ADR 701: Dryland Ecology Determinants of dryland ecosystems: climate, water, soil, human and animal activities, variability and unpredictability, seasonality, disequilibrium vs. equilibrium concepts, fragility vs. resilience, Quantitative and dynamic ecology, energy flow in ecosystems, biogeochemical cycles, advanced animal and plant population biology, plan-soil-water relations, water stress physiology, ordination methods, species area relationships, nature and properties of vegetation data, field inventory methods, spatial analysis, landscape analysis, Land degradation and ecological resilience; Restoration of degraded dry lands; Landcover and land use changes, habitat structure and ecological stability, behavioural ecology, ecology and conservation; Climate and adaptation to emerging climate induced scenarios: meteorological, ecological and social basis for climate change; patterns of adaptation to climate change at ecological and sociological levels; technologies and methodologies to mitigate impacts of climate change. ADR 702: Remote sensing and Geographic Information Systems Principles of remote sensing, visual image interpretation; elements of image interpretation, image interpretation strategies, digital image processing; image enhancement and correction techniques; image classification; general sensor technology; principles of GIS; data input systems; data management procedures; spatial data output/display; spatial queries and simple analysis; attribute data analysis and special application areas; remote sensing and GIS applications in global climate change, applications in agriculture: Land use/land cover mapping, soil mapping, forestry, rangeland, water resource applications water pollution detection, wildlife ecology applications and environmental assessment. ADR 703: Dryland livelihoods Defining characteristics of dryland livelihoods, concept of livelihood assets: human, natural, capital, social, physical, financial; pastoralism and agropastoralism, transhumance, hunters and gatherers, social organization, indigenous technical knowledge, vulnerability and adaptability, interaction with national, regional and global economies, SMEs, resource governance, poverty and food security, livelihoods analysis and planning, community based natural management, management of common property resources, indigenous technologies, climate change and dryland livelihoods, historical trends in livelihoods, impacts of development policy, challenges and prospects. ADR 704: Dryland resource economics Definitions: Resource economics; environmental economics; ecological economics, and dryland resources. Economy-environment nexus: amenity values of natural resources, natural resources as a sink, and usefulness in flood/erosion control. Sustainability: Features and concepts and policy implications for management of dryland resources. Welfare economics, Economics of rangeland and water management, resource ownership, market failure, Institutional mechanisms for dryland resource management: collective action, creation of markets, specification of property rights (Coasian trades), and organization. Risk management in the drylands. Conservation economics and valuation of dryland resources: valuation of market and non-market dryland resources, costbenefit analysis, hedonic prices, contingent valuation, precautionary principle, safe minimum standards. International environmental issues: international trade and effect on resource management, global climate change, and carbon sequestration.
ADR 705: Philosophy of dryland resource management Understanding philosophy, philosophy of natural science and biological science, Key defining characteristics of drylands; variability and unpredictability, seasonality, utility principles of both biological and physical resources, management principles for productivity, sustainability, adaptability and resilience, central role of environment, multiple and proper use concepts, renewable and non-renewable resources; resource constraints; past and present approaches to dryland development, local and global challenges to sustainable dryland resource management, resource management and governance; natural resources management and poverty reduction, concepts of knowledge management, role of gender, role of community/indigenous knowledge; old and new thinking about dryland management. ADR 706: Agricultural technology development Appropriate mechanization systems for agricultural production in drylands; Mechanization policy and development, Conservation agriculture and soil surface management, Estimation of energy / labour requirements for efficient intensification of specific agricultural production practices. Biological renewable energy production systems for agriculture; Biogas, Solar, Wind. Processing and conditioning of selected crops; ethno-botanical plants, Oil seeds. Honey harvesting and processing systems for recovery and processing of agricultural by-products and residues. Water harvesting and storage techniques ADR 707: Statistics for social sciences Distribution theory and applications, Parametric inferences, Survey sampling: sources of agricultural statistics and economic data, elements of sampling problem, methods of data collection, sampling techniques and applications, criteria for selecting sampling technique and determination of sample size; Non-parametric methods: sign tests for single and paired samples, Chi-squares and contingency tables; Correlation and regression analysis, decision analysis: certainty and uncertainty, analysis of decision problems, economic impact of uncertainty, opportunity loss and optimal decisions, decision trees. ADR 708: Human rights and Gender analysis Definition and history; rights to adequate food and safe water, human -rights based approach to programming development projects, individual and community rights, access to information and services, right to adequate food and coping mechanisms. Gender in dryland resource access, use and management. Gender analysis: decision-making, control over resources, labour division, ownership of properties, community empowerment. Conflict management; networking and mediation of human conflicts in competition for resource: water, grazing and land. Food and nutrition security: Food habits, intra household food distribution, seasonal aspects of food consumption; Food security, ADR 709: Social and anthropological research methods Qualitative versus quantitative field methods; different qualitative methods used in research; analysis of qualitative data, rapid assessment procedures, participatory rural appraisal, rapid rural appraisal, family portraits.
ADR 710: Marketing of dryland products Definition of agricultural marketing; Structure conduct and performance of markets for dryland products; Marketing of dryland livestock products; Marketing of dryland crop products; Market information and price forecasting, transactions costs and market access in drylands; Value chain analysis; Role of public-private partnerships and collective action in access to markets in drylands; Effects of food safety and globalization on marketing of dryland products. ADR 711: Project planning and analysis, Monitoring and Evaluation Principles of Project Planning and Management; Network Analysis; Project Crashing; Resource Allocation; Project Planning under Uncertainties; Financial and Economic Analysis of Development Projects; Project Appraisal Techniques; Project Implementation; Project Management; Monitoring, Evaluation and Impact Assessment; Project Planning Matrix. ADR 712: Applied Economic Theory Application of consumer theory to analysis of consumption decisions; application of theory of the firm to analysis of production decisions; Welfare economics and applications; Non-private goods and market failure; information economics and introduction to principal-agent theory; Risk Analysis and Applications; Introduction to game theory and applications. ADR 713: Statistics and research methods Problem analysis: identification, literature review, funding; designing data collection: surveys, experiments laboratory and field; Data management: entry, verification, software needs; Data analysis: modeling and simulation, planning, interpretation; practical / logistical issues: Log Frames, Monitoring and Evaluation, risk management, dissemination. ADR 714: Integrated production systems in drylands Types of integrated management systems: integrated systems in arid and semi-arid lands, multispecies production system (domestic and wildlife); integrated management system in low potential and marginal areas: livestock crop production, livestock livestock; advantages of integrated production systems and disadvantages; management of the integrated systems. Agro forestry/fruit/bee integrated farming. Livestock production systems. Identification of components of production systems and their interactions. Management of production systems: constraints and coping strategies. Stratification of production, Game ranching, types of animals, suitability, products, efficiency of utilization of resources, complementarity. Diseases, acceptability of product, veterinary regulations. Community wildlife conservation and ecotourism, game cropping, trophy hunting. Human wildlife conflicts and resolutions. Products: Value chain, product harvesting, economics of production, Marketing, policies and regulations. ADR 715: Crop production and post harvest management systems Mitigating factors for climate change for crop sciences; Environmental protection of fragile resources of the ASAL for crops. Management of dryland soils lentosols, calcisols, gypisols, solonetz, vertisols and solonchaks.integrated soil fertility management, Orphan Crops of drylands; field crops, horticultural crops and industrial crops and crops of medicinal value. Dry land farming; dryland soil and water management techniques. Irrigated agriculture, irrigation systems and water quality. Protected agriculture. Agroforestry systems in drylands:
ADR 716: Crop improvement and protection Integrated pest and disease management; Seed systems; Plant and genetic resources of dryland; Breeding for the drylands: breeding for drought tolerance. Applications of Biotechnology in drylands: tissue culture, molecular markers, genetic engineering. Medicinal plants, Selection and introduction of medicinal in drylands. Protection of biodiversity and indigenous knowledge as a resource in dryland: utilization, intellectual property rights, and breeders rights. ADR 717: Animal feed resources in drylands Livestock nutrient requirement for maintenance, growth and production; patchy feed resources, dynamics of natural pastures, pastures-rainfall relation in drylands, grazing management, opportunistic feed tracking, roughages: natural and reseeded/introduced pastures (common species, factors affecting their productive value); fodder crops of dry areas (common browsing species, factors affecting their productive value); crop residues (their quality and factors affecting their utilization); feed conservation (matching animal production and feed availability); interaction between livestock production and environment (overgrazing, alienation of woodland, shrub land for grazing, digestive emissions); human-wildlife-livestock interactions. ADR 718: Dryland biodiversity Biodiversity in Africa past and present, endemism, indigenous knowledge systems, indigenous knowledge and biodiversity conservation, indigenous utilization systems and role of gender, approaches to biodiversity conservation, threats and challenges, role of genetics in conservation, medicinal plants, dryland plant products (gum Arabic, spices, resins). Agro-silvo-pastoal systems in drylands. Role of national museums and botanic gardens, bio-prospecting and bio-piracy, intellectual property rights, impacts of live trade, protected areas, climate change and impact on biodiversity, management and use of biodiversity data, participatory approaches to biodiversity conservation, policies and utilization of dryland biodiversity, conflicts and dilemmas, economics considerations in biodiversity conservation, case studies on sustainable utilization and management. Convention on Biological Diversity, ADR 719: Environmental and social impact assessment Physical, social, cultural, political and biological aspects; contemporary environmental planning issues at international, national, regional and local level (population, land, shelter, land-use, infrastructure); analysis of environmental problems; data acquisition, sources of data and analysis for environmental planning; urban, regional and rural environmental planning and management; decision support systems and decision making; environmental law; concept of sustainable development; land reform; environmental impact of development actions on the environmental impact assessment; impact of development actions on the environment. Management of the air, water and land resources to minimize environmental degradation. ADR 720: Watershed management Watershed as land use planning unit; characteristics of watersheds in drylands; influence of land use on hydrology of watersheds in drylands; water resources in a watershed; reclamation and
management of degraded soils; crop and livestock management for enhanced watershed quality; conservation tillage, vegetative cover, reclamation of denuded land: reseeding methods, enclosures; planning and design of soil and water conservation systems at catchment and farm level; socio-economic aspects of watershed management. ADR 721: Agro-meteorology and modeling Hydrologic cycle, moisture transport and air-ground exchange; water budgets of meteorological phenomena; climatology and atmospheric water; global climate variability and change, mitigation and adoption to impacts of climate change; risk assessment and communication; climate change envelopes. Comparison of meteorological, ecological and sociological data on climate change. Ecological models; model development for ecosystems; and subsystems; deterministic and stochastic models; model validation and sensitivity analysis; system dynamics modeling. ADR 722: Dryland Resource Policy Policy, Policy and law, Categories of policy, Natural resource policy, Dryland resource policy, Environmental policy, Policy and administration, Human behaviour and resources, Government and politics. Nature and principles of policy: Elements of policy; Objectives of policy, Instruments of policy (forms of intervention), Rules of policy, Classification of instruments of policy. Policy formulation (development), Administration of public policy, Implementation of policy (strategies in implementing policy), Effects of public policy, Constraints to implementation of policy, Models of natural resource policies. Natural resource policy areas: Land policy, Arid and semi-arid lands (ASAL) policy, Rangeland resource policy, Wildlife policy, Forest policy, Livestock policy, Food (and nutrition security) policy for drylands, Water (use) policy. Natural resource policy cycles, Legal institutions in natural resource use and management: property rights and natural resource use, National Acts and natural resource use, Customary law and natural resource use. Case studies in natural resource use policy.