Poster30: Farmer participation in research and extension the key to achieving adoption of more sustainable cassava production on sloping land in Asia and their impact on farmers' income

Poster30: Farmer participation in research and extension the key to achieving adoption of more sustainable cassava production on sloping land in Asia and their impact on farmers' income

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  FARMER PARTICIPATION INRESEARCH AND EXTENSION: THE KEY TO ACHIEVING ADOPTION OF MORE SUSTAINABLE CASSAVA PRODUCTION ON SLOPING LAND IN ASIA AND THEIR IMPACT ON FARMERS’ INCOME Reinhardt Howeler and Tin Maung Aye CIAT Cassava Office for Asia, Dept. of Agriculture, Chatuchak, Bangkok,Thailand INTRODUCTION Cassava ( Manihot esculenta Crantz) is the third most important agricultural crop grown in southeast Asia. It is an upland crop, generally grown by smallholder farmers on poor soils and in areas with a prolonged dry season. When grown on slopes, even on very gentle slopes, it can cause serious erosion. MATERIALS AND METHODS A Farmer Participatory Approach In this approach, farmers are directly involved in all aspects of the process, from diagnosis, selection of promising options, testing those options on their own fields (FPR trials), selecting the most suitable treatments, scaling up to production fields and extending their experiences to other farmers (FPE). Farmers make all decisions, while researchers and extensionists facilitate the process and provide alternative options and germplasm for testing. Farmer selected practices were disseminated to other farmers by various FPE methodologies, such as: . cross visits of farmers from new sites to those of older sites. . field days at time of harvest of FPR trials to evaluate and discuss the results. . large-scale field days with many participating farmers, school children, government officials and press/TV. . setting up of community-based groups to help each other implement the selected soil conservation practices. . pamphlets, videos, TV programs, newspaper articles, etc. Pilot sites The first phase (1994-1998) of the project was conducted in 2-3 pilot sites (villages) each in Thailand, Vietnam, China and Indonesia; in the second phase (1999-2003) the number of pilot sites increased year by year, reaching a total of 99 sites in Thailand, Vietnam and China by the end of 2003. Research has shown that soil losses due to erosion can be markedly reduced by simple agronomic and soil conservation practices. However, these are seldom used by farmers as farmers may be unaware of the seriousness of soil erosion, they do not know how to control erosion, or they consider the recommended practices unsuitable, too expensive or too labor intensive. In order to develop the most suitable soil conservation practices for a particular region and to enhance their widespread adoption, a bottom-up approach was used, in which farmers participate in all steps of the process, from diagnosing the problem, suggesting and testing solutions on their own fields, selecting the most suitable practices and disseminating their experiences to other farmers. This is called Farmer Participatory Research (FPR) and Extension (FPE), also known as Farmer Participatory Technology Development (FPTD). Table 3 indicates that in 2006/07 about 50% (nearly 2 million ha) of the cassava area in Asia was planted with CIAT-related varieties, i.e. varieties derived from crosses in which one or both parents contain genes introduced from Latin America. In some countries, such as Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam this is as high as 98, 80 and 70%, respectively. ADOPTION AND IMPACT Table 2 Summarizes the extent of adoption of the various practices in Thailand and Vietnam by the end of the project. Acknowledgement We gratefully acknowledge the generous financial support from the NIPPON FOUNDATION in Japan. Figure 1. Average cassava yields of farmers participating in the Nippon Foundation cassava project or of nearby but non-participating farmers, before the project started and at the end of the project. Partnerships The project has been funded by the Nippon Foundation in Tokyo, Japan from 1994 to 2003, and was implemented by the CIAT Cassava Office for Asia in Bangkok, in collaboration with national research and extension institutions in Thailand, Vietnam, China and Indonesia. A similar approach is currently being used in Lao PDR, Cambodia and Timor Leste. To get farmers interested in conducting FPR erosion control trials, and to develop an integrated package of suitable practices, other types of FPR trials were conducted in the community simultaneously, such as evaluations of varieties, green manures, intercropping systems, weed control, etc. ( Table 1 ). After conducting a participatory diagnosis of existing problems, farmers from the selected pilot sites visited research plots in which different varieties and a wide range of more sustainable practices were demonstrated. Farmers evaluated those plots and after discussion selected the types of trials they wanted to conduct on their own farms and the treatments to be tested. Researchers and extension workers helped farmers set out the trials, and helped during harvest to determine the yields, root starch contents and the net income in each treatment. During the field day at harvest, many farmers visited the FPR trials, evaluated and discussed the treatments and results and selected the best practices for future testing or for scaling up and adoption. 1) Participating farmers are those that conducted FPR trials and/or participated in training courses; non- participating farmers are those living nearby but who did not directly participate in these activities. Source : Impact Assessment (Tim Purcell, 2004) Figure 1 shows that the adoption of new technologies, tested and selected by farmers themselves, greatly increased cassava yields during the second 5-year phase of the project, not only of farmers that actively participated but also those of nearby farmers as well as in the two countries as a whole. The adoption of new varieties and improved cultural practices, have markedly increased cassava yields in almost all cassava growing countries in Asia. The annual additional gross income farmers received due to the higher cassava yields obtained in 2007 as compared to 1984 (when the CIAT Cassava Office was established in Asia), is estimated to exceed 900 million US dollars in 2007 ( Table 4 ), and is likely to be more than 1 billion dollars in all of Asia in 2008. In addition, many farmers are now more aware of the need to control soil erosion and to maintain soil fertility, and many have adopted various soil conservation measures when planting cassava on slopes, and are applying both chemical and organic fertilizers to make cassava production not only more profitable but also more sustainable. 1) Data from FAOSTAT, for 1984 and 2006/07. 2) The fresh root price in 2007 was about US$ 40/tonne 3) Additional gross income per household due to cassava yield increases since 1984. 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 Before project After project = project participants = non- participants = all country (1999-2003) Thailand Cassava yield (t/ha) Before project After project Vietnam