Smartholders

Smartholders - I

Hi guys, today I'm writing a little post about technologies that can help small-scale farmers (smallholders). This was inspired by a cool video about setting up a greenhouse, made by a Kenyan organisation, to promote the benefits of technologies in agriculture.

Other than financial, resource input, advice or informational assistance, one possible role of organisations interested in development is to sponsor scientific research or programs (such as the Gates and Melinda Foundation in the health sector) or assist in bringing innovations to the field.


Why focus on smallholders?

Collier and Dercon argued in an article that development economists generally focus on helping the rural poor, and largely on smallholders. A variety of logic has been used to support this stance, such as promoting sectoral development (growth pole model), or the idea that the quickest way to ensure trade benefits the poor is to enable them to improve their productivity.

Some have questioned the methods used to assist smallholders, while others have questioned the focus on smallholders itself for instance, the Collier and Dercon (2014) article. Personally, I believe that agencies promoting development should look closely at what investments smallholders in low-income countries have found successful and profitable, even by themselves.

Some problems in this approach may be that smallholders have imperfect information, or that necessary services and technologies are not available locally and thus would have not been used, even if they were desirable. This is not to mention that the majority of learning done by smallholders is based on following examples or trials, perhaps due to the risky nature of agriculture and the need for evidence and trust.


Friendly neighbourhood heroes?

That's why local help groups that understand the demands of smallholders, and yet have the ability and expertise needed to advise farmers on technologies seem very important to me. In the video that follows, what struck me was the attention to detail in construction, as well as to the needs of farmers involved in the project. When watching the video, it also becomes obvious that specialist knowledge and experience would be required to successfully operate a greenhouse agriculture project.

There are many barriers to technology implementation, especially if smallholders themselves are not ready to adopt new practices, and are themselves unwilling to invest time to learn about new technologies.

Are the help groups and community support provided altruistically? I think that there is a relatively strong sense of community, aid and co-operation in Africa, and successful individuals do want to contribute back to their rural communities. But businesses can make good profits off selling technology, and that is also a large incentive for them to provide education and support. And if farmers make profits using technology and have access to capital, then that would be nice too.

Whatever it is, I think its cool that technology and community intersect in such ways. It also blows away the idea that technology is a "big" thing that requires lots of money.


Stay starchy,
Mr Cassava