Sharing local knowledge

This article is also published in Appropriate Technology, Vol. 40. No. 2: 2013Researchers now use ICTs to gather information more effectively from the field. ICTs also give them the possibility to help share knowledge in local communities

Scaling service delivery in a failed state: cocoa smallholders, Farmer Field Schools, persistent bureaucrats and institutional work in Côte d’Ivoire

Author Addendum Article; Published online: 27 October 2016The increased use of sustainability standards in the international trade in cocoa challenges companies to find effective modes of service delivery to large numbers of small-scale farmers. A case study of the Sustainable Tree Crops Program targeting the small-scale cocoa producers in Côte d’Ivoire supplying international commodity markets shifts attention from mechanisms of private governance to the embedding of service delivery in the institutional dynamics of the state. It demonstrates that, despite a recent history of violent conflict and civil unrest, the introduced Farmer Field Schools programme achieved a surprising scale in terms of numbers and geographical spread. The analysis of this outcome combines political science and anthropological studies of effective and developmental elements in the state with the interest in institutional work found in organization science. The scaling of a new form of service delivery is explained by the skillful practices of institutional work by managers of a public–private partnership. They have been professionally associated with the sector for a long time and had the capacity to embed new forms of service delivery in persistent pockets of bureaucratic effectiveness in a failed state

Access to improved hybrid seeds in Ghana: Implications for establishment and rehabilitation of cocoa farms

Poor access to improved seeds in West and Central Africa has compromised crop yields and productivity as most farmers source the bulk of their seeds from informal channels. The use of farmer produced seeds has mostly resulted in high seedling mortality thereby presenting challenges to cocoa rehabilitation programmes across the sub region. With the aid of a mobile data collection system (MDCS), the first of its kind to enhance accuracy of survey results in an improved seed supply system through brokerage and linkages among diverse actors, this study assesses Ghanaian farmers’ access to improved hybrid cocoa seeds and provides evidence on the socio-cultural factors that affect field performance of such planting materials. Results show that farmers value a seed brokerage system (SBS), which is facilitated through group bulk purchase, timely acquisition and delivery of seeds. The study also revealed that farm size, land use type and gender have significant effect on survival rate of transplanted hybrid cocoa seedlings over two dry seasons. Regardless of the rehabilitation process, mean survival rate was high (79%) although an 11% (p < 0.000) difference occurred between gender with men recording a higher rate. The majority of farmers prefer cultivating cocoa on forest and fallow lands, implying continues degradation of forest areas. There is therefore an urgent need for a change of mind set, to advocate for land recycling to spare forest areas to thrive

Agricultural intensification as a strategy for climate mitigation in Ghana

In Ghana, as in many other tropical landscapes of West Africa, the expansion of extensive low input agriculture has resulted in significant deforestation with concomitant loss of biodiversity and greenhouse gas emissions. Of the many crops grown in Ghana, cocoa has had the largest expansion in area extent and is a strategic crop for the country's development. The story of cocoa in Ghana in recent years is a tale of two very different expansion episodes—the first episode witnessed an increase in the area cultivated by smallholders using extensive cocoa technology and took place in the 90s; the second episode has consisted of intensive cocoa technology adoption by smallholders induced by policy actions and growing land pressures in the decade of the 00s. A case study of cocoa intensification and the Cocobod High Tech program was conducted by the Sustainable Tree Crops Program of IITA in 2011 to better understand the potential of the intensified perennial tree production systems as a potential tool for addressing rural poverty and climate change mitigation. The objectives of this study include: 1. Quantification of the factors underlying increased cocoa yields and incomes in Bia (Juabeso). 2. Estimation of the rates of deforestation post intensification and the area of deforestation and forest degradation mitigated because of the adoption of intensified land use systems. 3. Analysis of the institutions required for the sustainable intensification of cocoa farming systems. 4. Examination of the characteristics and predictors of households adopting the intensified production of cocoa. 5. Analysis of the economic and environmental tradeoffs between shaded and full sun cocoa

A Green Revolution in the West African cocoa belt

STCP tools for the rehabilitation of West African cocoa farms Cacao tree stocks in West Africa are mainly established from seeds procured from farmers’ fields. This planting material lacks the disease tolerance and yield potential of the hybrid seed. Productivity is also affected by the old age of West Africa’s tree stock. Replacing and rehabilitating the tree stocks of West Africa is fundamental to the achievement and long-run sustainability of a cocoa Brown Revolution. The STCP has developed a Planting, Replanting and Diversification (PRD) training package to provide farmers the knowledge and technical skills needed to rehabilitate old cocoa farms or reclaim degraded areas using hybrids. However, a major constraint to hybrid adoption is a lack of access to hybrid seeds. To overcome this constraint, STCP introduced a Seed Brokerage System (SBS) for the collective acquisition of hybrid seeds by farmer field school groups from government production units. An initial evaluation of 375 randomly selected trainees revealed that the mean participant had successfully established 0.4 ha of hybrid cocoa seedling with an 81% seedling survival rate after two dry seasons. Approximately half of the surveyed trainees had replanted old farms while half had established new farms on degraded fallow land. The SBS also brokered timber seedlings for farmers desiring to include high-value timber (Terminalia ivorensis and T. superb) as permanent shade in their production system. The mean participant reported the successful establishment of 12 timber seedlings which is equivalent to 30 trees per hectare. Farmers favored the SBS innovation and are seeking its continuance

Knowing Myself: Socio-Cultural Representation in Critical Thinking Education in Transnational Higher Education in Ghana

In recent decades, critical thinking in higher education has garnered more attention, due the prevailing sense that it is essential for the development of critical citizens. However, critical thinking largely appears to be characterized as originating from a Global Northern philosophical tradition and embodying abilities that lead to academic success. Perpetuating this hegemony of regional knowledge as universal devalues knowledge traditions of the Global South and often leads to ‘othering’ of knowledges and ways of knowing rooted in their cultures and philosophies, delimits the scope of critical thinking and makes it challenging for the subject to resonate with its learners. This research examines the critical thinking curriculum in British transnational higher education in Ghana, critically interrogating the student learning experience and the wider issue of cultural imperialism enacted by the Global North through transnational higher education, and offers some suggestions derived from participant interviews to reimagine the curriculum

Sharing local knowledge

Researchers now use ICTs to gather information more effectively from the field. ICTs also give them the possibility to help share knowledge in local communitie

Climate-Smart Agriculture in Cocoa: A Training Manual for Field Officers

This training manual has been developed to raise awareness among cocoa farmers in Ghana on the effects of climate change on their cocoa production and to give them tools (in the form of recommendations) to mitigate these (negative) effects. The topics can be used by field/extension officers in addition to topics on good agricultural practices