From adoption potential to Transformative Learning around Conservation Agriculture

ABSTRACT

Purpose: To develop a transformative learning process around the potential for innovation of technologies such as Conservation Agriculture.

Design/methodology/approach: We applied principles of Transformative Learning and Communicative Action theories to design a learning process structured by the Qualitative Expert Assessment Tool for Conservation Agriculture Adoption in Africa (QAToCA). Elements of the process include: agroecosystem health exploration, stakeholder mapping, innovation timeline, participatory video, the QAToCA exercise, and specifying change promotion. We tested this approach with a group of farmers and experts in Koumbia, Burkina Faso.

Findings: The agroecosystem in Koumbia is under demographic, economic, and climatic pressure. Conservation Agriculture has not been successfully integrated into socio-economic realities or implemented beyond a trial scale. The stakeholder mapping showed that dominant economic players and traditional means of communicating are essential to achieve innovation. Past interventions were not coordinated and focused on technical challenges. The participatory videos were rich in contextual information and created process ownership for research participants. The QAToCA provided a structure for lessons learned and suggestions for change.

Practical implications: The learning process may be applied to initiate innovation initiatives in an efficient manner.

Theoretical implications: The study shows how Transformative Learning and Communicative Action theories can be used for agricultural innovation. It also underlines the need for further work on how to address the implicit superiority of the process initiator and the integration of learning in institutional practice.

Originality: Few studies have attempted to design and test learning processes on agricultural innovation based on theories of learning and Communicative Action.

KEYWORDS:

• Conservation agriculture
• innovation
• transformative learning
• participatory video
• change promotion

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors

L. Probst is Deputy Head of the Centre for Development Research at the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna. His research focuses on transformative learning and communicative action in sustainability transitions.

H. T. Ndah is with the Leibniz-Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research in Müncheberg/Germany and is a research associate and lecturer at the University of Hohenheim/Germany. His research addresses innovation processes in agriculture and natural resource management.

P. Rodrigues is an independent consultant in the fields of environment and development. He was affiliated with the 'Institute of Mediterranean Agricultural and Environmental Sciences (ICAAM)' of the University of Évora/Portugal for this work.

G. Basch is a professor at the University of Évora/Portugal at the 'Institute of Mediterranean Agricultural and Environmental Sciences (ICAAM)' working on soil conservation and soil carbon dynamics. He is also president of the European Conservation Agriculture Federation (ECAF).

K. Coulibaly is an assistant professor at the Institute of Rural Development, Université Nazi Boni in Bobo Dioulasso/Burkina Faso. He is doing action-research on food security and soil fertility.

J. Schuler is a senior researcher in agricultural economics at the Leibniz-Centre of Agricultural Landscape Research in Müncheberg/Germany, working on the economic and environmental effects of land use on farm and regional scale, with a special focus on soil conservation.

Notes

1. The tool can be downloaded at: http://www.zalf.de/en/forschung_lehre/software_downloads/Pages/default.aspx

Additional information

Funding

This work was part of the project 'Innovative Conservation Agriculture Approaches: Food Security and Climate Action Through Soil and Water Conservation', supported through the ERAfrica initiative by the European Commission; the Ministry of Higher Education Science and Technology Kenya; the Ministry of Education and Science International Relations Department Portugal; the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research; the Ministère de la Recherche Scientifique et de l’Innovation Burkina Faso; and the Austrian Federal Ministry of Science, Research and Economy.