Indigenous Knowledge and Development Monitor, December 1997

Maintaining seed diversity during the Green Revolution
Yunita T. Winarto


Many studies on the consequences of the Green Revolution mention the decline in the diversity of rice varieties as a result of the introduction of high-yielding varieties. Research among rice farmers on the north coast of West Java (Indonesia) has not only confirmed this decline, but also shed some light on the reasons why farmers have tended to opt for certain varieties. This article also looks at the activities of those farmers who kept on experimenting with rice varieties and thus maintained seed diversity.

At the start of the Green Revolution in Java in the early 1970s, high-yielding varieties of rice were introduced. Through the implementation of various rice intensification programmes, these gradually replaced the diversified range of traditional varieties. A further consequence was the decline of the bio-diversity of rice varieties (see e.g. Fox 1991; Shiva 1993; Pretty 1995). During the Green Revolution, all farmers were emphatically advised to plant a uniform, certified, high-yielding variety of rice in a block of rice field in the same planting schedule. In Ciasem Tengah, one of the villages where I carried out my research in 1990-92, the farmers used to follow this rule, under the influence of a prominent farmers' leader. But in the neighbouring village, Ciasem Baru, I found that each individual farmer made his or her own decisions on which variety to plant, while the rice was planted in separate blocks of "sawah" (rice field), without regard to any collective decision. I returned to the research area in 1996 (see also table 1). The data collected in Ciasem Baru form the basis for the present article, which examines over a longer period of time the reasons why farmers select a particular rice variety and how they obtain seeds.

Selecting rice: an overview

In her research among farmers in the Borneo village of Apau Ping, Setyawati (1996) found that "kepribadan" played a decisive role in the selection of those rice varieties best suited to their own personality. In the same way, I discovered that individual farmers in my area of research opted for "padi yang ngejodoh": paddy that suits his or her personal interest with respect to taste and yield. These had been the main considerations in selecting rice varieties prior to the Green Revolution. The trial-and-error method of selecting varieties was in common use. Individual farmers used to plant a wide range of varieties in their sawah (see table 1, first period).

Then, when the Green Revolution brought the first high-yielding varieties (HYVs) with their reputed unpalatable taste, farmers diversified their strategies. They planted the traditional long-stem varieties for their own consumption and short-stem or 'government' rice varieties for sale. Rice became both a commodity and a source of income.

Gradually, the government researchers managed to improve the palatability of HYVs. Farmers also learned about varieties that were resistant to pests, notably brown planthopper or BPH (Nilaparvata lugens. See photo). So they started to plant these varieties in an attempt to avert crop failures.

This move proved particularly relevant when in the mid-1970s farmers experienced severe damage to both their traditional and HYV crops, as a result of a BPH attack. In this way, the main objectives of farmers became a palatable rice for consumption, and high productivity combined with sustainability.

During the 1987/88 and 1989/90 planting seasons, the majority of farmers opted for productivity, sustainability and palatability, selecting a high-yielding variety--IR64--which was resistant to all types of BPH then known (Fox 1991; see also table 1, fourth period). Interestingly, however, individual farmers kept experimenting with other rice varieties. The remarkable performance of new varieties, with regard to such characteristics as number of stems, form of grains, healthy growth, and especially yield, was closely followed by these farmers. They exchanged seeds and tried out new varieties on their own sawah. The decision on whether to plant the new varieties again the following season was based mainly on palatability and the expected yield (Winarto 1993). In this way, a range of other varieties were always present in farmers' fields.

Then came the 1989/90 rainy season with an unprecedented attack by the white rice stemborer (WRSB), which caused severe damage to farmers' most favoured HYV (Winarto 1995). After that experience, they opted for 'safety-first', as noted by Wharton Jr. (1971) and Scott (1976). But this was an exceptional case. As a rule, farmers on the north coast of West Java give precedence to profitability, palatability and risk-avoidance in selecting rice.

The 1989/90 rainy-season experience damaged the reputation of IR64 as the most profitable and reliable variety, demonstrating that the choice of rice varieties is a context-specific decision. The fact that IR64 had been planted for three successive years confirmed that rotating and varying rice strands helped to reduce risks. The varying degree of damage which WRSB inflicted on different varieties provided an opportunity for farmers to make comparisons. The majority then chose to change and/or to diversify the rice varieties they were planting. Diversifying rice varieties was perceived as a way of spreading the risk, in case of a similar outbreak (see Johnson 1971). In the season following the severe outbreak (the 1990 dry season), the percentage of sawah planted with other varieties increased significantly (see table 1, fifth period).

This heterogeneity of rice varieties, their market value and the emergence of unexpected pests and disease in that season, provided a further opportunity for farmers to make comparisons. By evaluating the past results of each variety, they were able to make certain projections concerning its performance with regard to weather, pests and disease in the seasons to come. Economic considerations and capital also played an important part in their decisions, in particular for those who had experienced a poor harvest or total crop failure in the 1989/90 rainy season, and had been unable to pay their debts. Many of them decided to plant a fast-maturing variety with high productivity. Learning from past experience, in particular recurrent pest attacks in a heterogeneous environment, many farmers agreed that ideally they should plant what the community wanted them to plant. Hence, except for individual preferences, most farmers reverted to the recent practice of all growing the same variety in their individual blocks of sawah. Gradually, farmers regained their confidence in IR64, which most of them felt was still the most promising variety.

And yet individual farmers kept on planting a particular variety and kept on trying promising new varieties. In this way, diversity was maintained.

The three-year period encompassing the planting seasons 1989/90 and 1991/92 brought recurrent pest outbreaks, which helped to convince farmers that planting varieties that matured at different times in one block of rice field made crops susceptible to attack by pests and disease. They concluded that an appropriate planting schedule and a uniform harvesting schedule were necessary to prevent pest outbreaks (Winarto 1996). Through the same learning process, the farmers in Ciasem Baru learned that a palatable, local, uncertified variety called Muncul was far more resistant to attack by rats than IR64, due to its longer maturing period. The majority of farmers considered the productive capacity of Muncul of more importance than its susceptibility to BPH and thus adopted this variety in the 1996 dry season, developing a plan to replant IR64 in the 1996/97 rainy season. However, a number of farmers still consistently opted for IR64. Thus despite the continued heterogeneity, a consensus on the seasonal rotation of different varieties emerged.

Dynamics of seeds exchange

The recommended method of obtaining seeds of good quality is to purchase certified seeds from the "kiosk" (shops), the distributor of officially certified seeds. However, farmers often complain that not all of the seeds grow well and many prefer to exchange seeds or purchase them from other farmers and/or harvest-labourers. In order to get the best buy, the farmer first has to collect the specific seed history. This important information includes the number of seasons the seeds have already been planted and replanted, and their latest performance. Direct observation of the seed performance is an important selection method. Through this mechanism, farmers reject less succcessful seeds in favour of those of better quality.

Depending on the farmers' social network, the seeds may come from far away or from adjacent areas: they exhange seeds or purchase them from harvest labourers who earned the harvest-share or collected the left-over seeds; some also purchase seeds from middlemen or other farmers who come from adjacent or distant places; they acquire seeds from parents or relatives living in another district, or even collect seeds from their neighbour's plot without his knowledge. In my research I came across a locally-named red rice variety which originated in the hinterland of West Java and was brought to Ciasem Baru directly by one farmer. Through farmer-to-farmer transmission, this variety was planted by a number of farmers in the 1991 dry season (Winarto 1996). After that season, however, it was no longer considered suitable for replanting, whereas the seeds of Muncul, which in the 1990 dry season was likewise initially planted by only a few farmers only, has gradually been widely disseminated through farmer-to-farmer seeds exchange.

These examples reveal the dynamics of seeds preservation and dissemination. We see here not only a flow of seeds, but also a flow of information and knowledge about the origin and performance of the seeds which may lead to a wider distribution. Conversely, where performance is disappointing, the flow will stop (see Winarto 1996).

Readopting the 'traditional' variety

In the 1991/92 rainy season, several farmers replanted the old long stem variety of fast-maturing rice, Gènjah Melati. In my research area, this variety is commonly known as "Padi Clingkrik", a reference to the fact that local officials used to plant this rice along the edges of farmers' sawah by squatting on the dikes, wearing their shoes. They had to rely on the farmers' generosity since there were no common lands provided for them to carry out cultivation for their own consumption and as a source of income.

This variety was replanted by few farmers after transplanting the main paddy in their sawah. To harvest this long-stem paddy, they used their traditional knife known as an "ani-ani" (see photo). They then brought the harvest home in the old way, by tying up bundles of stems. How did these farmers get these traditional seeds? One farmer had purchased seeds from a farmer in the adjacent village who had moved there from the hinterland of West Java. Another farmer acquired seeds from his son, who had stolen a handful of grain from the paddy planted in the adjacent village, by pulling out the stems during harvesting time (Winarto 1996). Although only a few farmers continued to plant Padi Clingkrik in the period 1992-1996, their activities were sufficient to preserve the Gènjah Melati variety, as well as another long-stem traditional variety and a red-glutinous variety.

It is remarkable that the farmers who planted these long-stem varieties again not only readopted their traditional cultivation practices, but also increased their knowledge of the cultivation of these varieties in a recent rice ecosystem. This, coupled with the adoption of other varieties by other farmers, led to the conservation of traditional as well as local and official high-yielding varieties.

Policy and research implications

External factors such as pest outbreaks and government's directives have forced farmers to abandon the traditional and improved rice varieties, leading to a decline in the heterogeneity of crops. By continuing their own practices in the selection of seeds, farmers have recently brought about a promising return to increasing genetic diversity and crop sustainability. Farmers are interested in experimentation, and are proficient in carrying out experiments with rice varieties (see also Richards 1986). Unfortunately, these skills have not yet been recognized by, nor incorporated into the Indonesian government's efforts to maintain bio-diversity and improve rice varieties. It is high time that farmers were perceived as partners, from the early stage of breeding rice, right up to the planting experiments in the farmers' own fields. Experimenting with farmers in their own fields can break down the 'barriers' between the world of experts and the world of farmers. If the government wants to initiate such a collaboration, it will have to evaluate the research and development policies, institutions and infrastructures. And even then, in view of the farmers' position and their limited resources, the programme would only be successful if the farmers received adequate incentives and appreciation for their experiments, as well as certain guarantees which would help them cope with unexpected risks, problems and failure.

Yunita T. Winarto
Department of Anthropology
Faculty of Social and Political Sciences
University of Indonesia
Kampus UI-Depok
Depok 16424
Indonesia
Fax: +62-21-787 2820.
Home: tel/fax: +62-21-749 4870.
E-mail: yunita@makara.cso.ui.ac.id

References

Fox, J. (1991) 'Managing the ecology of rice production in Indonesia', pp. 61-84 in J. Hardjono (ed.) Indonesia: resources, ecology, and environment. Singapore: Oxford University Press.

Johnson, A.W. (1971) 'Security and risk-taking among poor peasants: a Brazilian case', pp.143-150 in G. Dalton (ed.) Studies in economic anthropology. Anthropological Studies no. 7. Washington DC: American Anthropological Association.

Pretty, J.N. (1995) Regenerating agriculture: policies and practice for sustainability and self-reliance. London: Earthscan Publications.

Richards, P. (1986) Coping with hunger: hazard and experiment in African rice-farming system. London: Allen & Unwin.

Setyawati, I. (1996) 'Environmental variability, IK and the use of rice varieties', Indigenous Knowledge and Development Monitor 4(2):11-13.

Scott, J.C. (1976) The moral economy of the peasant: rebellion and subsistence in Southeast Asia. New Haven: Yale University Press.

Shiva, V. (1993) Monocultures of the mind: perspectives on biodiversity and biotechnology. London: Zed Books, and Penang: Third World Network.

Wharton, C.R. Jr. (1971) 'Risk, uncertainty and the subsistence farmer: technological innovation and resistance to change in the context of survival', pp.154-161 in G. Dalton (ed.) Studies in economic anthropology. Anthropological Studies no. 7. Washington DC: American Anthropological Association.

Winarto, Y.T. (1993) 'Farmers' agroecological knowledge construction: the case of integrated pest management among rice farmers on the north coast of West Java', Rural people's knowledge, agricultural research and extension practice. London: IIED Research Series 1(3):68-90.

Winarto, Y.T. (1995) 'State intervention and farmer creativity: integrated pest management among rice farmers in Subang, West Java', Agriculture and Human Values 12(4):47-57.

Winarto, Y.T. (1996) Seeds of knowledge: the consequences of integrated pest management schooling on a rice farming community in West Java. Unpublished Ph.D. thesis. The Australian National University, Canberra.

Highlights:
As a rule, farmers give precedence to profitability, palatability and risk-avoidance

Farmers reject less successful seeds in favour of those of better quality

Back to: top of the page | Contents IK Monitor 5(3) | IK Homepage
Suggestions to: ikdm@nuffic.nl
(c) copyright Nuffic-CIRAN and contributors 1997.