A shift of attention from technology to process

“Are we changing the way we think and act?”  This question was raised by Dr. Katinka Weinberger, Head of CAPSA, in her closing remarks on the occasion of the Policy Dialogue on Technology transfer for smallholder farmers. We may have spent too much time and discussion on methods, rather than processes, and therefore failed to achieve broad farmer, extensionist and scientist interaction at all levels.

In responding to these issues, Dr. Weinberger sees a shift towards more attention being paid to processes, rather than technologies only. But there is still a scope in particular in the way we consider farmers as partners in the discussion. And thus, Dr. Weinberger urged all participants in the dialogue to work together to enable farmers to have access to the right technologies as well as the accompanying processes to put these technologies into use.

“This very eventful day highlighted two bottom lines of agricultural research – how to innovate without duplicating already established technologies and how to ensure that this knowledge benefits smallholder farmers,” she stressed.

There was also very strong agreement that technologies need to be location-specific and adapted to specific situations. In terms of policies, there was a strong call to distinguish between agricultural policies for subsistence and small-scale producers, and policies for farmers that are well integrated into markets.

Reporter: Fetty Prihastini, Publication Assistant, CAPSA, f.prihastini@uncapsa.org