Indigenous Knowledge and Development Monitor, July 1998

Contents IK Monitor 6(2) | IKDM Homepage | Suggestions to: ikdm@nuffic.nl | (c) copyright Nuffic-CIRAN and contributors 1998.

Publications

Assies, W. (1997) Going nuts for the rainforest. Non-timber forest products, forest conservation and sustainability in Amazonia. vii + 96 pp. ISBN 90-5538-027-X. HFL 27.50 / £ 9.95 / US$ 18.50. Thela Publishers, Prinseneiland 305, 1013 LP Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
Fax: +31-20-620 3395.
E-mail: thesis@thesis.antenna.nl.
Dr Willem Assies is an anthropologist working with the Centre for Latin American Research and Documentation (CEDLA) in Amsterdam (the Netherlands). From 1994 to 1996 he studied the historic development and present organization of the gathering of Amazon nuts and wild rubber in the northern Bolivian Amazon region and the contiguous part of the Brazilian Amazon. The aim of his study was to assess whether the establishment of extractive reserves–where local communities would have the right to commercially extract non-timber forest products–could provide a sound ecological and socioeconomic basis for sustainable forest management. Local people have traditionally harvested non-timber forest products in a sustainable way, and it has been maintained that their acquired indigenous knowledge of such extraction practices could form the basis for strategies aimed at conserving the rainforest while helping to improve the living conditions of the local people.
The results of Assies’s study indicate that such claims should be carefully assessed. Rubber-tapping, collecting nuts, and agricultural cultivation are interrelated practices in an annual agro-extractive cycle. Traditionally, rubber-tapping was the cornerstone of sustainability, while Amazon nut gathering and agriculture were complementary activities. However, when rubber prices collapsed, agricultural expansion took place and the traditional sustainability was lost.
The book further describes how the Bolivian Amazon nut trade is dominated by the processing industries, and is further characterized by economies of scale, a tendency towards vertical integration designed to secure the supply of raw materials, and the emergence of a system of urban-based contract labour. This represents a serious obstacle to the democratization of the Amazon nut economy. The results of this study also contradict the view that non-timber forest products are extracted by ‘free’ communities of forest-dwelling people.
In conclusion, the author presents a somewhat disenchanted view of ‘traditional sustainability’ and the notion that the activities of the local Amazon rubber tappers are based on ecological wisdom. Initially, the rubber tappers used the idea of extractive reserves as an instrument in their struggle for land reform. In the course of this political struggle, the concepts of ‘traditional sustainability’ and ‘free rubber tappers behaving in an ecologically responsible way’ were introduced. This idealized picture does not reflect reality; moreover, it creates a false identity, modelled on an idealized and decontextualized view of ‘forest people’ as natural ecologists. Although the study does not explicitly address aspects of indigenous knowledge, its conclusions should be taken to heart by IK proponents. The study convincingly demonstrates that the value of indigenous practices–and indigenous knowledge–should not be idealized, but rather carefully evaluated in the context of both local livelihood strategies and the sociopolitical organization of the production processes. (K.F. Wiersum, Forestry section, Wageningen Agricultural University, the Netherlands)

Barnard, David (ed.) (1997) PRODDER, The Southern African development directory 1997/98 edition. 690 pp., with indexes. ISBN 0-7969-1860-0. Southern Africa: R 175 + R 25 for postage; international: US$ 80 (postage included). Published by Programme for Development Research (PRODDER), Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC), P.O. Box 32410, 2017 Braamfontein, South Africa.
Tel.: +27-11-482 6150.
Fax: +27-11- 482 4739.
E-mail: DBB@zeus.hsrc.ac.za
(See also IK&DM 6(1), where this publication was signalled in Preview: Important new books.)
This directory is a substantial work, not only because of its weight in kilograms (2040 gr) but also because of the quantity of information it contains regarding development-related organizations in the 14 member countries of the Southern African Development Community (SADC), namely Angola, Botswana, Congo, Lesotho, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Seychelles, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
More then 10 years ago, the Programme for Development Research (PRODDER) was established with the aim of fostering development research in the region of Southern Africa mainly by collecting and disseminating information about persons and organizations involved in the Southern African development process.
This 1997/98 edition of the Southern African Development Directory is the seventh. It has three parts. The first part consists of an introduction and several forewords, including one by Kofi Annan, Secretary-General of the United Nations. The second part is the core of the directory. It offers more than 600 pages of data on development-related organizations in the 14 SADC countries. There is a separate chapter for each country. Each chapter starts with basic data on the country involved, followed by a listing of development-related organizations that is ordered by sector. There are 55 such sectors, ranging from ‘adult basic education’, ‘housing’ and ‘social awareness’ to ‘business and commerce’, ‘research’ and ‘sport’. For each organization, data is presented in up to 12 fields: the name and address of course, but also fields such as mission statement, activities and target groups. The presentation of the information makes this reference manual easy to consult quickly. The amount of information is just enough to let the reader know whether or not the organization is relevant for the his or her purposes. The third and last part of the directory offers information about organizations that are involved in Southern Africa and have either a regional or an international orientation.
As one would expect, the information on development organizations in South Africa occupies a substantial portion of the directory: about 265 of the 690 pages. Compared with the two pages for the Seychelles or the 15 pages for Angola, it is clear where the emphasis lies as regards the process of development in the region.
Although the information in the directory can be accessed in different ways, I miss a thematic index . This would have been more precise than the current sectoral index. It was by chance, for example, that I happened to see that the Zimbabwe International Book Fair "encourages the indigenous publishing industry to make reading material available, accessible and affordable to all", and that the Zimbabwe Institute of Religious Research and Ecological Conservation has as its mission statement: "to encourage grassroots communities to develop and promote their traditional and religious potential and capacity to manage and utilise their indigenous forest resource base sustainablity". Of course I understand that a printed directory has its limitations, and the current directory is already very large. This is why I would welcome an online version that has more search options. Online access would increase the practical value of what is already a wonderful source of reference material.
(Gerard van Westrienen, staff member and information specalist, CIRAN-Nuffic, the Netherlands)

Bierschenk, Thomas, Pierre-Yves Le Meur and Matthias von Oppen (eds) (1997) Institutions and technologies for rural development in West Africa/Institutions et technologies pour le développement rural en l’Afrique de l’Ouest. 546 pp. ISBN 3-8236-1268-9. DM 120. Margraf Verlag, P.O. Box 105, D-97985 Weikersheim, Germany.
Fax: +49-7934-81 56.
This volume is the result of an international symposium organized by the University of Hohenheim (Germany). Held in Cotonou (Benin) in 1996, the symposium brought together African and European researchers in a variety of fields to discuss the role of institutional issues in West African development. The 48 contributions, divided equally between French and English, focus on three broad areas: Market and credit; Land tenure and property rights; and Research and extension. The underlying premise throughout is that institutional elements–or a lack thereof–can form a serious impediment to local and national development.
The first section, devoted to Market and credit, centres largely on issues of market flexibility, pricing, equality, and the incorporation of innovations. Most of these papers use crop-specific examples from Benin to illustrate the complex interplay between markets and local agricultural systems, and the role played by institutions. Land tenure and property rights are the focus of Part Two; here, most of the papers explore the relationship between the security and inscurity of land holdings and broader economic, ethnic and socio-political forces. The contributions in the final section, on Research and extension, focus on the role of various categories of institutions as catalysts for development. Examples of successful systems are presented alongside the failed ventures, which will no doubt fuel the ongoing debate on the varying roles of public- and private-sector institutions.
This immense work is broad and inclusive, and each section contains several thought-provoking pieces. However, the majority of the contributions are characterized by sweeping generalizations rather than substantial research, and the editors themselves do not comment on the various contributions to key issues and topics. In addition, this volume suffers from a flaw which is common among works devoted to institutional capacity: the general lack of truly grassroots perspectives, such as those dealing with indigenous knowledge (IK). Such viewpoints are crucial to an understanding of the shortcomings of the institutions and technologies involved in development, and yet many of these papers totally disregard IK and its correlates. Nonetheless, this volume will be of interest to anyone involved in national and local institutional development, particularly in West Africa.
(B.L. Myer, Department of Social Anthropology, University of Cape Town, South Africa)

Crutchley, Victor (1996) Inventors of Zambia. A portrait of Zambian fundis. 104 + iv pp. ISBN 0-9529469-0-4. £ 6.80 (postage to Europe included). Eggardon Publications, North Eggardon Farm House, Powerstock, Bridport DT6 3ST, UK.
Fax: +44-1308-485 332.
Victor Crutchley worked in Zambia from 1985 to 1991, originally as a VSO British volunteer. His job description was ‘Appropriate Technologist’ with one of the Integrated Rural Development Programmes; this entailed training local craftsmen and developing local skills and materials. But he acknowledges that he learnt as much from the Zambian "fundis", or ‘skilled people’ as they did from him. During the latter years of his stay in Zambia, he recorded many of the designs, inventions and adaptations of fundis he happened to meet or searched out through their informal networks.
The book contains only a brief introduction to the country itself, but it addresses the key question of the origin of inventiveness, and the factors which promote or inhibit it. Are they rooted in the family and traditional life, or are they external stimuli, originating in formal education, travel and trade?
The book then goes on to describe the products, skills and personal histories of over 30 fundis in the Northern and Southern Provinces. The simple but effective black-and-white sketches by the author are an essential element of the book. Alongside the portraits of mechanics, carpenters, tanners, machinists, designers and house builders, there is an array of implements, gadgets and adornments--Scotch carts, motorised welders, cultivators, muzzle-loaders, pottery kilns, fuel-saving stoves and ovens, rotary blowers, hydraulic rams, and machines to make chain links. Crutchly has given us a prime example of how experimentation and adaptation increase the intrinsic worth of indigenous knowledge.
The book works very well for a Northern readership, highlighting the skills of talented individuals in Southern Africa, unrecognised by the formal world of technical training and engineering. If that is indeed the aim of the author, then all is well.
Is it valuable to a Zambian readership? There is the obvious problem of accessibility, despite the fact that it is reasonably priced by Northern standards. The local audience of NGOs, technical trainers, and policy-makers need to know how to develop and exploit the skills of many more young Zambians. What they want is ideas on how to replicate the success of these 30 fundis, how to develop both their skills and the market for their products. If they are only a collection of uniquely inventive people with natural abilities, then this record of their inventions is much less useful. Where should young Zambians go for courses and on-the-job training? How can they get in touch with the institutions where these fundis learnt and honed their talents? Where do fundis find their materials, those ubiquitous Land Rover parts and other inputs? Notwithstanding its warmth and conviction, the scope of the book provides no more than a brief examination of these issues.
(Mike McCall, Social Sciences, ITC, Enschede, the Netherlands)

Grifo, Francesca and Joshua Rosenthal (eds) (1997) Biodiversity and human health. 378 pp. ISBN 1-55963-501-0. US$ 50 (cloth); US$ 29.95 (paper). Island Press, 1718 Connecticut Avenue N.W., Suite 300, Washington, D.C. 20009-1148, USA.
Fax: +1-202-234-1328.
Biodiversity and human health examines the consequences of biodiversity loss for human health. It is one thing to live in a world without exotic animals, but, as I have pointed out elsewhere 1 quite another to suffer from Chagas’ disease, as some 18 million people in Latin America do. This is a condition precipitated by the destruction of the forests and the mammals that previously served to contain the host/vector relationship of Trypanosoma cruzi. The book consists of the proceedings of a 1995 national conference, and its 16 chapters by experts from various disciplines are divided into four sections:
- Causes and consequences of biodiversity loss for human health;
- Drug discovery from biological diversity;
- Biodiversity and traditional health systems;
- An agenda for the future: conserving biodiversity and human health.

The various contributions point out that biodiversity can contribute to the health of people already enjoying the best of scientific biomedicine, and indirectly cautions industrialists and investors who are contributing to the decline in biodiversity that they themselves could contract some disease or be deprived of a cure due to the depletion of the tropical rainforests. The fact that Biodiversity and human health puts forward persuasive arguments in support of this warning is to its credit.
For more informed scholars, however, it is elementary and repetitious, with too few data and even less in the way of analysis. Its basic flaw is that it emphasizes the value of biodiversity in terms of biomedicine and human health, more or less disregarding how medicinal plants and biodiversity affect the livelihood of indigenous peoples.
What is needed is a follow-up, which would examine:
– how biomedical prospecting for promising drug leads has resulted in the depletion of native herbs;
– how the health of indigenous peoples can be improved by prospecting for promising drug leads;
– how the economies of indigenous peoples can be positively improved through collaboration between biomedical and ethnomedical practitioners of biodiversity conservation, and the exchange of medical information.

Without due consideration for the health of native peoples, national programs focusing on biodiversity and human health will contribute little to the total well-being of the communities where ‘drug prospecting’ is conducted. The health and prosperity of indigenous peoples is essential to biodiversity, for it is they who are the guardians and caretakers of the world’s tropical forests.
To sum up, the value of this book lies in its message that herbal medicines provide effective cures, that alternative medical systems afford therapeutic possibilities ignored by biomedical systems, and that loss of biodiversity means more disease and fewer cures. It does not discuss the effects which the dominant political economy of the industrial nations has upon biodiversity and the health of the peoples of the non-Western world. Nevertheless, Biodiversity and human health is a worthwhile book, and required reading for students in environmental science, medicine, and botany.
(Joseph W. Bastien, Department of Anthropology, University of Texas at Arlington, USA)

1 Joseph W. Bastien, Kiss of death: Chagas’ disease in Latin America. Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press 1998.

Hoodfar, Homa (1997) Between marriage and the market. Intimate politics and survival in Cairo. xviii + 302 pp. ISBN 0-520-209825-0. US$ 45 (cloth); US$ 16.95 (paper). Comparative Studies on Muslim Societies No. 24. Published by University of California Press, 2120 Berkeley Way, Berkeley, CA 94720 USA.
Toll-free ordering fax (USA and Canada only): 1-800-999 1958; from outside North America fax: +1-609-883 7413. Please give keycode 7N6900.
The research on which this book is based started in Cairo (Egypt) in 1984 and the fieldwork was finished only in 1994. Research methods included participatory observation, questionnaires and semi-structured interviews. The author, who is from Iran, explored such social institutions as kinship, marriage and migration from the perspectives of culture, religion and gender. The book focuses on a Muslim low-income group in a suburb of Cairo. It deals mainly with the marriage politics and survival strategies of the members of this community.
This book is unique in its description of the marriage choice of the low-income Muslim community in the suburbs of Cairo: marriage is not the unification of two souls, but rather an alliance of the economic interests of two families. In most cases it is based on the kinship or residence network, and the brides are usually relatives on the mother side. The mother of the bride-to-be plays a very important role in negotiating the "mahr", an asset for the bride should she later divorce or be widowed. The gender division of labour is deep-rooted: men are the breadwinners, and women are responsible for the home. Sons are considered important because they continue the family line, and often women have to give birth to many daughters until a son is finally born. While parents know that daughters would love and care for them, they would not be able to protect them as sons would. Moreover, if a woman cannot bear a son, she may be looked down upon by unkind neighbours. In the Muslim culture, polygamy is permissible, and for economic reasons women often prefer to remain married rather than seek a divorce.
The research presented here undermines many of the stereotypes associated with the ‘traditional’ woman within Muslim society. The author suggests that although many women living in poor neighbourhoods may appear to be embracing traditional Muslim values and practices, they are actually manipulating and redefining them. There were also changes in other aspects of society during the ten-year research period, such as the custom of veiling. In the 1980s, young women did not feel respected if their suitors required them to veil. But in the 1990s we see that many married women, especially educated women, prefer to veil. Not only do they consider it ‘modern’ to do so, but they also feel more safe when they go out to work. As the author says: the veil is a powerful symbol that proclaims loud and clear to society at large, and to husbands in particular, that the wearer is bound by the Islamic concept of her gender role.
This book paints a vivid picture of one aspect of the life of the indigenous society. I especially enjoyed the gender dimension, as reflected in the statements of the interviewees. The author also uses simple statistics to help readers understand the issues.
(Yang Fang, Centre for Integrated Agricultural Development (CIAD), China Agricultural University, Beijing, P.R. China)

Lawas, Maria Corazon Mendoza (1997) The resource user’s knowledge, the neglected input in land resource management. The case of the Kankanaey farmers in Benguet, Philippines. 311 pp. ISBN 90-6164-137-3. HFL 30. ITC Publication Number 52. International Institute for Aerospace Survey and Earth Sciences (ITC), P.O. Box 6, 7500 AA Enschede, the Netherlands.
Fax: +31-53-4874 400.
Maria Corazon Mendoza Lawas was born in a small village near Batangas, on Luzon Island in the Philippines. When she started her studies at ITC in the Netherlands, she already had a master of science degree in Agricultural Extension and Community Development, and the publication reviewed here is her dissertation (University of Utrecht), which was funded by the Directorate General for International Cooperation. At present she is Senior Planning Officer at the Department of Agrarian Reform in Manila.
In the last ten years GIS (Geographical Information System) has become the single most important instrument for urban and rural planners. The aim of this study is to acquire a better understanding of the level of knowledge of those using the system, notably farmers. The author presents a theoretical model and framework, various possible approaches, and a number of links to existing conventional knowledge (notably through GIS). The Kankanaey farmers in Buguias, the Philippines, feature in a case study.
The author deals with the efficient use of various instruments, ranging from interviews with farmers to remote sensing, and includes an extensive literature review of theories and concepts pertaining to knowledge, the environment and human behaviour. It is interesting to see how she establishes the concept of resource users’ knowledge, which she considers a more appropriate term than indigenous knowledge. A precise definition of the concept of resource users’ knowledge is not given.
To illustrate how farmers have adapted to changing natural and socioeconomic conditions, Lavas presents an historical account of the area under study. She made use of other publications, aerial photographs, remote sensing, and farmers’ accounts, and the data were transferred to a GIS environment for adaptation. This enabled the author not only to determine where deforestation first started, but also to manipulate and analyze the farmers’ environmental knowledge and their utilization of fields. The major conclusions were as follows:
– There is a spatial relationship between farmers’ field activities and their knowledge of the environment.
– Their response behaviour depends on their cognitive view of the environment.
– Farmers’ knowledge has a rational basis.

All this makes farmers’ knowledge both valuable and comparable to scientific knowledge. It is suggested that collaboration with resource users is of prime importance in any resource management undertaking. The study also provides more insight into the details of farmers’ knowledge. For instance, the Kankanaey farmers demonstrated a more refined knowledge of soil classification than the Bureau of Soil and Water Management of the Philippines. They also have an intimate knowledge of the depletion of soil fertility, which they acknowledge to be their most serious problem.
This study is unique in that it integrates resource user knowledge and scientific knowledge in a GIS which is designed to support planning and decision making in natural resource management. However, it does not compare its findings with those for other areas in the Philippines. Moreover, specific techniques for collecting data from farmers are not elaborated, making it difficult to compare the study with other comparable research.
(Bram de Hoop, Nuffic, The Hague, the Netherlands)

Mutsaers, H.J.W., G.K. Weber, P. Walker and N.M. Fisher (1997) A field guide for on-farm experimentation. xv + 235 pp. ISBN 978-131-125-8. US$ 25; cheque should be written in favour of International Institute for Tropical Agriculture (IIATA) and addressed to: Distribution officer, c/o L.W. Lambourn & Co., Carolyn House, 26 Dingwall Road, Croydon CR9 3EE, UK.
Fax: +44-181-681 8583.
In recent years the concept of on-farm agricultural research has gained widespread acceptance, as scientists acknowledge the value of indigenous agricultural knowledge in shaping sustainable development. The methodology employed in this brand of participatory research takes many different forms, however, and there have been relatively few attempts to present a standardized approach for institutions undertaking on-farm research for the first time. This book, a revision of the earlier A field guide for on-farm research, aims to fill this gap by presenting in pragmatic detail almost every step involved in setting up an on-farm research project.
Each section is divided into the various stages prescribed for on-farm research. The initial chapters are concerned with identifying the precise type of research required and selecting research sites. Later sections are devoted to the various stages of field research, from conducting and analyzing pilot surveys to designing on-farm trials and subsequent statistical analyses. The content of the book is eminently practical, addressing almost every detail involved in designing and carrying out effective research. Moreover, the chapters are clearly written, and make generous use of illustrations and case studies to clarify more complex ideas. The more technical information--on statistical techniques--is relegated to two annexes.
There appear to be few details to which the authors of this guide have not turned their attention. However, this thoroughness comes at a price. One might question the flexibility of the practices prescribed here. For instance, all of the practical experience which the authors draw upon is based in tropical Africa, and little effort has been made to include on-farm research efforts from other ecogeographic regions. In addition, the book addresses mainly quantitative approaches to data collection and analysis, giving very little attention to qualitative approaches, which are of particular significance in any type of participatory research.
Regardless of these potential drawbacks, this book remains an important tool for institutions seeking to implement any type of on-farm research. The scope may be somewhat narrow, but this is more than compensated for by the precise detail, which makes it easy to put the various approaches into practice.
(B.L. Myer, Department of Social Anthropology, University of Cape Town, South Africa)

Ndione, Emmanuel, Philippe De Leener, Mamadou Ndiaye, Pierre Jacolin and Jean-Pierrer Perier (1995) The future of community lands: human resources. 236 pp. ISBN 1-85339-248-0. £ 14.95. Intermediate Technology Publications, 103/105 Southampton Row, London WC1B 4HH, UK.
Fax: +44-171-436 2013.
While there is no shortage of books which take a critical view of development in its numerous forms, considerably fewer authors present tangible and realistic suggestions on how to make the mechanisms of development more effective and better suited to local communities. This is due in part to the complexities of global systems and social change, and indeed much of the criticism is aimed at the paradigms of institutions and the automatic assumptions of practitioners. But often it is difficult to back up such abstract arguments with clear suggestions on the way forward. The present volume, the work of researchers at Enda Graf in Belgium and Senegal, goes as far as any recent volume in presenting a concise critique of standard approaches to development, together with substantial recommendations for a new approach aimed at effective development.
The 15 chapters are divided into three parts. By way of introduction, the brief first section focuses on the contexts in which development takes place, including the complex interplay of local history and culture. The second part is devoted to an analytical critique of development, which sketches the way various external actors operate locally. Throughout these four chapters, a running case study of afforestation projects in West Africa explores the international dynamics of development, various project types, the structures of participation, and the power dynamics behind all these aspects.
The third and largest section presents two case studies of successful development initiatives in Senegal, going on to define the lessons which helped to achieve that success. The authors manage to fuse theoretical discussions on the clash of various approaches with practical ideas on how to approach community participation. Here a premium is placed on local knowledge and flexibility, and readers of the Indigenous Knowledge and Development Monitor will appreciate the implicit focus on indigenous knowledge which is maintained throughout.
The future of community lands is well-written and will be appreciated by anyone working in the development field. Extension workers and students, in particular, may find its blend of theory and practice useful, and its applicability is by no means limited to Sub-Saharan Africa.
Among the countless studies promoting various paths towards successful development, this volume is distinguished by its effective combination of theoretical discourse with local realities. The result is one of the few truly substantial new guides to locally driven development.
(B.L. Myer, Department of Social Anthropology, University of Cape Town, South Africa)

Oneka, Michael (1996) On park design: looking beyond the wars. Tropical Resource Management Papers Number 13, Wageningen Agricultural University. viii + 145 pp. ISBN 90-6754-435-3 / ISSN 0926-9495. HFL 25 (postage included). Order from: Wageningen Agricultural University, Liaison Office, P.O. Box 9101 6700 HB Wageningen, the Netherlands.
Fax: +31-317-484 292.
E-mail: erik.frederiks@alg.kb.wau.nl
This book is the commercial edition of the author’s dissertation (Department of Ecological Agriculture, Wageningen Agricultural University, the Netherlands). It focuses on the design of parks in war-torn countries, using cases drawn from Uganda’s Murchison Falls Park area during the 1980s. The central premise is that nature reserves are highly complex systems. In the author’s view, successful parks address inherent institutional needs, as well as biological and ecological requirements. They have an institutional system capable of addressing the socioeconomic and political dynamics operating outside its borders including poverty, environmental degradation, and war.
Although these are the stated themes of the book, in general, it fails to address these topics. Instead, it is largely concerned with the biological and ecological aspects of floral management within the nature reserve itself. Some elements focus on changes in vegetation in the course of decades (chapters 3 and 4), the implications of floral management strategies which rely on controlled burning (chapters 5 and 6), the impact of large herbivores on vegetation changes (chapters 6 and 7), and the effects of various interventions to curtail poaching (chapter 8).
As in many treatises on the design of nature reserves, the human element is conspicuously absent from this volume. There is no mention of local environmental knowledge or its potential contribution to successful park management. As a result, readers interested in the interactions between local people and protected areas may feel somewhat let down by the general lack of support for the central theme of the book. However, the opening and closing chapters of this book are refreshing in their call for a broader approach to the design and management of nature reserves. For those involved in either of these aspects, the original approach employed here may well make it worthwhile reading.
(B.L. Myer, Department of Social Anthropology, University of Cape Town, South Africa)

Put, Marcel (1998) Innocent farmers? A comparative evaluation into a government and an NGO project located in semi-arid Andhra Pradesh (India), meant to induce farmers to adopt innovations for dryland agriculture. 427 pp. ISBN 90-5538-028-8. US$ 28.50. THELA Publishers/THESIS Publishers, Amsterdam, Prinseneiland 305, 1013 LP Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
Fax: +31-20-620-33 95.
E-mail: office@thelathesis.nl
This is a sound if conventional comparative study of two agricultural development projects in semi-arid regions of India. One is a government project and the other a non-government project, but both involve a dryland agricultural intervention. The essential aim of the study is to draw policy-related conclusions from the comparison. It makes a slow and heavy start, however, because of the theoretical reflections and long justifications of methodology with which it begins.
Chapters 4 and 5 present excellent background material–a rich sociography of the Andhra Pradesh region of India and the villages that were studied. An analysis of recent policies of the Government of India and the activities of a growing number of NGOs (in chapters 6 and 8) casts further light on the wider socio-political context of the research. Chapters 7 and 9 introduce the two projects under study: the Maheswaram watershed project, which is funded by the World Bank and implemented by the Government of Andhra Pradesh; and a project conducted by an NGO called AWARE.
The most interesting part of the book is the evaluation of the two projects’ ‘effectiveness’. It is interesting particularly if one asks: effective for whom? Indeed, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD 1988 1) provides a practical working definition of such an ‘evaluation’, albeit that it remains economically biased. Although the author has taken this bias into account as he discusses the projects’ ‘sustainability’ and ‘wider impact’, we have learned that the objectives of development projects are not always the objectives of the target populations. Sometimes project objectives even conflict with the interests of the local participants. The author does not address this rather significant issue. Particularly in conjunction with the current debate regarding the need to protect local peoples’ rights to natural and intellectual property, this is an unfortunate omission.
For both projects, the author poses an intriguing question. Have the farmers been the victims or the beneficiaries of the project interventions? He also presents an interesting analysis of indigenous technologies for water conservation, soil conservation, and various forms of crop management. These technologies are compared with the ones recommended by the government and the NGO. Here the results confirm the fact that no matter what information local farmers receive from project workers, they persistently rely for advice on their own indigenous sources of information–on their own local peers and relatives. Of the technologies recommended, only the indigenous ones were adopted on a large scale; the ‘modern’ technologies were left far behind. Not surprisingly, the NGO--despite its small staff and limited organizational structure– managed to put its participatory orientation into practice, and as such seems to have been more ‘effective’ in reaching the local farmers.
The final strength of the study is well expressed in the section containing recommendations for future agricultural research and extension. The author stresses the need to examine and understand not only the positive aspects of indigenous technologies for dryland agriculture and the perceptions and beliefs they are based on, but also the negative aspects.
While the study has certainly paved the way for more research on dryland farming and other types of agro-ecosystems in India, this reviewer hopes that such future interdisciplinary studies will begin with an examination of indigenous perceptions, practices and cosmologies.
(L. Jan Slikkerveer, Leiden University, the Netherlands)

1 Evaluation in developing countries: a step in a dialogue. Paris: OECD 1988.

Roshetko, James M. and Ross C. Gutteridge (eds) (1996) Nitrogen-fixing trees for fodder production: a field manual. 125 pp. US$ 9 (plus shipping and handling charges). Forest, Farm, and Community Tree Network (FACT Net), c/o Winrock International, 38 Winrock Drive, Morrilton, Arkansas 72110-9537, USA.
Fax: +1-501-727 5417.
In small-scale farming, livestock play an important role. Most often livestock graze fallow fields, pastures and woodlands, deriving most of their sustenance from crop residues, grasses and other herbaceous plants. Trees are only a small component of their diet, which is why the potential use of trees for fodder has long been neglected in the discussion of animal foodstuffs. However, we have gradually gained a better understanding of how the most important fodder trees, nitrogen-fixing trees or NFTs, are able to fix atmospheric nitrogen in a form they can use for growth. As a result, the past few years have seen new interest in both the discussion and related research. We know that this ability of NFTs to fix nitrogen enables them to tolerate infertile sites and to produce protein-rich fodder without high inputs of artificial N-fertilizer. Indigenous knowledge and practices related to NFTs for fodder are examined here in terms of their relevance not only for livestock, but also for the improvement of soil fertility, and the afforestation of degraded lands.
This manual was written by the participants in an international workshop on nitrogen-fixing trees for fodder which was held in Pune (India) from 20 to 25 March 1995. It provides a comprehensive overview of the practical techniques and methods used in the cultivation and multiplication of NFTs for fodder production. It covers not only such topics as seed collection, fodder tree establishment, species selection, and nutritive value, but also the possible problems and constraints. The methods proposed to explore the potential of NFTs in different ecological habitats, and to integrate the cultivation of NFTs into different production systems will be of interest not only to development agencies, but also to local communities.
Moroever, this manual examines the considerable potential of NFTs for the sustainable development of agro-forestry and agro-pastoralism. Given their excellent properties, such as high nutritive value, productivity even after repeated harvesting, fast growth, and easy propagation, NFTs are regarded as important contributors to both animal production and ecological conservation in arid or semi-arid areas.
There are highly useful appendices, including a list of suppliers of seeds and inoculants, and fact sheets on the species of NFT fodder trees available in different countries.
In short, the manual provides up-to-date information on NFTs, and is therefore a must for all scholars, scientists and students in the broad field of NFT development and nitrogen-fixing biology, as well as for the farmers, extension workers, practitioners and policy makers for whom foodstuff supplements which can be produced in a sustainable way represent a major contribution to the sustainability of livestock husbandry.
(Ning Wu, Chengdu Institute of Biology, Chinese Academy of Science, P.R. China)

Seeland, K. (ed.) (1997) Nature is culture. Indigenous knowledge and socio-cultural aspects of trees and forests in non-European cultures. 152 pp. ISBN 1-85339-410-6.£ 15.95; US$ 30.95. Intermediate Technology Publications Ltd., 103-105 Southampton Row, London WC1B 4HH, UK.
Fax: +44-171-436 2013.
Since classical antiquity the dichotomy between nature and culture has been firmly established in Western thought. In the authoritative works by C.J. Glacken, Traces on the Rhodian shore: nature and culture in Western thought from ancient times to the end of the eighteenth century (Berkeley & Los Angeles: University of California Press 1967) and, more recently, S. Schama, Landscape and memory (London: Fontana Press 1995), it has convincingly been argued that the relationship between civilization and nature is far more complex than the nature/culture dichotomy suggests. And yet this distinction is still widespread in much of the current thinking on nature conservation and management. In most efforts to conserve forests, for example, the latter are seen either as natural resources which provide mankind with valuable products, or as elements of nature which must be preserved for their global environmental capacities and/or their intrinsic value. Such generalized perceptions leave little room for the manifold aspects of forests which are of significance for different societies.
Gradually, however, we are seeing more interest in the cultural representations of forests, an interest to which Nature is culture bears witness. It contains an interesting selection of papers--most of them by anthropologists--which have been edited by Klaus Seeland, a reader in Sociology and Forest Resource Economics in the department of Forest Policy and Forest Economics of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich.
The papers provide case studies from Ecuador, Guinea, India (2 papers), Japan, Nepal (3 papers), Sierra Leone and Thailand, which focus on the many different relationships between local societies and forests. The articles examine three interrelated cultural dimensions: (i) the religious value of forests; (ii) forests as representations of a cultural identity; and (iii) the role of forests and trees in land-use strategies.
There are discussions of tree marriages in India and the sacred role played by forests and forest rituals in conservation in Nepal. The various authors also highlight the views of members of the Huaorani tribe in Ecuador, Japanese upland villagers on the Kii Peninsula, and young people in war-torn Sierra Leone on the various manifestations of forests. Finally, there are examples of the role of trees in different landscape niches, notably Nepal.
The book provides many examples of both ritual and technical practices pertaining to the use and management of forests and selected tree species. Explicit reference is made to indigenous knowledge in relation to forest management, including local classification systems, knowledge with respect to environmental conditions, and various types of management practice.
Unfortunately, no effort has been made to present the information within a conceptual framework. The exploratory nature of the book is reflected in the rather haphazard order of the articles. Notwithstanding these editorial shortcomings, the book presents an interesting and useful inventory of the manifold cultural representations of forests and trees which attests to the creativity of human beings in their dealings with nature.
(K.F. Wiersum, Forestry section, Wageningen Agricultural University, the Netherlands)

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