Program_strategy_workshop_CBA

(//This work stream was led by Bekele Kotu and Carlo Azzarri//)

See the session file:

The adoption and impacts of a sustainable intensification technology can be governed by a number of factors which are related to the technology, the farm household, the external environment (Figure 1). “Socioeconomics of sustainable intensification” research deals with the analysis of the attractiveness of the technology from the socio-economics angle, monitoring of adoption, and analysis of impact of Africa RISING (AR) interventions on farmers’ livelihoods and wellbeing. Brief descriptions and implementation strategies of these three categories of major activities are given below.
 * Socioeconomics of Sustainable Intensification**

Figure 1: A Conceptual Framework
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1) __Cost benefit analysis (CBA)__: the aim of CBA is to assess the suitability and advantages of AR technologies from socioeconomics perspective. Specifically, CBAs will address the following two objectives: (1) to evaluate and compare profitability of technologies, and (2) to analyze how the proposed technologies fit into household’s existing conditions (labour requirements, timing of labour requirements, social acceptability of technologies, gender, cash requirements etc.). While some works have already done in these regards so far, the information generated is not adequate because the analyses were based on a limited dataset and covers only some part of AR intervention areas. The next plan is to come up with CBA results which are based on a more reliable data. Data sources include famers using the technologies (e.g. hosts of baby trials and scaling up trials) and secondary data sources (e.g. agricultural offices, statistical offices, meteorological service agencies, etc). The approaches of data collection and analysis include household surveys, participatory CBA, and simulation-based CBA. Several decision criteria will be used including gross margin, benefit-cost ratio, returns to labor, internal rate of return, and net present value. 2) __Adoption monitoring studies__: the aim of such studies is to assess how well AR technologies are being adopted by farmers, who is using which technologies or elements of technologies, where, why and how these are being modified by different farmers or households. Both quantitative and qualitative approaches will be used . 3) __Impact studies__: The aim of impact studies is to assess the effects of the interventions on farmers’ productivity, income, nutrition, and other parameters related to wellbeing in the intervention areas. The studies will be done in collaboration with International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI). Data from AR baseline and follow-up surveys will be used. __Plan of action__ This plan covers the period until the year 2021 which will be the end of the second phase. Table 1: Tentative action plan
 * || 2016 || 2017 || 2018 || 2019 || 2020 || 2021 ||
 * Cost-Benefit Analysis ||  ||   ||   ||   ||   ||   ||
 * Adoption monitoring ||  ||   ||   ||   ||   ||   ||
 * Impact study ||  ||   ||   ||   ||   ||   ||

 Adoption monitoring study is going on in Ghana and will extend to Tanzania, Malawi, and Mali.  A mid-line survey has been planned tentatively for 2017 (personal communication with AR research team from IFPRI)