Water & Food Monthly

Welcome to the 20th Issue (April/May/June 2006) of Water and Food Monthly!

In this Issue of Water and Food Monthly, we feature program updates and activities, and announce a second call for proposals, as well as offer up an exciting list of dates for your diary.

In this issue

•	Crop Water Technology and Markets
•	CPWF Second Call for Proposals, Call for Concept Notes
•	Yellow River Benchmark Basin CPWF holds three workshops in China
•	Groundwater Governance in Asia Innovative Training Program
•	CPWF Welcomes
•	Dates for your diary
•	Recently Released Publications

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*What is the CGIAR CPWF?*
The Challenge Program on Water and Food is a partnership between national and international research institutes, NGOs and river basin communities. Its goal is to identify and encourage practices and institutional strategies that improve Water Productivity - Grow More Food with Less Water...

Crop Water Technology and Markets

An Interview with Dr. Jane Alumira, ICRISAT

How do the interactions among crop varieties, soil and water conservation activities, and access to markets influence decision-making and livelihoods of rural farmers within the Limpopo River basin? This is the question addressed by CPWF project, “Increased food security and income in the Limpopo basin through integrated crop, water, and soil fertility options and public private partnerships,” lead by Mary Mgonja of ICRISAT, in partnership with a team of international and interdisciplinary researchers in the Limpopo basin. The project, which began in January 2005, is designed to test the hypothesis that farmers will adopt improved technologies when they are assured of product markets. Currently active in South Africa, Mozambique, and Zimbabwe, it is hoped that lessons learned from these case studies will stimulate adoption of future crop water productivity technologies, and thus improve livelihoods. Dr. Jane Alumira, a social scientist for ICRISAT, is leading the socio-economic characterization of 144 villages (up to 3000 households) involved in the project. Dr. Alumira spends 14 weeks in the field working side by side with extension agents in order to provide a hands on learning opportunity in techniques of participatory rural appraisal (PRA) used to take stock of farmers' perceptions of soil and water management and crop production techniques, institutional constraints (input/output markets, extension services etc) and farmers' decision making processes. The surveys administered are designed to mainstream gender and HIV/AIDS in the project. In January, CPWF’s capacity building officer, Marcia Macomber, caught up with Dr. Jane Alumira to ask about the projects’ progress. MM: Dr. Alumira, it is an unusually wet year in the Limpopo and you are conducting your research during the cropping season. How does this affect your work and interaction with the farmers? Dr. Alumira: This is an exciting challenge which often works to our advantage. For instance, when we interview farmers in their fields we find it easier to estimate acreages and observe crops and other farm enterprises; and even the technologies being utilized. It also helps farmers to quickly remember their farming and marketing constraints and opportunities. We are also able to more easily relate what we are asking to ongoing farm activities in the fields. However, rains can be notorious in interfering with the management of time as an important resource. MM: You are working with extension agents from three very different African countries - what are some of the differences in terms of constraints and strengths across the three countries in the capacity of their extension services? Dr. Alumira: So far, there are distinct differences across the countries. In some countries, only a small proportion of the extension staff are trained up to diploma level and the majority are students attached to the Department of Agriculture. Those trained up to first degree (BSc.) level are indeed minimal. And across the board, most extension staff have never participated in characterization activities. It is quite a task to train them to a level where they are able to utilise survey instruments appropriately and with minimal supervision. This has been and remains my greatest challenge! Then there is the language problem. In some cases there are extension staff who are unable to construct meaningful sentences in English because of the predominance of Afrikaans in schools in South Africa – this can be very demanding on the supervisor, especially during focus group discussions and key informant interviews. This is further complicated by the different local languages such as Shaangani, Sotho, Si-Ndebele and Shona across project countries. In Mozambique for instance, questionnaires have to be translated from English to Portuguese and then the enumerators have to be trained on how to translate this to local languages when interviewing farmers and the responses will have to be translated back into English – indeed a noble task! Some countries have gross logistical constraints such as lack of vehicles for transport and even fuel! In these cases, ICRISAT has to step in and provide vehicles and help procure fuel. Others, like South Africa, have more than enough transport facilities. MM: What is it like working on an interdisciplinary team on a multi-year project taking place in three countries? Dr. Alumira: Very demanding. For example, the socio-economic characterization paves the way for the implementation of biophysical activities. Project implementation farmers have to be carefully selected to allow the scaling out of desirable project outcomes – and this depends a lot on the way the baseline surveys were conducted. Biophysical scientists need to know where to set up their trials and this can put considerable pressure on the social scientists. I speak from experience in the Limpopo basin! MM: One of the key goals of the research is to identify the constraints that farmers face when deciding whether or not to adopt a technology that scientists may feel would particularly beneficial for them. What type of research techniques are you employing to identify those constraints? Dr. Alumira: A combination of qualitative and quantitative methods are being used to set benchmarks in each country. For instance, wealth-ranking criteria help stratify farmers into relative wealth categories while the use of key proxies help identify households afflicted by HIV/AIDS. A combination of focus group discussions and formal surveys help to understand farmer constraints and opportunities in production and marketing of their crops. Interviewing men and women farmers separately during the reconnaissance brings out the gender differences and this is complimented by the statistical analyses of the formal survey data. It is hoped that in-depth socio-anthropological analyses over the project period will help expose time-series changes in farmer adoption behaviour and the drivers of such changes. Farmer typologies and decision trees for crop production and soil and water management will be developed as a framework for interventions and subsequent evaluation." MM: Another goal of the project is to examine the extent to which poorer and HIV-affected households are represented in local planning meetings. During your January surveys, was lack of representation apparent? Dr. Alumira: HIV/AIDS is such a delicate issue that one needs to treat with a lot of care when dealing with affected households. This is partly due to the stigma that accompanies the disease and also to the expectations that may be aroused, such as access to financial and other external assistance. Once we analyse the data and identify afflicted households, then ways of finding this out will be sought. We expect that evidence of lack of representation will emerge the longer we work with the communities.
Contact:	Mary Mgonja, Project Leader M.Mgonja@cgiar.org
	Jane Alumira,Principal Investigator Jalumira@malawi.net

CPWF Second Call for Proposals, Call for Concept Notes

The CPWF call for concept notes that promise high quality scientific results and sound impact potential to add to our knowledge base in six priority areas. These priorities were selected based on a rigorous process within the CPWF and the Comprehensive Assessment of Water Management in Agriculture (CA), and on the advice of the CPWF Expert Panel on scientific quality. Finally, the CPWF Consortium Steering Committee discussed and approved the priorities based on both their complementarity with the CPWF scientific mandate and likely availability of funding. This call is therefore designed to ensure coherent outputs of the first CPWF phase.
The CPWF Consortium Steering Committee has authorized a minimum of US$4 million for this call. Projects must be efficient in their proposed use of funds. Budget requests lower than the maximum of US$500,000 for each proposal will be favorably viewed. Projects are sought that are able to deliver meaningful results over a two year period to December 2008, which is the completion date of the current phase of CPWF activities. The CPWF intends to select at least one project for each of the six priorities as far as the quality of submissions allows.

Priorities
A:	Research on groundwater and poverty reduction to address the circumstances under which access to groundwater significantly improves livelihoods vis-à-vis access to surface water alone.

B:	Research on the political drivers of success in water rights and allocations among users and uses within countries.

C:	Research to quantify livestock use of, and impact on, water resources in diverse production systems.

D:	Valuation of aquatic ecosystem goods and services as a contribution to improved water policy.

E:	Research-based approaches that prevent or mitigate land and water degradation under high population density and improve small-scale agricultural livelihoods.

F:	Development of alternative policies and methodologies for enhancing fisheries management as a means to improve water productivity.

The call was published on 25 May and closes on 17 July. For details, please refer to the CPWF website http://www.waterandfood.org/index.php?id=430

Yellow River Benchmark Basin
CPWF holds three workshops in China

“Developing a system of temperate and tropical aerobic rice (STAR) in Asia”
On March 14-15, 2006 China University of Agriculture and IRRI in Beijing co-hosted a workshop for project participants. Project leader Bas Bouman and Chinese side-project leader Professor Wang Huaqi chaired the meeting, reviewed 2005 research work and advised participants on 2006 activities. Following the workshop, the project team along with IRRI and China University experts visited experimental sites

“Groundwater governance in Asia: capacity building through action research in Indo-Gangetic and Yellow River Basins” On March 27-29, 2006 a workshop was held in Wuhan, jointly hosted by China University of Geosciences (CUG) and IWMI. Attendees included Dr. Karen Villholth, project leader; Dr. Karsten Hogh Jesen, University of Copenhagen; Professor Wang Yanxin, Vice-dean of CUG; Professor Jing Menggui, side-project leader; Professor Wang Jinxia, CCAP; and Professor Qian Yunping, YRCC. After the workshop, YRCC experts gave presentations on groundwater research activities in the Yellow River basin and Hei River basin; irrigation districts water resources management, and Yellow River water resources management and its achievements

“Conservation Agriculture for dryland areas of the Yellow River Basin: increasing the productivity, sustainability, equity and water use efficiency of dryland agriculture, while protecting downstream water users”

On April 4-6, 2006 CIMMYT co-hosted this workshop along with the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences in Beijing. Mrs Sun Feng, Yellow River Benchmark Basin Coordinator, gave a presentation on the CPWF and water resources management of the Yellow River. Other presentations included Dr Mark Giordano, IWMI, on groundwater governance in Asia; Professor Wang Huaqi, University of Agriculture, on the project’s research results; Professor Yan Changrong, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences in Beijing, on the project’s 2005 research activities and 2006 plan. Representatives from CIMMYT, IWMI, ADB/World Bank Beijing, CCAP, and from Henan, Shangdong, Ningxia, Inner Mongolia provinces also attended

Contact Sun Feng, Yellow River Basin Coordinator, sunfeng@yellowriver.gov.cn

Groundwater Governance in Asia
Innovative Training Program

CPWF project, “Ground water governance in Asia: capacity building through action research in the Indo Gangetic (IGB) and Yellow River (YRB) Basins” attempts to build capacity and knowledge on groundwater governance through pilot projects within the basin countries.

May 31, 2006 was the deadline for application to the international and inter-disciplinary training and research program ‘Groundwater Governance in Theory and Practice’. The project team is busy developing and finalizing the course program and making the necessary arrangements with invited guest lecturers and groundwater specialists from around the world to come to the course and deliver their views and experiences on theoretical and practical groundwater management.
The training program is one-of-a-kind. It targets five Asian countries with critical groundwater management challenges (see project website http://www.waterforfood.org/gga for details). Furthermore, it attempts to involve actively the key people within these countries responsible for developing and safeguarding groundwater resources for future use. An innovative approach to the training has been developed to ensure optimum exposure, interaction and active engagement of the participants throughout a nine to 21 week rigorous program.
The two-staged program starts with a five week intensive classroom program, designed to give an integrated introduction and foundation for further training within the multi-disciplinary fields of knowledge required to address groundwater governance in real-life situations, namely the engineering and technical aspects, the agronomical aspects, the socio-economic and institutional aspects, and the overarching aspects of legislation, policies and pro-active approaches to groundwater management.
In order to cater for participants of varying background and seniority and to build up a progressively more complex understanding, the five week program is divided into a four week program for junior managing practitioners followed by a one week workshop involving junior as well as senior managers in discussions with reputed experts and researchers on groundwater from the region. The course will take place at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Roorkee, India.
The training and research program will have room for 40 participants, 35 junior and media fellows and 5 senior fellows and will take place from 9 October 2006 to the end of March, 2007. The program will be repeated in 2007-2008, hopefully in China, with a new batch of fellows.
Click here for the course schedule image

Contact Karen Villholth, Project Leader, k.villholth@cgiar.org

Project meeting to refine pilot project proposal

CPWF Welcomes

Dr. Hussein El-Atfy Sector Head for Minister’s Technical Office, succeeded Dr. Mona El-Kady as the new NWRC representative on the CPWF Steering Committee.
Dr. El-Atfy has more than 34 years of experience in the fields of water resources management, irrigation and drainage at both the operational and policy levels. His technical qualification consists of a PhD. in Water Resources Management and MSc. in Water Resources Management, both from Cairo University; Diploma in Natural Resources Management, Water Resources and Environmental Aspects, Institute for African Research and Studies, Egypt; Diploma in Hydrology, International Center of Hydrology, PADOVA University, Italy; Diploma in Drainage, International Institute for Land Reclamation and Improvement (ILRI), and B. Sc. Civil Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Cairo University, Egypt. We welcome Dr. El-Atfy who can be contacted at elatfy@mwri.gov.eg

Ms. Maria Catalina Ramirez Andean system of basins coordination team
A warm welcome to Maria Catalina who joined the CPWF family as a full-time assistant coordinator. She holds a Civil Engineering degree from the University of Los Andes in Colombia, and a MSc. in Hydrology and Water Quality from the University of Wageningen. She is experienced in development projects, project monitoring and hydrological modelling and has a special interest in the sustainable use of natural resources. Maria is based at CIAT, Cali and can be contacted at M.C.Ramirez@cgiar.org

In memory of Dr. Mohsen Mohsenin
Dr. Mohsen Mohsenin - Deputy Director of the International Relations Unit - AREO, Iran	With deep regret, we announce the unfortunate demise of Dr. Mohsen Mohsenin. He suddenly passed away in his beloved mountains, at sunset after supervising the final exams of potential Alpine ski trainers. Mohsen was an economist by profession and Deputy Director of the International Relations unit at AREO, Iran. In this capacity, he was instrumental in the framing, development and coordination of CPWF project “Livelihood Resilience” in the Karkheh river basin in Iran. He was known for his sharp analytical skills, amiable personality, and positive outlook. He could interact very well with all type of people, ranging from directors, and colleagues, to farmers. Besides being very professional and committed to his work, he also maintained a healthy balance between work and personal time. His major passion was skiing and mountain hiking. He was a member of the board of the Iranian Ski Federation, and trained numerous young enthusiasts. With his departure, we lost not only a very capable project coordinator, but a dear friend.

Dates for your diary

17 July 2006 deadline for call for concept notes, CPWF second call for proposals

Refer to Challenge Program on Water and Food website, www.waterandfood.org for guidelines and to download required documents

31 July 2006 deadline for abstracts and posters, CPWF International Forum on Water and Food, Vientiane, Lao PDR

Refer to Challenge Program on Water and Food website http://www.waterandfood.org/index.php?id=413 for details

20 - 26 August 2006 Stockholm World Water Week

CPWF is organizing and participating in a number of events. For a detailed schedule, refer to the water and food website, http://www.waterandfood.org/index.php?id=40&no_cache=1

11 - 29 September 2006 Wageningen International course on multi-stakeholder processes

Wageningen International will be conducting a course on “Facilitating Multi Stakeholder Processes and Social Learning”. The course introduces the latest developments and approaches and will give particular attention to issues of governance and participatory democracy, power and conflict. For further information please contact simone.vanvugt@wur.nl. Application forms can be requested at training.wi@wur.nl

12 - 17 November 2006 new dates for International Forum on Water and Food, Vientiane, Lao PDR

In order to avoid overlap with other international events, the Forum has now been scheduled for 12-17 November 2006 and not as mentioned in the February/March 2006 newsletter of the CPWF. A call for abstracts will follow shortly.

Recently Released Publications

Water rights book co-financed by the CPWF

As competition for water grows globally, water users and water management organizations seek better institutional arrangements for coordinating use and resolving conflicts. Water rights can be useful tools for protecting availability of water for basic needs, securing irrigation deliveries, increasing urban water supplies and enhancing environmental flows. Implemented correctly, water rights reform can secure access to water for existing users and offer equitable ways to meet additional water needs.
Reforming water allocation institutions can provide large benefits; on the other hand, if reforms are badly managed, they might yield little impact, or even backfire, engendering confusion, conflict and deepening insecurity about access to water. The water rights reforms reviewed in a recent book titled “Water Rights Reform Lessons for Institutional Design”, edited by Bryan Randolph Bruns, Claudia Ringler, and Ruth Meinzen-Dick demonstrate some common challenges in implementing new policies:

Programs to reform rights to water may threaten to disrupt or destroy local institutions that regulate access to water, hence the formulation of statutes should be compatible with existing rights and practices

Attempting to leap directly into a tradable rights system, without first clarifying and securing the rights of existing users, may be a recipe for frustration and failure

Water rights are a tool for water management that can be effective only in combination with other supportive institutional arrangements. Decisions about when and how to modify and apply water rights need to consider objectives and conditions

Reforming water rights takes time and may yield little benefit if pushed too quickly or without appropriate synchronisation between different components of institutional change

Rather than imposing nationwide changes simultaneously, an enabling institutional framework that allows the timing of changes to respond to local conditions could be more effective

Investing in consultation early in the reform process offers a platform for public involvement that can encourage broad social support and allows water users to shape how and when reform occurs

If regulations are developed in parallel with the drafting of laws and pilot implementation, all three can be adjusted to ensure that there is adequate legal backing for regulations and that new laws support changes that can be put into practice

Reform has typically been initiated by government bodies, not in response to public demands for reforms. Civil society groups and other opponents have successfully mobilized to block proposed water law revisions in several countries, but so far have generally not initiated or achieved enactment of their own policy proposals

Where some degree of transferability has been allowed among rights-holders, attention to registration and enabling transfers has overshadowed the basic issue of security of tenure

Stakeholder participation has increased in basin and sub-basin bodies, yet their roles remain largely advisory

Whilst almost all countries exempt minor water use for drinking, bathing and household livestock purposes, these exemptions only provide priority where supplies are available and do not regulate excessive abstraction by competing users

Periodic renewal of water licenses provide a useful opportunity for adjustment in response to changing conditions and lessons learned

A phased approach, vesting rights in existing users and focusing on clarifying rights before developing mechanisms for transfers may increase political feasibility

The Water rights book could be downloaded from http://www.ifpri.org/pubs/books/oc49.asp and click here to download Bruns Water Book Flyer

The most detailed map of the world's rivers

The CIAT Land-Use project has been involved in a WWF-led initiative to map global rivers and watersheds, called HydroSHEDS. This data is now being released for Latin America, with Asia and Africa to follow shortly, providing unrivalled information on the hydrology of the earth. HydroSHEDS uses high resolution topographic data to model flow directions and flow accumulations, resulting in detailed data on river networks and catchment boundaries. The Land-Use project provided the project with its hole-filled SRTM topographic data and this can be downloaded from http://gisweb.ciat.cgiar.org/sig/inicio.htm#hydrosheds

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The Editor, Water and Food Monthly
CGIAR Challenge Program on Water and Food

For further information about the program contact the CPWF secretariat at cpsecretariat@waterforfood.org