ICRISAT launched the VDSA project at a meeting held from 30 June-2 July 2009 at Patancheru. The project focuses on South Asia and particularly on the semi-arid tropics and humid tropics, because these two broad agro-ecologies are poverty-laden, both in terms of prevalence rates and total numbers.

Dr William Dar addresses the launch workshop.

Speaking at the inaugural session, ICRISAT Director General William Dar said that the project aimed to dramatically increase the availability and use of reliable time series panel data that addresses the dynamics of socio-economic development in the semi-arid and humid tropics in South Asia.

“We are thrilled to be part of this very important effort to build on and expand the Village Level Studies project which began in the mid 1970s,” said Ms Ellen McCullough, Associate Program Officer of the BMGF, who attended the launch. “The rich dataset will empower better decision-making on behalf of the smallholders we serve, by giving a voice to the poor,” she added.

Dr Dar also spoke about the need to give the poor a voice, given the fact that there are 600 million poor in South Asia alone. He stressed that tracking poverty using the panel datasets collected in India and Bangladesh under the project would further inform policy dialogue. He also said that the need was greater today to understand farmers as they were an “important resource”. He ended by quoting the Nobel laureate, Niels Bohr, saying “Nothing exists until it is measured”, highlighting the importance of good quality, relevant data. Following this, Dr MCS Bantilan gave an introduction on the project and reiterated its objectives.

DDG-R Dave Hoisington speaks at the workshop.

The sessions gained further momentum under the leadership and facilitation of Dr Hans Binswanger, Dr NS Jodha and Dr Tom Walker, with discussions and deliberations on standardization issues regarding methods and ways of data collection. The day ended with the participants breaking off in working groups according to the target regions of the project.

The second day was a village immersion experience in Dokur in Mahbubnagar district of Andhra Pradesh, one of the original VLS villages. The village has experienced severe droughts in recent years, leading to drastic social and economic changes resulting in a fall in irrigated area, extensive permanent migration, and a shift away from agriculture. After a brief introduction by the resident investigators, the participants witnessed an exhibition of locally used seeds, farm implements and other related farming technologies. This was followed by village transect walks and focus group discussions with a cross section of villagers. A plenary session with the principal project investigators and the advisory council was conducted simultaneously, where various methodological nuances were hammered out.

The third day began with presentations on the logistic modalities of finance followed by a partnership meet. The session included project poster presentations and discussions by partners and associates of RP-MIP from across the country. Partners who attended included CRIDA, ANGRAU, UAS-Dharwad, Federation of AP Farmers’ Association, Janaki Feeds, Institute of Rural Research and Development (IRRAD) and others. The launch meeting concluded with the finalization of work plans consistent with the project objectives and partner institutions, with each of the participants taking back Dr Hans Binswanger‘s message of ‘Reading, Listening and Learning’.