Crowdsourcing Knowledge: An Extension Approach for Remunerative and Sustainable Home Garden Farming Systems in Kerala (original) (raw)
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Experimental Agriculture, 2016
SUMMARY Rapid climatic and socio-economic changes challenge current agricultural R&D capacity. The necessary quantum leap in knowledge generation should build on the innovation capacity of farmers themselves. A novel citizen science methodology, triadic comparisons of technologies or tricot, was implemented in pilot studies in India, East Africa, and Central America. The methodology involves distributing a pool of agricultural technologies in different combinations of three to individual farmers who observe these technologies under farm conditions and compare their performance. Since the combinations of three technologies overlap, statistical methods can piece together the overall performance ranking of the complete pool of technologies. The tricot approach affords wide scaling, as the distribution of trial packages and instruction sessions is relatively easy to execute, farmers do not need to be organized in collaborative groups, and feedback is easy to collect, even by phone. The ...
Citizen science for sustainable agriculture -A systematic literature review
Land Use Policy, 2021
Farmers as volunteers in research could potentially provide a rich resource for exploring sustainable agricultural research questions. To discern emerging patterns in citizen science-based studies on topics with relevance for sustainable agriculture and reveal salient challenges and opportunities for conducting such studies, we conducted a literature review of 27 articles from the period 2004-2019 of 250 publications screened from Google Scholar. These articles were thematically grouped under the topics: Soil health, climate adaptation, pest/path-ogen monitoring, invasive species, inputs and outputs and pollination. Participants' characteristics, motivations, study design and project outcomes in the reviewed articles were summarized and discussed. Both observational and experimental studies were represented in the articles, while emerging trends point towards field experimentation and 'Large-N ′ trials by lay farmers. Crowdsourcing lends itself to projects where the main role of the public is local visual observations and reporting, such as in pest/pathogen monitoring. Challenges included methodological issues such as validation procedures, but above all motivation, recruitment, and retention of volunteers. Despite the importance of participatory approaches for deeper citizen involvement for sustainability transitions and for the quality of knowledge outcomes, the role of citizens was overall restricted to data collection. Several of the methodologies proposed would be difficult to implement in low-income countries, and relatively few studies pertained to agricultural concerns of the global South. To lend value to farmers' time, we recommend projects relevant to livelihoods, health issues or local farming problems, accompanied by well-structured data feedback protocols, routing study results back to farmers.
Computers and Electronics in Agriculture, 2017
Crowdsourcing, understood as outsourcing tasks or data collection by a large group of nonprofessionals, is increasingly used in scientific research and operational applications. In this paper, we reviewed crowdsourcing initiatives in agricultural science and farming activities and further discussed the particular characteristics of this approach in the field of agriculture. Ongoing crowdsourcing initiatives in agriculture were analysed and categorised according to their crowdsourcing component. We identified eight types of agricultural data and information that can be generated from crowdsourcing initiatives. Subsequently we described existing methods of quality control of the crowdsourced data. We analysed the profiles of potential contributors in crowdsourcing initiatives in agriculture, suggested ways for increasing farmers' participation, and discussed the ongoing initiatives in the light of their target beneficiaries. While crowdsourcing is reported to be an efficient way of collecting observations relevant to environmental monitoring and contributing to science in general, we pointed out that crowdsourcing applications in agriculture may be hampered by privacy issues and other barriers to participation. Close connections with the farming sector, including extension services and farm advisory companies, could leverage the potential of crowdsourcing for both agricultural research and farming applications. This paper coins the term of farmsourcing as a professional crowdsourcing strategy in farming activities and provides a source of recommendations and inspirations for future collaborative actions in agricultural crowdsourcing.
Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems, 2021
There is evidence that in many situations the use of a diverse set of two or more crop varieties in the field has benefits for production. The benefits of varietal diversification include lower crop disease incidence, higher productivity, and lower yield variability. Targeted interventions could increase varietal diversity where smallholder farmers lack the knowledge and access to seeds needed to diversify their varieties. Innovations based on crowdsourced citizen science make it possible to involve a large number of households in farmer participatory varietal selection. This study analyses varietal diversification in Bihar, India, focusing on the effects of the largest citizen science-based intervention to date, involving 25,000 farmers and 47,000 plots * seasons. The study examines if an increase in the varietal diversity of major staple crops, namely wheat and rice, under real farming conditions contributed to: (1) crop productivity and (2) the ability of households to recover fr...
The Role of Citizen Science in Sustainable Agriculture
Sustainability
Farmers know much more than we think, and they are keen to improve their knowledge in order to improve their farms and increase their income. On the other hand, decision-makers, organizations, and researchers are increasing their use of citizen volunteers to strengthen their outcomes, enhance project implementation, and approach ecosystem sustainability. This paper assesses the role of citizen science relating to agricultural practices and covers citizen science literature on agriculture and farmers’ participation during the period 2007–2019. The literature was examined for the role of citizen science in supporting sustainable agriculture activities, pointing to opportunities, challenges, and recommendations. The study identified the following gaps: insufficient attention to (1) long-term capacity building and dialogue between academics and farming communities; (2) developing countries in the global South and smallholders; (3) agriculture trading and marketing; (4) the rationales of...
IDS Bulletin, 2011
In sub-Saharan Africa, modern varieties released by the formal seed sector cover only a small part of the total crop acreage. Participatory approaches to crop improvement and seed production have been developed to overcome some of the barriers to modern variety development and seed distribution, but have not been widely scaled up. Crowdsourcing, such as seen in online citizen science projects, might inspire new approaches to upscale farmer-participatory seed innovation, specifically aiming at household food production. Using mobile technology, African farmers may be engaged in massively evaluating and distributing seeds. It is argued that a crowdsourcing approach to seed innovation would not only be scalable, but also inclusive through the strengthening of crop diversity as an open informational resource.
Dissemination of technologies through farmer’s participatory approach in Kachchh, Gujarat
2010
Regional Research Station of CAZRI for arid Gujarat was established on 26th March 1987 at Kukma, Bhuj in Kachchh district. The major objectives of the Station are to identify, develop and transfer situation-specific agrotechnologies for sustainable development of agriculture and allied sectors in arid areas of Gujarat. The Station has so far identified several improved genotypes of grasses, suitable forage legumes, silvipastoral, and agri-horti models and improved cultivars of some field crops along with their intercropping systems. To take the technologies to the farmer's field, a Farmer's Participatory Action Research Programme was initiated by CAZRI at some of its Stations, including Kukrna-Bhuj , which was funded by thc Central Water Commission, Ministry of Water Resources, Govt. of India, New Delhi. Under this project, technology demonstration on popularisation of important kharif and rabi crops, cropping systems under irrigated and rainfed situations, farming systems, pressurised irrigation, improved cultivation of ber and rodent control were carried out in farmer's field with active participation of the farmers. These activities led to improvement in farm income of the participating farmers. I appreciate the efforts of the Station for successful conduct of the Farmer's Participatory Action Research Programme in Kachchh and of the authors in compiling highlights of the achievements through this publication. I wish that the publication becomes useful to the farmers , extension agencies and other allied institutions associated in improving productivity and sustainability of agriculture in the region.
Citizen science breathes new life into participatory agricultural research. A review
Agronomy for Sustainable Development, 2020
Participatory research can improve the efficiency, effectiveness, and scope of research processes, and foster social inclusion, empowerment, and sustainability. Yet despite four decades of agricultural research institutions exploring and developing methods for participatory research, it has never become mainstream in the agricultural technology development cycle. Citizen science promises an innovative approach to participation in research, using the unique facilities of new digital technologies, but its potential in agricultural research participation has not been systematically probed. To this end, we conducted a critical literature review. We found that citizen science opens up four opportunities for creatively reshaping research: (i) new possibilities for interdisciplinary collaboration, (ii) rethinking configurations of socio-computational systems, (iii) research on democratization of science more broadly, and (iv) new accountabilities. Citizen science also brings a fresh perspective on the barriers to institutionalizing participation in the agricultural sciences. Specifically, we show how citizen science can reconfigure cost-motivation-accountability combinations using digital tools, open up a larger conceptual space of experimentation, and stimulate new collaborations. With appropriate and persistent institutional support and investment, citizen science can therefore have a lasting impact on how agricultural science engages with farming communities and wider society, and more fully realize the promises of participation. Keywords Citizen science. Participatory agricultural research. User-centered design Contents 1.Introduction 2.The promises of participatory research in agriculture 2.1 Increased effectiveness and efficiency 2.2 Empowerment 2.3 Sustainability 3. Why has participatory research not become mainstream? 3.1 Entrenched scientific institutions and incentives 3.2 Lacking research and innovation around participation itself 4. New impulses of citizen science 4.1 Citizen science and participatory research 4.2 Unpacking participant motivation and engagement 4.3 Rethinking participation 4.4 Changing accountabilities, challenging epistemologies 4.5 Designing participation 5. Conclusions Conflict of interest References * Jacob van Etten
Exploring the role of smartphone technology for citizen science in agriculture
Citizen science is the involvement of citizens, such as farmers, in the research process. Citizen science has become increasingly popular recently, supported by the proliferation of mobile communication technologies such as smartphones. However, citizen science methodologies have not yet been widely adopted in agricultural research. Here, we conducted an online survey with 57 British and French farmers in 2014. We investigated (1) farmer ownership and use of smartphone technologies, (2) farmer use of farm-specific management apps, and (3) farmer interest and willingness to participate in agricultural citizen science projects. Our results show that 89 % respondents owned a smartphone, 84 % used it for farm management, and 72 % used it on a daily basis. Fifty-nine percent engaged with farm-specific apps, using on average four apps. Ninety-three percent respondents agreed that citizen science was a useful methodology for data collection, 93 % for real-time monitoring, 83 % for identification of research questions, 72 % for experimental work, and 72 % for wildlife recording. Farmers also showed strong interest to participate in citizen science projects, often willing to commit substantial amounts of time. For example, 54 % of British respondents were willing to participate in farmland wildlife recording once a week or monthly. Although financial support was not always regarded as necessary, experimental work was the most likely activity for which respondents thought financial support would be essential. Overall, this is the first study to quantify and explore farmers' use of smartphones for farm management, and document strong support for farm-based citizen science projects.
Turkish Journal of Agriculture and Forestry
This paper is a synthesis of three-year experiences and farmers' assessment of technology validation in participatory manner at integrated research sites of Barani Village Development Project. Farmers' problems were identified and prioritized through Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA). Farmers along with a team of researchers and extensionists in a participatory mode developed technical modules that can intervene their problems. The participatory research in project area is being conducted in collaboration with national and international research institutes for the last thee years. During the first two year (2001-03) a number of technological packages from national institutes were identified and tested for wider dissemination during the coming years. All the collaborating research institutes conducted experiments and assessment of participatory research trials was conducted each year. Each intervention was replicated with two to four farmers at all the three research sites....