Economics/Reports
Research Support Program (CRSP)
FY96 Annual Report
J. Lowenberg-DeBoer, West Africa Regional Facilitator
Executive Summary
The role of regional facilitator (RF) is new for the Bean/Cowpea Collaborative Research Support Program (CRSP). The RF role was created to support overall regional coordination, integration and communication. In addition to the RF administrative role supporting the regional team, the RF is also the research advisor (RA) for social sciences in the West Africa region responsible for helping social science activities in individual bilateral partnerships form a coherent regional effort. He is particularly responsible for facilitating research impact studies, for insuring that gender issues are part of the research program, and for coordinating regional social science work. In an effort to improve communications and collaboration of social scientists working on cowpea, Lowenberg-DeBoer organized the first meeting of the cowpea social science working group at Clemson University in March, 1997 with representation from all the bilateral partnerships in West Africa. The group drafted a statement of common approach to impact assessment and discussed research plans.
One of the key socio-economic research areas with regional implications is cowpea marketing. A pilot study of cowpea price and quality relationships started in Maroua, Cameroon, in 1996 to provide breeders and integrated pest management researchers with better information on the cowpea characteristics demanded in the West African market place. Preliminary results indicate that consumers in Maroua are very aware of seed size and that they are more sensitive to cowpea insect damage than previously thought. The Maroua effort showed that the data collection was feasible and that the data could shed light on some long standing questions about cowpea marketing. Because price and quality relationships are likely to vary from place to place data collection is being expanded to Ghana and Senegal in 1997.
In June, 1996, Mbene Faye, Senegalese Institute for Agricultural Research (ISRA), and Lowenberg-DeBoer collaborated in a rapid appraisal survey of adoption of cowpea varieties and storage techniques in the northern Peanut Basin of Senegal. The survey data indicates that the ISRA/CRSP cowpea technologies have achieved widespread use and have generated considerable economic benefit. The survey indicates that the metal drum storage technology is used by most of the farm households (over 80%) and that it is used for the quasi-totality of the cowpea stored (95%). Farmers in the sample report that improved cowpea varieties, including CB5, are appreciated most for production of green pods. Both men and women use the metal drums for storage and the improved varieties. Economic impact estimates indicate either the storage or the agronomy research benefits could justify the entire ISRA/CRSP investment.
Lowenberg-DeBoer also updated adoption and impact information for Cameroon. Interviews indicate that in spite of seed availability problems, cowpea varieties developed with CRSP help continue to occupy about 20% to 25% of the cowpea area and that about 10% of all cowpeas are stored with the CRSP storage techniques. Preliminary results from an economic impact assessment show that varieties and storage technologies developed since Purdue became involved in 1987 have a rate of return substantially above the cost of donor funds. This positive assessment occurs in spite of the apparent plateauing of CRSP storage technique use and expanded use of storage insecticides. Women continue to use the CRSP storage technologies, particularly the solar heater, because they often to not have access to storage insecticides.
Bean/Cowpea Collaborative Research Support Program (CRSP)
I. Progress During FY 96 and FY 97A (October 1, 1995-April 30, 1997)
The role of regional facilitator (RF) is new for the Bean/Cowpea Collaborative Research Support Program (CRSP). This is the first reporting period for the facilitator in West Africa. The RF role was created to support overall regional coordination, integration and communication for CRSP activities. Essentially, the RF is the staff for the newly created regional team. During the reporting period the CRSP regionalization was in an early stage and the RF was largely responsible for organizing team meetings, facilitating the election of the first team chair and co-chair and supporting efforts to reorganize on a regional level.
In addition to the RF administrative role supporting the regional team, the RF is also the research advisor (RA) for social sciences in the West Africa region. As RA he is responsible for insuring that social science activities in individual bilateral partnerships form a coherent regional effort. He is particularly responsible for facilitating research impact studies, for insuring that gender issues are part of the research program, and for coordinating social science work that cuts across national boundaries. The research portion of the RF role is inherently collaborative. He does not initiate research activities unilaterally, but works to help the bilateral partnerships achieve regional goals. Under the new structure of the regionalized CRSP, the RA for social sciences is a full member of the West Africa regional team and he is on the CRSP Technical Committee (TC).
It should be noted that Lowenberg-DeBoer is also the U.S. social scientist in the IRAD/PURDUE team working on cowpea storage technologies in Cameroon. Research results and other activities related directly to the Cameroon partnership are included in the annual report for that activity and will not be repeated here. The role of Cameroon activities in the overall regional effort will be noted.
A. Major research achievements in this time period.
During this initial reporting period the RF was involved in impact studies of CRSP varieties and storage technologies in Senegal and Cameroon, as well as a pilot study of cowpea price and quality demand relationships. Lowenberg-DeBoer was involved in planning research activities in the Ghana partnerships, but he was not directly involved in the research there during the reporting period.
1. New research results and/or technologies disseminated and currently in use in HC and U.S.
The pilot study of cowpea price and quality relationships is an example of socio-research with regional implications. The study is intended to provide breeders and integrated pest management researchers with better information on the cowpea characteristics demanded in the West African market place and the sensitivity of consumers to insect damage to the grain. The study will also provide information on the structure of cowpea demand over time and in various markets that will contribute to overall marketing research efforts.
A pilot study of market discounts for insect damage and premiums for seed size and other cowpea grain characteristics was launched in Maroua, Cameroon, in Sept. 1996 with the collaboration of George Ntoukam, HC coordinator for the IRAD/Purdue partnership . Cowpea samples are purchased in local markets once per month and brought back to the laboratory for study. Physical observations include number of insect holes, weight per 100 grains, length, width, color of seed coat and eye, and seed coat texture. Socio-economic information includes the type of vendor (e.g. male or female, merchant or farmer, retail or semi-wholesale). An hedonic pricing model is being used to analyze the data.
Preliminary result through April 1997 indicate that consumers in Maroua are very aware of seed size differences and that they are more sensitive to cowpea insect damage than previously thought. A common hypothesis is that West African markets do not discount cowpeas for insect damage until there is an average of one insect hole per grain. The early Maroua data indicates that a statistically significant price discount may start be observed when one third of the grains have holes. Data from two or more marketing seasons is be needed to allow for year-to-year variations.
As a pilot study the Maroua effort showed that the data collection was feasible and that the data could shed light on some long standing questions about cowpea marketing. Demand preferences can be expected to vary from area to area within West Africa. To better understand some of those differences the data collection is being expanded to include: * two additional markets in northern Cameroon: Banki, near the Nigerian border, and Mokolo, in the Mandara Mountains, * three markets in northern Ghana: Tamale, Wa, and Bolgatanga, and * at least one market in Senegal.
Data collection in Ghana will be implemented by Augustine Langyintuo, economist with the SARI/Clemson team. In Senegal, the data collection will be coordinated by Mbene Faye, socio-economist with the Senegal Institute for Agricultural Research (ISRA)/ University of California Riverside (UCR) Bean/Cowpea CRSP team.
2. Report Impacts.
Senegal - In June, 1996, Faye and Lowenberg-DeBoer collaborated in a rapid appraisal survey of adoption of cowpea varieties and storage techniques in the northern Peanut Basin of Senegal. They used the resulting adoption figures to estimate the economic impact of CRSP research. The general objective of the impact study in Senegal was to determine degree to which the products of the collaboration of the ISRA and the CRSP have been accepted by farmers and the implications of the estimated adoption level for the economic impact of this research.
Adoption was estimated based on the results of interviews in 12 randomly selected villages in the main cowpea growing area during June, 1996. Random sample results were compared with technology adoption in 2 former mini-kit on-farm trial villages where ISRA/CRSP researchers had worked for 10 years. This survey was necessary because little data was available on adoption of these technologies outside of on-farm trial and demonstration sites. The June, 1996, survey occurred before the 1996 cropping season and hence relied on farmer reports of cowpea varieties, area and production in the 1995 season. A followup survey is being planned during the 1997 cowpea growing season. This will allow researchers to visit fields with farmers, verify the cowpea varieties grown and measure field area.
Economic impact assessment used economic surplus techniques to allow for changes in demand and supply in response to technological change. Economic results were summarized in terms of internal rate of return, net present value (NPV) and annualized values. The internal rate of return is comparable to an interest rate on a savings account or other financial investment. The NPV is the total value of the net benefit allowing for the time pattern of costs and returns. The annualized value is a yearly amount (annuity) equivalent to the NPV.
To this point the primary impacts of the ISRA/CRSP collaboration on farmers have been through: * Operation Cowpea, which provided large amounts of cowpea seed and production support to farmers during a period in which drought made the traditional peanut crop increasingly risky, * development of the short season cowpea varieties Melakh and Mouride, and * techniques for storage of cowpea in metal drums.
The survey data indicates that the ISRA/CRSP cowpea technologies have achieved widespread use and have generated considerable economic benefit. The June 1996 survey indicates that the metal drum storage technology is used by most of the farm households in the northern peanut basin (over 80%) and that it is used for the quasi-totality of the cowpea stored (95%). As with almost every agricultural technology, farmers have introduced their own modifications of the drum storage method. In particular, many of them put insecticide in the drum. The insecticide may be a form of insurance that protects stored cowpeas even if the drum has unknown air leaks and/or it may limit reinfestation if the drum is opened regularly to obtain cowpea for family use. The drums are used for storage by both men and women cowpea growers.
Farmers in the sample report that improved cowpea varieties, including CB5, are grown mainly for the green pods, which are available two or more weeks before those of the traditional varieties. Green pods are an important source of food for farm families during the period before cereal crops are mature. They are also a source of cash income when they can be marketed along the roadside to passing travelers. Most of the cowpea green pod marketing is handled by women.
Interviews supported earlier observations by the ISRA economist that the traditional varieties are stilled preferred for dry grain production. Some farmers said that they did not like the taste of Melakh in food prepared from dry cowpea and the relatively small seeds size of Mouride did not sell well in the Senegalese market. The cowpea price and quality studies to be started in Senegal in 1997 are expected to shed light on whether these taste and seed size preferences are a transitory phenomena that will change as people become used to the new varieties or if they represent longer term problems for adoption.
In the survey random sample villages, about 0.8% of the cowpea area is planted to the ISRA/CRSP improved varieties. In the former on-farm trial villages, almost 3% of the area is reportedly planted to these varieties. Under current conditions, the 3% of area may be a rough approximation of the plateau level for green pod production. Green pod area is limited because it is labor intensive and because green pods must be consumed fresh (there is no canning industry, as in the southern US). To achieve greater impact, improved varieties would need to be used for dry cowpea production.
Estimates of the economic benefits of the overall ISRA/CRSP program indicate a rate of return on investment of 223%. This is very high compared to the cost of industrialized country capital during the study period. The average real rate of return on U.S. Government long term bonds during the 1982 to 1995 period was about 5%. The 223% is also high compared to rates of return on research elsewhere in Africa and in industrialized countries. The present value of ISRA/CRSP cowpea net benefits is about US$ 19 million. The annualized benefit for the 1982-2011 period would be about US$1.3 million. This is substantial for a research program that had annual costs of US$90,000 to US$315,000.
The economic returns estimates are dominated by the benefits from Operation Cowpea because they were substantial and occurred early in the life of the project. Unfortunately, Operation Cowpea had relatively short lived benefits and its success depended on a special combination of circumstances. It is not something that is easily repeatable. Sensitivity testing suggests that even without Operation Cowpea either the storage or the agronomy research benefits could justify the entire ISRA/CRSP investment. Without Operation Cowpea, the rate of return is 16%, the present value is US$ 6.3 million and the annualized value is US$400,000.
Cameroon - On-going monitoring of cowpea production technology and marketing indicates that Northern Cameroon is a very dynamic area for cowpea. Farmers are searching for alternative cash crops and cowpea seems to fit their needs. The strong cowpea market in Nigeria has encouraged Cameroonian farmers to expand cowpea area and it has motivated Cameroonian merchants to take an ever more active role in the regional cowpea trade. In the 1996-97 marketing season, Cameroonian merchants were buying cowpeas in Tchad, Sudan and the Central African Republic for shipment to Nigeria.
Interviews with key informants in Northern Cameroon indicates that cowpea varieties developed with CRSP help, BR1, BR2 and Vya, continue to occupy about 20% to 25% of the cowpea area. Farmers plant BR1 or BR2 on almost all mono-crop cowpea area in northern Cameroon. Obtaining quality, improved seed continues to be a problem. The government has withdrawn from seed production and private seeder producers are entering the business, but quality control is often inadequate. Seed certification, with inspection by IRAD researchers, is hampered by institution problems.
The interviews indicate that about 10% of cowpea are stored with the CRSP storage techniques. The use of the CRSP storage techniques appears to have plateaued in northern Cameroon. The use of storage insecticides sold by the cotton parastatal, SODECOTON, is expanding. Interviews indicate that the insecticides are considered easier to use than the CRSP technologies and that consumers are often unaware of health problems related to insecticide residue. Women continue to use the CRSP storage technologies, particularly the solar heater, because they often to not have ready access to storage insecticides through SODECOTON.
Preliminary results from an analysis of the economic impacts of the Cameroon effort indicate that the varieties and storage technologies developed since Purdue became involved in 1987 have a rate of return of about 22%. This analysis includes estimated returns to the new cowpea varieties incorporating storage insect seed and pod resistance that are expected to be released in 1998. Is assumes a 20% varietal adoption plateau and a 15% storage technology adoption. The net present value of the benefits at a 7.5% discount rate is US$14.9 million and the annualized value is US$1.36 million for the 24 year period from 1987 to 2010. The total expenditures on the project for this period were US$2.9 million, including costs of research and extension by the CRSP, IRAD, the Cameroonian extension service and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs). Sensitivity testing indicates that benefits could easily be tripled if the varieties or storage technologies could be widely extended in other West African countries.
B. Progress achieved in relation to the objectives stated in your FY 96 workplan.
Workplans for FY 96 and FY96-97 (1 Oct. 1996 to 27 April 1997) are included in appendices A and B. Specific objectives are parallel in both workplans and progress will be reported by those specific objectives:
i) implement rigorous impact assessment including adoption surveys and economic surplus calculations - An initial adoption survey and impact assessment using those adoption estimates was completed for Senegal. A followup adoption survey is planned to verify cowpea varieties in the field and make field measurements. The impact assessment will be modified for new data from the followup survey.
In Cameroon, data from earlier adoption surveys was updated with information from key informants and preliminary impact assessment estimates were made for technologies developed in the period after 1987. More work is needed on the impact assessment analysis to accommodate the interaction of the interaction of two storage related innovations: genetic seed and pod resistance and post-harvest treatment with the solar heater, triple bagging or improved ash. Followup needed on dissemination and adoption of the seed and pod resistance varieties after their release.
A statement of a common approach to impact assessment (Appendix C) was drafted at the cowpea social science working group meeting at Clemson University, 10-14 March, 1997. The focus of this statement is on estimation of economic impacts. The consensus of the group was that methodologies for assessment of social, environmental and other impacts are not yet adequate to permit standardization across countries. The statement has been circulated to the other Bean/Cowpea CRSP scientists working in West Africa for their comment. The approach outlined in the statement is being used to guide the collection of baseline data in Ghana.
ii) improve communications between projects in West Africa and with U.S. institutions -Communications has both a technical and a human side. Some technical improvements occured in the Bean/Cowpea CRSP HC sites, though not always as a result of Bean/Cowpea CRSP initiative.
On the human side, communications among social scientists was improved by the cowpea social science working group meeting organized by Lowenberg-DeBoer and held at Clemson University in March, 1997. At the 1994 regionalization meeting in Accra, Ghana, it was recognized that social scientists working on cowpea could benefit from greater interaction. They face many common problems including the need for standard methodologies that are comparable across counties, the lack of good price, production and area data because cowpea is often considered a ÒminorÓ crop, and the need for coordinated initiatives on regional issues (e.g. marketing). This meeting was attended by most of the U.S. and H.C. social scientists working with the CRSP in West Africa and had representatives from every bilateral partnership. This was the first time that many of the social scientists had met because in the past the project leaders who attended regional meetings were primarily biological and physical scientists. The specific topic of the Clemson meeting was impact assessment for agricultural research. In addition to the statement of a common approach to impact assessment, the group discussed research plans for the 1997-98 period and a system for internal review and feedback on draft research documents. It was proposed that documents be sent Lowenberg-DeBoer who would distribute them to the members of the social science working group for comment. A second meeting of the group is planned for early 1998 at Purdue with a focus on marketing and comparative advantage in international trade.
iii) Establish links with social scientists working on cowpea related problems in West African countries that are not Bean/Cowpea CRSP host countries - Lowenberg-DeBoer initiated or reinforced contacts with: * Daniel Kaboré, National Institute for Agronomic Research (INERA), Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, currently a Phd student at Virginia Polytechnic Institute. * Bakary Coulibaly, Rural Economics Institute (IER), Bamako, Mali, currently at Phd student at Purdue University working on the economics of cowpea based weaning foods. * Sirajo Seidi, National Agricultural Research Institute, Bissau, Guinea Bissau, currently a MS student at Purdue working on cowpea adoption and impact assessment in Guinea Bissau. * Tahirou Abdoulaye and Germaine Ibro, National Institute for Agronomic Research of Niger (INRAN), Niamey, Niger. * Akin Adesina and Ousmane Coulibaly, Resource and Crop Management Division, International Institute for Tropical Agriculture (IITA), Yaoundé, Cameroon. Adesina is social science coordinator for the RCMD and is personally involved in cowpea economics research in northern Nigeria. Coulibaly provides backstopping for social science research in the project for Ecologically Sustainable Cowpea Protection (PEDUNE) funded by the Swiss. PEDUNE is active in Niger, Nigeria, Burkina Faso, Benin, Mozambique, Mali, Senegal, Cameroon and Ghana.
Through his involvement with the INTERCRSP, Lowenberg-DeBoer is in the process of establishing linkages with Tchadian social scientists working on cowpea in the Ministry of Agriculture.
The longer run plan is to involve scientists from non-CRSP countries in the exchange of information in the cowpea social science working group.
iv) encourage collaboration between social science researchers and biological scientists within the Bean/Cowpea CRSP, making social science an integral part of each project - Establishing the role of RF in the regionalized CRSP and giving the RF an place in the regional team and the technical committee raises the profile of social science work in the CRSP. The RF role involves integration of all the disciplines represented in the CRSP, but social sciences represent a specific problem because of the differences in methodology and perspective that has hindered productive collaboration with physical and biological scientists in the CRSP and elsewhere. To better understand the constraints and problems of all the scientists, Lowenberg-DeBoer visited the site each bilateral Bean/Cowpea CRSP project in West Africa and all except one of the U.S. Universities. He talked to researchers, visited research sites and met with farmers, extension staff and those involved in agricultural businesses who are the eventual users of CRSP results. He coordinated West Africa team meetings at East Lansing, MI, in August, 1996, and at Griffin, GA, in April, 1997.
v) represent socio-economic research in West Africa in the context of the CRSP as a whole, working with social scientists from other regions to identify common perspectives, methods and resources - Lowenberg-DeBoer participated in TC meetings and conference calls representing the perspective of social scientists working in West Africa. Regular conference calls with Anne Ferguson, RF for East Africa, and Rick Bernstein, RF for the Carribean and Latin America, facilitate communication.
1. Cite important institutional personnel changes since FY 94 - The RF role was new in Oct., 1995. Lowenberg-DeBoer's HC counterpart and HC Research Advisor for social sciences is Mbene Faye, from ISRA, Senegal. Langyintuo from SARI, Ghana, has represented the HC social science perspective on occasions when Faye was not able to attend, in particular at the West Africa Team Meeting, Griffin, GA, April, 1997.
2. Update the attached training from (include non-degree training).
C. Institutional development and training (i.e., strengthening HC research systems)
1. List each U.S. research activity shown in your FY96 workplan and then describe the progress made under each activity - no U.S. research activities listed.
2) List each HC research objective and describe the progress made towards each. - Because the RF role includes both administrative responsibilities and research, only the first objective is explicitly research oriented. That objective relates to adoption surveys and impact assessment. As described under part I.A.1. an adoption survey was implemented in Senegal and the results used to make preliminary impact assessment calculations. In Cameroon, adoption information was updated with key informant interviews and preliminary impact assessment estimates made. In Ghana collection of baseline information for impact assessment was planned.
3. Discuss how your project research relates to other research being conducted in the HC, IARCs and elsewhere. - relatively little work is being done outside the CRSP on the socio-economic aspects of cowpea production, marketing, processing and consumption. As indicated in section I.B.iii, Lowenberg-DeBoer is in contact with many of the social scientists working on cowpea issues in West Africa. In most cases, cowpea work is a small part of their overall research program. There is very little duplication in the research programs of this group. The cowpea marketing research planned by the cowpea social science working group and initiated in the reporting period as the pilot price an quality study in Maroua appears to be unique in West Africa. No one else has collected or analyzed this type of data.
B. Coulibaly, IER, Mali, is apparently the only economist studying cowpea consumption economics. His work and methods should be relevant for the University of Ghana/University of Georgia (UGA) cowpea utilization partnership.
O. Coulibaly, IITA, is developing expertise and experience in the economics of cowpea IPM. Similar methods may be useful for the Ghana/Clemson IPM partnership.
Abdoulaye, INRAN, and Lowenberg-DeBoer have used linear programming farm models to look at how monocrop cowpea fits into the overall farming system and how devaluation of the FCFA affects the prospects for cowpea.
The adoption, impact assessment and cost of production research is largely complementary. These must be done in each country (and often by subregion within the country) and every few years as conditions change. Thus, the cowpea adoption data collected by Sirajo in Guinea Bissau and by Adesina in northern Nigeria complements efforts to measure adoption in Senegal, Cameroon and elsewhere.
Lowenberg-DeBoer's interaction with these researchers is large through personal contacts, either by email and fax, or by meeting at conferences. Including these people in at least some activities of the social science working group would be very benificial for the CRSP and for there organizations.
D. Evidence of biological/social sciences integration - Improving the integration of biological and physical sciences with social sciences is one of the reasons for creation of the RF role. Lowenberg-DeBoer has advocated this type of collaboration in his own research involvement, as well as in meetings of the Regional Team and TC.
In Cameroon, Lowenberg-DeBoer has collaborated closely with NÕToukam, Larry Murdock and Laurie Kitch. He worked N'Toukam in investigating the costs and returns to storage and marketing cowpeas in Cameroon. In Sept, 1996, they interviewed plastics manufacturers and cowpea merchants in Douala, Cameroon. They have worked together to determine the cost of the permanent placement solar heater. N'Toukam provides the day to day supervision for the cowpea price and quality data in Maroua.
In Senegal, the storage entomologist, Dogo Seck, was closely involved with the implementation of the adoption survey and impact assessment. Faye and Lowenberg-DeBoer discussed the survey questionnaire with him before implementation and results when they became available.
1) What are the socio-economic and WID related constraints related to the achievement of your research objectives? - Socio-economics and distributional issues are at the core of the RF research objectives. Achieving impact usually means have widespread utilization of new technology by women as well as men, and ethnic minorities as well as majority groups.
2) List specific inputs in your project made by social scientists in addressing these constraints.- For the RF case this question might be reinterpreted to listing specific actions that are being taken to insure that biological and physical scientists have the socio-economic information necessary for development of appropriate technology.
* Economic feasibility of new technology should be evaluated early in the development process. Sometimes the technology can be modified to better fit local economic conditions. For example, in Cameroon, Lowenberg-DeBoer and N'Toukam have collaborated to compare the cost of cowpea disinfestation with a permanent placement solar heater with plastic sheet solar heaters and other methods.
* Cowpeas are increasingly a cash crop destined for the market. CRSP physical and biological scientists need more information about market conditions. If cowpea production is increased, who will buy the additional production? Can it be exported? What cowpea characteristics obtain a premium in the market? How much storage damage are West African consumers willing to tolerate? The pilot cowpea price and quality study in Maroua and the interviews with merchants in Maroua and Douala are examples of Lowenberg-DeBoer's efforts to provide this information.
* Impact assessment is needed to guide future research planning? Which research strategy provides the biggest bang for the buck? What are the distributional consequences of various research strategies? Lowenberg-DeBoer's efforts to measure adoption levels and estimate economic value created in Cameroon and Senegal are intended to provide this information.
* Surveys explicitly include women respondents. In the village rapid appraisal surveys done in Senegal women were interviewed separately from men and about cowpea production in their own fields. Because of cultural barriers in many parts of West Africa to men outside the family interviewing women, every effort is made to have a female interviewer for female respondents. In Senegal, Mbene Faye interviewed most of the women respondents.
* Data is collected on spatial and ethnic distribution of technology use. In Cameroon, Lowenberg-DeBoer is careful to collect data on use of improved cowpea varieties and storage technologies in outlying areas, especially in the Mandara Mountains which are inhabited by non-Muslim minority groups. In Senegal the adoption survey showed that drum storage of cowpea was being practiced by all ethnic groups in the region.
E. Collaboration and linkages with other Bean/Cowpea CRSP projects, other CRSPS and other external groups not included in B.3. above. - Lowenberg-DeBoer has taken an active role in development of INTERCRSP projects in West Africa. He was on the preparation team that visited various West African countries in preparation for the 1995 Niamey INTERCRSP conference and the 1996 Bamako INTERCRSP conference. At Dakar, Senegal, in September, 1996, and at Griffin, GA, in February, 1997, he met with U.S. and West African scientists to develop proposals that would bring together CRSP technologies to help solve natural resource management problems in West Africa.
Lowenberg-DeBoer is specifically involved with the so called "Eastern Group" INTERCRSP project, including Niger, Burkina Faso, Cameroon and Tchad. The CRSPs involved are Bean/Cowpea, INTSORMIL, PEANUT, SANREM and Soils CRSP. Andrew Manu, Alabama A&M University, is the project coordinator. Manu is associated with the PEANUT CRSP. Lowenberg-DeBoer will coordinate activities in Cameroon and Tchad. Briefly the plan is to bring together soil conservation technology from Soils CRSP, SANREM and the national programs, with improved crop production technology from the commodity CRSPS, to bring about long term sustainable production on good crop land, while enhancing marginal lands for grazing, fuel production and biodiversity.
There is a natural synergy between Lowenberg-DeBoer's role as Bean/Cowpea CRSP RF and his work with the INTERCRSP. In the future it may be possible to combine trips, thereby reducing overall travel costs. The INTERCRSP provides a means for disseminating CRSP varieties and storage technology, while at the same time providing important information on the sustainabiltiy issues related to CRSP work.
II. Funding/Fiscal Management in FY 96
A & B. Problems related to funding, budgeting, release of funds, procurement, etc. in U.S. and HC. Adequacy of current management, policies and procedures. - The delay in receiving funds from USAID for the next phase of the CRSP is creating uncertainty for everyone and extra work for the business office which has had to process several "Notices to Proceed" to allow payment of expenses before the actual monies are received. Many activities are on hold or proceeding only very slowly awaiting funds.
Several Bean/Cowpea CRSP Management Office policies and practices create problems. The "no carry forward policy" makes planning difficult and generates extra work for the business office in accounting for encumbrances and required justifications. Budget forms are sent only to the PIs. Purdue Contract Office must rely on them to receive the information and pass it to them on time. This is particularly difficult for PIs with busy travel schedules. In the case of the RF, he also does not always receive budget forms and other information, so that unless he happens to hear from a PI that certain budget or other information has been distributed he is left in the dark.
A key problem for the RF is the requirement that supplemental funding be accounted for separate from his overall budget. Separate accounting and reporting is cumbersome and difficult. By the time the separate account is set up at the University, many expenses (e.g. phone calls, express mail) have already been incurred. This was the case for the supplemental funding for the Impact Assessment workshop held at Clemson University in March, 1997.
C. Financial Contributions of collaborating institutions and organizations toward accomplishment of objectives. Report funding over and above core CRSP funds and participating U.S. and HC institutions match, with accompanying comments as the uses and impact of the additional funding. - none
III. State of Project in FY 96
A. Collaboration/cooperation between U.S. and HC institutions and personel. - Part of this initial year's work plan was to improve communication. For both RF roles, channels needed to be developed for research planning, budget development, training plans to be discussed and decided. For the West Africa team, the team meetings in East Lansing, MI, August, 1996, and Griffin, GA, 1997, were essential to this process. For the social science group, the workshop at Clemson University played that role.
B. Interest, involvement and support of USAID Mission and/or U.S. Embassy. - Lowenberg-DeBoer met with Francois Faye, USAID Mission, Dakar, Senegal, in June, 1996. Faye was interested in the survey on adoption of cowpea technology and very supportive. Cameroon has no USAID mission. Lowenberg-DeBoer did not meet with the Ghana USAID mission staff during his brief stay in Accra in September, 1996.
C. Evidence of institutionalization in HC and U.S. - The role of social sciences is being taken increasingly seriously by HC agricultural research administrators. In Cameroon, IRAD has for the first time assigned a Cameroonian social scientist to work with the IRAD/PURDUE team. This is Jean Koulandi, an social anthropologist, station at the Garoua, IRAD experiment station. Koulandi has an MS from Boston University, 1984.
D. Other comments - none.
IV. Work Plan Changes - none
V. Publications and Presentations in FY 96
L.L. Murdock, R.E. Shade, L.W. Kitch, G. Ntoukam, J. Lowenberg-DeBoer, J.E. Huesing, W. Moar, O.L. Chambliss, C. Endondo, and J.L. Wolfson, "Postharvest Storage of Cowpea in Sub-Saharan Africa," in Advances in Cowpea Research, B.B. Singh, D.R. Mohan Raj, K.E. Dashiell, and L.E.N. Jackai eds., International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) and Japan International Research Center for Agricultural Sciences (JIRCAS), Ibadan, Nigeria, 1997.
