Browsing by Autor "E. Boa"

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Ethnopathology: local knowledge of plant health problems in Bangladesh, Uganda and Bolivia
(Wiley, 2009) Jeffery W. Bentley; E. Boa; P. Kelly; M. Harun‐Ar‐Rashid; A. K. M. Rahman; F. Kabeere; J. Herbas
All peoples have names for and knowledge of plants, animals and other things in the real world. An ethnopathology (or, more strictly, ‘ethnophytopathology’) – study in Bangladesh, Uganda and Bolivia revealed that smallholder farmers label plant health problems with meaningful names. A local name for a plant health problem typically has two kinds of meaning. The first is a literal translation of the name, often a kind of shorthand description of the symptom. The second and most important kind of meaning is the denotative meaning (the thing in the real world which the name actually refers to). Local words for plant health problems often label the symptom rather than the actual disease. This is logical, since smallholders cannot observe microscopic causal organisms. Local concepts for plant health problems do not necessarily classify the natural world in exactly the same way that scientists do, yet local terms for plant health problems are still meaningful. It is not clear if folk classifications of plant health problems are phylogenetic classifications (e.g. ‘mammals’ vs. ‘fish’) or ecological (e.g. ‘seafood’ vs. ‘meat and poultry’). Cross‐culturally, local knowledge recognizes that plants are alive, and that they may be ill or healthy, perhaps in analogy with human health.
Going Public: A New Extension Method
(Taylor & Francis, 2003) Jeffery W. Bentley; E. Boa; Paul Van Mele; Juan Almanza; Daniel Vásquez; Steve Eguino
Contemporary agricultural extension uses intensive face-to-face communication, especially for teaching farmers about pest and disease management. Development scholars are increasingly concerned about the cost of these programmes, and some are trying to reach more farmers through mass media. Small media is another recent option. We have developed a novel method of face-to-face extension, which we call Going Public. It makes use of places where farmers meet spontaneously, such as markets, bus terminals and other public places, to create a two-way learning channel. Going Public allows scientists, extensionists and farmer experts to show things to people, answer questions, run short experiential learning exercises and potentially to distribute material, as in any other face-to-face method, but it is quick and it allows contact with people from many areas at once. It also allows scientists to gather feedback from farmers in a social setting where the farmers are comfortable, surrounded by their friends and neighbours, but where they are also free to come and go.
How farmers benefit from plant clinics: an impact study in Bolivia
(Taylor & Francis, 2011) Jeffery W. Bentley; E. Boa; Fredy Almendras; Pablo Franco; Olivia Antezana; Oscar Edmundo Diaz; Javier Franco; Juan José García Villarroel
Between 2000 and 2009, nine plant clinics in three agro-ecological areas of Bolivia (Andes, lowlands and valleys) served about 800 communities in an area roughly 300 × 100km. Over 6000 farmers consulted these clinics with 9000 queries. Many found the advice so useful that they visited the clinics repeatedly. A survey of 238 clinic users found that most adopted the clinics' recommendations. Fruit and vegetable growers who followed the clinic recommendations tended to spend less on pesticides. As for certain crops like potato, citrus and peach palm, a modest increase in pesticides helped improve the quality and quantity of the harvest. Farmers improved their incomes by following the clinics' advice. The poorest farmers enjoyed the greatest increase in income per hectare. This was the first study to explore the impact of plant clinics; future studies need to be improved, for example by obtaining baseline data and by comparing clinic users to their peers who have not used clinics.
Plant health clinics in Bolivia 2000—2009: operations and preliminary results
(Springer Science+Business Media, 2009) Jeffery W. Bentley; E. Boa; Solveig Danielsen; Pablo Franco; Olivia Antezana; Bertho Villarroel; Henry Rodríguez; Jhon Ferrrufino; Javier Franco; René Pereira
Special report
(Springer Science+Business Media, 2001) E. Boa; Jeffery W. Bentley; John Stonehouse