ILCA's Conceptual Framework for Market-Oriented Dairy Research (CF) was developed in response to the need for a practical methodology, grounded in experience and applicable by national agricultural research systems (NARS). Multi-disciplinary in design, the CF takes a production-to-consumption approach to the analysis of a dairy system, which in the context of the CF comprises the production, processing, marketing and consumption sub-systems. Development and implementation of research activities is phased, the information generated by each preceding phase determining subsequent directions and activities. Phase I is the typification of the dairy system with respect to its representativeness within and across sites. Phase 11 of the CF is the characterisation phase. Phase II entails "the detailed characterisation of dairy systems which includes quantification of their sub-systems, components and subcomponents, at the household level for consumption, and at the firm or individual level for production, processing and marketing" (Rey et al, 1994). The objectives of this research phase are to:
1. Provide baseline data on the status of the consumption system;2. Identify and understand factors influencing dairy product consumption, the constraints and opportunities to increased consumption, consumer rationale and objectives;
3. Understand linkages between the consumption system and the production, processing and marketing systems, and their influences on consumption; and,
4. Identify and prioritise researchable issues which can be expected to make an impact on dairy system development.
This document on characterisation methodology specifically refers to the dairy consumption system. The methodology developed and presented herein aims-at guiding the activities of scientists who wish to investigate the dairy consumption systems at or around a specific site. Data collected and analyzed following this format will allow drawing conclusions about a particular location and its consumption system. It will also facilitate planning future research and development activities. By applying the same data-collection methodology across different sites, researchers and developers will derive additional benefit as they will be able to compare individual sites or to merge data for groups of sites regardless of location.
