It's Not Just the Technology, It's the Surrounding System: How Researchers in Ecuador Found Ways to Make Themselves Useful to Farmers Through Quinoa and Lupin Seed Systems (original) (raw)
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Expanding the Green Revolution to Small farmers in Ecuador (1970-1990s)
Études rurales, 2020
The article highlights the convergence between a new generation of researchers at the Ecuadorian National Agrarian Research Institute (INIAP) and the emergence of a new international research agenda focusing more on small farmers during the second phase of the Green Revolution in the mid-1970s. It does so via analysis of two agrarian modernization programs for small farmers: the Research in Production Program and the Andean Crops Program, the first linked to the Mexican International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), and the second to the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA). These programs further illustrate a new trend in INIAP research, in relation to the initial phase since 1964 which had focused on responding to the needs of landowners and international research centers interested in conducting plant-breeding tests.
ADOPTION AND IMPACT OF AGRICULTURAL TECHNOLOGIES DEVELOPED IN ECUADOR
Knowing the effects that technologies have on society is the essential input to motivate the development of science, since it provides inputs to policy makers to project the impact of future investments. In Ecuador, the main public center in charge of research and development of technologies in the agricultural sector is the National Institute of Agricultural Research (INIAP), which develops genetic material (seeds) and crop management recommendations to increase and add value to farmer’s production, alternatives for the soil and water management and the conservation of genetic resources. In order to estimate the adoption and impact of agricultural technologies generated in the country, 37 studies of adoption, impact and economic profitability of technologies generated by the INIAP were analyzed. These studies were published in the period 2007-2017. The average adoption rate of the varieties developed by INIAP at the national level was 37%, with an average internal rate of return of 33%. The overall impacts of agricultural technologies developed in Ecuador were positive at an economic, environmental and productive level for the farmers who adopted these technologies. These results support the politicians and decision makers in the country for the direction and strategic planning of the research to invest more in science and technology, which will allow the development of a sustainable agriculture for Ecuador and the region.
Perceptions of agrodiversity and seed-saving practices in the northern Andes of Ecuador
Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine, 2019
Background: As concerns about agrodiversity loss and its impact on food security increase, interest in seed-saving practices and motivations has risen, especially in regions characterized by ancestral farming. Agroecology practitioners in the northern Andes of Ecuador (n = 65) participated in this study to describe (1) the dynamics of intergenerational agrodiversity, (2) perceptions of relevance of the crops they grow, (3) criteria for characterizing the differences between conventional and non-conventional seeds, and (4) their seed-saving practices. Methods: This exploratory study incorporated a community-based participatory research approach using mixed methods. We conducted (1) a timeline mapping for exploring the dynamics of intergenerational agrodiversity and (2) structured interviews to explore the perception of relevance of crops grown to identify criteria for characterizing conventional and non-conventional seeds and for identifying seed-saving practices. We computed ranks and frequencies from free listing data derived from the interviews to detect the most salient patterns for crop diversity and seed-saving practices. A principal component analysis was performed to illustrate crops distribution within the study area. Results and discussion: Based on the timeline-mapping tool, we found that participants perceive an intergenerational loss of agrodiversity. Data derived from free listing determined that salient crops differ in each location of the study area, mostly due to geographic (altitude, climate), market factors, and crop management limitations. Responses from open-ended interview questions revealed that farmers discriminate conventional from non-conventional seeds using yield, adaptation to local conditions, pest tolerance, taste, and crop management as criteria. Analysis of free listing data determined that the most salient reported practices related to seed saving were soil fertility management, seed selection, safe seed storage, tilling and rowing, and weeding. Conclusions: This study contributes to raising awareness of intergenerational agrodiversity loss and replacement with modern crops. We found the relevance of crops and practices is subject to cultural and environmental context, and few agricultural practices are exclusively used for seed saving. Further, farmers clearly discriminate conventional from non-conventional seeds based on advantages and disadvantages, cultural motivation, and produce destination. The community-based participatory approach resulted in positive engagement from participants and promoted commitment from farmers to preserve agrodiversity and support practices at the community level.
Aspects of participatory plant breeding for quinoa in␣ marginal areas of Ecuador
Euphytica, 2007
Field trials were carried out in Ecuador with two indigenous communities, Ninín Cachipata and La Esperanza, to determine farmers' preferences for quinoa (Chenopodium quinoa Willd.) cultivars and to improve PPB processes. More women than men participated, reflecting that quinoa, a primarily subsistence crop, is mainly managed by women. Farmers' field selection criteria for quinoa in the field were mostly based on yield, earliness and plant colour; however only breeders' measurements of yield and panicle height significantly correlated to farmer selection scores. Older women gave higher scores than younger women or men, apparently due to a concept of no cultivar being without value.
Etudes Rurales , 2020
The article highlights the convergence between a new generation of researchers at the Ecuadorian National Agrarian Research Institute (INIAP) and the emergence of a new international research agenda focusing more on small farmers during the second phase of the Green Revolution in the mid-1970s. It does so via analysis of two agrarian modernization programs for small farmers: the Research in Production Program and the Andean Crops Program, the first linked to the Mexican International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), and the second to the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA). These programs further illustrate a new trend in INIAP research, in relation to the initial phase since 1964 which had focused on responding to the needs of landowners and international research centers interested in conducting plant-breeding tests.
Agroecology in Ecuador: historical processes, achievements, and challenges
Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems, 2017
Agroecology in Ecuador has developed from its early stages as a little-known, incoherent response to the Green Revolution into a serious agrarian model, with key principles enshrined in the country's Constitution and Food Sovereignty Law. This article provides a historical overview and analysis of this process, highlighting key actors, events and challenges. In particular this article reveals that the adoption of agroecology as a form of resistance by indigenous and peasant movements played a key role in its development. Furthermore, articulation between organizations, academia, and public institutions helped agroecology grow in conceptual depth, national reach and political influence. Nonetheless, as the stalled passage of the law on agrobiodiversity demonstrates, significant obstacles to implementation remain.
Participatory seed projects and agroecological landscape knowledge in Central America
International Journal of Agricultural Sustainability, 2020
Participatory projects supporting the farmer-based seed management of agrobiodiverse varieties including landraces have proliferated globally in response to nutritional insecurity and climate change. This research examines the agroecological landscape knowledge of farmers in a recent participatory seed project using the tricot approach in Central America. Over 800 smallholder farmers in Nicaragua facilitated on-farm trials of diverse common bean varieties that are nutritiously valuable and potentially well-adapted to increased temperatures and variable precipitation. Our article integrates relevant research concepts in a case study of the agroecological landscape knowledge of 52 participating farmers. Participatory sketch maps, transect walks, and semi-structured interviews were used to identify key areas of farmers' agroecological landscape knowledge in crop and seed management. Results indicate the prevalence of nine themes of farmer agroecological landscape knowledge. This landscape knowledge exerts major influence on the choice, placement, and management of common bean varieties and associated land use decisions. Our analysis reveals that farmers use this knowledge to manage their landholdings as landscapes of agroecological interactions that guide seed and variety management and affect potential sustainability. Results demonstrate that local agroecological landscape learning is strengthened through and benefits participatory seed projects.
Designing the Future of Food: Quinoa Agrobiodiversity in 21st Century Highland Peru
ProQuest, 2018
This dissertation is an ethnography of the Peruvian crop quinoa in Highland Peru and the ways diverse actors such as agronomists, farmers, and entrepreneurs seek to design viable futures in which agrobiodiversity can flourish. In designing and iterating solutions to agrobiodiversity loss, actors draw together various cultural elements like knowledge, techniques, materials and aspirations as they work between the twin productive forces of commercialization and conservation. This dissertation focuses on how groups understand and attempt to set the conditions of possibility for quinoa by drawing together knowledge, materialities, techniques, and intentions, how such connections across elements are formed and enacted, and what people reveal about themselves in the process. Because these processes are intentional and deliberate, they are considered acts of design. Design highlights a co-creational and iterative means of cultural brokering in which actors draw together and attempt to make commensurate diverse elements for solution-oriented ends. Designing for quinoa agrobiodiversity involves linking groups and ideas in ways they might not otherwise be linked and setting new conditions of possibility for agrobiodiverse quinoa. This dissertation explores four domains that reveal how and for what ends actors design what quinoa agrobiodiversity is and what people can do with it. Those four domains are planting, classification and naming, gastronomy and nutrition, and development for agrobiodiversity.
2010
The Unaí Project (Brazilian Cerrados) uses a participatory approach inspired by the principles of Action-research to strengthen innovation processes within the context of the Agrarian Reform Sector. It associates as partners scientists, farmers, trainers and development agents and focuses both on the sociotechnical and organisational dimensions of innovation. This paper presents the results of a sociological assessment of the encounter between farmers and scientists in connection with the development of knowledge related to direct seeding cropping systems within the framework of the Unai project. The objective was to analyse the complementarities and difficulties in terms of knowledge exchange and production. There was convergence of representations between farmers and researchers about the practical issues related to direct seeding. But there were differences about the overall role of direct-seeding and specifically of cover crops in the production process. Farmers and researchers did not share the same perception of the value of participation, with the former placing a premium on affective and social factors. Farmers' participation in the conception of innovations has several methodological implications, including the necessary formalization of roles and responsibilities of each actor and the development of intermediary actors.