Methodologies for monitoring and evaluating agricultural and natural resources research

Abstract This paper examines the methodology of monitoring and evaluation (M & E) in three distinct contexts. In the Introduction, the particular focus is on methods which are usable given the sparse data in many developing countries. In the following two sections, the strengths and weaknesses of a widely-used monitoring tool — the Project Logical Framework (Logframe) are reviewed. Suggestions are made on how it may be made more relevant at the programme-project interface by the incorporation of criteria used by the private commercial sector. The third section suggests that, with suitable adaptations, the Logframe can be used for monitoring farmer participatory research, but efforts to make it sensitive to process and to the diverse expectations of different stakeholders also make it increasingly cumbersome, thereby increasing the attraction of alternative, process-based ways of monitoring change.

[1]  J. Piesse,et al.  EFFECTS OF THE 1992 DROUGHT ON PRODUCTIVITY IN THE SOUTH AFRICAN HOMELANDS: AN APPLICATION OF THE MALMQUIST INDEX , 1996 .

[2]  R. Evenson,et al.  Research and Productivity in Asian Agriculture , 1991 .

[3]  S. Biggs,et al.  Resource-poor farmer participation in research: A synthesis of experiences from nine national agricultural research stations , 1989 .

[4]  J. Farrington,et al.  Farmer Participatory Research , 1994 .

[5]  Colin Thirtle,et al.  Policy-Induced Innovation in Sub-Saharan African Agriculture: A Multilateral Malmquist Productivity Index Approach , 1995 .

[6]  K. Ingersent,et al.  Agriculture and economic development , 1985 .

[7]  C. Doyle,et al.  The Impact of Scientific Research on UK Agricultural Productivity : Research Policy , 1985 .

[8]  Dennis J. Kumar Krishna Casley,et al.  The Collection, Analysis, and Use of Monitoring and Evaluation Data , 1988 .

[9]  D. McLean.  Project management techniques for performance monitoring , 1988 .

[10]  Yao-chi Lu,et al.  Projecting Agricultural Productivity and Its Economic Impact , 1978 .

[11]  F. White,et al.  Optimal Expenditures for Agricultural Research and Extension: Implications of Underfunding , 1982 .

[12]  Zvi Griliches,et al.  R&D, Patents, and Productivity , 1981 .

[13]  W. G. Janssen,et al.  Integrated ex ante and ex post impact assessment in the generation of agricultural technology: cassava in the Atlantic Coast of Colombia. , 1990 .

[14]  D. Groenfeldt,et al.  Social science perspectives on managing agricultural technology , 1989 .

[15]  L. Tweeten,et al.  Toward an Optimal Rate of Growth in Agricultural Production Research and Extension , 1979 .

[16]  Leroy L. Blakeslee.  Measuring the Requirements and Benefits of Productivity Maintenance Research , 1987 .

[17]  G. Norton,et al.  Sources of Growth in French Agriculture , 1989 .

[18]  R. Young,et al.  GENERALISATION OF THE NERLOVE SUPPLY MODEL USING TIME SERIES METHODOLOGY: AN APPLICATION TO POTATO PLANTINGS IN GREAT BRITAIN , 1980 .

[19]  B. Massell.  A Disaggregated View of Technical Change , 1961, Journal of Political Economy.

[20]  R. Evenson.  The Contribution of Agricultural Research to Production , 1967 .

[21]  Z. Griliches.  Research Costs and Social Returns: Hybrid Corn and Related Innovations , 1958, Journal of Political Economy.

[22]  Peter Ballantyne,et al.  Monitoring and evaluating agricultural research: a sourcebook. , 1993 .

[23]  Zvi Griliches,et al.  The Sources of Measured Productivity Growth: United States Agriculture, 1940-60 , 1963, Journal of Political Economy.

[24]  D. Hedley.  AGRICULTURAL COMPETITIVENESS: MARKET FORCES AND POLICY CHOICE , 1995 .

[25]  Y. Khatri,et al.  SUPPLY AND DEMAND FUNCTIONS FOR UK AGRICULTURE: BIASES OF TECHNICAL CHANGE AND THE RETURNS TO PUBLIC R&D , 1996 .

[26]  Trevor Hastings.  The Impact Of Scientific Research On Australian Rural Productivity , 1981 .

[27]  P. Bottomley,et al.  IS PUBLICLY FUNDED AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH EXCESSIVE , 1988 .

[28]  Rolf Färe,et al.  Malmquist Productivity Indexes and Fisher Ideal Indexes , 1992 .

[29]  Jonathan P. Atkins,et al.  The productivity of commercial agriculture in Zimbabwe, 1970–89 , 1993 .

[30]  P. Bottomley,et al.  The rate of return to public sector agricultural R&D in the UK, 1965–80 , 1989 .

[31]  K. Grossfield,et al.  The Benefit and Cost of Government Support for Research and Development: A Case Study , 1966 .

[32]  John W. Cusworth,et al.  Managing projects in developing countries. , 1993 .

[33]  D. McLean,et al.  The Logical framework in research planning and evaluation , 1988 .

[34]  Willis L. Peterson,et al.  Prices, Technology, and Farm Size , 1982, Journal of Political Economy.

[35]  Zvi Griliches,et al.  Issues in Assessing the Contribution of Research and Development to Productivity Growth , 1979 .

[36]  Robert E. Evenson,et al.  Economic Benefits from Research: An Example from Agriculture , 1979, Science.

[37]  D. McLean.  Monitoring and evaluation in the management of agricultural research , 1988 .

[38]  J. Piesse,et al.  The efficiency of smallholder agriculture in South Africa , 1996 .

[39]  Dennis J. Kumar Krishna Casley,et al.  Project Monitoring and Evaluation in Agriculture , 1987 .

[40]  B. Beattie.  Science Under Scarcity: Principles and Practice for Agricultural Research Evaluation and Priority Setting , 1995 .

[41]  Jonathan P. Atkins,et al.  The productivity of communal agriculture in Zimbabwe, 1975–90 , 1995 .

[42]  Robert E. Evenson,et al.  Agricultural Research and Productivity , 1976 .

[43]  C. Thirtle.  Agricultural research and institution building in Sub‐Saharan Africa: The Kenyan example , 1989 .

[44]  W J Shampine.  Quality assurance and quality control in monitoring programs , 1993, Environmental monitoring and assessment.

[45]  Y. Khatri,et al.  South African Agricultural Competitiveness: A Profit Function Approach to the Effects of Policies and Technology , 1995 .