Social Sciences Group TECHNOLOGY AND AGRARIAN DEVELOPMENT CREATING VARIETIES TOGETHER A technographic account of partnerships in 3 Participatory Crop Improvement projects in Nicaragua June 2005 Adeline Lhomme Supervisors: Conny Almekinders (TAD) Roland Cazalis (ESAP- France) MAKS 18 SUMMARY In May 2002, the “Centre de Coopération Internationale en Recherche Agronomique pour le Développement” (Cirad - Center of International Cooperation in Agronomic Research for the Development) in partnership with the “Centre International d’Agriculture Tropicale” (CIAT - International Center for Tropical Agriculture) set up a program of Participatory Crop Improvement (PCI) of rice and sorghum in Nicaragua. This program, planned for 4 years, aims at the development of a PCI methodology and variety improvement to meet local small and medium-scale producers’ needs and work in collaboration with local actors on the field. It is implemented in seven project sites representing different agro-ecological and socio- economic zones. One of the actual preoccupations of the program is to go toward a “multi- partnership” in order to foster the PCI activities and achieve a sustainable and more efficient redistribution of benefit among partners in terms of breeding results and dynamism brought by the project. In this context, the CIAT-CIRAD asks me to study the actual situation of the PCI projects in terms of participation and to elaborate some recommendations to improve “partners” participation. To understand PCI projects context, it is necessary to present national agricultural policy, institutional systems and actors related to seeds issues. Actually, there are four categories of institutional actors involved in national seed production and distribution systems: public institutions, NGOs, farmers’ organizations and international organizations. Each of these actors has different agendas and “cultures” (defined as values, believes, attitudes and organization types). They are implementing different strategies on the field according to their objectives and perception of seed systems. The National Research Institute, organized in a “hierarchic” way, promote improved varieties seeds and faith in expert knowledge. Local NGOs focus on food security and promote participatory methodologies to improve farmers’ capacity building. Producers’ organizations who want to preserve their traditions and patrimony promote local and “criolla” varieties. International institutions who aim to ensure the sustainability of their actions seek to foster links with partners. To analyse the situation at the local level, I proposed to look at three specific cases. Two of them are initiated by the CIAT-CIRAD program and started two years ago. The first one illustrates the implementation of a PCI project with the collaboration of the National Research Institute. It happens in Chinandega and focuses on market-oriented medium rice producers. The second one addresses PCI activities coordination involving many NGOs “partners” in Somoto. It focuses on subsistence-oriented small sorghum farmers. These two cases allow me to study actors’ participation in two different environmental, economic and institutional contexts. The last case presents the experience of a five years old PCI project led by a local NGO, called CIPRES. This experience located in Pueblo Nuevo illustrates a joint learning process involving breeders, technicians and maize and beans farmers. This case study was chosen to compare the CIAT-CIRAD project with an older project and study the differences between a project led by an international agency and one led by a local NGO. In each case, actors’ individual “cultures” will be addressed by looking carefully at actors’ objectives, attitudes, relationships and perceptions of participation. 1 In this study, PCI process is defined as technology development process shaped by the interaction of social actors. The process comprises five phases: the ideotype definition, the variability creation, the plant selection in segregating population, the selection of more stable material and the variety selection and diffusion. Each phase is characterized by a particular configuration of three categories of participating actors, which are breeders, technicians and producers. The social interaction occurring between actors shapes the technology design and outcomes. These interactions are influenced by agroecological environment, economic environment, institutional context, project historical context and the institutional and individuals “cultures”. Those cultures reflect actors values, believes and perceptions. The coordination of activities among actors in the field implies the establishment of formal and informal linkages. Formal linkages are set up between institutions as contracts and agreements to ensure that the institutions agree on the implementation of a collaborative PCI project. However, the whole coordination process occurs between the individuals at the local level. Their personality and culture and the way they relate to each other by formal or informal linkages are crucial for coordination processes. 2 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT I thank the CIRAD institution who proposed the topic of this study and financed my fieldwork and the CIAT institution, who welcomed me in Nicaragua. I thank the breeders, NGOs technicians and farmers who answered my questions with patience and passion. Specially thanks to Gilles Trouche who welcomed me in his house every time I went to Managua and with whom I discovered PCI and to Henri Hocde for his advices. Thanks also to Javier, Norman, Rolando who shared with me their passion to work with farmers. I also thank to the producers from Pueblo Nuevo, Somoto and Chinandega for their passionate conversations. And finally, thanks to Conny who advised me during this study. 3 Abbreviations C$ Cordoba (0,04847 E; rate of 05/05) CATIE Tropical Agronomic Centre for Research and Training (Centro Agronomico Tropical de Investigacion y Ensenanza) CECAP Spaninsh Confederation of Training Centres (Confederacion Espanola de Centros de Formacion) CEO Experimental Centre of Occident CIAT International Centre for Tropical Agriculture (Centro Internacional de Agricultura Tropical) CIPRES Centre for Promotion, Research and Rural and social Development (Centro para la Promocion, la Investigacion y el Desarollo Rural y Social) CIRAD Centre de Cooperation Internationale en recherche agronomique pour le Developpement CPEC Community Collective of producers experimenters (Colectivo de Productores Experimentadores Comunitario) GMO Genetic Modified Organisms INEC National Institute of Statistics (Instituto Nacional de Estatistica y Censos) INPRHU Institute of Human Promotion (Instituto de Promocion Humana) INSFOP Institute of Permanente Formation (Instituto de Formacion Permanente) INTA Nicaraguan Institute of Agrarian Technology (Instituto Nicaraguense de Technologia Agropecuaria) Lb Pound (0,45359 Kg) MAGFOR Agrarian and Forest Minister Mz Manzana (0,698896 Ha) PAO Plan Anual Operativo PCAC Programme "Farmer to Farmer" (Programa "Campesino a Campesino") PCI Participatory Crop Improvement PPB Participatory Plant Breeding PRIAG Program to Strengthen Agronomic Research on Basic Grains in Central America (Programa Regional de Reforzamiento a la Investigacion Agronomica sobre los Granos Basicos en Centroamerica) PROFRIJOL Regional Collaborative Program for Central America and Caraibe ( Programa Cooperativo Regional de Frijol para Centro America y El Caraibe) PTD Participatory Technology Development PVS Participatory Variety Selection SAS Statistical Analysis System UNAG National Union of Farmers (Union Nacional de Agricultores Ganaderos) UNICAM Farmer University (Universidad Campesina) 4 TABLE OF CONTENTS 1. INTRODUCTION............................................................................................................ 8 1.1. PARTICIPATORY TECHNOLOGY DEVELOPMENT........................................................... 8 1.2. PROBLEM STATEMENT .............................................................................................. 11 1.3. RESEARCH OBJECTIVE AND QUESTIONS.................................................................... 11 2. ANALYTICAL FRAMEWORK .................................................................................. 12 2.1. PARTICIPATION IN PARTICIPATORY CROP IMPROVEMENT ......................................... 12 2.2. THE CULTURAL THEORY........................................................................................... 13 2.2.1. What is “culture”?........................................................................................... 13 2.2.2. The Grid-Group cultural theory or Grid-Group typology............................... 15 2.3. METHODOLOGY......................................................................................................... 16 2.3.1. Technography................................................................................................... 16 2.3.2. Research Design............................................................................................... 17 3. NICARAGUA AND AGRICULTURAL DEVELOPMENT LANDSCAPE............ 20 3.1. BACKGROUND ........................................................................................................... 20 3.2. NATIONAL PLANTS BREEDING PROGRAMS AND SEED DISTRIBUTION ......................... 21 3.2.1. National Seeds Plan (PNS) .............................................................................. 21 3.2.2. “Libra por Libra” program ............................................................................