Browsing by Autor "Rebecca Nelson"

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Human and Technical Dimensions of Potato Integrated Pest Management Using Farmer Field Schools: International Potato Center and Partners’ Experience With Potato Late Blight Management
(Oxford University Press, 2019) Oscar Ortiz; Rebecca Nelson; O. M. Olanya; Graham Thiele; Ricardo Orrego; Willy Pradel; Rogers Kakuhenzire; Gebremedhin Woldegiorgis; Julio Gabriel; Juan Vallejo
Abstract In the 1990s, the integrated pest management (IPM) team for potato late blight (IPM-late blight) at the International Potato Center (CIP) began to address the management of this complex potato disease by combining crop protection with social and behavioral sciences. Since the early 2000s, the team has worked with research and development organizations in countries in Asia, sub-Saharan Africa, and South America to develop farmer discovery-based learning methods using farmer field schools (FFS). The principles of late blight control were more visible and understood by farmers when they could test options for managing late blight, particularly new potato clones with resistance to the disease, for themselves. CIP and partners have since adapted an approach combining FFS and participatory research to facilitate farmers’ access to information, knowledge, and technologies. Several manuals to implement FFS-IPM-late blight with farmers were subsequently developed. Results indicated that farmers using this approach learned new knowledge, assessed new potato clones, and changed crop management practices. Hence farmers realized a 32% average increase in potato productivity and income in Peru; similar changes occurred in other countries. The participatory research and training approach had a significant impact beyond IPM-late blight. In Peru and Bolivia, for example, more than 2,000 FFS were implemented between 2005 and 2012 on IPM for potato, other crops (coffee, cocoa, fruit trees), and livestock. In Uganda and Ethiopia, the experience expanded to potato seed management with the formation of seed cooperatives. Lessons have been drawn from this experience.
Participatory Research (PR) at CIP with Potato Farming Systems in the Andes: Evolution and Prospects
(2019) Oscar Ortiz; Graham Thiele; Rebecca Nelson; Jeffery W. Bentley
Participatory Research (PR) at the International Potato Center (CIP) included seven major experiences. (1) Farmer-back-to-farmer in the 1970s pioneered the idea of working with farmers to identify their needs, propose solutions, and explain the underlying scientific concepts. The ideas were of great influence at CIP and beyond. (2) With integrated pest management (IPM) pilot areas in the early 1990s, entomologists and social scientists developed technologies with farmers in Peru and other countries to control insect pests. Households that adopted just some of the techniques enjoyed high economic returns, and this showed the importance of IPM specialists, social scientists, and farmers working together. (3) Farmer field school (FFS) was adapted for participatory research in the 2000s. Farmers learned that late blight was caused by a microorganism, while testing resistant varieties and fungicides, and researchers took into account more specifically farmer knowledge for training and PR purposes. (4) CIP used participatory varietal selection (PVS) after 2004 to form consortia of farmers, local government, NGOs, and research. Farmers' preferences were disaggregated by gender. Selection criteria of other market actors were included, and new varieties were released, showing the importance of combining farmer and researcher knowledge in this process. (5) Participatory approaches to develop native potato variety value chains. After 2000, CIP used the PMCA (participatory market chain analysis) and stakeholder platforms to improve smallholders' access to markets. PMCA brought farmers and other market actors together to form stakeholder platforms which created market innovations, including