October-December 1993

Volume 4(4) October - December, 1993

Inside �

Will you standy by the intellectual property rights of peasant?

Honey Bee Vol 4 (4) October - December 1993

Editor : Anil K Gupta

Associate Editor: Kirit K Patel

Editorial Assistance:Sumati K SampemaneA S ReadyJyoti CapoorVijaya SHerry Chand

Graphics & Design:A S ReadyAditi DesaiSouth Asia NewsThe SmallholderSAIIC NewsletterAvance BulletinSpace Graphic

Composing:V B Computer

Secretarial Assistance:R BaskaranP MahadevanP V Sethumadhavan

Active Members of Gujarat Network:Dr N K KalyanasundaramDr G S JudalDr P R PatelDr F S KavaniDr M B PandeDr G M PatelDr P M ManeDr M B PandeDr D V RangnekarYogesh TrivediKamudchandra ThakkarSudhir JaniKapil Shah

Editorial Address:Honey BeeProf Anil KGuptaC/o Indian Institute of ManagementVastrapur, Ahmedabad - 380 015 India

Tel: 91-272-407241, (R) 469079Gram: INDINMANTelex: 121-6351 IIMA INFax: 91-272-427896email: [email protected]

International Correspondent:Dr Frands DolbergNovembervej 17, 8210 Aarthus VDenmark.Tel: + 45 86 152704Fax: + 4586 139839email: [email protected]

Collaborator for Regional Versions

Hindi "Madhukosh" Dr S UpadhayayProfessorMaharajsinh CollegeSaharanpur - 247001

Gujarati "Khedut Anubhav Vani" Dr B T PatelAssociate Director ofExtension EducationGujarat Agricultural UniversityS K Nagar - 385 506

Oriya "Madhuchakra" Dr Subachi RathM 5/8, Acharya ViharBhubneshwar, Orissa

Tamil "Nam Vazhi Velanmai" P VivekanandanSustainable AgricultureEnvironmental VoluntaryAction (SEVA), 43, TPM NagarVirattipathi, Madurai - 625 016

Malayalam "Thennecha" Jacob Mani MannothraAdvisory Officer-RubberR & D Centre for RubberUnited Planters Associationof Southern India (UPASI)Union Club Road, Kottayam-686 001

Bhutan "Dzongkha" Karma Ura & Norbu WangchuckHoney Bee Planning Commission

Royal Government of BhutanThimpu, Bhutan

Collaborating Institutions

• Gujarat Agricultural University, Dr K Janakiraman, Director of Research, Sardar Krushinagar - 385 508. • Nootan GramVidyapith, At: Thava, Tal: Valia, Dist: Bharuch - 393 130. • Lok Bharati, At: Sanosara, Tal: Shihor,Dist: Bhavnagar,Pin: 364 230. • Shree J C Kumarappa Gram Vidyapith, At: Gadhada (Swaminarayan), Dist: Bhavnagar,Pin: 364 750. • Gram Vidyapith Shardagram, At: Shri Shardagram, Dist: Junagadh, Pin: 362 235. • Gram Bharti Gram Vidyapith,At: Amarapur, Tal: Kalol Dist: Mahesana, Pin: 382 721. • Mahila Gram Vidyapith, At: Nardipur, Tal: Kalol, Dist: Mahesana,Pin: 382 735. • Shree Sarswati Gram Vidyapith, At: Samoda-Ganwada, Tal: Siddhpur, Dist: Mahesana, Pin: 384 130. •Nootan Bharti, At: Madana-Gadh, Tal: Palanpur, Dist: Banaskantha, Pin: 385 519. • Sabar Gram Vidyapith, At: Sonasan,Tal: Prantij, Dist: Sabarkantha, Pin: 383 210. • Lok Niketan Vidyapith, At: Ratanpur, Tal: Palanpur, Dist: Banaskantha,Pin: 385 002. • Gram Seva Mahavidhyala, At: Dumiyni (Ashram), Dist: Rajkot, Pin: 360 440.

Newsletter based on creativity and experimentation of people at grassroots


Editorial1

In this issue we revisit the Intellectual Property Rights (IPR)debate. SRISTI (Society for Research and Initiatives forSustainable Technologies and Institutions) reiterated its position atthe inter-governmental Convention of Biodiversity (Post-RioConference, October 11-14, 1993) at Geneva. Innovators mustbe rewarded; we do not agree with those mobilizing publicopinion against any olicy which ensures rewards to aninnovator. Howcan we argue for IPRs of innovators atgrassroots level if we do not accept the same rights for otherinnovators? There is asymmetry in global negotiation and thediscourse has yet to become fair and just, but this will bepossible only when we continue discussions.

Would Gandhiji have approved?

We oppose any violence, be its against multinational corporationsselling seeds, or against tribals fighting for their rights tonatural resoures that they have conserved so long evenbyremaining poor. Gandhiji, whose name is often invoked inagitations of various kinds, had a clear protocol for protest insuch matters. He withdrew his call for agitation every time ittended to become violent. He did it at ‘Chauri Chaura’ wherepolicemen were gheraoed and killed by the public. His call for“swadeshi” involved the concept of “buy and burn” and not“loot and burn”. He advocated picketing outside shops sellingforeign-made cloth. The burning of a seed company’soffice recently by a farmers’ organisation cannot bejustified, certainy not on Gandhian priniples. Gandhijiunderstood the power of consumers and opposed allviolence, even against the perpetrators of crime. In thechanged global context, we now realize that any powergained by groups or an individual, through violentmeans is unlikely to remain accountable to people.

Today, when we are aiming at export of herbalproducts so that innovations neglected by localeconomyh and policy can get some returns, can wereally oppose any international trade? A governmentwhich has borrowed so heavily from internationalagencies (in an ill-advised manner and for inefficientpurposes though it be) has in any case introduced anelement of foreign capital into most domesticinvestments involving imports of capital, equipment orraw materials.

We are opposed to unfair concessions to MNCs. But itis also wrong to say that MNCs are the only ones toexploit farmers, tribals and workers. Most Indiancompanies subsidise urban consumers of Ayurvedicdrugs and pay extremely low prices to the actual herb



collectors. Hardly any company invests in conservation ofbiodiversity. Even the consumers must share the blame for this.How many of us buy biodiverse products (vegetables, fruits,grains and so on) of varying shapes, colour, size, taste, smelletc? If we do not create demand for such products, will theirgrowers have any incentive to grow them and thus conservebiodiversity?

Important issues in the IPR Debate

a) National sovereignity over biodiversity present within anation-state was accepted as a principle at the Rio EarthSummit. But the same protection was not extended to thegrassroots level local communities. Such rights must be accuredto local communities conserving biodiversity and its associatedknowledge. That these communities have not benefitted from most public policies is evident from the persistenceof high levels of poverty in regions of high biodiversity.

b) The ignorance of communities or individuals about the potential worth of an innovation for a buyer cannotbe held against them while executing agreements with them. It is the responsibility of the buyer to the providerfull information to provider of information about the possible gain from the knowledge. The concept of PriorInformed Consent (PIC) requires each donor (i.e. developing country) to enact laws making PIC mandatory. Inabsence of such a disclosure of information, international NGOs like SRISTI should ensure that legal redressal isprovided to the affected parties.

National governments will have a right to be informed of all such agreements. In cases where strategic interestsof a nation are involved, the government concerned may not permit the export of the biologicalmaterial, forinstance, the germplasm of crops which generate export revenue. However, we feel that in such cases thecommunities which have conserved such rare germplasm in-situ have a right to expect from the government asubstantial resource transfer for the benefit foregone. Special levels may have to be imposed so that thebeneficiaries of the export income i.e. cash crop growers or value-adding enterprises. The communities which aredenied the right of extracting value from their conservation efforts must be compensated. It will be tragic if thenation/states were to nationalise such resources and the associated knowledge. The forests are already nationalproperty and the communities living around forests have extremely limited access to the forest resources. Whyshould they share their knowledge, if they are not adequately compensated for it? Will we, the researchers whoare committed to protection of their IPRs, be held guilty erosion of this knowledge? At SRISTI we are in theprocess of starting a global registration system for these innovations precisely in order to avoid such a possibility.But much more remains to be done.

c) Local value addition to the knowledge that we document is another issue. The problem is that even herenew constraints are emerging. Recently, the New York Botanical Garden (NYBG) and Pfizer company entered intoa million dollar contract to scan the NYBG collection. The rationale for such a contract is that before carrying outsurveys of the biodiversity in the tropics, the parties for such a contract is that before carrying out surveys ofthe biodiversity in the tropics, the parties should look into their own backyards. Thus, the collections of NYBGbecame its backyard property. These were brought from different countries as part of its ethno or just simplebotanical surveys. This unurpation is unacceptable. How can Pfizer get a monopoly right of extracting medicinefrom a plant found originally in a tropicl village but now available in a western botanical garden? Rare as thesemay be the scope for value addition will be limited in such cases. The assumption here is that the NYBG will beable to grow enough of such a scarce plant in the US itself. If this assumption is not valid, the issue of IPRwill arise. The company may claim that it did not draw upon native knowledge, even if such a knowledge existedabout the particular use discovered by the company. In some cases it may also be that people may have usedthe plant for purposes other than those discovered by the company. In such a case, the following options shouldbe considered:


Honey Bee Vol 4 (4) October - December 1993 3

i) We insist that the company arrives at acontract to grow such a plant only within itsmaximum sustainable yield;

ii) We arrive at a contract which requires localvalue addition so that employment and incomegains accrue to the local economy

iii) we make it possible for the local community tohave a partnership in profits from such a drug;and

iv) we ensure that the local community is notprevented from using such a plant for the samepurpose if it were to discover similar usesthrough its own experimentation or innovations.

A Call to Entrepreneurs

Recently a young entrepreneur (Chairman and ManagingDirector of Trident Corporation, Punjab) asked us afterreading Honey Bee if and how he could help this

cause. Our reply was saying “Yes, by earning moneyfrom this knowledge”. We hoped that a share of theearnings will benefit the original innovators. If thisknowledge remains in books or newsletters, how willwe achieve our goal of generating emancipatingalternatives for local innovators? Poverty alleviationthrough value addition to their creativity is what we areaiming at. We therefore invite entrepreneurs interested inpartnership with SRISTI and Honey Bee network toensure that biodiversity conservation takes place throughvalue addition and not just through benevolence ofsome wealthy foundation, state or other charities orthrough coercive protection apparatus, which will sooneror later break down.

We are searching for different kinds of contracts whichwill help route material and non-material compensationsthrough various kinds of instruments such as specificand non-specific channels, and institutions. We do hopethat readers will respond to the issues presented here.

Cou

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Seed

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Anil K Gupta



1. More on milk for viruscontrol

Previous issues of Honey Bee (Vol3(3&4) had carried a note by Drs.MP Chari and K. Nagarajan on the useof milk for virus control. We havereceived a communication on thesubject from Dr. B N Patel, after Dr.Janakiraman, Director of Research,Gujarat Agricultural University (GAU)wrote to him in this regard.

The efficacy of fresh cowmilk in dilutions of 1:10 and 1:100along with buttermilk against TobaccoMosaic Virus (TMV) infection wastested in regular trials for three yearsduring 1978-79 to 1980-81. Wefound only fresh milk to be apowerful inhibitor of TMV (73%inhibition). However, we were notencouraged to advocate the use ofmilk for two major reasons.

i) The spread of TMV takesplace at the time of transplanting aswell as during the subsequent fieldoperations of weeding andinterculturing, and so the use of milkat the time of transplanting alonewould not serve the purpose.Besides, the feasibility of its use

during weeding andinterculturing would beminimum or almost nil. Thespread of the virus duringtopping and desuckering isalso very common.

ii) Immediately after theconclusion of the above trialwe had initiated a breedingprogramme t transfer aresistance gene into cultivatedvarieties. Once resistantvarieties are developed, wewould be assured of effectivecontrol of TMV under fieldconditions. Resistance tomosaic has already beenstabilized in bidi-tobaccovarieties A-2, A-119 and GT-4.These lines are currently beingevaluated for their yieldperformance”.

(Is there any study which indicatesthe extent of infection that occurs attransplanting stage vis-a-vis thesubsequent stage? We assume that ifthe major infective period is thetransplanting stage then furtherexperimentation may be worthwhile.Recently, we noticed a similarpractice in Dharampur district,Gujarat, in the case of ‘nagli’(Eleusine coracana). We agree thatdevelopment of resistant varieties isextremely important but even somuch has to be done especially in

low cash generating crops.We wonder whether weshould at all recommendthis practice or

conduct some moreexperiments for such

crops.

We would like to hear from ourreaders more about what they thinkis the active principle involved in thispractice or about their hypothesesabout the interaction between virusand milk : Ed.)

2. Why hair springs can replacea worn out shoe of a ploughPankaj Joshi

Though a material scientistequipped with the theoreticalknowledge, I was not sure whathair springs and shoe of a ploughare. I asked some news groupsthis question and got the answer.Hair spring is another name forthe leaf-spring which was used toprovide suspension in older cars(now replaced by suspension units)and that is still used in lorries. Itcomprises the long strips of springsteel, (special strong flexible steel)which are about 2 cm wide incars and upto 10 cm wide inlorries. It is fixed at right angleson the axle and extends towardsthe front and rear where it is fixedto the chassis. It is slightly curvedand will absorb most shocks.

The shoe of the plough is the partwhich runs along the bottom androlls the soil over. It is generallymade of hardened steel today. Thehair springs of tough steel makeexcellent blank stock for indigenousblacksmiths. In particular, the edgeof the plough is likely to be madefrom the hardest, not-too-expensivematerial available within a particularculture. After receiving this

Scientists’ Comments on Farmers’ Practices

Dr Patel is a research Scientist (Pl. Patho)at Bidi Tobacco Research Station, GAU,Anand - 388 110 India



information from others, from amaterial scientist’s point of view, Ifeel the two important requirementsof a plough are:

i) It should be hard to makefurrows in the soil (A hardermaterial abrades a softermaterial. So the harder theshoe is, the less will it getabraded).

ii) It should be tough to absorbshocks.

Usually hard materials arebrittle and tough materials are nothard. In order to strike a balancebetween these two qualities,industry probably settles for amoderately hard and moderatelytough material. For a leaf spring/hair spring, the desirable quality isits elasticity, its ability to get back

to its own shape. And elasticity ofa material is directly proportional toits hardness. Similarly, thersesprings are also supposed to absorbshocks. In this way the materialrequirements of these two distantapplications are quite similar. Andthat is why the replacement works.

Other parts that can alsoact as replacements are the partsof cutting tools. In the Philippines,blacksmiths make fine knives andmachetes from old auto leafsprings.

Another question that youasked was about the detergent“Nirma” working as a betterinsecticide than “Surf”. Let me tryto guess the answer. All soaps arebasic in nature and basicity isharmful to the tissues. It ispossible that Nirma is more basic

than Surf, i.e. it has higher pH.If it is true, this must be one ofthe factors that makes Nirma workbetter as an insecticide. (Thequestion we asked about the ploughshoe had emerged from an insightshared by a blacksmith. In aworkshop of blacksmiths inChitradurga, Karnataka, oneparticipant have forgotten the nameprovided us with this unusualinsight. Pankaj heard about usthrough some E-mail news groupsand wanted to know whetherHoney Bee Network had any usefor a material scientist like him.And we said, “yes indeed”. We dohope more such dialogues will takeplace between scholars fromdifferent knowledge systems : Ed).

Bark Cloth in UgandaDr. S C Downie

Bark cloth is a traditional product dating back hundreds of years inUganda. A field trip was made to the house of a local bark cloth maker,Mr. James Kadhumbula, in a forest.

Farmers plant saplings from the copiousstump of a fig tree into the local agro-forestry system to provide shade for coffee,

banana crops and social purposes. Three tofour-year old fig tree stems are used for

making back cloth. First of all, the stemsare scraped off their outermost layer andthen peeled off the main layer of bark.Removing of back is like skinning of apython, they say. Special care is tobe taken to slice the bark from top

to bottom along the line downwhich rainwater flow,

because bark isthinnest there. So itends up as theedges of the finalcloth. The line isbest recognized bythe lack of lichensalong it.

As the freshly stripped bark is wet,it is spread out on dried bananaleaves to keep the dirt off. Thenthe peeled bark is hammered on apeeled fig anvil with a woodenmallet called ‘nsaamo’ (see fig).The mallet is prepared from a hardwood tree, the ‘kakomo’. Becauseof the hammering, the bark sheetbecomes thin and about four timeswider than its original size. A fiveto six-square metre size cloth sheetcan be prepared from one tree.Finally, the coth is laid out in thesun to mature. The striped stem ofthe tree is bandaged with bananafibers so that the new growth canbecome the raw material for thefiner grade cloth.

The fibrous, non-woven cloth isstill widely used for bedding andshrouds but now rarely forclothing. It is also used for avariety of handicrafts. All types offig tree are not suitable for clothmaking — only Ficus natalensisyields cloth of suitable quality.

Pankaj is a doctoral student at Departmentof Chemistry, Arizona State University, Tempe,AZ 85287 - 1604, USA. He can be reachedthrough email: aspnjasuvm.inre.usy.edu



Winin : One reason for the persistence of traditional technologies (TT) and their revivalnow is that the westernised system cannot solve the problems that individual farmers andarsitans face, either because of the need for urgent action, or because westernised solutionsare too expensive, or because they are seen to damage the environment. The impoverishedpeople are beginning to realise that no benefits of the westernised system reach them andin fact this system is making them poorer still. They are the people who are searching forsolutions for survival and who could be receptive to using revived Tts.

It is the traditional methods of research and application, not always particular pieces ofknowledge, that are relevant. Such research is constantly being carried out even today, oftenin advance of or at the same time as formal, institutional research. An example: Since 1987,

Warli Adivasis have been catching fish in ‘nallas’ by stupefying them with the seeds of ‘dandavan’, Acacia auriculiformis.This Australian tree was first introduced into the Warli area in 1985. It takes about two yearsto flower and fruit, sothe Advisasis’ research has been carried out very quickly indeed.

Anil: The phrase traditional technology makes the contemporarydimension of innovation and experimentation pursued by thepeopler in the regions which are ignored by the market forces.Winin gives shows the example of Acacia auriculiformis whichwas found to be a source of fish poison. Obviously, therefore,we should distinguish between tradition of invention and inventionof tradition. In Winin’s scheme, the latter does not much diminishthe growth of local knowledge systems. However, there are socialand political forces which try to claim the superiority of one strandof tradition over another. The same forces also try to implythat traditional knowledge is some kind of frozen-in-time fossillizedknowledge. Of course, Winin is not making that mistake.However, by not expilcity distinguishing between accumalatedtraditional knowledge as distinct from contemporary experiments,we may miss the point. Another reason for indegenous/endogenous innovations is a streak of fortitude or a crazy desirein the person to be different - some kind of an “odd ball”. Inour survey of innovations we have systematically searched forsuch “odd balls” in different villages.

Winin: A reaserch paper on the effects of extracts of Acacia auriculiformis on fish waspublished in Environment & Ecology in 1988. This type of research is carried out for itscitation and commercial value and for the degrees, employment and other benefits it providesscientists. For such scientists, the “outside” world exists merely as a source of raw materialsfor research; it has no value or needs of its own. Even though the theme of the institutionalscientists research was basically relevant to the people, the methods of western science andthe institutional structures make the result inaccessible to the user.The Warli research required no submission of budgets and reports, no elaborate establishmentno requistions for apparatus and consumables, and was tested on the fish that need to becaught in their natural environment.

Anil: Institutional scientists indeed have not always respected local knowledge. At the sametime good breeders and agronomists around the world have always kept their ears close to theground. They looked around, talked to people and picked up ideas for further experimentation.The best example of this is the ridge and furrow system of ICRISAT (often misapplied and thusof very low utility) which was based on a time-tested practice of set and furrow system developed

A Dialogue on Indigenous Knowledge : Dr. Winin Pereira and Prof. Anil K Gupta

It isTraditionalorContemporary?

WhatFormalInstitutionsare Doing.

6



by the farmers in Saurastra, Gujarat. The attribution to local sourcesof ideas was, however seldom made. But that is the case evenamongst many NGOs ethnobotanists and other development workers.Not all scientists avoid attribution intentionally; the thought ofacknowledging may never occur to many of them merely becausethe established practice and peer culture in science never underscopethe lapse. In our studies of scientists perception of indegenousknowledge, at least one third of the sample scientists had noticedsome intriguing, interesting or innovative practices of farmers in thedeveloped as well as under-developed regions. Many timesinstitutional scientists did not write about their perception of localinnovations because they never found any social group, even ofinstitutional scientists has homogenous interests and motivations.Most ignore local innovations, some do not. Shouldn’t we spotand nuture the scientists of the second kind ?

Winin : What the innovative Warlisdid was nothing extraordinary. Itwas what many of them normally doand what their culture expects themto do. Their research may not becited in any ‘learned’ journal but theirknowledge has already benefited manyand enhanced the reasearchers selfworth and that of their community.It has diffused so widely that it hasnot been possible to trace who exactly

did the reasearch.

Anil : When we pursed the issue of intellectual property rights with local innovators, we found that many of them werenot enthusiatic. Some of them felt that knowledge can only grow through sharing. And thus Amritbhai Agarwal ofJunagadh would unhesitantingly offer to explain the design of the wheat sowing box or groundnut digger that he haddeveloped to anyone who approached him. On the other hand when companies, national or multinational can use localinnovations and local/traditional knowledge without paying any compensation, the case for protecting the IPRs of localcommunities becomes strong.

Winin : Traditional innovators were and are satisfied with their own peer group appreciation oftheir creativity while the institutional innovators require peer group approval before their work canbe published. The peer group scientists are specialist peers from corporate sector, the sole criterionof evaluationis whether theinnovations isprofitable ornot.

Anil : To argue that local knowledge andexperimentation ethic can survive withoutdevelopment of an alternative peer cultureamongst local communities is a difficultproposition. The pressure of modern mediaand the dominant culture is so intense thatcountervalling pressures like the one beingattempted through the Honey Bee network,are necessary.

IsFormalRecognitionRequired ?

Does ItNeed PeerGroupApproval ? Crying Tomato and Smiling Ketchup :

Local Knowledge and Global Profits

Selection No. 832 of tomato cost the US Department of Agriculture only 22dollars. It helped in changing the solid content of commercial tomato varietiesfrom 4.5 to 6 per cent. The profit of Ketchup industry increased by 8 billiondollars per year. During last 10 years; 80 million dollars have been earned, (in"Biodiversity", E O Wilson (Ed.), Washington : National Academy Press, 1989).

How much share out of this accrued to the Latin American Community whichhas conserved this variety ? Nil.

It is for the readers to judge, whether this exchange in sustainable!!!l Also, willthe governments of third wolrd, rich in biodiversity wake up and create new legalregimes in the post GATT and Biodiversity treaty?



Winin : The free availbility of traditional innovations forall to use and improve upon is an essential characteristicof traditional methods. The formalization of traditionalknowledge does appear to lead to institutionalization.Take for instance, the ayurvedic system and the Adivasibhagat systems. Members of such institutions usuallycharge for their services, unlike traditional technology,which if commercialized, may be destroyed completely.The fact that the cash economy has penetrated nearlyeverywhere does not necessarily make it a good thing.If the cash economy is contributing to the deterioration

of TT, participation in it should not be encouraged.

Anil : Not all indegenous technologies are common property knowledge. There arearyurvedic or ‘Sidha’ practitioners who would transmit specific medicinal recipesonly to their children or close kin. It is possible that they do so to avoid anycompromise with the discipline of the recipe.Also, the free availability of local innovations is not always a necessary condition for their improvement. In the pastfew decades, given the subsidy culture people have generally become contemptous of anything given free. So muchso that if a doctor does not charge a heavy fee or give an injection (instead of tablets) people are not satisfied. Theyfeel that they are not being taken seriously. It may not be a good attitude but it is a pervasive one. Property rightsof individuals or communities in local knowledge do need attention.

Winin : There is no need for aggressive salesmanship for a TT. Those who are interestedin using a particular practice can get full details of raw materials and processes from theinnovator or from the person from whom they have learnt about the practice. The technologiesare not covered by anything corresponding to patent or intellectual property rights whichcould limit their dissemination. Against this, an institutional innovation faces several barriers.Some barriers to its free use are introduced by patenting the technology.

Anil : True, there is always the risk of erosion of local knowledge through commercialization, butthis risk is not inherent to any mode of commercialization. After all, incentives for innovation canbe generated through material and non-material means. Otherwise we could be charged with keepingcertain communities poor in order to maintain their knowledge system for wider societal interests. Whywe should we not invest in innovation of alternative institutions, values and cultures which would utilizewealth for community goals more than for individual well-being ?

Most tribal regions have very low literacy rates. It is also true that the most low paid urban workerscome from some of the most disadvantaged regions such as drought-prone areas, flood-prone areas,hill areas and forest regions. Biodiversity and associated knowledge found in abundance in such regions,cannot be used as an argument for internal colonalism. I am not saying that Winin is implying that.In fact he and his colleagues at the Centre for Holistic Studies have pioneered marketing of manyproducts of tribal knowledge to generate revenue for these people. In a way he has proved, in howeversmall a way, that commercialization does not lead to erosion of knowledge provided adequate institutionbuilding processes are followed.

Winin : Difficulties could arise in the distribution of the rewards. IT is not enough to rewardonly the innovators who have given us information . All the innovators would need to berewarded, which raises the question of how to reward those of whom we are not evenaware. Such a problem does not arise when the rewards are provided by the innovators’immediate community; it arises only when “outsiders” try to compensate traditional innovators.It would also be necessary to distinguish between individual innovators, group innovators,farmers who use - and so preserve - traditional varieties of seeds, and those who maintaintraditional practices (organic farming, rotations, intercropping, etc.)

Is It aCommonProperty?

"IndigenousPatent"

Cou

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Deb

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Willcommeicializationcause IK tofade away ?

How doweCompensateInnovators?



Anil : We have to find different ways of compensating local communities. I realize the problems inherent in the processesof rewards by outside communities vis-a-vis local communities. The colonial past, unfortunately, makes it almost necessaryfor a Third World scholar to be recognized in the West before he/she can be recognized in his/her own country. Butthis must be changed.

The question of compensating large communities involved in conserving certain genes or other sources of localknowledge can be addressed through what I have called material and non-material, non-specific routes of compensation(please see HB Vol3(1):9). Such routes could include trust funds, panchayat funds or decentralized neighbourhoodfunds which can be used by the communities only through collective consent. There would be problems in disbursementor administration of such funds once the property right of any community is recognized. I, however, have a faiththat we will solve this problem through active participation of the same community for whose right we are collectivelyfighting.

Winin : In many cases, particularly if one takes into account cultural influences, the wholecommunity is responsible for preserving particular technologies or genes. Such communitiesmay extend over large regions; how do we compensate all of them? Take, another example;only one farmer, Shankar Karpali (an Adivasi), in a village of about a thousand farmers, growsa variety of paddy with purple leaves which has no special edible value. But he is proudof the fact that he cultivates it and he claims that it averts the evil eye. So a small partof his field is always “wasted” for it. A purple-leaved variety is also grown in the south;it is sown once every few years in place of the regular varieties. This paddy, too, has littleedible value, but growing it in a whole field allows the farmers to eradicate grasses thatlook very similar to paddy with their green leaves (Bernard, pers comm). The Adivasi maynot be consciously using it for this purpose but it may be serving it all the same. Onepossibility is to have an organization whic promotes in-situ preservation, but this would operatein a limited region, though other similar organizations could arise in imitation. Farmers canbe paid for growing traditional varieties by, for instance, buying up their output at the ratethat they would get if they planted the highest yielding variety. But here too problems willarise. How do we select the farmer or farmers we will compensate when there may stillbe hundreds who are growing that particular variety? Or, do we wait until the variety ison the verge of extinction and then only pay farmers to grow it? But in this case, manyof the finer levels of gene diversity will be lost, we will preserve only the varieties that wecan identify and, we will, in the whole process, damage or destroy the traditional system

for preserving the varieties:

Anil : The example of purple paddy is a good one and it demonstrates: (a) local practices neednot always be utilitarian, (b) even if a right thing is done, it could be done for wrong reasons,and (c) rationality may succeed right action. We have many examples in our data base on localinnovations in which the reasons for which farmers said they did a particular thing were not correctthrough the practice was. Here, the point remains that if such technologies can result in additionalrevenue for the farmers, some mechanism of cross-financing the innovative communities must bedeveloped.

I am in full agreement with many suggestions that Winin gives for conservatin of local diversityand generation of incentives for in-situ conservation. But a case remains for developing many morealternative ways for achieving the same goals. I fully agree withhim that criteria and candidates forcompensation cannot be developed only when something becomes scarce. This is an issue aboutwhich SRISTI (Society for Research Initiatives for Sustainable Technologies and Institutions) is activelyconcerned.

Winin : There would be the necessity of rewarding people who have the knowledge but are unableto practice it: the recently displaced Adivasis, for instance. Such people, who are deprived of the abilityto use their knowledge, are the ones most in need of material compensation.

Dr Winn Pereirahas writtenseveral books onthe subject. Hecan be contactedat Centre forHolistic Studies,79 Carter Road,Bandra, Bombay -400 050, India;Tel No. 6462772



Anil : The case of local knowledge of Adivasi/Tribals oustees of various infrastructral projects is extremely serious.In case of the Narmada dam, we raised this issue with both groups - those supporting and those opposing it. Bothhave ignored this issue. Neither did they invest in demonstrating empirically how this knowledge was crucial for conservationof the diversity in some of the catchments. The realationship between biodiversity and knowledge diversity is little appreciated.

Winin : If an “outside” organization does compensate specific innovators for their particular inventions,it is possible that the innovators would begin to hoard their knowledge and not tell their neighboursabout their discoveries as they wait to give their knowledge to the organization. This would eliminatethe normal testing of the innovation by the innovator’s peer group.

Anil : I do not apprehend that basic innate communication values in many of the local communitieswill vanish just because some of the local innovators are rewarded for their creativity. In any caseif a meritocratic system of social construction of discourse has to be embedded in local communities,we have no choice except to accept the limitations of such a system. The rights or entitlements ofthe creative, innovative and experimenting individual and/or communities cannot be at par with thosewho just muddle through. In every community there are individuals who are more creative than others.The collective approval or disapproval of the community does play a role in many of these innovations.Similarly, the feedback by small groups on individual innovations does influence the pattern of innovations.These are the processes which remain to be properly understood, analyzed and appreciated.

Winin: What are the criteria that would be used to providerewards? Would rewards be given merely because the

information was conveyed to the organization, or only after thepractice has been verified by institutional scientists? A study needs

to be undertaken on how compensating innovators, materially or non-materially, specifically or not (again please see HB Vol. 3(1):9) for detaileddiscussions on these alternatives), affects further innovation. It needs to be seenwhether any of these types of compensation increases or decreases the innovationrate, encourages or inhibits the spread of the innovation. This can be practicallystudied by offering such rewards and observing what happens. But will the actof measurement subvert what is being measured? Or, are there other methodsof checking this out?

I am not against rewarding innovators but in the process of rewarding innovators,we should not destroy the process of innovation itself and the culture that hassustained it. Also, problems arise when others use the genes from varieties theyhave preserved without giving them any compensation. It is even worse whenthe new varieties so developed are commercialized. Probably the non-material,non-specific rewards would be most suitable. Material compensation by way oftrust funds disbursed to whole communities may work, but more important isthe preservation of the culture of innovation, the restoration of the commonsthey have lost and proper payment for the products they grow.

Anil : All the cautions and fears which Winin suggests betaken into account while rewarding innovators are relevant. I

can only say that we all - he, CHS (Center for Holistic Studies), SRISTI and the Honey Bee networkand innovators as well as their communities - have to work collectively to use a pluralistic approachto resolve the issue arising in this context.

My only contention is that we should pursue these issues not just academically, we should by workingwith local innovators, pursue the answers by confronting the issues head-on. Perhaps before we resolvethe issue of what will happen if compensation is routed to innovators, we should first get thecompensation in hand ? SRISTI and I intend to use a large part of the Pew award to experimentin this direction. Our readers are invited to join this debate.

Criteria forRewards

Publicationsof Prof AnilGupta (EditorHoney Bee) oni n d i g e n o u sk n o w l e d g esystem can beobtain frome d i t o r i a laddress.



This year Western India (mainlyRajasthan & Gujarat) experienced asever attack of desert locust after aspace of 32 years. The statemachinery was caught unawares butorganised anti-locust operations on awar-footing using chemical methodsof control. Large amounts of BHC10%, Malathion VLV andFeritrothion were used. Theseoperations consisted of aerialspraying and powder dusting bymobile units at ground level.Despite the best efforts of Anti-Locust Divisions of the two states,the attack could not be contained.

During a field visit a Jodhpurdistrict, I discovered severalindigenous methods of coping withthe pest. These can be classifiedinto two broad categories :(I) those practiced by commonpeople, (ii) those practicedexclusively by mystic and ‘sadhus’.

The commonly practiced methodsare well known and are thereforenot discussed an detail. At theadult stage, locust swarns areprevented from alighting on cropswith the help of noise (drums,gongs, catcalls, sirens, firecrackersetc.) and somke. The land isploughed to destroy the eggs whichare laid in the soil. During thehopper stage, the insects arepushed into trenches are buriedalive. These methods are effectivein dealing with small swarns butprove inadequate for large swarnswhich cover on an average 15-20sq km area.

The mystified practices of ‘sadhus’and ‘fakirs’ seem to be effective.Unlike chemical methods they areenvironmental-friendly. Theytherefore deserve the scrutiny ofscientists. Two examples are given

below.

1. Sri Daulat Goel who wasworking with the Anti-Locustdivision in Gujarat, recounted thefollowing practice observed by himduring the 1961 locust attack. Ata village in Vav taluka,Banaskantha, a ‘sadhu’ made aswarm fly away to a distance of5-6 km. He picked up one insect,recited ‘mantras’ and made it flyby blowing on it. Sri Goel hadmet a Muslim ‘fakir’ in Jodhpurwho claimed he could performthe same feat.

2. Sri N S Bhati, DeputyDirector, Agricultural Extension,Jodhpurinformed me that he hadcome across similar stories inRajasthan - although none ofthese ‘sadhus’ could be tracednow. In one version, the ‘sadhu’made one of the insects passthrough an earthern ring made bybreaking a used earthen water pot(‘matka’) in such a way that onlythe rim of the pot remained. Oncethe “treated” insect passed throughthe ring, the rest of the swarmfollowed. The “treated” swarm didnot cause any damage in thatvillage.

In the light of emergingbody of knowlede on “informationchemicals” that seek to explainchemical interaction between insects,and betwen insects of plants, it ispossible to hypothesize that thepractices described above are basedon an understanding of thechemical means of communicationsused by the insect in its gragariousstage. Locusts are known to travelwith arid currents. In fact,turbulence in the atmospherestimulates the insect to fly. Duringflight it is bound to release info-

chemicals which enables otherinsects in the swarm to remain intouch. It can be hypothesized thatby blowing on the insect the`sadhu’ was stimulating thecondition of wind currents. In thisway the insect was stimulated tosecrete info-chemicals, and to flyaway. When the `scent” waspicked up by other insects, they

took flight. A similar interpretationcould be made in the case of thering-method. Perhaps the ring wasused to concentrate the “scent” ofthe info-chemical. The flight ofseveral locusts on the same pathmay result in a cumulative effect,leading to a strong scent near thering. Perhaps a critical number ofinsects may be required to passthrough, before the scent becomesstrong enough to attract the rest ofthe swarm.

We request readers to inform us ifthey have come across suchpractices of locust control. We alsoinvite scientists to draw hypothesesand test them throughexperimentation.

Unconventional Methods for an Unusual PestA R Pastakia

Mr Pastakiais a doctoral student

at IIM - Ahmedabad - 380 015



Notes from Kerala

Dr. P R Pisharoty

Plant that Predicts Monsoon

1. Flowering of plants is agood foreteller of thecommencement of rains. I cameacross this in my boyhood days,and later confirmed it through myexperience as a weather forecasterin different parts of India. A plantcalled ‘garmala’ in Gujarati and‘karmikaram’ in Sanskrit is a usefulindicator of rains.

It bears bunches of goldenyellow flowers in abundance, about45 days before the onset of rains,whether it be Kerala, Gujarat, ofWestern U.P.

In Kerala, it flowers by10th or 12th April. The farmersplan their planting by it. The IndianMeteorology Department even nowgives no forecast of the onset ofrains in Kerala by that time. Thenormal date of onset of themonsoon, over Kerala is around 1stJune. If the plant does not flowerby 13th April, farmers in Kerala donot go ahead with the preliminarywork for sowing paddy. lAt thetime of onset of the monsoon,usually there are heavy rains (5 to10 cm for a day or two) andunless the seedlings are about 8 to10 cm high by then, they will bewashed off.

Once the monsoon setsover Kerala, its progress towardsthe north is somewhat predictable.Gujarat can get 15 days advanceinformation, via the IndianMeteorology Department.

It is remarkable thatKalidasa had associated theflowering of ‘karmikaram’ with theonset of summer (end of spring)and eventually the rains. Apparently

the flowering depends upon thecombination of temperature and soilmoisture over a period of time.And these also determine theconditions which eventually bringthe monsoon.

In the old system ofclimatology among our farmers,time units were 13 to 14 days long— the time for which the sunstays in each of 27 constellations;the time taken to cover all theconstellations equals 365 days.Climatology all over the world usesthe Gregorian calendar months butthe ancient system is better. Weknow what the western system ofeducation has done — implanted itsknowledge along with its ignorance.

Our farmers also knewabout “synoptic climatology” — theaberrations in the normalclimatology consequent to specificevents like a cyclonic storm givingheavy rains, being followed byrainless spells. The rules apply tospecific regions of India and,therefore, are not universal. Thenthere are the 30-40 days oscillaionswhich separate the rain spells overa region by 35 days on theaverage. Apparently Varahamihira(one of the great scholars whoadorned Bhoja Raja’s court alongwith Kalidasa in 700 or 800 AD)had noted this. Some of the rulesfor forecasting rain are based onthis observation. Modernmeterologists have noted this featurein Indian rainfall — tropical rainfallin general — only during the lasttwo decades. And that too wasfound by Western scientists. AsNobel Laureate, Prof. C V Ramanonce put it to me: “Politicaldomination has created intellectualslavery”.

Soil Conservation

2. In Kerala, when it rainsheavily, farmers do not permit

water to flow out of theirindividual farm plots and keep itconfined to where it falls. After a3-day stay in situ, they allow onlydecanted water to flow out. This isa method of soil preservation.

Non-conventional Cures

3. In our village the tribalshad a remedy for cholera. Theyused to administer a pill about 3mm in diameter, to be taken alongwith a betel leaf. As a small boy Ipestered a tribal friend to let meknow what it was. After muchpersuasion he finally told me whatit was on the promise that I willnot tell anybody. For about 70years, I have not told anyone butnow I will. It was just dogdroppings. A dog never getscholera. So its intestine mustcontain something anti-cholera, wasthe simple logic. “Microphage” is

Dr Pisharoty is a Former Director,Physical Research Laboratory and oneof the most distinguished scientists ofIndia on climate modelling andatmospheric sciences. He can becontacted at E-12/, ChaitrabenResidency, DFF, ITI Road, Aundh, Pune41007, India

continued on page 17



Sage of an Indigenous Export2 : Demystifying "Expert"

One day a ship turned up at the Toroja harbour. The sailorhad two ducks and a piece of black colourted wood. Heappeared before the King and said, “Your Highness, if you tellme which of these two ducks is male and which female, andwhich side of this stick is the top and which the bottom, Ioffer you my ship”. The King immediately summoned hisexcpert and asked him to solve the problem within threedays. If the expert were to fail in this task he would bebeheaded.

When the time was almost up and the expert had still notsolved the problem he decided to commit suicide. At the riverhe heard some common people discussing his very problem.“Silly King, he doesn’t know that he would leave the twoducks near water. The one which gets into the water first isthe male”. They laughed loudly. The second problem wasalso no problem at all. “If you put the stick in the water, theheavier end will sink more than the lighter end which istherefore the top.”

Having found his answers, the expert quickly went to theKing and demonstrated his expertise. Highly pleased, the Rajaof Toroja named him as his successor.

There is a strong tendency among researchers to claimexpertise even in matters which actually require merecommon sense. A whole industry has emerged ofprofessionals who claim to specialize in providing short cutsto deciphering people’s minds. The irony is, they discoveronly some corners of people’s minds - the less creative andmore complaining ones - and a theory is built which has a lotof chaff and little grain. The creativity at grass-roots leveloften eludes such experts as we learn from the story above

We do not rush to the king to take any credit for discoveringcreative people in more than 1200 villages of Gujarat(surveyed so far) and other states of India and other parts ofthe world.

A Method in our madness : Do methods matter?

As we have repeatedly mentioned in the previous issues ofHB, we do not use (nor do we advocate) any of the PRA orRRA methods. To us, these terms make no sense despite themillions of dollars being pumped into aided projects by donoragencies.

Again we would like to narrate an old Indian story to drivehome our point. An old woman was searching for somethingunder a lamp in a street one night. A person passing by askedher what she was looking for. She said she had lost a needle.The person asked where she had lost it. The women replied,“Inside the house”. The man was baffled and wanted toknow why she was searching for it in the street. She replied,“Because there is a light in the street”. Many researchers andscholars, particularly trained in the western tradition, committhe same mistake of looking for ideas and innovations onlywhere the light who often speak in the outsider’s idiom.When we ask people to do wealth ranking, draw maps orundertake quick discussions, what we convey to the peopleis, “I want to understand what you do and how. But I wantto do it min my language and my metaphor.” Understandingyour metaphor and language would require studying yourculture, institutions and history. I am in a hurry and in anycase what can one learn from a history full of deprivation,poverty and conflicts?

a) A Search for Odd Balls

1. Through Students

There are about twenty institutions in Gujarat based onGandhian principles and values which try to combinelearning with working in the field. Most of the studentscome from rural areas. They are invited for a day-longmeeting during their summer vacation.

Survey of Innovations in Gujarat : Part VIIAnil K Gupta and Kirit K Patel1

The survey of farmers’ innovations by the students of different Lvidyapeeths hascontinued for the fourth year. We intend to begin with an Indonesian story thistime. The reason is the curiosity of many readers who want to know how wesucceed in discovering so many innovations when many of them find it a verydifficult task. Probably, the solutions are the problems. The methods and theassumption of expertise underlying “Rapid Rural Appraisal” (or for that matter RelaxedRural Appraisal - appraisal nevertheless) may actually be the problem.

________________1The Authors are working at Indian Institute of Management,Ahmedabad 380015, India2Abridged from ‘Toorja’ in Folk Tales of Indonesia (ed), AlwaniSoebiantoro and Manei Ratnatunga, Bangalore: SterlingPublishers Pvt. Ltd., 1986.



After explaining the context of thestudy, the importance of learning fromfarmers and the need for protectingthe intellectual property rights ofpeople, they are asked to narrateexamples of intriguing/interesting/innovative practices from their homes,villages or neighbourhoods. Byunderlying the ones which areinteresting or unusual, the purpose ofour survey slowly becomes clear tothe student researchers.

The trick here is to build upon whatpeople/students already know. Whenyoung students notice the glow in oureyes after we hear some of theirexperiences, it does a lot of good oftheir self-confidence and commitmentto the purpose. When we showedcopies of Honey Bee to the successive batches fromthe Gram Vidyapeeths, they saw that we hadacknowledged not only the names of farmer innovatorsbut also those of the communicators.Acknowledgement acts as a great source of motivation.

Many queries have been received about how we collectexamples of traditional technologies as distinct fromcontemporary innovations. Some want to know if weuse a questionaire to collect the material. We neveruse any. We do not even emphasis other formalmethods. The principle is to look for odd balls:“crazy” people who experimented, tried out differentthings and often were the buff of local humour. Fromone odd ball so discovered, we enquire about another,and another and.... It is not that other people do notexperiment, but as in any other walk of life, somevillagers are more creative than others. Everybody inthe village generally knows about such people. Someof these people are local experts in bone setting,veterinary surgery, human medicine or in crazyexperiments in farming. Many of them are alsoextremely sensitive and shy. Thus, any mistake inseeking their help may raise barriers.

There is no mystery or techniques involved in suchinteractions. Anybody with a little faith, commitment,sincerity, transperency, and a sharp eye can do whatwe do. Any attempt at clearness backfires.Homework and mental preparation help. Pride ofpursuit, no doubt, provides the extra edge that is sonecessary for walking lond distances in search of oddballs.

2) Competition Among Students of Vidyapeeths

We announced a competition among those students of23 vidyapeeths who were not involved in the directsurvey of innovations. We prepared a proforma forsending the information along with a covering note ofexamples of innovations. We visited most of theinstitutes before their vacations and explained theimportance of this study during their prayer meetingsand appealed to the students to collect suchinformations and send it to us. Most students whosent in information were first and second year students.More than 300 innovations were discovered through thismethod this year. We have set up a jury of 3persons one each from a Vidyapeeth, agriculturaluniversity and our team for evaluating the informationso collected. We hope to announce the prize winnerssoon.

b) Biodiversity Contest

We organised biodiversity contests among theprimary school children as well as the adults in thevillages of three different states. An announcementwas made by word of mouth and printed pamphlets.School children and adults were asked to bring sampleson a given day, of plants which they knew. Localjury of teachers, herbalists, scientists and socialworkers quizzed the participants. SRISTI sponsoredthe prizes for the winning students in the differentclasses as well as for the different groups of adults.Common criteria were used to give marks. Ashepherd boy standing first in the Madurai (TamilNadu)contest organised by Mr Vivekanandan, SEVA,



belonged to 5th class. He could identify about 116species and knew their uses, while the adult who stoodfirst in that paticular contest could identify 240 plantspecies. The most amazing part of this contest wasthat this child had covered half of the intellectualjourney by 12 years of age. The unfortunate aspectfor us is that the rest of the life of this boy will haveto be spent in forgetting this konwledge and learningalien languages and things which he may never be ableto use. Society places no premium on indegenousecological knowledge. A part from generating curiosityamong children and adults, this also helps in collectiverecognition of local expertise in ecological knowledge.We admit that in most cases we do not get all theinformations in our visit with the above methods. Inthe first round of survey we do not insist on details;we prefer to get as many as leads as possible forsubsequent follow-up.

A part from these activities, the following efforts areunderway to collect the details of innovations and torejuvenate the tradition of invention by using thisinformation.

b) Research as a Part of the Curriculum of theStudents

i) Recently, Shri Govindbhai Raval and ShriDevjibhai of Mahila Vidyapeeth, Nardipur joined handswith us to understand various aspects of indigenousknowledge of women livestock keepers. Twenty finalyear women students of a three-year programme inrural studies, with specialization in Dairy Science, havetakenup field studies under the guidance of Kirit Patel,Vijaya Sherry Chand and Anil K Gupta.

c) Astas Pastakia has taken up a doctoral thesison sustainable pest management drawing upon theHoney Bee network and its database on indigenousplant protection innovations. SRISTI has helped him insurveying more than 70 innovations and in identifying afew for detailed case studies. He is studying theheuristics used by the innovative farmers as influencedby their world view and contextual variables. He is alsotrying to identify the indicators which can discriminateheuristics for sustainable innovations from non-sustainable ones. He is pursuing his thesis at PublicSystems Group, Indian Institute of Management,Ahmedabad, under the guidance of Prof. Anil K Gupta.Dr. Gopichandran, a SRISTI network member and aninsect ecologist, is studying the innovations from thenatural science perspective. A volume based on aboutseventy plant protection innovations is to be broughtout soon.

d) VijayaSherry Chand,Fellow atRMCEI, IIM-Ais pursuinghis doctoralresearch onpedagogyandcurriculumdesign invariousVidyapereths.Amongother issues, he is also looking at how farmers’indigenous knowledge and innovative ethics can beincorporated into the BRS (Bachelor of Rural Studies)curriculum. He has also organized workshops ofVidyapeeths in collaboration with Anil K Gupta and KiritPatel to discuss ways in which a reorientation of theeducational system at higher level can train leaders forthe discourse on sustainability.

e) Workshops of Innovative Artisans

We have organised four workshops forinnovative artisans in Gujarat and Karnataka to identifythe process of impact of various innovations. Atravelling seminar was also organised to learn from thedialogues among the artisans. Ther process and kind ofquestions which their peer group generated during thevisiting workshop were eye-openers for us.

Implications

If what we have suggested appears demystified andsimple enough to be improvised by any user, threethings might happen.

i) No industry based on training practitioners andscholars in our method may come up.

ii) We may not get satisfaction from false theorization

iii) We may not be able to reinforce the low-self imageof third world professionals implying that even forunderstanding their own knowledger traditions they haveto import spectacles and binoculars from the west.Since to us all the three things are immaterial, ourrewards are extremely enriching and our network isgrowing at a fast pace. Perhaps we have stirred achord in many hearts.



4401 Farm Implements

In Saurashtra, farmers usea multi-purpose tool called‘santi’ for sowing,horrowing, digging,ploughing, interculturingetc. Most of the farmersuse a ‘santi’ made of iron,so that just by changingthe coulters and blade onecan perform all operationseasily. Farmers sow theseeds of almost all drilled crops likegroundnut, bajra, wheat and sorghumwith the help of an iron ‘santi’ after thefirst rain. Sometimes, the first rain isinadequate; also, the gap between firstand second rains might become toolong. In such instances only the upperlayer of the soil remains moist andplacing the seeds in this layer becomesimportant. The ‘santi’, being heavy onaccount of the iron frame and coulters,usually penetrates too deep (six inchesor more). Therefore, farmers havedeveloped a new attachment for the‘santi’ to regulate the depth of sowing.It consists of a pair of ‘J’ shaped ironrods. The long arms of the rods arejoined to the ends of the shaft of the‘santi’ in such a manner that they canswivel (see fig). By swinging the rodsthe depth to which the santi penetratescan be adjusted. Also, the weight of the‘santi’ falls on these rods. Hence, thecoulters remain in the upper layer ofthe soil. These rods are locally knownas ‘rokaniya’ (literally inhibitors orpreventers) and cost about Rs. 100/-for a pair. Farmers adjust the angle ofthe ‘rokaniya’ according to the depthof the moist soil layer. Only a fewfarmers have started using thisattachment in their driller and that tooonly over the last three years. But mostfarmers who have seen it are keen totry it out. If moisture is available atdeeper levels, there is no need for the‘rokaniya’.

Nariya Ukabhai Parbatbhai Dist:

Jamnagar, Comm: Vandra Kashmira N

4402 Insect Pest Control

4402.1 Larval Pest in Eleusinecoracana

Five larvae of aninsect pest(unidentified) arecollected from the

plant stalks andboiled in 200 g

of clarifiedbutter(ghee). Thismixture isdiluted with

ten litres of water and sprinkled on thecrop with the help of a broom. Thispractice is commonly carried out bythe people in the hilly areas ofDharampur of Valsad district, Gujaratthrough local medicine men (‘bhagats’)have specialised in this treatment.Bhinsara Lahanbhai Dhakalbhai, Dist:Valsad, Comm: Jogari Bharat L.

4402.2 Crabs in Paddy

‘Karchla’ (crabs) live instanding water or moist paddy fieldsand snip off the paddy stems. Farmerscrush the flowers of ‘keshuda’ (Buteamonosperma) and put them near thecrab burrows. It is believed that thispractice reduces the damage to thecrop. Most paddy growers have beenusing this practice for a long time.

Ganvit Bapubhai Dhanjibhai,Dist: Valsad, Comm: Jogari Bharat L.

4402.3 Aphid Control

Green chilli and garlic areground together and an extract isprepared. It is mixed with water inproportion of 1:200 and sprinkled overany crop infested by aphid and otherpest like jassid. Kunvarjibhai has beenusing this method for more than five

years and reports it is still effective.

Kunvarjibhai NagarbhaiThakkar, Dist: Kutch, Comm: DangarDahyabhai V.

4403 Improving Lustre and Size ofBanana

About two to three weeksbefore harvesting, a tin filled withcastor oil is kept over the waterchannel in such a fashion that drops ofoil fall into running water supplied tothe banana trees. This treatment issupposed to control the bursting ofbananas due to excessive heat atharvest time. Besides, the practice isbelieved to improve the size, weightand lusture of the fruit. It has been inuse only for the last seven or eightyears in this region.

To achieve similar effectssome farmers have started applyingcastor cake to the crop three tofour months before harvesting.

Bhat Vajubhai DhanjibhaiDist: Bhavnagar, Comm: PatelJanakray G.

Agricultural Practices



4404 Yoke gall

Ash prepared from the leaves ofCordia spp

At the time of yoking a newbullock, a paste of waterand the ash left behind byburning leaves of ‘gunda’(Cordia spp) is applied on the neck toprevent yoke galls.

Lakhmanbhai Bavchandbhai Patel, Dist:Amreli, Comm: Patel Jayesh G.

4405 Foot and Mouth Disease(FMD) by Using Other Covering of theHooves of Horses

Farmers fumigate discarded outercovering of the horse’s hoof and keepit near the mouth of the animal.Atmarambhai has practiced this methodseveral times and has noticed goodresults (We have documented morethan 30 different practices for FMDcontrol, please see back issue : Ed.)

Thakor Atmarambhai Abhubhai, Dist:Gandhinagar, Comm: Rathod Vimla B.

4406 To prevent abortion

Farmers believe that animals abortduring early pregnancy because of theirinternal body heat. Top prevent this,leaves of ‘kanthi’ (Limonia acidissima)are crushed and mixed with sugar andgiven to the animal. One dose of 500gof leaves, 200 g. sugar and one litre ofwater is given daily. The treatment isstarted after the first signs ofpregnancy are noticed and continuedfor 21 days continuously. ‘Kanthi’ is aplant available throughout the year incommon lands and grasslands in aridregions. It bears small leaves, similar to‘henna’ leaves, and has a hard-coatedfruit which is considered to be verynutritious. This treatment has been inexistence for at least 50 years in theregion and is followed by most

farmers. There are noside effects. However,care must be taken to

maintain optimumproportion of sugar

in the feed. Thetreatment shouldnot be given tonon pregnant

animals.

Darbar Takhubha Bhuraji,Dist : Banaskantha, Comm :

Darbar Jalamsinh K.

4407 Swelling of Udder

Mastitis, bites of poisonouscreatures, mechanical injury andimproper milking may causeswelling of udder. Farmers collectabout 200 g. soil from the termiteburrows and boil it in water. Theboiled suspension is given to theanimal. This treatment gives reliefwithin 24 hours. Farmers say that

soil collected in rainy season is notas effective, hence they do not usethis practice in monsons. (May bethe substance that effects the curegets washed off in rain water :Ed).

Makvana Mathurbhai Dhulabhai,Dist: Sabarkantha, Comm: Ms. PagiKiritben M.

4408 Fractures

4408.1 Turmeric Powder and Egg

A mixture of two spoonfuls ofturmeric powder and a hen’s egg(without the shell) is applied on thesite of the fracture and coveredwith five to seven leaves of ‘gundi’(cordia gharaf). A bandage is thentied around the affected area. Thetreatment shows positive effectswithin five to seven days; it is alsoused for fractures in human beings.

Pagi Mohanbhai Kalubhai, Dist:Kheda, Comm : Darji Vijay A.

4408.2 Partially Bakmed Bread of‘Nagli’

The bones are first set and thenpartially baked ‘nagli’ (Eleusinecoracana) bread, which is quitesoft, is applied on the affectedregion. A bandage made of thebark of ‘akota’ tree is then tied onthe bone and it is left undisturbedtill it heals.

Ganvit Bayjibhai Bhayalbhai, Dist:Valsad, Comm: Ganvit Nayana B.

Livestock and Animal Husbandry

something more powerful than`penicillin’, it is found in theintestine of animals. It candissolve bacteria, not merely killthem. Therefore, the use of cowdung as an antiseptic — at leastin cleaning house floors — has ascientific basis and it succeeds.Do we know how it acts? Thephysics or the chemistry of it?

4. Similarly the use of freshbrest milk as a disinfectant foreye diseases is well known inKerala. Perhaps the Rnase enzyme(as mentioned in HB Vol 3(2):3)in it neutralises the viruses.

continued from page 12



Trying to Get a Magic Plant “UsefulGene”

Million Flores CIDICO,Tegucigalpa, MDC Honduras

I meditate, untilexhausted, on anumber of issues thatnowadays are sopopular amongagriculturaldevelopmentworkers, whogenerally take forgranted the meaningor context in which a termor a concept or a practiceis applicable. Such is thecase of terms like“Participatory DevelopmentTechnology” or the word“technology”, in relation to agriculture.Since agriculture has been consideredan occupation of the poor and theilliterate these terms are, in my opinion,used to elevate this “lower occupation:to the stauts of other more sociallyadmired sciences such as medicine, orchemistry or electronics.

Some months ago, I had along and unavoidably hot discussionwith a group of fellow agriculturalworkers on the overemphasis thatcertain financially powerful groups,both commercial and academic, havetaken to plant breeding and geneticresearch. This is so in my optionbecause, one of the most unnecessarywastge of money is the obsessiveinterest in trying to get a magic plant, a“useful gene”, as if all genes were notuseful. I also argued that plants evolveand change according to environmentalchanges; that some so-called plantdeficiencies are not really that plantsare weak or inadequate, but to a largedegree, a result of our wrong reasoningor lack of experience when planting thecrop in the wrong environment, or in

destroying or severely modifying thenatural macro habitat for the adequatedevelopment of plants. One of theways I view for sharing the content ofyour newsletter would be to make arevision of those pieces of informationthat seem appropirate for our

countries,translate theminto Spanish and

share them withour members.

(Milton, please dosend us Spanishadaptations ofwhatever you founduseful. Also send us

in English theinsights fromyour region

which you think farmershere might find useful. While youare right that any plant whenintroduced from its native habitat toanother may show stress, often it maynot. The disease and pests which co-evolved with every cultivar may not bepresent in the new place. We don’tquarrel with genetics though we fullyagree that there isn’t a gene which isn’tuseful. Do keep sharing your insightswith us : Ed).

Like to See Maps

Simon C DownieNamasagali CollegeP O Box 24441Kamuli, Uganda

I admire the graphics in thetwo Honey Bee issues I received, butas a geographer I particularly like tosee relevant maps to bring out dynamicspatial relationships. I don’t have anyfunds to pay for a subscription but Iwould like to supply reading materialand photographs relevant to yournewsletter on regular basis.

What could be the ScientificExplanation?

Smt. Maneka GandhiA4 Maharani BaghNew Delhi

Thank you for sending me thecopies of Honey Bee. I learnt a greatdeal. In fact, I have a small addition tomake. Many city houses have termites,mine is no exception.

I have a largish garden aroundit and have been trying to turn it into ajungle with trees, crrepers and longgrasses. However,all these years, ourplant mortality rate has been ratherhigh. Then, I was told to plant bananaplants in the worst affected areas. Idid. Within a week of planting thewhite ants disappeared. I find that thisis a common remedy applied byfarmers in UP and Haryana. Whatcould be the scientific explanation?

An international TV channelhas offered me a daily six minute sloton environment. I want solutions to beshown that are alternatives to adestructive way of life. Often, aninnovation produced successfully inone part of India remains confined tothat part because of the inability of allagencies to share their success. Insteadof putting the emphasis on disastersand manmade tragedies of a scale thatonly governments can repair them, ifwe tackled smaller - and yet equallyimportant - problems and found how asustainable alternative had been put intoaction, it would, in time, increase theknowledge of city dwellers, farmers,scientists, social activists and - if sucha thing is possible - even politicalleaders and their consequent planning.

Unfortunately, Academicians have LittleInterest

Dr. W B RadhudkarDean, Faculty of Agriculture (Rtd.)25/356 LokmanyanagarPune 411 030, India

Letters to the Editor



I am very interested in the studyof traditional agriculture as well asnatural (organic) farming andcontrolling insect opests and diseasewith botanical pesticides. Hence, Ihave translated in Marathi the booktitled “Natural Crop Protection inthe Tropic” by Gaby Stool withher permission. There is a goodresponse from the farmers for thisMarathi version of the book. Ioften write articles in Marathi onthe low cost technology inagriculture and publish them innewspapers and magazines. I usethe farmers’ language in writingthese articles, because I am a onof a farmer (of Vidarbha region).I am still a farmer and remain inclose contact with other farmerswho bring into practice my ideasabout the low-cost technology.Unfortunately, the academic staffand research workers in theagricultural university have littleinterest in this age old technology.

I shall be happy to be a memberof the Honey Bee family, and shalldo any job entrusted to me byyou, without any remuneration. Infact, before receiving your letter Ihave translated in Marathi someuseful material for the farmers ofthis region from Honey Bee,January and April 1992 issues,which will be published in Baliraja(meaning the farmer) magazine(February, 1993 issue). My intentionis that the farmers should try thesepractices in their fields andcommunicate results to me, so thatI can communicate this informationto you.

(Wonderful, Dr. Rahudkar, manythanks for such an enthusiasticresponse. It is this spirit of sharingexperimentation, curiosity and criticalscrutiny of everything we learn thatwill make farmers’ knowledge to betaken more seriously. Just onecorrection. We don’t document onlythe old or so-called traditionaltechnology. We also have a large

number of examples ofcontemporary experiments orinnovtions by farmers. We hope wewill work towards a Marathiversion of Honey Bee soon : Ed.)

A Student’s Interest

H M Bharath Kumar,Jawahar NavodayaVidyalaya (10th Std.)Yenigadale, Kolar District,Karnataka

I am studying inclss 10th of JawaharNavodaya Vidyalaya. As Istudied science andenvironment I would liketo study about your workin Agriculture. I have sentsome money for thesubscription of yourjournal.

Difficult to UnderstandLocal Name

Dr. T V K SinghLaldarwaja, Hyderabad 500 265Andhra Pradesh

We teach Plant Protection measuresand concentrate on applied aspectsof Entomology. I have prepared awall poster by the name“Entomographia”. I wish to takeyour permission for includingsome of your articles. We find itdifficult to understand the Englishnames of the insects whose namesare given in Gujarati. Couldcommon English names be given?

(We are trying our best. Will youchallenge your students to scout formore and more examples for ruralAndhra Pradesh. We can giveprizes to the best students : Ed.)

ITK is More Important as aConcept

Dr. Fields, Institute of Ecology andResource Manageent

The University of Edinburgh,Edinburgh

I am a little concerned that muchindigenous technological knowledge(ITK) work to date has been on

simply listing indigenouspractices. ITK is moreimportant as a conceptor approach, that shouldpervade agriculturaleducation and extension.A colleague summed itup using the word‘respect’. If we canincrease the respect orITK amongst ourprofessional colleagues,much benefit can beexpected.

(Concepts informedby empirical insights willalways make betterscience, though we don’tquestion the need forconcepts that canstimulate perceptions of

empirical reality, We do both : Ed.)

Difficult to Adopt

Ahmedbhai D KadiwalaVill: DeshadTal: Valia, Dist, Bharuch, Gujarat

It is a strange for us tosend comments. However, I amwriting because you havespecifically asked for comments.The magazine should be printed ina press. Some of the practices donot have complete information,making their adoption difficult. Ihave tried some of the practicesfor seed and grain storage and willlet you know the results later.There is no doubt that themagazine is extremely useful forfarmers like us.



Prof. Anil KGupta(Editor HoneyBee and

Professor at IIM-A) is one of the10 enviromental researchers toreceive the 1993 Pew Award.Each researcher will receive US $150,000 over the next three years.

The Pew Scholars Programme inconservation and the environmentwas established in 1988 and thisyear’s group is the fourth group towin the awards. The programmehas been instituted by the PewCharitable Trust at University ofMichigan. The Trust is one of theUSA’s largest environmental grantmakers.

In selecting its scholars the Trustlooks for candidates who arecommitted to scholarship andenvironmental action and can beencouraged to find solutions toserious environmental issues thatthreaten the world. The trust hopesthat the scholarship will provideearly and mid-career scientistsworking on environmental issues anopportunity to do something newwhile, at the same time, itencourages individual developmentand personal achievement.

Prof. Gupta and his team’s work iswell known to the readers ofHoney Bee. Through the recentlyset up SRISTI (Society forResearch and Initiatives forSustainable Technologies andInstitutions), Prof. Gupta plans toimprove conservation measures forprotecting biological diversity bydocumenting and disseminatingindigenous knowledge, technologyand innovations. It is quite likelythat innovations from developingcountries can provide a basis forevolving sustainable technologies

even in the developed countries!

Brief Note about the other scholarswho received Pew Award-1993 forConservation and The Environment

Theodora E Colborn is a SeniorFellow at the W.Alton HonesFoundation, specializing in effects oftoxic chemicals on the health ofwildlife and humans.

Robert Costanza is a facultymember and Director of theInternational Institute of EcologicalEconomics at the University ofMaryland Systems Centre forEnvironmental and Estuarine Studies(CEES).

Madhav Gadgil is a professor atthe Indian Institute of Science inBangalore, India where hisecological work has led to hiselection to foreign membership inthe US National Academy ofScience.

Reed F Noss is a research scientistat the University of Idaho andScientific Director at the Wile landsProjects. As a field biologist, Nosshas applied conservation biology tolarge scale, real world conservationchallenges as exemplified by hisrecently completed PreliminaryConservation Plan for the OregonCoast Range.

Stuart Pimm is a Professor at theUniversity of Tennessee. His wrkon ecological theory andmanagement of rare species inHavaii and Guam has led toimportant new understanding of thestability and viability of biologicalcommunities.

Johanna H Wald is a seniorattorney at the Natural ResourcesDefense Council in San Francisco.

She has focussed her attention onthe field of environmental law andis a nationally recognized expert onpublic land management.

Robert E Johannes is a seniorresearch scientist in the Division ofFisheries of the CommonwealthScientific and Industrial ResearchOrganization in Tasmania, Australia.Johanne’s research has focussedon tropical marine resourcemanagement in which he haspioneered approaches involving localfishermen.

Bernard O Nietschmann is aprofessor in the Department ofGeography at the University ofCalifornia, Berkeley. Nietschmannhas documented the interdependenceof biological and cultural diversityand the contributions of indigenouspeople to sustainable use of theenvironment.

Tomasz Zylicz is an associateprofessor at the University ofWarsaw and is currently a guestProfessor at Beijer Institute ofEcological Economics in Sweden.Zylicz has identified and describedthe economic pressures on theenvironment throughout Central andEastern Europe; modelledinteractions of economic andecological systems and designedneeded new environmental policies.

News and Views

GAU persits with farmers'innovations!

Gujarat Agricultural University,Dantiwada campus organized thesecond meeting of scientists on thetopic "Learning from Farmers" on 25Nov. 1993. All the three CampusDirectors and the Director (Research)of GAU attended the meeting.Scientistspresented their research on sustainableagriculture.Some of the research hadbeen designed in response to farmers'wisdom. A detailed report on theworkshop will follow in the next issue.





Documents

October-December 1993