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Erenstein, O.

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Erenstein
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Erenstein, O.

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Now showing 1 - 10 of 17
  • Impacts of CGIAR maize improvement in sub-Saharan Africa, 1995-2015
    (CIMMYT, 2021) Krishna, V.; Lantican, M.A.; Prasanna, B.M.; Pixley, K.V.; Abdoulaye, T.; Menkir, A.; Banziger, M.; Erenstein, O.
    Publication
  • Impacts of International Wheat Improvement Research: 1994-2014
    (CIMMYT, 2016) Lantican, M.A.; Braun, H.J.; Payne, T.S.; Singh, R.G.; Sonder, K.; Baum, M.; Van Ginkel, M.; Erenstein, O.
    This study documents for 1994-2014 the global use of improved wheat germplasm and the economic benefits from international collaboration in wheat improvement research funded by CGIAR and involving national agricultural research systems, CGIAR organizations, and advanced research institutes. Conducted by the CGIAR Research Program on Wheat (WHEAT), this is the fourth in a series of global wheat impact assessments (Byerlee and Moya 1993; Heisey et al. 2002; Lantican et al. 2005) initiated by the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT). It updates data and earlier analyses from the most recent, previous study, covering 1988-2002 (Lantican et al. 2005).
    Publication
  • Characterization of maize production in Southern Africa: synthesis of CIMMYT/DTMA household level farming system surveys in Angola, Malawi, Mozambique, Zambia and Zimbabwe
    (CIMMYT, 2012) Kassie, G.; Erenstein, O.; Mwangi, W.M.; La Rovere, R.; Setimela, P.; Langyintuo, A.S.
    This report presents the synthesis of household level surveys in five intervention countries (Angola, Malawi, Mozambique, Zambia, and Zimbabwe) of the Drought Tolerant Maize for Africa (DTMA) project designed and implemented by the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), International Institute for Tropical Agriculture (IITA) and national research and extension institutions in 13 countries of Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). In each of the study countries, two districts were randomly selected provided that the districts fall in predetermined categories (20-40%) of probability of failed season (PFS). A total sample of 1108 households was randomly drawn with sample sizes varying country to country. The report has different sections that focus, in order, on description of the sample households, extent and determinants of poverty and inequality among the sample population, characteristics of maize production, perception and management of drought risk, and determinants of likelihood and intensity of adoption of improved maize varieties.
    Publication
  • Crop-Livestock Interactions and livelihoods in the indo-gangetic plains, India: a regional synthesis
    (CIMMYT, 2007) Erenstein, O.; Thorpe, W.; Singh, J.; Varma, A.
    The research and development community faces the challenge of sustaining crop productivity gains, improving rural livelihoods, and securing environmental sustainability in the Indo-Gangetic Plains (IGP). This calls for a better understanding of farming systems and of rural livelihoods, particularly with the advent of, and strong advocacy for, conservation farming and resource-conserving technologies. This report presents a regional synthesis of four scoping studies to assess crop livestock interactions and rural livelihoods in each of the four subregions of the Indian IGP: the TransGangetic Plains (TGP: Punjab and Haryana), the Gangetic Plains of Uttar Pradesh (UP), Bihar, and West Bengal. The scoping studies draw from village surveys in three districts per subregion and from secondary data. The IGP can be divided broadly into eastern and western subregions. The eastern subregion (Eastern UP, Bihar, West Bengal) has problems of poor water control and flooding; rain-fed (monsoonal/kharif) lowland rice is the traditional cereal staple and the mainstay of food security. It was only in recent decades that wheat and other cool-season crops were introduced on a large scale in Eastern India, north of the Tropic of Cancer. In contrast, the western subregion (TGP, Western Uttar Pradesh) is mainly semiarid and would be water-scarce if not for its irrigation infrastructure of canals and groundwater tube wells. In the western plains, winter/rabi wheat has traditionally been, and continues to be, the mainstay of food security. In recent decades, there has been a major increase in the area of rice grown in the monsoonal/kharif season. Another important contrast is that whereas in the Eastern IGP cattle are the predominant livestock, in the Western IGP buffalo dominate. In broad terms therefore, the Eastern IGP is characterized by rural livelihoods based on rice-cattle farming systems, while rural livelihoods in the Western IGP are based on wheat buffalo farming systems. Therefore, although the IGP is a contiguous plain area, there are significant gradients and variations between subregions. The sheer size of the IGP also implies that each subregion assumes national prominence: the TGP is India’s granary; UP is India’s most populous state; Bihar is one of India’s poorest states and West Bengal is India’s most densely populated state.
    Publication
  • Impact of zero tillage in India's rice-wheat systems
    (CIMMYT, 2007) Laxmi, V.; Erenstein, O.; Gupta, R.K.
    To date, the most widely adopted resource conserving technology (RCT) in the Indo-Gangetic Plains (IGP) has been zero-tillage (ZT) for wheat after rice, particularly in India. This report reviews and synthesizes the experience with zero tillage in the Indian IGP. Zero tillage of wheat after rice generates significant benefits at the farm level, both in terms of significant yield gains (6–10%, particularly due to timelier planting of wheat) and cost savings (5–10%, particularly tillage savings). These benefits explain the widespread interest of farmers and the rapidity of the diffusion across the Indian IGP, further aided by the wide applicability of this mechanical innovation. The study subsequently reports on the findings of village-level focus-group discussions in Punjab, Haryana and Eastern Uttar Pradesh (UP). These typically corroborate the findings reported in the reviewed literature. They also highlight the significant extent and speed of ZT adoption in each village as well as the attendant substantial cost savings and yield increases. A conservative ex-ante assessment of supply-shift gains alone (excluding other social and environmental gains), shows that the investment in zero tillage/reduced tillage (ZT/RT) research and development by the Rice-Wheat Consortium of the IndoGangetic Plains (RWC) and the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center, Mexico (CIMMYT) was highly beneficial with a benefit-cost ratio of 39, a net present value (NPV) of US$ 94 million and an internal rate of return (IRR) of 57%. The study highlights the potential gains from successful technology transfer and adaptation in natural resources management (NRM).
    Publication
  • Adoption and impacts of zero tillage as a resource conserving technology in the irrigated plains of South Asia.
    (IWMI, 2007) Erenstein, O.; Farooq, U.; Malik, R.; Sharif, M.
    The recent stagnation of productivity growth in the irrigated areas of the Indo-Gangetic Plains of South Asia has led to a quest for resourceconserving technologies that can save water, reduce production costs and improve production. The present synthesis of two detailed country studies confirmed widespread adoption of zero tillage (ZT) wheat in the rice-wheat systems of India’s Haryana State (34.5% of surveyed households) and Pakistan’s Punjab province (19%). The combination of a significant “yield effect” and “cost-saving effect” makes adoption worthwhile and is the main driver behind the rapid spread and widespread acceptance of ZT in Haryana, India. In Punjab, Pakistan, adoption is driven by the significant ZT-induced cost savings for wheat cultivation. Thus, the prime driver for ZT adoption is not water savings or natural resource conservation but monetary gain in both sites. Water savings are only a potential added benefit. ZT adoption for wheat has accelerated from insignificant levels from 2000 onwards in both sites. Geographic penetration of ZT is far from uniform, suggesting the potential for further diffusion, particularly in Haryana, India. Diffusion seems to have stagnated in the Punjab study area, and further follow-up studies are needed to confirm this. The study also revealed significant dis-adoption of ZT in the survey year: Punjab, Pakistan 14 percent and Haryana, India 10 percent. Better understanding the rationale for dis-adoption merits further scrutiny. Our findings suggest that there is no clear single overarching constraint but that a combination of factors is at play, including technology performance, technology access, seasonal constraints and, particularly in the case of Punjab, Pakistan, the institutional ZT controversy. In terms of technology performance, the relative ZT yield was particularly influential: dis-adopters of ZT reporting low ZT yields as a major contributor to farmer disillusionment in Punjab, Pakistan and the lack of a significant yield effect in Haryana, India. In neither site did the ZT-induced time savings in land preparation translate into timelier establishment, contributing to the general lack of a yield increase. Knowledge blockages, resource constraints and ZT drill cost and availability all contributed to nonadoption. This suggests that there is potential to further enhance access to this technology and thereby its penetration. The study highlights that in both Haryana, India and Punjab, Pakistan ZT has been primarily adopted by the larger and more productive farmers. The structural differences between the adopters and non-adopters/dis-adopters in terms of resource base, crop management and performance thereby easily confound the assessment of ZT impact across adoption categories. This calls for the comparison of the ZT plots and conventional tillage plots on adopter farms. ZT-induced effects primarily apply to the establishment and production costs of the wheat crop. Both the Haryana, India and Punjab, Pakistan studies confirmed significant ZT-induced resource-saving effects in farmers’ fields in terms of diesel and tractor time for wheat cultivation. Water savings are, however, less pronounced than expected from on-farm trial data. It was only in Haryana, India that there were significant ZTinduced water savings in addition to significant yield enhancement. The higher yield and water savings in Haryana, India result in significantly higher water productivity indicators for ZT wheat. In both sites, there are limited implications for the overall wheat crop management, the subsequent rice crop and the rice-wheat system as a whole. The ZT-induced yield enhancement and cost savings provide a much needed boost to the returns to, and competitiveness of, wheat cultivation in Haryana, India. In Punjab, Pakistan, ZT is primarily a cost-saving technology. Based on these findings the study provides a number of recommendations for research and development in South Asia’s rice-wheat systems.
    Publication
  • Adoption and impacts of zero-tillage in the rice-wheat zone of irrigated Haryana, India
    (RWC, 2007) Erenstein, O.; Malik, R.; Singh, S.
    This study documents the adoption and impacts of zero-tillage (ZT) wheat in the rice-wheat systems of India’s Haryana State primarily drawing on a detailed empirical survey of 400 rice-wheat farmers. Our random stratified sample revealed 34.5% to be ZT wheat adopters and a quarter of the wheat area in
    Publication
  • Adoption and impacts of zero-tillage in the rice-wheat zone of irrigated Punjab, Pakistan
    (RWC, 2007) Farooq, U.; Sharif, M.; Erenstein, O.
    This study documents the adoption and impacts of zero-tillage (ZT) wheat in the rice wheat systems of Pakistan’s Punjab province primarily drawing on a detailed empirical survey of 458 rice-wheat farmers. Our random stratified sample revealed 19% to be ZT wheat adopters and a similar share of the wheat area in the surveyed communities to be under ZT. The study suggests that diffusion has stagnated and also flags the issue of disadoption (14%). ZT adopters, non-adopters, and disadopters differ significantly in terms of their resource bases, with adopters typically showing the most favorable values. ZT drastically reduces tractor operations in farmers’ ZT wheat fields from an average of 8 passes to a single pass, implying a saving of 7 tractor hours and 35 liters of diesel per hectare. ZT did not have any significant effect on the mean farmer estimated wheat yield of 3.3 tons per hectare. ZT also had no significant effect on water productivity for wheat or spillover effect on the subsequent rice crop. ZT primarily appears to be a cost-saving technology for wheat in Pakistan’s Punjab. Based on these findings, the study provides a number of recommendations for research and development in Pakistan Punjab’s rice-wheat systems.
    Publication
  • Livelihoods, poverty and targeting in the Indo-Gangetic Plains: a spatial mapping approach
    (CIMMYT, 2007) Erenstein, O.; Hellin, J.; Chandna, P.
    This study develops a spatial mapping methodology as a tool to guide priority-setting and targeting of poverty-alleviation activities. It applies this tool to the Indo-Gangetic Plains of South Asia, the target domain of the Rice-Wheat Consortium (RWC). It draws on secondary data for 18 quantitative, spatially-explicit variables at the district level, which serve as indicators of poverty levels
    Publication
  • The farming systems of the Texizapan watershed, Sierra de Santa Marta, Veracruz, Mexico
    (CIMMYT, 1998) Rice, E.; Erenstein, O.; Godinez, L.
    The main farming systems of the Texizapan watershed in southern Veracruz, Mexico (200-1,640 meters above sea level) were characterized through a formal survey in 1995. Farm-level data included an inventory of resources (human, land, and capital), their use, and resource flows (both intra- and inter-household). Field-level data, particularly on input use and production, were gathered for the major crops, maize and coffee. Maize was the main food crop, grown by all households. Coffee was the main cash crop, but production was limited to higher elevations. The maize cropping system was relatively land extensive and labor intensive; all practice were entirely manual. External input use was relatively limited, emphasizing herbicides. Half the farmers reported using fertilizers, but levels were generally low and use of improved maize varieties rare. All farmers used burning as a land preparation practice prior to maize planting. Maize yields in the main season averaged less than a 1 t/ha. Maize was generally intercropped with beans and other crops, although intercrop yields also appeared low. Maize producttion in the minor season was more widespread than previously thought, although yields were extremely low. Given the low yields, high labor input, and limited external input use, returns to maize cultivation were low. Even so, maize cultivation was expected to continue in the study area, in view of the households' consumption needs and limited alternative income opportunities. Half the sample reported being net consumers of maize, and the need to purchase beans - the major protein source - was even more widespread. In view of the limited number of other food sources available locally and constraints on disposable income, the nutritional status of the households warrants closer attention. The major challenge facing producers was that of sustainably raising productivity to provide for consumption and other needs.
    Publication