Successes in linking science to action through participatory action

research

Jon Hellin International Maize and Wheat

Improvement Center (CIMMYT), Mexico

CCAFS Science Meeting, Copenhagen 1 May, 20012

Outline of presentation

• Why participatory research?

• What is participatory research?

• Typology of participatory research

• Agricultural innovation systems

• MasAgro, a Mexican case study

Why participatory research?

• Climate change, need to enhance agricultural yields, resilience of agro-ecosystems, & improve farmers’ livelihoods

• Improved agronomic management & farmers’ use of climate-adapted germplasm

• Adoption by smallholder farmers has been low (e.g. conservation agriculture (Ekboir, 2002))

Farmer adoption & non-adoption of agricultural technologies/principles

• Farmers are, in general, risk adverse

• Technologies may not be profitable in short-term and/or may not work

• Technologies & principles are knowledge intensive

• Linear transfer of technology approach that underestimates complexity of technologies

• Farmers’ modifications do not always coincide with the ideas or the intentions of those who originally developed or introduced the technology … adaptation

What is participatory research?

• Systematic dialogue between farmers & scientists to solve problems related to agriculture

• Increase impact of agricultural science and technology

How participatory is “participatory research”?

• Farmer interviews

• “Putting the last first”

• Participatory plant breeding

• Active – passive participation

Four types of farmer participation (Biggs, 1988)

• Contractual where scientists contract with farmers to provide land or services

• Consultative where information is sought from farmers and scientists then develop “solutions”

• Collaborative where there some task sharing between researchers & farmers, along lines determined by the formal research program

• Collegial where researchers support a farmer-initiated and farmer-managed program

Farmers are social actors & not passive subjects

• Technology, knowledge and information generated from a central source & then transferred from researchers to farmers

• But agricultural development is an immensely complex process characterized by a high degree of nonlinearity.

• Technological change rather depends on learning processes, feedback loops & iterative interactions

• Need an innovation approach - a process of networking, interactive learning and negotiation among a heterogeneous set of actors

Agricultural innovation systems

• Web of dynamic interactions among actors including researchers, farmers, & service providers

• Agricultural development results from combining technological improvements in production, processing & distribution with organizational improvements in how information & knowledge are exchanged

• Also policy changes that create favorable incentives and institutions to promote change

• External input needed to generate & this highlights crucial role of a facilitator or network broker who catalyses rather than instructs

Innovation systems & conservation agriculture

Innovations systems have emerged around conservation agriculture practices across a range of emerging economies

• South and Meso America (e.g. Brazil, Bolivia, Paraguay, Mexico),

• Africa (e.g. Ghana, southern Africa)

• Asia (the Indo-Gangetic Plains of South Asia , China and Central Asia).

• But fewer examples of CA on small farms outside the Americas

Mexico case study

• Due to climate change agricultural output in Mexico could decrease by >25% by 2080

• A concept of innovation networks was developed by CIMMYT with focus on conservation agriculture

• In each network, exchange of information was organized between the different partners with CIMMYT as network broker

• Based on the results, Mexican federal government launched MasAgro initiative in 2011 targeting maize and wheat-based systems

Sustainable Modernization of Traditional Agriculture (MasAgro)

• Develop, improve and spread innovative sustainable agricultural practices

• Including conservation agriculture, high-yielding germplasm, post-harvest technologies

• Dynamic and flexible approach of MasAgro allows for decentralized experimentation

• Institutionalization of agricultural innovation networks for smallholders

Structure & functioning of MasAgro • Establish shared goals &

efficient coordination between actors involved in the agricultural production chain.

• Actors include: private sector, international & national research centers, universities, farmers, extension workers, input suppliers, & policy-makers

• The innovation network is called a hub & includes establishment of research/experimental platforms, farmer modules & extension areas

Hub

• The core of the hub is the experimental platform. These are placed within universities, research institutes on farmers’ plots

• Research in the platforms locally adapts and improves the proposed technologies

• Platforms also serve to train farmers, extension agents, researchers & other collaborators

• Modules are established on farmers’ fields. Farmers are linked with extension agents trained by CIMMYT and by MasAgro’s partners

• Together, they test and further adapt the technologies. Feedback is necessary

• Surrounding farmers, public & private extension agents & service providers are invited to field day days

General structure of a hub

Federal and state level interest

Within one year 20 innovation hubs 13,000 farmers involved 20,000 hectares reached

Target: 260,000 farms

Sustainability of MasAgro?

• Idea is to expand hub approach within existing agro-ecological areas for maize & small grain based systems.

• Increasing number of local states including approach in state-level policy frameworks

• Seed companies using hubs

• Change within CIMMYT, greater emphasis on outcomes and impacts

• Ecology of disciplines along value chain

Functional and empowerment components of participatory research

• Functional component includes identification of traits that guide crop breeders

• Is farmer empowerment best carried out by development organizations with longer-term interaction with farmers

• Ultimately, partnerships between research and development organizations should translate into larger and wider impact.

We are not there yet

• Have not yet comprehensively achieved the paradigm shift from a linear transfer-of-technology approach to one that fosters the emergence of an agricultural innovation systems & participatory research

• The example of MasAgro in Mexico, however, illustrates how the change can be fostered and institutionalized