Science Agriculture and Research: A Compromised Participation

172 Pages·2002·1.258 MB·English

by  William Buhler, Stephen Morse, Eddie Arthur, Susannah Bolton, Judy Mann

Science, Agriculture and Research
A Compromised Participation?
William Buhler, Stephen Morse,
Eddie Arthur, Susannah Bolton
and Judy Mann
Earthscan Publications Ltd
London • Sterling, VA
First published in the UK and USA in 2002
by Earthscan Publications Ltd
Copyright © Buhler, Morse, Arthur, Bolton and Mann, 2002
All rights reserved
ISBN: 1 85383 691 5 paperback
1 85383 696 6 hardback
Typesetting by PCS Mapping & DTP, Gateshead
Printed and bound in the UK by Creative Print and Design (Wales), Ebbw Vale
Cover design by Danny Gillespie
For a full list of publications please contact:
Earthscan Publications Ltd
120 Pentonville Road, London, N1 9JN, UK
Tel: [phone]
Fax: [phone]
Email: [email protected]
Web: www.earthscan.co.uk
22883 Quicksilver Drive, Sterling, VA 20166-2012, USA
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Science, agriculture and research : a compromised participation? / William Buhler …
[et al.].
p. cm.
ISBN 1-85383-85383-696-6 (hardback) – ISBN 1-85383-691-5 (pbk.)
1. Agriculture–Research. 2. Agriculture–Research–Great Britain. I. Buhler, William,
1964-
S540.A2 S35 2002
630'.72041–dc21
2002000767
Earthscan is an editorially independent subsidiary of Kogan Page Ltd and publishes in
association with WWF-UK and the International Institute for Environment and
Development
This book is printed on elemental chlorine-free paper
Contents
Tables and Figures vii
List of Acronyms and Abbreviations viii
Introduction 1
The Approach Taken 2
1 What Drives Agricultural Research? 5
The Research Process and Policy – How Does it all Work? 5
The Importance of Funding in Research 9
Who Are the Funding Agencies, How Do They Work and What is
Their Remit? 12
Who is Intended to Benefit from the Research? 15
The Peer-review Process and Research Funding 16
The Funding Agency Panels and Boards and Who Influences
Them 17
The Importance of Accountability and Value for Money 19
The Move to Short-termism 21
2 From Jethro Tull to Grain Mountains: The Origins and
Development of Agricultural Research Systems 24
A Time-frame of Agricultural Developments since 1700 24
Problems with Production 25
The Agricultural Revolution: A Thirst for Knowledge and its
Application 27
Science into Practice – Early Models 29
Shifting Power: The Democratization of Research 31
The Politics of Agriculture – Protection versus Improvement 32
The Industrialization of Agriculture and the Research Process 35
Control and Accountability 36
3 Agriculture and the Empire: Transferring Technocracies 37
Introduction 37
The Empire and Agricultural Research 39
Case Study: Nigeria 49
Agricultural Research Systems in Nigeria 56
Agricultural Extension 60
vi Science, Agriculture and Research
The CGIAR and Africa’s Green Revolution 62
Summary and Conclusions 68
4 Modern Times: Agribusiness and Biotechnology 70
Time-frame: 1947–2000 70
Farming Priorities for UK Agricultural Research – Declining
Participation 71
Rothschild Report 72
Determining Funding Objectives 76
Guidance from Foresight 77
Contributions from the EU 81
Political Agenda of EU Integration? 82
Applying Applied Science 82
Academia and Industry Interactions 85
Farmer Participation? 87
Future – What Future? 90
5 The Rise (and Further Rise?) of Participation 94
Introduction 94
The Origins of Participation 95
Agro-ecosystem Analysis 97
Farming Systems Research 99
Rapid and Participatory Appraisal 101
Current Fronts of Participation 107
The Further Rise of Participation? 109
Participation, Research and the CGIAR 117
The Limits of Participation 120
Summary and Conclusions 123
6 A Compromised Participation? 125
Introduction 125
The Agricultural Process and Those Involved 127
The Role of Agricultural Research 132
Who are the Perceived Beneficiaries? 133
Who Funds Agricultural Research? 134
Accountability 136
Public Perceptions 138
Science and Society 139
The Political Agenda of Research Funders 142
Compromised Participation in Overseas Development 146
Compromised Participation in the UK 147
Concluding Comments 149
References 152
Index 158
Tables and Figures
TABLES
3.1 Some Commodity-focused Research Stations Financed by the
Plantation Industries in the British Empire 42
3.2 Summary of Agricultural Development Initiatives in Nigeria from
Independence to Structural Adjustment 56
3.3 Origins and Locations of Some of the Nigerian National
Agricultural Research Stations 58
3.4 Research Programme Priorities of the National Council for
Agricultural Research, Nigeria 58
3.5 Changes Experienced by Some Nigerian NARS 59
3.6 Chronology of Membership of the CGIAR 63
3.7 Annual Budgets (1993 Data) of the CGIAR Research Centres 64
3.8 The CGIAR IARCs and Their Prime Mandates 65
3.9 The Four IITA Research Programmes 66
5.1 Four Modes of On-farm Research 100
5.2 Six Types of RRA 103
5.3 Seven Types of People ‘Participation’ in Development 112
FIGURES
3.1 Outline of the Bush–Fallow System of Agriculture 44
3.2 The Stage Approach to Interpreting Agricultural Systems 45
3.3 An Example of a Transfer of Technology Model of Extension
Based on the T&V System 61
5.1 Agro-ecosystem Analysis for Determining a Research Programme 98
5.2 Agro-ecosystem Analysis for Development 99
5.3 Transfer of Technology (TOT) Model Compared with Farming
Systems Research (FSR) 100
5.4 Blend of TOT and ‘Participatory’ Approaches 106
5.5 Assets Considered in the Sustainable Rural Livelihood Approach 109
5.6 Simplified Diagram of a Research System with Extension and
Clients (ie Farmers) on an Equal Footing with the Research Base 113
5.7 Hierarchy of Status 115
List of Acronyms and Abbreviations
AADP Ayangba Agicultural Development Project
ACARD Advisory Council for Applied Research and Development
ACCAR Advisory Council on Colonial Agricultural Research
ADP Agricultural Development Programme
ADP Agricultural Development Project
AEA agro-ecosystem analysis
AERDD Agricultural Extension and Rural Development Department
AFRC Agriculture and Food Research Council
AR Action Research
AR Adaptive Research
ARC Agricultural Research Council
ARI Agricultural Research Institute
BBSRC Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council
BHC benzene hexachloride
BSE bovine spongiform encephalitis
CAP Common Agricultural Policy
CF contract farmer
CG consultative group
CGIAR Consultative Group for International Agricultural Research
CIAT Centro Internacional de Agricultura Tropical
CIFOR Centre for International Forestry Research
CIMMYT Centro Internacional de Majoramiento de Maz y Trigo
CIP Centro Internacional de la Papa
DAO Divisional Agricultural Officer
DDT dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane
DEFRA Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
(formerly MAFF)
DFID Department for International Development
DNA deoxyribonucleic acid
DTI Department of Trade and Industry
EA extension agents
EC European Commission
ECU European Currency Unit
EEC European Economic Community
EU European Union
List of Acronyms and Abbreviations ix
FAO Food and Agriculture Organization
FP5 Framework Programme 5
FSR Farming Systems Research
FSRE Farming Systems Research and Extension
GATT General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade
GDP gross domestic product
GFAR Global Forum on Agricultural Research
GM genetically modified
GMO genetically modified organism
GNP gross national product
GRP Green Revolution Programme
HCH hexachlorocyclohexane
HEI higher education institute
IARC International Agricultural Research Centre
IBPGR International Board for Plant Genetic Resources
ICARDA International Centre for Agricultural Research in the Dry
Areas
ICLARM International Centre for Living Aquatic Research
Management (known as The World Fish Centre)
ICRAF International Centre for Research in Agroforestry
ICRISAT International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid
Tropics
IDRC International Development Research Centre
IDS Institute of Development Studies
IFAD International Fund for Agricultural Development
IFPRI International Food Policy Research Institute
IIMI International Irrigation Management Institute
IITA International Institute of Tropical Agriculture
ILCA International Livestock Centre for Africa
ILRA (merger of ILCA and ILRAD)
ILRAD International Laboratory for Research on Animal Diseases
INIBAP International Network for the Improvement of Banana and
Plantain
IPGRI International Plant Genetics Research Institute
IPR intellectual property rights
IRRI International Rice Research Institute
ISNAR International Service for National Agricultural Research
LGA local government area
MAFF Ministry of Agriculture Fisheries and Food (currently
DEFRA)
MANR Ministry of Agricultural and Natural Resources
MRC Medical Research Council
MNRR Ministry of Natural Resources and Research
NACB National Agricultural Cooperative Bank
x Science, Agriculture and Research
NAFPP National Accelerated Food Production Programme
NAP Niger Agricultural Project
NAP National Agricultural Programme
NARS National Agricultural Research Station
NCRI Nigerian Cocoa Research Institute
NERC Natural Environment Research Council
NGO non-governmental organization
ODA Overseas Development Administration
ODM Ministry of Overseas Development
OECD Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
OFCOR On-Farm Client-Oriented Research (part of ISNAR)
OFN Operation Feed the Nation
OFR On-farm Research
OPEC Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries
OST Office for Science and Technology
OVI objectively verifiable indicators
PLA participatory learning and action
PM&E participatory monitoring and evaluation
PPA participatory poverty assessment
PRA participatory rural appraisal
PREST Policy Research in Engineering, Science and Technology
R&D research and development
RAE Research Assessment Exercise
RAS Royal Agricultural Society
RASE Royal Agricultural Society of England
RBDA River Basins Development Authority
RRA rapid rural appraisal
RTD research, technological development and demonstration
SAP structural adjustment programme
SFI sustainable financing initiative
SL Sustainable Livelihoods
SPAAR Special Programme for African Agricultural Research
SRC Science Research Council
SSRC Social Science Research Council
SRL Sustainable Rural Livelihoods
SSM Soft Systems Methodology
SSRC Social Science Research Council
T&V training and visit
TOT transfer of technology
UGC University Grants Council
UK United Kingdom
UN United Nations
UNDP United Nations Development Programme
UNEP United Nations Environment Programme
List of Acronyms and Abbreviations xi
US United States
USAID United States Agency for International Development
WACRI West African Cocoa Research Institute
WARDA West African Rice Development Association
WTO World Trade Organization
ZS zonal supervisor
Introduction
This book came about initially as a result of informal discussions between
the authors, all of whom are involved directly, to a greater or lesser extent,
with agricultural science and research. With the public’s perceptions in the
United Kingdom (UK) fuelled strongly by media hype surrounding the
issues of biotechnology, genetic modification (GM), bovine spongiform
encephalitis (BSE), swine fever and foot and mouth it has become apparent
that the level of debate in relation to agricultural research is becoming not
only more and more polarized, but also increasingly politically charged and
poorly informed. The arguments presented tend to involve the following
themes. On one hand, it is put forward that farmers in the UK produce too
much food, that it is environmentally damaging, that it is costly (in the case
of the Common Agricultural Policy – CAP), that it is not healthy and that
the whole system is supported by huge grants. Furthermore, it’s said that
this system of agribusiness is underpinned by research into new
technologies that society does not want, carried out by white-coated boffins
isolated in labs, who work for multinational corporations who collectively
appear to have no social conscience or responsibility. The argument
continues that this system of production is then exported wholesale to the
developing countries of the world whether they want it or not. The
opposing view is that food production needs to be increased to meet a
growing population, that present methods of agricultural production are
the only way forward to meet this demand and that new technologies being
developed are not only safe, environmentally benign and equitable, but
also transferable to the developing world.
It is no wonder then that discussions based around these two virtually
diametrically opposed views have become increasingly heated. One of the
consequences, so far, has been that both sides have tended to increase the
amount of spin and PR in a desperate attempt to persuade society that it
should decide who is right and who is accordingly, wrong, and thus
apportion blame, right wrongs, and develop technologies that fit societies’
needs and desires. However, is it really fair to blame farmers, agricultural
scientists and large multinational corporations for the woes and
inadequacies of agriculture and agricultural research and technology? It
was with such thoughts in mind that it occurred to us that there are
thousands of books, academic articles, journal papers, TV documentaries
and press reports relating to all aspects of this topic, written and presented