African rice (Oryza glaberrima) cultivation in the Togo Hills: ecological and socio-cultural cues in farmer seed selection and development and socio-cultural cues in farmer seed selection development African rice ( Oryza glaberrima ) cultivation in the Togo Hills: ecological Togo ) cultivation in the Béla Teeken Béla Béla Teeken African rice (Oryza glaberrima) cultivation in the Togo Hills: ecological and socio-cultural cues in farmer seed selection and development Béla Teeken Thesis committee Promotors Prof. Dr P. Richards Emeritus professor of Technology and Agrarian Development Wageningen University Prof. Dr P.C. Struik Professor of Crop Physiology Wageningen University Co-promotors Dr H. Maat Assistant Professor Knowledge, Technology and Innovation group Wageningen University Dr E. Nuijten Senior Researcher Plant Breeding & Sustainable Production Chains Louis Bolk Institute Other members Prof. Dr H.A.J. Bras, Wageningen University Prof. Dr S. Hagberg, Professor of Cultural Anthropology, Uppsala University, Sweden Dr T.J.L. van Hintum, Wageningen University Dr S. Zanen, Senior Trainer Consultant, MDF Training & Consultancy, Ede This research was conducted under the auspices of the Wageningen School of Social Sciences (WASS). African rice (Oryza glaberrima) cultivation in the Togo Hills: ecological and socio-cultural cues in farmer seed selection and development Be´la Teeken PHD Thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of doctor at Wageningen University by the authority of the Rector Magnificus Prof. Dr A.P.J. Mol, in the presence of the Thesis Committee appointed by the Academic Board to be defended in public on Tuesday 1 September 2015 at 4 p.m. in the Aula. Béla Teeken African rice (Oryza glaberrima) cultivation in the Togo Hills: ecological and socio-cultural cues in farmer seed selection and development 306 pages PhD thesis, Wageningen University, Wageningen, NL (2015) With references, with summaries in English and Dutch ISBN: 978-94-6257-435-9 Abstract Teeken B (2015). African rice (Oryza glaberrima) cultivation in the Togo Hills: ecological and socio-cultural cues in farmer seed selection and development. PhD thesis, Wageningen University, The Netherlands, 306 pp. The low adoption rates of modern technologies in West Africa, such as improved rice varieties, suggest a gap between the motivations of farmers and development agencies. Many smallholder rice farmers in West Africa continue to rely on farmer varieties, farmer saved seeds and farmer seed system innovations. A better understanding of local farming practices and how they relate to farmer communities and their culture, as well as to the landscapes and climate within which the crop is grown might result in more successful initiatives to strengthen rice cultivation and improve food security and the livelihood of the many small scale rice growers in West Africa. As African rice has never been improved scientifically or commercially it is an important entry point to study farmers’ variety selection and development. By studying farmer variety selection and development related to African rice within the Togo Hills in Ghana and Togo, a region that is ecologically as well as political- economically and culturally diverse, the research presented in this thesis tries to unravel the interactions between genetics, ecology and society (G × E × S). Results show that in the Ghanaian Togo Hills cultural factors set additional and rice diversity enhancing criteria for selection, while in Togo selection criteria are mostly pragmatically agronomic and ecological factors dominate. This can be understood by the higher necessity in Ghana to construct identity and autonomy within the larger and more dynamic economic and political powers of competition and individualization. Here African rice has become a tool to shape such identity. Despite the ecological, cultural and political-economic differences within the Togo Hills, farmers in all the case studies selected a set of different varieties used for different purposes rather than a uniform type. This can be seen as a continuation of their earlier dynamic history in which the maintenance of diversity was part of a risk spreading strategy facilitating emergent innovations that suited such dynamics. Other examples from West Africa also show the different combinations of social and natural factors within the maintenance of rice diversity. Importantly farmers in West Africa have developed varieties that are robust and versatile: able to perform in very different ecologies and societal settings. African rice was found to be particularly robust. This research therefore shows the importance of the “genealogies” between the genetic, the ecological and the social within variety development and food security issues. Therefore, it is the task of science to take an evolutionary perspective. These genealogies and their products should be made visible and need juxtaposition to formal scientific breeding strategies, strategies to tackle food security and agricultural and societal development issues in general. This indicates that there is a systemic alternative to a top-down Green Revolution in Africa. Trajectories of interaction between the social and the natural have produced a large variety of versatile resources and are crucial within tackling development issues in areas where such trajectories took place: there where farmer conditions are dynamic and suboptimal. Instead of anthropologically mapping local cultural preferences (these can change quickly over time and can vary over small distances) it is much more fruitful to emanate from and also disseminate the varieties farmers have already developed themselves. v vi Acknowledgements This thesis is the result of a shared effort. A researcher not only looks for what he initially has planned to study but gradually explores what is relevant and feasible while going to the long trajectory of fieldwork and data gathering. He adjusts his questions to the reality that he encounters and builds on what he finds present. In the light of this thesis this implied an interdisciplinary research that asked for the cooperation of many people, from labourers, to farmers, to teachers, to scientists, drivers, car mechanics and many, many more. The least I can therefore do is to thank all the people that were involved in the research as I feel their voices and works all partly speak through me. The moment I heard that my thesis was approved for defence coincided with the arrival, after more than nine years travelling at around 50000 km/h, of the New Horizons probe at Pluto on its way to explore and discover new regions and knowledge of our solar system. I see this as a metaphor of the expansion of my view that this thesis has offered me. I hope it can also constitute a metaphor of many new innovative and interdisciplinary perspectives and research projects that are so much needed in this era. Firstly I would like to thank my (co-)promotors Paul Struik, Paul Richards, Harro Maat and Edwin Nuijten for their confidence in me while writing the research proposal that let to this thesis. Throughout the trajectory we always had very inspiring conversations that were invaluable in the whole PhD process. I remember the relaxed, critical and often humorous lunch and coffee breaks with Paul Richards that were always mind opening. I also admired his firm determination. I remember the clear guidance by Harro Maat, who always kept in view clear argumentation and focus, something that has been very important to me. Invaluable are the many lengthy conversations I had with Edwin Nuijten who always was open to discuss everything from a philosophical to a very detailed and precise technical perspective. I highly admire your precision and dedication and your willingness to discuss, at length, all aspects at all times, while at the same always giving very practical advice, many thanks. Not enough can be said in favour of Professor Paul Struik who with his optimistic humane view and hardworking attitude has always made the time to help out with almost anything. He has enormously helped me to focus and to keep on going, many, many thanks Paul. I also want to express my sincere gratitude to the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO) which financed this research. As members of the same project on African rice I especially thank my colleague Florent Okry and Alfred Mokuwa. Florent, in Wageningen as well as at AfricaRice and at your home in Benin, we spent lots of hours together working on and discussing our research but also many more things. I greatly admire your flexibility and dedication. Thanks so much for your work and also for the warm welcome you gave us when I and my wife arrived in Cotonou. Alfred I also thank you for your work, perseverance and precision and important remarks and comments during the process. I very much enjoyed our stay in Sierra Leone together with Edwin Nuijten. I greatly enjoyed your humour. vii My special thanks also goes to Inge Ruisch who has always been able to create the necessary relativizing, home coming, breathing space when focus and work got so serious that it was not serious anymore. As for other PhD students this has been very important to me as well. Thanks also for your humane and always flexible attitude. Special gratitude goes to Marina Temudo for her inspiring and energetic support, enthusiasm and great work; it was great to publish an important paper with you. Special thanks also go to Rob van Treuren as he offered important tools and knowledge for the genetic analysis of the rice samples. I also want to thank Cesar Ospina and Muhammed Khan for the time they took to share their knowledge on important software. At the University of Ghana, I sincerely acknowledge Professor Kwame Offei for his advice and for facilitating my research. I also want to greatly acknowledge the CGIAR institute AfricaRice where I was given an office for several months in the last phase of my fieldwork period in Ghana and Togo.