Rejuvenate local knowledge

Table of contents:

• Dear Readers
  3 - 3
• User-producer tools development in Ghana
  4 - 5
  written by Martin van Berkel , Willy Laate
  Better seeds, low external input and sustainable farming techniques are supported throughout Ghana. However, very little attention is given to the development and introduction of better tools. In the south in particular, where animal traction poses difficulties and is not common, few alternatives exist to traditional farming tools. The Farm Implements and Tools (FIT) Programme (a joint project of the International Labour Organisation, and TOOL, Amsterdam) has acquired some interesting experience working in this field. Together with two networks (ECASARD and ACDEP) of rural NGOs in Ghana, FIT tested ways to involve farmers and metal workers in introducing and adapting new equipment. Initial results are encouraging and merit sharing. (ILEIA)
• Development of tools: the artisans' perspectives
  6 - 7
  written by Jim Tanburn , Martin Osumba
  Generally, we look, in these columns, at tools from the users\' perspective. In this article, the process is described of how users and artisans co-operated for the development of tools, through the intermediary of the farm Implements and Tools (FIT) programme in Kenya. This programme follows basically a four-stage approach, known as the user-led innovation approach: raising awareness of the potential for innovation; accessing know-how for innovation; handling risks; and reaching new markets. By bringing producers and consumers together and creating the right setting for a meaningful dialogue between them, the essential precondition for further development has been created. Jim Tanburn and Martin Osumba give detailed information about the process. (ILEIA)
• The Herrandina plough: evidence of 10 years of 'PTD' in Peru
  8 - 9
  written by Kor Voorzee
  Tells the story of improving a number of traditional tools, particularly ploughs, in Cuzco in the Andes in Southern Peru, through close collaboration between farmers, engineers and a few small entrepreneurs in the design and testing of new tools and equipment. For local testing, the improved tools were spread throughout large parts of Peru, at the same time setting up an infrastructure for production and repair. The Herandina project shows that designs developed locally in strong interaction with farmers can be \'mass-produced\' (relatively speaking, then) and benefit farmers beyond the region where the design originally came from. (ILEIA)
• Changing farmers' perceptions of pests through participatory experiments
  10 - 11
  written by Monina M. Escalada , K.L. Heong
  To most rice farmers in Asia, insects are the main constraints to high yields. Farmers  responses to pest damage thus reflect their perception of the anticipated losses rather than the actual losses. The farmers  tendency to overestimate actual losses caused by insect pests and aggressive marketing campaigns have strongly influenced pesticide misuse. To change farmers\' perceptions of leaf-feeding insects, a pilot project was organised in Leyte, Philippines, to explore the use of a simple pest management rule designed to encourage farmers to experiment with it. The simple rule was: \'in the first 30 days of transplanting, leaffolder control is not necessary.\' M.M. Escalada and K.L. Heong report about the outcomes of this on-farm experimentation. (ILEIA)
• Permaculture booming in Nepal
  12 - 14
  written by Chris Evans
  After 6 years of steady work, the Jarjarkot Permaculture Programme (JPP), in the mid-western Himalayan Hills of Nepal, grew from one acre of land to over fifty villages in four districts, employing some 120 staff and having 12,000 members. Chris Evans, designer, advisor and teacher to this programme, shows us that, in Nepal, permaculture has become a mature innovative approach to participatory community-based development of sustainable land use. (ILEIA)
• Values-based rural development
  15 - 15
  written by Jerry Aaker
  Which components are important for farm families to seek self-reliance in food production and income generation on a sustainable basis? Heifer Project International (HPI), a NGO with many years of field experience with rural development using livestock, has produced a manual for answering this question:  The Cornerstones Model . The book is about the process and planning of rural development, in which visioning and goal setting are central elements. (ILEIA)
• How to gain from erosion: catch the soil
  16 - 18
  written by Asfaha Zigta , Abba Hagos Woldu
  This is the story about how the Irob people picked up  a crazy idea  and are constructing check dams to create fertile farmland in the stony valleys of Eastern Tigray, Ethiopia. It shows that a long-term  cash for work  programme can be successful if it leads to tangible results for farmers and strengthens local institutions, local control and the traditional ethic for mutual help. (ILEIA)
• Palm sugar: the indigenous sweetness
  19 - 19
  written by Vitoon R. Panyakul
  The Sugar Palm (Borassus flabellifer), is an indigenous plant to the South Asian continent. For generations, on Sathingphra Peninsula, Thailand, farmers have planted palm trees on the dykes of their rice fields for shading the rice, protecting the field from strong winds, and for tapping the sap for cooking. Palm trees start to produce sap when they reach maturity at the age of 15-20 years. Palm trees are also used for many other purposes. For instance, their roots are used for medicine, the trunks for timber, the leaves for script writing, handicrafts and roofing material, and the fruits are eaten. Also, because of their deep root system, palm trees are supposed to recycle nutrients from the deeper soil layers to the top soil and thus play an important role in keeping the land fertile and productive. (ILEIA)
• Diseases in village chickens: control through ethno-veterinary medicine
  20 - 21
  written by El Hadji Fallou Gueye (Dr.)
  The high incidence of diseases is one of the principal constraints to African smallholder livestock systems. The generally resource-poor farmers do not have money for or access to chemical medicines or other cost-intensive management systems. In ethnoveterinary medicine, traditional natural products -especially plant products- are used for the treatment of diseases. These locally available products are very suitable for use by small farmers. Both the Afro-Asian Network for Rural Poultry Development (ANRPD) in Senegal and the University of Ibadan, Nigeria report on many positive experiences with use of ethnoveterinary medicines both for village chicken and cattle production. However, they also agree on the need for applied research to substantiate these findings. (ILEIA)
• Rats, bats and traps: indigenous methods of vertebrate pest control in the Maldives
  22 - 23
  written by Danny Hunter
  For most Maldivian farmers, animals and agriculture just don\'t go together. There are three major vertebrate animal pests on these islands and when combined these can cause havoc with most crops. Farmers have devised many ingenious and practical methods to rid themselves of these pests, as will become apparent from this article. (ILEIA)
• Organic farming in Southern India
  24 - 24
  written by K.S. Krishna , M. Shivamurthy
  How to promote sustainable agriculture in overpopulated South East Asia was the focus of a three nation study in the Philippines, Bangladesh and India undertaken by the University of Reading, England. In ILEIA Newsletter 13/1, Anna Lawrence reported on the diversity of views on sustainability generated by this study (p. 17). The University of Agricultural Sciences in Bangalore, South India, cooperated with the research project during 1994 and 1995. Data were collected from scientists, extension workers, NGOs, and male and female farmers. One of these farmers, Mr. Purushotham Rao, was discovered to be already a strong supporter of organic farming. This article deals with a few of the techniques he applies. (ILEIA)
• Controlling house flies with manure traps
  25 - 25
  written by Johannes Füssel , Ruben Paitan
  How to turn flies into something good? At the Peruvian NGO CEDEPAS a system was devised to rear flies using pig manure. With the resulting pupae, highly nutritious \'fly meal\' was produced. It remains to be seen whether this will really reduce fly nuisance, but the method shows what can be achieved with some creative thinking. (ILEIA)
• Ecology education in primary schools
  26 - 27
  written by Peter H.J. van Lierop
  The sustainable use of natural resources and environmental education are considered major elements in development. This article describes the way an FAO project for primary schools in the Peruvian highlands, called 'Escuela, Ecología y Comunidad Campesina' (School, Ecology and Rural Community) tries to combine these two elements.
• Chintipantipa: is planting crops in lines always the best method?
  28 - 29
  written by Tim Russell
  Technology transfer is frequently seen as a key to development but the adoption of new technology can have unexpected consequences when it replaces one that has been developed over many generations to suit a complex socio-economic situation. Line sowing is a case in point. This was developed in Europe in the eighteenth century to permit the mechanical weeding of small grains such as wheat and barley. This revolutionised farming systems in Europe making it possible to produce crops with less labour and thereby release vast amounts of rural labour for the growing urban labour markets that stimulated the European industrial revolution. Without mechanical planters and weeders drawn by animal draught power line sown crops may have little advantage over randomly planted crops equidistantly spaced. The author\'s experience from Zambia recounted in this article supports this view and shows how dangerous the unthinking transfer of technology from one society to another can be. (ILEIA)
• Raikas from Rajasthan
  36 - 36
  written by Ilse Köhler-Rollefson , Hanwant Singh Rathore
  The Raikas is south Rajasthan have been known as camel experts for centuries. They belong to a pastoral caste who keep large herds of female camels for supplying work to various clienteles.