Abstract
The concept of commons is often understood to refer to resources shared among a group of people. The resources are typically classified by binaries such as (non-)natural, (non-)rival and (non-)substractable, and the analytical focus is placed on governance for sustainable management. Another approach to the idea of commons emphasises social relations. This concentrates on production resulting from human-human and human-nature interactions. Here, we focus on the latter and investigate the relationship between these two conceptualisations. This is enabled through an empirical study of the development process of a drought-tolerant rice variety, Sahbhagi Dhan, which was the result of a twelveyear long collaboration between the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) and other different Indian institutions. We argue that the concept of the common as a production system can be characterised as an interwoven process of community building involved in the production of resource commons, and we indicate several features of the community-building process that are essential to an understanding of commons as a socially specified system of production.
Highlights
Sahbhagi Dhan (IR74371-70-1-1) is a conventionally bred, drought-tolerant rice variety identified in 2009 by the Central Variety Release Committee (CVRC) and released for cultivation in India, in 2010
This concentrates on production resulting from human-human and human-nature interactions. We focus on the latter and investigate the relationship between these two conceptualisations. This is enabled through an empirical study of the development process of a drought-tolerant rice variety, Sahbhagi Dhan, which was the result of a twelveyear long collaboration between the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI)
(Hess 2008) – whereas commons cannot be demarcated by the state, as we will show in this paper, so they go beyond the state-market binary; 3) knowledge commons are often linked to techno-scientific academic knowledge (Hess and Ostrom 2007) – while indigenous knowledge may coexist with the scientific, such as in a commons-based knowledge system, implying that indigenous knowledge is not necessarily less important; and 4) the dominant school of thought on commons starts from the notion of a ‘tragedy’ related to governance – while perspectives on commons may go beyond the management approach, in the context of knowledge intensive products
Summary
Sahbhagi Dhan (IR74371-70-1-1) is a conventionally bred, drought-tolerant rice variety identified in 2009 by the Central Variety Release Committee (CVRC) and released for cultivation in India, in 2010 It was introduced under direct seeded upland conditions for the states of Odisha and Chhattisgarh as well as Jharkhand and transplanted lowland conditions in the state of Tamil Nadu. Sahbhagi Dhan is an early maturing variety that is ready after 105 days, as compared to the usual 120–150 days for other medium and long-duration varieties. This allows farmers to plant the crop earlier (usually a rabi crop such as wheat), which in turn gives them enough time to plant three crops in a year. In short, a successful breed; but it is rather unusual
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