Leader: Graham Thiele

Profile

Principal activities

Characterizing user needs and opportunities for agricultural knowledge and technology
Assessing dissemination strategies, adoption, and impact
Adding value to commodities through post-harvest innovations
Institutional learning for pro-poor impact

In an effort to help scientists contribute to the United Nations Millennium Development Goals, CIP established the Impact Enhancement Division in 2003 to improve targeting and do better job of monitoring impact. This Division will, in essence, serve as the compass for the program, conducting research to monitor our progress and increase our impact in each of the regional settings. It will: develop improved methodologies for impact targeting and needs/opportunities assessment; adopt and validate a broader conceptual framework for impact assessment; identify impact indicators and methodologies for measuring and monitoring these indicators; and develop strategies and tactics to add value to CIP's commodity research.

Highlights

Survey results on the development and adoption of modern varieties of sweetpotato in Asia show that at least 800,000 hectares are currently planted with varieties released since 1980 by national programs. This is most likely a conservative estimate as the survey only covered 17% of the sweetpotato growing area in Asia. Since 1990 CIP germplasm contributed to 20% of all new variety releases in Asia.

Post-harvest utilization research in the Andes Region has successfully demonstrated the strength of a holistic marketing research method, the “Participatory Market Chain Approach.” This method helps link farmers of rare Andean crops to markets, improving livelihoods, and creating new incentives to preserve biodiversity. New processed products from native potatoes and arracacha (Arracacia xanthorriza) have been developed and successfully introduced into markets.
New work on impact assessment is underway, and will address a diverse set of impact indicators including health impacts from biofortification and the value added from participatory research. Results will be forthcoming in future years.

See also: Realignment of CIP’s Research and Development Program