Tanzania : communicating local farming knowledge

IK Notes Tanzania: Communicating Local Farming Knowledge T he link between the documen- flower, peas, lettuce, parsley, leeks tation of local knowledge and and deciduous fruits (peaches and the dissemination of useful lo- plums). cal technologies to farmers is UMADEP has been in operation in generally weak in the indigenous the Mgeta and Mkuyuni Divisions technology development process. A since 1993 with the overall aim of considerable amount of local knowl- improving the agricultural productiv- edge has been documented, but in ity and the general socio-economic most cases, such information is not conditions of the small-scale farmers made available to farmers in a form in the project area. The project works they can make use of to improve their as an integrated agricultural develop- agricultural production. In the cases ment project using multidisciplinary where information is given back, it is approaches and is implemented with often too general and/or does not re- a collaborative effort between gov- late to the targeted groups’ own sur- ernment and donor agencies. The Ag- roundings and culture. ricultural Officers in charge of crop To fill this gap, the Uluguru Moun- development activities have already tains Agricultural Development undertaken several micro-research Project (UMADEP) has been working projects on NCP involving the use of with local farmers to document their botanical pesticides; trap crops and local knowledge related to Natural organic fertilisers on the UMADEP Crop Protection (NCP) and to spread demonstration plots and subse- this knowledge to other farmers in quently replicated in farmer’s man- the Uluguru Mountains using inter- aged plots. No. 34 esting and locally relevant educa- July 2001 tional materials and farmer-led train- ing workshops. The approach used by UMADEP involves the local commu- IK Notes reports periodically on Indigenous Knowledge (IK) initiatives nity throughout the process of collec- in Sub-Saharan Africa. It is published tion of the knowledge, documenta- by the Africa Region’s Knowledge and Learning Center as part of an evolving tion and dissemination. IK partnership between the World Mgeta is a division in Morogoro Ru- Bank, communities, NGOs, develop- ral District, Morogoro Region in the ment institutions and multilateral organizations. The views expressed in eastern part of Tanzania. Situated on this article are those of the authors World Bank the slopes of the Uluguru Mountains. and should not be attributed to the World Bank Group or its partners in The climate is subtropical and allows this initiative. A webpage on IK is the production of a wide range of hor- available at //www.worldbank.org/afr/ ticultural crops, i.e., cabbage, cauli- ik/default.htm 2 Before the introduction of industrial inputs, the farmers In collaboration with government extension staff in the in Mgeta depended solely on NCP , utilising parts of certain area, UMADEP initiated efforts to encourage farmers to indigenous plants prepared in various forms for crop pro- go back to NCP. Since indigenous knowledge on NCP has tection and against animal diseases. After the introduc- started to disappear from farming communities, the indig- tion of agro-chemicals, farmers rapidly abandoned the tra- enous plants that provide the raw materials for NCP have ditional ways of controlling insect pests and diseases and lost their value and are also disappearing. The first inter- opted for industrial agro-chemicals. Their reasons were vention by UMADEP was to campaign for the safe use of many: the government gave subsidies for farm inputs in- chemical pesticides while encouraging farmers to re- cluding agro-chemicals; chemical pesticides require less search for more effective botanical pesticides through time for preparation and application; the chemicals farmer-managed trials. proved more effective than botanical pesticides, and the Most farmers involved in these kinds of research were companies producing and trading agro-chemicals adver- members of farmers’ groups known as Ujuzi asili from tised and marketed them aggressively. Tchenzema Ward, who devoted a portion of their land to However, the government has now stopped subsides on produce organic vegetables. This is because they own agricultural inputs and the cost of agro-chemicals is very enough land and either have knowledge on NCP them- high. Furthermore, due to ongoing campaigns on environ- selves or have access to local knowledge on the uses of bo- mental conservation, farmers in Mgeta, like other parts of tanical pesticides through the elders. Tanzania, are becoming more aware of the hazardous ef- UMADEP , using demonstration plots located in the vil- fects of industrial agro-chemicals. lage, also conducted experiments simultaneously with farmers. UMADEP staff also helped farmers to organize and monitor the results. Farmers were trained on how to compare traditional and new methods of pest manage- IK Notes would be of interest to: ment and data collection. In Mgeta, as in many other parts of Tanzania, extension personnel are trained to encourage farmers to reduce the Name use of industrial agro-chemicals due to their adverse ef- fects on human health and the environment. However, it is Institution hard for them to do so since knowledge of NCP is limited to only a few members of the community and also because Address the communities have no alternatives. Moreover, most farmers believe that the botanical pesticides are there to be used by old people and farmers who cannot afford chemicals, not by the young and better-off farmers. This reluctance to use botanical pesticides is a key factor in re- Letters, comments, and requests for publications ducing the spread of natural crop protection practices. should be addressed to: Editor: IK Notes Steps and approaches Knowledge and Learning Center Africa Region, World Bank 1818 H Street, N.W., Room J5-055 In order to effectively communicate the message about Washington, D.C. 20433 NCP to communities, UMADEP developed visual materials E-mail: pmohan@worldbank.org (posters, booklets and leaflets) with very simple instruc- tions about the use of botanicals and with illustrations  3 done in a comic book style. The materials were drawn and (iii) Targeting the audience created by a local artist whose objective was to make them For the purpose of sharing information and popularizing relevant and attractive to local tastes. The following are the use of botanical pesticides, workshop participants rec- the steps and approaches which were used for the produc- ommended that the educational materials developed tion of posters relating to the use of botanical pesticides should be mainly targeted to young farmers. This is be- in Mgeta division. cause young farmers are the most reluctant to use NCP and because there is a communication barrier in the use (i) Accessing the know-how of the innovation of NCP between the older and young farmers. Further- Because the use of local visual educational materials is more, the participants suggested that the project arrange not very common in Mgeta, UMADEP organised a work- a field visit for the artist to see and be able to visualise the shop where farmers who are experts on botanical pesti- working places, field tools and equipment and the habitat cides met with the artist, project staff and extension offic- of the selected plants in typical local settings. ers. The aim of the workshop was to increase the under- standing of the two distinctively different inputs that are (iv) Visualisation and production of artwork needed for the visual material, i.e., the indigenous knowl- The artist visited a few of the farmers who had partici- edge about the botanical pesticide and the artistic creativ- pated in the workshop. During the visits, the artist got a ity that makes the information interesting. good idea about the habitat of the plants, the local names A two-day residential workshop was organised whereby of plants and insect pests, and their damage to crops. He farmer experts were invited from six villages within Mgeta also studied how the farmers prepared and applied the bo- Division. During the workshop, the farmer experts pre- tanical pesticides and the tools they worked with in order sented their experiences and research findings regarding to render this information in the drawings. After the field the use of botanicals in crop protection. Based on this in- work, the artist developed a draft of six posters describing formation, UMADEP staff decided to focus on disseminat- and explaining the use of two selected plants. ing information about the two most familiar plants regard- ing which the majority of farmers had confidence in their (v) Field testing effectiveness in controlling insect pests. Before the final production of the posters, the artist, to- gether with extension and UMADEP staff conducted field- (ii) Defining communication needs testing for the posters with the representative farmers The main issues which were proposed to be documented from the community. This was intended to ascertain: for community consumption included: plant description • Whether the farmers had understood the posters and and habitats, propagation techniques, preparation and ap- the contents. plication, insect pest control and management, and how • The farmers ability to identify with the drawings, the the plants can be used for soil and water conservation as situation, the problem and solutions, and the character well as improvement of soil fertility. The propagation tech- (age and gender relationship). This helped to determine niques were emphasised because, for example, kibembeni whether or not the visual representation of the informa- (local plant species corresponding to the Buddleia spe- tion and the problems was realistic. cies) can only be found in the forest reserve which is about 5 kilometres from the residential areas. Therefore, to in- (vi) Farmer-to-farmer dissemination crease availability, these plants need to be planted within Since the posters carried only abstract information the field. about the use of botanical pesticides, project staff thought that the best teachers and disseminators of information in the educational campaign would be the farmer experts 4 themselves. Using them in dissemination workshops would Lessons learned give them the opportunity to explain in detail their experi- • Testing of the posters or training materials permits cru- ences with botanical pesticides to their fellow farmers. Al- cial and valuable feedback from audiences for improving lowing farmers to share their practical experiences with the materials before final production. other farmers would also help to increase trust and confi- • Involvement of the target audience from the initial plan- dence in the use of botanical pesticides by the younger ning of educational materials builds a sense of owner- and better-off farmers. To achieve this, UMADEP staff ship of the materials. The end-user then values the edu- organised a planning workshop to define the roles and re- cational material more and is therefore more likely to sponsibilities of the farmers as well as extension staff in use the information and share it. the education campaign. • Farmers are much more interested in issues that they For the purpose of reaching as many farmers as possible, immediately recognise as being part of their local situa- it was agreed that seminars should be organised at the tion. Therefore, the use of local artists is crucial as well sub-village level and in primary schools. The posters as using drawings that fully reflect local people, images, should be placed in public areas such as markets, in the tools, activities, responses and environment. village government offices and in the beer shops. The • Dissemination of the local knowledge about indigenous farmer experts volunteered to conduct seminars for other plants using modern methods such as printed posters farmers with some help from the project, especially for added value to the knowledge and indigenous plants in- organising the audiences and meeting other logistical volved. Consequently, it promotes the conservation and needs. Farmer participants (volunteers) from each village multiplication of indigenous plants. It also stimulates were allocated a few sub villages near where they lived, farmers to research and develop other local knowledge where they would train their fellow farmers using posters related to agricultural production. already developed as a guide. • The partnership of farmers with UMADEP helped the farmers to obtain quantitative proof of the economic vi- ability of their Natural Crop Protection practices. It also improved their skills in carrying out experiments de- signed to develop a farming system that is adapted to their conditions, needs and objectives. Further, farmers participating in farmer-to-farmer dissemination work- shops are able to develop their communication skills and abilities. This article was written by A.H. Mgumia, Assistant Coordinator for the Uluguru Mountains Agricultural Develop- ment Project (UMADEP), P .O. Box 3094, Morogoro, Tanzania. For details email: Umadep@mail.Suanet.Ac.Tz