Smallholder Farmer Engagement in Citizen Science for Varietal Diversification Enhances Adaptive Capacity and Productivity in Bihar, India

Elisabetta Gotor,Tiziana Pagnani,Flavia Scafetti,Francesco Caracciolo,Ambica Paliwal,Jacob Van Etten

doi:10.3389/fsufs.2021.726725

Elisabetta Gotor, Tiziana Pagnani + Show 4 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3389/fsufs.2021.726725

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Abstract

There is evidence that in many situations the use of a diverse set of two or more crop varieties in the field has benefits for production. The benefits of varietal diversification include lower crop disease incidence, higher productivity, and lower yield variability. Targeted interventions could increase varietal diversity where smallholder farmers lack the knowledge and access to seeds needed to diversify their varieties. Innovations based on crowdsourced citizen science make it possible to involve a large number of households in farmer participatory varietal selection. This study analyses varietal diversification in Bihar, India, focusing on the effects of the largest citizen science-based intervention to date, involving 25,000 farmers and 47,000 plots*seasons. The study examines if an increase in the varietal diversity of major staple crops, namely wheat and rice, under real farming conditions contributed to: (1) crop productivity and (2) the ability of households to recover from agricultural production shocks. We used the Rural Household Multi-Indicator Survey (RHoMIS) as a survey tool for rapid characterization of households and the sustainable rural livelihoods framework to understand the potential multiple interactions that are activated within the system by the intervention. We found that an increase in varietal diversification produced livelihood benefits in terms of crop productivity and the ability of households to recover from the occurrence agricultural shocks. Finally, outcomes highlight the effectiveness of development programmes aimed at strengthening rural livelihoods through participatory approaches and use of local crop varietal diversity.

Highlights

Smallholder farmers are exposed to growing uncertainty and risks (IPCC, 2014; Castells-Quintana et al, 2018)
The present study examines the effect of smallholder adoption of varietal diversification as a livelihood strategy and the livelihood benefits at household level that ensue, evaluating an intervention using the citizen science approach to varietal evaluation introduced by van Etten et al (2016, 2019)
Equations (1) and (2) analyse the relationship between the change in the institutional context and the level of varietal diversity maintained on-farm by the households

Summary

Introduction

Smallholder farmers are exposed to growing uncertainty and risks (IPCC, 2014; Castells-Quintana et al, 2018). The likelihood for an agricultural system to be adversely affected by climatic stressors depends on both social and biophysical factors (Nelson et al, 2009). Citizen Science Enhances Adaptive Capacity of agricultural systems to climatic variation, as well as the capacity of producers to adapt within their livelihood systems (Turner et al, 2003; Adger, 2006). Short-term and long-term climate variation can jointly contribute to vulnerability. Smallholders might erode their assets and resources to cope with the short-term consequences of climatic shocks, and thereby undermine their long-term adaptive capacity (Otto et al, 2017; Call et al, 2019; Hansen et al, 2019)

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