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Biocomplexity Research Project

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CIIFAD's Agroecological Perspectives in Sustainable Development seminar series has concluded for the Spring '08 semester. PowerPoint presentations are available online for many of the seminars. The Fall '08 series will begin Wednesday, Sept. 3. at 12:20 PM in 135 Emerson Hall

OTHER BEST BETS

Thurs., May 8, 2008
Jackie Greenwood King, PhD student in Crop and Soil Sciences will present “ Impact of Nutrient Management, Planting Date, and Location on Papaya Yield and Quality in Bangladesh” at 12:20 PM in 135 Emerson (sponsored by CSS)

Thurs., May 8, 2008
Christine Nyhus, graduate student in nutritional sciences, will present "Thirty Years of Dietary Iron Bioavailability in India: Linking Food Production and Anemia" at 12:20 in 200 Savage Hall (sponsored by the Program in International Nutrition)

Mon., May 12, 2008
Christopher Barrett, professor of applied economics at Cornell, will present "Poverty Traps and Social Protection" at 1:30-3:00 PM in 401 Warren Hall (sponsored by AEM)

Check the Einuadi Center's recently updated list of external funding opportunities and Fulbright programs

 

Project overview Outputs by author
Research collaborators Workshops



Project overview

“Homeostasis and Degradation in Fragile Tropical Ecosystems” is an on-going research project involving faculty and students from several departments at Cornell University and scientists from the World Centre for Agroforestry (ICRAF) and Kenya Agricultural Research Institute (KARI). It examines the interplay between Kenyan smallholder farmers and their natural environment in highland regions of Central and Western Kenya, focusing on the socioeconomic and biophysical factors contributing to soil fertility depletion, which is increasingly acknowledged to be tightly linked to declining food production and increasing poverty in sub-Saharan Africa. Understanding the complex interrelationships among these factors is a necessary first step towards developing effective strategies and policies to sustain sub-Saharan Africa’s natural resource base and to ensure sustainable livelihoods for its people.

The project has been funded by the National Science Foundation’s Biocomplexity in the Environment program on the Dynamics of Coupled Natural and Human Systems (Grant No. 02158900)* with additional suport from the USAID BASIS CRSP project on Rural Markets, Natural Capital and Dynamic Poverty Traps in East Africa. The Rockefeller Foundation is providing key financial support for many of the Kenyan doctoral students involved in the project.

Shocks, such as floods, droughts, changing economic incentives and death or disease of household members, regularly disrupt smallholder farming systems, changing peoples’ behavior and performance of the subsystems. Studies of systems that are able to maintain balance as well as those that do not recover from human and natural shocks provide the opportunity to understand the central biophysical and socioeconomic processes that underpin agroecosystem functioning in the tropics.

The research team is examining factors influencing why some smallholder farmers have been able to sustain soil fertility and productivity, while others are caught in "natural resource poverty traps" that yield food insecurity and agroecosystem degradation. Data from individual research areas are being integrated into a dynamic model to enhance understanding of complex linkages among subsystems, thanks to modeling contributions by Barrett, Brown, Kinyangi, Ngoze, Nicholson, Parsons, Pell, Riha, Roberts and Stephens.

Aspects being investigated by social scientists include:

The biophysical scientists have been exploring soil, crop and livestock linkages, including:

Research Collaborators

(with links to project outputs for first authors only)

Outputs by Author

David M. Amudavi (PhD conferred 2005, Education)

Christopher Barrett (Professor, Applied Economics and Management)

Doug Brown (PhD conferred 2004, Applied Economics and Management)

Heidi Hogset (PhD conferred 2005, Applied Economics and Management)

Joseph Kimetu (PhD candidate, Crop and Soil Science)

James Kinyangi (PhD conferred 2007, Crop and Soil Science)

Johannes Lehmann (Associate Professor, Crop and Soil Science )

Paswel Marenya (PhD candidate, Natural Resources)

Florence Nherera (PhD conferred 2006)

Solomon Ngoze (PhD candidate)

Alice Pell (Professor, Animal Science; Director, CIIFAD)

Dawit Solomon (Research Associate, Crop and Soil Science)

Emma Stephens (PhD candidate, Dept. of Economics)

Workshops/Conferences

* Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.

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