Fighting banana bunchy top disease in Southern Malawi : the interface of knowledge systems and dynamics in a development arena

Purpose: Banana Bunchy Top Disease (BBTD) was first reported in Malawi in 1997. The major strategy used to deal with BBTD required banana growers to uproot and burn all their bananas and replace them with disease-free imported planting materials. This had limited success only. This paper uses an actor-oriented approach to explain this experience by assessing the different knowledge types and dynamics.Design/methodology/approach: Using a qualitative study design we sampled respondents through snowball and purposive sampling. Focus group discussions and key informant interviews were used to interview 120 farmers in 5 villages, 5 extension experts, 6 crop scientists, 2 banana research scientists and 3 NGOs leaders. Transcripts were analysed using Grounded Theory Methodology.Findings: The results showed that development agents and farmers conceived of, and dealt with, BBTD on the basis of different types of knowledge and dynamics. The battle that arose around this knowledge interface explains why the top-down approach to dealing with BBTD led to resistance from banana growers. These top-down approaches contrast with the widely-used rhetoric of using bottom-up approaches to foster co-innovation.Practical implications: Development actors need to embrace co-innovation principles and move away from merely sticking to the label of bottom up approaches.Theoretical implications: Using participation as a means to achieve predetermined strategies lead to failure and conflict in development programmes while as consulting with, and listening to farmers has potential to increase their cooperation in development programmes.Originality/value: The study informs that while there is so much talk about a shift in extension approaches, not much has changed to embrace co-innovation amongst actors

Land Tenure and Social Relations in Matrilineal and Uxorilocal Societies in Malawi

The present paper is a revision of a paper that was submitted to Land Use Policy in 2009. The review from LUP from 2010 asked for a rewrite. Due to personal reasons this was not possible before other tasks took all available time. In connection with the lead authors work on an assessment of the fit of the Customary Land Act 2016 and its Amendments 2022 with rural lives and customary land management in Malawi, the discussion in the present paper was necessary as background. Hence we have updated the paper and present it as a report from the Centre for Land Tenure Studies at the Norwegian University of Life Sciences. Erling Berge, Ås, March 2023This paper is about social relations in customary lands for the matrilineal uxorilocal culture of the Lomwe, Nyanja and Yao tribes in Southern Malawi. The study was carried out in the districts of Chiradzulu and Phalombe. Qualitative methods were used to examine local histories and practices to identify the social and power relations between males and females in matrilineal groups and the roles of chiefs, extended families, and traditional practices in access to and control over customary land. By focusing on local histories the study documents that patterns of access to and control over customary lands are historical in nature and embedded in social ties and power relations. Male and female members of the household or family have equal use rights but unequal ownership rights. The land belongs to the extended family and not to the community or individuals. Instead of saying the land belongs to ‘me’ the people say the land belongs to ‘us’ even though the individuals may have user rights in perpetuity. The ‘us’ implies the extended family and not the community. The power and control over the land is located in the group of sisters and not in the head of family (mwini-mbumba) or the Chief. The patterns of control have to be understood for proper decisions to be made on how to organize access to and control over land, especially in a country where livelihoods are dependent on agriculture or are land based in nature.Denne artikkelen handlar om dei sosiale relasjonane i tradisjonelle jordbruksområde innan den matrilineale og uxorilokale kulturen hos Lomwe, Nyanja og Yao stammene i det sørlege Malawi. Studien vart gjort i distrikta Chiradzulu og Phalombe. Det vart nytta kvalitative metodar for å studere lokalhistorie og praksisar for å identifisere sosial- og makt-relasjonar mellom menn og kvinner i matrilineale grupper og kva roller høvdingar, stor-familiar og tradisjonelle praksisar har for tilgang til og kontroll over tradisjonelle jordbruksområde. Ved å fokusere på lokalhistorie dokumenterer studien at mønsteret i tilgang til og kontroll over tradisjonelle jordbruksområde er historisk i utgangspunktet og innbakt i sosiale band og makt relasjonar. Mannlege og kvinnelege medlemmer i hushaldet eller stor-familien har dei same bruksrettane, men ulike eigarrettar. Jorda tilhøyrer stor-familien og ikkje lokalsamfunnet eller individa. I staden for å seie at jorda tilhøyrer «meg» seier folk at jorda tilhøyrer «oss» sjølv om individet kan ha bruksrettar for all æve. «Oss» tyder stor-familien og ikkje lokalsamfunnet. Makt og kontroll over jorda er lokalisert i gruppa av søstrer og ikkje i sjefen for stor-familien (mwini-mbumba) eller høvdingen. Dette mønsteret for kontroll må ein skjøne for å kunne ta skikkelege avgjerder om korleis ein kan organisere tilgang til og kontroll over jorda, særleg i eit land der levebrødet er avhengig av jordbruk eller er grunnleggande arealbasert. [uxorilokal (= matrilokal) tyder at personane er busett på kvinna sin heimstad; matrilineal tyder at ein reknar slektslinjer gjennom mødrer; høvdingar og mwini-mumba-er kan like gjerne vere menn som kvinner; familie tyder stor-familien av mødrer, tanter, søstrer, søskenbarn, osv; menn har sjølvsagt sin plass i storfamilien, men dei er ikkje jordeigarar

From learning plot to main field: scaling-out soil health innovations in Malawi

Farmer-centred approaches are applied to engage smallholder farmers in agricultural research and development with the purpose of identifying and scaling out context specific innovations. Understanding the underlying processes that influence the decision of smallholder farmers to scale-out innovations is, therefore, paramount to effective farmer-led research and development programmes. This study analysed how smallholder farmers in rural Malawi were involved in evaluating soil health management options as well as how they scaled-out the lessons from the learning plots to their main farms. Data were collected through observations and face-to-face interviews in 109 learning plots and 197 main fields managed by farmers who participated in interventions that applied farmer-centred approaches. The findings reveal that farmers’ capacity to engage in systematic experimentation depended on their knowledge of basic research principles and their social capital (bridging and bonding). Farmers observing and interacting in the learning plots formed different perceptions about the performance of the tested options. The variations in the perceptions were associated with biophysical (plot characteristics) and socioeconomic factors (time of planting). Likewise, variations were observed in the way farmers scaled-out the tested options. Whilst some farmers integrated many different options (>3), others applied few options in their main fields (<3). The majority of farmers adapted the options to suit their contexts. Farmers’ decision to scale-out options was associated with their perceived benefits of the options, gender, and wealth status. The study findings have implications for research and development programmes that use farmer-centred approaches to push for adoption of blanket recommendations

Enhancing Community to Come Up With A Strategy For Sustaining Development Achievements: A Case Of King’ori Community In Arumeru District, Arusha Region, Tanzania

Community based organizations have been perceived as appropriate institutions to bring about rapid changes in the community. Always, the challenge to both the community and the external funding partner has been the programmes’ sustainability. How would the community’s achieved impacts be sustained? This question has been the major concern to most of development partners today. Most of communities and the funding agencies have taken measure to address this. The most frequently applied strategy has been forming local institutions/CBOs to take over when the funding programme transitions (phases out). King’ori community like many communities had benefited through King’ori Area Development Programme (ADP), an externally funded fifteen years’ programme since October 1997. King’ori community had formed the KIKULUNGE CBO in 2007 to sustain the development achievements to beyond September 2012 when the ADP would have left. The researcher together with King’ori community the exactly most felt achievements in each programme’s sector, the most contributing partners to the achievements with their exact contributions and magnitudes, and whether they were able to sustain those development achievements as one of the most important partner was known to leave in September 2012 and most importantly, what immediate action had to be done. The CNA and the resultant project answer this

MALAWIAN LAND TENURE AND SOCIAL CAPITAL: Behaviour in trust games in 18 Malawian villages in 2007

Supplementary materials for the report are available on this page.This report presents two papers developed in order to study behaviour in trust games in 18 Malawian villages in 2007. In 2007-2008 the Malawian land tenure and social capital project (financed by Norwegian Research Council), interviewed households on many subjects deemed relevant to land tenure and social capital. Interviews were conducted in selected villages with 6 in each of the regions North, Central, and South. The interviews included 13 questions about trust, trustworthiness, and social capital. The first paper in the report uses factor analysis to study the 78 variables that came out of the 13 questions about trust, trustworthiness, and social capital. The intention is to develop indexes that may be used to study outcomes from the trust games. The second paper in the report details the adaptation of the data that were needed in order to link the game results to the interview data. In this paper, 204 games that could be linked to the interview data

Role of farmer field schools in adoption of innovative rice production practices in Mvomero district, Tanzania

Farmer Field Schools (FFS) provide farmers with an opportunity to experiment new technologies which help them to make informed decisions that eventually lead to increased production and income. This study assessed the role of FFS in adoption of innovative rice production practices in Mvomero district, Tanzania. Adoption was conceptualized as an act in which FFS members accept and use the recommended rice production practices in their own fields. A cross-sectional survey was conducted among 188 respondents (FFS members) selected through a multi-stage sampling technique. Frequencies were run to determine the adoption level (proportion of FFS members who adopted the innovative rice production practices). Additionally, T-test and Chi-square tests were run to assess the influence of FFS members’ socio-economic characteristics on the adoption of innovative rice production practices. The results of the study showed that a total of 15 recommended rice production practices were promoted using FFS in the study area and more than 75% of FFS members were found to be aware of them. Further, 80% of the innovative rice production practices promoted were adopted by more than 65% FFS members. Household size, total land size, land planted with rice, marital status, literacy and nonfarm income influenced the adoption of some of innovative rice production practices. The findings suggest that FFS played an important role in awareness creation among FFS members whereby a total of 15 innovative rice production practices were promoted. Additionally Farmer Field Schools improved FFS members’ knowledge and experience which facilitated the increased adoption of innovative rice production practices among FFS members. It is therefore evident that FFS provide a good opportunity for the dissemination of innovative rice production practices and other agricultural technologies and their use. It is recommended that the FFFS approach be further scaled out

Collaborative governance dynamics in innovation platforms : case of Malawi’s District Stakeholder Panel

Purpose: An Agricultural Innovation System (AIS) is a collaborative governance (CG) arrangement which brings together several actors in the agriculture sector forming an innovation platform (IP). This study presents findings of CG dynamics obtained from an IP. Design/Methodology/Approach: A qualitative study used focus group discussions, key informant interviews and desk study to collect data. Findings: Establishment of an IP is the first step in the realisation of CG in an AIS. There is a varied range of governance dynamics which affect the functionality of an IP. Actors in an IP choose when and in what circumstances to apply CG, in order to increase their beneficial effect. The differences among actors in terms of their sizes, resources, visions and missions contribute to how the CG works out. Practical implication: Paying attention to CG dynamics is as important as forming IPs. Failure to address governance dynamics makes actors follow an individualistic, linear approach to extension service delivery under the veil of AIS. There is a need to mainstream CG as a reiterative and not as a sporadic approach on logistical but on substantive matters. This requires a re-orientation and restructuring of extension systems. Theoretical implication: : Future research should focus on how the collaborative dynamics affect the impacts coming out of the CG regime. Originality/Value: Mobilising actors and setting up structures for AIS has become common place yet little attention is paid to understanding the collaborative dynamics affecting their functionality

MALAWIAN LAND TENURE AND SOCIAL CAPITAL: Behaviour in trust games in 18 Malawian villages in 2007

This report presents two papers developed in order to study behaviour in trust games in 18 Malawian villages in 2007. In 2007-2008 the Malawian land tenure and social capital project (financed by Norwegian Research Council), interviewed households on many subjects deemed relevant to land tenure and social capital. Interviews were conducted in selected villages with 6 in each of the regions North, Central, and South. The interviews included 13 questions about trust, trustworthiness, and social capital. The first paper in the report uses factor analysis to study the 78 variables that came out of the 13 questions about trust, trustworthiness, and social capital. The intention is to develop indexes that may be used to study outcomes from the trust games. The second paper in the report details the adaptation of the data that were needed in order to link the game results to the interview data. In this paper, 204 games that could be linked to the interview data