Para nutrir el conocimiento EXPERIMENTACIÓN CAMPESINA

UNIÓN EUROPEAEUROPEAN UNION

To nourish your knowledgeFARMER EXPERIMENTATION

Farmer experimentationTo nourish your knowledge

Israel Audocio Rodríguez Ramírezis a leader of the El Tigre community inEl Salvador (Municipality of Jujutla,Department of Ahuachapan). In 2010,Israel Audocio started to give shape tohis major life goal: to start a farmers’school.

Israel Audocio is a promoter on thesubject of organic inputs. He’s takenworkshops from CVX and participatedin the Advocacy Leadership School. Allof this experience led him to start theFarmers’ School Committee to supportthis dream.

“My dream is to standardise a farmingway of life and produce food throughorganic agriculture, which is verydifferent than the traditional way. That’swhere I got the idea of testing eachlesson learned in order to have a solidbase of knowledge and experience, andfor people to transmit their results toothers. That’s how the farmer-to-farmer experience got started here.

I was worried that my plan would endup being just talk and no action. So Istarted to visit each of my fellowfarmers to see how they were doingwith their practices. If I saw someonewith initiative, I’d invite them to myhouse to exchange experiences.

1 + FARMER EXPERIMENTATION: TO NOURISH YOUR KNOWLEDGE

When we started in 2014, there were 16families. Those that wanted to continuelearning stayed in the School that weheld at home, and those that weren’tinterested left. Organic agriculture isvery much about determination, aboutdeveloping your own experiences,about putting into practice on your ownland the things you’ve learned. That’swhere the farmer experimentationmethod got started.

Right now we’re working on creatingand applying eight bio-fermentedorganic inputs to the crops. Using theA-frame we delved into making soil andwater conservation works and with

infiltration and individual terraces.We’ve made bokashi, too. We’re alsolearning how to manage trees throughpruning, how to graft, and we’reexperimenting with a five-point plantingsystem.

At this Farmers’ School we’re alsobuilding the capacity to host exchangeswith other institutions and show ouragroecological practices. For theseevents they commission us to providebreakfast or lunch, so each farmerbrings whatever they produce, and herewe decide what we’re going to cook andshare with the visitors…”.

SCIAF + 2

Purpose of farmerexperimentation

The purpose consists in testing theimprovements seen on other farmsduring community exchanges and onfield days or putting into practice theteachings learned in capacity-buildingworkshops. Farmer experimentation isdone on a small scale and in a simpleway. That’s why it’s important to writedown basic information on recordsheets. That way you can giveinformation on how to carry out thepractices and give recommendations onhow to adapt them to the conditions onthe farm and your own productionsystem.

During on-farm experimentation,meetings and group visits are held forfarmers to help each other out, and toshare results on field days.

These are held within the community tomake the new and improved techniquesknown. When the results aresuccessful, people are encouraged toinnovate, apply them to larger areas,and promote them with other farmerfamilies.

When introducing a specific change toyour plot or production system for thefirst time, you’re innovating. Wheninnovating with new practices, youlearn. And from this learning, you gainnew knowledge.

The purpose is to learn how to produceother crops to attain nutritional and foodsecurity, and to share knowledge onorganic agroecological practices thatallow for planned planting that willprovide produce for market.

3 + FARMER EXPERIMENTATION: TO NOURISH YOUR KNOWLEDGE

Characteristics of anexperimenter

4 Natural curiosity.4 Willingness to work and invest 4 Interest in learning and openness to

change. 4 The desire to involve their family in

experiments.4 Writes things down and keeps a

record of the trial so as to faithfullypass along the experience.

4Learns from successes and failures.4 Is communicative and willing to share

their knowledge.4 Persistence, and willingness to take

risks.

Step by step: Leading on-farm experimentation

1. Create and organise a group toidentify what are the mainproduction problems and define andprioritise the topics of greatestinterest. Give priority to ideas peoplebring about techniques they sawsomewhere else, or to someone whohas already made a change andwants the group to run the trial inorder to demonstrate the benefits ofthe new practice, technique, or test.

2. Observation is key because itinvolves monitoring the behaviour ofthe crops or how animals respond tospecific handling, practices or trials.Each participant must commit toimproving their observationalcapacity to analyse test results and

effects. It’s all about being willing toimprove.

3. The practice to be tested is called a“trial”. Generally, there is only one,but when you’re comparing to thetraditional practice at the same timeand under the same conditions therecan be two. It can be, for example,how a crop responds when fertilisedwith chemicals in contrast to onethat is treated with organic fertiliser,and then comparing the productioncosts and respective benefits.

4. During these tests or experiments,it’s necessary to plan and assign toeach member of the group what theywill do with their families on the farmor plot so that the results can beanalysed afterwards together.Define how often to programmeetings or follow-ups to theexperiments.

5. Establish an experiment size that willbe easy to handle and record. Thesize depends on the subject, crop oranimal husbandry, and financialcapabilities according to the varietyand complexity.

SCIAF + 4

Subject of the experiment

Verifying the yield of a crop that’s beenfertilised with bokashi.

Size

Ground covered by a pound of plantingseeds.

Effectiveness of organic fertiliser in citrustree transplants.

Test organic fertiliser on 10 fruit treeplants. Apply five pounds of organic

fertiliser at the moment of transplant.

Using velvet beans as ground cover forweed control a year before planting a

vegetable garden.Test on 100 square metres.

Applying bio-fermented fertiliser.Apply to 10 maize plants.

Apply to 20 vegetable plants.

Using hot water for pest control and todisinfect the ground.

One 1 x 1-metre vegetable bed.

Improving native corn seed.12 pounds of native corn seeds per

participant.

6. Define which records must be keptfor analysis. For example, presenceand management of pests anddiseases, production costs, andyields. There are many ways ofrecord keeping. Choose a simpleformat with a logical order, andseparately have people write downobservations in a notebook as theysee fit.

7. Keeping a record of income andexpenses is necessary for makingdecisions on whether to adjust orimprove the trial, or discard italtogether. When you can comparedata it’s easier to convince yourselfand others if it’s worth it or not tocontinue with the test. It’s importantto keep a record of how much wasspent on labour and materials, whatwas purchased, and what wasobtained on the farm.

Name of the experiment:

Experimenter:

Name of the farm:

Location:

Planting time and year:

5 + FARMER EXPERIMENTATION: TO NOURISH YOUR KNOWLEDGE

Activity

Plot preparation

Number of days Cost per day Costs

Planting

Weed control

Fertilisation

Pest control

Harvest

Other activity

Total cost

8. Share the results at the Farmers’School so that everyone can learnfrom each other. Make anevaluation based on the data andfeedback from each participant inthe setup of the on-farmexperiment. For example,experiments on organic inputs,native corn selection, piñuela

(bromelia pinguin) barriers, dripirrigation systems with bamboopipes, etc.

9. Organise field trips within thegroup to see trial progress and bestresults.

Labour required throughout the experiment

Inputs

Seeds

Quantity Unit cost Total cost

Activity

Organic insecticides

First application oforganic fertiliser

Second applicationof organic fertiliser

Other

Total cost

Budget per experiment activity

SCIAF + 6

Tools and materials required4 Notebook4 Data recording sheets4 Pencil4 Machete4 Shovel4 Pick4 Hoe4 Seeds4 Organic fertiliser 4 Sacks or bags4 Plastic buckets4 Wheelbarrow4 Pruning shears4 Grafting equipment4 Backpack sprayer4 Boots4 Paper and cardboard4 Thumbtacks

Costs and difficultiesAs often happens in teaching/learningprocesses, it is the organisations whichencourage and support farmerexperimentation and promote manykinds of experiments. The costs ofexperimentation depend on thesubjects of the experiments, the kind oftechnical support required, how farparticipants need to travel to attend,short and long term scope of results,and the capacities of experimentingfarmers’ groups.

In the case of the El Tigre community’sFarmers’ School, during groupgatherings each person bringswhatever food they can contribute anda group of families takes charge ofpreparing the meals.

7 + FARMER EXPERIMENTATION: TO NOURISH YOUR KNOWLEDGE

During the preparation of bio-fermented products, each person paysa fee and CVX organises materials,plastic barrels and cooking pots,organic inputs, seeds, and some toolsand equipment.

Identified difficulties

4 Negative comments within thecommunity can dampen the moodand discourage people fromcontinuing the experiment.

4 Achieving long-term results isdifficult.

4 Testing something new on the farmalways involves risk.

4 In farmer experimentation, the sametrial is rarely repeated on the samefarm.

4 Not owning property. 4 Not having funds to cover food and

transportation costs.

Recommendations

In terms of methodology and basicinformation it is advisable to:

4 Compile information to combineavailable technologies that peopleknow how to use.

SCIAF + 8

4 Be attentive to the evolution of newtechnologies that are implemented inthe plot.

4 Study and evaluate other tactics andpractices to know which ones tocombine.

4 Expand your knowledge by testingsmall to see if the method works foryour farm, and make necessaryadjustments.

4 Assimilate the results. The learningprocess is never over. Always keepthe mind open to new possibilities,tasks, techniques, or recipes.

4 Share knowledge. The advantage isthat the more you share, the moreyou grow as an experimenter.

4 Taking the risk of trying new thingson the farm involves using your owncriteria to decide what changes youwant on the farm and what benefitsyou expect from making certainarrangements or designs byassociating different crops.

4 When starting a new practice,success is based on reconsideringcrop management and trying out

new associations and rotations, aswell as companion plants or herbsthat repel pests. Some agroecologicalpractices focus on using naturalproducts and knowledge of organicagriculture, especially in relation tofertilisation and pest and diseasecontrol. The aim is to obtain healthierand higher quality produce inprofitable quantities that won’t hurtthe environment.

4 Change often takes place in smallsteps. For example, first you changethe variety, then the fertiliser, andfinally the method of pest control.

4 Repeating the same experiment inseveral farms at the same timerepresents an advantage in farmerexperimentation because you canmore easily resolve problems relatedto the implementation of theexperiment.

4 It’s important to carry out evaluationsthroughout the different stages ofthe crop. For example, duringtransplant, ridging, flowering, pestattacks, after applying an organic

9 + FARMER EXPERIMENTATION: TO NOURISH YOUR KNOWLEDGE

pesticide, or establishing some sortof trap or cultural control. Theseevaluations are very useful forunderstanding the final result of theharvest. When you experiment withthe fertility of the soil, it’s necessaryto carry out the test during severaldifferent planting seasons becausethese are slow processes that requiremore time to determine the benefitsin texture and structure of the soils.

“A manager is not a leader. For me,leaders are the farmers whoexperiment because they want toimprove their lives, they’re thinkingabout their community, they value theirfamilies, and believe in what they do…”.Israel Audocio Rodríguez Ramírez.

SCIAF + 10

This publication has been produced with the support of the European Union.The content is the sole responsibility of the author and in no case should be considered

as reflecting the views of the European Union.

CreditsProduction: Roberto Vallecillo • Revision: Lutgarda Barahona, Louise Joyce, Mark Camburn •

Translation: Juliana Marín, Mark Camburn • Photography: Roberto Vallecillo •Design: Enmente • January 2018

SCIAF + 11

EUROPEAN UNION EUROPEAN UNION

www.sciaf.org.ukScottish Catholic International Aid Fund 19 Park CircusGlasgow G3 6BET: 0141 354 5555E: sciaf@sciaf.org.uk

SCIAF is the official overseas aid and development charity of the Catholic Church in Scotland and a proudmember of the Caritas family. Registered in Scotland No: SC012302 Company No:SC197327

http://europa.eu/