The CGIAR's Special Program for Impact Assessment (SPIA) requested that IFPRI develop and coordinate a CG system-wide project to strengthen capacity for such poverty impact assessments. This led to a two-phased project. The first phase, completed in August 1999, reviewed existing studies on the impact of agricultural research on the poor. The second phase, of conducting new case studies, was launched in August 2000, supporting studies covering a wide range of countries and CG research, applying both quantitative and qualitative assessment methods, integrating social and economic assessment using the sustainable livelihoods framework.
Seven studies have been conducted. Two of these analyze the impact of technological change on all types of poor people through agricultural productivity growth, labor markets, non-farm economic growth and food prices. The work is being undertaken by IFPRI at regional and national levels for India and China. The other five studies, led by IRRI, CIMMYT, ICRAF and IFPRI, focus on the direct poverty impacts of agricultural research in the adopting regions. These are:
- Rice research, technological progress and impacts on the poor: the Bangladesh case (IRRI),
- Assessing the impact of improved rice, vegetable, and fishpond management technologies in Bangladesh (IFPRI),
- Assessing the impact of improved maize germplasm on poverty alleviation: the case of Tuxpeño-derived material in Mexico (CIMMYT),
- Assessing the impact of agroforestry-based soil fertility replenishment interventions on the poor in Western Kenya (ICRAF), and
- Assessing the impact of HYV maize on livelihoods in resettlement areas of Zimbabwe (IFPRI).
These five case studies employ the sustainable livelihoods conceptual framework as a means of integrating social and economic assessment. Key aspects of the approach include:
- Defining poverty more broadly than by simple income or consumption standards, to include other aspects of well-being and empowerment,
- Distinguishing the impacts of agricultural research on socially differentiated groups,
- Attention to the importance of vulnerability and a whole range of assets in influencing adoption and impact of new technologies,
- Consideration of the nature of research and dissemination processes and how they affect impact on poverty, and
- Recognition that households and individuals are not only 'farmers' or 'consumers', but may employ a range of livelihood strategies, and that this influences the impact of agricultural research.
