Thank you for the interesting comment. I am not certain I fully agree with you. I think what you may be referring to a ridged “way of life” is a result of the limited capacity of smallholders to adopt innovations intended for their benefit because most innovations are more labor intensive, while the farmers are severely labor limited and already substantially overextended. This is compounded by access to only half the calories needed for a full day of manual agronomic field work. There is a rather ugly word for expecting people to routine exert more energy than they have access to. The word is genocide and yes, we have had a genocide component in the smallholder development effort for about 40 years. This is an oversight that has fallen into an administrative void between the agronomists, who do an excellent job of determining the physical potential of an area, but say nothing about the operational resources, such as labor and contract mechanization, needed to extend their small plot result across the rest of the field, farm or smallholder community, and the social scientists who may determine the labor requirements, but stop short of determining the availability of the labor and most important what are the rational compromises smallholder farmers have to make in adjusting the more labor intensive innovations to their limited available labor and energy.
I am inclined to consider most societies to be more dynamic than you imply. I have a difficult time thinking smallholder farmers are content with their life style as it implies limited food security, normally a couple bouts of malaria each year, limited life expediency, infant mortality, etc. I think once we start conceptualizing on the limited operational resources available to smallholders and address this issue you will find the smallholders lifestyle will be very dynamic even if headed toward the Western Materialism which appears the more desire lifestyle. Without addressing the limited operational capacity, the farmers will remain entrenched in their impoverished lifestyle that you described.
Unfortunately, the evaluation process does not normally include a timing component which would quickly identify the operational constraints and encourage looking at how to address them.
RE: Supporting smallhoder agriculture: what are your experiences in using evaluation?
Emile
Thank you for the interesting comment. I am not certain I fully agree with you. I think what you may be referring to a ridged “way of life” is a result of the limited capacity of smallholders to adopt innovations intended for their benefit because most innovations are more labor intensive, while the farmers are severely labor limited and already substantially overextended. This is compounded by access to only half the calories needed for a full day of manual agronomic field work. There is a rather ugly word for expecting people to routine exert more energy than they have access to. The word is genocide and yes, we have had a genocide component in the smallholder development effort for about 40 years. This is an oversight that has fallen into an administrative void between the agronomists, who do an excellent job of determining the physical potential of an area, but say nothing about the operational resources, such as labor and contract mechanization, needed to extend their small plot result across the rest of the field, farm or smallholder community, and the social scientists who may determine the labor requirements, but stop short of determining the availability of the labor and most important what are the rational compromises smallholder farmers have to make in adjusting the more labor intensive innovations to their limited available labor and energy.
I am inclined to consider most societies to be more dynamic than you imply. I have a difficult time thinking smallholder farmers are content with their life style as it implies limited food security, normally a couple bouts of malaria each year, limited life expediency, infant mortality, etc. I think once we start conceptualizing on the limited operational resources available to smallholders and address this issue you will find the smallholders lifestyle will be very dynamic even if headed toward the Western Materialism which appears the more desire lifestyle. Without addressing the limited operational capacity, the farmers will remain entrenched in their impoverished lifestyle that you described.
Unfortunately, the evaluation process does not normally include a timing component which would quickly identify the operational constraints and encourage looking at how to address them.
Please review the following webpages:
https://smallholderagriculture.agsci.colostate.edu/integration-an-under-appreciated-component-of-technology-transfer/
https://smallholderagriculture.agsci.colostate.edu/calorie-energy-balance-risk-averse-or-hunger-exhasution/
https://smallholderagriculture.agsci.colostate.edu/1028-2/
https://smallholderagriculture.agsci.colostate.edu/affordability-of-improved-nutrition-while-optimizing-economic-opportunities/
Thank you,
Dick Tinsley