Disseminating Soil Management Knowledge Through NGOs: Lessons Learned.

Between 2002 and 2007, Cornell University’s Soil Management Collaborative Research Support Program focused on the dissemination of select soil management technologies to address constraints to productivity and sustainability of the rice-wheat cropping system in Bangladesh and Nepal. The general model involved collaboration with NGOs and government extension partners to transfer technologies to farmers using their established dissemination methodologies, and National Agricultural Research scientists to provide training and technical backstopping. We studied the adoption process to learn about successful (and unsuccessful) features of the dissemination methodologies, farmer reactions (positive and negative) to the technologies, the impact of adoption as well as opportunities and constraints for scaling up. Over the course of the project, we worked with 10 NGOs that varied widely in size and capacity from small local groups to large international organizations. The experience was generally positive, with each institution having good, hard working staff with a strong commitment to their programs. Lack of knowledge about soil and natural resource management and the need for continuing knowledge support systems was common to all the NGO partners. Options to improve the effectiveness of technology dissemination such as documentation of farmer understanding and knowledge retention, farmer to farmer spread of technologies, adoption and the factors that cause farmers to adopt or not to adopt a particular technology will be discussed. The strengths and weaknesses of various technology dissemination approaches: demonstrations, farmer field schools, women farmer groups focusing on income generation and business development services also will be presented.