Successful strategies for promoting new farming technologies |
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| Tools, methods and systems to promote and scale up the adoption of integrated pest management and other improved farm practices | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
A systematic approach to planning and applying effective 'pyramidal' training and dissemination strategies is now available to help get new techniques into use by farmers. Originally developed to promote integrated pest management (IPM), the system can be used to build capacity in a wide range of fields. From innovative, interactive and enjoyable training courses for trainers and farmers, to training guides, farmer pocket books and pest identification cards, a host of useful and well-targeted outputs have already been produced. These are being used in 40 countries. Plus, the generic training strategy has already been successfully used locally by government agencies and NGOs such as Harvest Help and SACDEP in 10 countries: Kenya, Zimbabwe, Uganda, Jamaica, Cameroon, Ghana, Lesotho, Zambia, Mauritius and India. Project Ref: CPP34:
Research Programmes: Crop Protection Programme. Additional support for publications from the Technical Centre for Rural and Agricultural Co-operation (CTA) in the Netherlands Relevant Research Projects:
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Many RNRRS projects have generated technologies that could help smallholder vegetable farmers improve their crop protection and production practices. The equally important associated challenge is to ensure adoption by the end users so that the outputs translate to behavioural change that improves revenues, nutrition and safety at farm, national and global level. The challenge led to the development of specific outputs relating to promotion of IPM, but also to generic outputs, applicable to building capacity in any research area. Specific outputs:
Generic outputs The specific outputs developed under these projects allowed the piloting of a systematic approach to planning and preparing pyramidal training and dissemination strategies. This model involves characterising the different Target Groups, determining their requirements through Training Needs Analysis, establishing Training Objectives for post-training performance, building relevant and appropriate content, developing participatory modules and methods, creating innovative learning tools with appropriate media, and drawing up detailed session plans. Implementation uses participatory and highly active delivery methods, and enables the trainees to understand, retain and put into practice the knowledge, skills and positive attitudes they have gained.
This system was successful and is a generic model, responsive and adaptable to promoting uptake and/or adoption of any other technologies generated by the research programmes, at any level from farmer to policy maker, and can accommodate any number of training layers and multipliers.
The specific outputs focussed on vegetables (export and local consumption) - but are applicable to a wide range of horticultural and agricultural crops. The generic outputs relating to the model for creating bespoke strategies to promote adoption are applicable much more widely. The methods could potentially involve all commodities from across all former research programmes - including forestry, fisheries and livestock.
The specific outputs will add value to the many other horticultural initiatives from NRI, CABI, CSL, CIAT, ICRIASAT, Imperial College, ICIPE and ARI (project codes too numerous to quote). They have already made a valuable contribution to the EC's Pesticides Initiative Programme, in that CPP dissemination outputs have been used in the delivery of Training of Trainers and Farmer Training courses in East and West Africa and the Caribbean. The generic outputs will add value to any outputs from the former programmes that need to be disseminated through significant multipliers, while retaining the integrity and developmental impact of the original research output messages. The impact of Programmes' research outputs has been limited to date due to training and other capacity building being ad hoc, variable in quality and not conforming to any coherent strategy. Treating training as a science in itself will increase adoption of technologies and other outputs. A systematic analysis of the beneficiaries' circumstances and needs ensures that methods, content and learning tools are relevant, useable and pitched at an appropriate level, and the participatory approach ensures ownership of the learning while providing real-time feedback to the trainers on the success of their endeavours. Very often, training courses are delivered by a single technical specialist to an unmanageably large group of trainees, resulting in a one way, lecture-based style with little opportunity for discussion, participation or practical work. Pairing a specialist in the research outputs with a training and communication specialist is a far more effective approach. They add value to each other as they work together to prioritise needs, to distil the most important messages, to plan, prepare and deliver high quality participatory training. The 'sweet spot' in the middle of Figure 2 illustrates where needs, research outputs and effective training coincide to bring about sustained beneficial change.
How the outputs were validated: Both specific and generic outputs were validated over a period of time through a variety of methods and by a range of players Specific outputs - training materials, manuals, information Validation of such materials can take several direct and indirect forms:
Generic outputs These have also been validated in a variety of ways: Positive feedback from training target groups. Formal course assessment questionnaires were completed by trainees and were invariably extremely positive. The participants (validators) were trainers from industry, NGOs, Government regulatory bodies and consultants Positive feedback from organisations with an interest in capacity building. Horticultural export industry representatives at a meeting of FPEAK in Kenya were extremely interested in the training strategy and the philosophy of making it interactive and fun. Tiku Shah, MD of Sunripe Ltd and Director of FPEAK commented "now I understand what training should be about" The participatory method itself has a built in validation mechanism in it is very obvious during practical exercises and discussions whether the trainees have improved their knowledge, skills and positive attitudes. In this case the trainers themselves are the validators.
Where the Outputs were Validated: Specific and generic outputs have been validated in the following places: Training of Trainers courses
Farmer Training courses
Vector Intervention Teams trained in 6 villages in the Nyong Sanaga Valley region of Cameroon The agricultural and vector management ToT courses were targeted at diploma or graduate-level personnel in government, NGO and private sectors. The follow-on farmer training was targeted at poor smallholder groups growing vegetables for domestic and international markets, mostly in the Peri-urban, Hillsides and High Potential production systems, operating in Smallholder Rainfed Highland, and Irrigated farming systems The generic training strategy outputs adapted to vector management were targeted at government, NGO and private sector trainers, and at Smallholder rainfed/humid farming systems in the Forest Agriculture, Tropical Moist Forest and Peri-urban production systems. Who are the Users? Dissemination and communication materials continue to be used as reference works, training tools, and source materials for new training resources. One example of deliberate prolongation of impact is the 2005 and 2006 calendars that were A3 size and designed to be cut in half at the end of the year to leave an A4 flip chart with humorous cartoons (by the Daily Nation cartoonist) depicting serious IPM messages, for use in training courses in future years. People using these materials include: § Extension workers § NGO organisations § Other in country bilateral aid initiatives such as FAO Farmer Field Schools § Multilateral donor programmes such as the EUs Pesticides Initiative Programme and FAO's IPM programmes. The generic training strategies are being used by the Trainers trained under the recent DFID, FAO and EU-funded capacity building activities that have involved the staff that helped develop the strategies. These Trainers from Government, NGO, Horticultural Industry, Private Sector Service Providers and Development Agencies, are putting into practice the systematic training analysis, planning and light-hearted participatory implementation approaches that have been developed under the CPP project. Where the outputs have been used: The dissemination outputs (Vegetable IPM Handbook, posters, calendars) have been distributed in over 40 countries (Antigua, Australia, Belgium, Cameroon, Curacao, Denmark, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Fiji Islands, Germany, Ghana, Italy, Jamaica, Kenya, Malawi, Mauritius, Namibia, Netherlands, Niger Republic, Oman, Republic, Nigeria, Pakistan, Portugal, Rwanda, Solomon Islands, South Africa, South Korea, Sudan, Surinam, Suriname, Swaziland, Tanzania, The Gambia, Trinidad, Uganda, UK, Vietnam, Zambia, Zimbabwe) The generic capacity-building outputs have been and are being used in the following countries: Kenya, Zimbabwe, Uganda, Jamaica, Cameroon, Ghana, Lesotho, Zambia, Mauritius. In these countries, training of trainers courses have been carried out using the training tools and systematic training strategies developed during the course of the CPP projects. Some of these TOT courses have been international, meaning that the outputs have been disseminated yet wider to an additional 10 countries, including Burkina Faso, Burundi, Chad, Congo, Côte-d'Ivoire, Dominican Republic, Egypt, Mali, Mauritania, Mozambique. Scale of Current Use: While there is wide geographical spread, the scale of current use of the publications is relatively small, given the relatively small number of copies of each product. However, the ideas contained within the approach, format and content of the publications is likely to have significant multipliers built in. The IPM pocket book is deliberately designed for photocopying so it can be reproduced and used or issued by any trainer. Similarly, the generic outputs of boosted capacity for effective training and communication have occurred in several countries, but as yet at a relatively small scale. Given that these are Train the Trainers courses, the multiplier factors for the messages are expected to be of the order of 50 - 100. Take up was rapid due to the demand for the outputs, and they are still spreading. However, the pace of take-up will slow down without continuing investment. The outputs were always meant as pilots for larger programmes, and other projects such as the ICIPE-led project (into which they fed) investigated private sector as a mechanism for sustainability of capacity-building programmes. Policy and Institutional Structures, and Key Components for Success: It is recognized that the outputs from the Renewable Natural Resources Research Programme since 1995 have the potential to reduce poverty. However, in order to realize that potential, the DFID-funded research programme management recognized that these outputs have to be adapted as necessary, then promoted to scale them out and up. For the last few years of the RNRRS there was increasing emphasis on exploring the best ways of doing this - and these outputs are a result of that commitment to learning about promoting adoption. The EU Pesticides Initiative Programme was set up to build capacity in African Caribbean and Pacific countries to comply with new fresh produce import legislation. As such it did not aim to investigate best mechanisms for bringing about the necessary changes in production, handling, transport and management of the industry, but it provided a very useful test bed for the strategies, methodologies and tools developed by DFID/CPP. The same can be said of the more recent vector management capacity building activities in Cameroon and other Central and West African countries, where the generic model has been adapted in close consultation with national partners. Direct and Indirect Environmental Benefits: There are direct benefits to the environment from adoption of more benign production practices. Farmers often rely on chemical sprays to maintain and increase supply to an increasing urban population. They want easy, rapid and reliable crop protection but a common perception is that pesticides are the modern (and hence desirable) solution for successful farming. This training and dissemination-based project explored ways to wean growers away from existing practices that include overuse of pesticides and wrong choices of product leading to poor efficacy. Consequences of over-reliance on chemical sprays include operator exposure with associated health risks, contamination of the environment and loss of useful biodiversity. Over reliance on pesticides also leads to secondary problems such as higher inputs costs, residues in produce, build up of resistance and poor control of pests. This leads to a secondary effect, i.e., increased use of sprays because pests are not being controlled - sometimes referred to as the pesticide cycle. Once farmers are embroiled in this cycle the detrimental environmental effects multiply. The opposite is the case if farmers have the information and training to use integrated pest management, i.e., adopt the technologies promoted by this project which reduce reliance on chemical crop protection. Adverse Environmental Impacts: None Coping with the Effects of Climate Change, or Risk from Natural Disasters: An improved understanding of the biological processes (such as pest/natural enemy interactions) in agriculture and horticulture that results from high quality training is likely to equip farmers with the capacity and the confidence to adapt to climatic and other changes. References Lenne and Ward (2004) Lesson learning study from the Vegetable Cluster with special emphasis on the links with the private sector Omasa (undated) Export horticulture and livelihood strategies: A focus on the opportunities and constraints facing smallholder farmers in Kenya. Relevant Research Projects,
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For relevant research projects, with links to further information
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