Publications /  Annual Report 1998

In the last five years, CIP has invested heavily in a number of tools to enhance its NRM research capacity.

Remote sensing uses satellite photographs, radar, and optical images to interpret a wide variety of physical and biological factors of importance to farmers and policy makers. These factors include elevation; vegetative cover; plant health; salinization; and risk from erosion, frost, drought, or flooding. In 1998, CIP installed a satellite antenna that is currently being used by collaborators in La Paz, Bolivia. The Center also acquires images from a number of providers in Europe, Japan, the United States, and Latin America.

Computer simulation models predict the outcome of any number of physical, biological, economic, managerial, or climatic scenarios, whether at the farm level or over an entire region. Some of the models being used at CIP have been made available by other institutions, some have been adapted by CIP, and others have been built by Center scientists. For instance, researchers from CIP and ILRI have combined the results of more than 100 experiments conducted in the Andean altiplano to create a mathematical model for pasture and livestock interactions, while researchers from CIP and the International Fertilizer Development Center (IFDC) have been adapting U.S. potato production models to Andean conditions. Both models allow researchers to test management regimes under various conditions while minimizing the need for expensive, difficult, or time-consuming field trials.

Geographic Information Systems (GIS) synthesize data from satellite images, surveys, field experiments, climate records, simulation models, and many other sources to produce thematic maps and "geo-referenced" databases. For example, using GIS a researcher can feed climate data into a simulation model for crop growth and produce easy-to-use maps and tables showing risk across time and space for frost or flooding. These outputs can be further combined with data on poverty, land degradation, or other factors. GIS thus serves as a link between data and models, providing useful reference materials for researchers and policy makers.