Africa Rice Center (WARDA)

Participatory Learning and Action Research (PLAR)

In 2001, WARDA developed an approach for Integrated Crop Management (ICM) under inland-valley conditions. The objective of PLAR is to promote technological change through improving farmers capacity to exchange knowledge, experiences and practices. Application of ICM often increased yields by 1,000 kg/ha.

Groups of farmers learn to find adaptive responses to site-specific problems and make the best use of available resources, namely local knowledge and research-based understanding of underlying processes. Through weekly sessions with groups of farmers, a wide range of learning tools are used such as cropping calendars, maps, diagrams and field observations. These form the basis of 28 modules covering land preparation, transplanting, weed and pest management, but also post-harvest and marketing. These modules constitute the PLAR curriculum.

By 2006, PLAR has been introduced in Benin, Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Guinea, Madagascar, Nigeria, The Gambia and Togo. Farmers now apply their learning to a wide range of other crops. Currently, new modules are being developed for mango and cashew, key crops grown on the fringes of inland valleys.

Apart from building capacity on PLAR, WARDA's Technology Transfer Unit conducts research on how the social position of PLAR participants and farmer trainers influences the diffusion of knowledge and technologies within and between communities. Insights will lead to policy recommendations to improve service delivey and farmer-to-farmer extension systems.

Video and Radio to scale up learning

Video is a powerful tool that can significantly increase the impact of good practices and research around the region. Besides being more cost-effective than farmer-to-farmer extension, video has the power to better explain underlying biological or physical processes if made with the end-users.

To ensure more farmers can benefit from PLAR, those modules with the highest local impacts and regional scaling-up potential will be turned into video products. Recently, WARDA developed two videos with women rice processors to spread proven post-harvest technologies.

Besides, in collaboration with CABI, UK, IRRI in the Philippines and the Rural Development Academy in Bangladesh, a set of four videos that aim at improving on-farm rice seed health forms the basis of an experiment on South-South exchange. While millions of farmers have changed their practices after having seen the videos in South Asia (where the videos were made with rural women), the videos are now available in more than 15 languages, making their way in the African continent.

Evaluating scaling-up processes and impacts are part of our research. Based on our experiences with these six rice videos, the Zooming-in Zooming-out approach was established that help extension service providers to create regionally relevant learning materials that are locally appropriate. The approach can be applied to any media form and has been recently published in the International Journal of Agricultural Sustainability 4(2)2006, Pages 131–142. Click here to read the abstract. Click here for full article.

	Rice transplanting (14:15)
	“Yields are much higher when rice is transplanted. Compared to broadcasting, yields are two or three times higher.”
	English Shortly available in French and Bambara

	Rice weed management (17:00)
	As we know that effective weed control could increase yields by more than 50%, it surely is worthwhile taking a closer look. In this video we will learn how to control weeds most effectively
	English Shortly available in French and Bambara

	Spotted seed means diseased seed (07:29)
	There are many problems with poor seed, and spotted and discolored seed are some of the major ones. These spotted seeds could not be removed by winnowing or seed floatation. They can only be removed by manual sorting. By seeing this video you will learn how to clean seed as one of the interventions to produce and use healthy seed
	English, French, Mandinka, Bambara, Twi, Susu, Guerze, Amharec, Ewe, Dagaari, Yoruba and Ejbo

	Seed cleaning by floatation (06:35)
	Why not try this new technique of seed floatation before sowing your seed… “When the farmers take out their seed from storage and open the lid of the container, they may find flying insects. To confirm if the seed has been attacked, the farmer takes a sample of seed in his hand and on close observation they will find holes in the seed. Insects eat the endosperm - the inside of the seed - so these seeds become light and easily float on the water.”
	English, French, Mandinka, Bambara, Twi, Susu, Guerze, Amharec, Ewe, Dagaari, Yoruba and Ejbo

	Well-dried seed is good seed (06:20)
	Farmers face great difficulties with drying their seeds because seed absorbs moisture from the soil. As a result, seed quality deteriorates, and no-one can expect good yields by using poor quality seed. In this video you can see how farmers of Maria village solved this problem by themselves. Now they are no longer worried about drying seed, even during the rainy season.
	English, French, Mandinka, Bambara, Twi, Susu, Guerze, Amharec, Ewe, Dagaari, Yoruba and Ejbo

	Seed preservation techniques (07:05)
	Based on hard real life experience, the women of Maria village have devised some very effective techniques for seed preservation. Let us learn from some of these innovative women …
	English, French, Mandinka, Bambara, Twi, Susu, Guerze, Amharec, Ewe, Dagaari, Yoruba and Ejbo

	Improving rice quality (13:26)
	“…culture of quality is very important for us to push back the dumping from outside, if we don’t do it; whether its from Africa, whether it’s from my mothers kitchen, people are not going to buy it, so we have to become competitive, we have to develop competitive advantage and quality is the most important element in competitive advantage and, it’s within our reach, we can do it.”
	English, French, Luganda, Runyakitara, Luo, Ateso, Swahili, Samia, Amharec, Mandinka, Bambara, Yoruba and Ejbo

	Cashing in with parboiled rice (12:37)
	Although rice is highly nutritious, a lot of the quality is lost during processing. This results in poor quality rice on the market. So consumers turn to imported rice. In this video you will learn about parboiling, a way to improve the quality of rice by treating paddy with warm water and steam. There are many good reasons for parboiling rice. The market for quality rice is growing. Food vendors and restaurant owners start to use parboiled rice because it is already clean and easy to cook. Most importantly, parboiled rice is more nutritious than non-parboiled rice
	English, French, Fon, Amharec, Mandinka, Yoruba and Ejbo

	Land preparation and water management
	How does land preparation and water management affect crop establishment, weed management and rice yields? And why does a field need to be perfectly levelled to have optimal effect of fertilizers? To know the answers to these and other questions, watch this video.
	Shortly available in English, French and Bambara

	Rice seedbed preparation
	In this video, we will learn how to prepare a seedbed, as establishing a good seedbed is needed to obtain strong seedlings and give your crop a good start. Let’s look at it step by step
	Shortly available in English, French and Bambara

	A healthy soil for a good rice crop
	In this video we will learn all about nutritients, soil structure, organic matter and how to maintain your soil fertile. All this will allow you to keep on cultivating your land and produce healthy crops.
	Shortly available in English, French and Bambara

To obtain copies of the videos please click here or contact:

Dr. Paul Van Mele
Program Leader, Learning and Innovation Systems
Africa Rice Center (WARDA)
01 BP 2031, Cotonou, Benin
tel: +229 21 35 01 88 ext. 332
fax: +229 21 35 05 56
email: p.vanmele@cgiar.org

WARDA and its partners also established links with rural radios to enhance farmer-to-farmer extension. Farmers involved in PLAR or video-supported learning sessions gave testimonies to rural radios. Also, local innovations were turned into radio scripts and hosted on the website of the Developing Country Farm Radio Network. Currently over 300 rural radios in 38 SSA countries receive their quarterly newsletter, including the scripts.

Participatory Varietal Selection (PVS)

Using PVS, scientists and farmers together test a much wider range of potentially useful plant material than was being done before. It introduces farming communities to new varieties, gathers information on farmers’ preferences during three formal evaluations of the crop, and feeds this back into the breeding process.

PVS is at the core of the NERICA success story. The NERICA PVS program has now spread to about 20 African countries, involving thousands of farmers across Africa. Even in our recent breakthrough of NERICAs for lowlands, it has played a major role. With the success of PVS, subsequent seed production was identified as a major bottleneck in the dissemination of new varieties.

Community-based seed production system (CBSS)

To overcome the constraints of conventional seed systems, CBSS – a new seed multiplication scheme using farmers’ practices and local knowledge – was introduced as an alternative seed-supply mechanism for small-holder farmers.

This new scheme of seed production allows a rapid spread of NERICAs and other rice varieties into existing low-input, subsistence production systems in West and Central Africa. It reduces the time required for seed availability to farmers.

Fair use of this material is encouraged. Proper citation is requested.
© Africa Rice Center 2006