Linking Science and Farmers’ expertise with agricultural policies:
towards a framework for emerging economies Seema Purushothaman, Sheetal Patil and Ierene Francis (
[email protected])
1. Essential components of Agricultural polices in emerging economies • Normative objectives Ecological sustainability (context – declining soil fertility, water quality and biodiversity)
Financial viability (context – declining profits, increased indebtedness)
5. Why a framework ? • Integration of academic know-how and farmers’ knowledge • Integration of ecological, economic and socio-cultural goals
Social desirability (context – farmers’ suicides, regional disparity)
• Identified constraints (internal as well as external) • Instruments (incentives) • Strategies and institutions (implementation) (adapted from Monke and Pearson.1989)
Policies in other sectors also impact agriculture in general and small farmers in particular
2. How sectoral policies impact agriculture • • • • • • • • •
Costs and prices Public and private investment Land acquisition Land reforms Food distribution Technological innovations Subsidies Trade liberalisation Employment
6. Framework for Participatory Integrated Policy Appraisal Identifying policy(ies) for assessment Identifying relevant impacts (ESS / LUF) Selection of indicators
(Purushothaman et al 2012a)
3. Approaches to impact assessment Ecosystem Services (ESS) (Pros & Cons) • Based on gradient of ecosystem functions from farm lands • Most suitable in natural ecosystems and bundles of services • Inclined towards ecological services with long term horizon • Possibility of double counting • Difficulty of communities to perceive gradient of service, disservice and the systemic links
Small farmers, Voluntary sector, Government executives, Scientists
Results
Attributing weightages to the impacts and scoring the indicators
Assessment (e.g. Multi Criteria Analysis)
7. Results from a case study (Karnataka, India)
Land Use Functions (LUF) (Pros & Cons) • Based on multifunctional land use providing public and private goods and services • Better suited for production landscapes • Balance multiple dimensions of sustainability • Integration of indicators into land use functions is challenging
4. Integrating ESS with LUF Cultural services
Regulating services
Social capital
Soil fertility
Water quality
Traditional knowledge Agro - biodiversity
Food sovereignty Cultural diversity
Human wellbeing Ecosystem services in agricultural landscape
Provisioning services Land based production Economic production Food and nutrition security
(Purushothaman et al. 2012b)
Human health
References: • Monke, E.A. and S.R. Pearson. 1989. The Policy Analysis Matrix of Agricultural Development. Chapter 13, pp. 255-257. • Purushothaman, S., S. Patil, and S. Kashyap, 2012a (forthcoming). Agrarian Crisis and Policy Links: a Framework for Karnataka, India. In Land Use Policies for Sustainable Development: Exploring Integrated Assessment Methods, D. McNeill, Nesheim, I., Brouwer, F. (ed.): Edward Elgar Publishing. • Purushothaman, S., S. Patil and I. Francis. 2012b. Impact of policies favouring organic inputs on small farms in Karnataka, India: a multicriteria approach. Environment, Development and Sustainability. DOI: 10.1007/s10668-012-9340-1
