Resource Conservation for Agricultural Development: Farmer’s Participation and Innovation

R.P. Singh, Assoc. Director Extension

The day of frontier economy when abundant natural resources were available to

propel economic growth and rise standard of leaving are over. We have reached a stage

when the sustainable development meaning thereby not only the development of the

present but also of the future. Thus the focus has moved from ‘sustained growth’ to

‘sustainable development’. Sustainable implies a notion of equilibrium, an equilibrium

that satisfy the needs of development as well as resource conservation.

Sustainability = Productivity + Conservation of Resources

Technology as helped us to harness the forces of nature thereby enhancing our capacity

to improve living standard and quality of life. However, our past achievements in rising

resources, thinking that any constraint can be overcome.

It is known that technology has proved to be double edged sword in many cases.

Green revolution technology for example, has been very successful in achieving

spectacular results in food grain production during the last five decades. However, the

sign of fatigue in natural resources have already emerged and have unleashed various

agro-ecological problems. It has badly damaged the natural resource base of the country.

Action is needed to prevent degradation and regenerate degraded resources. We

urgently need positive steps to extend the forest cover, rejuvenate degraded lands and

other natural resources especially two key resources such as land and water. Ecological

improvement can certainly condition sustainable development. We must develop vision

for achieving the ecologically sustainable agriculture through income enhancing,

productivity growth promoting, resource conserving and environment friendly practices,

policies and technologies that will confirm to the emerging paradigms of efficiency,

sustainability and environmental security for reducing poverty and achieving sustainable

agricultural development.

Farmer’s Participation:

The needs of development and conservation of resources both are directly related

with the farmer in agricultural development. Development satisfy the farmer’s need

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through increased productivity value addition and increase in income while the natural

resources should be used judiciously by those who are engaged in farming or harvesting

the natural resources and increase the productivity. All the agricultural/rural development

programmes are went to raise the socio-economic status of the rural people/ farmers. If

these farmers do not participate in the process of development Programme, the whole

exercise is futile and if they are not able to understand natural resource and its judicious

use the sustainability of the agro-eco system will be in danger. Participation of farmers is

not easy. Farmer’s participation requires organization, interaction, consensus building,

decision making and conflict resolution.

People are central to the use and management of resources. People use resources

for livelihood. People need these resources for their wants. People’s participation is pre

requisite to community based natural resource management. It is central to a people

centered, sustainable development approach and is a continuous interactive process.

Participation means that people become the stake holders and decision-makers.

Participation must not be induced or co-opted. People must be the subjects, not the

objects of development initiatives. Participation is the essence of responsible stewardship

of natural resources (Resource management for upland areas in Southeast Asia-1995).

Community-based Natural Resources Management:

Natural resources are the base for food production. If we cut down forest for

timber, we cause erosion that silts up reservoirs which feed irrigation water to vital rice

producing land. We reduce biodiversity and contribute to global warming. If our

agriculture is heavily dependent on chemical fertilizers and pesticides, we will poison our

food chain and pollute our water. The community based natural resource management

approach is an on going collective initiative by the community to manage its natural

resources. The management process includes-

Educate and build awareness- Natural resources must be used in a sustainable

manner. It is our civic duty to use judiciously, conserve and protect resources for

coming generations.

Promote sustainable farming and resource use- Evolve techniques and develop

sustainable farming and resource use system. Ensure participation of farm

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communities. Create partnership among farmers, extensionist and researchers.

We must respect to the indigenous knowledge.

Conserve and protect sensitive eco-systems- The community and local

government should work together to identify ways to conserve and protect

sensitive ecosystems. Criteria for selecting ecosystems are importance of the

ecosystem to local livelihood, biological diversity and uniqueness and

contribution to the life support chain and local culture.

Enhance regenerating capacity of natural resources- Identify ways to stop

distraction and pollution of natural resources. Promote the regenerative capacity

of resources (eg. tree planting composting) to prevent erosion.

Promote gender equity and participation- Integrated development programme

must ensure women’s participation and empowerment.

Ensure indigenous and minority interests- Indigenous people and other minorities

have been robbed of their natural resource base. Their survival is threatened.

Ensure the continued use of resources for the survival of minorities and their

cultural practices.

Networking and linkage support- provide training to respond to community

needs. Link the community with support agencies, universities and NGOs,

collaborate with other organizations.

Implementing Community-based Natural Resource Management:

It is most crucial part of community participation. We must consider that every

step is important, otherwise complete efforts become futile. The following steps are

important-

Selection of site and collaborators- Identify communities and collaborating

community organization or NGOs.

Capacity building- Train collaborators to mobilize people’s participation

alongwith sustainable approaches to natural resource management.

Community visioning- Undertake a community visioning with the local leaders,

government agencies, women and youth for their futuristic plan.

Understanding the situation- Assess the local situation and study government

plans and interventions.

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Participatory planning- Assist key community leaders to plan activities. Validate

the plans with as many groups as possible.

Implementation- Collaborating group undertakes implementation. Involve as

many local organized groups as possible. Ensure that ownership of the project is

transferred to the community.

Participatory monitoring and evaluation- Regularly monitor activities. Discuss

activities with the participants to evaluate successes and weaknesses.

Agricultural Innovations System

Innovations and technology dissemination in the agricultural sector used to be

organized as a linear and stepwise process: knowledge was acquired/or generated via

research, which was then disseminated by extension services in the form of information

adopted to the needs of the end users and, finally, users were expected to apply this new

knowledge. Both approaches, whether ‘pushed’ by the supply of knowledge or ‘pulled’

by the demand for information, put researchers at the centre of the innovation process and

have a top down focus on innovation and knowledge to be applied at production and

farmer levels (Hall and Yoganand, 2002).

The recent reforms undertaken in agricultural research and extension, all seek

greater stakeholder involvement to strengthen client and user orientation and demand

driven management in order to enhance the impact of the services provided. During the

1990s, in line with these broad orientation of agricultural research and extension,

emphasis was placed on reorganizing the National Agricultural Research System

(NARS). In this concept of promoting innovation through user involvement, Farmer

Organizations (FOs) are instrumental in achieving economics of scale for adopting and

disseminating new knowledge and information.

With in the context of the NARS restructuring process, it become generally

accepted that agricultural innovation requires a much more dynamic and complex

interaction between stakeholders: roles can shift among participating actors, sources for

acquiring and generating knowledge are diverse, and there are multiple networks for

disseminating knowledge. The management of knowledge and information became the

central issue according to the newly developed Agricultural Knowledge and Information

System (AKIS) concept. Effective interaction calls for functional linkages between

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stakeholders to ensure that knowledge is shared and information flows smoothly. By

linking research, extension and training, AKIS aims to promote mutual learning and to

generate, share, use and apply knowledge and information. AKIS clearly allows farmers

and their organizations to manage knowledge and information better.

This approach to agricultural innovation recently evolved further, based on

industrial innovation studies. Now attention shifted towards understanding and explaining

the successful generation and application of new knowledge. In addition to the AKIS

focus on interaction and linkages, the National Innovation System (NIS) concept

emphasizes learning processes and the socio economic contexts that are considered

crucial for applying new knowledge, thus leading to actual innovation (i.e. including

adoption). Institutional support to facilitate such learning (e.g. learning from others,

learning by doing, learning through use) is therefore considered critical. However,

innovations particularly technical improvements, often only take place if specific socio

economic conditions are met. Innovations therefore comprises technical, as well as

organizational and institutional developments also because interaction between actors is

embedded in a socio economic context (Hall and Yoganand, 2002; Feinson 2003).

In this context an Agricultural Innovation System (AIS) is defined as-

‘A set of organizations and individuals that are involved in generating,

disseminating, adopting and using knowledge and information of socio economic

significance, as well as the policy and institutional context that governs the way such

interactions and processes take place (FOs and Agril. Innovations 2006)’.

A recent document released on innovations by ICAR defined innovations as-

‘An innovation is an idea practice or object that is perceived as new by an

individual or other in a given system (Innovators 2010)’.

Farm Innovations

Thus, experimentation domain is not only for scientific community but it is for

user and practitioner too. When a practitioner (Farmer) do their work in a socio physical

conditions and experience any new way of doing (practice) is benefiting their work

efficiency or result, it qualifies under experimentation domain. Generally farmers use to

encounter more variable conditions during the course of execution of the

works/technologies and their experience enrich them for further improvement. These

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experiences some used as innovations. In the farm innovations, there are several

examples of innovations and innovators e.g. SRI method of rice, Hansraj, Indorasan,

Tilak Chandan varieties of paddy etc. A good compilation of innovations of our country

is documented in Innovators-2010 by ICAR, New Delhi.

References:

FAO and IIRR, 1995. Resource management for upland areas in Southeast Asia,

FARM Field document 2 (PP. 14-17), Bangkok.

Feinson, S. 2003. National Innovation Systems Volume-1 (PP. 13-38) Arizona

State University, Tempe, USA.

FOs and Agricultural Innovations, 2006. Royal Tropical Institute (KIT), Bulletin

374 (PP. 32-33). Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

Hall A. and B. Yoganand, 2002. New institutional arrangements in agricultural

R&D in Africa: Concepts and case studies. ICRISAT, Nairobi, Kenya.

Innovators 2010. ICAR, New Delhi, India.

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