42-8Social Networks and Smallholder Conservation Agriculture In East Africa.

See more from this Division: Special Sessions
See more from this Session: Conservation Agriculture for Improving Food Security and Livelihoods of Rural Smallholders In Rainfed Regions of Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean
Monday, October 22, 2012: 11:30 AM
Duke Energy Convention Center, Room 203, Level 2

Keith Moore1, Jennifer N. Lamb2, Jay Norton3, Rita Laker-Ojok4, Julian Nyachowo4, Dominic N. Sikuku5, Dennis S. Ashibonje5, Bernard Bashaasha6 and Eusebius Mukhwana7, (1)SANREM CRSP, Blacksburg, VA
(2)SANREM CRSP, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA
(3)Department of Ecosystem Science and Management, University of Wyoming, Laramie, WY
(4)Appropriate Technology-Uganda, Kampala, Uganda
(5)Manor House, Kitale, Kenya
(6)Agricultural Economics and Agribusiness, Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda
(7)Po Box 8771-00200, SACRED-Africa, Nairobi, Kenya
Scaling up conservation agriculture production systems (CAPS) for smallholders requires facilitating a change in mindset within a supporting network of agricultural production partners.  Entering into the dialogue necessary to achieve these changes depends on the capacity of CAPS promoters to interact and communicate effectively with the existing network of farmers, agricultural service sector providers, and community agents.  Effectively negotiating these interactions to create innovative ways to integrate the three conservation agriculture principles (reduced tillage, maintaining a permanent crop cover, and crop rotations) into local production practices will require: (1) an understanding of the current (local and scientific) knowledge and perspectives concerning best agricultural norms and practices; and (2) identifying the relevant actors and their resource and communication channels in the local agricultural production network.  As a contribution to building this communicative competence, this paper presents findings from the study of four local networks involved in CAPS research in Kenya and Uganda.
See more from this Division: Special Sessions
See more from this Session: Conservation Agriculture for Improving Food Security and Livelihoods of Rural Smallholders In Rainfed Regions of Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean