Farmers' Knowledge Management in Banana Cultivation in a Village of West Bengel, India: A Reflection of Farmer Managed Technology Adaptation and Transfer in Horticulture

Abstract

The role of farmers as extensionists is as important as their much-championed role of experimenter; these are, in fact, complementary to a great extent. To illustrate the presumption a case study was conducted at Ghoragachha village of Nadia district, West Bengal. The case of banana cultivation with its historicity, local adaptation and spread was studied to reflect the essence of farmer-to-farmer extension. Focus group discussion was conducted with the farmers along with the employment of some basic RRA and PLA tools. The story of the technology generation has been delineated with the dynamics of its varied source of information, knowledge and experimentation. The trend of its spread in terms of number of farmers and area coverage, and price fluctuation has also been studied. The way farmers have adapted the technology after acting on different sources of technical know how has been articulated with a hint of its expressed impact. The study then went on to show the extent of spread the practice had undergone by the sole effort of farmers; this also describes some special kind of transfer mechanism of technology. At last a set of organizational, technological and policy and infrastructural interventions are proposed on the basis of lessons drawn from the negative and positive impacts found in the study area. As a whole, the study draws attention towards a special knowledge management extension approach, which is very much in vogue informally; it also indicates the possible spheres of intervention the formal, especially public extension agencies can make to their client system.

Keywords: Adaptation and Refinement of Technology, Extension Strategy, Farmers' Practice in Banana Cultivation, Farmer to Farmer Extension, Spread of Technology, Technology Transfer

JEL Classification: Q16