Toward Sustainability: A Plan for Collaborative Research on Agriculture and Natural Resource Management (1991)

A thoughtful and clearly articulated research agenda is crucial to the success of the proposed Sustainable Agriculture and Natural Resource Management (SANREM) program. No less important are an organizational structure that fits the components into a logical framework and a management device that promotes a sense of esprit de corps among program participants, while ensuring that research program responsibilities are met, administrative actions are orderly, and reporting is timely. Management of the SANREM program would also entail overseeing the international collaborative arrangements so essential to its success. In meeting these administrative requirements the program should adopt the essential features of, and be patterned closely after, the existing collaborative research support programs (CRSPs).

The CRSPs have been operational for more than 15 years. To meet changing priorities and funding constraints, the details of their internal structure and functional operations have been modified over time. Despite modifications, the same basic components for a collaborative program have been maintained. The CRSP model and experiences are valuable resources in designing the organizational framework and management approach for the proposed SANREM program.

The SANREM CRSP should be organized along the lines set forth in Guidelines for the Collaborative Research Support Programs (Agency for International Development, 1985; the “guidelines” hereafter). However, some variations from the standard organizational framework are required.

The existing CRSPs focus on a commodity or discipline; the SANREM CRSP will be multidisciplinary. The existing CRSPs are funded through one administrative unit within the Agency for International Development (AID); the SANREM CRSP will be funded through multiple administrative units. The existing CRSPs have limited involvement by AID in programming; more substantive participation by the collaborating AID offices will be required in planning, programming, and implementing the SANREM CRSP if it is to be integrated with other programs of the Bureau for Science and Technology. Attention must be given to these unique aspects of the SANREM CRSP, and the guidelines provide the necessary flexibility to address them.

The guidelines provide for the administration of each CRSP by a central agency, or management entity. They should be adhered to in administering the SANREM CRSP, with the following modifications.

Following the selection of the recipient for the research core grant (discussed below), representatives from each of the universities, institutions, and organizations involved in the SANREM CRSP will be asked to recommend interested candidate institutions, in rank order, to serve as the management entity. To be eligible, the management entity candidate must have the legal status of a juridical body. It may be a U.S. university, an administrative unit within a university, or a consortium or other structures of universities, legally organized as a juridical body representing the participating universities. An institution eligible to receive a federal grant would be eligible to serve as a management entity. The planning entity will use these recommendations in preparing its recommendation to AID for a management entity.

The management entity will be responsible for all aspects of CRSP management and will be the administrative link between the SANREM CRSP and AID. In discharging its responsibilities, the management entity will undertake the following duties:

• Receive and administer funds provided to support activities of the SANREM CRSP, including research support grants (see below).

• Enter into agreements with participating U.S. and developing country institutions to implement activities, and provide funding in accordance with the initial grants and subsequent modifications in activities and budgets.

• Establish a system for effective management that will ensure accountability in the use of funds for the intended purpose.

• Ensure that commitments for matching resources are met and accountable.

• Establish a system to facilitate and manage travel.

• Ensure that timely and effective reviews of CRSP activities are performed.

• Institute changes in activities and funding in collaboration with the board of directors, the technical committee (discussed below), and the AID program manager, as needed and appropriate.

• Conduct general oversight of the technical activities and provide leadership in initiating actions to consider modifications or additions.

The need to communicate in a useful form the substantive results emanating from the SANREM CRSP is an important responsibility. To address this need, the CRSP management entity should not only create and support a mechanism to provide the necessary periodic reports required by the funding agency, but also initiate other means of disseminating program results.

To assist in carrying out its responsibilities, the management entity will form a board of directors, a technical committee, and an external evaluation panel. Establishment of a sustainable agriculture and natural resource management committee within AID is also recommended to coordinate the program planning and evaluation activities of the participating AID offices.

The board of directors will consist of representatives from some or all of the participating institutions and may include individuals from other organizations. Members of the board should have some expertise in one or more of the disciplines involved in SANREM program research, some authority to represent the administration of participating institutions, and the ability to provide unbiased analysis of program strengths and weaknesses. The director of the management entity and the AID program manager will be ex officio members of the board. Responsibilities of the board include evaluating and recommending revisions in policies, programs, and budgets, and providing advice to the management entity on any matter that could improve functioning of the SANREM CRSP. The board will submit periodic reports of its findings and recommendations to the director of the management entity.

The technical committee will be drawn primarily from the principal scientists engaged in the work of the CRSP. The director of the management

entity and the AID program manager will be ex officio members of the committee. The committee's responsibilities will be to review technical matters pertaining to the SANREM program, to develop or review recommendations for modifications in the research program, and to develop or review recommendations for adjustments in funding. It will submit periodic reports of its findings and recommendations to the director of the management entity.

The external evaluation panel will consist of a minimum of three senior scientists recognized by their peers and selected, according to the procedures set forth in the guidelines, for expertise relevant to the SANREM program and experience in research or research administration. The responsibility of the panel will be to evaluate, as deemed necessary, the status, funding, progress, plans, and prospects of the SANREM program and make recommendations based on these evaluations in a report to AID.

The Agency for International Development is a major collaborator in program planning and evaluation for each CRSP. Because of the multiple AID offices and divisions involved with the SANREM CRSP, AID should establish a sustainable agriculture and natural resource management committee. The committee members would be drawn from the participating offices and selected to ensure representation for the biological, physical, and social sciences. One member of the committee would be the AID program manager for the SANREM CRSP and provide the primary link between the agency and the CRSP management entity. The committee would be responsible for reviewing and analyzing the program, recommending modifications and additions of activities and funding to AID and the CRSP management entity, and promoting links between the SANREM CRSP and other relevant activities of the Bureau of Science and Technology.

Grants should be awarded under the proposed SANREM program on a competitive basis to a limited number of institutions or consortiums.

Three types of competitive grants should be made available under the proposed SANREM program: research planning grants, a research core grant, and research support grants.

Applicants who intend to apply for the research core grant should be encouraged, but not required, to submit a preproposal to AID by July 1991 for a research planning grant. The purpose of the planning grants would be to support enhanced interdisciplinary interaction, on-site visits to potential study sites, and the development of links with cooperating institutions in the process of preparing and refining proposals for a research core grant. From the highest ranking preproposals submitted, a maximum of six planning grants of up to $50,000 each per institution or consortium should be awarded for proposal development during the initial year of the program. Recipients of planning grants would be required to submit to AID a full proposal for the research core grant. Alternatively, a report to AID describing the activities undertaken would meet this requirement. Planning grants are recommended because the type of integrated research necessary to fulfill the objectives of the SANREM program will require new modes of collaboration and are likely to involve institutions and individuals that may not have worked together before.

A research core grant should be awarded to support a long-term, fullscale interdisciplinary collaborative research program (the SANREM CRSP) on sustainable agriculture and natural resource management in one or more of the world's principal agroecosystems. This grant should be awarded in the second year of the program at a level of about $2.5 million per year (administrative expenses of $300,000 per year would be included in this amount).

The initial core grant should be authorized for 5 years. Prior to the end of the third year, however, a comprehensive review should be undertaken and a decision made to extend or terminate the grant. The review would be conducted according to the procedures in the CRSP guidelines, with such modifications as agreed to by AID and the management entity. Funding schedules should be in accordance with AID administrative actions. The core grant recipient would be required to match with nonfederal resources (cash or in-kind contributions) an amount equal to not less than 25 percent of the federal funds provided, except for those costs paid by federal funds that have been determined to be exempt from these requirements.

The core grant recipient should be selected from the pool of final proposals, which should be open to all qualified applicants. A recommended timetable for proposal submission and the awarding of grants is provided in Table 4-1.

Research support grants should be awarded to support research of direct

and immediate relevance to the goals of the SANREM program within other collaborative research programs, including existing CRSPs. This mechanism would permit the SANREM program to have access to research on aspects of sustainability within the current CRSPs and other AID-funded research projects. These grants would support research of value to the SANREM program and would integrate results from other AID-funded research.

Two types of research support grants are recommended: type A, to be awarded by the CRSP management entity, beginning as soon as the SANREM CRSP is established; and type B, to be awarded directly by AID's Bureau for Science and Technology, beginning as soon as possible. A limited number of these grants of up to $100,000 a year for an initial 3-year period

should be awarded. The awarding of type B grants should neither hinder nor promote the eligibility of the same institution for the core grant.

To achieve their purposes, the research support grants should be administered partly by the CRSP to support close integration of institutions or individuals with expertise of particular relevance to the core research (type A), and partly by AID itself (type B) to support integration of other AID-funded research activities with the SANREM program. Selection of recipients for the two types of research support grants should be made by AID, based, respectively, on two types of recommendations: from the management entity of the SANREM CRSP (type A), and from a special peer review panel constituted for this purpose (type B). The number of research support grants will depend on the level of funding available each year from the Bureau for Science and Technology and from AID's regional offices and missions and other sources (buy-ins). If the SANREM program is allocated the $10 million over 3 years recommended by Congress, after completion of the planning phase (year 1), about $2.5 million per year should support the CRSP through the core research grant, with another $300,000 per year for the type A research support grants. AID may award the remaining annual allocation (and buy-ins) directly to other grantees as type B research support grants in support of SANREM program objectives.

The levels of funding recommended above are based on several considerations. For the initial phase of the SANREM CRSP, Congress recommended, and AID has used as the basis for planning, a level of $10 million over 3 years (an average of about $3.3 million a year). Congress and AID are to be commended for acting quickly to establish a new SANREM CRSP, but adequate support for research on sustainable agriculture and natural resources management over the long term will require considerably higher levels of funding. Funding must be sustained for at least 15 to 20 years to achieve program objectives. Funding from other AID offices (buy-ins) should be sought as a means of integrating SANREM research and other AID-funded research projects and programs, including the existing CRSPs. Close collaboration with researchers who are funded by other donors should be sought.

In this context, at least six research planning grants may be necessary to encourage the desired institutional participation and innovation during the initial stages of the program. Given that coordination, including foreign travel, will be required among several participating institutions, $50,000 (per institution or consortium) may be needed to provide for the travel and staff time that a quality proposal will entail.

Using research support grants to add an integrative dimension to existing collaborative research is a critical and innovative part of the proposed SANREM

program. Since two types of research support grants are envisioned, to be administered by the CRSP management entity and directly by AID for their respective collaborating purposes, a minimum of eight support grants (at about $100,000 each per year) is recommended for the initial 3-year period.

If $800,000 is allocated annually for research support grants, after year 1 an average of $2.5 million per year should be available for the CRSP. Although this amount could be divided among more than one core grantee, the broad range of issues that must be covered and the number of institutions that might be involved in the type of interdisciplinary research required suggest that it would be preferable to fund, on a competitive basis, a single institution or consortium with $2.5 million—$2.2 million for research and $300,000 for administrative expenses of the management entity.

Research conducted under the SANREM program would necessarily demand a broad range of expertise and international experience in the natural, agricultural, and social sciences. To be successful, projects may require the involvement of organizations and institutions that are not currently participating in Title XII programs. The program should be structured to allow both Title XII and non-Title XII universities to receive program funds, and to encourage the participation of other groups with relevant experience and expertise, including private voluntary, nongovernmental, and other private sector organizations. This goal could be achieved through contractual arrangements between universities and nonuniversity collaborators. The SANREM program should capitalize on the research and development capabilities of the entire U.S. system and of diverse collaborators in developing countries. Innovative collaborative arrangements, especially with relevant host country entities, should be encouraged to meet this goal.

To meet essential criteria for funding, research proposals submitted for funding under the SANREM program should be required to provide information and demonstrate capacities as indicated below. Proposals for research planning grants and the research core grant should meet the same set of requirements to the fullest degree possible. Research support grant proposals, on the other hand, should meet those requirements from among the following topics that are necessary to augment their established research agenda.

Proposals should describe the specific region, area, and agroecosystem in which the research will be conducted. This section should address the field

research location, its facilities, the availability of local expertise, other support available from the collaborating country, and the potential for local outreach activities.

Proposals should explain the local, regional, and global significance of the study area, the type of cropping system(s) to be studied, and the socioeconomic and biological interactions chosen for investigation and analysis.

Proposals should describe specifically the biological, ecological, social, and economic aspects of sustainability, and the constraints to sustainability, that the proposed research will help to elucidate.

Proposals should define specifically the on-farm, landscape, or regional problems to be addressed, the hypotheses to be tested, and the experimental approach that will be used to test the hypotheses and to identify, investigate, and ultimately overcome the constraints to sustainability. Proposals should also describe how the proposed research will fill gaps in existing knowledge and ongoing research. They should further define how hypotheses and research results will be integrated into an evolving theory of research design.

Proposals should also give evidence of attention to the special concerns described in AID's Program in Science and Technology Cooperation proposal guidelines (Agency for International Development, 1990). All AID-funded research requires a description of the steps the investigators will take to eliminate hazards or conform to ethical or environmental practices that are prescribed by law or scientific convention. These requirements include the following:

• A protocol and informed consent form for any research involving human subjects or volunteers. (Appropriate certification of ethical review committees may also be required.)

• Protocols describing the safe handling and disposal of any material presenting a hazard to research personnel, including radioisotopes, toxic chemicals, mutagens, or human pathogens. Proper containment and disposal procedures for any plant or animal pathogens are also required, along with certification of institutional approval for the protocol.

• Notification procedures for any international shipments of biological material, including submission of copies of the appropriate import and export permits.

• Description of how recombinant DNA work undertaken in the project will adhere to established guidelines (for example, those of the National

Institutes of Health) and have certification of institutional approval. Prior to field release of any engineered recombinant organisms, a detailed protocol in conformance with established U.S. and collaborating country guidelines must be approved by an institutional review committee.

• Description of how research involving animals will follow established guidelines that ensure their humane treatment. If any endangered or potentially endangered species (animal or plant are to be used, a protocol describing efforts to mitigate the impact on this species must be provided, along with certification of governmental approval.

• A protocol for hazard reduction if the research will generate any environmental concerns, either at the research stage or with widespread application of the results. Such hazards may be physical, chemical (for example, pesticides), or biological in nature.

• Indication of the sharing of rights (including ownership and control) among the collaborators if the results of the research are likely to result in a product or process for which intellectual property rights are applicable. Preexisting intellectual property rights should also be considered. A process must be established, if not already in place, to protect property rights if a patentable product or process is developed.

Proposals should demonstrate a systems-based approach to research.

Proposals should place special emphasis on integrated pest management and integrated nutrient management. They should describe the relationship between ecological factors and policy and institutional factors within the selected agroecosystem. Accordingly, the research design should include innovative social science components that focus on these institutional and policy factors as they influence on-farm management decisions and patterns.

Proposals should also include a detailed plan for taking into account the cultural, economic, and indigenous knowledge characteristics of the region, both in the development of research and in prospective strategies for the refinement and exchange of technology among farmers. This plan should also indicate the relevance of the work to researchers and research institutions that are developing sustainable management systems within the area or in comparable areas elsewhere in the world.

Proposals should describe plans for facilitating collaboration among participating U.S. institutions, including institutional responsibilities, logistical

arrangements, and communications. Plans should be indicated for the involvement of farmers, host-country scientists, members of private voluntary and nongovernmental organizations, and extension workers in the design, implementation, and dissemination of research results.

Proposals should include names and biographical information describing the qualifications of all researchers and other collaborators who will contribute substantially to the proposed research in the United States and host country.

Proposals should include a description of the team members' experience in, and specific plans for, the implementation and support of interdisciplinary research. At a minimum, proposals should address the following aspects of interdisciplinary research (Melcher and Stanbury, 1990).

Proposals should provide detailed information about how the program will be set up to foster interdisciplinary collaboration, including composition of core staff, location of main facilities, composition of field teams, and location of research sites (farm or experiment station). They should also indicate proposed methods for transferring experimental methodologies to farmers' fields and how the methodologies will be adapted for and adopted by farmers. Finally, they should indicate awareness of the time demands of interdisciplinary research by specifying realistic time frames.

Proposals should specify mechanisms for identifying and overcoming disciplinary biases and assumptions. The type of team-building methods (such as diagnostic analysis or the team planning meeting approach) that will be used to promote collaboration and interdisciplinary interaction in all relevant phases of the research, including fieldwork, should be indicated. Proposals should demonstrate prior experience in building interdisciplinary teams, including the use of facilitators and other professionals who can expedite the process of team building from the outset.

Proposals should indicate a set of objectives and goals common to both the social and biophysical sciences and a set of performance indicators by

which to judge project “success” in terms common to all disciplines. Some of the most significant problems in interdisciplinary research arise when the performance indicators are not clear across disciplinary lines. In an effort to avoid this, proposals should specify a preliminary list of performance indicators that demonstrate a capacity for interdisciplinary research evaluation.

Because interdisciplinary research has the potential to generate large quantities of data, proposals should indicate plans for data management, for information sharing among team members, and for formal publication. “Quick and clean” methods, such as rapid rural appraisal, or the development of a comparable methodology, are encouraged when appropriate. Proposals should also identify the characteristics and handling of a minimum data set on sustainable agriculture.

In addition to drawing on the theoretical and methodological strengths of individual disciplines, the research methods proposed should reflect a capacity for creative synthesis among disciplines and sufficient flexibility to accommodate the pursuit of multiple goals, prevent premature closure, and permit adaptive iterative changes as the research progresses. Proposals should indicate specific methods, such as a “learning process approach,” for responding to and learning from other scientists and farmers and, where relevant, adjusting research priorities.

In addition to interactions among research team members, proposals should indicate how the team members will draw on local expertise as well as the broader research community. They should include such activities as workshops for discussions with representatives of a broad range of disciplines and organizations (including private voluntary and nongovernmental organizations, developing country experts, and private research centers).

Proposals should specify procedures for soliciting and ensuring farmer participation in all phases of the research, from problem identification and establishment of research priorities to evaluation and dissemination of results. They should specify mechanisms for ensuring that farmer participa-

tion is sustained, and they should indicate some possible ways of communicating with farmers more effectively (such as by developing local farmer organizations or by identifying progressive or experimental farmers who can disseminate new sustainable agricultural methodologies).

Proposals should specifically address the problem of sustaining interdisciplinary research among the U.S. and host country research staffs and within host country institutions. The proposal should demonstrate that the proposed methods will not be “one shot” interdisciplinary efforts at host country sites, but rather will foster new interdisciplinary approaches and promote policy changes within the national institutions themselves. Applied research on the bureaucratic agencies and host country research institutions involved in promoting sustainable agriculture—the management structure, system of incentives, reporting lines and communication between offices, and interdisciplinary training for host country staff—should be high-priority areas. Similar issues regarding the U.S. institutions are also of interest.

Proposals are also encouraged to indicate how they will set their research in a broader context—that is, to specify how the proposed research will be linked with its broader social, political, economic, and environmental contexts. They should also indicate how they will assess technology needs, the expected consequences and the impacts of the proposed research, and the distribution of associated costs and benefits.

Proposals should show how evolving systems theory and research findings will be translated into situation-specific research design and on-farm practices. They should also describe past accomplishments of the principal investigators and their institutions, and they should demonstrate special expertise in systems-based research related to the physical, biological, ecological, social, and economic bases of sustainable agriculture and natural resource management.

Proposals should include budget details, indicating not only the amount of funding requested, but also the contributions from the various collaborating institutions and other matching funds. As in the existing CRSP partner-

ships between AID and U.S. universities, a minimum match of funds of 25 percent through cash or in-kind contributions is required from U.S. institutions.

The establishment of the proposed SANREM program, and the competitive grants it would make available, would provide critical support for collaborative research on sustainability in developing countries. In particular, the SANREM program is designed to encourage imaginative approaches to interdisciplinary research on sustainable agriculture and natural resource management. It is expected that the SANREM program will attract a wide range of U.S. and foreign talent. Although the need for new approaches, innovative experimental design, and integrated training has long been recognized, the institutional and financial means to implement responses have been scarce. Research of the kind needed is long term and complex, requiring sustained commitment. Congress and AID are commended for their initial investments in the new CRSP and for their support of its goals. Although a modest step given the extent of the challenge, the creation of the SANREM program would demonstrate the effectiveness of new approaches and catalyze support from other parts of AID and from other donor agencies.

In the longer term, the SANREM program is expected to generate research results that can contribute directly to developing sustainable agricultural systems and natural resource management strategies. The understanding gained through SANREM research will advance both the theory that underlies sustainability and the design of practices that promote sustainability at the farm, landscape, and agroecosystem levels. In the process, fruitful research relationships will be created that promise to establish enduring international partnerships.