“VDSA is regarded as a highly successful flagship project at the Gates Foundation. We are proud of its achievements and will continue to support it. The true measure of its success is that data are being used by students and researchers for knowledge generation, and by policymakers for evidence-based decision making,” said Mr Tuu-Van Nguyen, representing the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
Mr Nguyen was speaking at the Third Annual Review Meeting (ARM) of the Gates Foundationsupported “Village Dynamics in South Asia (VDSA)” Project held on 7-8 November at ICRISAT-Patancheru. VDSA is jointly implemented by ICRISAT, the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) and India’s National Centre for Agricultural Economics and Policy Research (NCAP) with other national institutes in India and Bangladesh.
Inaugurating the meeting, Director General William Dar described village level studies (VLS) as a jewel of ICRISAT and underlined the need to know the value of this important initiative through an impact assessment study. The progress review of micro- and meso-data and policy analysis reported the timely delivery and high demand of data through the VDSA website. Speakers also mentioned VDSA’s relevance in providing insights on contemporary issues such as technology needs of farmers, priority areas for public investment and development policies to promote agricultural transformation and poverty reduction in developing countries, particularly in South Asia.
The session on policy insights from village dynamics studies revealed that per capita real income has increased in the semi-arid tropic (SAT) villages over the last three decades, mostly since the beginning of the century. While agriculture remains an important factor for prosperity in SAT India and Bangladesh, rural livelihoods are changing with growth in non-farm sectors.
In the session on documenting agricultural transformation in South Asia, the papers presented revealed a growth in income among different states in India and identified factors that can speed up this process. Positive growth in total and per capita GDP was also documented in 64 districts in Bangladesh.
The session on gender, nutrition and health related issues dealt with topics such as labor participation in agriculture, consumption expenditure patterns, dynamics of rice-fish farming in Bangladesh and women’s access to resources and decision making. Discussions reiterated that agriculture is a key driver of poverty reduction but pathways to nutrition are diverse and interconnected and gender dimensions cannot be ignored.
The concluding session on streamlining systems and practices beyond 2014, discussed guiding principles for strategic decisions on investment such as interviewing through digital devices, implementation plans for activities related to data collection, management and dissemination, capacity building and policy research. The partnership and networking strategy to be followed by the VDSA Knowledge Management Team was discussed and adopted.