This report documents the discussions and results of a research design workshop held at the Equatoria Hotel in Kampala, November 7-11, 2002. The meeting was the first formal gathering of the stakeholders of the project "Assessing the social and economic impact of improved banana varieties in East Africa".

The goal of the project is to fortify the impact of improved banana varieties on the livelihoods of smallholder farmers in East Africa. Banana (Musa) is a primary food staple as well as an essential cash crop for the region's smallholder farmers. Declining yields brought about by pests and diseases and decreasing soil fertility have compromised food and income security. In selected banana-growing areas, farmers have begun to adopt improved varieties that have only relatively recently become available from the small number of banana breeding programs in existence globally. The National Agricultural Research Organization (NARO) in Uganda, meanwhile, has embarked upon an ambitious breeding program that employs a range of biotechnologies to address the crop's most debilitating pests and disease problems (nematodes, weevils, Fusarium wilt and Black leaf streak disease).

This impact assessment project seeks to support areas of scientific research and policy affecting banana production by employing a unique approach that integrates economics tools and sociological methods within a common conceptual framework. The emphasis is on making a difference during, rather than after, the research or policy decisions have taken place. Furthermore, by evaluating and predicting the effects of improved varieties on farmer livelihoods, participating organizations will be able to target their work more appropriately towards livelihood needs.

This workshop represented the first attempt to bring economists, sociologists and agricultural scientists together to discuss the design of the study and the practicalities of its execution.

• To promote dialog among social scientists and banana researchers to enhance policy relevance of future impact assessment work
• Initiate the design of social science research that will provide banana researchers and extension workers with information on the impact of their work to use in setting research priorities, selecting "best-bet" traits and genetic backgrounds for traits, timing research efforts, identifying and targeting farmers who are set to benefit most, and designing appropriate dissemination mechanisms
• Identify opportunities for partnerships, building on relevant research that has already been undertaken
• Develop a detailed three-year research workplan

Another discrete aim of the workshop was to introduce the Sustainable Livelihoods Approach to all participants as a framework for the research design. The approach encompasses wide-ranging factors, both static and dynamic, affecting livelihoods, and, in this case, provided a tool to integrate the different disciplines present. Also embedded within the context of the project is the need to ensure that feedback from the research is channeled back directly into scientific research, breeding and networking programs, and that the partners involved learn and develop from the project activities. The workshop, whilst being limited to a practicable size, was carefully designed to bring together parties from agricultural and social science backgrounds. The participants (See Appendix 5) included representatives of the national agricultural research systems in Uganda and Tanzania involved in the breeding and dissemination of banana; NARO, Agriculture Research and Development Institute (ARDI-Maruku), Kagera Community Development Project (KCDP) and Sokoine University, as well as Musa taxonomists, social scientists and students, from economic and sociology disciplines, both from within the region and from outside.

This workshop report summarizes the meeting (the agenda is found in Appendix 5), providing abstracts of presentations, an introduction to the Sustainable Livelihoods Framework, and its use in drawing out important livelihood issues and research questions and mapping them into a structured format. All reports of both plenary and working group discussions are presented in Appendices 1 and 2. Finally the results of the discussions on Days 3 and 5 concerning the protocol for stratification of variables for site selection, the workplan, and the organizational structure of the project are described.

To order a workshop summary paper, please fill out an online order form, email ifpri-ept@cgiar.org or send requests to Environment and Production Technology Division, IFPRI, 2033 K Street, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20006, U.S.A.