OC-7.3: Rate of yield change for ICARDA-mandated crops and livestock

Owned by Enrico Bonaiuti
May 05, 2020
2 min read

Definition: This indicator measures the rate of change of on-farm yield, achieved through ICARDA's work on germplasm/genetic improvement and promotion of improved agronomic and animal husbandry practices.

Unit of Measure: Percentage change

Disaggregated by: Technology (Crop/livestock), Crop/livestock production system, geographic location (national)
Crop production systems: Monocrop, mixed crop, rotation
Crop: Chickpea, Lentil, Faba beans, grass pea, Spring barley, Winter barley, Durum wheat, Spring Bread wheat
Livestock production system: Rangeland; rural mixed crop-livestock; urban/peri-urban; and intensive commercial livestock production
Livestock: Goats, Sheep, Cattle

Method of Calculation:
Step 1: Compute yield of crops and/or livestock as provided for in indicators OC-7.1 and OC-7.2 respectively.
Step 2: For each crop variety/animal breed, compute the rate of yield change
Rate of yield change=Yield at start of period-Yield at end of periodPeriod (in years)×100
Step 3: Compute the geometric mean for crops and livestock seperately, using the area planted to the crop variety and tropical livestock units (TLU) as weights respectively.
Further notes:

  1. For mixed crop farming, attention should be paid to determination of the crop/variety share of land allocation within the farm;

  2. The TLU Source: Jahnke et al. 1988, available here used for the livestock weights are: cattle = 0.7, sheep = 0.1, goats = 0.1

Data sources: Farm households, Next-user records, FAO statistics or other reliable national and sub-national statistics

Data collection method: Farm household surveys, document review, secondary literature and datasets review and analysis

Data collection and reporting responsibility: SEP, M&E Unit

Data Collection and Reporting Frequency: Annual, bi-annual, baseline, mid-term, end-term

Evidence required: Reports, datasets

Rationale: The CGIAR Strategic Results Framework (SRF) identifies the improvement in the rate of yield increase for major food staples as a key pathway towards the achievement of the system level outcome (SLO) on 'Improved food and nutrition security for health'. This metric will therefore be useful in tracking ICARDA's contribution towards the achievement of the said SLO.

Comments and limitations: The use of area planted and tropical livestock units (TLU) as weights for the geometric means for crops and livestock respectively will help generate a heuristic measure. However, yield gains for less nutritious crops grown on larger tracts of land may appear to be more important than yield gains for more nutritious crops grown on smaller tracts of land whereas the more nutritious crops may lead to a greater impact on the nutrition and health of the population.