Im proving the performance of indigenous agricultural
hand tools and equipment used by women
Thailand's agricultural labour force is composed of a large
number of women. The National Economic and Social Development
Board (NESDB) estimates that 60% of all female workers are
engaged in agriculture. These women use a variety of
indigenous hand tools, most of which have been fabricated by
village blacksmiths on a cut-and-try basis or according to
their own designs. Often these tools do not suit the
physiology of women, as they have been fabricated basically
for men. Many are heavy and require more muscle power than
most women have. Tools and equipment need to be improved to
reduce fatigue, improve efficiency and to reduce (if not
eliminate) health risks. This requires scientific evaluation,
which is the focus of a research project at the Asian
Institute of Technology (AIT). AIT is an international
graduate school in engineering, management and planning and
related fields, based in Bangkok, Thailand. The project is
sponsored jointly by the Canadian International Development
Agency, AIT and the Canadian Universities Consortium. It is
being carried out by a research team from AIT's Agricultural
and Food Engineering Program. The team is led by Associate
Professor Dr. Vilas Salokhe.
As a first step, the research team surveyed different types of
hand tools used by female agriculture workers in Thailand: in
Buri Ram province in the northeast, Lampang province in the
north, Nakhon Sri Thammarat in the south, and in the eastern
provinces of Chanthaburi and Trat. Two of the main crops in
these areas are rice and rubber. Considerable use is made of
hand tools instead of modern machinery. As many as 16
different hand tools are used in rice farming and 12 in rubber
cultivation. Many of the women interviewed during the survey
expressed dissatisfaction with certain hand tools. Some of
them would like to improve these tools themselves but do not
know how. One example is the krae, a small hand tool
commonly used for harvesting paddy. It causes extreme
discomfort when used for long periods.
In addition to studying indigenous hand tools, the research
team is also examining the possibilities of modifying certain
indigenous practices, and perhaps even totally replacing them
with suitable equipment. An example is the tradition of
threshing rice by foot. This could be done instead by a small
pedal-operated paddy thresher especially designed for
women.
For further information, please contact:
Dr. Vilas M. Salokhe, Associate Professor in Agricultural and
Food Engineering, School of Environment, Resources and
Development, AIT, G.P.O. Box 2754, Bangkok 10501, Thailand.
Fax: +66-2-5162126.
Promotion of agroforestry/forest management through
local organizations in the eastern Himalayan
Region
This action-research project of the International Centre for
Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) was initiated in 1992
in protected, mountainous areas of Yunnan Province (China) and
eastern Nepal, with financial support from the John D. and
Catherina T. MacArthur Foundation. The partner organizations
responsible for implementing the project are the Kunming
Institute of Botany in Yunnan and a Nepali NGO (SAGUN). These
organizations are engaged in both education and research.
The aim of the project is to promote the intensification and
diversification of biomass production on private or
individually managed farmland, and to enhance farmers' sources
of subsistence and income by improving the management of
forests near to the protected areas. Because agricultural or
forestry extension services in remote areas inhabited by
tribal minority groups are weak, it is vital to strenghten the
capacities of local groups (traditional and newly created) for
absorbing new appropriate technologies and practices and for
promoting them among their community members in ways that are
suitable. In addition to having to cope with changes in the
availability of resources, residents of these areas are facing
challenges to their cultural traditions through increased
contact with the outside influences that accompany development
programmes, migration, tourism and government policies. The
strong spiritual values present in societies of this region,
expressed primarily in Buddhist, Hindu and animist practices
and beliefs, provide a quality-of-life dimension that is
subject to stress from modernising elements. Problems
resulting from these changes are reflected in psychological
stress, community conflicts, a loss of cultural traditions and
even a loss of biological diversity. These changes directly or
indirectly affect people's abilities to maintain sustainable
systems of survival and resource conservation.
A basic cornerstone of the project is the assumption that
transfer of technical knowledge cannot occur without first
strengthening local capacities and without outsiders first
acquiring an understanding of local land-use practices and the
cultural world view that helps shape them. Therefore, the
project began with the collection of ethno-ecological data on
practices of agroforestry, forest management, animal husbandry
and agriculture. This was done with the full participation of
the community members. Using an emic approach, researchers
elicited from farmers their own explanations for their
practices.
Besides documenting local indigenous knowledge of agro-
ecosystems in these two areas, the project teams hope to
develop an effective method for taking cultural dimensions
into account in development programmes involving natural
resource management. The result, they hope, will be a set of
practical guidelines.
More information can be obtained from:
Jeanette D. Gurung, project coordinator, ICIMOD, P.O. Box
3226, Kathmandu, Nepal. Fax: +977-1-5245 09.
Indigenous knowledge
systems for sustainable agriculture in developing countries:
towards an alternative approach to food shortage reduction in
Kenya and Indonesia
On 3 June 1993, the Leiden Ethnosystems And Development
Programme (LEAD) of Leiden University, as coordinator of the
Project 'Indigenous Knowledge Systems for Sustainable
Agriculture in Developing Countries: Towards an Alternative
Approach to Food Shortage Reduction in Kenya and Indonesia',
was granted a subsidy of some US$ 400,000 for a period of
three years. The project was selected for support under the
'Life Sciences and Technologies for Developing Countries STD-3
Programme' of the Commission of the European Communities.
The Advisory Committee of the Commission of the European
Communities has made the following positive
recommendations:
Drought planning and rainwater harvesting for arid-
zone pastoralists: the Turkana People (Kenya) and the Negev
Bedouin (Israel) - social constraints and
opportunities
This research project is funded by the Netherlands-Israel
Development Research Programme. It deals with the rural
knowledge systems and livelihood strategies of both the
Turkana of Kenya and the Bedouin of the Negev.
Pastoralists in arid zones are faced with profound
difficulties and changes in many parts of Africa and Asia. The
area available for grazing and the range of pastoral movements
have diminished in the present century due to the
establishment of nation states, population pressure and
agricultural expansion. The viability of nomadic pastoralism
has suffered, while the impact of drought has increased as a
result.
The research aims at contributing to the development of
socially acceptable drought-planning strategies and rainwater-
harvesting systems for arid-zone pastoralists. Planning for
drought as well as rainwater harvesting offers great potential
for increasing system viability and livelihood security for
arid-zone pastoralists under more limited grazing conditions.
The human factor and the aspirations of the people are,
however, critical for development. Hence, detailed data will
be collected on the rural knowledge systems and livelihood
strategies of the Turkana and the Bedouin, using
questionnaires and checklists. Aerial photographs will be used
for geographic and environmental information as well as for
mapping purposes.
The research period covers four years. The project started in
1993.
Contact: Prof. J.J. Akong'a, Department of Sociology
and Anthropology, Moi University, P.O. Box 3900, Eldoret,
Kenya.
or: Mr. E.S. Imbogo, Turkana Rehabilitation Project,
Ministry of Regional Development, P.O. Box 28, Lodwar,
Kenya.
or: Dr. H.J. Bruins, Social Studies Centre, J.
Blaustein Institute for Desert Research, Sede Boker Campus
84993, Ben Gurion University of the Negev, Israel.
or: Dr. M.M.E.M. Rutten, Wageningen Agricultural
University, Centre for Environmental Studies, P.O. Box 9101,
6700 HB Wageningen, The Netherlands.
Local Users, institutions and resource use in the
Himalayas
Institutions, existing technologies and people's behaviour
determine how resources will be used. In developing countries,
local, village-level institutions become important because
they mediate the influence on users of centrally created
institutions and policies on resource use. Many of the
institutions we examine in the context of Himalayan villages
provide sets of informal rules that have evolved over time,
often in tandem, sometimes in contradiction, to central
policies.
In India, research focusses on village forest councils. More
than 4000 of these have gradually come into being over the
last 60 years in five districts of the Uttar Pradesh
Himalayas. These councils have created and enforced rules
regarding forest use with varying degrees of success. Today,
owing to pressures of modernization and state intervention,
these traditional institutions face increasing challenges to
their authority.
In Bhutan research is aimed at understanding the bounds of the
informal rules that constitute the institutions' guidelines
for resource use patterns in almost all Bhutanese villages.
Research in both countries looks at patterns of forest use for
pasture and fuelwood.
In both India and Bhutan, as indeed in many other parts of the
world, national governments are seeking ways of increasing
local autonomy to improve resource management. It is in this
policy context that the research about traditional forms of
resource management assumes significance.
Those interested in more information about the research can
contact:
Arun Agrawal, Department of Political Science, the Tropical
Conservation and Development Program, 3324 Turlington Hall,
University of Florida, Gainesville, Fl 32611, USA.
or: Ura Karma, Senior Planning Officer, Planning
Commission, Royal Government of Bhutan, Thimphu, Bhutan.
Asian project with IK component
The Culture and Conservation Project is working to establish
long-term field research stations for studying methods for
managing protected areas. It works together with local people,
looking at relationships between culture, IK and conservation
in a 1.6 million hectare Kayan Mantarang nature reserve in
East Kalimantan. The project is being conducted by the
Indonesian Institute of Sciences, Directorate-General of
Nature Conservation and Protected Areas (PHPA) and the World
Wildlife Fund (WWF) in East Kalimantan. It is sponsored by the
Ford Foundation and the MacArthur Foundation. For more
information:
Dr. Herwasono Soedjito, Herbarium Bogoriense-LIPI, Jl Juanda
24, Bogor, Indonesia.
or: Dr. Timothy Jessup, WWF, Jl Pela 3, Gandaria
Selatan, Jakarta, Indonesia.
Layout for case studies on indigenous
soil and water conservation in Africa
The Centre for Development Cooperation Services (CDCS) of
the Free University, Amsterdam (The Netherlands) and the
International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED)
in London (United Kingdom) have started a joint research
programme on indigenous soil and water conservation in Africa
(see
also IK Monitor 1(1), section Communications -
Calls).
As of 15 October 1993, people from 13 African countries have
expressed willingness to prepare a case study. Research
proposals have been submitted mainly by researchers, but also
by staff of NGOs and government agencies. From several
countries--Tanzania, Ethiopia and Nigeria, for example--more
than 30 proposals have been received.
CDCS and IIED developed a layout for case studies on
indigenous soil and water conservation (SWC) in order to
provide participating researchers with a format to guide the
collection and analysis of information. Two concerns were
central to the development of the layout: how to keep the
number of questions to a minimum, and how to capture the
dynamics of indigenous SWC techniques.
Although the examples used are related to indigenous SWC in
Africa, it may well be that the layout can also be used in
Latin America and Asia. Comments and suggestions for improving
the layout will be greatly appreciated. (Chris
Rey)
Anyone interested in a copy of the layout and information on
the research programme, please contact:
Ben Haagsma, CDCS, Vrije Universiteit, De Boelelaan 1115, 1081
HV Amsterdam. Fax: +31-20-6462320.
IDRC program development
The research study 'Indigenous Knowledge Systems and
Sustainable Development; IDRC Program Development' carried out
by André Lalonde represents another step in IDRC's
ongoing efforts to explore the potential of Indigenous
Knowledge systems alone and integrated with science, to help
define viable, grass-roots sustainable resource management
strategies. The first task in this research study was to
develop a strategic traditional ecological knowledge (TEK)
framework. The second and most important task was to use the
strategic TEK framework to help define a programme 'niche' for
the Centre's present and future programming efforts with
TEK.
The research report is the latest initiative of IDRC to follow
up on commitments made last year to UNCED Agenda 21 (Chapter
26). A series of general and specific recommendations on
potential IDRC collaboration and networking with partners in
Canada and abroad are suggested in the report.
More information can be obtained from:
André Lalonde, R.R. #3, Wakefield, Québec
J0X3G0, Canada. Tel:+1-819-459 3591. Fax: +1-819-495 3237.