“Creating a Community of Practice in KwaZulu-Natal”

Templeton Foundation RFA Our answer the question -- “Can GM crops feed

the poor” Remember 70% of the food insecure in the World are

farmers, farm workers and rural landless Currently there are 2 major stances in the world

concerning GM In theory, GM crops are the best alternative (GM

advocates) In theory, GM crops are a dangerous alternative

(precautionary principle) ** Both groups spoke for the small farmer—

where was the voice of the small farmer in this issue?

An empirical/neutral approach to GM crops

We did not make any assumptions as to whether GM maize would help smallholders in South Africa. Experience throughout the world tells us

that technologies are adopted when there is an appropriate enabling environment **

The goal is to find out what farmers think about the technology in their communities and their ideas about the enabling environment

Challenges for including small farm voices

There are cultural & power issues. Farmers organize knowledge differently than

politicians and scientists Farmers and scientists have to learn how to

communicate with each other, just putting them in a meeting is of little use

The best way to facilitate communication about a technology is around a common activity.

Surveys are not very useful Surveys assume that the respondents are capable of

and willing to answer & are a poor tool for evaluating new technologies

Our approach is a “Community of Practice”

Our community of Practice

A group of stakeholders *which has a group of farmer experimenters at the center

Use their (the farmers) experiences to shape discussions on the use and development of technologies (& policies?) to help small farmers This will take the discussion out of the

theoretical and into the practical domain We are not promoting a technological

package.*

Community’s Focus: farmer run trials

Local varieties, hybrids, BT, roundup ready and stacked varieties

Farmer training is the “compensation” farmers receive for devoting their time to the project

Reflections on the trials by farmers and other stakeholders

You will hear the details of this experience today & tomorrow

Community of Practice’s impacts assessed by answering the following:

Can involving small holder farmers, researchers and stakeholders at all levels in on-farm research help us to clarify our thinking about technological

innovation and small farm maize production Especially has it changed our thinking about the

challenges and opportunities that small farmers have when considering improved maize technologies.

The answer for me and many of our producers is yes. We want to know your answer.