ICA
Global Research Assembly
Chicago
July, 1977
INTRODUCTION
Rural villages in developing nations usually have
farming deeply rooted in their traditions. Unfortunately, the
pattern of that tradition has maintained a subsistence type of
agriculture in the villages. The role of agriculture in Human
Development Projects located in this type of village is to enable
the community to meet its nutritional needs, and provide a means
for local people to earn an adequate living from farming. Altering
existing patterns of farming requires indirect as well as direct
strategies. The projects will enable the establishment an agricultural
infrastructure that will provide the ongoing catalysis towards
increased agricultural productivity, by a shifting from subsistence
to cash farming.
STRUCTURE & PURPOSE
A corporate agricultural work force will be created
from unemployed or under-employed people in the community. They
will be trained in actual farm practices by operating the demonstration
farm containing intensive crop and animal production. This farm
will be a model of integrated intensive farming, producing crops
and livestock to be sold locally or on the export market. In addition,
specially trained workers from this work force will serve as extension
workers to the other farms in the community. The agriculture guild
which will be composed of the corporate work force and village
farmers will plan and implement how agricultural productivity
can be improved. The work force will either be area directly by
a community cooperative, or will earn their income from what they
can produce. In either case, this farm and related services should
support itself and show a surplus that would benefit the cooperative
and community.
The threefold underlying purpose of this work
force and farm is to demonstrate the power of cooperative
farming, 2) establish new support systems, and 3) alter existing
production techniques. At the same time, this directly can effect
the availability of needed foods and expand the income base of
the community.
FUNCTION
It is obvious from the above description that this
corporate work force will have many functions. They include: PRODUCTION,
DEMONSTRATION, TRAINING AND SERVICE. These
are not separate functions, but interact in such a way that each
influences the effectiveness of the others.
PRODUCTION: The first requirement of this work force is that it be an economically viable production unit. It is essential that the objective of production to meet local food needs and/or an expanded economy is accomplished. Agriculture is foundational relative to the economy or many of the projects and the rural village replication sites.
Intensive crop and animal production schemes should
be based on the needs o~ the community and extracommunity
markets that will bring the greatest profit into the community.
Sophisticated production methods will be essential for the operation
to be profitable and to catalyze improved productivity in other
village farms
DEMONSTRATION : The corporate farm will be a demonstration
on effective farming methods and the use of appropriate technology.
It will utilize intensive methods of crop production, such as
intercropping, multicropping, and dense plantings,
in combination with proper soil management techniques. It will
contain adequate facilities for intensive animal production appropriate
to the area. At the same time, it will demonstrate ways of optimizing
integration, such as using animal wastes for soil enrichment and
plant wastes for animal and fish feed.
TRAINING: It is envisaged that the demonstration
farm will be the mayor size of agricultural training, whether
that be an apprenticeship program to train workers for expansion
of cooperative farms or periodic seminars and field days to upgrade
the Knowledge and skills of the existing farmers. For the former
group, it cannot be overemphasized to integrate that training
into actual farm practice in running the demonstration farm.
SERVICE: For the corporate farm to function effectively
a purchasing and marketing service will be necessary. A cooperative
can provide an equipment pool, supplies at bulk rates, and a common
marketing and transportation system. These services will be extended
to village farmers through the farmers exchange service, on credit
if necessary. Also animal health care and crop care which is available
to the corporate farm can be extended on a cost basis to the village
family farms.
RELATION TO COOPERATIVE AND COMMUNITY
The infrastructure described in this proposal provides a structural way of integrating agriculture effectively into the community through the guilds, commissions and the cooperative itself. In selecting the work forces, it may be desirable though not necessary to have representatives from each stake.
What will be crucial is an accurate record of every
farm in each stake and a schedule for visits and preventive spraying
of animals and possibly crops.
PRESUPPOSITIONS
5. Intensify Cooperative Operations
Every village can alter agricultural patterns that
have become entrenched through the divisiveness of individualism
inherent in most agricultural enterprises by emphasizing cooperative
and corporate farming enterprises. By combining efforts, tasks
that defeat individual family enterprises can be accomplished,
and by combining different skills and resources more complex operations,
such as intensified horticulture and livestock, can produce large
rewards.
Agricultural Trek Strategic Intents:
The major thrust of the Trek will be the establishment
of an Intensive Corporate Farm that will both accelerate and insure
continuity of agricultural productivity. These are a few guidelines
that will be helpful in this endeavor.
Analysis and Farm Unit Survey:
One of the first tasks of the Agriculture Trek will
be to thoroughly familiarize themselves with the agriculture situation
of the project. Therefore the opening two work days will b spent
surveying each farm unit in the project area, compiling a comprehensive
picture of the agricultural enterprise of the village, with its
supporting general data. A grid should be drawn to hold this information.
The first Wednesday (day 3) should be spent in compiling the results
of the survey, sifting the data, discerning the basic agricultural
contradictions, and discerning the proposed plan for agricultural
acceleration. Thursday and Friday would be spent in testing the
feasibility of the plan before securing a community consensus.
Establishing The Farm Program:
Select intensively grown crops and animals that will
be used to improve the nutrition of the local community and/or
are readily marketable outside the community. Economic feasibility
studies should be done on each potential crop and animal in order
to determine how to reach the greatest return per acre. This will
be necessary to determine how many farm workers can be supported.
Based on analysis of 2 projects the following on site model demonstrates
the type of study that needs to occur on each site considering
the local situation.
|
Acreage in production
to support 5 men:
B. Shorter growing season - 4 acres. | Unit size to support 1 man:
4 times per year
Unit size to support 5 men:
|
| INPUTS: Supplies (relatively costly) include seeds, fertilizer, pesticides, sprayers, hand tools and possibly small cultivator. Irrigation usually required. | Supplies include feeds, pesticides, vaccines. Facilities become major factor. |
ICA July, 1977
Global Research Assembly Chicago
ESTABLISHING THE WORK FORCE:
The initiation and expansion of this farm will require an intensive onthejob training program. This will begin in the 2nd and 3rd week of the Trek, but wi'1 need to continue on a regular basis, including specialized training for
those who will be charged with animal or crop care
extension. The curriculum rational for the trek considers both
corporate and farming theory and skills. The daily rhythm that
will be followed is work in the morning as teams and classes and
field trips in the afternoon. At least one major accomplishment
in both crop and animal farming needs to occur during this 2-week
period. The work force candidates could be divided into 2 teams
with 1 team working on crops the first week and the animal project
the second week and one other team will do the reverse of this.
The projects selected should be completed during the trek and
be highly visible. The larger community can also participate in
these projects on a work day. Appropriate types of projects that
could be major events, upon completion during the trek, are as
follows:
| INTENSIVE CROP PROJECT | INTENSIVE LIVESTOCK PROJECTS |
clearing and preparing a field and planting building a propagation structure (shade house in tropics; greenhouse in temp.) also starting seedlings | 1. building an animal facility i.e.
piggery or chicken house, and stocking it 2. setting up a community livestock dip/spray service and treating all
the livestock in the community |
ESTABLISHING LIAISON:
Due to the nature of the high management requirements and specialized
on-site training it will be crucial to engage local expertise in the project on an
ongoing basis. Liaison with technical assistance from institutions, industries,
and appropriate government agencies will be a great aid in the ongoing management and expansion of Agriculture.
ESTABLISHING SUPPORT SERVICES:
The initiation of one or more support services such as an equipment pool or farm supplies center will greatly accelerate the shift towards cooperative
agriculture and utilization of appropriate technologies.
If a credit system can be built into this service it will be more
effective.
ESTABLlSHING COMMUNITY IMVOLVEMENT:
It is crucial that the community becomes involved
in the awakening to new possibilities in improving agricultural
productivity in the community. At the same time there needs to
be events in which the community participates in the consensus
to do the corporate farm and celebrates in that decision. This
can be accomplished by holding an Agricultural Forum, Community
Work Day, A Village Agricultural Fair, and form of Commissioning
the New Agricultural Work Force.
Three week trek design goes here - chart
Issues yet to be Resolved in planning the Agricultural
Acceleration Trek:
A plan for handling the following issues must be
evolved before the trek is initiated:
2) Guidelines for organizing the Intensive Agricultural
Unit's interna1 financing, money flow, and especially how to handle
the question of support for one Work Force during the setup
and training period of the unit and before first production returns
have been realized. Kawangware has treated this as primarily a
training period and only paid minimum stipends after 3 months
of training, and half stipends until full production was achieved.
3) Although a curriculum has been suggested, the
specific training design for the Work Force after the trek leaves
must also be created.
4) The relationship of the Agricultural Trek's work
focused cr. increased production, to the purchasing and marketing
coops proposed by the Commercial Trek, must yet be articulated.
5) Lastly the mechanics of funding the trek must
be examined and implemented.
6 charts not scanned
INTENT
The intent of this curriculum is to simplify the
complexity that is agriculture, teach mayor points in a simplified
way, be useable in a variety of situations in part or in whole,
and include the unique aspects of the H.D.P. approach. It is built
for use by the trek but is also applicable for continuing use
by the projects and schools themselves. The curriculum is taught
amidst the interworkings of three people: one, the village man;
two, the technician; and three, the catalytic person. Eventually
this curriculum could be expanded and practicalized to allow guild
leaders and agricultural trainees to teach it themselves and to
others.
In a very real way, the weight of Social Demonstration must be shared by all the people. The particular demands are to sustain the basic food sustenance and nutritional demands for a community and then to begin to expand these efforts toward integrated basic industries for agricultural profitability. The most essential element necessary for this to happen would be for corporateness to happen on a large scale as a sign to that specific community.
The intent of the Guild module is to have each farmer
see the whole picture of farming on a corporate scale and how
it ties into the totality of Social Demonstration, to have him
understand that has efforts are a part of a complexly united Global
Social Demonstration, and to then to allow him to focus upon the
very particular necessary elements of the village plan for the
purpose of formulating a 5 & 10 year plan.
Out of the Training module would come the understanding that every villager involved in the Agriculture guild could count on skill upgrading and as the necessity arises, he could be given specialized vocational skills that compliment the whole project; such as welding and various forms of farm management. The guilder would be given tools toward image creation whereby they are capable of giving the expert help they need at various stages of development, and eventually be able to imaginally demonstrate and pass on their trade and skills to others.
The intent of the Resources module is to have each
farmer see how the power of consolidated and cohesive efforts
can be concentrated into various farming enterprises, to have
him realize the necessity of cooperation and pull together toward
a common production factor, and to have him comprehend that all
the resources of the community must be shared in order to fulfill
his dream for the future.
The intent of the Planning Methods module is to teach
the farmers how to build a consensus among the villagers that
a certain number of acres must be planted each year toward various
crop yields and to enable them to see a general plan evolve which
cares for every last acre, to help them cultivate a sense of rhythm
about the farming operation that signals life and death in a very
real way through actual planting and harvesting, and to assist
them to actualize a sense that they are a very important link
in the Development of the new village of the future.
The intention of the CROPS section of the curriculum
is to teach the local farmers the basic methods which they require
to utilize all the available land to continually grow the best
crops possible with the least risk, and to acquaint the farmers
with the steps they can take to get help with the problems that
they may encounter.
The Land Preparation module is intended to teach
the farmers the value of utilizing fertilizers, conservation practices,
good tillage techniques, and land clearing and leveling to get
maximum yield from the land in both the short and long run and
to stimulate the pride of the whole village through the highly
visible results of organized, intentional land use. The agricultural
trek team might utilize photographs which show the effects of
adequate and inadequate amounts of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium
on various crops, and they might prepare and plant a plot of poorly
tilled, unfertilized land alongside a plot of well tilled, well
fertilized land to let the villagers see the results first hand.
The Seeds module is intended to teach the farmers
the methods for selecting, procuring, treating, and sowing seeds
in order that they will be able to obtain highquality seeds
on their own, protect their seeds for a higher germination percentage,
and sow their seeds in such a pattern as to achieve highest possible
yields The agricultural trek team might demonstrate planting methods
by planting small plots of various seeds and seed treatment by
sowing a small plot with treated seeds next to a similar plot
where the same type of seeds are planted without treatment, returning
to observe the differences in germination.
The Equipment module is intended to introduce the
farmers to appropriate equipment which could be utilized in the
village to break loose new cultivation, production, or product
possibilities and to impress the farmers with the importance of
regular maintenance and prompt repair as well as the possibilities
which accompany the decision to purchase equipment for a village
owned equipment pool. The trek team might contact equipment manufacturers
who would come to the village to demonstrate the use, maintenance,
and repair of their equipment.
The Crop Care module is intended to teach the farmer
how he can reduce his contingencies and protect his other input
investments and thus see how he can partially control the factors
which previously limited and sometimes completely destroyed his
capability to produce a good crop. The trek team might demonstrate
a rat poisoning method for the whole village which would show
dramatically how the farmers could control the animal which eats
onefifth of the world's food crops each year.
The aim of this curriculum on animals for Human Development
Projects is to teach methods and demonstrate effective facilities,
upgrading of breeding stock, feeding methods, and disease prevention.
It will train local villagers in methods of designing buildings,
selecting and breeding stock, feeding and mixing feeds, and identifying,
treating, and preventing diseases. It will train local village
workers in obtaining access to localregional expertise.
The Facilities module is intended to demonstrate
methods which enable the community to provide itself with complete
nutrition, to decide effective organization of living space, to
provide agricultural commerce, and to attain a profitable scale
of agricultural production. Types of things that will be done
include controlling parasites, protecting crops, providing sanitation,
and erecting animal buildings. Methods of effecting this curriculum
include building poultry sheds, rabbit hitches, animal manure
pits, and fencing.
The Breeding module is intended to teach ways of
increasing stock quality, and improving stock production in the
community. Methods for actuating this aim are trips to livestock
stations, doing artificial insemination, and holding animal judging
contests.
The feeding module is intended to demonstrate systems
of feed harvesting storage, and processing that increase agricultural
production. Methods of teaching this curriculum include making
livestock feed, demonstrating feed grinding, and demonstrating
storage methods.
The Disease module is intended to develop local expertise
in prevention, immunization and access to local expertise. The
overall effect will be to reduce the dependence of the village
on animal contingency such as disease and parasites. Methods to
accomplish this aim are drenching animals to kill parasites, and
instituting a village barefoot veterinarian program.
Whether the farming unit is family or community based,
self-conscious management has to be developed. As people begin
to be trained in these practics, they need to meet together as
a management unit for the sake of intensifying their skills. These
managers then are an important resource within the community where
such skills are lacking. This curriculum delimits training arenas
for these emerging specialists.
Integrated Production Module deals with the obstacle
of individualism militating against integrated and planned production.
It can be overcome by farmers who store and hold in store houses
both animals and crops to be sold by collective action at appropriate
places and profitable prices, utilizing fully the byproducts
thereof. This will be demonstrated dramatically with a few farmers
initially, helping them to obtain the necessary credit to permit
them to wait for the sales.
Marketing of products at the best possible prices
can be achieved through grading and inspection. Corporate action
to pool produce and to transport will be promoted through corporate
management methods. Studying marketing and field trips to marketing
centers will help demonstrate the value of doing local marketing
studies, to get the true value of their work.
Record Keeping Module gives the value of labor, fertilizer seed, equipment, bank interest, etc. as budgeted overagainst recorded sales. Periodic accountability is done to assess the profitability of all projects. This is demonstrated by a
few farmers and guilders learning this simple process,
and then teaching it to other farmers.
Decision Making Module is the discernment and assessment at every stage of the business of agriculture. To see farmers corporately identify their mayor thrusts for the best ultimate advantage. This can be demonstrated in actual planning sessions which incorporate reflection on the community level.