Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
wishful thinking. If a part of commons is to be fenced for plantation, alternative
grazing lands, for example, should be identified by the community members them-
selves and accepted as adequate. Indigenous technology and know-how should be
preferred while designing the plantation treatment plan, which will, in most cases,
be better suited and more cost-effective in local context. Species of plants should be
selected from those shortlisted by the user groups, eliminating the ones that are not
compatible with the climate, soil, propagation methods, costs, and the objectives of
the plantation.
Employment generation is often an important concern with the local communities.
Therefore, it is necessary to work out a mode of selection of workers, payment of
wages, and a method of measurement of work. The rates of the wages for each item of
work should be communicated to the workers thoroughly, and a system of working—
such as collective (in which each person works accordingly to his capacity and all
workers get paid equally) or piece rate (in which each worker's or group's work is
measured separately and the wages are determined by that measurement)—should
be decided upon.
A programme conceived, planned and designed by local communities should also
be executed by them. Actual participation in execution enables the communities
to acquire the technical know-how while giving them an opportunity to put local
knowledge and experience to fruitful use. Community-led execution builds institu-
tional competence and skills, instils confidence in capacity of local institutions, and
results in transparent and efficient utilisation of funds.
10.1.3
Communication and Extension
Every afforestation programme needs to be presented to the people to get them
interested in it. Publicity of the programme is essential to ensure the sustainability
of the resource, and to let the people (especially the user group) know what has been
done, how important it is and how it should be managed to maximise benefits.
Given real-time documentation in written and visual forms, effective presenta-
tions can be designed out of these. Presentations should be organised around themes,
at different levels of intellectual accessibility to hold the attention of different au-
dience groups. Educational presentations will emphasise on the techniques and the
methodology, extension presentations on the benefits derived from the programme.
Topicwise presentations or expert presentations—such as the ones on nursery tech-
niques, importance of hoeing, or effective water conservation methods—should be
ideal for training, so that the goals of education and extension are achieved with one
presentation.
Audience for the presentation should be as big as possible, but should be organised
into different groups as it is not possible to hold the attention of all the people
in a heterogeneous group. Farmers, project staff, schoolchildren, visiting experts,
funding agencies, and many other groups associated with the programme—living in
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