UPWARD organized its activities based on this three-pronged R&D agenda. It launched field projects which focused on particular challenges under each of the identified thematic categories. As examples, there were projects on conserving local sweetpotato cultivars, evaluating soil conservation measures, and piloting starch processing technologies.

Integrated Framework

The initial thematic R&D framework proved to be useful in identifying and mobilizing interdisciplinary expertise in response to a particular problem. But in the course of working closely with users, it became increasingly clear that field-level challenges could not be neatly divided according to UPWARD's three thematic categories.

For instance, it was seen that farmers' interest to participate in season-long field schools on integrated pest management (production) was highly influenced by fluctuations in market prices for sweetpotato (marketing). Similarly, sustainability of community-managed genebanks (genetic resources conservation) hinged on whether the cultivars being conserved were perceived by local people to have any specific use-value (consumption).

These field experiences suggested the need for an integrated R&D framework that would take into account the links among production systems, genetic resources conservation, and processing-marketing-consumption. The R&D focus of UPWARD projects thus shifted from being theme-specific to integrated multi-thematic. While these integrated projects chose a particular theme/problem as R&D entry point, the expanded framework encouraged them to equally consider other constraints and issues related to the main problem being addressed. Examples were projects on varietal selection for sweetpotato pigfeed and promoting homegardens for biodiversity and household food security.

A Livelihood Systems Framework

An integrated R&D framework promoted a more holistic perspective of rootcrop agriculture, especially of the multiple problems faced by farmers. However, in seeking to assess R&D impact, UPWARD found it necessary to adequately capture the dynamics of household decision making and action, which an integrated but still mainly crop-focused framework was not likely able to adequately deal with. This has led to UPWARD's recognition of the relevance of livelihood systems.

Participatory assessments have sought to understand how households make decisions to adopt rootcrop technologies and to pursue rootcrop agriculture. However, rootcrops are only one aspect of the broader interests of households, as they invest limited resources in livelihood options which are expected to yield the most benefits. In other words, poor households take rootcrop agriculture as part of a livelihood diversification strategy for better risk management and income optimization.

Farmers across Asia have been seen, for instance, to shift from sweetpotato to other crops, and vice versa, in response to market demand and price trends. For rootcrop livelihood to remain an attractive option for households, it has to maintain its comparative advantage over on-farm and off-farm livelihoods. One route towards this end is helping poor households exploit value-adding opportunities from rootcrops.

Figure 1. Evolution of UPWARD's Program Framework

Livelihood Systems

Activities, assets (material and social resources), and access that jointly determine the living gained by an individual or household compose a livelihood. While livelihoods are generally associated with monetary or material rewards, poor people also use the concept to refer to less tangible benefits like a sense of greater social acceptance or of being more empowered.

A focus on livelihoods, as Farrington et al. (1999) explains, puts emphasis on:

These core characteristics of livelihood systems famework support UPWARD's user participatory approach in at least three ways:

Generally, the concept of livelihood systems is applied at the household-level-- to identify portfolio of livelihood activities, to understand desired outcomes and goals, and/or to examine strategic management of household assets. A household-level livelihood systems framework is used for example in analyzing various on-farm, off-farm and non-farm livelihoods of individual farming households; as well as in inventorizing different types of livelihood capitals available to a household.

In addition, UPWARD has applied the concept at the level of livelihood networks-- to identify livelihood activities organized around a particular set of commodities, products and/or resources. This livelihood systems perspective helps examine structures, relationships and processes among interdependent livelihood clusters including individual households, enterprise groups and communities. UPWARD has used this in identifying livelihood activities and strategies associated with sweetpotato (e.g., crop production, input supply, marketing and processing). More importantly, it is a useful tool in mapping different actors forming a livelihood network (e.g., cultivators, traders, seed producers, processors, consumers) and in examining key relationships and processes.

Figure 2. Livelihood Systems Perspective in Participatory Research

A Case from Central Luzon, Philippines

Participatory Livelihood Systems Assessment

Sweetpotato is traditionally a post-rice crop in Central Luzon. Following a major volcanic eruption in the early 1990s, the crop has achieved greater livelihood importance for two main reasons: 1) the crop's ability to survive under marginal growing conditions compared to rice; and 2) increasing demand for the crop both by fresh roots markets and food processing industries. From 1990 to 2000, the area planted to sweetpotato increased over 125%.

Besides providing cash income, sweetpotato consumption helped households save on food costs and earn cash income to procure inputs for the subsequent rice crop. For households engaged in cattle raising, 30%-75% of animal production costs were reduced by using sweetpotato as feed. Moreover, on the average, sweetpotato livelihoods contributed 26% of total household income, estimated at an average of US$780 annually. In Tarlac province, the contribution reached 43%. This is higher than the combined income contributions from off-farm and non-farm livelihoods of households in the same province.

Sweetpotato cultivating households, however, are only part of a broader sweetpotato livelihood system in Central Luzon. There were four main clusters of households and enterprises engaged in livelihoods associated with the crop: 1) producers of planting materials; 2) producers of sweetpotato roots; 3) traders of sweetpotato roots; and 4) processors and consumers. The trading cluster appears to be highly differentiated, consisting of six types of trading actors. A comparison of net incomes among the livelihood clusters revealed that traders earned the most whereas farmer-cultivators earned the least. In Bataan province, farmers not only produced sweetpotato roots but also engaged in commercial production of planting materials, which is a significant source of additional 70% cash income.

Developing and Introducing Livelihood Innovations

UPWARD's better understanding of sweetpotato's niche in local livelihood systems has guided the planning and implementation of research and development projects, such as:

1. Community-based production of clean planting materials: establishment and operation of low-cost nethouses for commercial production of clean planting materials. Aside from becoming a major income-earning activity, it has also strengthened livelihood linkages between farmers who specialize in planting materials production and those engaged in sweetpotato cultivation.

2. Improved market orientation of local cropping systems: modifying the agricultural production calendar in order to harvest post-rice crops such as sweetpotato and vegetables when market prices are high. Participatory on-farm trials have been conducted to assess potentials for producing off-season crops, early maturing varieties and/or advancing the planting schedule.

3. Optimal use of local feed resources, including sweetpotato, for cattle raising: increasing the productivity of cattle production through year-round availability of good quality feed. Participatory trials and farmer training activities have been conducted to develop cattle feeding systems that utilize sweetpotato residues and other locally-available feed resources.

Livelihoods Monitoring and Evaluation

With a research and development perspective that locates "sweetpotato within livelihood systems", UPWARD has also sought to apply a framework for assessing project outcomes that overcomes single-commodity impacts and attributions. The key evaluation question now becomes "What have been the key improvements in local livelihood systems and how has sweetpotato contributed to these?" Findings of such livelihoods monitoring and evaluation have included:

1. A more diversified agricultural livelihood portfolio, away from overdependence on rice as cash crop, has enabled farming households to better cope with environmental shocks and stresses. In Central Luzon, sweetpotato has effectively served as buffer crop when other livelihoods are threatened by agro-ecological and economic crises. Conversely, farming households turn to other livelihood crops when sweetpotato markets suffer from price fluctuations.

2. The value of a particular livelihood crop is not limited to its direct income contribution to the farming households. Besides providing cash income, sweetpotato has made multiple contributions to the overall livelihood system, e.g., enhancing soil productivity for the following rice crop, enabling farming households to make productive use of degraded land that would otherwise be unsuitable for other crops.

3. Increased profits and other economic benefits from agricultural livelihoods do not automatically bring about sustainable livelihood outcomes for the household such as poverty alleviation. In some cases, farming households re-invested net profit by acquiring physical assets for the farm. However, in other cases, surplus income was spent for recreational activities rather than to meet basic needs (e.g., food, education).

Learning to Manage Livelihoods

UPWARD'S field projects have increasingly explored and assessed the wide range of livelihood options offered by rootcrops. These project experiences have offered key insights:

In the Philippines, urban home gardeners have experimented with snack food products from potato; in Indonesia, rural women are trying out sweetpotato flour in local bakery products; Vietnamese households are exploring increased use of sweetpotato for pigfeed.

Even one particular type of rootcrop livelihood can vary in terms of organization or level of operation. Sweetpotato starch, for example, is made through traditional household processing in Vietnam while in the Philippines, there are export-oriented starch processing plants.

In the Philippines, sweetpotato starch manufacturers compete with ordinary household consumers for fresh sweetpotato. They also face rising public concern over the environmental health impact of wastes and by-products.

In Nepal and China, potato is a staple food and cash crop especially among poor households in remote communities. Yet the inability of these households to effectively manage disease outbreaks is leading to declining quantity and quality of harvest.

To help determine the feasibility of tapping sweetpotato for pigfeed in Vietnam, it is necessary to assess the broader feed and pig marketing systems. In Indonesia, appropriate institutional set-ups and relevant program priorities of both government and non-government organizations (NGOs) are important for the scale-up of field schools on integrated crop management.

There are, however, key challenges in moving towards a livelihood systems orientation. First, adapting UPWARD's existing methods and tools to adequately address livelihood elements. Second, forging R&D alliances with different groups and institutions to be consistent with the framework's multi-sectoral and multilevel character. Third, acquiring new knowledge, attitude, and skills of project teams as they consciously pursue rootcrop R&D in the context of livelihood systems. Fourth, overcoming tendencies to lose program focus by keeping in mind that UPWARD's interest in livelihood systems is primarily to put rootcrop R&D in a wider, locally-relevant context.

References

Aguilar, C., I. Adion and F. Porcuincula. 2001. Constraints and Opportunities in the Sweetpotato Livelihood Systems in Central Luzon. Paper Presented at the UPWARD In-Country Writeshop, Manila, Philippines, 12-14 December 2001.

Carney, D. (ed.) 1998. Sustainable Rural Livelihoods: What Contribution Can We Make? London: DFID.

Chambers, R. 1987. Sustainable Livelihoods, Environment and Development: Putting Poor Rural People First. IDS Discussion Paper No. 240. Brighton: IDS.

Farrington, J., D. Carney, C. Ashley and C. Turton. 1999. Sustainable Livelihoods in Practice: Early Applications of Concepts in Rural Areas. ODI Natural Resource Perspectives Series No. 42. London: ODI.

Niehof, A. and L. Price. 2001. Rural Livelihood Systems: A Conceptual Framework. Wageningen-UPWARD Series on Rural Livelihoods No. 1.

UPWARD. 1998. Enhancing Rural Livelihood with Rootcrops: The Potentials of Local R&D. Program Strategy (1999-2003) Document. Lima: CIP.

Contributed by:
Dindo Campilan
Email: d.campilan@cgiar.org