Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
corresponding to villages in the human activity holarchy and catchments in the bio-
physical. The second sampling units were the land-use units, roughly corresponding
to farms in the biophysical holarchy and to households or homesteads in the human
activity holarchy.
Land-use units
were defined as parcels of land separated by formal
boundaries shown on ordinance survey maps.
Households
were defined as people
living under the same roof or sharing food from the same kitchen. Homesteads were
groups of households within the same land-use unit, with no formal boundaries
between them.
The Kiambu agroecosystem was stratified into regions based on the holarchical
scales in the human activity system. A stratified purposive sampling protocol was
used to select study sites. The criteria for selection were preponderance of small-
holder farmers (favored if more) and the number of development agencies (favored
if less). This was done by the resource persons using a participatory scoring matrix.
In total, 12 sites (2 in each main holarchical division) were selected. Six of the study
sites (one in each division) were labeled “intensive” (ISS) and the others “extensive”
(extensive study sites, ESSs) using a random protocol. The ISSs were those study
sites in which health and sustainability interventions were instituted.
2.2.3 s
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The objective was to obtain a systemic description of the agroecosystem based on the
perspectives of the people living in the ISSs. The process commenced with partici-
patory workshops in each of the six ISSs. The local language, Gikuyu, was used as
the main language of communication between community groups and the research
team. These workshops had three objectives: (1) a systemic description of the agro-
ecosystem, (2) participatory problem analysis, and (3) community action planning.
Data on (1) boundaries, (2) natural resources, (3) institutional structure, (4) historical
background, (5) social structure, (6) farming system characteristics, (7) economic
and climatic trends, (8) human health, (9) constraints to health and well-being of the
residents, and (10) their coping strategies were gathered, analyzed, and presented
using a variety of participatory tools. The workshops culminated with participatory
problem analysis and action planning. Details of the methods used are presented in
Chapter 3.
One-day workshops were held in each of the ISSs 4-6 weeks later. In these, par-
ticipants (the village committee and at least one representative from each household/
homestead) were asked to make similar influence diagrams based on their percep-
tion of these relationships. The resulting diagrams were analyzed using graph theory
(Bang-Jensen and Gutin, 2001), qualitative methods (Puccia and Levins, 1985), and
pulse process modeling (Perry, 1983). Details of these analyses are presented in
Chapter 4.
Descriptions and pictures of the problematic situations identified in each of the
ISSs (holons) were developed using approaches described by Checkland and Scholes
(1990). Relationships among various institutions and interest groups were explored
and depicted in rich pictures (Checkland, 1979a). In addition, root definitions (Check-
land, 1979b) were made for each intervention in the community action plans. These
definitions, descriptions, pictures, and models were used in two ways: (1) to identify
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