Q Tanzania: Communicating Local Farming Knowledge he linkbetween the documen- flo,ver, peas, lettuce, parsley, leeks tation of local knowledge and and deciduous fruits (peaches and the dissemination of useful lo- plums). cal technologies to farmers is lUMADEP has been in operation in generally weak in the indigenous the Mgeta and Mkuyuni Divisions technology development process. A since 1993 with the overall aim of z considerable amount of local knowl- improving the agricultural productiv- edge has been documented, but in ity and the general socio-economic most cases, such information is not conditions of the small-scale farmers made available to farmers in a form in the project area. The project works they can make use of to improve their as an integrated agricultural develop- _ agricultural production. In the cases ment project using multidisciplinary where information is given back, it is approaches and is implemented with often too general and/or does not re- a collaborative effort between gov- late to the targeted groups' own sur- ernment and donor agencies. The Ag- roundings and culture. ricultural Officers in charge of crop To fill this gap, the tTluguru Mvloun- development activities have already tains Agricultural Development undertaken several micro-research Project (UMADEP) has been wvorking projects on NCP involving the use of with local farmers to document their botanical pesticides; trap crops and local knowledge related to Natural organic fertilisers on the UMADEP Crop Protection (NCP) and to spread demonstration plots and subse- this knowledge to other farmers in quently replicated in farmer's man- the Uluguru Mountains using inter- aged plots. No. 34 esting and locally relevant educa- July 2001 tional materials and farmer-led train- ing workshops. The approach used by UMADEP involves the local commu- Notes reports periodically on Indigenous Knowledge QK) initiatives nity throughout the process of collee- in Sub-Saharan Africa. It is published tion of the knowledge, documenta- by the Africa Region's Knowledge and Leamning Center as part of an evolving tion and dissemination. L beeen thr orld Mgeta is a division in Morogoro Ru- Bank, oomrnunities, NGOs, develop- gON.r ral District, Morogoro Region in the ment institutions and multilateral organizations, The views expressed in eastern part of Tanzania. Situated on this article are those of the authors the slopes of the Uluguru Mountains. and should not be attributed to the < 4; The climate is subtropical and allows World Bank Group or its partners in The produteio sbofaide range aofo this initiative. A webpage on IK is AS,, the production of a wvide range of hor- available at //ww.worldbank.org/afr/ ticultural crops, i.e., cabbage, cauli- ik/default.htm 2 B3efore the introduction of industrial inputs, the farmers In collaboration with government extension staff in the in Mgcta depended solelv on NCP, utilising parts of certain area, UNIADEP initiated efforts to encourage farmers to indigenous plants prepared in various forms for crop pro- go back to NCP. Since indigenous knowledge on NCP has tection and against animal diseases. After the introduc- started to disappear from farming communities, the indig- tioln of agro-chemicals, farmers rapidly abandoned the tra- enous plants that provide the raw materials for NCP have ditional ways of controlling insect pests and diseases and lost their value and are also disappearing. The first inter- opted for industrial agro-chemicals. Their reasons were vention by UMIADEP was to campaign for the safe use of many: the government gave subsidies for farm inputs in- chemical pesticides while encouraging farmers to re- cluding agro-chemicals; chemical pesticides require less search for more effective botanical pesticides through time for preparation and application; the chemicals farmer-managed trials. proved more effective than botanical pesticides, and the Most farmers involved in these kinds of research were companies producing and trading agro-chemicals adver- members of farmers' groups known as Ljuzi asili from tised and marketed them aggressively. Tchenzema WVard, who devoted a portion of their land to llowever, the government has now stopped subsides on produce organic vegetables. This is because they own agricultural inputs and the cost of agro-chemicals is very enough land and either have knowledge on NCP them- high. Furthermore, due to ongoing campaigns on environ- selves or have access to local knowledge on the uses of bo- mental conservation, farmers in Mgeta, like other parts of tanical pesticides through the elders. Tanzania, are becoming more aware of the hazardous ef- UlMADEP, using demonstration plots located in the Nil- fects of industrial agro-chemicals. lage, also conducted experiments simultaneously with farmers. UNIADEP staff also helped farmers to organize and monitor the results. Farmers were trained on how to compare traditional and new methods of pest manage- ment and data collection. would he of interest to: In Mgeta, as in many other parts of Tanzania, extension personnel are trained to encourage farmers to reduce the Name use of industrial agro-chemicals due to their adverse ef- fects on human health and the environment. However, it is Institultion hard for them to do so since knowledge of NCP is limited to only a few members of the community and also because Address the communities have no alternatives. Moreover, most farmers believe that the botanical pesticides are there to be used by old people and farmers who cannot afford chemicals, not by the voung and better-off farmers. This reluctance to use botanical pesticides is a key factor in re- - - - - * - * * * - ducing the spread of natural crop protection practices. Steps and approaches In order to effectively communicate the message about |- *^kT S n6 s NCP to communities. UMADEP developed visual materials (posters, booklets and leaflets) with very simple instruc- tions about the use of botanicals and with illustrations 3 done in a comic book stvle. The materials were drawn and (iii) Targeting the audience created by a local artist whose objective was to make them For the purpose of sharing information and popularizing relevant and attractive to local tastes. The following are the use of botanical pesticides, workshop participants rec- the steps and approaches which were used for the produc- ommended that the educational materials developed tion of posters relating to the use of botanical pesticides should be mainly targeted to young farmers. This is be- in Mgeta division. cause young farmers are the most reluctant to use NCP and because there is a communication barrier in the use (i) Accessing the know-how of the innovation of NCP between the older and young farmers. Further- Because the use of local visual educational materials is more, the participants suggested that the project arrange not very common in Mgeta, UMIADEP organised a work- a field visit for the artist to see and be able to visualise the shop where farmers who are experts on botanical pesti- working places, field tools and equipment and the habitat cides met with the artist, project staff and extension offic- of the selected plants in typical local settings. ers. The aim of the workshop was to increase the under- standing of the two distinctively different inputs that are (iv) Visualisation and production of artwork needed for the visual material, i.e., the indigenous knowl- The artist visited a few of the farmers who had partici- edge about the botanical pesticide and the artistic creativ- pated in the workshop. During the visits, the artist got a ity that makes the information interesting. good idea about the habitat of the plants, the local names A two-day residential workshop was organised whereby of plants and insect pests, and their damage to crops. He farmer experts were invited from six villages within Mgeta also studied how the farmers prepared and applied the bo- Division. During the workshop, the farmer experts pre- tanical pesticides and the tools they worked with in order sented their experiences and research findings regarding to render this information in the drawings. After the field the use of botanicals in crop protection. Based on this in- work, the artist developed a draft of six posters describing formation, U.MIADEP staff decided to focus on disseminat- and explaining the use of two selected plants. ing information about the two most familiar plants regard- ing which the majority of farmers had confidence in their (v) Field testing effectiveness in controlling insect pests. Before the final production of the posters, the artist, to- gether with extension and UNIADEP staff condlucted field- (ii) Defining communication needs testing for the posters with the representative farmers The main issues which were proposed to be documented from the community. This was intended to ascertain: for community consumption included: plant description * WNhether the farmers had understood the posters and and habitats, propagation techniques, preparation and ap- the contents. plication, insect pest control and management, and howv * The farmers ability to identify with the drawings, the the plants can be used for soil and water conservation as situation, the problem and solutions, and thie character well as improvement of soil fertility. The propagation tech- (age and gender relationship). This helped to determine niques were emphasised because, for example, kibembeni whether or not the visual representation of the informa- (local plant species corresponding to the Buddleia spe- tion and the problems was realistic. cies) can only be found in the forest reserve which is about 5 kilometres from the residential areas. Therefore, to in- (vi) Farmer-to-farmer dissemination crease availability, these plants need to be planted within Since the posters carried only abstract information the field. about the use of botanical pesticides, project staff thought that the best teachers and disseminators of information in the educational campaign would be the farmer experts 4 . themselves. Using them in dissemination workshops would Lessons learned give them the opportunity to explain in detail their experi- c Testing of the posters or training materials permits cru- ences warmer s to their pci loexperi es A- cial and valuable feedback from audiences for improving lowing farmcrs to share thlcr practical experiences with temtrasbfr ia rdcin the materials before final production. Other farmers would also help to increase trust and conhi- dneitherfarmers wouse o taalsohell) pestoincideasbyte ydoung * Involvement of the target audience from the initial plan- dence in the tise of botalnical pesticides by the vounger and better-off farmrlers. To achieve this, lUMADEP staff ning of educational materials builds a sense of owner- organised a planning workslhop to define the roles and re- ship of the materials. The end-user then values the edu- sponisibilities of the farmers as well as extension staff in cational material more and is therefore more likely to the education campaign. use the information and share it. *Farmers are much more interested in issues that they For the purpose of reaching as many farmers as possible, immediatelv recognise as being part of their local situa- it was agreed that seminars should be organised at the tion. Therefore, the use of local artists is crucial as well sub-village level and in primaryr schools. The posters as using drawxings that fullv retlect local people, images, should be placed in public areas such as markets, in the a village government offices and in the beer shops. The tools, actiities, responses and environment. * Dissemination of the local knowledge about indigenous tarmer experts volunteered to conduct seminars for other farmers with some help from the project, especially for plants using modern methods such as printed posters added value to the knoweledge and indigenous plants in- organising the audiences and meeting other logistical voled Coseuentl the conservatina needs. Farmer participants (volunteers) from each village multipliConsof in plantes th aonstimulate were allocated a few sub villages near where they lived, where they would trainheirfllowfrmefarmers to research and develop other local knowledge where they would train their fellow farmers using posters readtogiclulpouton alreadv developed as a guide. ~related to agricultural production. a The partnership of farmers with UXIADEP helped the farmers to obtain quantitative proof of the economic vi- ability of their Natural Crop Protection practices. It also improved their skills in carrying out experiments de- signed to develop a farming system that is adapted to their conditions, needs and objectives. Further, farmers participating in farmer-to-farmer dissemination work- shops are able to develop their communication skills and abilities. This article was written by A.H. Mgurna Assistant C, dinatfo the M aigD , Deo- ment Project (UMADEP), P0. Box 3094, Morogoro, Tanzia.r details e