Networking for LEISA development

ILEIA Newsletter • 8 nº 2 • July 1992

Networking for LEISA development

In Tamil Nadu and Pondicherry, South India a LEISA Network was founded in 1990. Its members are small and marginal farmers and NGOs searching for alternatives to the actual unsustainable land use practices. Networking for sustainable agriculture is challenging but to get started is not without difficulties and takes quite some time.

Oswald Quintal and Gandhimathi

The members of the Network are operating in the semi-arid zone of Tamil Nadu and Pondicherry. Most farmers depend on rainfed agriculture and livestock keeping as they have no or only limited access to irrigation. Rainfall fluctuates between 300 and 600 mm and soils are of medium to low quality a.o. due to nutrient depletion and erosion. History of Agriculture in Southern India like elsewhere in the world is one of slow evolution. In the traditional farming systems the human use of natural resources was kept more or less in balance. The change from traditional systems to that of modern commercial and chemical farming has led to severe exploitation of scarce natural resources and breaking down of the balance between human consumption and renewable natural resources.

This process has affected soil quality, water table, forest resources, genetic resources of plant and livestock all alike and consequently agriculture, which directly supports 70% of the population. In the same process the main part of the agricultural resources got concentrated in the hands of few. Actually about 20% of the population is using 80% of the available land resources. The increasing impoverishment of the majority of the rural population causes near starvation and large scale migration in search of employment thus creating unhealthy growth of urban areas. Moreover, farmers find it difficult to cope with the present farming systems as they have no control over resources like seed, fertilizers, pesticides knowledge and market situation.

The need for a network

To arrest these trends and improve the ecological situation, the necessity of two immediate steps are recognised: Massive and effective afforestation, leading to regeneration of the soil and plant resources. Transition of the present high-input, commercialised system of farming toward a sustainable, ecologically sound and socially just system. So far, afforestation has gained importance among the Government and Non-Government Organisations.

Though the efforts have been inadequate and not always in the right direction there is growing awareness among the people on forestry issues. Alternatives for high-external-input agriculture had not widely emerged so far in India. There have been few attempts by motivated farmers and organisations about such possibilities and to explore further into evolving locally appropriate and sustainable alternatives. The interest of the government is still very limited and research started to look at integrated farming systems only recently. At this juncture, it was felt that it was no use to wait for initiatives from the government and that a local network of farmers and NGOs would enhance the  speed and quality of field action and motivate others who are interested in the concept of low-external-input and sustainable agriculture.

The founders of the network

The founders of the network had come together informally for the past four years, discussing and sharing their experiences, before they finally took the initiative to start the network. Most of them were readers of the ILEIA Newsletter and the articles regarding case studies and networking in other regions deepened their understanding and conviction. Among the founders were NGOs with social and agricultural backgrounds as well as some ecological farmers. One of the founders, the Agriculture, Man and Ecology programme (AME), has been involved in training NGO staff from Southern India in ecological agriculture for many years.

First regional workshop

To initiate a process of mutual cooperation at regional level, the founding members made an inventory of farmers and NGOs involved in developing sustainable agriculture. The next step was to invite these farmers and NGOs for a workshop. In February 1990 around 24 NGOs and 7 farmers from Tamil Nadu and Pondicherry came together to discuss the need and objectives of the network.

Objectives

The following objectives were formulated by the emerging network:

- To understand the problem faced by farmers in different areas in the context of changes that have taken place in agriculture and in the context of environmental problems.
- To motivate farmers and organisations towards taking up alternatives in sustainable agriculture.
- To study and document traditional agricultural practices from different areas that are ecologically sound.
- To increase interaction between farmers and organisations and encourage exchange of experiences, knowledge and skill in sustainable agriculture.
- To disseminate information regarding sustainable agriculture to a wider circle of farmers and organisations.

Activities

The activities of the network formulated during the workshop were:

- To conduct meetings, workshops and seminars to facilitate exchange of ideas and skills.
- To organise tours to existing ecological farms.
- To establish a documentation centre to collect and document traditional and other agricultural practices that are ecologically sound.
- To undertake an ecological study to sensitise the NGOs of agro- ecological situations in the villages.
- To conduct training and arrange for consultancy to NGO personnel in the area of sustainable agriculture.
- To bring out educational material on sustainable agriculture like booklets and posters and slides.
- To bring out a newsletter in Tamil.

The participants strongly felt that the network should be semi-formal. A network secretariat should be created for recording, publishing a newsletter and maintaining a library and documentation centre. SFIP, Kudumbam and AME were given the responsibility of organising the activities of the network for the first 3 years. In January 1991 HIVOS, a private funding organisation from The Netherlands, agreed to support the network activities for the period April 1991 to March 1994.

Putting plans into action

In 1991, after funding was realised, network staff were appointed. Zonal level workshops were organised and zonal level field study tours to ecological farms were conducted. A process of understanding the agro-ecological situation at village level and identification of NGOs and farmers searching alternatives for to arrive at a more sustainable farming system had been initiated. NGOs are now involved in the ecological studies at village level. Identification of ecologically sound techniques has begun. Three newsletters have been published and a start has been made with the library and documentation centre. As result of these activities some farmers started to experiment with ecological techniques in their farms and some NGOs initiated ecologically related programmes. More experienced members provide assistance to other members in designing ecological farms and programmes. Many farmers and NGOs joined the network. In the planning workshop of 1992 more than 100 members participated.

Organisation of the network

Keeping in mind that the personnel from Kudumbam, SFIP and AME have various tasks, a careful structure was designed for the network to function. The various responsibilities were divided among the organisers according to time availability, expertise and aptitude. The secretariat is attached to Kudumbam, which is the legal holder of the project. The administrative responsibility rests with Kudumbam. SFIP & AME, apart from being members of the organising committee and members of the editorial board, had to share the responsibility of organising zonal meetings and training the staff. The region is divided into three zones for practical reasons of reducing the members' travelling distance.

Three zonal organisers were appointed, whose task it is to organise the different activities in each zone. They assist in organising zonal meetings, study tours, collecting data for the village agro-ecological study and in documenting experiences, traditional knowledge and experiments of the farmers and organisations. An editor/documentalist has been appointed. The newsletter has an editorial board that meets six times a year to discuss nature, content and policy matters concerning the newsletter. In the beginning, there is much to do in building up infrastructure and initiating activities.

Relations with external organisations

The network is establishing relations with other regional, national and global agencies working in or promoting LEISA activities and related issues. These relations are of importance to exchange experiences, strengthen our conviction and widen our knowledge base. One example is the relation with ILEIA. ILEIA facilitated the founding of the network by providing some seed money to organise the first workshop and first issue of the newsletter. They also assisted in establishing contact with the funding agency. Information and documentation support and participation in the ILEIA/IIRR/WN 'Networking for LEISA' workshop is of importance to widen our contacts with like-minded networks and organisations and to deepen our insight in LEISA development. With regional organisations both at the grassroot level and at academic research level cooperation is sought.

Problems confronted with

As yet, only few individuals and few organisations are directly working towards LEISA. There are many others who are interested in it. But they have no idea about its scope, implications, etc. Most of the NGOs interested in working with farmers in promoting LEISA lack technical knowledge on agriculture. Apart from motivation, trainings are needed to support them at least initially. There is also a need to help to understand and analyse the situation and to help them relate their existing work to LEISA-type work. Existing experience in LEISA is insufficient to convince the farmers. The experiences of the ecological farmers who are founding members of the network are only partly of relevance to resource poor farmers, as they are above average farmers.

There is a need to create models which fit the conditions resource poor farmers have to cope with. The poverty of most farmers which forces them in migration labour, makes it extra difficult to find feasible options which do not need heavy investments in labour or capital. Varied experiments are needed for further adaptation and convincing results. Many of these tasks put heavy claims on the core members and secretariat of the network, who are also involved in the activities of their own organisations. Increasing the participation by the members in the organisation and activities of the network therefore is of great importance. Finding qualified staff with the right attitude and willingness to live and work in the villages is a difficult task. Some enthusiastic, dedicated persons could be found but they are still young and not much experienced in ecologically sound agriculture.

Relations with official research and extension agencies are still difficult. Although interest in sustainable agriculture is growing, there are too many differences in attitude, objectives and language, which are difficult to bridge. The actual systematic work started only in April 1991. At this moment, only a few activities are initiated. Though these activities were based on experience, detailed discussions and strong motivation, it is too soon to draw conclusions as to their success or failure. Development of sustainable agriculture in South India will need long-time dedication.

Oswald Quintal,
7 Ezhil Nagar, Keeranur, Pudukottai,
Tamil Nadu
India