ACTIVITY 3.1 FOOD, FORAGE & FIBRE CROPS • Wheat • Grass & Forage • Rice • Arable Weeds

1. GCTE FOCUS 3: AGROECOLOGY & PRODUCTION SYSTEMS ACTIVITY 3.2 PESTS & DISEASES • Insect Dynamics • Disease Dynamics • Pest Risk Analysis • Potato Late Blight Network • Wheat Karnal Bunt Network • Wheat Stripe Rust Network ACTIVITY 3.1 FOOD, FORAGE & FIBRE CROPS • Wheat• Grass & Forage • Rice• Arable Weeds • Roots and Tubers• Grain Legumes • Tropical Cereals • Plantation Forestry • ACTIVITY 3.4 • PRODUCTION SYSTEMS • Continuous Monocultures • Rotations • Intercrops • N Dynamics & Crop Growth Network • C Sequestration in Plantation Forestry Network ACTIVITY 3.3 SOILS • Soil Organic Matter (SOMNET) • Soil Erosion • Decomposition and Soil Respiration (with Focus 1) • Nutrient Release and Gaseous Emissions (with IGAC)

2. Crop Stands Cropping Systems Farming Systems Food Systems GCTE Networks GCTE Activity 3.4 GECAFS • Relations to soil N and water • Micronutrients • Stand establishment • Losses to weeds • Mechanistic coupling of pests and diseases • Simulation of quality • Linking “sole crop” models • Farm-level databases including management variables • Inclusion of other crops • Using model outputs to analyse system performance • Regional-level databases including biophysical and socioeconomic variables • Regional-level scenarios • Integrated socioeconomic-biophysical models • Feedbacks of management scenarios to socioeconomic and environmental conditions Example Issues How would changes in climate variability affect yield at plot level? How would changes in climate variability affect farm production? How would changes in climate variability affect rural livelihoods? Example questions

3. Research questions relating to climate variability Drafted by the RWC • How are yield declines in the rice-wheat cropping system apportioned between variations in seasonal weather, planting date and/or other management aspects? [RWC/GCTE] • How can potential yield losses across the region due to increased climate variability and consequent changes in planting date and other management aspects be quantified and mapped? [RWC/GCTE] • What are the strategies that will improve the system productivity and sustainability, thereby improving food security, and how would these strategies need to be adjusted in response to changing climate variability? [GECAFS/RWC/CP-CC] • What will be the consequences of these strategies for environment and local livelihoods?  “trade-offs” analyses[GECAFS/RWC/CP-CC]

4. Next Steps I: March 2002, Delhi • 13-14 March: Preparation for RWC/GCTE Workshop to plan a 3-5 year research programme (Delhi, October 2002) • Plan the October Workshop • Identify Workshop invitees • Identify appropriate datasets for collaborative preparation for Workshop exercises • 15-16 March: GECAFS/RWC “Issue Identification” Workshop(DfID & NOAA funded) • Prioritorise policy-relevant research issues within the GECAFS framework • Identify principal potential collaborators for joint research programme • Design September Planning Meeting and establish preliminary invitee list •  Example Case Study Issues for CGIAR CP-CC development

5. Next Steps II: late 2002, Delhi • RWC/GCTE Research Planning Workshop(October;APN funded) • Establish overall research agenda and basic implementation strategy • Evaluate existing crop, soil and climate data for modelling the R-W system and cropping-system models • Identify regional and international research groups who can collaborate to develop and implement a 3-5 year research linked to the GECAFS framework. • Strengthen regional systems analysis research capability and consolidate links with international crop modelling groups • GECAFS/RWC Research Planning Workshop(November; DfID & NOAA funded) • Establish overall research agenda and basic implementation strategy. • Confirm regional and international collaborators to develop and implement a 3-5 year GECAFS research project • Establish mechanism to maintain links to policy community during implementation. •  Example CGIAR CP-CC Case Study Research Strategy