Why farmers should attend agricultural show

OPINION

By Kefa Atibuni

Key stakeholders in the agricultural sector have yet again converged here, in this leafy suburb of Jinja town, to participate in the 26th Source of the Nile Annual Agricultural and Trade Show (13th to 22nd July).

Under the theme, Fostering agricultural value chain innovations for farmer-led food security, household income and job creation, the show which is jointly coordinated by the Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries (MAAIF) and the Uganda National Farmers Federation (UNFFE) is intended to disseminate agricultural knowledge, information, technologies, innovations and improved practices.

The annual show sets a platform for displaying and identifying innovations made by both local and foreign companies through improved technologies for better production, marketing and poverty eradication.

For this year, the exclusivity of this show, in my view, is not only in the diversity of stakeholders involved, but also in the choice of a theme that embraces the evolving views on agricultural innovation.

In the past, an innovation was regarded as a new technical device or principle, like a photovoltaic cell or a new seed variety. The conception was that such an innovation was either adopted or rejected by an individual, depending on various social conditions. As such, science and technology were considered the most important avenues towards agricultural development.

However, over the years, the linear idea that innovations are developed by scientists, disseminated through intermediaries and then put into practice by users has been criticised by many for a number of shortcomings. In this model, the researchers propose, design and transfer innovations to farmers through agricultural communication workers or extension staff regarded as intermediaries.

Researchers are considered as the origin of the inventions, while farmers are only deemed receivers or implementers of the innovations. This thinking is called ‘the linear model of innovation' as it draws a one way between science and practice. Here, researchers are supposed to specialise in the generation of innovations, extension and education, whereas the farmers are expected to utilise the innovations, regardless of the prevailing circumstances.

However, an increased recognition of the importance of the context for agricultural development has led to different schools of thought about the meaning of innovation. This is because numerous studies showed that innovations developed by research were often not adopted. To the contrary, successful innovations were usually based on an integration of ideas and insights not only from scientists, but also from users, intermediaries and other societal agents.

This modern approach is called the ‘agricultural innovations systems' approach. The World Bank defines an innovation system as a network of organisations focused on bringing new products, processes and forms of organisation into social and economic use, together with the institutions and policies that affect their behaviour and performance.

The innovations systems approach moves away from the traditional linear research and development model in which research is completed and results are passed on to users through extension. Instead, it emphasises the need to nurture the demand for knowledge and technologies among a range of actors, including farmers, researchers, extension officers, policymakers, private-sector companies, entrepreneurs, agro processors and nongovernmental agencies.

 The approach is, therefore, meant to encourage participants to demand relevant knowledge. It puts farmers and users at the centre of the innovative practices. So, why should farmers endeavour to attend the agricultural show?

First of all, although many farmers still complain about limited knowledge on improved technologies, very few are actively seeking information. The rest are passively waiting for it from the comfort of their farms.

Considering that extension workers, for example, are sometimes faced with logistical problems, such as means of transport to the field, farmers should take the initiative to seek knowledge from other sources, such as this agricultural show.

The beauty of attending such a show is that through interactions, farmers will be able to learn from their colleagues what they are doing differently to tackle farming challenges. This type of learning is very powerful because studies have shown that conclusions drawn by people themselves, on the basis of their own experiences, tend to have a greater impact than insights formulated by researchers who farmers cannot identify with.

Secondly, since last year, most organisations, including the National Agricultural Research Organisation (NARO) are using the commodity approach of exhibition where various processes along the entire value chain of a given commodity are clustered and presented in a logical order. This means farmers can look at them and identify opportunities, including markets, agro-processing and management practices, among others.

I have also learnt that the organising committee of the show will hold short trainings in various areas such as coffee, dairy, poultry, piggery, pumpkin and banana production. There will also be trainings in passion fruit, bamboo and mushroom growing. Other areas in which participants in the show will be trained include horticulture, bee keeping, fish farming and agri-financing. I believe that through this show, farmers will enhance their capacities and competences and those of their households and thereby improve their livelihoods.

The writer is a development communication officer at NARO secretariat