The importance of ecological and socio-technological literacy in R&D priority setting: the case of a fruit innovation system in Guinea,West Africa

The introduction of farmer participatory approaches over the past decades has to some extent improved the relevance and uptake of research results. While R&D prioritization increasingly involves more stakeholders, including the private sector, policymakers and civil society, building ecological literacy among all stakeholders is urgent, especially for sustainable agricultural development. A case study of an emerging fruit innovation system in Guinea, West Africa, highlights the challenges of supply- and demand-driven approaches to R&D prioritization. Shallow ecological knowledge and a blind faith in ‘modern’ technologies by scientists and farmers alike distort prioritization. Locally available, appropriate technologies are dismissed in favour of high technologies that are inaccessible to most smallholder growers. Strengthening the ecological literacy of all stakeholders may help to overcome this bias. On the other hand, building socio-technological literacy would allow innovation intermediaries, who typically act as brokers between the demand- and supply-side of technologies, to better understand the social and institutional contexts of technologies and how these affect potential uptake by poor farmers. Member centres of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) could use the notion of ecological and socio-technological literacy to better understand supply and demand of technology and to work more effectively with their partners towards pro-poor and sustainable agricultural development.     

A social networks approach for strengthening participation in technology innovation: lessons learnt from the Mount Elgon region of Kenya and Uganda

Participatory approaches to agricultural technology development have not yet fully lived up to their promise to incorporate farmer knowledge. This paper introduces a social networks approach (SNA) to improve participatory research processes for co-innovation. Drawing upon findings from a collaborative project developing conservation agricultural production systems for smallholders in western Kenya and eastern Uganda, the paper explores farmer support networks to improve participation in technological innovation and development. Key research themes include: identifying farmers’ agricultural production networks; the local articulation of agricultural production networks and mindsets; using networks to facilitate meaningful participation in technology development; and disadvantages and advantages of using a social network approach. The introduction of SNA improved participatory research by building external and internal legitimacy for determining who participates, discouraging participatory attrition, and providing a meaningful forum for participation of all stakeholders. As a result, the introduction of SNA is demonstrated to show strong promise for improving processes of participatory technology development in agriculture.     

Farmer participation in a climate-smart future: Evidence from the Kenya Agricultural Carbon Project

Smallholder agricultural carbon market projects have potential to achieve climate-smart agriculture (CSA), a “triple-win” for food security, climate change mitigation, and adaptation. Farmer participation is critical for achieving widespread impact, yet their adoption of sustainable land management practices is constrained by eligibility, willingness, and ability to participate. This research examines how the Kenya Agricultural Carbon Project enabled smallholder participation, with results emphasizing the importance of institutional conditions and farmers’ perceptions. Findings highlight the necessity of international collaborations and high levels of synergistic coordination. Building social capital and adopting participatory learning approaches are strategies that can increase participation and create inclusive climate-smart agriculture projects.     

Zooming-in zooming-out: a novel method to scale up local innovations and sustainable technologies

Based on two case studies from Bangladesh and Benin, the role of video in scaling up sustainable rice technologies is assessed. Both process and outcomes of participatory research increased the effectiveness of educational videos. At the same time, during the production of the videos researchers and development workers learnt about local innovations and changed their attitude towards working with farmers. To increase impact, learning topics should have a regional relevance. Hence a novel method called zooming-in zooming-out is presented. It starts with a broad stakeholder consultation to define regional issues. Only then are communities approached to get a better feel about their ideas, their innovations and the words they use in relation to the chosen topic (zooming-in). Key learning needs are defined and videos are produced in close consultation with the end-users. Consequently, while showing the draft videos to more villages (zooming-out), more insights are gathered about the innovations and their socio-cultural context, and further adjustments made. Based on a few well-selected local innovations, and merged with scientific knowledge, these videos were able to explain underlying biological and physical principles. The more these principles resonated with what farmers already knew and did, the more video became useful as a stand-alone method. Facilitation increased adoption of sustainable technologies, but was not always a prerequisiste.     

Women farmers’ participation in the agricultural research process: implications for agricultural sustainability in Ethiopia

Empowering women farmers to participate in agricultural research is a key strategy for sustainable agricultural development. Women empowerment has the potential to improve their roles in agricultural production while enhancing nutrition and food security. Although new agricultural development policies are focusing on improving women engagement in agriculture, there is limited literature on women empowerment in relation to agricultural research. This study used mixed methods to analyse women farmers’ participation in four stages of the agricultural research process – design, testing, dissemination, monitoring and evaluation. Two hundred and thirty individual interviews with women farmers and 16 focus group discussions with men and women farmers were conducted in four Woredas (districts) of Ethiopia. Quantitative data were analysed using binary and multivariate probit models. Qualitative data were analysed using line-by-line coding. The results showed that several empowerment indicator variables significantly (p?≤?.001) influenced women’s participation in different stages of agricultural research. Specifically, input in production decisions, autonomy in plot management, membership to farmer groups, and ability to speak in public enhanced women’s participation in different stages, in addition to access to information and extension services, education and land size. Cultural norms hindered women’s empowerment and engagement in research. To foster sustainable agriculture development, it’s important to integrate holistic and proactive gender perspectives into research strategies to increase women’s participation in farmer research groups, access information and knowledge, have voice and challenge constraining cultural norms and traditions.     

Modelling the origins of managerial ability in agricultural production*

The efficiency of production from a farm’s land, labour and capital is critically dependent on the ability of the farm manager. Yet, while there are studies correlating a wide range of manager‐related variables with returns, and, therefore, probably ability, little understanding of the basic determinants of managerial ability exists. Questions such as ‘what is the importance of a farmer’s family experiences and training in determining the farmer’s managerial ability?’ need answering. The solution to this, and other, questions will enable determining ways of improving farmers’ inherent ability developed both in early, and later, life. In that most decisions on a farm are made intuitively, in contrast to the use of a formal analysis, improving farmers’ inherent ability will have a significant payoff. The research reported here uses data from a large stratified random survey of 740 developed farmers (29 per cent had tertiary education, 30 per cent had 4 or more years secondary education) to create a structural equation model of the determinants of managerial ability. The results suggest that a farmer’s exposure to experiences is a significant factor in ability, as is the farmer’s management style and the family influence on early life experience.     

Hybrid knowledge for understanding complex agri-environmental issues: nitrate pollution in Italy

Although agri-environmental policies have been launched by the European Union to mitigate environmental pollution and sustain agricultural development, there is not much understanding of how to manage the asymmetries between the objectives and the effectiveness of the implementation of the policies on local scale. The nitrate directive (ND) is an emblematic case in this context. This research focused on the role of ‘hybrid knowledge’ (scientific and local) and the process of knowledge integration in understanding the nitrate problem as an agri-environmental issue emerging from a complex set of biophysical and social factors. We conducted an integrated analysis of a case study on nitrate pollution in an intensive dairy district under Mediterranean conditions. A participatory action research approach was applied to elicit stakeholders’ knowledge and perspectives and to create new learning spaces among farmers, researchers and policy makers at case study scale. We explored the effectiveness of social learning triggered due to participatory field experiments, by bringing together stakeholders to generate new ‘hybrid knowledge’ for agri-environmental sustainability. The dramatic shift from the initial defensive position of farmers to an agreement on concerted actions proved that the integration between local and scientific knowledge may contribute to an increase in the effectiveness of the ND.     

农户向家庭农场流转土地的续约意愿及影响因素研究

当前,农地流转期限普遍较短、流转合同不规范、合同违约率高等问题导致家庭农场土地经营权不稳定,严重抑制了家庭农场主对流入土地的长期投入。因此,如何引导农户向家庭农场长期稳定地流转土地,成为推动家庭农场可持续发展的关键所在。本文基于湖南省498家农户土地流转数据,运用计划行为理论和结构方程模型分析了农户向家庭农场流转土地的续约意愿及其影响因素。研究结果表明:①在农户向家庭农场流转土地的续约意愿模型中,行为态度是主要影响因素,主观行为规范和知觉行为控制也是重要影响因素;②在农户行为态度方面,农户对土地流转预期收益越有信心,或农户对家庭农场上一轮土地流转行为越满意,在此基础上构建起的行为态度越能促进农户土地流转续约意愿的形成;③在主观行为规范方面,当农户感知到来自周围的人特别是亲人对农户续约的支持态度越强烈,在此基础上构建的主观行为规范越能促进农户土地流转续约意愿的形成;④在知觉行为控制方面,农户对农户禀赋和环境禀赋两方面的感知会影响农户土地流转续约意愿的形成,其中户主工作性质和上一轮流转期限影响最大。     

Incentives and disincentives for stakeholder involvement in participatory research (PR): lessons from potato-related PR from Bolivia,Ethiopia, Peru and Uganda

Participatory research (PR) has been presented as an alternative to develop sustainable agricultural technologies more responsive to farmer needs. However, the institutionalization of PR methods is influenced by stakeholders' perceptions about incentives and disincentives. The study was conducted by gathering and analysing information from farmers, facilitators and institutional representatives involved in conducting potato-related PR in Bolivia, Ethiopia, Peru and Uganda between 2005 and 2007. Results indicate that at the farmer level the most important incentives are related to the benefits they can acquire (improving human and social capital, which is essential for more sustainable results). At the facilitator level, operational and organizational factors represent incentives, for example, perception of additional benefits, existing capabilities and skills, and access to logistic support. Some factors also represent disincentives such response to different types of demands, and instability of jobs within institutions. At the organization level, both financial and operational factors represent incentives or disincentives, such as the cost of PR methods, availability of skillful human resources, quality of technologies generated and the sustainability of financial support. These factors at both individual and organizational level need to be taken into consideration by organizations aiming at scaling up and out-of-PR methods and derived technologies in a sustainable way.     

Adoption of New Technologies in Ethiopian Agriculture: The Case of Tegulet-Bulga District,Shoa Province

Adoption of agricultural production technologies in developing countries is influenced by a wide range of economic and social factors as well as physical and technical aspects of farming and the risk attitude of farmers. It is important to understand the role of these factors to ensure the development of appropriate technologies and the design of successful development projects. This study examines the impact of such factors on the adoption of single-ox, fertilizer and pesticide technologies as part of a post-drought recovery project in Tegulet-Bulga district in Ethiopia. Models to evaluate the probability of adoption are specified for the respective technologies and are estimated using a logit maximum likelihood procedure, results indicate that the most significant variable affecting the probability of adoption of all three technologies is farm size; the impact is negative for single-ox technology and positive for fertilizer and pesticide use. Economic factors such as income, wealth and debt generally exhibit statistically significant influence on the adoption of single-ox and pesticide technologies as do family size, access to outside information, education and experience. The effect of socio-economic factors on adoption of fertilizer and pesticide technologies is greater in the area which has more access to outside information and off-farm activities (Ankober) than in more ‘self-contained’ area (Seladengay). The impact of the degree of risk aversion of farmers is found to be significant and negative for single-ox technology in both areas, and for fertilizer and pesticide technologies in only one area. The predicted probabilities of technology adoption by an average farmer are found to increase dramatically with the level of education and access or exposure to outside information.     

Adoption potential of nitrate mitigation practices: an ecosystem services approach

Nitrate pollution from agricultural drainage has caused water quality concerns worldwide, but there are several promising technologies to help mitigate this environmental degradation. While these practices primarily aim to improve water quality, they may also provide other ‘additive’ benefits or ecosystem services and the awareness of such benefits may influence their potential to be adopted by farmers. To investigate the impact that perceived ecosystem services has on a practice's adoption potential, we used a mixed methods approach consisting of a literature review, producer surveys, and a group discussion to explore farmer interest in and perceived benefits (on-farm and regional) of seven subsurface drainage nitrate reduction practices (controlled drainage, bioreactors, wetlands, nitrogen management rate, nitrogen management timing, cover crops, and diversified crop rotations). The nitrogen management practices were shown to be accessible and realistic options for water quality improvement as they elicited high interest and had the highest level of compatibility. However, these practices did not provide many other complementary ecosystem services. Conversely, wetlands had a high literature review-derived ecosystem service count, but were considered to have low compatibility, and survey respondents indicated less interest in this practice. The practice of cover cropping showed more moderate, yet consistently positive results for all factors.     

PROBLEMS OF INVESTMENT FOR TECHNOLOGICAL ADVANCE: THE CASE OF INDONESIAN RUBBER SMALLHOLDERS

The Indonesian rubber case illustrates major problems of technological advance where perennials are cultivated by small farmers. Despite the availability of new and socially profitable technologies, farmers have not shifted from traditional methods owing to credit and information constraints and to high private time-preferences. Some form of public assistance by the state is required if this shift is to take place. Possible Indonesian government approaches to encouraging improvement are discussed, and the currently favoured ‘focus’ strategy of capital and management-intensive development in large co-ordinated blocks is compared with the ‘dispersal’ strategy of attempting to spread government assistance more widely according to the initiative of individual producers. These and other alternative strategies are conceptualised as points on a ‘meta’ production function envelope, portraying the transition to higher inputs of added capital per hectare. The dispersal strategy employs a less capital-intensive intermediate technology, which may be adopted more easily by traditional farmers in the first instance. It may then be used as a base for moving up the learning ‘gradient’ to a higher technological level. It is shown that a major constraint on government acceptance of the dispersal strategy is lack of knowledge about its probable rate of diffusion. It is thus argued that further studies should be made of this aspect. The results of such work would then enable policies to be geared more optimally to resource endowments and social goals.     

Adoption of precision farming tools: A context-related analysis

This paper deals with precision farming tools (PFTs), a way of farming which relies on specialized equipment, software and information technologies services, whose importance is underlined in recent documents of the European Union. Precision farming is an integrated and sustainable farm management system making use of modern technologies to increase farm’s profitability, by reducing environmental impact. In this paper we explore the complex mechanisms that affect PFT’s adoption by Italian farmers. More precisely, we try to analyse the context-related factors affecting adoption of PFTs in the Italian farms.Little research has been carried out in Italy on this topic, therefore our paper tries to fill a gap in literature. In order to investigate the process of technology adoption related to precision agriculture, a questionnaire was submitted to a sample of Italian farms. The questionnaire has been structured in order to apply the AKAP (Awareness, Knowledge, Adoption, Product) sequence. Our analysis underlines that context-related factors are fundamental dimensions to be explored in order to specify uptake of PFTs. Therefore, the paper has relevant policy implications, within the context of a new participatory approach to agricultural innovation characterized by bottom-up processes boosted by farmers, which has informed the recent policies of agricultural innovation at the EU level.     

Building knowledge systems for sustainable agriculture: supporting private advisors to adequately address sustainable farm management in regular service contacts

Advisory service provisioning on sustainability issues such as environmental care and food safety is considered suboptimal in privatized extension systems, which comprise a diverse set of private advisors. Apart from funding dedicated ‘public good’ projects, government also relies on these advisors to address sustainability issues in their regular service contacts with farmers. Policy measures have hence been proposed to stimulate farmer demand for such sustainable farm management (SFM) advice (pull measures) and to build capacity among advisors (push measures). This paper assesses two interventions, in nutrient management and mastitis prevention, that integrate pull measures (awareness building and economic incentives) and push measures (promoting facilitative advisory styles and optimizing knowledge system linkages) to stimulate advisory service provisioning on SFM. Results indicate that effectiveness appears to depend on an adequate mix of, and balance between, push and pull measures. Awareness building is a prerequisite to creating demand for such services and appears more important than economic incentives. However, awareness is not built by the interventions alone; indeed, a lack of awareness may not be the main problem: the broader institutional context may not be conducive to a proactive approach to addressing SFM if regulatory frameworks are unclear and inconsistent. The main conclusion is that, despite interventions having an impact, it is uncertain whether the demand for, and supply of, SFM advice will be sustained after interventions are withdrawn.     

A Participatory Simulation to Facilitate Farmers' Adoption of Livestock Feeding Systems Based on Conservation Agriculture in the Uplands of Northern Vietnam

In the mountain areas of northern Vietnam, extensive husbandry of large-ruminants is limited by the lack of natural forage. Since 2000, the Mountain Agrarian System Program has been concerned with this issue and has evaluated technical alternatives aimed at sustainable integration of crop-livestock systems. One alternative consists of feeding systems for largeruminants based on cropping systems with plant cover. Diffusion of information about the new system is supported by a set of interactive communication tools for use between farmers and researchers. A participatory simulation method was developed that combines a compartmental model of the village territory with five technical innovations. Farmers simulate the adoption of the innovations they choose among food-forage cropping systems in rotation or in association, and urea-treated straw. They evaluate the quantity of forage that can be grown for their herd using the chosen set of techniques.

Simulations revealed farmers' constraints and objectives in adopting sustainable cropping systems on the hillsides while maintaining a small animal husbandry system. The results obtained by each farmer provide a useful basis for discussion about the implementation of innovation. This participatory simulation method could be more widely used to facilitate the diffusion of innovations such as integrating livestock feeding systems with conservation cropping practices.     

Towards sustainable vegetable growing with farmer learning videos in Benin

Vegetable production plays an important role in nutrition, food security and poverty reduction in Benin. However, vegetable production is hampered by pests and farmers rely on pesticides to control them. Improving farmers’ knowledge is important for the use of sustainable, intensive agricultural practices. This paper assesses the role of learning video in changing vegetable farmers’ behaviour towards sustainable agriculture. Drawing mainly on mass distribution of learning videos, DVDs entitled ‘Improving vegetable production’ were sold through non-conventional dissemination networks from August to December 2015, to strengthen farmers’ learning. In June 2016, we interviewed a sample of 120 buyers/viewers in four different areas where the DVDs were sold. The interviews were followed by a field visit to collect evidence of the change of practices reported during the interviews. Farmers who watched the videos enhanced their creativity and adapted the learning to their environment by using more sustainable agriculture practices. About 86% of respondents indicated that they now spend less money for pesticides to manage pests and diseases. Video-mediated learning promotes local innovation, improves farmers’ knowledge and triggers agro-ecological practices with little or no input from the conventional extension system.     

The novelty of simple and known technologies and the rhythm of farmer-centred innovation in family dairy farming in Brazil

Family dairy farming is under threat from the expansion of the sugarcane economy in south-eastern Brazil. This paper analyses an intervention programme which aimed to intensify dairy production and make family dairy farming sustainable in this competitive context. The case study of the ‘Balde Cheio’ Programme (Full Bucket) can be seen as an alternative method of knowledge generation to that of the dominant research approach which prioritizes cutting-edge technologies. This paper characterizes this farmer-oriented innovation programme for dairy farming systems, in which research, development and extension are seen as a long-term learning process. It analyses how the programme has been adapted to fit the diversity of situations found amongst farmers and to heterogeneous production conditions. The study relates the circulation of knowledge, the search for innovation by recombining apparently simple and known technologies, the use of experiments on the farm and the adaptation of the rhythm of innovation to the specific situation of the farm as the critical issues to achieve sustainable production systems.