer application 37 63 55 45
Pesticide application 25 75 - -
Harvesting 43 57 55 45
Post-harvest 41 59 52 48
Female from landless households participate in farm activities more than female members
from farming households. Male and female landless workers are not involved in activities such
as nursery preparation, land preparation and pesticide application .
More female from farming households contribute to transplanting and weeding.
26. Labor contribution in crop production of
female and male household members
Farming Landless
Crop production activity Households Households
Female Male Female Male
Nursery preparation 16 84 - -
Land preparation 19 81 - -
Transplanting 68 32 94 6
Direct seeding 40 60 55 45
Weeding 52 48 83 17
Irrigation 39 61 55 45
Fertilizer application 37 63 55 45
Pesticide application 25 75 - -
Harvesting 43 57 55 45
Post-harvest 41 59 52 48
Female from landless households participate in farm activities more than female members
from farming households. Male and female landless workers are not involved in activities such
as nursery preparation, land preparation and pesticide application .
More female from farming households contribute to transplanting and weeding.
27. Challenges
• Lack of female social scientists in the teams
* Assign one female social scientist as PI in EUP, India
* Trained 3 female social scientists in the leadership course for Asian
women in R,D and E
* Included 3 female interns to do costs and returns analysis
• How to strengthen the interaction between biophysical scientists
(hub managers) and social scientists (work in progress)
• Insufficient resources (funds and staff) to implement a Gender
Strategy
* Recently recruited a female SouthAsia woman as PDF
* USAID provided funds for hiring a consultant to develop a gender
assessment for the new project Expansion of CSISA in Bangladesh
• For large grants to earmark funds to implement gender strategy
28. Challenges
• What incentives to give to respondents
who participate in time taking interviews?
• How to anticipate/avoid the backlash of
well-intended interventions on women
• How to show positive outcomes of the
technological interventions on women
given the limited time frame for funding
29. Opportunities
• Include additional key variables to assess
gender disparities on key assets
• Identify opportunities to strengthen, build
or restore assets due to loss in livelihoods
• For the methodology of this case study to
be replicated in other hubs
• Provide a case of good practice
addressing the gender asset gap
• For IARCS in CGs, NARES and NGOs to
work together
