Assessment of the strategies of organic fruit production and fruit drying in Uganda

Organic agriculture in Uganda is developing at a fast pace and despite this trend Uganda is still unable to produce enough fresh and dry organic fruits mainly pineapple to meet the exporters demand. This current research investigated the strategies of farmers at production level by assessing the pros and cons of fruit growing, organic agriculture and fruit drying in order to understand the underlying causal factor for the low production of organic dry fruits in a major fruit producing district of Uganda. The study was carried out in two separate and distinctive areas; one which only produces and export fresh organic pineapple and the other which exports dried fruits (mainly pineapple and papaya). About 10 % of the farmers in the two study areas were surveyed using questionnaires which were further followed by semi-structured interviews and participatory rural appraisals activities with various types of farmers in order to understand the different decisions and strategies of farmers. 82 % and 74 % of farmers in the two study areas grew fruits as it gave better economic returns and for 77 % and 90 % respectively in the two study areas, the reasons for growing fruit was the ease of selling compared to other crops. All the farmers were relying on coffee husk for growing organic pineapples. However, 50 % of the farmers want to grow pineapples (either organic or conventional) but couldn't afford to buy coffee husk. Fruit drying was mainly a strategy to utilize cheap fruits during harvesting seasons for value addition. 71 % and 42 % of farmers in the two study areas wanted to dry fruits but it was beyond their economic capacity to buy the driers. Decision of the farmers whether to grow fruits or cereals, organic or conventional agriculture and selling the fruits as fresh or dry were dependent mainly on the economic, knowledge and resource availability of each type of practices. It is concluded that the main barrier for an increase in the production of organic dried fruits is at the processing level, and the limited capacity for investments in drying facilities

Exploring the inner workings of design-support experiments: Lessons from 11 multi-actor experimental networks for intercrop design

New forms of field experimentation are currently emerging to support transitions towards sustainable agriculture, including “multi-actor experimental networks” (MAENs). Both in public policy and in academic research, such networks are increasingly presented as a promising approach for fostering sustainable farming system design. Many studies have inventoried, categorized and compared experimental processes to discuss them in relation to contemporary issues. However, to our knowledge, these studies have not considered how MAENs can be implemented, nor their various contributions to sustainable farming systems design. The present work therefore explores the mechanisms whereby MAENs, depending on the way they are managed, support participatory design processes. Drawing on concepts from the design sciences, we studied 11 MAENs established across Europe to support intercrop (IC) design for field crops. Data on the characteristics of these 11 MAENs and their contributions to IC design were collected through individual and group interviews with the network pilots, and the study of individual MAEN documents. The analysis provides three types of results. First, we identify nine generative functions, that is, various processes through which experiments contribute to IC design, including: (i) finding one best option or highlighting contrasts between different ICs; (ii) highlighting the conditions that must be met for an IC to achieve certain effects; (iii) discovering new ICs or properties of ICs; and (iv) supporting the emergence/continuation of collective action for IC design. Second, we highlight different ways to manage MAENs, in other words ways to manage several experiments (in space and time) with a view to supporting participatory IC design. We show that this involves (i) coordinating several objects under design within a network of experiments, (ii) managing the coexistence of experiments guided by different logics in the same geographical area, and (iii) developing interactions between the experiments at a given point in time and over time to support IC design. Third, based on the previous results, we show consistency between the various contributions of MAENs to IC design and the different ways in which the pilots managed them, and we highlight three strategies for managing MAENs to support IC design: MAENs supporting (i) R&D-led design; (ii) farmer-led; and (iii) distributed design. All these results provide mechanisms, points of reference, MAEN types and characteristics to inspire and foster the reflexivity of R&D actors interested in developing such participatory networks in the future

TRANSLATING THE MULTI-ACTOR APPROACH TO RESEARCH INTO PRACTICE USING A WORKSHOP APPROACH FOCUSING ON SPECIES MIXTURES

The EIP-Agri multiactor approach was exemplified during a 3-day workshop with 63 project participants from the EU H2020 funded project “Redesigning European cropping systems based on species MIXtures”. The objective was to share firsthand experience of participatory research among researchers who were mostly not familiar with this approach. Workshop participants were divided into smaller multidisciplinary groups and given the opportunity to interact with representatives from eight actor positions in the value chain of the agrifood cooperative Terrena located in Western France. The four stages of the workshop were: (1) key actor interviews, (2) sharing proposed solutions for overcoming barriers, and (3) developing possible interdisciplinary concepts. Expressions of frustration were recorded serving both as a motivation for group members to become more aware of the scientific concerns and practices of their colleagues, as well as a recognition that some researchers have better skills integrating qualitative approaches than others. Nevertheless, the workshop format was an effective way to gain a common understanding of the pertinent issues that need to be addressed to meet overall multiactorapproach objectives. Working with the actor networks was identified and emphasized as a means to overcome existing barriers between academia and practice in order to coproduce a shared vision of the benefits of species mixture benefits