Knowledge gaps and rural development in Tajikistan: Agricultural advisory services as a panacea?

In this paper I look at knowledge systems and the channels of innovation diffusion in Tajikistan. In particular I look at the formation of the agricultural advisory services as a vital source of knowledge and innovation for farmers during the transition process. After the end of the Soviet Union and the civil war in Tajikistan, the knowledge available to farmers can be described as a mix of, on the one hand, traces and fragments originating from the Soviet agricultural and educational system represented by the universities, research institutes and academy of sciences; and on the other hand, western-style knowledge, mainly introduced by development agencies. The paper analyses the functioning of and interaction between the international donors, NGOs, Tajik government and academic institutions. Donors are relatively new actors in the field of knowledge dissemination, but important ones. In this paper I show how under the framework of 'development', i.e. the rhetoric, organization and infrastructure of development, different donors play their own games, some of them geo-political. At the same time they provide support for the functioning of local NGOs and help them to sustain; also donors are used by the Tajik political actors for their own purposes. From this discussion I derive suggestions on how agricultural advisory services could be organized in Tajikistan, working on some local weaknesses and building on existing assets, traditions and networks, reflecting the interplay of the main actors and local needs

Positionality and Comparisons: Critical Views on Qualitative Research across Asia

Ce cahier est basé sur la réflexion autobiographique de deux chercheuses ayant effectué des recherches qualitatives et ethnographiques, de 2008 à 2014, en Asie centrale et du Sud-­‐Est. Les expériences sur le terrain constituent des moyens de comparaisons dans le présent document. En mettant l’accent sur le positionnement sur le terrain, l’étude montre que, d’abord, il est essentiel de détenir une poste intermédiaire et de parler une langue locale afin de garantir un accès et de mener des activités de recherche sur le terrain. Deuxièmement, différentes régions prédéterminent des contextes culturels et politiques ponctuels qui, à leur tour, façonneraient la recherche en sciences sociales. Troisièmement, le fait d’être une femme présente à la fois des avantages et des inconvénients. Enfin, en termes de méthodologie, les stages et les entrevues se sont avérés des méthodes fiables pour la collecte des données empiriques sur les régions ci-­‐dessus mentionnées, sans pour autant permettre de bâtir la confiance.The paper is based on the autobiographical reflection of two female researchers who have conducted qualitative and ethnographic research from 2008 to 2014 in Central Asia (CA) and in Southeast Asia (SEA). Experiences of fieldwork are proxies of comparisons in our paper. By focusing on the role of positionality in the field, our study shows, first, that having a middle ground position and speaking the local languages are imperative in order to enter and conduct ethnographic field research. Second, different regions predetermine different cultural and political settings that consequently shape the social science research. Third, being female had both advantages and disadvantages. Lastly, in terms of methodology, internships and interviews have proved to be reliable methods for collecting rich empirical data in SEA and CA, but not necessarily to build trust

The Reinvention of Agricultural Service Organisations in Uzbekistan - a Machine-Tractor Park in the Khorezm Region.

As part of the ongoing process of agricultural transformation in Central Asia, including Uzbekistan, agricultural service organisations are undergoing a process of reinventing themselves. This paper aims to analyse this process by offering empirical insight into a machine-tractor-park (MTP) in the Khorezm region, Western Uzbekistan. In Khorezm, the ongoing process of agricultural transformation has resulted in unclearly defined and new social functions for the MTP, while former (Soviet) social functions associated with it have not entirely been dismissed. Consequently, the MTP has had to reinvent itself in terms of its goals, strategies, management style, way of working and thinking, and its overall role, function and responsibility in society

Epistemic cultures, knowledge cultures and the transition of agricultural expertise: Rural development in Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Georgia

In this paper, we investigate the utility of Knorr-Cetina's theory of epistemic cultures and knowledge cultures for the analysis of rural transition in post-socialist countries. We look at the evolution of agricultural expertise in Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Georgia, with a special interest in the reconstruction of 'extension', a concept we also critically investigate by means of Knorr-Cetina's framework. It is argued that rural transition in the three countries is marked by patterns of convergence and divergence, and that each path can be described as a unique and interdependent combination of epistemic cultures and knowledge culture, leading to unique modes of interpretation, recombination and implementation of both imported and pre-existing models of extension

An Optimization Model for Technology Adoption of Marginalized Smallholders: Theoretical Support for Matching Technological and Institutional Innovations

The rural poor are often marginalized and restricted from access to markets, public services and information, mainly due to poor connections to transport and communication infrastructure. Despite these unfavorable conditions, agricultural technology investments are believed to unleash unused human and natural capital potentials and alleviate poverty by productivity growth in agriculture. Based on the concept of marginality we develop a theoretical model which shows that these expectations for productivity growth are conditional on human and natural capital stocks and transaction costs. Our model categorizes the rural farm households below the poverty line into four segments according to labor and land endowments. Policy recommendations for segment and location specific investments are provided. Theoretical findings indicate that adjusting rural infrastructure and institutions to reduce transaction costs is a more preferable investment strategy than adjusting agricultural technologies to marginalized production conditions

Methodological Review and Revision of the Global Hunger Index

The Global Hunger Index (GHI) is a multidimensional measure of hunger that considers three dimensions: (1) inadequate dietary energy supply, (2) child undernutrition, and (3) child mortality. The initial version of the index included the following three, equally weighted, non-standardized (i.e. unscaled) indicators that are expressed in percent: the proportion of the population that is calorie deficient (FAO's prevalence of undernourishment); the prevalence of underweight in children under five; and the under-five mortality rate. Several decisions regarding the original formulation of the GHI are reconsidered in light of recent discussions in the nutrition community and suggestions by other researchers, namely the choice of the prevalence of child underweight for the child undernutrition dimension, the use of the under-five mortality rate from all causes for the child mortality dimension, and the decision not to standardize the component indicators prior to aggregation. Based on an exploration of the literature, data availability and comparability across countries, and correlation analyses with indicators of micronutrient deficiencies, the index is revised as follows: (1) The child underweight indicator is replaced with child stunting and child wasting; (2) The weight of one third for the child undernutrition dimension is shared equally between the two new indicators; and (3) The component indicators of the index are standardized prior to aggregation, using fixed thresholds set above the maximum values observed in the data set. The under-five mortality rate from all causes is retained, because estimating under-five mortality attributable to nutritional deficiencies would be very costly and make the production of the GHI dependent on statistics about cause-specific mortality rates by country and year that are published irregularly, while the expected benefits are limited

Institutional Environments for Enabling Agricultural Technology Innovations: The Role of Land Rights in Ethiopia, Ghana, India and Bangladesh

Land rights are essential assets for improving the livelihoods of the rural poor. This literature based paper shed light to some land rights issues that are crucial for the effectiveness and sustainability of implementing technological innovations in marginalized rural areas of Ethiopia, Ghana, India and Bangladesh. By analysing country specific land right regimes, this paper aims to understand what institutional conditions might constitute barriers to the effective implementation of technological innovations and how they might be overcome. Land rights issues considered in this paper include public and private ownership of land in Ethiopia, customary and statutory law in Ghana, and gender equality and land rights in India and Bangladesh. A better understanding of institutional barriers for the effective implementation of technological innovations is a precondition for complementing technological with enabling institutional innovations and for improving priority setting, targeting and sequencing in the implementation of productivity increasing development measures

Social Safety Nets for Food and Nutritional Security in India

This paper brings together existing literature on the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNRGEA) and the Public Distribution System (PDS) in India, offering a narrative review of the evidence on impacts on food security, health and nutrition of beneficiaries. Both programs operate on a large scale and have the capacity to impact the factors leading to undernutrition. It is evident that despite the deficiencies in implementation, both the MGNREGA and the PDS are inclusive and reach the poor and the marginalized who are likely to also experience greater undernutrition and poor health. Data challenges have however prevented researchers from conducting studies that assess the ultimate impact of these two large-scale programs on health and nutrition. The evidence that exists suggests largely positive impacts indicating a clear potential to make these programs more nutrition sensitive not just by incorporating elements that would explicitly address nutritional concerns but also by directing specific attention to innovations that strengthen critical complementarities and synergies that exist between the two programs