The SANREM CRSP: a framework for integration of systems analysis methods in a sustainable agriculture and natural resource management research and development agenda

Abstract

The mission of the USAID-funded Sustainable Agriculture and Natural Resource Management Collaborative Research Support Program (SANREM CRSP) is to implement a comprehensive, farmer-participatory, interdisciplinary research, training, and information exchange program that will elucidate and establish the principles of sustainable agriculture and NRM on a landscape scale.

Systems analysis and modelling can be useful tools in analyzing and integrating research results from many different disciplines, identifying research gaps, and recommending further experimentation. Two other features of systems analysis are repeatability across space and repeatability over time. The judicious use of simulation models will permit predictions that we can use to evaluate practices that are most likely to be sustainable. GIS will be used to store data from various sources with one common descriptor, that of geographic location.

The SANREM activities in the Philippines are described as an example of how systems analysis is integrated with farmer participation and action and experimental work. The goal of simulation modelling is to determine how human activities affect soil and water quality and quantity and to provide guidance to field-oriented programs in the development of effective and sustainable land-management practices.

Through the participatory identification of constraints and research questions, the research agenda is “demand driven”, resulting in appropriate and more readily adoptable solutions than traditional “top-down” approaches. The results of systems analysis can be used to aid communities and national programs to identify and test alternative strategies for sustainable agriculture and NRM.