Valuing and Promoting SmallholderAgricultural Practices

The Approach of the PLEC Project

Papua New GuineaChinaThailandJamaicaMexico

Amazonia•Brazil•Peru

East Africa •Kenya •Tanzania•Uganda

Location of PLEC ActivitiesWest Africa•Ghana•Guinea

Three Major Issues:

1) The PLEC project focuses on the diversity of systems in production landscapes rather than the component products

2) Smallholder production systems tend to perform multiple functions

3) The complexity of smallholder systems favors the PLEC “expert farmer’ demonstration approach

Muyuy’s residents are ribereños, the descendants of indigenous and immigrant Amazonians

Muyuy, Loreto, Peru

Population: 3740

The PLEC site in Peru provides an example of

the diversity of smallholder systems in a production

landscape

PLEC works with ribereño communities located in the Amazon floodplain where the height and

duration of floods are difficult to predict

Highlevee Low

leveeSand bar

Siltbar

72 species188 varieties

28 species96 varieties

17 species62 varieties

112 species274 varieties

high river level

low river level

river

Ribereños Use a Multiplicity of Systems to Produce in a Diverse and Dynamic Landscape

Locally-developed management systems allow farmers to cope with abrupt and transformative changes

The Muyuy Floodplain Changes Rapidly

From Channel to Lake in 13 Years

1987

1995

From Channel to Lake in 13 Years

2000

From Channel to Lake in 13 Years

Island Formation

Over 13 Years

Island Formation Over 13 Years

1987

Island Formation Over 13 Years

1995

Island Formation Over 13 Years

2000

Island Formation Over 13 Years

Formation of a Permanent Channel Over a 13 Year Period

1987

Formation of a Permanent Channel Over a 13 Year Period

1995

Formation of a Permanent Channel Over a 13 Year Period

2000

Formation of a Permanent Channel Over a 13 Year Period

Ribereño agrodiversity has multiple functions. It allows farmers to cope with

catastrophic changes

Multiple functions of diverse smallholder systems

Creating and managing microhabitats (China)

Overcoming crop diseases (Brazil)

Dealing with catastrophe and opportunity (Peru)

Coping with market and policy change (Kenya)

PLEC China Site

Baoshan, Yunnan

Reforestation Projects in China

Smallholder Diversification of

Reforestation Projects

Government forestry projects did

not offer the diversity of species

farmers wanted

Expert Farmers diversified the government project. Not only did they increase the number of tree species, but also created microhabitats for many other economic

species

In Kenya’s PLEC sites farmers are diversifying coffee monocultures by using multicropping

systems such as “edge” and “cluster” systems

Farmers in Kenya use diverse systems to cope with falling

prices for coffee and changes in

government policies

PLEC Brazil SiteMazagao, Amapa

Banana EncapoeiradaUsing Diversity and Experimentation to

Fight Disease

Since the appearance of Moko disease in the 1970s, farmers cannot produce bananas in monocultures

Following farmer led observations and experiments all banana production is done in highly diverse agroforestry

systems called banana encapoeirada

The system uses naturally regenerating pariri andsororoca associated with bananas. This agroforestry

system allows farmers to regain about 70% of previous production by managing the fungal disease

The Multiple Benefits and Services Derived from

Agrodiversity are Difficult for Scientists to Translate

PLEC Empowers Expert Farmers to Demonstrate the Functionality of their

Own Agricultural Systems

The expert farmers determine how and to whom they will demonstrate

Expert Farmers do not demonstrate

“production packages” and participant farmers

do not merely copy systems

Demonstrated Technique:Agroforestry banana encapoeirada system

Objective:Managing Moko disease in bananas

Sororoca- pariri – bananaRecommended techniques:

A) Acai - BananaB) Fruteiras - BananaC) Madeira - BananaD) Combinations of A, B and C

Modification of demonstrated technique:

Building soils above tide level

Production of cassava and other crops less tolerant to tidal flooding

Keep sediments and organic matter from eroding during high tides (lançantes) using fences

Demonstrated Technique:

Objective:

Recommended techniques:

Modification of demonstrated technique:A) Use of logs in place of fencesB) Placing palm leaves around elevated section of the fieldC) Accumulating soils around tree trunksD) Accumulating wood residues from saw mills

Enriching fallows

Production of fruits and timber

Thinning and removal of vines

Demonstrated Technique:

Objective:

Recommended techniques:

Modification of demonstrated technique:

A) Thinning- plantingB) Removal of vines - broadcasting seedsC) Thinning - broadcasting seedsD) Combinations of the above

Managing forests

Production of fruits, timber and medicinals

Removal of vines and formation of gaps (clareras)

Demonstrated Technique:

Objective:

Recommended techniques:

Modification of demonstrated technique:

A) Gaps - broadcasting seedsB) Removal of vines - transplanting seedlings along trailsC) Gap formation - managing of seed dispersal during high tideD) Combinations of the above

We would like to thank…expert farmers and villagers in PLEC sites for their generosity

the many scientists and students who helped with data collection and analysis

UNU, UNEP, and the GEF for their support

We dedicate this presentation to Noe Buendia (Peru) and Chris Tokomeyeh (Papua New Guinea), two pioneers in understanding that conservation cannot be advanced without involving smallholders at every phase