Beyond the Green Revolution
The Green Revolution in agriculture, made possible by modern plant breeding and
agronomy research, stands among the greatest scientific and human success stories of our
time. Starting in the late 1960s, it created new agricultural technology that prevented
mass famine and altered farming and dietary habits in many developing countries.
Yet the fruits of this innovation largely bypassed hundreds of millions of farmers
living in remote, marginal lands. Poor soils, harsh climates, weak institutions, a lack of
appropriate technology, and other problems put a brake on agricultural progress in these
forgotten corners of the tropics.
Among the people who got left behind are the approximately 525 million rural
inhabitants of tropical hillsides. Covering some 13 million square kilometers globally
(see map), the hillsides actually consist of many, diverse agroecosystems that harbor
varied ethnic groups, cropping systems, and natural resources. The common ground of the
hillsides is their vertical topography. By hindering communication and making the land
highly prone to soil erosion, this greatly complicates the efforts of hillside communities
to achieve adequate livelihoods. The hillsides thus tend to be hotspots of rural poverty
and the scene of rampant environmental destruction.
To find solutions for the tropical hillsides, researchers with the Consultative Group
on International Agriculture (CGIAR) launched a new program in 1993 that brings
cutting-edge science to bear on this neglected environment. A leading actor in the
initiative is the CGIAR-sponsored International Center for Tropical Agriculture, or CIAT
(its acronym in Spanish), which is headquartered in Colombia. The Center's collaborative
work has resulted in a novel program of "integrated research with a landscape
perspective." It was developed and is being tested at three hillside sites in
tropical America.
"The approach is now set for wider application--in tropical America and
beyond," says Dr. Jacqueline Ashby, the CIAT research director and rural sociologist
who leads the Center's work on natural resource management. Of the total tropical hillside
area, roughly 30 percent lies in Latin America, 40 percent in Africa, and 30 percent in
Asia.
A Complex Predicament in Tropical Hillsides
In its hillsides research, CIAT concentrates on Central America and the Andean Mountain
zone. In Latin America overall, hillsides cover about 4 million square kilometers and
sustain an estimated 32 million small farmers.
About 40 percent of these people live in absolute poverty. Theirs is a complex
predicament that goes beyond dismal household economics. Low and stagnant incomes are
reinforced by limited opportunities for employment, low agricultural productivity, poor
access to education and health services, and a lack of political power and institutional
support.
The plight of hillside communities is also amplified by environmental damage. About 60
percent of the hillside area in Central America and the Andean Zone shows signs of serious
soil erosion. An estimated 13 billion tons of topsoil are lost each year, reducing
agricultural productivity and clogging lakes and streams with silt.
Worldwide, the hillsides contain nearly 50 percent of tropical forests. About 25,000
square kilometers of forest are being destroyed each year in tropical hillsides. At that
rate an area the size of New York state is deforested in 5 years and an area the size of
Switzerland in 2 years.
Deforestation in tropical hillsides contributes to the loss of biological diversity and
heightens the threat of global climate change through extensive burning. Together with
soil erosion and other pressures, deforestation also increases the threat of flash
flooding and damages supplies of fresh water. Tropical hillsides contain about 20 percent
of the world's total fresh water supply.
In Central America the devastation caused by Hurricane Mitch early in November of 1998
put much additional strain on an already fragile agroecosystem and on its vulnerable
inhabitants. Unusually heavy rains in September and October of this year--on the eve of
Mitch's anniversary--are making matters even worse.
Under the circumstances it is not surprising that many rural people in the hillsides of
tropical America lose hope of building better livelihoods and decide to seek them
elsewhere. Most of those who join the exodus end up in the region's miserable urban
shantytowns. There they face new forms of deprivation, though the lucky few find an exit
from poverty. Large numbers of rural people also emigrate from hillside regions to North
America in the hopes of finding steady employment and a decent income.
Some people who remain in the hillsides have found such opportunities closer to home,
namely in the production of illicit crops. Despite the social ills this generates within
rural communities and beyond, the temptation to increase cash incomes is simply too great.
The opportunities come at a cost, though. In some hillside areas--notably in Colombia and
Mexico--the narcotics trade has helped create an atmosphere of violence and fear.
Open social conflict is one more pressure adding to the precariousness of life in many
hillside environments. Clearly, the conflicts have complex and multiple causes. But it is
safe to say that endemic poverty and related social injustice help perpetuate the killing.
Latin America offers many examples of this cruel condition, including the troubles of Peru
and several Central American countries through the early 1990s and the tragedy of Colombia
today. The phenomenon is hardly limited to this region, however. Conflicts in hillside
areas of Central Africa and Southeast Asia are also related to rural poverty and growing
pressure on the land.
Why Should Anyone Care?
Why should the urban elite of developing countries, much less people in richer nations,
care about small farmers in the tropical hillsides? And why should they be interested in a
new style of cutting-edge research aimed at helping those people?
The simple answer is a growing awareness that we live in an interdependent world. Many
people in the cities of developing countries now realize that they have a stake in
marginal hillside environments. They depend on agricultural produce, water, and
environmental services in these areas. They realize that deforestation on the hillsides is
directly related to flash flooding and mudslides in the valleys below. And they must live
with the consequences of social disintegration in remote hillside areas, including massive
emigration, the narcotics trade, and the rising tide of violence.
It takes little imagination to see that, for some of the same reasons, inhabitants of
cities in the industrialized world have a stake in the hillsides too.
Hurricane Mitch provided Central America and the rest of the world with an
unforgettable lesson in the interdependence of town and country. Suddenly, urban and rural
people found themselves in the same boat--city dwellers who lost their homes and
livelihoods together with small farmers whose land and crops were washed away. Few could
ignore the prospect of food shortages and other deprivations in the coming months. And all
were left wondering: can something be done to make the region and its people less
vulnerable to such disasters in the future?
In the minds of some US observers, Mitch's fury raised the same issue. For example, a
Washington Post article asserted that "only poverty can explain why [Mitch] was so
deadly. In poor countries, people crowd onto marginal land. . . . [and] denude the hills,
making mudslides more likely."
Integrated Research with a Landscape Perspective
Caring about poverty and environmental degradation in the tropical hillsides is a good
start. But then comes the really difficult question of what to do about it.
Many organizations--international aid agencies, national governments, and NGOs--are
seeking answers. But overall the results have been disappointing. Plenty of new
agricultural technology has been developed for the hillsides, including improved crop
varieties and soil conversation measures, but rates of adoption are low. Too often, small
farmers find that the new technology is unsuited to their conditions, or they lack the
means and incentives to adopt it. This is because many projects have worked in a piecemeal
fashion, focusing too narrowly on individual crops or technologies, losing sight of the
larger predicament of hillside farmers, and failing to take into account their
perspectives.
In an effort to overcome these limitations, CIAT scientists have designed a new
approach called "integrated research with a landscape perspective." Under this
approach local, national, and international organizations work with rural communities to
carry out the following five steps:
- Build local farmers' capacity to develop and test solutions to problems in agriculture
and to disseminate these in rural communities, with only modest assistance from outside.
- Design and create grassroots organizations that can orchestrate collective efforts
(involving rural communities and the institutions that serve them) to combat poverty and
improve the management of natural resources in hillside watersheds
- Establish networks of local experimental sites, where scientists, farmers, and
development specialists can work jointly to develop and evaluate a wide range of
alternative technologies for agricultural production and natural resource conservation.
- Develop simple and reliable tools that enable local communities and institutions to
collect and manage the information they need for making decisions and planning initiatives
that promote local development and environmental conservation.
- Devise powerful, computer-based, geographic information systems (GIS) that simplify the
tasks of monitoring agricultural land use and choosing alternative courses of action at
the regional, national, and local levels.
The research that led to this approach was started during 1993 in the watershed of the
Cabuyal River, which is located in Colombia's southwestern Cauca Department. The work drew
upon many years of only partially successfully research aimed at improving crop varieties
and farming practices for the region. It also built on more recent efforts to develop and
introduce methods for farmer participatory research.
By 1995 the integrated approach was sufficiently advanced for further testing and
refinement at sites in other countries where CIAT had a long history of collaborative
research on staple crops. The Center and its national and local research partners applied
the approach at two locations in Central America: first in the watershed of the Tascalapa
River in Honduras's Yoro Department and more recently in the watershed of the Calico River
in Nicaragua's Matagalpa Department.
Why the focus on watersheds? Simply put, a watershed is the geographical area drained
by a defined network of rivers, streams, and springs. In tropical hillsides it is the
watershed, not just an arbitrary political boundary, that shapes the overall conditions of
agricultural production and rural life. Often, problems in agriculture, such as soil
erosion, damage to water supplies, and certain pests, cannot be dealt with effectively at
the level of individual farms. They require coordinated, collective action across an
entire landscape. Watersheds are the most logical framework for orchestrating the efforts
of a rural community to solve such problems. Even so, in delineating the three sites for
its hillsides research, the Center has also taken into account the dynamics of the local
economy, social conditions, and political jurisdictions.
More than 5 years of rigorous testing in three hillside watersheds has demonstrated
convincingly that the five main elements of CIAT's new approach are effective in
mobilizing local communities and institutions to build pathways out of poverty and halt
environmental destruction. The remainder of this document explains each element of the
approach in more detail and describes how it has been applied and with what results.
Funding for this research has been provided by Canada's International Development
Research Centre (IDRC), the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), Danish
International Development Assistance (Danida), the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB),
the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, and the Netherlands' Ecoregional Fund to Support
Methodological Initiatives. Much support also comes from the 28 donors that provide CIAT's
core budget.
Building Local Research Capacity
An essential first step toward constructing better livelihoods in the tropical
hillsides is to bridge the divide between farmers' knowledge and formal science. The first
is a rich collection of traditional wisdom gained through many years of experience. But
this knowledge, though extremely valuable, is not always adequate to cope with the
problems of rural communities. Outside "experts," on the other hand, may offer
plenty of technical solutions, but they are often poorly informed about farmers needs and
preferences.
The challenge is to find a way for poor farmers to exploit the best of traditional
wisdom and formal science. But how?
The CIAL movement: With consistent support from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, CIAT has
found an answer to this question in the form of CIALs, the Spanish acronym for "local
agricultural research committees. " In 1990 the Center set up five pilot committees
with communities in Colombia's Cauca Department. Since then, the CIAL model and related
training materials have been fine-tuned, and the idea has spread rapidly elsewhere in
Colombia and to seven other countries: Bolivia, Brazil, Ecuador, El Salvador, Honduras,
Nicaragua, and Venezuela.
By early 1999 more than 250 CIALs had been formed in Latin America. The Colombian
Corporation for Agricultural Research (CORPOICA) is particularly keen on this type of
farmer participatory research. In 1998 it announced a plan to apply the method nationwide.
How the CIALs work: This approach puts the community in the driver’s seat.
Representatives from a professional organization serve as animators when a CIAL is first
being set up and later as technical advisers. But local residents make all the strategic
decisions. These include whether to form a CIAL in the first place, which agricultural
problem or opportunity should receive highest priority, and who should represent them on
the local committee.
A CIAL is normally composed of a minimum of four community members. They should be
active farmers and seasoned experimenters willing to share time, energy, and information
with neighbors. CIAL formation begins with a "motivational" meeting to which the
whole community is invited. It is organized by a host agency well versed in the CIAL
approach, usually a research institute, extension service, or NGO. A facilitator explains
the basics of agricultural experimentation, risks and rewards, what a CIAL’s job is,
and how it is structured.
If and when the community agrees on its research priorities and committee membership,
an agronomist or farmer-facilitator trained in the basics of research and CIAL methods
helps the elected farmer-researchers identify technological options for experimentation
and adaptation. For example, if better fruit production is the goal, experiments could
center on options for organic fertilizer application.
The technical adviser from the host agency helps the CIAL with experiment design. The
research normally proceeds in three phases. The scale of experiments—for example,
plot size—increases with each phase. Where farmers give technical support, they have
access to advice from agronomists.
At the end of each phase, the CIAL team consults with the technical expert to draw
conclusions from the results. This guarantees a two-way flow of information between the
CIAL and the research or extension organization supporting it. Later, the CIAL presents
its data and recommendations to the community. Financial risk is minimized by a small fund
managed by the CIAL but owned by the community.
Monitoring the impact: As CIALs have gained experience and the
approach has spread, CIAT has been monitoring the impact. In the first 4 years of CIAL
development, farmer-researchers managed the testing of about 1,000 varieties of beans,
maize, peas, groundnuts, fruits, and vegetables. A major spin-off has been the
establishment of small seed production enterprises led by CIALs. To date, more than 10,000
farmers have bought seed from CIALs. For one growing season, these sales were estimated to
have generated gross income of over US$2.5 million. In addition, it has been estimated
that the labor costs of a CIAL-managed experiment are 60 percent less than those for a
similar trial run by a government extension agent.
In 1998, CIAT scientists followed up on a study that had been conducted a decade
earlier on farmer experimentation in Cauca Department. Four communities covered by the
1988 study had gone on to form CIALs. The new assessment compared those communities with
four others from the original study group that had not formed CIALs. It showed an increase
in farmer experimentation with new varieties of crop species already under cultivation and
of new species altogether. Farmers in communities with CIALs experimented more actively
than those without. For example, about half the farmers interviewed in communities with
CIALs were conducting experiments with new crop species, compared to 35 percent in
communities without CIALs.
These results suggest that CIALs do more than give communities better access to
external research resources and enable small numbers of farmers to innovate. The presence
of these committees has a multiplier effect on agricultural experimentation in the
community at large. In other words, says Dr. Jacqueline Ashby (the CIAT research director
who developed the CIAL approach), "farmers not only learn from one another about
promising new crop varieties and species, but they also 'learn how to learn' from each
other." The catalyst for this process is organized participatory research.
Apart from impact, a key issue for CIAT is the sustainability of CIALs. It is not just
a matter of building financial autonomy. It also has to do with giving CIALs ongoing
access to the technical and training support they need to respond to community priorities.
In Cauca a group of more than 50 CIALs formed a support association called CORFOCIAL for
this purpose. Operating funds come from interest earned on an endowment provided by a
donor and invested in a Colombian financial institution. This is just one funding model
that may prove useful in promoting the long-term viability of CIALs. As other Latin
American farmer research committees mature, new support models will surely emerge.
Empowering rural people: The CIALs have thus proved quite effective in solving specific
problems and creating new options for building better livelihoods in rural communities.
But they also provide another, less tangible benefit that in the long run is just as
important. This is what Dr. Ann Braun, ecologist and manager of CIAT's participatory
research project, refers to as autogestión, There is no equivalent term of equal force in
English, but it translates literally as "self-management." For Braun the term
implies not only making decisions but also mobilizing the necessary
resources—knowledge, labor, money, community spirit. Autogestión is the antithesis
of dependence on government programs or international aid workers to solve local problems.
"The outcomes of our experiments with this approach have astonished and delighted
us," says Braun. "By taking charge of the research process, farmers experience a
new sense of purpose in life . . . . They see research as an opportunity to escape from
poverty and to help others in their community. And they seize that chance with both hands.
They are, in short, empowered."
A community that could: Behind the data on the CIALs effectiveness and impact are
dozens of compelling stories about how small farmers have made a difference in poor
hillside communities. Take the case of a committee in southern Cauca, where poverty is
entrenched, the production of coca is widespread, and fighting between guerillas and army
troops is frequent.
"Our situation is better now," says Carlos Daza, a 61-year-old farmer,
husband, father of 10, and a CIAL leader. He is talking about a miniboom in the
cultivation of maize over the past few years. It has improved the diet of more than 100
families in the communities of Pedregal and San Bosco and put more pesos in their pockets.
The farmers also set up their own seed production and sales operation and installed a
community maize mill.
The two communities owe much of their recent success to the work of the CIAL to which
Daza belongs. He and his colleagues experimented with improved maize varieties provided by
the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT). During the varietal
experiments, the researcher-farmers also learned about fertilization, planting methods,
environmental conservation, and seed selection and storage for future crops. This
knowledge was shared with other farmers.
"The CIALs have helped us improve our standard of living," says Daza. Now
that productive maize cultivation is well established in the two communities, farmers have
surplus grain to raise chickens, pigs, and fish for home consumption or sale. And the
extra chicken manure, says Daza, fertilizes plots. The community mill is also a boon to
farmers. They can now make their own maize meal instead of buying it, and the mill also
produces pig feed from byproducts like maize cobs.
Better family nutrition, says Daza, is the most direct benefit of the CIAL’s maize
research. But the increased local capacity to organize, experiment, and share results, he
says, can also be used on other crops.
Creating Grassroots Consortia for Community Land Management
As the CIAL movement took off, CIAT scientists and their national partners started
developing new participatory methods for catalyzing community action at a higher scale. It
was obvious by then that small farmers were fully capable of running CIALs and doing
research on individual crops and technologies at the level of individual villages. But
could they also work in a coordinated fashion with local, national, and international
institutions to mend the social and physical fabric of an entire watershed or landscape?
A blueprint for change in Colombia: Researchers sought to answer this question through
a new social experiment in the northern part of Colombia's Cauca Department. CIAT
scientists helped set up an alliance called CIPASLA (the Spanish acronym for the
"Interinstitutional Consortium for Sustainable Agriculture in Hillsides") in the
watershed of the Cabuyal River, a 7,000-hectare area that is home to about 6,500 people.
Several CIALs were already operating in the area.
The need for this kind of approach was pinpointed by a senior official of
Colombia’s national agency for integrated rural development (DRI). He was becoming
concerned over the lack of coordination among various public and private development
agencies working in Cauca. His call to share documentation and experiences gave impetus to
the notion that something needed to be done to get local development efforts in tune with
each other.
In 1992, CIAT called a meeting of the various agencies working in Cauca. The Center was
in a good position to promote a dialog on ways to harmonize local development because of
its longstanding agricultural research programs in the region. Magnolia Hurtado,
agronomist and CIPASLA’s executive director, recalls that first meeting, which was
attended by 20 organizations. "Each agency defended its territory. People who had
worked for 10 years in the same watershed had never even met each other!"
The blueprint for CIPASLA was set out at a workshop in 1993, again hosted by CIAT.
Among the participants were six community leaders. "People were convinced they should
begin working with each other," says Hurtado.
Funding for CIPASLA came from IDRC, DRI, and CIAT. More money was later provided by the
Colombian Ministry of Agriculture and two other government agencies. Equally important to
CIPASLA’s operations are the contributions of goods and services by participating
organizations and labor by farmers.
The consortium now has 14 members. These include seven government agencies, five NGOs,
and CIAT. The member organization representing the interests of the residents of
CIPASLA’s target area is ASOBESURCA, the Beneficiaries’ Association of the
Cabuyal River Subwatershed. ASOBESURCA is a key player in the consortium: it controls
funds for projects and has two of five seats on CIPASLA’s steering committee.
A fair deal for farmers: The consortium and its member organizations work with the
community through a process of negotiation, involving give and take. Farmers agree to
fence off mountain springs, plant trees, and adopt erosion control measures in exchange
for research services, technical advice, training, and information. These cover animal and
crop production, processing, marketing, land management, community organization, and other
topics of daily life. CIPASLA also arranges loans for agricultural and agroindustrial
enterprises, such as raising chickens, making marmalade, and processing milk.
Specific strengths of member agencies and community groups thus merge in a logical
series of steps aimed at improving people’s food security and livelihoods while
protecting the environment. The unstated corollary of this dual goal is that natural
resource conservation is the last thing on the minds of hungry people with no money in
their pockets. The emphasis in this "fair deal" approach to development is on
building the capacity of communities and individuals to plan, organize, and carry out
projects themselves.
Believing in development: Measuring the overall impact of an initiative like CIPASLA,
in concrete, economic terms, is slow and difficult. Even so, 5 years after it began, the
consortium can point to clear evidence of radical change.
"You have to understand that this community was tired of politicians, lies, and
poverty," says Hurtado. "These people were nonbelievers in development. But if
you change a community from being nonbelievers to being active participants, then
you’ve gone a long way. Now, people are part of the process of development. They are
the ones who decide where they’re going."
Counting on the tips of her fingers, Hurtado lists changes in community behavior and
attitudes that CIPASLA has recently witnessed. In the first place, farmers readily
participate in the activities organized by the consortium--like planting trees and setting
up buffer zones along water courses. By 1998 about 200 hectares had been voluntarily
fenced off for preservation, with the participation of nearly 3,000 farmers--almost half
the watershed's total population.
The benefits of CIPASLA’s work go well beyond changing attitudes, explains
Hurtado. "This was really a one-crop community, based on cassava [a starchy root crop
that provides food as well raw material for local agroindustries]. With CIPASLA's help,
the farmers have been able to diversify their production. This has improved their incomes
and reduced the environmental pressure that cassava production exerts on the
hillsides."
Much of the improvement has resulted from projects carried out by the Beneficiaries'
Association (ASOBESURCA), which by 1998 had launched 34 different community initiatives
for improving crop and livestock production and protecting natural resources.
The Juan Valdez of sustainable agriculture: One farmer who has led the way toward a
more diversified and sustainable hillside agriculture is Pedro Herrera. His farm in the
upper reaches of the Cabuyal watershed is a showcase for the variety of crops that can be
grown on a small farm even while natural resources are being meticulously protected.
Herrera’s own resourcefulness, experience, and openness to new ideas are undoubtedly
the main reason for his success as a farmer. CIPASLA, however, has served as a catalyst,
providing him with advice and credit. "For all the questions I used to have about
farming, I had to supply my own answers," he recalls. "Now I have technical
assistance."
Although Herrera has set aside more than one-third of his 17 hectares to protect five
natural springs that feed the watershed, his farm income has gone up. He is also growing a
wider range of crops, both for his own table and for marketing. The 10 hectares he has
under production provide for the needs of his extended family of 11.
"My cattle used to drink at the springs and stir up the water," says Herrera.
"Sometimes they would even get stuck in the mud." Then, following advice from
CIPASLA, he fenced off the springs to keep the cattle out and planted trees. The buffer
zones, which promote both water quality and increased flow, amount to about one hectare
per spring. These are a big contribution to the community, since water from Herrera’s
land makes its way to six aqueducts serving downstream households.
In exchange for his cooperation, Herrera received concrete tubs to water his cattle.
These were paid for by the coffee growers’ association which is a member of CIPASLA.
While the fenced-off areas are not cultivated or trodden on by animals, they are still
productive. From the woods, Herrera can still harvest a tasty native fruit called lulo.
Among his cultivated crops are beans, maize, coffee, sugarcane, cassava, sweet peas,
and--his pride and joy--blackberries. His cows give him milk for home consumption and for
sale, and in a hillside pond he raises carp, the surplus of which is sold to neighbors. In
addition, his wife raises chickens, thanks to a small loan arranged through CIPASLA.
The blackberry enterprise has been particularly profitable. "Six or seven years
ago," says Herrera, "some of my neighbors were cutting down the forest to make
charcoal. Then, they shifted to growing blackberries." The technology for that crop
was adapted to local conditions by a CIAL of which Herrera was treasurer. Their field
trials were successful, and about 10 local farmers took up production.
Then, for various reasons, interest in blackberries began to wain. CIPASLA, seeing the
potential of this highly marketable crop, encouraged farmers to pursue production. As a
result, about 12 farmers in Herrera’s community formed an informal association of
blackberry producers. This allowed them to arrange the needed financing from the CIPASLA
beneficiaries’ association, ASOBESURCA. The blackberry producers make their loan
payments after the harvest. The money is then recycled to other projects.
In earlier years Herrera sold his crop harvests at the farm gate to middlemen. But his
farm diversification, especially the blackberry operation, has given him enough cash
income to buy a truck. Now he markets his own produce in nearby towns and, to offset his
fuel costs, also transports materials for his neighbors.
Along with advances in crop production, Herrera has also protected his slopes from
erosion and taken care not to contaminate soil or water. "Live barriers" of
improved grasses hold the soil in place in steep areas and fallen leaves are left as
ground cover to slow down rain runoff.
To avoid disturbing the soil too much, Herrera does not plow his fields; soil
preparation is kept to a minimum. He also uses very little chemical fertilizer and no
pesticides at all. Crops are protected mainly through rotation, intercropping,
insect-repelling border plants, and weeding with a machete so that roots are left intact.
Pedro Herrera is just one of many contributors to, and beneficiaries of, CIPASLA’s
work. Not all are as well off as he and his family though. Most farms in the larger
watershed of Ovejas, of which the Cabuyal River is a part, are less than a third the size
of Herrera’s. And only a little more than half the population actually owns the land
they live on. Nonetheless, his experience reflects the power of the "fair deal"
strategy, and it demonstrates the multiplier effect, by which farmers can "learn to
learn" from one another.
A public protest in Honduras: The spread of the CIALs in Latin America, almost by
"internal combustion," was not surprising. It was a good idea, and it just took
off.
But what about the more complex consortium model for community land management? Can it
too be applied in other places? Jorge Trujillo, president of ASOBERCA, CIPASLA's
beneficiaries’ organization, has an answer to that question: "The consortium's
main achievement has been to organize and coordinate the work of its members. I don’t
know whether a model like CIPASLA can be replicated elsewhere — but it should.
Development organizations that work in isolation are wasting their time."
To further test and refine the model, CIAT has applied it with local partners at two
sites in Central America, one in Honduras and the other in Nicaragua.
The first "offspring" of CIPASLA was a group called CLODEST (the Spanish
acronym for "Local Committee for Sustainable Development in the Watershed of the
Tascalapa River"), which operates around the town of Yorito in Yoro Department,
Honduras. Made up of 19 organizations from scientific, educational, religious, and other
fields, the consortium harmonizes their efforts to find new ways for the community to
increase agricultural productivity and incomes, while preserving natural resources.
"Different organizations were working in the area, some over here, others over there.
But now, we're working together, and that makes me very happy," says César Romero,
president of CLODEST.
Though it is too soon to say whether this consortium can achieve as much as CIPASLA,
there have been early signs of important changes in people's attitudes. Soon after the
alliance was established in 1996, member organizations organized a public demonstration to
protest against the common practice of clearing land for cultivation by burning. Hundreds
of people turned out for the march on a hot Friday. Children wore homemade animal masks
and carried signs that demanded the protection of animals and nature, especially against
fire.
What remains to be seen is whether new attitudes at Yorito will translate into changed
farming practices and better lives.
Campos Verdes in Nicaragua: In the municipality of San Dionisio in Nicaragua's
Matagalpa Department, the new association of community groups is called Campos Verdes, or
"Green Fields." The organization's long-term vision is to achieve better
management of soil, water, and trees; improved food security; dialog with local
institutions and governments; and robust community organization and action. The mix of
interests it represents is as broad as its vision. Campos Verdes brings together local
communities, water management committees, indigenous peoples, farmer-researcher
committees, and other groups. It also builds ties between these groups and national as
well as international organizations. Altogether, the alliance unites more than 20
organizations.
"What's special about Campos Verdes is that is puts us farmers first,"
comments Nicaraguan farmer Bertha Adilia Jarquín, who represents her community in the
Association.
Hurricane Mitch struck the region just about the time Campos Verdes was being formed.
Bean crops were wiped out and maize and coffee fields badly damaged by a week of solid
rain. The course of the Calico River shifted and some people, especially cattle farmers
close to the river, lost their homes and belongings. Mud slides swept away soil and
vegetation from steep slopes.
Within a matter of weeks, though, the fledgling association had organized and obtained
funding for four projects, one aimed at mapping damage caused by Mitch to the local
environment and three to restore lost seed stocks. "It’s much easier to get
funding for infrastructure, health centers, and other projects when you’re
organized," says Campos Verdes president Mariano López. "One of our biggest
problems is deforestation. The Calico River watershed has been depleted of trees.
Reforestation and soil conservation are now critical."
The best way to grasp how Campos Verdes works and what it means to the local community
is to sit in on a meeting.
One day in March 1999, more than 50 people crammed into a classroom at a little
blue-and-white school perched high on a mountainside in the municipality of San Dionisio.
They had come on foot, by truck, or on horseback to hear and talk about things dear to
them: how to improve daily life in their village, Susulí, and how to protect the
surrounding landscape, the watershed of the Calico River. It was standing room only.
Latecomers remained outdoors, crowding around open windows to listen to the proceedings.
The prospect of action to help people get Susulí back on its feet was surely a powerful
drawing card for this public meeting,
The meeting's organizers, assisted by two CIAT staff, covered a lot of ground that day.
Association secretary Juan Carlos Castro reported on a vegetable planting project
involving 70 families from a neighboring village. Then he described the recent mapping of
natural resources in various microwatersheds of the Calico River system—an area
covering about 170 square kilometers. Seventeen communities were involved in the exercise,
funded by IDRC. He also presented plans for construction of a trail to improve local
transport.
"How do we make a request for project support?" asked a member of the
audience. An organizer explained the procedure for filling out request forms and presented
a sample budget. "Does the person we elect to represent us in Campos Verdes have to
be someone already on the water committee?" asked another. No, replied a member of
the executive committee; community members may elect whoever they think best represents
their interests.
A nomination was presented: Juan Molinares. Heads turned and eyes focused on a man
wearing a straw hat, standing near the back of the room. After brief discussion, the
organizers called for a vote. The view of Molinares was momentarily blocked by a roomful
of raised hands. With the candidate confirmed, the meeting erupted in applause. Susulí
now had its official representative to Campos Verdes; another link in the local
organizational chain was in place.
A Supermarket of Options for Tropical Hillsides
The CIALs and the land management consortia, explains Jacqueline Ashby, are
cutting-edge examples of what development experts call "social" technologies.
"They accomplish the difficult and fundamental, people-centered job of organizing and
motivating communities to take charge of improving crop and land management. In effect
these technologies democratize agricultural research and development. "
Social innovations of this type will not go far, however, unless they can draw on an
abundant supply of appropriate "biophysical" technologies that provide farmers
with attractive technical options for increasing agricultural production and preserving
the soil. Without that, members of the CIALs and Campos Verdes Associations have little to
talk about and only limited scope for action.
Under the conventional "top-down" approach to technology development and
transfer, scientists solve the problems, extension services take technical solutions to
the field, and rural people follow the experts' advice. But this approach has, by and
large, failed in the hillsides of tropical America and other regions of the developing
world. Crop production conditions in these areas are extremely variable, greatly
complicating the task of technology development. Moreover, scientists often do not
understand farmers' diverse needs and conditions, and extension systems are weak.
In search of alternatives, CIAT researchers have developed a system of community
experimental farms called SOLs, the Spanish word for "suns" and the acronym for
"supermarkets of options for hillsides." The original concept was developed in
Colombia by Dr. José Ignacio Sanz, the soil scientist who manages the Center's hillsides
research project. Working with local partners, he and others are establishing a network of
SOLs at the three "reference" sites where the Center conducts its hillsides
research.
The SOLs bear a superficial resemblance to the standard demonstration plots that
scientists have used for years to show farmers the "best" way to grow crops.
But, in fact, they deviate radically from the conventional top-down approach.
In the first place, it is the community that decides which problems the experimental
farms need to address and what kinds of solutions might work This is done through
"participatory workshops in which the community makes recommendations," explains
Dr. Miguel Ayarza, the soil scientist who coordinates CIAT's hillsides research in Central
America.
Farmers are keenly interested in knowing what researchers and development professionals
think as well. But the outcome of the workshop is not a product of farmers' knowledge or
formal science alone. It is a collection of "hybrid technologies" that are more
"vigorous" than what either farmers or scientists can develop on their own, says
Dr. Edmundo Barrios, a CIAT soil scientist. "The SOLs are a kind of crucible, "
he explains, "in which local knowledge and modern technology merge."
The SOLs are also designed to orient farmers and scientists more to markets. As a
result of new international trading arrangements and cuts in agricultural subsidies,
"small farmers are hard pressed these days to make a profit from traditional crops,
such as maize," says Dr. Rupert Best, a specialist in postharvest handling of crops
and manager of CIAT's project on agroenterprise development. "We need to look at
enterprises that will give farmers a quantum leap in income."
Best's group has developed a simple method by which local NGOs and other groups can
conduct market surveys to identify options for producing high-value crops. Among the first
beneficiaries of this work were Colombian farmer Pedro Herrera (whose experience is
described earlier) and other members of his community. Farmers at Yorito and San Dionisio
are now using the results of these surveys in planning their SOLs. "This is a great
opportunity for helping farmers diversify their production," says Juan Carlos Rosas,
head of the Agronomy Department at the Zamorano Agricultural School in Honduras.
Once farmers and researchers have designed and established the SOLs, how do new options
move beyond the model farm? One way is through technology testing carried out by local
CIALs. Another is through field days in which farmers jointly evaluate alternative
technologies with staff from NGOs and other institutions. The SOL thus becomes "a
common property that better enables the members of the Campos Verdes Association to serve
the community " explains agronomist Jorge Alonso Beltrán, who coordinates CIAT's
hillsides research in Nicaragua.
"The SOL experiment is a model farm but also a market place for new crops and
practices. It has really aroused attention and raised expectations in the community,"
says Nicaraguan farmer Bertha Adilia Jarquín.
While serving as a focal point for agricultural development, the SOLs are also an
object of research for CIAT and its national partners. Much of this work is carried out
with local university students. The aim is to extract basic principles that explain why
some technologies work, while others do not. These insights can then be applied to other
hillside environments having similar conditions, with the aid of computer-based geographic
information systems.
What indications are there that new technologies may offer advantages over what
hillside farmers already have?
One clear-cut example is that of new common bean varieties from CIAT, which need less
phosphorus to give good yields. Beans are a vital protein source in Central America and
other hillside environments in tropical America and Africa. Yet production of the crop is
hindered by phosphorus deficiency in most tropical soils. Few hillside farmers can afford
to correct the problem by applying fertilizers. Even without fertilizer the new varieties
yield about 1,200 to 1,300 kilograms per hectare, on average, compared to about 500
kilograms for traditional bean varieties.
Farmers can also expect huge productivity gains from "agrosilvopastoral"
systems, which combine improved grass and legume pastures for cattle with "live"
fences formed by leguminous shrubs. The fences control soil erosion on sloping land, among
other purposes. Using this technology, farmers can raise two cows per hectare, with each
giving 10 liters of milk per day, compared to only one cow per hectare, giving 7 liters,
when raised on unproductive native pastures.
Gleaning Knowledge for Local Development
Innovations like the CIALs, the watershed management consortia, and the community
experimental farms have much to offer farmers and local institutions in the tropical
hillsides. But they also place heavy demands and responsibilities on these people.
"CIAT's experience demonstrates convincingly that they are up to the task,"
says Dr. José Ignacio Sanz, manager of the Center's hillsides research project. "But
to change the management of an entire landscape is obviously complicated in biophysical
and socioeconomic terms. So, we have to give people tools that enable them to understand
what is happening in their environment and why--and what they can do to change it. We can
encourage individuals and whole communities to participate, but this doesn't happen
automatically. It's the product of a learning process."
To help the process along, CIAT researchers and numerous collaborators across Latin
America have developed nine "decision-making tools" (essentially training kits),
with more to come, that enable rural communities and institutions to "build a common
knowledge base." The tools are not just about accumulating information, though.
"They're designed to impart skills that lead to action," Sanz says.
Sanz's team has carried out a series of workshops to test and disseminate the tools in
Colombia, Dominican Republic, Honduras, and Nicaragua. The themes and uses of the nine
tools are described briefly below.
Participatory analysis of soil quality indicators: In order to make
good decisions about soil management, farmers need easy, reliable ways to spot signs of
soil degradation. Often, they have useful "local indicators" of soil quality
that are based on generations of observation and experience. But farmers can also benefit
from what modern soil science has learned about the origin, evolution, and distribution of
soils as well as their physical, organic, and chemical properties. Using this guide,
farmers learn something about soil science basics, while technicians find out about the
soil quality indicators that local farmers use. Then, they determine together how to merge
local and scientific knowledge for practical application in hillside watersheds.
Photographic analysis of land use trends: Collective management of
natural resources in hillsides must be based on an accurate knowledge of overall
tendencies in land use. Community leaders need to know where the trouble spots are and
what is causing the problems. Even to farmers' who are familiar with the local terrain,
the extent and causes of natural resource degradation are not entirely obvious from ground
level. Often, it takes a bird's-eye view to know what is going wrong. This guide enables
NGOs and other grassroots organizations, working with community members selected for their
thorough knowledge of the local landscape, to use aerial photographs for analyzing land
use changes in hillsides over one or more decades.
Participatory mapping and monitoring of natural resources: New
knowledge about land use trends is useful only if it can be captured in a form that helps
communities decide what to do about environmental degradation. This guide explains how to
involve communities in mapping hillside watersheds, pinpointing areas where natural
resources are vulnerable, identifying possible solutions, and monitoring their impact. The
hand-made maps are based in part on secondary information, such as that gleaned from
aerial photographs, but they also draw on the knowledge of a cross section of men and
women, young and old, in the local community. Experience in Colombia, Honduras, and
Nicaragua has shown that this and similar techniques are powerful tools for creating an
awareness of shared environmental problems and of the need for collective action to solve
them.
Making an atlas: Another way to capture information about the local
landscape is by developing an atlas. Much of the required information is already available
but widely dispersed among different agencies. This guide demonstrates how such
information can be organized and presented so that it is useful for making decisions about
crop and natural resource management.
Analyzing interest groups for collective watershed management:
Different groups in a community have multiple interests in the way natural resources are
managed, and sometimes these interests are in conflict. The priorities of landholders
differ from those of landless laborers, for example, and the concerns of one ethnic group
may diverge from those of another. Yet in order for collective management of a watershed
to succeed, the interests of all these "stakeholders" must be represented, and
their conflicts need to be resolved. This guide teaches researchers and technicians how to
identify diverse interests in watershed management and to facilitate a process of
negotiation, leading to formal agreements and written proposals for joint action to
improve natural resources.
Constructing local poverty profiles: People who are desperately poor
do not have the luxury of spending time and money on environmental conservation. So, any
collective effort to protect the natural resources of a poor community must include
programs that offer new opportunities for its poorest people. The method presented in this
guide draws on the perceptions of local people themselves, rather than rely only on census
or other official data.
Identifying and evaluating market opportunities for small farmers: As
mentioned earlier, one possible pathway out of poverty leads to new markets for farm
produce. The problem, though, is that rural communities lack information about options for
either adding value to the crops they already produce or for taking up altogether new
enterprises with strong market potential. This guide presents a method for drawing up a
socioeconomic profile of a rural area, for designing and conducting a market survey, and
for evaluating and selecting viable options for small farmers.
Using simulation models to evaluate land use options: For poor
communities investing in new technologies for agricultural production and natural resource
conservation is a risky business. They can ill afford to pay the price of drastically
wrong or wasteful decisions. To help reduce the risk, this guide teaches researchers and
development professionals to use "simulation models" for exploring the likely
outcomes of new technologies in biophysical, economic, and social terms.
Organizing communities for collective watershed management: As
emphasized at various points in this report, organizing local communities and the
institutions that serve them is a basic requirement for reducing poverty and mending the
frayed landscape of hillside watersheds. This guide outlines a series of steps for
creating effective watershed management associations.
"Smart" Maps for Targeting Vulnerable People and Places
A basic assumption of the new strategy outlined in this publication is that rural
communities and local organizations can accomplish a great deal on their own, assuming
they have suitable tools and technologies. And they can do so with only modest amounts of
outside help.
On the other hand, these people could probably achieve even more if their national
governments and institutions actively supported collective efforts at the local level. In
an effort to generate such support, CIAT is helping build links from the grassroots work
in Colombia, Honduras, and Nicaragua to key decision makers at higher levels, for example,
in national ministries of agriculture and the environment.
Moreover, to help inject useful content into these relationships, Center scientists are
developing decision-support tools that draw on geographic information systems, or GIS,
technology.
Simply put, a GIS is a computer-based framework that allows different kinds of
information to be geographically tagged ("georeferenced"), integrated, and
displayed together on a single map. Users can combine two or more distinct data sets to
view relationships between selected social or biophysical factors.
GIS technologies make it possible to map not only the biophysical face of a
nation--crops, climate, soil, water, forests, and so on--but also its social realities,
particularly how human welfare is welded to the landscape. By using GIS to harness such
information, researchers, planners, and even community groups can make better decisions
about allocating resources and design better projects for helping needy rural communities
and halting environmental destruction.
One of the fruits of CIAT’s extensive GIS work with Honduras in recent years is a
digital atlas of the country, available on CD-ROM. Developed over 4 years, it is probably
the most comprehensive biophysical and socioeconomic database available for a Central
American country.
A similar, national digital atlas for Nicaragua is being developed by the country's
Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, with CIAT support. At the same time, an atlas for
the municipality of San Dionisio, Matagalpa Department, is being developed to explore the
potential of GIS tools for building a common knowledge base at the local level. This
should provide rural communities and institutions with a stronger foundation for
participating in decisions at the national level about development strategies, policies,
and projects.
The San Dionisio atlas features a computer model for the watershed of the Calico River.
By projecting the possible consequences of different "scenarios, " or courses of
events, the model can help local people make better decisions about particular development
projects. CIAT scientists have trained community leaders, teachers, and students in the
use of the model.
Hurricane Mitch: Nature's Wake-up Call and a Humanitarian Reply
In November 1998, CIAT’s GIS capacity proved a godsend in the emergency response
to Hurricane Mitch, the worst natural disaster to strike Central America in this century.
Honduras and Nicaragua were hardest hit, with Honduras taking the brunt. Much of the
damage was caused not by high winds but by 2 meters of rain that fell in just a week.
Flooding and mudslides killed thousands of people and wiped out both commercial
plantations and small farmers’ crops. According to government estimates, crop losses
in Honduras were: banana 88%, beans 50%, maize 33%, rice 16%, and sorghum 27 %. For
Nicaragua the figures were: beans 47%, maize 36%, sorghum 61%, soybean 60%, and rice 23%.
Bridges and roads were washed away, complicating relief efforts.
The Mitch Atlas: Having just released the Honduras atlas, CIAT found itself in an
opportune position to help gather and integrate information that could be used to guide
emergency measures. Because of a training workshop Center staff had organized only weeks
before, word of the electronic atlas spread quickly. "We were bombarded with requests
for maps and other information to help people plan relief efforts," says Dr.
Grégoire Leclerc, a GIS specialist at CIAT. "The global medical relief agency
Médecins Sans Frontières, for example, was one of many groups that contacted us."
On the Friday after the hurricane hit, the Canadian Space Agency reprogrammed a radar
satellite, which can "see" at night and penetrate clouds to obtain images of the
devastation. These were quickly processed by a firm in Canada, using ground reference data
provided by CIAT.
Leclerc and his team loaded the satellite data into the Honduras atlas to permit better
damage assessment. The researchers also beefed up the GIS database with other information,
such as the geographical distribution of key crops, the location of public and private
institutions, and the sites of major drinking water sources. "Within a week, we had a
reasonable set of emergency maps for users to work with," says Leclerc.
Based on these maps, planners of relief efforts were able to pinpoint areas on a
national basis where flooding and landslides had destroyed crops, says Leclerc. "They
were also able to identify the rural communities that were most isolated by the
hurricane's destruction," he adds.
By January CIAT scientists had released a "Mitch Atlas" of Honduras on
CD-ROM. Two thousand copies were produced with the collaboration of the US Geological
Survey (USGS) and the Environmental Systems Research Institute (ESRI). Center staff also
contributed to the development of a complementary tool, the Digital Atlas of Central
America: Prepared in Response to Hurricane Mitch., which was copublished by the USGS,
ESRI, and CIAT.
"Our work on GIS forms part of our research aimed at reducing poverty and
improving the management of natural resources in Central America," says Jacqueline
Ashby, a research director at CIAT. "But clearly GIS is also of immeasurable value in
an emergency like this one. We're making every effort to ensure that our national partners
have the GIS tools and the information they need to orient efforts for helping rural
communities rebuild their lives."
Seeds of hope: The story does not end with GIS, however. While the flood waters have
receded, their imprint on the land could last for decades. Restoring the layer of arable
land that was washed away on many hillsides will take years. But the more immediate and
daunting task for millions of rural Hondurans and other hurricane victims in Central
America is to plant crops and rebuild their farms.
In support of national efforts to regenerate food agriculture in Honduras and
Nicaragua, a project called "Seeds of Hope for Central America" was launched by
CIAT and three other CGIAR centers:
- International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), Mexico
- International Potato Center (CIP), Peru
- International Institute for Plant Genetic Resources (Bioversity ), Rome
In this project the centers are working closely with the Secretariat of Agriculture and
Livestock in Honduras, the Nicaraguan Institute of Agricultural Technology, with various
NGOs and farmer groups, such as the CIALs. Initial funding comes from the Office of
Foreign Disaster Assistance of the US Agency for International Development (USAID) and the
Multilateral Programs Branch of the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA).
The project's immediate aim is to multiply seed of appropriate crop varieties and
distribute it through networks of researchers, development workers, and farmers. In the
case of maize and potato, public and private seed producers were able to handle this task
with timely assistance from CIMMYT and CIP. CIMMYT, for example, introduced several
hundred kilograms of seed of more than a dozen suitable maize varieties. Likewise, CIP
helped restore precious stocks of improved potato and sweet potato varieties that had been
lost.
With beans, though, the situation was more complicated. Most farmers in Honduras and
Nicaragua plant bean seed from their own crops. The private sector does not handle bean
seed, and supplies from the public sector are limited. Thus, when half the bean crop was
washed away in Honduras and Nicaragua, half the seed supply went with it. "We
literally had nothing to plant. I don't know what would have happened to us if we hadn't
received this seed," commented Honduran farmer Samuel Isaguirre, a beneficiary of the
Seeds of Hope Project.
To help restore lost seed supplies, the project first had to assemble seed of popular
bean varieties as quickly as possible, so that large quantities could be multiplied before
the next planting season. In December and January 1999, more than 155 tons of high-quality
seed of three varieties were multiplied on 123 hectares. Because those months fall within
the dry season, production had to take place under irrigation.
By April 1999 bean seed had reached about 7,700 farmers in 73 municipalities of
Honduras and more than 3,200 farmers in 34 municipalities of Nicaragua. It was distributed
through NGOs, including CARE and the Red Cross, and various grassroots organizations, such
as the CIALs.
With the aid of the Mitch Atlas, seed distribution was targeted to the farming
communities most in need. One agency that used the atlas for this purpose is the Central
American Red Cross. According to Andrew Pinney, coordinator of the Red Cross program for
agricultural regeneration, "We took advantage of the atlas to determine exactly where
to distribute a particular bean variety . . . . I had a lot of specific questions, and the
atlas provided answers."
Once seed distribution was under way, the Seeds of Hope project started a new round of
seed multiplication for the second growing season. Another 155 tons of seed were produced
and distributed to about 12,000 farmers, giving a total number of almost 23,000 direct
beneficiaries. Since this second cycle of seed multiplication did not require irrigation,
it was carried out to a large extent by various associations of small farmers, including
CIALs in Honduras and Nicaragua.
In addition to restoring seed supplies, the project took steps to strengthen the bean
seed system. With the help of national research programs, training courses on small-scale
seed production were organized for a total of about 60 farmers and technicians from 17
collaborating institutions in Honduras and Nicaragua. The technicians, in turn, trained
another 200 people, half of them farmers.
These courses were the start of a second project phase, whose purpose is to support the
development of small-scale seed production enterprises, run by farmers themselves. Given
the lack of private sector interest in bean seed, this is the only way to improve the
quality of farmers' bean seed and ensure wide dissemination of improved varieties of beans
and other crops as well.
CIAT scientists feel certain that the Center was able to help Mitch's victims only
because they had already invested years of work with local communities and institutions in
bean improvement and in the innovative research program described in this report. Without
that work there would have been no improved crop varieties to replace lost harvests, no
CIALs or Campos Verdes to help multiply and distribute the seed, no decision-making tools
to guide relief efforts and assess Mitch's damage to the land--perhaps no hope of getting
back on the path to sustainable development.
The importance of international support for this work is clearer than ever in the
aftermath of Mitch. Central America as well as other hillside areas of the tropical world
urgently need a people-centered strategy for combating poverty and environmental
destruction.
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