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Demythologizing planned intervention
... In practice, this normative, ideal-typical, rather mechanistic and linear construction of the planning process does not work as expected. Social scientists such as Long and van der Ploeg (1989) argue for need to deconstruct and demythologize such a perspective. They conceptualize government intervention as a 'multiple reality' made up of differing cultural perceptions and social interests, and constituted by the ongoing social and political struggles that take place between the social actors involved. ...
... As such, in similar changing situations, actors always have different responses that may be based on legitimate reasons. This means that there is always a diversity or plurality of responses in a change situation (Long, 1984;Long and Van der Ploeg, 1989;Long & Long, 1992). The main factors that give rise to this plurality of responses are motivation, capability and autonomy or accountability of actors. ...
... Autonomy or accountability is, therefore, important in shaping actors' responses. Although actors try to create their own autonomy for themselves, i.e., some room for manoeuvre (Long, 1984;Long & Van der Ploeg, 1989), by adopting coping behaviour that they perceive as relevant, the formalization of such autonomy seems to be a requirement for a successful implementation of change. In fact, in situations where actors are too dependent and do not have the formal possibility to make their own decisions and take their own initiative, coping behaviour tends to be in the form of compliant acceptance and skimping, while in more decentralized and interactive situations, i.e., with a greater level of autonomy, coping behaviour is more openly expressed as internalized rejection or acceptance. ...
This book is about change. It deals with the way in which social actors, be they individuals or groups, involved in the agricultural development of Benin reconstruct for themselves the new policy context in order to develop relevant strategies translating policy measures into practical objectives and concrete actions. The main objectives of the study are to:
(1) understand the official definitions of the changing conditions in each of the cases studied and the rationales supporting them;
(2) identify the way actors, be they individuals or strategic groups, deal with these formal or abstract definitions, i.e., how they define the situation for themselves;
(3) understand the factors that facilitate or shape each response to the change conditions;
(4) translate these responses into change, in terms of relevant knowledge and information processes and coping behaviour;
(5) see if knowledge processes may vary according to changing conditions, i.e., the context in which they occur;
(6) use the experience gained through the study to inform theory;
(7) see how far these knowledge processes in each changing condition really contribute to the development of agriculture in Benin; and
(8) make recommendations for development practice.
Since 1989, Benin, the former People's Republic of Benin, has been undergoing a great socio-economic and political change. The main changes at the national level are an implementation of a Structural Adjustment Programme (SAP) and a political discontinuity hailed worldwide as a democratic reform having reper- cussions for all Western and Central Africa.
In this socio-economic and political climate for agricultural development in Benin new policy measures have been designed. The main policy measures that serve as case studies in the present book are:
professionalizing agricultural extension through a re-orientation of the extension system in the 'Centres d'Action Régional pour le Développement Rural (CARDER)' toward information, training and persuasion;
203
making farmers responsible for such functions as primary gathering of cotton, inputs and credit management through their associations, i.e., the 'Groupement Villageois (GV)';
adapting agricultural education to employment or work market/opportunities, i.e., the development needs in Benin; and
adapting agricultural research to farmers' needs and constraints in Benin, making research more client-oriented.
The study of these four cases started in the Borgou province in 1989, where in- depth interviews, discussions and intensive observations were undertaken. The results obtained were cross-checked with evidence obtained in 1993 in other CARDERs, mainly those of the Mono, the Atacora and the Oueme provinces, as well as in other related education and research institutions.
The data gathered during the field study have been analyzed across three main lines: the knowledge and information processes used as policy instruments; the coping behaviour of the actors involved in policy implementation; and the factors which affect these knowledge and information processes as well as the coping behaviour.
The main results of these case studies show that:
actors' responses to policy change in Benin have two aspects: the knowledge and information processes initiated by government officials as part of a set of policy instruments chosen for the implementation of the various measures; and the coping behaviours of the actors as adaptive responses either to the change situations themselves or to the knowledge and informa- tion processes.
actors' coping behaviour may be broadly classified into two categories: rejection or acceptance of part or all of the process. Acceptance or rejection is always based on legitimate reasons as perceived by the actors. These reasons are:
(1) the degree of social and/or cultural motivation, i.e., incongruence between the contents of the policy measures, past experiences and/or value systems;
(2) the degree of material and/or financial motivation in situations where actors do not want to shock change agents, either because of bureau- cratic and ao^inistrative requirements or social and cultural obliga- tions and values; and
(3) the importance given to discipline in administrative and bureaucratic situations, i.e., the expectation of positive or favourable rewards from the change agent.
204
Five forms of coping behaviour have been derived from the study: skimping, internalized rejection and acceptance, compliant acceptance and opportunity grasping.
The emergent knowledge and information processes are classified into two categories: directive and more interactive ones. Directive knowledge and information processes as they have been derived from the case studies are: anticipation/regulation setting; lxaining/regulation reinforcement; and regulation control. Interactive knowledge and information processes which came out of the study are: facilitation; joint learning; and negotiation/consensus building.
The main factors that proved to influence actors' adaptive responses to change are either related to individual actors or to the institution in which they are working.
At individual level, two main response shaping factors are identified. These are motivation and individual capability. Many sources of motivation are identified from the case studies: material, financial, social and cultural motivation. Actor's past experiences also influence their response to change. Lack or insufficient capability is due to low levels of formal education, lack of a literacy programme as well as post-graduate and in- service training.
Two outcomes of the influence of capability emerged from the cases. With regard to the first form of outcomes, actors did not completely accept the contents of the policy measures because of a low level of education, literacy and ability or skills. That was the case of the Village Extension Workers. A second form of outcomes is characterized by the fact that the actors have accepted the content of the policy measures, even internalized them, without having the ability and skills to implement them in practice. But an exclusive focus on capability building does not always lead to results desired. The case of the extension workers in Benin is an illustration of such a limitation.
At institutional level, autonomy and opportunities or resources available are important factors in the process. Power relations, information management in decision making and action emerged as the main constraining factors affecting actors' autonomy in the various changing situations. The opportunities that determined actors' responses, especially coping behaviours, are the material and financial resources provided to them in the course of the implementation of the process. Their access to these resources and the degree to which these could help them to solve their individual problems was crucial.
As far as the contribution of the study to theory development is concerned, a framework for people's responses to policy implementation in Benin has been designed and nine knowledge claims formulated.
205
Two main recommendations with the related strong assumptions have been made for development practice.
(1) The need to shift from a more centralized and directive extension organization to a more decentralized, and interactive one. A level of decentralization might be the sub-region usually called 'secteurs agricoles' in the CARDERs. In such a decentralized organization, Rural Development Officers, the so-called 'Responsable de Dévelop- pement Rural (RDR)' would be accountable for the rural development in their areas.
As such, in the middle run, an extension activities contract would be signed between the extension officers at the headquarters of the CARDER and the sub-regional development zones ('secteurs'). By such contractual extension activities, RDR would be provided with the required resources and would be judged only on the basis of their results.
In the long run, these sub-regional services could generate additional resources to improve the living conditions of the extension workers. These additional resources could be derived from a kind of refund that farmers' associations and agricultural products exporting companies or bodies would pay to these services as subsidies for their contribution to agricultural development. The importance of these subsidies would, of course, depend on the impact of these development services on the agricultural production and the living standards of farmers; and
(2) The need to strengthen and empower farmers' associations not only in the regions where cotton is produced, but also in other regions of the country. Such an action could increase the financial power of these associations. Thus, they would be better able to contribute financially to extension and R&D activities.
... In practice, this normative, ideal-typical, rather mechanistic and linear construction of the planning process does not work as expected. Social scientists such as Long and van der Ploeg (1989) argue for need to deconstruct and demythologize such a perspective. They conceptualize government intervention as a 'multiple reality' made up of differing cultural perceptions and social interests, and constituted by the ongoing social and political struggles that take place between the social actors involved. ...
... As such, in similar changing situations, actors always have different responses that may be based on legitimate reasons. This means that there is always a diversity or plurality of responses in a change situation (Long, 1984;Long and Van der Ploeg, 1989;Long & Long, 1992). The main factors that give rise to this plurality of responses are motivation, capability and autonomy or accountability of actors. ...
... Autonomy or accountability is, therefore, important in shaping actors' responses. Although actors try to create their own autonomy for themselves, i.e., some room for manoeuvre (Long, 1984;Long & Van der Ploeg, 1989), by adopting coping behaviour that they perceive as relevant, the formalization of such autonomy seems to be a requirement for a successful implementation of change. In fact, in situations where actors are too dependent and do not have the formal possibility to make their own decisions and take their own initiative, coping behaviour tends to be in the form of compliant acceptance and skimping, while in more decentralized and interactive situations, i.e., with a greater level of autonomy, coping behaviour is more openly expressed as internalized rejection or acceptance. ...
This book is about change. It deals with the way in which social actors, be they individuals or groups, involved in the agricultural development of Benin reconstruct for themselves the new policy context in order to develop relevant strategies translating policy measures into practical objectives and concrete actions. The main objectives of the study are to:(1) understand the official definitions of the changing conditions in each of the cases studied and the rationales supporting them;(2) identify the way actors, be they individuals or strategic groups, deal with these formal or abstract definitions, i.e., how they define the situation for themselves;(3) understand the factors that facilitate or shape each response to the change conditions;(4) translate these responses into change, in terms of relevant knowledge and information processes and coping behaviour;(5) see if knowledge processes may vary according to changing conditions, i.e., the context in which they occur;(6) use the experience gained through the study to inform theory;(7) see how far these knowledge processes in each changing condition really contribute to the development of agriculture in Benin; and(8) make recommendations for development practice.Since 1989, Benin, the former People's Republic of Benin, has been undergoing a great socio-economic and political change. The main changes at the national level are an implementation of a Structural Adjustment Programme (SAP) and a political discontinuity hailed worldwide as a democratic reform having repercussions for all Western and Central Africa.In this socio-economic and political climate for agricultural development in Benin new policy measures have been designed. The main policy measures that serve as case studies in the present book are:- professionalizing agricultural extension through a re-orientation of the extension system in the 'Centres d'Action Régional pour le Développement Rural ( CARDER )' toward information, training and persuasion;- making farmers responsible for such functions as primary gathering of cotton, inputs and credit management through their associations, i.e., the 'Groupement Villageois (GV)';-adapting agricultural education to employment or work market/opportunities, i.e., the development needs in Benin; and- adapting agricultural research to farmers' needs and constraints in Benin, making research more client-oriented.The study of these four cases started in the Borgou province in 1989, where indepth interviews, discussions and intensive observations were undertaken. The results obtained were cross-checked with evidence obtained in 1993 in other CARDERs, mainly those of the Mono, the Atacora and the Oueme provinces, as well as in other related education and research institutions.The data gathered during the field study have been analyzed across three main lines: the knowledge and information processes used as policy instruments; the coping behaviour of the actors involved in policy implementation; and the factors which affect these knowledge and information processes as well as the coping behaviour.The main results of these case studies show that:- actors' responses to policy change in Benin have two aspects: the knowledge and information processes initiated by government officials as part of a set of policy instruments chosen for the implementation of the various measures; and the coping behaviours of the actors as adaptive responses either to the change situations themselves or to the knowledge and information processes.- actors' coping behaviour may be broadly classified into two categories: rejection or acceptance of part or all of the process. Acceptance or rejection is always based on legitimate reasons as perceived by the actors. These reasons are:(1) the degree of social and/or cultural motivation, i.e., incongruence between the contents of the policy measures, past experiences and/or value systems;(2) the degree of material and/or financial motivation in situations where actors do not want to shock change agents, either because of bureaucratic and administrative requirements or social and cultural obligations and values; and(3) the importance given to discipline in administrative and bureaucratic situations, i.e., the expectation of positive or favourable rewards from the change agent.Five forms of coping behaviour have been derived from the study: skimping, internalized rejection and acceptance, compliant acceptance and opportunity grasping.- The emergent knowledge and information processes are classified into two categories: directive and more interactive ones. Directive knowledge and information processes as they have been derived from the case studies are: anticipation/regulation setting; training/regulation reinforcement; and regulation control. Interactive knowledge and information processes which came out of the study are: facilitation; joint learning; and negotiation/consensus building.- The main factors that proved to influence actors' adaptive responses to change are either related to individual actors or to the institution in which they are working.At individual level, two main response shaping factors are identified. These are motivation and individual capability. Many sources of motivation are identified from the case studies: material, financial, social and cultural motivation. Actor's past experiences also influence their response to change. Lack or insufficient capability is due to low levels of formal education, lack of a literacy programme as well as post-graduate and inservice training.Two outcomes of the influence of capability emerged from the cases. With regard to the first form of outcomes, actors did not completely accept the contents of the policy measures because of a low level of education, literacy and ability or skills. That was the case of the Village Extension Workers. A second form of outcomes is characterized by the fact that the actors have accepted the content of the policy measures, even internalized them, without having the ability and skills to implement them in practice. But an exclusive focus on capability building does not always lead to results desired. The case of the extension workers in Benin is an illustration of such a limitation.At institutional level, autonomy and opportunities or resources available are important factors in the process. Power relations, information management in decision making and action emerged as the main constraining factors affecting actors' autonomy in the various changing situations. The opportunities that determined actors' responses, especially coping behaviours, are the material and financial resources provided to them in the course of the implementation of the process. Their access to these resources and the degree to which these could help them to solve their individual problems was crucial.- As far as the contribution of the study to theory development is concerned, a framework for people's responses to policy implementation in Benin has been designed and nine knowledge claims formulated.- Two main recommendations with the related strong assumptions have been made for development practice.(1) The need to shift from a more centralized and directive extension organization to a more decentralized, and interactive one. A level of decentralization might be the sub-region usually called 'secteurs agricoles' in the CARDERs. In such a decentralized organization, Rural Development Officers, the so-called 'Responsable de Développement Rural (RDR)' would be accountable for the rural development in their areas.As such, in the middle run, an extension activities contract would be signed between the extension officers at the headquarters of the CARDER and the sub-regional development zones ('secteurs'). By such contractual extension activities, RDR would be provided with the required resources and would be judged only on the basis of their results.In the long run, these sub-regional services could generate additional resources to improve the living conditions of the extension workers. These additional resources could be derived from a kind of refund that farmers' associations and agricultural products exporting companies or bodies would pay to these services as subsidies for their contribution to agricultural development. The importance of these subsidies would, of course, depend on the impact of these development services on the agricultural production and the living standards of farmers; and(2) The need to strengthen and empower farmers' associations not only in the regions where cotton is produced, but also in other regions of the country. Such an action could increase the financial power of these associations. Thus, they would be better able to contribute financially to extension and R&D activities.
... The second area of livelihoods research, from which the RPF developed to consider resources over capitals, was further influenced by Long (1989Long ( , 1977, who argued for an actor-oriented approach to rural studies, and Bourdieu (Bourdieu, 1989), who used the concept of symbolic capital to explain that people act for many reasons other than material gain, being also motivated by social and cultural interactions and objectives. The RPF emphasized that what people have and do has a more subjective meaning (Lewis, 1993, Saltmarshe, 2002. ...
... Rather than extending such analyses to look beyond material values, a large proportion of ecosystem services research instead attempts to recognise the economic value of nature to global stakeholders, and assumes this will lead to improved wellbeing through increased investment in natural resource conservation . Due to the importance of context-specific human behaviour, understanding the links between ecosystems and human wellbeing requires fine-scale social understanding of local processes and interactions Springate-Baginski, 2009, Long andPloeg, 1989) and environmental sciences has been put forward as a major challenge facing scientists and policy makers . ...
PhD Thesis, 2013, School of International Development, University of East Anglia
... Nevertheless, the interventions are mediated and transformed by local actors and structures and provoke differential responses. Projects may thus be conceived as social events and arenas of struggles between various actors (Crehan and von Oppen 1988;Long and Ploeg 1989;Leeuwis 1995). ...
... It has also shown that intervention does not follow a pre-specified linear plan of action leading to expected outcomes. Intervention is reinterpreted or transformed during the implementation process itself (Long and Ploeg 1989). Often, members of the target group do not benefit from an intervention; instead the beneficiaries are those 'who are willing, able and at hand' (Villareal 1992, p. 251). ...
This article aims at providing an understanding of knowledge aspects involved in the development of the Lake Plastiras area of Greece (a designated ‘less favoured area’). The area, through the implementation of development, projects, such as LEADER, has become a major tourism destination. Following the identification of the main actors in the area, their views, as well as their underlying knowledge regarding local development, are analysed. Contradictory approaches to local development subsequently emerge and the dynamics of various actors and the knowledge forms they use in rural projects are reviewed. It is argued that an approach to local development based on expert and managerial knowledge is not compatible with sustainable local development. This approach is contrasted with bottom-up, multi-stakeholder processes, showing that stakeholders are able to co-construct the issue and its solutions only through participatory action but that this entails changes in perspectives and practices.
... However, these studies did not adopt the assemblage perspective to consider the method and process of constructing PES hydrosocial territory, which may lead to the inability of existing theories to explain the non-uniformity of PES hydrosocial territories caused by local socio-spatial relationships. Despite the existence of top-down control, China's water governmentality schemes are necessarily mediated, in most cases, not by open struggle or Scottian covert (and conscious) resistance, but by stubborn, local-level everyday practices and contingencies (Long and Ploeg, 1989;Xu et al., 2022). Therefore, in order to comprehend how assemblage practices contribute to constructing the PES hydrosocial territory, it is required to link local socialspatial relationships with the water governance pattern. ...
This study employs the case of China’s Xin’an River Basin Eco-compensation Pilot to explore how the payments for ecosystem services (PES) can configure local water control arenas through various assemblage practices. The findings demonstrate that specific assemblage practices can construct a PES hydrosocial territory, which often reflects power struggles. We argue that the dynamic assemblage practices redefine the boundaries of the PES hydrosocial territory and trigger the reconfiguration of PES scalar territory. Finally, we draw attention to the critical role that state intervention plays in constructing China’s PES hydrosocial territory, reflecting China’s remarkable governance rationality and technology. Therefore, beyond the existing interpretation of PES hydrosocial territory, the analysis of the remaking of the Xin’an River Basin has promoted the study of hydropolitics to understand better the role of assemblage practices in PES hydrosocial territory.
... When Project Affected Persons (PAPs) participates in projects designs and implementation it leads to more widely accepted decisions and better governance (Mansbridge, 1995;Bohmann and Rehg, 1997). However, we, like Lefebvre (1991) and Long and Vander (1989), infer that, any new space that is created for participation bears traces of social relations. These relations animate the "people"s practices" that constitute everyday forms of participation in development. ...
... In addition, it has been argued that planned interventions generally approach change and development as a rational process (Leeuwis, 2004;Long & Van der Ploeg, 1989), not as a process of struggle between regime and niches. As such, there tends to be a lack of attention for mechanisms that keep the existing regime in place and for interventions that may destabilize the existing regime, and as a consequence regime issues are often left unaddressed (Kivimaa & Kern, 2016;Pigford et al., 2018). ...
This paper argues that supporting food system transformation requires more than obtaining science-based understanding and analysis of how components in the system interact. We argue that changing the emergent properties of food systems (what we call food system synthesis) is a socio-political challenge that is affected by competing views regarding system boundaries and purposes, and limited possibilities for central steering and control. We point to different traditions of ‘systems thinking’ that each emphasize particular types of interventions for achieving system change, and argue that food systems are best looked at as complex multi-dimensional systems. This implies that we need to move beyond rational engineering approaches to system change, and look for approaches that anticipate and accommodate inherent social tensions and struggles in processes of changing food system dynamics and outcomes. Through a case study on the persistence of an undesired emergent property of food systems (i.e. poverty) we demonstrate that a multi-level perspective (MLP) on system transformation is useful in understanding both how food system transformation has happened in the past, and how desirable transformations is prevented from happening today. Based on such insights we point to key governance strategies and principles that may be used to influence food system transformation as a non-linear and long-term process of competition, negotiation and reconfiguration. Such strategies include the creation and nurturing of diversity in the system, as well as process interventions aimed at visioning, destabilization and formation of discourse coalitions. Such governance interventions imply a considerable re-orientation of investments in food system transformation as well as a rethinking of the role that policy-makers may play in either altering or reproducing undesirable system outcomes.
... In this paper, we understand policy implementation as an interactive process, which can lead to a variety of outcomes as policy elites and implementers try to respond to societal actions and reactions (Thomas & Grindle, 1990, p. 1165. Policy is transformed and reinterpreted during the implementation process (Long, 2001a). Long and Van der Ploeg's actor-oriented approach (Long, 2001b;Long & Van der Ploeg, 1989) conceptualises planned intervention (a type of policy implementation) as an 'ongoing, sociallyconstructed and negotiated process' (Long & Van der Ploeg, 1989, p. 228) in which farmers and the state interact and strategise. ...
Farmer-led irrigation development, a process in which farmers initiate the establishment of irrigation, is increasingly recognised as the driving force behind irrigation expansion, agricultural intensifica-tion, and commercialisation in sub-Saharan Africa. Governments and development agencies aim to build upon these practices to further stimulate agricultural production and expand the irrigated area. In what seems the recognition of farmers' ability to take the lead, various African states have developed policies for 'demand-driven irrigation development'. This article scrutinises the actual practices of such a policy through a case analysis of an intervention in Northern Tanzania. The analysis demonstrates how even demand-driven policies can disturb the development trajectory of farmer-led irrigation development by reinforcing modernisation ideals adhered to by both farmers and government employees. An emphasis on the aesthetics of modernity leads to symbolic modernisation, cementing the dominant role of the state and formal expertise and paralysing farmers' irrigation development initiatives. This does not necessarily lead to agricultural intensification and commercia-lisation, which the formal policies seem to aim for and which is central to processes of farmer-led irrigation development.
... Scientific insights have been found to be more effective, and farmers more receptive to them, when they interact with 'local knowledge stocks' (Clark and Murdoch 1997, p. 56) and when scientists engage with local actors. This may be partly owing to the imbalance of power and intervention between farmers and experts where experts with agendas aim to convince farmers to follow their advice (Long and van der Ploeg 1989;Ingram 2008). A recent report from the UK recommends involving friends and family in knowledge exchange activities, and channelling new information via existing networks to maximise engagement (Rose et al. 2018a). ...
Drawing on data from four focus groups with alfalfa farmers conducted in Spring 2014 and 2015 in four counties in Wyoming, United States, we analyze how farmers make decisions about insect pest management. Our generative focus group data allows us to examine how farmers frame and value different sources of information and why and when they rely on them. Our results reveal that in order to be useful, expert information needed to be local and to consider the complex realities of farming. Neighbors, especially those who had deep roots in the community, were seen as valuable and trusted sources of information, especially for diagnostic purposes. Chemical companies and co‐op representatives, on the other hand, received more mixed treatment. Our results build on and extend the literature in rural sociology on farmers by underscoring the reflexive nature and motivation for farmers' information‐seeking and utilisation about insect pests. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.
... Migdal et al (1994), for instance, highlight the concept of 'state in society,' arguing that in many state-run programmes devolved to local institutions, state or quasi-state actors remain major and influential players in these programmes, rather than the intended subsidiary non-state actors. Third, institutions are often viewed as static and ahistorical, rather than being rooted in people's actual and even ad hoc practices that shift or continue according to the ebb and flow of circumstances under which they live, and that these do not neces- sarily conform to project 'rules' and activities (Mosse, 1997;Cleaver, 1998Cleaver, , 1999Long, 2001). Fourth, the approach is ensconced within the three neo-liberal 'recipes,' namely decentralized decision making, 4 private property rights and markets, which are intended to solve poverty and resource depletion problems in the South but which do not recognize power and politics as being constitutive of resource rights and realities. ...
... These rural settings are complex environments characterised by considerable uncertainty and the presence of numerous interdependent stakeholders that are likely to have diverging perspectives, interests, and power resources. Hence, development interventions are likely to encounter ambiguity, tensions, and conflicts (Long and van der Ploeg 1989, Leeuwis and Van den Ban 2004, Giller et al. 2008, Ulrich and Reynolds 2010. In order to deal with such complexity, development interventions increasingly rely on multi-stakeholder approaches in which interventionists aim to facilitate constructive interaction among stakeholders. ...
In natural resource management facilitation literature, little attention is paid to sensitive issues in multi-stakeholder interaction and learning. This article aims to fill this gap. It discusses the variety of discursive strategies used by stakeholders to address sensitive issues with regard to fishery management in Benin, in three different settings: individual interviews, homogeneous groups' discussions, and a heterogeneous group meeting. Issues that proved sensitive were discussed openly in the interviews or homogeneous groups' discussions, but not at all, or only indirectly, in the heterogeneous group meeting. With indirect discursive strategies, two out of the seven sensitive issues were put on the discussions' agenda. We conclude that the other issues were too sensitive among others because of historically grown interdependency between interventionists and fishers. We suggest that dealing with sensitive issues is an important dimension of the facilitation of interactive learning processes and provide methodological guidelines to detect and address such issues.
... Making these projects " participatory " was seen as a necessary condition to improve their contribution to society, and hence much participation has actually taken the shape of " participatory project planning. " Like convention projects, such participatory projects often still reflect the idea that societal change is somehow amenable to control, prediction, and effective management toward desirable outcomes (Long and van der Ploeg 1989). Matching the rise of non-linear and non-equilibrium— " new ecology " —thinking in ecological sciences (see Scoones 1999), it has been argued that societal change is a much more messy and unpredictable process, in which change emerges eventually as the unintended outcome of numerous intentional actions in different societal networks, which interact with each other in complex ways (Sharpf 1978, Giddens 1984, Sayer and Campbell 2004, Castells 2004). ...
Competing claims on natural resources become increasingly acute, with the poor being most vulnerable to adverse outcomes of such competition. A major challenge for science and policy is to progress from facilitating univocal use to guiding stakeholders in dealing with potentially conflicting uses of natural resources. The development of novel, more equitable, management options that reduce rural poverty is key to achieving sustainable use of natural resources and the resolution of conflicts over them. Here, we describe an interdisciplinary and interactive approach for: (i) the understanding of competing claims and stakeholder objectives; (ii) the identification of alternative resource use options, and (iii) the scientific support to negotiation processes between stakeholders. Central to the outlined approach is a shifted perspective on the role of scientific knowledge in society. Understanding scientific knowledge as entering societal arenas and as fundamentally negotiated, the role of the scientist becomes a more modest one, a contributor to ongoing negotiation processes among stakeholders. Scientists can, therefore, not merely describe and explain resource-use dynamics and competing claims, but in doing so, they should actively contribute to negotiation processes between stakeholders operating at different scales (local, national, regional, and global). Together with stakeholders, they explore alternatives that can contribute to more sustainable and equitable use of natural resources and, where possible, design new technical options and institutional arrangements.
... Conventional development planning carries within it the discredited ideology of modernization theory. 16 That politics is considered outside the purview of development projects means that the relations of production that have created the problem of underdevelopment are deepened. Development projects funnel resources to those that are considered productive, are leaders, are adopters of innovations, and are (or can be) oriented towards outside institutions. ...
The best thing one can say about many development projects is that they have had little impact on their participants; the worst is that they have added to the misery and inequalities of target populations. It is the contention of this article that many of these ill effects are the unintentional results of how development agencies implement projects. The study will examine some institutional and structural aspects of projects that undermine positive results in the "development process," such as requirements for numeric measurement of progress and bias in development approach. A large agricultural development project in Haiti will be used as a case study to illustrate these points.
... Some nuances and reservations need to be expressed here. In their classic article 'Demythologising planned intervention', Long & Van der Ploeg (1989) already pointed out that huge differerences often exist between project documents and everyday practice. Should we conclude, then, that there is no real problem since everyday practice is less controllable than is portrayed, and/or because more degrees of freedom exist than is suggested by formal documents, contracts, and the like? ...
Agricultural extension is evolving worldwide, and there is much emphasis today on community-based mechanisms of dissemination in order to bring sustainable change. The goal of this study was to examine the factors that make farmer groups successful in dissemination of information and technologies. A mixed-methods, multiple-stage approach was used to obtain data, using participant observation, documentary analysis, semi-structured interviews, social mapping, and structured questionnaires. Dairy-goat farmer groups (n = 46) and individual farmers (n = 88) were interviewed. Factors that were associated with group success in dissemination included member participation, degree of jealousy within the group, homogeneity of members, group capacity, number of linkages and type of group (project-supported versus non-supported). Some interventions that may increase the success of groups in dissemination include capacity-building, increasing linkages with other extension stakeholders, providing an enabling environment for groups to form, using established groups (as compared to forming new groups), and encouraging groups to form around common interests rather than for other reasons.
... Some nuances and reservations need to be expressed here. In their classic article 'Demythologising planned intervention', Long & Van der Ploeg (1989) already pointed out that huge differerences often exist between project documents and everyday practice. Should we conclude, then, that there is no real problem since everyday practice is less controllable than is portrayed, and/or because more degrees of freedom exist than is suggested by formal documents, contracts, and the like? ...
This article examines issues related to graduate programs in agricultural and extension education for students from developing nations who are studying in developed countries. Implications are drawn for developing graduate programs that prepare individuals for their most likely career paths. Such programs may not be congruent given the current graduate programs in universities particularly with the present financial and political pressures on departments and faculty. How can professional associations enter into dialogue to assist in creating more relevant programs of study?
... The social learning approach is based on an actor-oriented approach and forms part of a theoretical framework in which social processes are defined as non-linear and non-deterministic. Development is therefore conceived of as an 'emergent quality', which goes beyond the paradigm of 'planned intervention' (Long, 2001). ...
... AN.KA.'s expectation that benefits would ensue due to the scheme's establishment proved wrong. While on the one hand, projects do not follow pre-specified linear plans of action leading to expected outcomes (Long & van der Ploeg, 1989), on the other, change agents (facilitators) withdraw once others among the target-population are ready to undertake the role (Oakley et al., 1991). ...
This paper presents the trajectory of an innovative organisational scheme, the Local Quality Convention (LQC), concerning sustainable tourism development in the Lake Plastiras area, a less favoured area in Central Greece. It outlines the development issues of the area, the main actors, their views and practices and describes the creation, progress and emerging problems of the LQC scheme. Research reveals contradicting approaches to sustainable tourism development which, in turn, influenced the LQC's evolution. The findings are critically discussed in the light of the Social Learning (SL) approach to social change and sustainable development. According to SL it is only through interactive (participative), concerted action that stakeholders are able to co-construct an issue and its solutions. Given the dominance of “conventional” tourism in Greece as well as the top-down formation and implementation of policies, the importance of the long term facilitation of local stakeholders to achieve sustainable tourism development is demonstrated, along with other related lessons for planners and managers.
... Some nuances and reservations need to be expressed here. In their classic article 'Demythologising planned intervention', Long & Van der Ploeg (1989) already pointed out that huge differerences often exist between project documents and everyday practice. Should we conclude, then, that there is no real problem since everyday practice is less controllable than is portrayed, and/or because more degrees of freedom exist than is suggested by formal documents, contracts, and the like? ...
Building on the tradition of agricultural extension, this article discusses several changes in thinking regarding the relations between communication and innovation. Starting from the idea that network building, social learning and conflict management are key processes to be supported by communication professionals, the article makes critical observations regarding dominant forms of participatory practice, innovation policy and privatisation of research and extension. Subsequently, the paper discusses the implications of the proposed modes of thinking for the role of scientists in innovation processes. It is argued that a key role of scientists is to explicate implicit assumptions, claims and knowledge gaps in social learning processes, and to engage in collaborative research with societal stakeholders on a coherent set of natural and social science questions. The proposed conceptual models and observations eventually lead to the formulation of a research agenda for the field of Communication and Innovation Studies.
... Highly critical of the role of development intervention in the upholding of old and new modes of political hegemony are authors such as Apthorpe (1986), Schaffer (1984Schaffer ( , 1986 and Wood (1985; who draw upon post-structuralist (and in the case of Wood perhaps also on Habermasian) insights in their concern for how policy languages, techno-administrative rationalities and administrative access 1 Lately a number of articles have appeared which argue that everyday encounters between bureaucrats and villagers play a significant role in shaping popular representations and notions of corruption, and of people's rights and obligations (Gupta 1995;Orlove 1991; and for a theoretical rationale for such an approach from an actor-oriented perspective, Long 1989). ...
... However, it is also a somewhat deterministic and one-sided view, presenting external implementers of participation as somehow all-powerful beings. In real-world situations, development interventions rarely unfold as they were planned, and are inevitably open to some degree of negotiation and subversion by local actors (Long and van der Ploeg, 1989;Lund, 1998;Long, 2001). Perhaps surprisingly, this otherwise well-established point in actor-oriented development studies has not featured strongly in the debate over participation so far, and we therefore know little about the ways and means whereby community members take part in the social shaping of participatory spaces and practices. ...
Critical analysis of participatory community development has claimed that such approaches serve as a vehicle for social control and co-option by external actors. Drawing on a case study from Southern Thailand, this article argues that we need to take a less deterministic perspective, and pay more attention to the ways in which community members themselves manipulate or subvert participatory processes. The article shows how this may result in hybrid participatory practices and institutions that contain elements of both local and external interests, and which play a key role in defining the way power is constituted in local participatory spaces.
... Over the last decade, many studies have shown convincingly that conflicts and struggles over resources and images play an important role in the dayto-day practice of social life, including (participatory) development projects (Arce, 1993;Long, 1989;Villareal, 1994). Even if such studies have a bias towards identifying conflict and struggle rather than signalling consensus and co-operation (Schrijvers, 1992), Long and van der Ploeg (1989) rightly conclude that there is a large divide between the formal representation of development projects (in terms of the language and phases of conventional planning) and the way they evolve in practice. Thus, they argue (ibid.: 228) that`the concept of intervention needs deconstructing so that we recognise it for what it fundamentally is, namely, an ongoing, socially-constructed and negotiated process, not simply the execution of an already-specified plan of action with expected outcomes'. ...
In many popular intervention methodologies aimed at stimulating sustainable rural development (in the widest possible sense) the idea of ‘participation’ is a leading principle. This article will demonstrate that the process in which actors are supposed to participate is often thought of as being a process of planning, decision-making and/or social learning. It will be argued that such an operationalization of development processes is based on inconsistent theoretical assumptions, and can easily lead to unproductive development interventions due to an inability to handle conflicts. As an alternative it is proposed to use negotiation theory as a basis for organizing participatory development efforts. The implications of such a shift in thinking about participation are far-reaching: it requires new modes of analysis, and different roles, tasks and skills for facilitators of participatory processes.
... Sustainable development therefore becomes part of a societal process, resulting in qualitative and quantitative changes in the interaction between social actors and in the societal structures these actors are linked to. Ensuing social processes cannot be fully planned; they should be understood as the dynamic outcome of activities—often traditionally carried out as 'planned interventions', e.g. in a development project—and the specific reactions these activities provoke in a wider social, economic and ecological environment (Long, 2001). Consequently, a specific stage of development aiming for sustainability consists of the intended and unintended outcomes of specific social practices within their normative framework. ...
The present paper discusses a conceptual, methodological and practical framework within which the limitations of the conventional notion of natural resource management (NRM) can be overcome. NRM is understood as the application of scientific ecological knowledge to resource management. By including a consideration of the normative imperatives that arise from scientific ecological knowledge and submitting them to public scrutiny, ‘sustainable management of natural resources’ can be recontextualised as ‘sustainable governance of natural resources’. This in turn makes it possible to place the politically neutralising discourse of ‘management’ in a space for wider societal debate, in which the different actors involved can deliberate and negotiate the norms, rules and power relations related to natural resource use and sustainable development. The transformation of sustainable management into sustainable governance of natural resources can be conceptualised as a social learning process involving scientists, experts, politicians and local actors, and their corresponding scientific and non-scientific knowledges. The social learning process is the result of what Habermas has described as ‘communicative action’, in contrast to ‘strategic action’. Sustainable governance of natural resources thus requires a new space for communicative action aiming at shared, intersubjectively validated definitions of actual situations and the goals and means required for transforming current norms, rules and power relations in order to achieve sustainable development. Case studies from rural India, Bolivia and Mali explore the potentials and limitations for broadening communicative action through an intensification of social learning processes at the interface of local and external knowledge. Key factors that enable or hinder the transformation of sustainable management into sustainable governance of natural resources through social learning processes and communicative action are discussed.
... Such an idea about societal change was and is not only implicit to blue-print planning models and approaches and associated instrumental models of communicative intervention (Van Woerkum, 1990), but also in participatory and interactive modes of thought about planning and communication. Here too we saw a great confidence in elaborate process plans, stepwise methodologies and process management as a means of bringing about meaningful change (Long & Van der Ploeg, 1989). According to critics, participatory approaches to solving complex problems (a) have failed to properly anticipate dynamics of power, conflict and politics (Nelson & Wright, 1995;Leeuwis, 2000;Edmunds & Wollenberg, 2001); (b) tend to still assume that 'intervention projects' introduced from outside are a main carrier of change, while processes of self-organisation are underrated (Aarts, 2007;Van Gunsteren, 2006); and (c) often addressed only the 'local' level, while higher level constraints were not taken into account (Giller et al., 2007). ...
This conceptual paper suggests that 'space for change' is a valuable notion for both the analysis of complex problem situations, and practical efforts to manage conflicts that are inherent to such contexts. It first outlines the conceptual starting points of our perspective, which are rooted in studies about the role of communication in processes of societal change and innovation in the life science domain. It then proceeds to explore the notion of space for change. We distinguish various types of space, and argue that the understanding of space for manoeuvre is essentially negotiated in what we label 'discursive space'. We then turn to communicative leverages that may play a role in 'stretching' discursive space, and improving the quality of societal negotiation. We conclude with a discussion of the kinds of research themes that seem relevant when studying communication in conflict situations from a complexity perspective. At the IACM conference we will also present empirical findings in relation to one or two of the research themes mentioned.
This study investigates some aspects of the socio-cultural changes that took place in contemporary rural Cambodia by focusing on production and marketing practices. It explores both the changing value crops and the transformation in agricultural production and trade among Khmer farmers after a new farming technology was introduced by a local NGO. The case study presented in this paper is a local NGO operating since 2001 in the rural area where the author has conducted fieldwork from 2005 to 2016. The NGO has introduced a new agricultural technique and tried to establish farmer organizations in village and national level. The yield crops produced with new technology was authorized by NGOs and given the new commodity value of ‘Khmer organic products. This signifies that dissemination of new agricultural techniques brings not only change in the production itself but imposes a new system for marketing crops and images of Khmer products. Therefore, dynamically transformed the social relationship patterns not only among the farmers, but with outsiders as well, including development promoters
Historical political omissions and current lack of access to public services in the favelas generates an conflictive and vunerable environment. This research’s aim is to understand the environmental issues experienced by residents from two slums in Niterói city (Brazil). Based on the actor-oriented perspective, this investigation analyzes the interaction between residents and interveners. The cultivation of plants and animal rearing plays an important role in the reproduction and sociability of one group of dwellers, and is also promoted by interveners, but these practices are juxtaposed with waste/sewage dumps and with the use of forested areas by drug dealers. This paper concludes that a new type of knowledge is generated, which is intercognitive, and it goes beyond just an adaptation or transference of the techniques, since it is a product of a dialogue-oriented process on facing the favela’s contingencies. This shared knowledge is an important subsidy to reflect upon participatory environmental interventions in vulnerable conditions.
Agricultural technologies are debated and contested. Studying the socio-political life of agricultural research can help us to understand why some particular technologies or pathways are favoured (and others not) and eventually why expectations are maintained or not. We studied the 30-year trajectory of practices of Conservation Agriculture in the central region of Mexico. The results of our interviews and literature review show how, over the course of time, Conservation Agriculture (CA) technology has successively changed from being referred to as Conservation Tillage, Direct Seeding, Conservation Agriculture and has now, finally become integrated within Sustainable Intensification. These changes are connected with revamped narratives and the applications of the latest research and development (R&D) paradigms. They were the result of new spaces for CA projects opening up after other spaces had closed, spaces that allowed the researchers, politicians, technicians and farmers to continue to engage in CA in a reconfigured way that fit the various agendas. The opening and closure of spaces for CA projects were the result of researchers being subject to, and taking advantage of, political changes and of politicians seeking new initiatives to support their agendas. This shows how research and politics are mutually dependent and how they generate a discontinuity of project interventions which, paradoxically, represent a continuity of agendas and research processes. As CA is both a complex and flexible technology, it has been possible to make it fit to accommodate the changing agendas of different actors.
It is well known that urbanisation and climate change are likely to induce more floods in existing flood-prone African cities. Previous contributions on the causes of flooding in urban areas mostly do not consider the actors involved in adaptation and do not acknowledge the diversity of knowledge they possess. In this study, the causes of urban floods in an African city are explored from an actor-oriented perspective. The Kendall coefficient of concordance method is used to analyse interviews with household members and community leaders living in flood-prone communities as well as technocrats involved in public flood adaptation at the metropolitan level. The level of agreement on the causes of flooding is low among the actors, making the case for integrating informal actors into the formal flood adaptation structures at the metropolitan level. This will harness the diversity of knowledge on how flood risk unfolds for the purpose of local adaptation to urban floods in African cities.
In this chapter, I aim to understand the politics around the National Afforestation Programme (NAP) and examine the interplay between the central Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF), the J&K Forest Department (FD), the State Forest Corporation (SFC), local NGOs and forest field-staff. The following questions are addressed in this chapter: what is the agenda of the NAP and how do various players associated with it interact with each other? What potential does the programme have for sustainable management of forest resources through local participation and partnership? How can the local state be understood in its divided role of both implementing the programme, and contravening the forest laws and regulations? In light of these questions, I examine the relations of power among players involved in forest management and highlight diverse forms of politics from national to local level.
Consumers, partnering with corporations and celebrities, are forming new alliances in international development through what we call 'Brand Aid' initiatives. At a time of shifting relationships between public and private aid, commodities are sold as the means of achieving development for recipients and good feelings for consumers simultaneously. In this article we first formalise our conceptual model of Brand Aid at the triple interface of causes, branded products and celebrities. Then we conduct a systematic empirical analysis of contemporary Brand Aid initiatives, including three in-depth case studies of 'Win One Give One', TOMS shoes and Product (RED). We argue that these not only use imaginaries of development to sell products to Northern consumers but also engage in the work of a 'story factory' - producing truths about international development and consumer engagement that make development appear simplified, manageable and marketable. We conclude that, in Brand Aid, the problems themselves and the people who experience them are branded and marketed to Western consumers (through celebritised multimedia story-telling) just as effectively as the products that will 'save' them.
A critical analysis of the post-Rio consensus on environment and development which questions the role of particular forms of internationalized elite scientific expertise. It asks why certain understandings of environmental change stick with such tenacity. In exploring this, the authors unravel the politics of knowledge surrounding policymaking, looking particularly at Ethiopia, Mali and Zimbabwe and their land and soils management. The book also looks at prospects for more inclusive, participatory forms of policymaking.
Although international development discourse considers the state as a crucial development actor, there remains a significant discrepancy between the official norms of the state and public services and the actual practices of political elites and civil servants.
This text interrogates the variety of ways in which state policies and legal norms have been translated into the set of practical norms which make up real governance in sub-Saharan Africa. It argues that the concept of practical norms is an appropriate tool for an ethnographic investigation of public bureaucracies, interactions between civil servants and users, and the daily functioning of the state in Africa. It demonstrates that practical norms are usually different from official norms, complementing, bypassing and even contradicting them. In addition, it explores the positive and negative effects of different aspects of this ‘real governance’.
In face of construction of rural development patterns, intentional projects, plans and programs are put into practice by certain social actors responsible for mediating between the local and technical-scientific knowledge. The formation of these actors has been organized linked to a reallocation of political and moral principles, which make the term mediation miss the allusion to dialectical social processes; it highlights mechanistic aspects instead. Thus, there are efforts in thinking about social change among farmers and about proposals for an alternative agriculture, less subordinated to the market and less dependent on technological packages. This requires changes in way of thinking of the researchers, development agencies and farmers. In light of a recent theoretical debate, this article presents some consistencies and inconsistencies identified in social mediation process involving farmers and technicians, showing the possibility of analyzing interface situations as a way to avoid simplifications in understanding the process.
This paper examines newly emerging patterns of agricultural extension in the context of wider liberalization of agricultural input supply, marketing and credit provision in Benin. It assesses whether the promises of privatisation were met in the case of the Sasakawa Global 2000 project. Thus, it assesses the extent to which service delivery became demand-orientated, flexible and effective in linking of new technology with complementary institutional designs. In order to gain insight in the dynamics through which such outcomes may be realized, the study zooms in on the process through which the project evolved. It is demonstrated that the PSG 2000 Bénin project did not contribute much to realizing the promises and expectations of privatized service delivery. An important conclusion is that whether services become ‘demand-oriented’ or not does not primarily depend on the formal funding and delivery arrangement, but rather on the quality of the process in which demand and supply are articulated and matched. This contradicts with the policy assumptions underlying privatization programmes.
Consumers, partnering with corporations and celebrities, are forming new alliances in international development through what we call ‘Brand Aid’ initiatives. At a time of shifting relationships between public and private aid, commodities are sold as the means of achieving development for recipients and good feelings for consumers simultaneously. In this article we first formalise our conceptual model of Brand Aid at the triple interface of causes, branded products and celebrities. Then we conduct a systematic empirical analysis of contemporary Brand Aid initiatives, including three in-depth case studies of ‘Win One Give One’, toms shoes and Product (red). We argue that these not only use imaginaries of development to sell products to Northern consumers but also engage in the work of a ‘story factory’ – producing truths about international development and consumer engagement that make development appear simplified, manageable and marketable. We conclude that, in Brand Aid, the problems themselves and the people who experience them are branded and marketed to Western consumers (through celebritised multimedia story-telling) just as effectively as the products that will ‘save’ them.
The scientific analysis and management of fisheries has been dominated by three institutional orthodoxies: state regulation, market exchange and community-based management. This paper argues that these static, substantive, metaphors obscure a consideration of the dynamic temporal interplay between stakeholders and their environment. To address this vacuity the paper outlines a process-sociological approach and applies it to the historical development of fisheries management in the Tam Giang Lagoon, in Central Vietnam. The analysis shows that the interplay between different groups of fishers, the Vietnamese state, and the lagoon environment, over time, structures future struggles. As such, this interplay needs to be understood as a causal force of its own in the development of fisheries management. Endorsement of the analysis raises important questions concerning the potential of policy and planning to control fisheries.
Capacity development in the subfield of the environment is a mode of planned intervention that has become one of the mainstays of development policy. Capacity development interventions are, however, characterized by a low level of success. Explored in this paper is the theoretical grounding for why planned interventions for capacity development in the environment often fail. Drawing on a review of mainstream systems theory and strategic management approaches, it is argued that these rely on overoptimistic assumptions about the institutional and social reality as manageable and controllable. An actor-oriented and constructivist approach is proposed as an alternative to improve our understanding of the unintended and unplanned outcomes of capacity development.
Agronomists (scientists and extensionists), despite the emergence of interactive approaches, still have troubles with (the introduction of) innovations, such as sustainable forms of agriculture. This article critically addresses such difficulties based on the evaluation of a project mainly concerning the introduction of Integrated Crop Management in a Greek village. Evaluation brought to light a number of ‘weaknesses’ which led to a rupturing of the project. Among them, despite the ‘triple bottom line’ and ‘interactive innovation’ rhetoric, the top-down and agro-scientific approach that was taken in practice, which resulted in bypassing the multifaceted nature of such projects and in misunderstandings among the parties involved, emerged as crucial. Therefore, prerequisites, in both theoretical and practical terms, of designs for interactive learning/innovation are outlined.
Community participation takes place when community members act together as subjects. It is argued here that community participation empowers when community members take decisions, or negotiate an equitable share in making the decisions that affect them. However, since participation takes place within a network of power relations it is not necessarily empowering but can take a range of forms from enforcement to empowerment, whereby empowerment may involve not only willing cooperation, but also resistance to outsider project objectives. This thesis explores these issues through a study of how people in three Philippine upland communities participated in soil conservation and livelihood restoration projects initiated by three different NGOs.
The principal aim of the study was to identify and examine the changing discourses of development and participation held by the NGOs and by the members of the subject communities. The development discourses revolved around socio-ecology, described as the relationship between the culture and society of Filipino subsistence smallholders and the ecological units of their local environment. The failure of this existing socio-ecology under the pressure of increasing population density on a limited upland resource base was the stimulus for change in the study communities. The thesis compares the NGOs’ practice of engaging with the communities with their discourses of participation, and examines the importance of the relationships between the NGOs, government agencies and the communities for the success of the projects.
The study identified several key factors in the empowerment of subject groups. Firstly, the need for a discourse that enables them to embark on socio-ecological change. For the Filipino communities examined here, the discourse of sustainability was validated by enabling the restoration of their livelihoods. Secondly, outside agencies, either NGO or government, may be needed to catalyse community change processes. Thirdly, the subjects need leaders who have the vision and skills to work for the desired livelihood and social development outcomes. Training activities of livelihood restoration proved highly significant in expanding women’s political space that led to opportunities for them to take up leadership, as well as giving capacity-building training for existing and future leaders which helped to equalize gender relations between men and women.
This paper explores how knowledge is exchanged between agricultural advisors and farmers in the context of sustainable farming
practices in England. Specifically the paper examines the nature of the knowledge exchange at the encounters between one group
of advisors, agronomists, and farmers. The promotion of best management practices, which are central to the implementation
of sustainable agricultural policies in England, provide the empirical context for this study. The paper uses the notion of
expert and facilitative approaches as a conceptual framework for analyzing knowledge exchange encounters between agronomists
and farmers. Data were derived from semi-structured interviews with 31 agronomists and 17 farmers, in the context of three
initiatives promoting a range of best management practices including (a) targeted use of nitrogen (N), (b) use of nutrients
within manure, and (c) management practices to improve soil structure. The interviews revealed that, although many agronomist–farmer
knowledge exchange encounters are characterized by an imbalance of power, distrust, and the divergence of knowledge, other
encounters provide a platform for the facilitation of farmer learning in their transition to more sustainable practices.
As agriculture develops, policy and management decisions increasingly focus on agricultural innovation emerging from utilizing
knowledge and/or technology. This paper considers models for underpinning knowledge and technology policy and management.
It describes the emergence of knowledge systems thinking. The system construct is applied to actors (individuals, networks
and institutions) involved in knowledge processes. These actors potentially form a highly articulated and complex whole. Knowledge
policy and management focus on measures that enhance the synergy between actors. Knowledge systems are viewed as “soft systems,”
i.e., they only become systems as a result of active construction and joint learning. The soft systems perspective facilitates
the identification of various knowledge system models, which have consequences for policy and management decisions with respect
to investment, design, and training. In an attempt to create a unifying theory for these models, it is posited that these
models are consistent combinations of innovation, knowledge process and structural configuration.
The sustainable management of soils, while constituting an important resource conservation concern in some contexts, has been neglected in the UK. However, this all seems set to change, with implications for various actors within the agricultural knowledge system. New policies designed to encourage the more sustainable management of soils in England together with the introduction of Soil Management Plans (SMP) as part of cross-compliance under recent Common Agricultural Policy reform mean that demands on agricultural advisors’ knowledge about soil will increase. This paper reports the findings of research into the nature and extent of agricultural advisors’ knowledge about soil best management practice. Specifically, it examines the ‘know-what’, ‘know-why’ and ‘know-how’ of soils among agricultural advisors through analysis of data collected from an extensive postal questionnaire survey of 162 advisors across England supplemented by qualitative data from semi-structured interviews with 64 advisors. The results show that as a community advisors are generally knowledgeable about soil best management practice and appear to be observing soil degradation, undertaking training, using guides, tools and recommending soil best management practice to a relatively large extent. The data however do indicate that different types of advisors hold different forms of knowledge to a different extent. They also reveal gaps in knowledge gained through practical experience about cultivation and using the nutrient value of manures. The paper concludes that advisors’ knowledge about soil and its sustainable management is considerably greater than earlier research on advisors’ environmental knowledge has suggested but that some areas will have to be significantly enhanced and standardised to meet the new policy challenges. The significance of the results is discussed in terms of the wider role advisors play in the transition from ‘production only’ goals towards those concerned with more sustainable practices in agriculture.
At a time when technological innovations are making our world increasingly smaller and our production systems are becoming increasingly more efficient, the benefits of economic growth and development as a whole have not been able to reach all of society. Indeed, many poor countries, characterised by their disadvantageous position in the global society and continuously plagued by weak governments, internal strife and natural disasters have missed out on many of the benefits of growth and development. Within countries that do gain advantage from the various developments of globalisation, significant groups continue to be excluded from the benefits of this new-found prosperity. It is quite significant that a generalised conclusion such as this is still a reality at the turn of the century, despite decades of national and international effort to promote development and combat poverty.
Concern about the agricultural soil resource in England has led to the introduction of a range of measures, which potentially challenge farmers' knowledge about the soil and its management. Our understanding however of how well-equipped farmers are with regard to effectively carrying out more complex and knowledge intensive sustainable soil management practices is limited. Specifically, by drawing on the concept of scientific and tacit forms of knowledge, this paper examines the knowledge of soils held by farmers through analysis of data collected from semi-structured interviews with farmers and agricultural advisors and supplemented with data from an extensive postal questionnaire survey of advisors. The data indicate that, while farmers are technically well informed, they can often lack the in-depth scientific knowledge required to implement more complex practices such as using the nutrient value of manures. They also reveal that, while most farmers have good knowledge of their own soils, their tacit knowledge of soil management can be weak, notably in relation to cultivation. The paper concludes that although farmers' knowledge about soil and its sustainable management appears in general to be well developed there are some areas, which need to be significantly enhanced and as such require both a policy response and further research effort.
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