Objectives and Hypotheses...cont'd.(p.2) To strengthen overall performance of major farming systems towards SARD, it is desirable and cost-effective to learn from real-life successes and/or failures of past policies, institutional strategies and programmes to improve agricultural productivity, food security, natural resources and rural livelihoods. The farming systems approach provides a practical framework and unit for the analysis of constraints, opportunities and potentials for agricultural and rural development, taking into account intra-household considerations as well as inter-household or community interactions and the influence of external factors.