Waterlogged Vertisols are amongst the high potential soils where management interventions could result in positive impacts. This study utilized soil, climate and crop and livestock productivity data and models to demonstrate intensification strategies which increase crop–livestock system productivity and to understand the effects of alternative land use and water management options on water productivity in the Vertisols areas.

Using the farm as unit of analysis, diagnosis processes aimed at improving production systems are reviewed. Within a country, diagnosis should be conducted at different hierarchical levels: local (interaction between the production system and the input distribution sector, the marketing sector, possible forms of processing, and consumption characteristics); regional (appropriate selection of target site); and national (development trends and governmental policies at the macroeconomic and sectorial levels).

Inefficient management and use of water is unanimously the most single constraint of agricultural production of Ethiopia. The study was conducted to assess the effect of livestock feed sourcing and feeding strategies on livestock water productivity (LWP) in mixed crop–livestock production systems of the Blue Nile Basin in Ethiopian Highlands. Three districts representing diverse agricultural farming systems were considered. Each district further stratified to different farming systems. Multi-stage stratified random sampling technique was employed to select farm households.

Outlines an economic evaluation of an improved surface drainage technology, using the broad-bed-maker (BBM) on-farm in four different vertisol areas of the Ethiopian highlands. Presents data on crops and number of areas covered for the on-farm drainage technology, on cost structure of the BBM, and on human and oxen labour input in traditional seed covering and the construction of the BBM.

The major objectives of this workshop are to sharpen the focus of ILRI's ecoregional research, to further identify commonalities in tools and new methods that can enable ILRI to do effective transregional research, and to identify improvements to the way in which ILRI does ecoregional research.