A Comprehensive Strategy for Popularization of the Documented Farmer Innovations and Re-Inventions

Farmer innovations and re-inventions is a subject that is increasingly making people sit up and think. At the very least it underpins a refreshing new approach to indigenous environmental knowledge that goes further than just passive admiration. At the most it is a potentially important new direction for research and extension wherever else the conventional approaches have failed to deliver. To highlight the value of this rich resource and to develop mechanisms for local innovations and re-inventions to find their way into the formal research and development system, documentation of farmer innovations and re-inventions is necessary to give the real picture of its wealth. Scientific enquiry into the documented practices would make it to a status of formal knowledge base and studying extent of adoption of these practices by the farmers will give the real picture of farmers innovations and re-inventions. Finding out the various constraints and analysis of the innovation development process will fetch a base to develop a comprehensive strategy which can be utilized by scientists, extentionists and user system. In this study 216 farmer innovations and re-inventions were identified in different farming situations of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana states through informal interview with innovative farmers who were identified for the purpose of giving information on farmer innovations and re-inventions in the selected 3 districts and also from non sample area through secondary sources. Based on the various constraints faced and suggestion given by the innovative farmers a comprehensive strategy was developed which includes identification of farmer innovators, recognition of farmer innovators, documentation of farmer innovations and re-inventions, testing of farmer innovations and re-inventions for scientific rationality and validity, commercialisation of the innovations and re-inventions, networking of farmer innovators, providing farmer innovation support fund, monitoring and evaluation of the farmer innovator network groups, farmer innovator to farmer innovator cross visits and popularisation of farmer innovations and re-inventions. Strategy suggested in the study will help different agencies in promotion of farmer innovations and re-inventions and gives a brief comprehension and hence, it can be effectively utilised in promotion of these technologies through different agencies.