{"id":17158,"date":"2026-06-20T12:55:34","date_gmt":"2026-06-20T12:55:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dev.iita.org\/news-item\/twice-smarter-for-phase-2-africa-rising-partners-pore-over-farming-systems-research-design\/"},"modified":"2026-06-29T18:01:24","modified_gmt":"2026-06-29T18:01:24","slug":"twice-smarter-for-phase-2-africa-rising-partners-pore-over-farming-systems-research-design","status":"publish","type":"news-item","link":"https:\/\/iita.org\/fr\/news-item\/twice-smarter-for-phase-2-africa-rising-partners-pore-over-farming-systems-research-design\/","title":{"rendered":"Twice smarter for phase 2: Africa RISING partners pore over farming systems research design"},"content":{"rendered":"\u201cThere aren\u2019t any \u201cgrab and go recipes\u201d in participatory farming systems research design. It can only benefit from iterative improvements with time and we get better at it.\u201d This was according to the participants at the end of a recent training on farming systems research design for\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/africa-rising.net\/\">AFRIQUE GRANDISSANT<\/a>\u00a0scientists held 3 to 4 October in Lilongwe, Malawi.\n<div id=\"attachment_1473\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\">\n\n<a href=\"https:\/\/iita.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/1024_419A8711.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1473 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/iita.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/1024_419A8711.jpg\" alt=\"Picture of Participants who took part in the Africa RISING training on farming systems research design\" width=\"1024\" height=\"476\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1473\" \/><\/a>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-1473\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Participants who took part in the Africa RISING training on farming systems research design<\/p>\n\n<\/div>\nThe training was organized by the project management team to prepare project partners for appropriate design and implementation of the research-in-development (R-in-D) activities proposed in the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/africa-rising.net\/2016\/09\/23\/africa-rising-phase2\/\">newly announced Africa RISING phase II<\/a>.\n\n\u201cThe main problem is that we have been doing component farming systems research, but have not prepared ourselves adequately to design research that brings the different components as \u201cwhole\u201d farming systems. This training was therefore purposely planned in advance of the starting implementation of phase II activities so that the researchers can design their activities with a farming systems focus at the back of their minds,\u201d explained\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/iita.org\/fr\/bekunda-mateete\/\">Mateete Bekunda<\/a>, Chief Scientist, Africa RISING East and Southern Africa Project. \u201cAfter this training I think the scientists are now better equipped to make more integrated and participatory systems research designs,\u201d he added.\n\nTwenty scientists implementing different Africa RISING interventions took part in the training and discussed in detail the different methodologies and approaches for farming systems research. Participants also tackled topics like: How \u201cparticipatory\u201d should systems research be? What are the implications for farming systems research design, considering the added expectations that research needs to contribute directly to the achievement of development goals? How best can researchers communicate the inherent tradeoffs posed by the improved technologies they offer to farmers? How do the activities implemented by researchers under the Africa RISING project contribute to the sustainable intensification domains?\n\nDuring the training, participants also examined different influence diagram models as case studies to try and tease out the various design questions and relationships that would enable collection of relevant data to sufficiently address tradeoffs and how to measure sustainable intensification indicators.\n\n\u201cI thought this training was worth it. Helping us get to the next step of our research work for better systems approach orientation. It helped us see how we can be clearer about our objectives, research questions and how to go about addressing them,\u201d noted Sieglinde Snapp, Michigan State University.\n\nOther interesting discussions at the training took place in groups where participants drew up various causal loop diagrams on how labor influences farmer choices, how to assess farmer preferences, and the use of baselines, controls, and farmer practices.\n\nGetting it (farming systems approaches\/designs) right and documenting lessons learned therefore will be a significant aspect of Africa RISING\u2019s deliverables in the next five years.\n\nExpressing satisfaction with the quality of discussion and level of commitment at the training, Ric Coe, partner at Statistics for Sustainable Development, who led the training, noted that Africa RISING needs to continue to facilitate, support, and encourage these kinds of training courses that allow researchers to reflect more deeply about their work.","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>There aren\u2019t any \u201cgrab and go recipes\u201d in participatory farming systems research design. It can only benefit from iterative improvements with time and we get better at it.<\/p>","protected":false},"featured_media":17159,"template":"","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}}},"tags":[],"science-area":[],"program":[],"location":[],"news-type":[],"hub":[],"crop":[],"impact-areas":[],"item-year":[194],"class_list":["post-17158","news-item","type-news-item","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","item-year-194"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Twice smarter for phase 2: Africa RISING partners pore over farming systems research design - IITA<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/iita.org\/fr\/news-item\/twice-smarter-for-phase-2-africa-rising-partners-pore-over-farming-systems-research-design\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"fr_FR\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Twice smarter for phase 2: Africa RISING partners pore over farming systems research design - IITA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"There aren\u2019t any \u201cgrab and go recipes\u201d in participatory farming systems research design. 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