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This document represents the strategy for the period 2005-2010
of the Tropical Soil Biology and Fertility Institute of CIAT
(TSBF-CIAT). Since its founding in 1984, TSBF has conducted
research on the role of biological and organic resources in
tropical soil biology and fertility and its relationship to
the natural and social environment, in order to provide farmers
with improved soil management practices to sustainably improve
their livelihoods.
In recent years, TSBF-CIAT's research for development approach
has been based on an Integrated Soil Fertility Management
(ISFM) paradigm. ISFM is a holistic approach to soil fertility
research that embraces the full range of driving factors and
consequences of soil degradation-biological, physical, chemical,
social, cultural, economic and political.
However, successful resource management and sustainable agricultural
productivity need to go still further, addressing socio-cultural
realities in the realms of markets, health and policies. The
central hypothesis is that natural resource management research
will have more leverage if the apparent gaps between investment
in the natural resource base and equitable income generation
and distribution can be bridged. Therefore, TSBF-CIAT's new
strategy proposes to take ISFM further forward, by addressing
the full chain of interactions from resources to production
systems to markets, socio-cultural forces, and policies. Under
the new framework, investment in soil fertility management
represents a key entry point to sustainable agricultural productivity
growth, and a necessary condition for obtaining positive net
returns to other types of farm investments.
TSBF-CIAT will pursue the following objectives under the
new strategy:
- to improve the livelihoods of people reliant on agriculture
by developing sustainable, profitable, socially just and
resilient agricultural production systems based on ISFM;
- to develop sustainable land management (SLM) practices
in tropical areas while reversing land degradation; and
- to enhance the human and social capital of all TSBF-CIAT
stakeholders for research and management on the sustainable
use of tropical soils.
To achieve these objectives, TSBF-CIAT's work will be organized
into six programmatic thrusts:
- intensification and diversification of cropping systems;
- managing the genetic resources of soil for enhanced productivity
and plant health;
- moving from plot to landscape scale to address sustainable
land management challenges;
- understanding farm-level social, cultural, and gender
dynamics
- linking farmers to markets; and
- collaboration and strengthening of NARES capacity.
The above programmatic thrusts contribute to CIAT's Development
Challenges:
- Enhancing and sharing the benefits of agrobiodiversity
- Improving the management of agroecosystems in the tropics
and
- Enhancing rural innovation.
TSBF-CIAT's strategy will emphasize developing and extending
technologies that support sustainable intensification of cropping
systems, especially in the dry and moist savanna, hillside,
and forest and forest margin agro-ecological zones (AEZs)
in Africa and Latin America. In these AEZs, economic poverty,
population growth and a rising demand for food are driving
expansion of cropped area into increasingly marginal lands
and/or remnant forest zones. Under these circumstances, sustainable
intensification of agriculture on already cultivated land
represents the most promising solution to achieving food security
and protecting against natural resource degradation, the ultimate
goals of TSBF-CIAT's work.
As a relatively small research institute, it is important
that TSBF-CIAT position itself appropriately on the research-development
continuum. TSBF-CIAT's primary role and comparative advantage
is in conducting international public goods research on ISFM
in farming systems where soil degradation undermines local
livelihoods and market opportunities. However, while TSBF-CIAT
will focus primarily on strategic research, it is also ready
to support technology dissemination and development activities
with partners via regional networks and global projects.
TSBF-CIAT will continue research on below-ground biodiversity
as a means of beneficially managing soil biology, through
the GEF-UNEP funded global project on below-ground biodiversity
(BGBD).
Much of the applied research and dissemination of findings,
as well as NARSs capacity building, will be done via the Institute's
two partner networks-the African Network for Soil Biology
and Fertility (AfNet),
and the Latin American Consortium on Integrated Soil Management
(known by its Spanish acronym, MIS).
TSBF-CIAT also collaborates with the South Asian Regional
Network (SARNet)
on soil fertility research in that region.
By 2010, significant progress will have been made towards
generating the following outputs:
- biophysical and socioeconomic processes understood, principles
and concepts developed for protecting and improving the
health and fertility of soils and people's livelihoods;
- sustainable soil, water, and nutrient management practices
developed and tested by applying and integrating knowledge
of biophysical and socioeconomic processes;
- improved rural livelihoods through profitable, diverse
and intensive, sustainable agricultural production systems;
- sustainable land management practices developed for social
profitability, with special emphasis on reversing land degradation;
and
- partnerships developed and capacity enhanced among all
stakeholders for improving the health and fertility of soils.
To carry out the work envisioned under the new strategy,
the following staff positions will be called for:
Agrobiophysical scientists: These include specialists
in ISFM, soil biota management, soil and water conservation,
ecosystem services, microbiology, and plant nutrition and
physiology.
Social scientists (including agricultural economics):
This staff category will be strengthened to permit greater
emphasis on the socio-economic aspects of the new research
paradigm.
Coordination: This includes the Institute Director,
coordinators of the AfNet and MIS networks, and the coordinator
of the GEF-UNEP Below Ground Biodiversity Project.
The estimated funding required for TSBF-CIAT's work is approximately
US$5 million per year, for a total budget of about $30 million
over the projected 6-year period.
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