Roger G Packham

Systemic praxis in the education of the agricultural systems practitioner

This paper describes the context and the systemic experiential theories that have informed the praxis of educating agricultural systems practitioners. The praxis has involved a process of action research with students and with clients in farming and other rural community organizations. The praxis encourages learners to bring a range of methodologies of inquiry to bear upon problematic issues, contingent upon the nature of such issues. Informed by a number of different theories, and by reflecting on our own work, an earlier model of a nested hierarchy of systems of inquiry has been reconstructed to become a more useful guide to educational strategies: Each contingent methodology can now be seen to have its own learning, meta-learning, and epistemic learning dimensions. A key to enriched learning for responsible changes in agriculture and rural development lies in the facilitation of the consciousness of, and competency at, such a systemic pluralism of methodologies.

SYSTEMIC PRAXIS IN THE EDUCATION OF THE AGRICULTURAL SYSTEMS PRACTITIONER

This paper describes the context and the systemic experiential theories that have informed the praxis of educating agricultural systems practitioners. The praxis has involved a process of action research with students and with clients in farming and other rural community organizations. The praxis encourages learners to bring a range of methodologies of inquiry to bear upon problematic issues, contingent upon the nature of such issues. Informed by a number of different theories, and by reflecting on our own work, an earlier model of a nested hierarchy of systems of inquiry has been reconstructed to become a more useful guide to educational strategies: Each contingent methodology can now be seen to have its own learning, meta-learning, and epistemic learning dimensions. A key to enriched learning for responsible changes in agriculture and rural development lies in the facilitation of the consciousness of, and competency at, such a systemic pluralism of methodologies.

Groundwater scarcity impact on inclusiveness and women empowerment: Insights from school absenteeism of female students in two watersheds in India.

ABSTRACT A survey was conducted in eight secondary schools located in two watersheds in Gujarat and Rajasthan (semi-arid region of India) to assess students’ perceptions about groundwater scarcity issues and the impact of the scarcity on their educational opportunities. Survey responses to a detailed questionnaire by a cohort of students in both watersheds; school attendance records of year 8 class students (13–14 years old) and responses gathered via a socio-economic survey involving 500 families in the study area were used in the study. In both watersheds, >90% students identified groundwater scarcity as a major issue. Required to work at home or farm, about 65% students in Gujarat and 60% in Rajasthan missed school for up to 2 days/month; and a smaller proportion (∼ 30%) missed schools for 4 or more days/month. School absenteeism was found to be linked with gender; female students missed schools more frequently than their male counterpart. The school attendance records in Rajasthan showed that the frequency of female students missing schools for 5 or more days/month was on an average 2–10 times greater than that for males. The gender difference in absenteeism in all schools was statistically significant (P < .018**). The study highlighted that groundwater scarcity in the study area, and consequent demand on their time for household work including fetching drinking water are contributing factors towards limiting their educational and economic opportunities. Groundwater scarcity can be one of the key factors that can limit inclusiveness and empowerment of women and need to be considered in policy-making.

Managing aquifer recharge and sustaining groundwater use: developing a capacity building program for creating local groundwater champions

Participatory groundwater management is increasingly being recognised for its ability to address the challenges of equity, efficiency and sustainability. It can particularly help with effective engagement at the grassroots level for monitoring, recharging and managing the groundwater as a common pool resource. The main aim of this article is to discuss the training and management process used and the lessons learnt from a participatory groundwater management project, titled Managing Aquifer Recharge and Sustainable Groundwater Use through Village-level Intervention (MARVI). In this project, researchers, rural development facilitators and local villagers worked together to initiate participatory groundwater monitoring in 11 villages from the Dharta and Meghraj watersheds in Rajasthan and Gujarat, India. The study involved educating villagers through an intensive program of capacity building, wherein the villagers who participated in the program were called Bhujal Jaankars (BJs), a Hindi word meaning ‘groundwater informed’. The BJs were trained in their local settings through relevant theory and practical exercises, so that they could perform a geo-hydrological evaluation of their area, monitor groundwater and share their findings and experiences with their village community. The study has highlighted that with a well-designed program of capacity building and on-going support through training and nurturing, BJs can play an important role in monitoring watertable depth and other data for estimating groundwater recharge, leading to a sharing of the groundwater information with the local village community to influence the sustainable use of groundwater. Overall they can act as local champions for groundwater futures. Further, this study has demonstrated that BJ capacity building can help to provide a scientific basis for village level groundwater dialogue and assist village communities and other stakeholders to improve their decision making regarding groundwater use, crop selection, agronomy, recharge strategies and other aspects of sustainable groundwater management. Although the BJ program has been successful and BJs can act as a valuable interface between local communities and other stakeholders managed aquifer recharge activities, there still exists some challenges to the BJ programme, such as the need for mechanisms and funding sources that will sustain the BJs over the longer term; wider acceptance of BJs among scientific communities and policy makers; and the acceptance of the role and involvements of BJs in natural resources management programs of the State and Central governments in India.

Developing Policy for Communities Managing Diffuse Source Pollution: A Case Study from Subtropical Catchments of NSW, Australia

Each individual and organisation differs in the way they perceive, define and act upon social, economic and environmental issues. One such issue is pollution of coastal waterways from acid sulphate soils in coastal wetlands in Australia. These soils, when oxidised, acidify water resulting in extensive destruction in the downstream ecosystem. While the impacts of the acidification are extensive and external agencies are demanding change, current policies do not reflect the complexity of the relationships between the stakeholders. This paper analyses the effectiveness of current policies. How do we define and manage the change process? Drawing on results from two benchmarking surveys conducted in 1998 and 2002, this paper provides insights into why change is happening in three industry groups that are managing diffuse source pollution from acid sulphate soils. Findings indicated that stakeholders frequently did not identify with the government visions and were unaware of the regulations. High compliance with regulations was dependent upon best management practices and education strategies. We discuss how to develop policies to promote the change process with diverse stakeholder groups, and explore why stakeholders resist change. Such findings can have applicability to any organisation involved in the management of diffuse source pollution.

Participative action research (PAR) for rural community development in South Sulawesi, Indonesia

In Indonesia, community development is one of the major strategies for improving the conditions of smallholder farmers in rural areas. Such programs are usually delivered to farmers through extension services using a Transfer of Technology (TOT) approach - a technical orientation primarily concerned with agricultural production issues, rather than being concerned with livelihood issues such as social equity or ecological sustainability (Sriskandarajah et al., 1993; Cornwall et al., 1994). This approach has been challenged as being non-participatory and top-down in its implementation (King, 2000).

Rhythm of the rivers : an ecosystem approach to human health on the Amazon frontier

Since 1996, a team of Canadian and Peruvian researchers has been developing an ecosystem approach to human health. The ecosystem approach provides an interdisciplinary, holistic guide to how to investigate complex socio-ecological problems, drawing on, and bringing together, a wide variety of methods, actors and scales of investigation (Murray et al., 2001). The development of the approach began with a conceptual framework that brought together the most recent understanding of ecosystems as complex systems with secondary data and exploratory fieldwork. This was followed by its application in understanding and improving a problematic situation in the Peruvian Amazon. Equipped with the ecosystem approach, the Ucayali region of Peru was revisited in an attempt to provide new insights into the driving forces of human health and to investigate the key determinants of, and linkages between, ecosystem and human health. Ultimately the aim of the project was to synchronize health and land use policies and improve the health of local people through better management of their natural resources.