Kinds of research: Relationship with agricultural research for sustainability

Abstract

Climate change is now a reality. It is observed in frequent extreme weather events, such as droughts, heat waves, and floods which have significant negative effects on agricultural production. There is, therefore, a need for agriculture to adapt and become more resilient to maintain and even surpass present productivity levels. Consequently, agricultural research also has to change its approaches, methods, and priorities if the negative impacts of climate change are to be addressed. This paper discusses the importance of orienting agricultural research to address the multi-dimensional components of sustainability-environmental, economic, social, and institutional. In this paper, the following approaches were adopted: First, we examined existing agricultural research paradigms in the literature. Then, we assessed the extent to which these paradigms address one or more of the multi-dimensional features of sustainability. Second, we reviewed and modified indicators in the literature which are helpful in ex-ante or post-ante measurements of the degree to which a research study has or will address and contribute to the four sustainability features. Third, we conducted a brief assessment of the kinds of agricultural research conducted by selected institutions in the eastern Africa region (Sokoine University of Agriculture, Makerere University, Association for Strengthening Agricultural Research in Eastern and Central Africa, and the Tanzanian Ministry of Agriculture, Food Security and Cooperatives) to determine the extent to which those research studies explicitly or implicitly address one or more of the sustainability features. Last but not least, we looked at agricultural research for sustainability leadership from the perspectives of gender and local institutions. The relationships among the kinds of research (basic/disciplinary/ theoretical, applied, or problem-solving, and subject-matter research) and their concern for sustainability were explored. In general, we found that the kind of research with the closest relationship with sustainability was problem-solving research, while the furthest from sustainability concerns was basic or disciplinary or theoretical research. Another finding was that the most popular dimension of sustainability in research is environmental sustainability. Literature on this dimension is abundant, and awareness of it is highest compared to the other three dimensions. However, there is a clear recognition that the rest of the sustainability dimensions are not less important. It is only that awareness of them has not been emphasized as much. This study concludes by urging agricultural researchers and research managers to adopt these indicators of agricultural research for sustainability in ex-ante and post-ante assessments of agricultural research projects. Obviously, it will be difficult for a single researcher to address all four dimensions of sustainability with the same level of rigor. Most likely, a researcher will prioritize one sustainability dimension of the four depending on the objective of the research.