Nadarajah Sriskandarajah

Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences | SLU · Department of Urban and Rural Development

Newspapers remain as an effective medium for circulating information among the public in the North of Sri Lanka and have the potential to influence public opinion and people's behavior regarding sustainable use of groundwater. This study investigated the extent and scope of newspaper coverage on the subject of water security in the Northern Provinc...

Water Security through Participatory Action Research in the Northern Province (WASPAR) is a project driven by the University of Jaffna, Sri Lanka, since March 2020. The project itself and some of the significant outcomes over the 3‐year first phase of research are outlined here. WASPAR took inspiration from two emerging fields of study: Sociohydrol...

Groundwater contamination derived from human activities including farming is a serious problem threatening water security in the Northern Province (NP) of Sri Lanka. Gathering all existing research knowledge on the province's water resource base to create a digital repository is a key action in the 3‐year action research project on water security....

Groundwater is a vital resource under threat in island communities. Karainagar, a 22 km ² island, is one of seven islands off the coast of Jaffna in Northern Sri Lanka, with its population of just about 11,000 persons, experiences seasonal water shortage, and salinity in groundwater as twin threats impacting on their lives. This paper reports on a...

Groundwater (GW) in monsoonal rain-dependent Northern Sri Lanka is stressed. Seasonal shortage and saline intrusion are serious issues in seven islands off Jaffna. Aquifer monitoring with well-owner involvement was conducted in Karainagar Island. Deteriorating water quality in recent times led to drinking water being transported from the mainland....

This paper argues the full potential of beekeeping towards sustainable development could be realised by strengthening knowledge and innovation system around beekeeping. Structural deficiencies and lack of advisory services are two bottlenecks for development. A successful 2018 national project to develop the advisory system within beekeeping in Swe...

The MARVI project, Managing Aquifer Recharge and Sustaining Groundwater Use through Village-level Intervention, is about village level communication and participatory research for improving groundwater productivity. It focused on two multi-village watersheds, the Meghraj watershed in Aravali district of Gujarat and the Dharta watershed in Udaipur d...

p style="text-align: justify;">El pensamiento sistémico es un método holístico, incluido en el conjunto de métodos conocidos como sistemas blandos. Los conceptos de conservación y manejo de los recursos naturales y vida comunitaria, se convierten en un dilema de difícil concertación en la realidad. Actualmente, es necesario encarar situaciones comp...

Institutionally driven governance mechanisms in place in many protected areas, including national parks, have contributed to large divides being maintained between conservation goals and the livelihood claims of park inhabitants. Park authorities struggle with the lack of legitimacy for their traditional expert solutions, while park inhabitants, of...

Using Denmark and Sweden as examples, we will in this chapter investigate how the participatory requirement of the EU (European Union) Water Framework Directive (WFD) has been implemented. Denmark and Sweden are both members of the European Union and therefore must comply with the WFD, but the countries have chosen two different ways of fulfilling...

This book presents theoretical discussions and practical examples of Action Research from Scandinavia, Latin America and Africa, primarily dealing with how to combine nature conservation and management with local democratic community development, seeing the renewal of Commons as a way to transcend the present dichotomy between these two dimensions.

Democracy and democratic development is directly connected to the challenges emerging from the global sustainability crisis understood in a broad sense, including political, economic and social-ecological dimensions. This book presents theoretical discussions and practical examples of Action Research from Scandinavia, Latin America and Africa, prim...

Contemporary society encounters profound economical, socio-ecological and political crises challenging the democratic foundation of our societies. This book addresses the potentials and challenges for Action Research supporting democratic alternatives. It offers a broad spectrum of examples from Scandinavian Action Research showing different openin...

Contemporary society encounters profound economical, socio-ecological and political crises challenging the democratic foundation of our societies. This book addresses the potentials and challenges for Action Research supporting democratic alternatives. It offers a broad spectrum of examples from Scandinavian Action Research showing different openin...

Purpose: This paper explores the concept of peer-to-peer learning (P2PL) in the context of North-European small-scale forest owners. The aim is to develop a framework for initiating new and evaluating already existing forest owners' P2PL communities.Design: Previous studies of peer-learning are used to determine and justify eight dimensions for for...

The Water Framework Directive (WFD) is an ambitious piece of legislation focused on achieving good ecological status as defined by deviations from reference conditions. Achieving good ecological status depends on collaboration between stakeholders, scientists and the public. However, public participation is restricted to consultations about impleme...

Six key themes that emerged from the European Union (EU) funded LEARNing project designed to develop and test a systemic approach to research practice are reported. The focus was on the learning and knowing processes experienced by individuals, groups and institutions that emerges from collective action and results in changes in practices or in the...

The transdisciplinary field of agroecology provides a platform for experiential learning based on an expanded vision of research on sustainable farming and food systems and the application of results in creating effective learning landscapes for students. With increased recognition of limitations of fossil fuels, fresh water, and available farmland...

In this paper, we address the challenge of translating the concept of resilience into effective educational strategies. Three different cognitive dimensions (ontological, epistemological and axiological) that underpin assumptions held about the nature of nature, the nature of knowing and the nature of human nature are identified. Four case studies...

The article discusses an action research project conducted in the Upper Amazon region of Peru that focused on the working approach of a NGO partner called PRADERA. In its land management projects PRADERA’s working approach was characterized by a close collaboration with farmers. Its emphasis was on grasping the farmers’ perspective on agriculture,...

This article reports on the long-term impact of an intensive European Union-Australia student exchange programme that took place in 2004 and 2005. The programme, Learning through Exchange about Agriculture, Food Systems and Environment (LEAFSE), was designed to facilitate exchange of post-graduate students on a pilot scale between four institutions...

This paper reports on a two-day workshop held in Sweden (7–8 April 2008) to bring together researchers and professionals to share insights and experiences in the application of information and communication technology (ICT) to sustainable development (SD). The third in a series of events sponsored by the Swedish Program for Information and Communic...

Our aim is to describe open-ended case studies for learning real-life problem solving skills, and relate this approach to conventional, closed-ended decision case studies. Teaching methods are open-ended cases in agroecology, an alternative to traditional strategies that lead students through prepared materials and structured discussions to determi...

"Similar to research on social learning among adult participants in natural resources management, current research in the field of education claims that learning is situated in real-world practice, and occurs through recursive interactions between individual learners and their social and biophysical environment. In this article, we present an overv...

Nordic experiences of applying participatory approaches in research and development of sustainable agriculture have been highly successful. The farmers involved were participating in certification programs for sustainable agriculture systems, most of them in the organic farming certification scheme. The findings from the research reflect the curren...

Two key issues in the development of sustainable food systems on a global basis are education in how research will be done and informing a general public to become more aware of the food, nutrition, and hunger issues facing society. Knowing that food production, national and local food security, and equity in access to adequate nutrition are import...

Research in agriculture has strongly focused on discipline‐oriented, natural science‐based approaches to increasing production with success measured by short‐term, neoclassical economic evaluation. This strategy has contributed to impressive increases in food production over the last half century. Growing concerns include environmental impacts, cha...

This paper, through a systemic inquiry, explores the context of, and makes the case for systemic development rather than sustainable development. Systemic development is a form of praxis and thus a process rather than an end state. The move from sustainable to systemic development contains conceptual and practical transformations involving discours...

Agroecology education and research programs are gaining prominence in universities. This emerging field provides an appropriate and convenient platform for bringing organic farming into academia. Agroecology deals with complex systems, uncertainty, and the future. Examples from organic farming and local food systems often provide valuable examples...

This book documents current practices in organic agriculture and evaluates their strengths and weaknesses. All major aspects of organic agriculture are explored including historical background and underlying principles, soil fertility management, crop and animal production, breeding strategies, crop protection, animal health and nutrition, animal w...

This book documents current practices in organic agriculture and evaluates their strengths and weaknesses. All major aspects of organic agriculture are explored including historical background and underlying principles, soil fertility management, crop and animal production, breeding strategies, crop protection, animal health and nutrition, animal w...

LEAFSE is the catch word for an innovative program of exchange study for young Australians and Europeans, with organic agriculture as the focal point of their Masters level studies. Two years ago, the European Commission and the Australian Department of Education, Science and Technology (DEST) came up with the call for applications for a pilot proj...

Urbanization increases the physical and mental dis-tances between urban and rural residents and separates city people from knowledge about where and how their food is grown. We recognize an increasing interest in diet and health, as well as the environment, yet at the same time most urban consumers focus only on product quality and price in the su-...

This paper discusses the theory of Systemic Action Research and its use in postgraduate research education, in the context of agriculture and rural development. The paper discusses what systems thinking is and introduces the concepts of Systemic Development. This is followed by an argument for a paradigm shift in how agriculture is viewed, and an a...

Elevated non-esterified fatty acids (NEFA) concentrations in non-pregnant animals have been reported to decrease pancreatic responsiveness. As ovine gestation advances, maternal insulin concentrations fall and NEFA concentrations increase. Experiments were designed to examine if the pregnancy-associated rise in NEFA concentration is associated with...

A key question addressed in this article is: How does the increased pressure for expertise in IRD translate itself into the demand for educational services and the design of appropriate curricula on a European-wide basis? This article examines these issues and generates a number of stepping stones for the development of Education and Training for I...

In an attempt to incorporate sustainability in its broadest meaning in forestry education, the teachers brought the social dimension into classroom discourse in this case study. The students seemed willing to engage in that discourse but only after their need for the specifics of silvicultural knowledge were met. We have argued that through effecti...

This article presents the experience of conducting an evaluation of participatory learning, within an action research project conducted in South Sulawesi, Indonesia. An alternative approach to evaluation was taken by focusing on learning, and creating dialogue with the community as a main strategy. We classified this project evaluation in terms of:...

This paper aims to contribute to the experience based on ways of integrating the concept of sustainability into higher education in forestry. It starts by discussing some interpretations of the concept of sustainability and the implications of this for educational goals. The types of competencies needed and their interrelationship and importance ar...

Abstract This paper discusses how smallholder farmers in Tombolo village, South Sulawesi, improved

In Indonesia, community development is one of the major strategies for improving the conditions of smallholder farmers in rural areas. Such programs are usually delivered to farmers through extension services using a Transfer of Technology (TOT) approach - a technical orientation primarily concerned with agricultural production issues, rather than...

Three graduate-level short courses on ecological agriculture and food systems were held in 1995–1997 in Norway to introduce systems thinking, creative research methods, and innovative learning approaches. In 1999, a three-day evaluation and planning workshop was held to assess course impacts, to determine relative importance of content areas, to co...

The Profitable Pastures Project is an industry-funded project aiming to improve pasture-based feeding systems through enhanced farmer-learning and Action Research of significant pasture related issues across the New South Wales dairy industry. The project takes in the regions stretching from Taree to Bega on the coast and the inland dairy areas of...

The idea of editing a special issue of the journal with contributions from Hawkesbury arose in conversations between Sriskandarajah and Soren Brier at the beginning of this year, following the move by the former to the Royal Veterinary and Agricultural University (KVL) in Denmark. He had been with the Agriculture and Rural Development academic grou...

A PhD course in ecological agriculture was organised for the Nordic/Baltic Region by an international team. Components were a pre-course literature review and written thesis summary, a week-long intensive workshop in Stange, Norway, and follow-through reports and evaluations. Research in ecological agriculture requires a firm foundation in science...

Two key directions for future extension and education are specialist services meeting a local demand and broad approaches based on holistic learning systems and/or integration between previous separate groups or institutions. Four case studies of education and extension are presented to illustrate these directions. One challenge is to achieve syner...

The Lund Grant concept In the USA, the Morrill Act of 1862, through which colleges of agriculture and mechanical arts were born, arose out of a dual national need: for higher education to be generally accessible to people and useful to their everyday lives. The Hatch Act of 1887 establishing the Agricultural Experiment Stations then enabled a linke...

A series of composite case studies is used to explore some effects of agricultural change on farmers. The "grower", the "opportunist", the "tuner" and the "passenger" are presented as representing a range of true life scenarios, to illustrate how many of the assumptions about the relationship between the farmer and extension worker hinder the foste...

Homeless men and women are both physically and socially disadvantaged. Their nutritional status is also often compromised. In this sample of 107 homeless men in Sydney, about half reported taking vitamin supplements (with varying duration and regularity), usually a regimen consisting of thiamin, vitamin C, folic acid and a multivitamin-B-complex ca...

A method is described for estimating the nutrient content of pasture selected by grazing cows. The method is non-invasive and suitable for use on commercial farms. Results from use of the method are reported for studies on a commercial farm over a period of 29 months. Confidence limits were calculated for estimated nutrient contents of pasture eate...

The primary production sector has contributed significantly to the growth of the Australian economy over the 200 years of European settlement. The farming systems that have developed utilise large areas of land, little labour and produce commodities for export, with pastoral farming systems accounting for more than half of all land farmed. Producti...

In Papua New Guinea large quantities of crop residues (228,494 Mg) and animal wastes (492,638 Mg) are available for conversion into fuel, fertilizer and feed. It is estimated that a total of 5303, 3384 and 7136 Mg of N, P and K are available from crop residues and animal wastes with an approximate fertilizer value (in kina) of K12,329,117 (approxim...

Effects of sodium hydroxide treatment on intake and digestion of straw organic matter (OM), and microbial protein synthesis were examined in comparison with untreated and treated straws. Intakes (kg dry matter (DM)/d) of untreated, NaOH- and sodium carbonate-treated straws were 5.21, 7.04 and 6.48 respectively and intakes (kg/d) of digestible organ...

Effects of treating wheat straw with caustic soda solution and of providing a cottonseed meal supplement were studied with 40 Friesian heifers (280 kg live weight) in individual pens. Responses were measured in terms of food intake, growth rate and food conversion ratio. Wheat straw was coarsely-milled and fed ad libitum , untreated (U) or alkali-t...

1. Expt 1. Forty 200 kg heifers were given wheat straw ad lib . plus one of five pelleted supplements, each of which supplied 40 g/nitrogen as urea/d, Treatment A did not supply other sources of N, and other treatments supplied daily 40 g digestible N as casein and formaldehyde-treated casein (HCHO-casein) in the following proportions (w/w): 100:0...

The extent to which proteins fed to ruminants are degraded in the rumen is determined by their rate of degradation and retention time in the rumen. It is known that retention times in the rumen are much longer for poor quality than for good quality roughages. Thus, it is possible that protein supplements may be more extensively degraded when fed wi...

In Expt 1, lactating dairy cows grazing kikuyu grass ( Pennisetum clandestinum ) were given no supplement (C), supplements of rolled barley grain at 4 (4R) and 6 (6R) kg/day and supplements of NaOH-treated whole barley grain at 4 (4A) and 6 (6A) kg/day. Daily production of milk (kg/day), fat and protein (g/day) and live-weight changes (g/day) respe...

This paper considers agricultural extension as a promising mechanism for social learning and sustainable rural development, in the Danish context. Three case studies, comprising a group of rural development extension agents, and two extension agencies, were performed in Danish context. The case studies brought insights about the practice, rationale...