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Lesotho’s highly eroded land has the potential to be rejuvenated by the utilization of conservation agriculture (CA) practices. This paper considers the relationships between local mindsets for agricultural production, beliefs about CA, and social networks to comment on the current process of CA development and dissemination in Botha Bothe District. Surveys were conducted with 430 households from ten villages, some from the lowlands, some from the foothills, and others in the highlands. Follow-up surveys were conducted in one highland village and one lowland village, and the data was used for network analysis in order to understand the dynamics between social networks, farmers’ contacts, and adoption behaviors. Variations in responses were also analyzed with regard to gender and farm size. The authors find that lowland farmers are generally more supportive of CA than are highland farmers, that full adopters tend to receive information from sources external to the community, and that many important local actors are skeptical of CA.

This study seeks to understand the pathway by which new technology and the associated knowledge passes through community networks in western Kenya and eastern Uganda. Previous research in the region emphasizes the importance of community support to promote widespread adoption of Conservation Agriculture practices. We will simulate complex contagions of information in these networks using the simulation platform EpiSimdemics. This work complements and expands on the growing body of research that uses network analysis to study the effects of network structure and social contagion on complex health and social systems.

Technological change leading to sustained smallholder innovation in conservation agriculture (CA) involves more than just the introduction of new practices by a transforming agent (extension or NGO). Many observers note that conservation agriculture requires a change of mind-set for adoption to occur (Hobbs, 2007; Wall, 2007). Successful cases of CA development have also demonstrated active engagement of a network of producers and their partners throughout the agricultural sector (Coughenour, 2003; Swenson and Moore, 2009). Social networks and their associated local and scientific knowledge systems have been shown to have potential for collective management of natural resources, albeit with variable results depending on the structure of the social network (Crona and Bodin, 2006; Schumann, 2011). Based on farm household and modified snowball surveys of agricultural sector and community agents, this paper examines social networks and technological beliefs in four agricultural communities surrounding Mt. Elgon in western Kenya and eastern Uganda.

The presentation reviewed initial findings for a study on social network approaches to improve participatory research for conservation agriculture in the Mt. Elgon region of Kenya and Uganda. Changes in technology transfer and international agricultural research were presented along with the notion of using social networks to study the co-innovation process. The key contributions of the study to project management were the building of trust and improvement of participatory research and the key contributors to CAPS technology development were the revelation of differences between perceived and reported network contacts, ill-informed perspectives about the beliefs of others, and the problems regarding actual agricultural technologies. The study helped to identify challenges to Conservation Agriculture (CA) such as herbicide use in Tororo and CA as a hand technology.

Scaling up conservation agriculture production systems (CAPS) for smallholders requires facilitating a change in mindset within a supporting network of agricultural production partners. Entering into the dialogue necessary to achieve these changes depends on the capacity of CAPS promoters to interact and communicate effectively with the existing network of farmers, agricultural service sector providers, and community agents. Effectively negotiating these interactions to create innovative ways to integrate the three conservation agriculture principles (reduced tillage, maintaining a permanent crop cover, and crop rotations) into local production practices will require: (1) an understanding of the current (local and scientific) knowledge and perspectives concerning best agricultural norms and practices; and (2) identifying the relevant actors and their resource and communication channels in the local agricultural production network. As a contribution to building this communicative competence, this paper presents findings from the study of four local networks involved in CAPS research in Kenya and Uganda.

The poster presents social network analysis as a method to support collaboration in the participatory research process to design strategies to scale up conservation agriculture production systems (CAPS). Objectives of this research project were to identify knowledge and attitudes concerning agricultural production practices held by actors in the network, to describe the structure of information and physical resource flows between these actors, and to determine critical pathways and opinion leaders that facilitate technological change among farmers and their service sector providers. Research presented was carried out in Eastern Uganda and Western Kenya. The poster highlights the feedback provided by farmers during workshops held in four communities. Both scientific and local knowledge were found in the research communities. Findings identified misconceptions about agent misconceptions about the knowledge of others. Findings also identified challenges to conservation agriculture adoption and how local networks can be mobilized to resolve them. Social Network Analysis contributions to overall project management were also presented. The research verified and expanded the network of service sector/community agents involved in the project, encouraged reflexivity in the research process, and empowered project participants to address network conditions which they can control.

These proceedings are from the conference "Resilient food systems for a changing world" held in Brisbane, Australia, 26 - 29 September 2011. This conference focused on Conservation Agriculture practices, adoption, and impacts in numerous climates and nations. These proceedings include a multitudes of papers submitted to the conference as well as oral presentations, rendering this a very thorough and up-to-date resource on Conservation Agriculture and its impacts world wide.

This thesis investigates the relationship between smallholder farm household networks for food acquisition and agricultural production, food security and dietary quality in the Mount Elgon region of western Kenya and eastern Uganda. Food security and dietary quality were measured through calorie consumption of the female household head in a 24 hour dietary recall, the calculation the World Food Program Food Consumption Score (WFP FCS), and the calculation of the percentage of energy sourced from staples in the diet. Correlations between these indicators support that the WFP FCS is capturing elements of both sufficiency and quality of diet. Subsequent application of Ordinary Least Squares regression determines that both food acquisition networks and technology networks for agricultural production have a statistically significant positive impact upon calorie procurement across the sites included in the study. However, networks for agricultural production appear to operate differently in different locations with regard to dietary quality. Interpretation of qualitative data gathered through interviews with agricultural service sector providers and focus groups regarding these local networks for agricultural production suggests that this might be due to differences in the types of crops promoted and attitudes held regarding food security and dietary quality prevalent in these different localities. Overall, the results suggest that both food acquisition networks and agricultural production networks are important avenues through which gains in food security may be realized. However, development efforts need to be mindful of the crops and attitudes promoted by these networks to secure gains in both caloric sufficiency and dietary quality.

These proceedings are from the conference "Resilient food systems for a changing world" held in Brisbane, Australia, 26 - 29 September 2011. This conference focused on Conservation Agriculture practices, adoption, and impacts in numerous climates and nations. These proceedings include a multitudes of papers submitted to the conference as well as oral presentations, rendering this a very thorough and up-to-date resource on Conservation Agriculture and its impacts world wide.

This presentation describes the Technology Networks Cross Cutting Research Activity (CCRA-8) and the baseline survey module to be incorporated by the LTRA teams. The Technology Networks CCRA has three key objectives: 1) Reveal local network structures 2) Identify different technological frames for agricultural production and 3)Determine key actors and knowledge pathways to facilitate innovation. Data will be collected through the integration of an additional module into SANREM baseline surveys conducted by the LTRA teams which incorporates a set of Likert scale questionnaire items and a network module to measure relations between actors according to frequency, trust, and resources exchanged. The module also collects data on soil perceptions and practices and participation by men and women in agricultural activities.

In studying agricultural development, we are interested in the characteristics of local contexts which enable or prevent technological change. Network theory and literature from social construction of technology provide numerous methods to make these complex processes of change more transparent. In this paper, we explore how these different approaches can inform conceptualizations of technological change in agriculture through 1) a brief synthesis of the network and social construction of technology literature; 2) a review of technological change in agricultural experiences; and 3) the proposal of a refined research methodology. Upon examining the literature, the distinction between structural and semiotic networks and the concept of technological frame are particularly valuable. Conceptualizing technological change through a social construction of technology approach, we are interested in the fundamental question of how and why a particular technological frame becomes dominant. We argue that this process unfolds through local network spaces and dynamics. In an attempt to illustrate the connection between network processes and technological frame adoption; we reinterpret two examples of technological change in agriculture. These include technology transfer in the Green Revolution and the emergence of adaptive management for the development of Conservation Agriculture production systems in the United States and Brazil. We find that the reformulation and reorganization of agricultural production networks are captured in Callon's moments of translation, where individuals take on new and even competing identities. Through deconstructing this process, we hope to provide the theoretical foundation for a more comprehensive research model to examine technological change in agriculture.

This document describes the purpose, content, and format of the metadata that defines the contents of the SANREM Knowledgebase. The SANREM Knowledgebase (SKB) is a catalog of information resources specific to the SANREM project as well as catalog and archive other resources and projects that relate to sustainable agriculture and natural resource management. The overall goal is to make these resources readily available to facilitate the wide and effective dissemination of information and to provide a structure for effective search and retrieval of the resources.

This document describes the purpose, content, and format of the metadata that defines the contents of the SANREM Knowledgebase. The SANREM Knowledgebase (SKB) is a catalog of information resources specific to the SANREM project as well as catalog and archive other resources and projects that relate to sustainable agriculture and natural resource management. The overall goal is to make these resources readily available to facilitate the wide and effective dissemination of information and to provide a structure for effective search and retrieval of the resources.