Paper short abstract:

The Suwannee River Basin project is an interdisciplinary initiative to build resilient industries and communities by understanding future land use and climate scenarios. Using stakeholder input, the project addresses current and future challenges to inform management and a sustainable future.

Paper long abstract:

The Suwannee River Basin supports diverse ecosystems, communities, and industries in the southeastern United States. As the region experiences climate variability and increased human development, it is important to understand the potential environmental and economic impacts of these changes. The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) Suwannee project is an interdisciplinary initiative that utilizes modeling to predict future outcomes in the Suwannee River Basin. These models include interactions among land use, water quality and quantity, species distribution, economic impact, and stakeholder input. The project aims to equip policymakers and managers with the necessary data to make informed decisions related to the management of resources.

To better understand the impacts of future scenarios, a 12-member advisory council was established. The council is comprised of local stakeholders representing industries such as agriculture, forestry, fishing, tourism, and natural resource management. Gathering local input has enabled the project team to address community concerns and connect with opinion leaders. Through these partnerships, project results will be disseminated to decision-makers and the general public, creating awareness for the social-ecological impacts of land use and climate change. Ultimately, the project will enhance community resilience in the Suwannee River Basin by promoting sustainability and responsible resource use. The NAS Suwannee project represents an innovative research approach, integrating multiple scientific disciplines while receiving guidance and input from local knowledge systems. Prioritizing the voices of stakeholders throughout this project has generated local buy-in, encouraging sustainable practices that will protect the future of the Suwannee River Basin and its resources.

Paper short abstract:

We would like to share how our initiative, Make it Grow, has worked with community-based food initiatives in Zimbabwe to support project planning, pitching and fundraising, using Participatory Video Proposals. Result: multidimensional impact pathways and an enhanced sense of community agency.

Paper long abstract:

In this paper, we share how our initiative, Make it Grow, has worked with community-based food initiatives in Zimbabwe to support project planning, pitching and fundraising, using Participatory Video Proposals. Make it Grow has collaborated with nearly 40 different organisations, working to build agency to co-design and implement community-led food innovations.

Participatory approaches to assessing impact, including impact pathway mapping and narrative questioning, ensured that the indicators and measures by which a project is considered to be “successful” or “impactful” are drawn from diverse participant perspectives. The method led us to realise that community-led food projects have significant, unexpected and highly-valued social impacts (in addition to economic, health and environmental impacts). This is because community-led food projects are (1) embedded in multiple life domains and (2) become a platform that bring different community members together around a common activity and goal, opening up a space for people to discuss the issues that affect them.

We spotlight findings from three community-led food projects, highlighting the multidimensional impact pathways and the ways in which Make it Grow’s capacity-building process (co-creating a video proposal, fundraising) together with the implementation of community food projects, has led to an enhanced sense of community agency. For some groups, the collective process led to the unexpected outcomes of more inclusive problem-solving and greater solidarity in tackling community issues. By taking a participatory approach to impact, we acknowledged the value of - and the challenges to - building agency via community food initiatives.

Paper short abstract:

The paper attempts to uncover reasons of low dynamism of rural livelihoods with a qualitative case study in India. Results suggest that an irrigation system and government policies to support paddy cultivation could cause low demand for innovation to undermine socioeconomic regional dynamism.

Paper long abstract:

Rural stagnation in the Global South is a key important topic in development research. Rural Odisha, one of the backward states in India, suffers from its stagnation in income growth compared with other states in recent years. This could be attributed that farmer’s livelihoods are less dynamic seeking further growth. In this assumption, the research aim is to understand possible reasons of low dynamism of rural livelihoods in the Global South with a case study in Odisha. I attempt to look through livelihood lens of farm households as well as systemic views on socioeconomic and knowledge surrounding them at villages in an irrigation scheme as a case study. Semi-structure interviews with stakeholders of the system including farmers were employed. Results suggest that their livelihoods have not dynamically changed keeping main livelihood of paddy cultivation while farmers are generally satisfied with the current life with stable water supply from the irrigation scheme. The government seems to dominate supports of paddy production from production to marketing as well as provision of knowledge on their livelihoods. In conclusion, it seems to be a paternalistic or patronage system including irrigation which on the one hand assure the stability (socioeconomic as well as geographical immobility) but on the other hand it may undermine innovations and aspirations for change. This system is likely to be portrayed as "static" with neither much innovative change nor demand for such dynamism, as this could causes weak innovation system and low demand for innovation to undermine socioeconomic regional dynamism.

Paper short abstract:

Graduate education is a resource for increasing food sovereignty and decreasing food insecurity. Two pathways will be shared, inviting Global South students to apply to Global North institutions for graduate education and utilizing Global North faculty expertise in the Global South.

Paper long abstract:

Graduate education has a unique role in addressing global challenges, like food sovereignty and food insecurity. This can be accomplished through two distinct pathways; graduate education programs for students in the Global North (GN) and capitalizing on the expertise of faculty to provide consultation to higher education institutions across the Global South (GS).

The GN is well positioned to provide educational opportunities to students and professionals from the GS through a number of high impact experiences at top ranking institutions. Students seeking either a master degree, doctoral (PhD) degree, or other professional certificates have unique access to academic programs in the GN. Academic programs with high impact graduate experiences challenge learners through hands-on research, practical internships, and working directly with experts in the area of agricultural development, food insecurity, climate change, as well as social factors contributing to perpetuating cultural issues.

The second pathway focuses on catalyzing the faculty expertise in the GN to assist and provide support to higher education institutions across the GS. By introducing innovative and novel teaching practices, as well as administrative models, to faculty and institutional leaders, institutions can improve both their effectiveness and efficiency. Through consultation with faculty and administrative experts from the GN institutions across the GS will have new strategies and tools to begin addressing issues of food sovereignty and food insecurity. This can create a more localized ability to have real time discourse and resolution building.

Facilitating these conversations can lead to more collaborative partnerships between the GN and GS.

Paper short abstract:

A reminder that although much is known and understood about the attitudes and behaviors of effective development practitioners the same mistakes and oversights are often made. Christiansen's "What lessons have we learned? What lessons have we not learned? regarding development will be revisited.

Paper long abstract:

I often rely on, cite, and attempt to practice the words, rather wisdom, of a significant mentor regarding international agricultural development, especially when providing agricultural and extension education, i.e., those received from Dr. James E. Christiansen, formerly of Texas A&M University and deceased since 2018: “Underlying all successful development programs is the thread of paying attention to, involving, working with, collaborating with, giving responsibility to, and obtaining feedback from the intended beneficiaries of development programs, projects, and activities” (Christiansen, 2000, slide 9). Also explicated by his advice is the salient importance of recognizing and respecting a society’s norms. Christiansen had a nearly half-century long career as an agricultural and extension educator and scholar practitioner mostly at Texas A&M University with much of his field work having occurred in Iran and Latin America. His "prescription" for increasing the likelihood of successful development projects in which the agency of the beneficiaries is recognized, engaged, and used by development specialists was shared at the 16th annual conference of the Association for International Agricultural and Extension Education (AIAEE) in Arlington, VA, 2000. His words were published in the conference proceedings or "gray literature" but, regrettably, were not shared in the parent organization's peer-reviewed journal or a similar publication by which wider dissemination would have likely occurred. Their weight and applicability, however, merited our attention then and continue to do so now. This panel contribution should elicit participant discussion that yields complementary insights and best practices for creating agency in and through agricultural development.

Paper short abstract:

Achieving food sovereignty, particularly in the Global South, requires a transformation of the food systems away from their current capitalist configuration. In this article, we discuss how politically engaged agroecology offers great potential in this respect, by empowering local communities.

Paper long abstract:

Food systems are at the centre of several environmental, socio-economic and health problems. There is increasing consensus that food systems transformation, away from their current capitalist configuration, is an urgent matter. We begin by noting that food systems are complex adaptive socio-ecological systems (CASESs) and discuss in detail the issue of transformation. In order to do so we build on theoretical ecology approaches to CASESs and bring in the historical materialist (HM) perspective. We show how the HM perspective is consistent with theoretical ecology approaches, while not ignoring issues of power and class (a common critique levied against the theoretical ecology scholarship on CASESs). According to historical materialism, CASESs emerge and persist through a metabolic relationship with the surrounding environment, regulated by a material/economic sphere and a cultural/institutional sphere. The two spheres interact dialectically, thus forming an autocatalytic configuration. Our framework implies that the transformation of food systems requires acting on both the material/economic and the cultural/institutional sphere simultaneously. Politically engaged agroecology, based on the demand for food sovereignty and on the empowerment of local communities, offers a great potential. We discuss it against other approaches that focus mainly on technical solutions (i.e., focusing only on the material/economic sphere while ignoring the cultural/institutional sphere), like for example the use of agro-biotechnology. In our discussion, we pay particular attention to the needs of the Global South.

Paper short abstract:

Global challenges in food, climate and inequalities pose substantial obstacles for development. Communication has a critical role in addressing these challenges. This paper critically reflects on the Rural Communication Services framework as an approach for more inclusive agricultural practice.

Paper long abstract:

Global challenges in food security and changing environmental conditions pose substantial obstacles for essential sustainable development. Simultaneously, social, economic, geographic and political inequalities challenge the systems able to ensure global food security. To this end, communication has long played a fundamental role in rural transformation and agricultural development. Communication continues to play a critical role in supporting capacity building, knowledge sharing, transformation and challenging inequalities.

Sustainable agricultural development is a complex, multi-faceted and context specific long-term process. To be successful, it requires farmers and rural populations to have the critical skills to make better decisions, enabled by sustained facilitation of learning, access to resources and innovation. Practically, this means services that are institutionalised within structures that have the resources and capacities to support such processes. This paper presents Rural Communication Services as a communication concept to address these challenges. Rural Communication Services are demand-led communication processes, activities, technologies and institutional arrangements that take an inclusive approach to responding to the communication needs of family farmers and rural populations.

This paper will use findings from global consultations on Rural Communication Services done by the FAO in Autumn 2022 to critically reflect on Rural Communication Services. It will analyse and interrogate the results of these consultation processes to present a critical reflection on the Rural Communication Services framework as an approach for more inclusive agricultural practice. This analysis will highlight lessons, opportunities and challenges for how agricultural practices can, and should, change to achieve sustainable agricultural systems.

Paper short abstract:

Share the ground realities while working with women farmers in building climate resilience. specifically, will the gender transformation approaches be really effective? what other enabling measures are needed to sustain and push the change among small farmers when climate risks are increasing?

Paper long abstract:

Small-scale agriculture in Ganjam district, Odisha India is undergoing feminization with out-migration of men to non-farm sectors. Women are transitioning from ‘labourer’ to ‘farmer, but without changes in the existing gender inequalities. Prevailing key gendered issues are limitation in locally-led adaptation technologies to adapt to climate change, farming system and markets, inadequate support for technology demystification & innovation to local context and pedagogy while building capacities. Besides, women have less access to and use of, control over land & technical advisories with gendered vulnerability to multiple climatic risks. The three main gender responsive strategies piloted are (a) participatory technology demonstration to build their knowledge and skills on Climate Smart Agricultural technologies; (b) harnessing strength of digital tools to build forward, backward and lateral linkages with partners and horizontal network among farmers and (c) building producer collectives to promote social learning and leverage economy of scale in production and marketing. These strategies aimed to strengthen skills and knowledge, access to & control over services and resources, workloads through farm machinery, voice & representation, access to market and employment opportunities and decision making. The process of change started with access to inputs and services to address first level inequalities. Next level, it is moving towards women’s empowerment, promoting social inclusion by addressing gender norms through collective actions and institutions and striving to gender transformation to sustain the change. The paper unravels steps and processes that enabled the change process & its impacts while promoting climate resilience.

Paper short abstract:

The USAID funded Support to Traditional Cultural Practices in Northern Iraq project is studying the challenges of the agricultural and food sector . This project covers field crops, animal production and extension systems important to the ethnic and religious minorities in the Nineveh plains .

Paper long abstract:

The objective is to study the challenges of the agricultural sector including field crops, animal production and extension in the Nineveh plains region after ISIS liberation. Nineveh plain is considered the "breadbasket" of Iraq, and it is one of the most fertile plains in the country. In 2014, the Nineveh Plain territory was overtaken by the Islamic State of Iraq (ISIS). Close to one million people are estimated to have fled their homes, and at least 20,000 commercial and government buildings, including schools, animal projects and training institutions, were destroyed. To achieve sustainable agriculture development the ideal use of natural, capital, human and technical resources are necessary. Through a cultural lens, strategies to improve the efficiency, effectiveness, and management of agricultural development are being explored. The overall objective of the study is assessing the livelihood of agricultural sub-sectors of rural communities, highlighting farmer needs for restoring agriculture, and proposing culturally relevant interventions and solutions. This project strategically selected the districts of Al-Hamdaniya, Tall Kayf, and Bashiqa to conduct interviews and needs assessments. Revolution in the agricultural sector can make it an engine of economic development. Post-conflict, agricultural expansion and improved productivity may be achieved by focusing on agricultural promotion which include improving the skills of farmers, the investment environment, irrigation, availability of data and information, and minimizing price distortions.