PTD IN THE KYRGYZ REPUBLIC

With Special Reference to the Rural Advisory and Development Service in Jalal Abad Oblast

1999–2000

Stefan Joss[1] and Kachkynbaev Nadyrbek[2]

 

Abstract

Context

Rationale for PTD

Outputs, results and impact

Conclusions related to PTD in RADS Jalal Abad

Questions for Debate

Annexes

Acronyms

 

Abstract

 

The Rural Advisory and Development Service (RADS) in Jalal Abad understands Participatory Technology Development (PTD) as a farmer-driven activity to find out new things that work. Farmers define together with researchers and advisors the research needs and they design, implement and evaluate the programmes (“experiments”). The main players and their motivations are: 1) the farmer, who is looking for improved ways to make a living out of farming, 2) the researcher, who is gaining additional salary (in cash and time) and the possibility to stay in contact with reality, and 3) the agricultural advisor, who has a concrete advisory topic (tangible result).

 

PTD methodology was introduced into Kyrgyzstan mainly by the Swiss (Helvetas)-funded advisory projects, Kyrgyz Swiss Agricultural Project (KSAP) Kochkor-Jumgal (1997–98) and the current KSAP in Jalal Abad (JA) and Naryn (NA), that provide technical assistance and co-finance the RADS in three of six oblasts (districts). Four years of activities have shown that PTD methodology is a concrete approach that contributes to developing new practices in production, processing and marketing and generates income. By the end of 2000, staff of RADS JA could carry out PTD weeks on their own.

 

An example of a successful PTD venture is cheese production in Naryn. Factors leading to success were:

 

The experience with PTD showed that:

 

There is still much to learn. The spirit of innovation and experimentation on improved production and marketing has not yet caught on fully in Kyrgyzstan. The RADS has not used opportunities systematically and has sometimes misused PTD in order to distribute inputs. The link to researchers and research institutes needs further improvement. Trials were often not owned by farmers. More PTD weeks in RADS topics other than production are indispensable.

Abstract

Top

Context

 

The Kyrgyz Republic is a small, mountainous, land-locked country of about 200,000 km2 in Central Asia. It is surrounded by China, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. With Uzbekistan, the Kyrgyz Republic shares 70 years of Soviet regime. In 1991 the country became independent and, since then, has been in an economic and social transition toward a market economy and democracy-like structures. The 1999 population of 4.8 million had a Gross National Product of US$ 300 per capita. Over 60% of the population lived below the official poverty line and 23% could not afford even the poverty-line food basket.[i]

 

Agriculture is the most important contributor to the national Kyrgyz economy. Officially, 48% of the population work in agriculture and contribute 44.2% to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), 10% working in industry contribute 22.6% of GDP and those working in services 35%.i According to officials, the unemployment rate is less than 10%. This figure does not include workers temporarily laid off as a result of enterprises lying idle. Also government employees often have to rely on additional sources of income, because salary payments are months behind. In the 1990s, despite substantial recovery in agricultural production and value added to near or above 1990 levels, rural incomes per capita fell substantially.ii

 

Figure 1: Map of the Kyrgyz Republic and agroclimatic zones of Jalal Abad Oblast [ii]

 

Zones classified according to humidity (precipitation): 1a very dry (<150 mm), 1b dry (150–200 mm), 1c slightly deficit (200–250 mm), 2 moderately humid (250–300 mm), 3 sufficiently humid (> 300 mm).

Agricultural zones of Jalal Abad Oblast: ---- upper, mountainous zone, …… lowland and foothill zone.

 

Table 1: Main crops per agroclimatic zones of Southern Tien Shan[iii] (refers to Figure 1)

Zone

Characteristics

Sum of day temperatures (oC)

Main crops

1

Extremely warm

> 4000

Cotton, wheat, fig, pomegranate, maize, wine

2

Warm

4000–3000

Cotton, wheat, tobacco, maize, vegetables, gourds, wine, fruits

3

Moderate

3000–2200

Wheat, corn, vegetables, gourds, wine, fruits, potatoes

4

Cool

2200–1200

Wheat, maize, cabbage, fruits, potatoes, fodder root crops

 

Jalal Abad (JA) Oblast has two main agro-economic zones: a lower zone of intensive crop growing and an upper zone of extensive agriculture, based mainly on animal husbandry. JA Oblast is divided into eight rayons (subdistricts), five in the lower and three in the upper zone. In the three biggest rayons of the lower zone, more than 60% of the agricultural GDP of JA Oblast is earned, in the upper zone only 14%.

 

These figures reflect the population density. In the three agro-economically most important rayons live 59% of the rural people; in the mountainous rayons of the upper zone, only 8%. The average number of persons in each of the total of 67 village management units (Ail Ökmöt) in JA Oblast is high in comparison to other oblasts of Kyrgyzstan. The irrigated land owned per person varies between 0.06 and 0.5 ha. There are farms run by single families or small groups, and larger peasant farms (dykan tsharpa) with up to 1000 members.

 

The Rural Advisory and Development Service Foundation (RADSF)

 

The RADSF is meant to be a farmers’ organisation with farmer councils (legislative bodies) at three administrative levels (rayon, oblast and national). The executive body consists of six regional centres (Oblast RADS) and a secretariat in the capital Bishkek. Figure 2 gives an idea of the structure of the RADS in JA Oblast, as an example. The role of the secretariat is to coordinate activities, to train advisory staff and to provide (financial) supervision.

 

The RADS gives training to individual farmers, farmer groups or farmer associations. Participatory exercises carried out in the villages lead to new knowledge and skills. The RADS facilitates the exchange and dissemination of such knowledge. While promoting groups, it strives for farmer interactive extension, increased exchange of experience and reaching critical economic size for marketing.

 

Figure 2:       Organisational chart of RADS Jalal Abad in 2000

 

 

In the oblast centre, a Regional Manager and five Subject Matter Specialists (SMS) provide logistical and topical support to the rayons and are responsible for planning, monitoring and evaluation. In each of the eight rayons, 3–5 rayon advisors work. They are generalists with a basic knowledge in all spheres of agriculture and are in close contact with “temporary promoters”, either “village promoters” (VPs) who are women, working with groups, or village specialists (VSs)in charge of a specific task. A VS has either specific topical education (possibly an academic degree) or – even more important – profound experience in the subject matter.

 

The RADSF has four sources of finance: 1) a loan from IFAD (International Fund for Agricultural Development) and the World Bank, 2) the Kyrgyz Government, 3) a grant from the Swiss Government (implemented by Helvetas) contributing 51–60% to the budgets of the oblasts Naryn Issyk Kul and Jalal Abad, and 4) the beneficiaries. By the end of the first phase in 2003, the beneficiaries are supposed to contribute 5% of the RADS budget. Following the Russian saying, “he who pays calls the tune”, RADSF today is controlled primarily by donors and the Kyrgyz Government and only to a limited extent by farmers.

Context

Top

Rationale for PTD

Definitions

Why PTD?

How PTD came to Kyrgyzstan

PTD training and exposure for the various actors involved

Main actors and their motivation

Approach, planning and set up

Implementation and follow-up of PTD experiments

PTD in groups

Assessing results of PTD experiments

 

Definitions

 

RADS JA understands PTD as a process of:

all conducted by farmers, researchers and advisors, with the farmer being the driving force (owner of the innovation), the researcher contributing knowledge and a wider view, and the advisor facilitating the process and assuring documentation and dissemination of the results to other farmers.[iv]

 

In this paper, the term “PTD week” refers to an activity designed to start up and plan PTD for the next cropping season or a suitable time period for PTD in livestock husbandry or marketing. A PTD week usually lasts for five days. The term “experiment” refers to any willingly arranged modification of farming practices, often planned during a PTD week. Each experiment has a control (usually the existing farming practice) in order to allow comparison with the new technology. Experiments often have no replications or, if there are any, then often on another farm. They are not designed to provide scientifically substantiated insights. The words “experiments” and “trials” are used synonymously. A “pilot farmer” is a farmer who implements a trial and shares his/her experiences with other farmers during one or two field days. Only then is s/he called a “temporary promoter” (village promoter or facilitator), who receives a RADS working contract. Pilot farmers are often members of the RADS Farmer Steering Committee.

Definitions

Rationale for PTD

Why PTD?

 

Alongside various types of on-farm research, PTD is a research process that is independent of government or private enterprise and is driven by farmers’ visions. It is limited only by the capacities of the farmers, advisors and formal researchers. Development-oriented adaptive research aims primarily to improve sound forms of production and to make it more profitable. In comparison to conventional research, PTD has the potential to contribute to socially sound development, as innovation is not primarily started up by money or governmental power, but by the initiatives of farmers, researchers and advisors. PTD means continuous assessment and learning on each farm. When the advisory service then facilitates exchange of experiences between farmers, knowledge develops even further.

Why PTD?

Rationale for PTD

How PTD came to Kyrgyzstan

 

The first projects – advisory service and credit

Advisory field laboratory in two rayons of Naryn Oblast a step toward PTD

Introducing PTD into the World Bank-supported RADS – starting to scale up

 

The first projects – advisory service and credit

 

Agricultural extension activities started in Kyrgyzstan in 1994 when the ATAS (Agricultural Training and Advisory Service) project set up a training centre in Bishkek. Later, TACIS-1 (Technical Assistance to CIS Countries) advised farmers in Chuy, Issyk Kul, Talas and Jalal Abad through training and visits. The German Agency for Technical Cooperation (GTZ) started its advisory project in Osh Oblast in spring 1997.

 

On behalf of the Swiss Government, Helvetas started the KSAP in 1995 in the rayons of Kochkor-Jumgal in Naryn Oblast. In the same year, Caritas started the Kyrgyz Swiss Agricultural Project in Suzak, Bazar Korgon and Nooken Rayons of JA Oblast. At first, each project had its own or an associated credit component, and advisory topics were linked to credit in most cases. In 1998, the approach was revised in all projects, when Caritas ceased advisory activities and went for an independent credit line, Helvetas discontinued credit and focused on technical assistance, and GTZ institutionalised the link with the American-funded ACDI/VOCA (Agricultural Cooperatives Development International / Volunteers in Overseas Cooperation Assistance). In 1997, with the support of Helvetas, participatory advisory approaches were started in Kochkor-Jumgal.

How PTD came to Kyrgyzstan

 

Advisory field laboratory in two rayons of Naryn Oblast a step toward PTD

 

In the field of seed-potato cultivation, fodder mixtures and meat and milk processing, Helvetas started collaboration with scientific institutes such as the Agrarian Academy (Division for Seed Potato), the Pasture Institute and the Polytechnic University. GTZ started to work together with the Osh State University. This collaboration with research institutes was a concrete step toward PTD. While planning was still in the hands of the researchers, implementation and ownership of the PTD experiments were in the hands of the farmers. In the case of seed potatoes, cheese and meat, the farmers were to a certain extent accountable to the service, as they received material support. Already in the second year, however, farmers organised themselves and decided on their own about the use of the seed. The scaling up of cheese production and its impact are described later in this paper. Other activities such as seed-potato production were transferred to the newly created national advisory service (RADS). However, a fairly rigid legislation and unreliable input of original seed material prevented the technology from spreading to a larger number of farmers. None of the meat products developed during the experimental phase is produced commercially today.

How PTD came to Kyrgyzstan

 

Introducing PTD into the World Bank-supported RADS – starting to scale up

 

Adaptive research is foreseen in the planning document for the Agricultural Services Support Programme (ASSP) and its implementation within the framework of the RADS. The appraisal report describes adaptive research as “demonstration of proven small farm technology at rayon level” and refers to participatory research to develop a pipeline of new technology. The advisory service would have the role of providing the support needed to develop a practical programme of demonstrations and field trials in each oblast, i.e.:

 

Implementation in the RADS was later modified to reduce material support to a minimum in order to assure farmer ownership of the activities and to prevent farmers from participating for the sake of material support rather than an interest to develop innovations.

 

The main aim of the RADS is raising the standard of living in rural areas, which is linearly correlated with agricultural productivity. In Kyrgyzstan, the RADS is the major actor in transferring knowledge and skills to farmers. In JA Oblast, as in the other five districts with RADS in Kyrgyzstan, it uses three main tools for providing advisory services to farmers: training, adaptive research (PTD) and group formation. The first is applied in a rather linear Training-and-Visit approach, and group formation may not be considered as a “direct” advisory tool. Adaptive research offers the greatest room for manoeuvre in terms of methodology and technical approaches. It is the most practice-relevant form of farmer support foreseen in the planning papers.

 

Implementation of PTD needs an institutional framework that encourages farmers to continue trying out new technologies. Only the advisors of the former Helvetas project in the Kochkor and Jumgal Rayons had methodological skills and knowledge in terms of farmer participation in technology development and had received international backing. In the other oblasts, an appropriate environment had to be created. The RADS JA is striving to achieve the following:

  1. setting up and organising RADS (autonomous advisors who are present and known in the regions)
  2. strengthening advisors’ communication skills and awareness of what else is happening in the rayon
  3. making focus problems a topic of discussion among farmers
  4. arranging support by specialists
  5. operating within an optic driven by economic concerns
  6. lobbying for farmers’ interests.

 

In a highly educated and specialised professional environment, as it is the case in Kyrgyzstan, there is a risk that interaction with farmers is hampered by “shoptalk” by either advisors or specialists.

How PTD came to Kyrgyzstan

Rationale for PTD

 

PTD Training and Exposure for the various Actors involved

 

PTD cannot be studied and then applied. The researchers and advisors involved have to learn while acting and reacting together with farmers. PTD in its entire complexity is only beginning to be built up in the RADS. It works best when practised. Continued follow-up after its initiation is necessary.

 

Staff of RADS JA became acquainted with PTD for the first time when a SMS and a rayon advisor took part in a workshop in Issyk Kul Oblast. In the same month, these two staff members spread their knowledge to the advisors of RADS JA. Figure 3 shows the dissemination of knowledge as such and applied in practical exercises. It distinguishes thereby between participation in PTD weeks (reception of knowledge), illustrated with an outlined dot and competencies (experiences, skills), gained through reproduction of PTD methodology as trainer or moderator, illustrated with a black dot. The illustration is not complete, as the “PTD pyramid” had already within a couple of months a basis of some 100 persons. The figure only keeps track of those that later implemented or contributed to a PTD week in a leading function. By the end of the year 2000, RADS JA has one master trainer, two trainers and 12 co-trainers in PTD.

 

 

 

Figure 3: Dissemination of PTD among the staff of RADS Jalal Abad in major practical exercises

(Œ= performers, O = participants) in field implementation of PTD in RADS Jalal Abad

 

Main actors and their motivation

My name is Ergesh Bekeshov. I’m a leader of a farmers association in Aksy Rayon of Jalal Abad Oblast. The association consists of five families, a total 38 persons, all relatives of my wife and myself.

We have 4.8 ha of irrigated land, located at 1400 masl. We decided to grow seed potatoes because they do well and we can sell them to the lower regions and to Kolkhozes in neighbouring Uzbekistan.