PROJECT ASSESSMENTS - Science for Agriculture and Rural Development in Low-income Countries - page 207

4) What has been the benefit or impact (indicate evidence of impact, e.g., page hit
count)?
Mainly fellow scientists benefited from the information collected.
F) Lessons learned
What lessons have you learned from science, policy-oriented and capacity building
activities that could improve:
1) Future research on Rural Development and Sustainable Agriculture
The required firm and continued financial basis for this type of integrated studies
(due to the many partners from different research fields involved) appears to be a
weak point to overcome.
2) The role of research in generating policy-relevant information in support of LNV
and other policy institutions
Integrated studies are effective in producing policy-relevant information. Such studies
are able to show the integrated results from different policies, the interaction between
different factors (e.g., changes in land use, agricultural intensification, environmental
protection, changing consumption patterns, etc.), and the trade-offs between factors
(e.g., intensification versus pollution, land use change versus income and pollution, etc.).
3) Partnerships and development efforts in the South
Partnerships should continue over sufficient time to have a tangible effect. This, of
course, requires financial continuity.
4) Interactions between research and decision makers, both in The Netherlands and
the South
Idem point F3 above.
5) Which insights were gained by employing a multi-disciplinary methodology that
would have been missed by disciplinary research?
See point F2 above.
G) Unfinished business and future challenges
1) Which important things remain to be done that could not be achieved by the
project?
See point C1.