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Journal of Agricultural Science and Applications (JASA)

Science Field Shops in Indonesia A start of Improved Agricultural Extension that Fits a Rural Response to Climate Change C. (Kees) J. Stigter *1, Yunita T. Winarto 2 Department of Anthropology; Agromet Vision, Netherlands and Indonesia,/Universitas Indonesia (UI), Indonesia Groenestraat 13, 5314AJ Bruchem, Netherlands/Faculty of Social & Political Sciences, KNAW-AIPI, UI, Depok, Indonesia *1 [email protected]; 2 [email protected] Abstract- It is argued that beyond the slow progress made in the last decades, another step in making agrometeorology more operational for solving farmers’ livelihood problems is actually needed. Climate field services, as agrometeorological advisories established with farmers in their fields, can only really blossom in rural areas where also a “services culture” exists in other fields. Policies and capacity building in these fields do matter very much. The virtual absence in Indonesia of extension officers trained in what is needed under conditions of a changing climate was already clearly noted in previous papers. Given this situation, we have developed in Indonesia a new educational commitment that we have called “Science Field Shops (SFSs)”, as learning meetings between scholars, farmers and extension intermediaries. First weather/climate information, advisories and services are distinguished and defined in agrometeorology. Subsequently recent views on agricultural extension are reviewed and our “SFSs” are placed in several recognized categories. Basically, we define such “SFSs” as meetings in which scholars answer questions on vulnerabilities expressed by farmers. The idea was based on the Dutch so called “Law Shops”. “SFSs” are also suitable to get material for improved curricula of Climate Field Schools (CFSs) for the future training of Extension Intermediaries. We see “SFSs” as a start for improved agricultural extension that fits a rural response to climate change. There are two more classes of participants needed in such “SFSs”. First, we jointly should create in the course of time “Farmer Facilitators” among farmers, in the sense that they can “facilitate” the introduction of results of the discussions as well as climate services in farmer fields. A second other category of participants in “SFSs” that we need are a class of extension intermediaries that work closest to the farmers. However, this definitely asks for well-trained extension intermediaries who should over time take over most of the tasks of the scholars in the “SFSs”. The latter should only initially be used to train them and for backing up. After all, two types of extension intermediaries may be distinguished, one close to the farmers and one close to the producers of agrometeorological information/advisories/services. The latter are therefore called “product intermediaries”. They should themselves be trained “in service” by their Institutes. We give a list illustrating some presently important negative issues in the livelihood of farmers. They are part of the existing problems in mainstreaming a rural response to climate change into development. For the many countries to which this list applies, it is sufficiently specific to encourage activities that do include the creation of new institutional educational commitments such as “SFSs” and CFSs towards farmers/extension. We show the structures in which this thinking can be applied to the agricultural reality. Keywords- Agrometeorology; Climate Field Schools (CFSs); Extension Intermediaries; Farmer Facilitators; Rural Response

to Climate Change; Science Field Shops (SFSs)

I.

INTRODUCTION

We have recently published two papers on ―Considerations of Climate and Society‖ dealing with what climate change means for farmers in Asia and preliminary work with farmers in Indonesia [1], [2]. This is a follow up on our approaches in these papers. According to [3], it was the World Meteorological Organization‘s Technical Commission for Agricultural Meteorology (WMO/CAgM) Workshop in Ghana that in 1999 started to distinguish agrometeorological services and their four support systems: data; research; education/training/extension; and policies (see also [4], [5]). In the past decade, we have understood that the mentioned support systems may develop priority actions needed and that often the most urgent support is on mitigating impacts of disasters (e.g. [6]). But the resulting applied agrometeorology seldom reaches the livelihoods of farmers in developing countries, because a majority of farmers there has low degrees of formal education and low communication and organizational infrastructures. Solutions of farming problems are not worked on or the solutions/livelihood connections are poor [3]. Another step in making agrometeorology more operational for solving farmers‘ livelihood problems is actually needed [6], [7]. An analysis of the current state of affairs in agriculture shows that the adverse effects of nature can largely be handled and that efforts to develop and apply technology for intensification in a variety of farming systems are under way. However, sustained adoption of technology by the mass of smallholder farmers has not sufficiently taken place [8] . The need for capacity building on an institutional/governance scale runs parallel with the need for capacity building on an extension scale. Climate field services, as agrometeorological advisories established with farmers in their fields, can only really blossom in rural areas where also other ―services‖ do exist. Such other ―services‖ are, for example, in education, health care, disaster preparedness and relief activities. Infrastructures, credit facilities, agricultural input availabilities, markets, communication technologies are others. Policies and capacity building in these fields do matter very much [3]. In [9], the virtual absence in Indonesia of extension officers trained in what is needed under conditions of a

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changing climate was already clearly noted. Given this situation, we have developed a new educational commitment ([3], [10]) that we have called ―Science Field Shops (SFSs)‖, as learning meetings between scholars, farmers and extension intermediaries [9]. Basically, in our field of work, climate field services should be established with well-trained Extension Intermediaries and/or sufficiently knowledgeable Farmer Facilitators in farmers‘ fields. These services have then become agrometeorological advisories accepted by these farmers in their most client friendly form as they were moulded by them into what could be applied. The same applies to other fields of applied agricultural sciences.

Hence this must be considered a public service with a potentially high economic rate of return due to private fieldlevel benefits and public multiplier effects [16]. We now prefer to save the term Climate Field School (CFS) for training of Extension Intermediaries, because we do no longer want to use the term ―School‖ for interactions between Extension Intermediaries and farmers, for which ―the establishment of climate field services with farmers in their fields‖ is a more logical terminology. This change in terminology has particularly been decided on because of the recent observations that the CFSs as tried out in Indonesia to train farmers had actually become teaching practices instead of services [9], [17].

It makes very much sense to distinguish between weather/climate information, advisories and services. In our view, information is passive in the sense that there is no indication coming with that information on how to use it. Raw weather forecasts and climate predictions are an example (e.g. [11], [12]). Information with recommendations on how to use it, or otherwise made more client friendly, may be called advisories, but dialogues are not necessarily involved. The way, in which we presently bring the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA, USA) three months ―ensemble‖ climate prediction information, each month, as a most likely seasonal scenario, to some groups of farmers in Indramayu, is such a more client friendly information that may be called an agrometeorological advisory. We try to derive the start of the rainy season to be most likely, and also indicate whether the dry season may be expected to be normal or otherwise. However, our advisory scenario remains a qualitative one, based on the raw climate prediction received from NOAA.

Reference [14] also gives an interesting bird eye‘s view of how extension services developed and finally included Universities (Table 2)! Table 3 from the same source shows historically four generations of extension in Asia: Colonial agriculture, Diverse top-down extension, Unified top-down extension and Diverse bottom-up extension. It should be understood that the ―SFSs‖ belong at least to the last category distinguished, but we would be happy if we could contribute to ―Unified bottom-up extension‖ as well.

In the USA, an advisory is only an announcement or warning, while in India it is a recommendation that is not compulsory or enforceable (e.g. [13]). Establishing such advisories with farmers in their fields should be called agrometeorological services; then we have dialogues between farmers and extension, and farmers are assisted to carry out the advisories (establish the services) in their fields, jointly with Extension Intermediaries and/or Farmer Facilitators who were taught how to do so. We want to call such services from now onwards ―climate field services‖. II.

DEFINITIONS AND APPROACHES OF EXTENSION

We do not want to make this a scientific debate on extension, although there is no widely accepted definition of agricultural extension. The ten examples given in Table 1 are taken from a number of books on extension published over a period of more than 50 years [14]. In the situation of 2013 we could redefine agricultural extension for our present situation and purposes as ―Attempts in new educational commitments, to have well trained extension intermediaries interact with farmers, with the specific purpose of tackling some of the shortcomings of agricultural modernization [15] under the present conditions of a changing climate, establishing climate field services with farmers in their fields‖.

Again from the same source we have taken Table 4 on ―Communication processes within extension systems‖. We find the following most important for our approach: ―The development of participatory extension requires a re-examination of the communication process. At the present time, no single description has replaced the transmission model that is referred to above, but two ideas are becoming widely accepted: •

Communication in the context of participatory extension cannot usefully be described in a linear manner with distinct groups of senders and receivers. Instead, extension activities take place within a knowledge system consisting of many actors who play different roles at different times.



Although some actors in the knowledge system have more authority than others, communication usually involves a negotiation rather than a transmission. What takes place is a dialogue, with actors collaborating in the construction of shared meanings rather than simply exchanging information‖.

Another important quotation for us from the same part of Table 4 is: ―Although extension programmes have many different goals, most programmes fall into one of two basic categories: •

systems of communication that aim to change the behaviour of rural people



systems of communication that aim to change the knowledge of rural people.

There is, of course, a close relationship between knowledge and behaviour; changes in the former often lead to a change in the latter. If government policy-makers, project managers or

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researchers direct the topics addressed and projects undertaken, then the purpose of extension is to change behaviour. This approach to extension has been variously described as directive extension, social marketing and propaganda. If farmers and other rural people direct the extension towards their own needs, then the purpose of extension is changing knowledge. This knowledge helps rural people make their own decisions regarding farming practices. This approach to extension is closely related to non-formal education and conscientization‖. It should again be understood that our ―SFSs‖ are meant to belong to this last approach. Finally, towards the end of Table 4, there are distinguished four paradigms of agricultural extension: (1) Technology Transfer (persuasive + paternalistic); (2) Advisory work (persuasive + participatory); (3) Human Resource Development (educational + paternalistic); (4) Facilitation for empowerment (educational + participatory). We want to make clear that the idea of the ―SFSs‖ is based on the fourth and last distinguished paradigm. We consider this to be the most valuable extension approach distinguished, in line with the ―farmers first paradigm‖ that we had selected earlier for the present epoch of the 21st century [9]. This of course has consequences for the set-up of such ―SFSs‖. III. SCIENCE FIELD SHOP A. How do We Operate Them? It is our experience over the past few years [9] that the most useful and convincing preparedness sessions between farmers and scholars (trial ―SFSs‖) are those in which we are not only talking about rainfall measurements results and the related observations of crops and soil. It is where we also take ample time to explain the background of climate change and its consequences in terms that lay-people can understand. And we discuss questions on these and other issues of their agricultural environment (see Table 5 for a new example of questions and answers of the kind we also showed in Table 5.2 of [9]. Also here the answers contain already literature research done after the questions were received). Basically, we define such ―SFSs‖ as meetings in which scholars and farmers discuss questions on vulnerabilities expressed by farmers. And where necessary the former follow this up at their institutes (universities, research institutes, weather and other environmental services) with supportive (literature) research and teaching with and to their students [9]. The original idea was based on the Dutch so called ―Law Shops‖ that came into existence in the Netherlands particularly from the very early 1970s onwards [18], where defenceless people could consult lawyers free of charge about their rights and how they could be defended. This gave lawyers and law students the opportunity to see (and discuss) where ordinary people got stuck in the process and

what is needed to get them their rights. Both sides learn from this procedure [19]. This was taken over elsewhere (e.g. [20]) and the ideas behind such Law Shops are well worded by this quotation from [18]: ―We cannot be content with the creation of systems of rendering free legal assistance to all the people who need but cannot afford a lawyer's advice. This program must contribute to the success of the War on Poverty. Our responsibility is to marshal the forces of law and the strength of lawyers to combat the causes and effects of poverty‖. We believe that ―SFSs‖ can and should indeed also contribute to combating increasing causes and effects of rural poverty in the present times of an often destructive climate change. Ideally, scholars and students should jointly provide an initial overview of answers to vulnerability issues/questions of farmers. Such initial answers must then be discussed with the farmers as to what the possibilities/choices/options are in solving their problems and how they see them from their realities. Through farmer research they may find their own solutions, but a remaining dialogue with scholars is advisable. Measurements and quantification leading to cause and effect relationships are what science has to offer to empirical answers sought or found by farmers (e.g. [6]). This must be considered an effective way to connect applied scientists and students with actual problem solving in rural areas and to prepare future educational commitments on these vulnerabilities ([19], [21]) leading to climate field services. Exposure to climate change is such a vulnerability. Mitigation of its consequences and adaptation to increasing climate variability and change must be seen as a rural response in which scholars (and sometimes their students) can this way assist. We use Roving Seminars in agrometeorology to start to induce such understanding, also outside Indonesia [10]. We are convinced that ―SFS‖ sessions are also suitable to get material for improved curricula of CFSs for the future training of Extension Intermediaries. We believe that such curricula should be created together with farmers, discussing their vulnerabilities and other questions, noting the difficulties experienced in the ongoing and recent growing seasons. That is why we see ―SFSs‖ as a start for improved agricultural extension that fits a rural response to climate change. B. Who Participate in “Science Field Shops”? As we indicated, ―SFSs‖ are meetings between farmers and scholars interested in applied science for establishing services in farmers‘ fields. All participating farmers must do rainfall measurements as well as observations and analyses of agro-ecosystems in their own fields [9]. But even they cannot be the only participants if we want a new approach to agricultural extension. There are two more classes of participants needed in such ―SFSs‖. First we jointly should create ―Farmer Facilitators‖ among the farmers. These are farmers who have shown that they

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quickly understand farmer problems related to the vulnerabilities discussed at the ―SFSs‖. They are farmers that can act, in and out of the ―SFSs‖, to practice farmer to farmer extension, in the sense that they ―facilitate‖ the introduction of results of the discussions as well as services in farmer fields. These can for the time being be (1) ways to cope with periods of drought or flood, (2) integrated pest management approaches, (3) other means to fight occurring pests and diseases, (4) difficulties that farmers experience by doing rainfall measurements as well as observations and analyses of their agro-eco systems in their own fields, (5) tackling the interpretation and use of these data and observations in understanding their variations in harvests, (6) managing problems related to water use in all seasons, (7) handling problems with fertilizer applications in all seasons, (8) coping with other environmental problems related to the preparation and use of pesticides, herbicides and fertilizers, all under the conditions of a changing climate. But there is more. In the above list we have given what we came across in our ―SFSs‖ trials in Yogyakarta and Indramayu. Table 6 (collected from [3]) gives a full account of agrometeorological services found in the world at large. In the course of time such subjects should be met in ―SFSs‖ as well, for preparation of climate field services in farmers‘ fields. There is also a second other category of participants in ―SFSs‖ that we need and that are a class of extension intermediaries that work closest to the farmers. However, this definitely asks for well-trained extension intermediaries who should over time take over most of the tasks of the scholars in the ―SFSs‖. The latter should only initially be used to train them and for backing up. In our view there is a sincere need for two kinds of extension intermediaries ([3], [6], [23]). They were described for agrometeorology [24], but the same applies to many other fields, such as agrohydrology, agroecosystems, pests and diseases etc. It all overlaps. IV. EXTENSION INTERMEDIARIES The first type of such intermediaries should preferably be part of extension wings/departments of the National Weather Services and other Environmental Services that exist, Agricultural Faculties/Universities and Agricultural Research Institutes in under-industrialized (parts of) countries. They should have two main tasks: - make products of their Institutes more client friendly and useful for farmers. We want to call them ―product intermediaries‖ (Stigter 2011b). In industry, products are made useful and attractive to clients because competition determines sales. Why are products (in science and technology) from the above mentioned institutions not made more client friendly and attractive to be applied? - take care of Training of Trainers (TOT) in CFSs by their Institutes. They should themselves be trained ―in service‖ by their

Institutes. Members of Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) could take part in this training as trainers or trainees. The second type of such intermediaries, the trainers in due course trained by the first type above (the product intermediaries), but initially trained as participants at the ―SFSs‖. These should replace the presently often confused or even failing or already disbanded extension services. Those still sensibly active may be retrained and updated. They need a few years of successfully participating in ―SFSs‖, with farmers, ―Farmer Facilitators‖ and scholars/scientists. Then they should be establishing climate field services, throughout the growing season(s), with the farmers in their fields. Members of NGOs could be part of this picture if/when trained the same way. It is very important to think about the kind of training both types of extension intermediaries need. Reference [10], as taken over by the WMO Training and Education Department [22], developed syllabi for discussion and trial purposes, that could be used in such trainings (Table 7). In the ultimate rural response to climate change this support from well-trained extension intermediaries is crucial if we want an institutionalized attempt to face the consequences of climate change in a real rural response. V.

PLACE OF THE ―SCIENCE FIELD SHOPS‖ IN A STRUCTURE OF SUPPORT ―TREES‖

There are presently certain relevant factors that most non-industrialized (parts of) countries have in common. They form a list illustrating some presently important negative issues in the livelihood of farmers [23]. They are part of the existing problems in mainstreaming our rural response to climate change into development : - an increasingly deteriorating physical environment due to increasing climate variability and climate change with more (and more extreme) meteorological and climatological extreme events, compromising soil, air, water and biomass as basis for optimal yields; - low levels and/or low quality of formal education; - low levels of rewarding off-farm employment; - problems with supply chains of inputs such as seeds, fertilizers, water and what is needed in fighting pests and diseases in an integrated most environment friendly way; - low levels and/or low quality of agricultural extension, if any; - low levels of attention and/or low quality of attention from agricultural authorities for local production problems; - a need for farmer and farming system and farm environment ―differentiation‖ in any attempts to promote a bottom up response farming ([24], [25]). Reference [1] (see also [25]) designed for agrometeorology in such (parts of) countries the support structure of Figure 1. It is based on an earlier conceptual and diagnostic framework for an end to end information exchange in agrometeorology with three domains of

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handling agrometeorological sciences (e.g. [6], [26]). At the top we have farmer livelihoods (forming the Adomain), supported by extension agrometeorology (operating in that A-domain), that is itself supported by applied agrometeorology (in the search for solutions in the B-domain). The scientific support systems, that form the Cdomain, carry it all (Fig. 1). This picture, first developed for Stigter‘s third Roving Seminar ―Reaching farmers in a changing climate‖ [10], reveals that indeed extension agrometeorology by definition [23] takes place within the livelihood of farmers. The applied agrometeorology that supports it takes place in the Bdomain, where we try to develop the solutions as agrometeorological services that we want to establish in the A-domain of the livelihood of farmers, together with these farmers, as climate field services. By showing it here in such a structure of a ―support tree‖, we emphasize that the basic sciences in the all supporting C-domain always will continue to fulfil a supportive role for all applications in every field of science, here pictured for agrometeorology. But we also stress that applied sciences (here represented by applied agrometeorology) are meant to search for solutions for problems in society (for, among others, agrometeorology this is the livelihood of farmers).

(A) Farmer livelihoods (A) ------------------------------(A) \Extension agrometeorology/ (A) --------|-------\ | / \ | / (B) \Applied agrometeorology/ (B) (search for solutions) --------|-------\ | / \ | / (C) \Scientific support systems/ (C) Fig. 1 The diagnostic and conceptual framework for agrometeorology shown as an overall support (―tree‖) structure, also showing the domains to which the components of this support structure belong

This picturing as a support structure is also particularly suitable to consider it in the context of such educational commitments, that we have derived [3] as needed for each layer of the ―tree‖ structure, to keep the system above it going with sufficient support (Fig. 2). It is now the University education that ultimately supports the ―SFSs‖, where we learn to search for the solutions to the vulnerabilities of farmers, also for use in the extension training. How should we reach this new stage of development of rural education for agrometeorology (Fig. 2) and other important fields as agrohydrology, agronomy, agroentomology and agrophytopathology? Before

institutionalization, new extension approaches must be developed. The list illustrating some important negative issues in the livelihood of farmers that was given above is sufficiently specific to encourage activities that do include the creation of new institutional educational commitments towards farmers [3]. VI.

CONCLUSIONS

In most agriculture in Africa, Asia and the poorer parts of Latin America, agricultural extension is virtually unavailable or where available not retrained in participating in a rural response to climate change. Therefore, establishing new relationships between scientists and farmers, in the ―SFSs‖, is the first step to make [9]. Active extension people may be retrained this way as well.

(A) Farmer/Climate Field Schools (A) ------------------------------(A) \Extension Training/ (A) --------|-------\ | / \ | / (B) \Science Field Shops/ (B) (search for solutions) --------|-------\ | / \ | / (C) \University Education/ (C) Fig. 2 The educational support ―tree‖ as picturing generation and transfer of (agrometeorological) information in an ―end to end‖ system from basic support systems (university education) to the livelihood of farmers, via the search for solutions represented by the SFSs. Extension Intermediaries operate at the B and A level, EIBs and EIAs

However, we have so far only scratched the surface of this issue, because it would need much wider understanding and acceptance in the institutes concerned [9]. It has to be realized that such undertakings are often focused on solving certain priority problems identified by farmers, like in the Integrated Pest Management Field Classes that stood at the start of the Farmer Field School (FFS) developments. But some teachers must train the trainers. A most important conclusion is the need for local and national networking that should precede and follow such educational commitments. In addition to the follow-up of the training contents in the educational commitments themselves, this is the second institutionalization without which upscaling of successes will be much more difficult to reach [3]. As to the CFSs (now proposed for training of EIAs in due course), and resulting climate field services, after having taken over from the ―SFSs‖ in due course, alumni must remain in contact as Farmer Groups, also because the farmer to farmer (or community participative) extension

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remains one of the most important means of dissemination [3] . Trainers/facilitators/intermediaries working directly with their farmers need to meet each other as well as their trainers and should be able to collect feedback from farmers to be discussed among them. Curricula have to be further developed, improved and multiplied, and networking is the only way to get that done. Modern communication techniques are ideal for organizing such networking and keeping it going, but rural meetings to exchange experiences face to face remain indispensable as well [3]. ―SFSs‖ are only the beginning of new educational commitments under the conditions of a changing climate. After a year or two/three of such regular meetings of farmers, Farmer Facilitators, future EIAs and scholars in applied agricultural sciences, climate field services should take over the rural response to climate change. The scholars should mostly withdraw from direct contacts with the other former participants in the ―SFSs‖. They should now pay attention to training EIBs (the ultimate future trainers of new and old EIAs) and to backstopping them, and where necessary also backstopping their former partners in the ―SFSs‖, where needs of arising new problems demand this. We should in the end have a dynamic extension situation where farmers, Farmer Facilitators, EIAs, EIBs and scholars can find each other in new problem solving and establishing of new climate field services and other agricultural services that need to be developed in such dynamic conditions of a permanent rural response to climate change. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

We are grateful for the research grant provided to Yunita T. Winarto by the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW) and the Indonesian Academy of Sciences (AIPI). We are also thankful for the grant for international research collaboration by the Directorate of Research and Community Services, Universitas Indonesia in 2011, and the support by the Faculty of Social and Political Sciences, Universitas Indonesia. We also thank those institutions and the young scholars and students who contributed significantly to the present shape of our collaborative works. Finally, we would like to express our sincere gratitude to all participating Indramayu farmers for their great motivation to pursue our educational commitment through Science Field Shops. REFERENCES

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[25]

[26]

climate-field-schools-but-simple-adaptation-to-climateshould-be-validated-as-part-of-both. G. Smith, ―Law Shops‖. Free Life, J. Libert. All. vol.1(1), 3pp, 1979. http://www.la-articles.org.uk/FL-1-1-2.pdf. R. Gommes, M. Acunzo, S. Baas, M. Bernardi, S. Jost, et al. K. Stigter, Ed., Applied Agrometeorology, Heidelberg/Berlin, Germany, Springer, 2010. WMO. (2009) ―Guide-lines for the education and training of personnel in meteorology and operational hydrology,‖ Supplement No. 2 (Agricultural Meteorology) to Vol. 1, WMO 258, Geneva.. [Online]. Available: http://www.wmo.int/pages/prog/dra/etrp/documents/258_vol 1_Supp_2_1.pdf K. Stigter, and Y.T. Winarto. ―Extension agrometeorology as a contribution to sustainable agriculture‖. New Clues in Sciences, vol. 2(3), pp. 59-63, 2012. C.J. Stigter, Tan Ying, H.P. Das, Zheng Dawei, R.E. Rivero Vega et al., Managing weather and climate risks in agriculture. M.V.K. Sivakumar, and R. Motha, Eds., Berlin/Heidelberg, Germany: Springer, pp. 171-190, 2007. S. Walker, and K. Stigter, 2013. Livelihood crises in Africa – Adaptations to uncertainty due to climate and other changes. Italian J. Agrometeorol., in print. [Online]. Abstract available: http://www.wmo.int/pages/prog/wcp/agm/meetings/walcs10/ documents/TD_1539_en.pdf C.J. Stigter. ―Agrometeorology from science to extension: assessment of needs and provision of services‖. Agric. Ecosyst. Environ. vol. 126, pp. 153-157, 2008. TABLE I (AFTER [14])

DEFINITIONS OF EXTENSION 1949: The central task of extension is to help rural families help themselves by applying science, whether physical or social, to the daily routines of farming, homemaking, and family and community living. 1965: Agricultural extension has been described as a system of out-of-school education for rural people. 1966: Extension personnel have the task of bringing scientific knowledge to farm families in the farms and homes. The object of the task is to improve the efficiency of agriculture. 1973: Extension is a service or system which assists farm people, through educational procedures, in improving farming methods and techniques, increasing production efficiency and income, bettering their levels of living and lifting social and educational standards. 1974: Extension involves the conscious use of communication of information to help people form sound opinions and make good decisions. 1982: Agricultural Extension: Assistance to farmers to help them identify and analyse their production problems and become aware of the opportunities for improvement. 1988: Extension is a professional communication intervention deployed by an institution to induce change in voluntary behaviours with a presumed public or collective utility.

complex of information-providing businesses. 2004: Extension [is] a series of embedded communicative interventions that are meant, among others, to develop and/or induce innovations which supposedly help to resolve (usually multi-actor) problematic situations. TABLE II (AFTER [14])

ORIGINS OF AGRICULTURAL EXTENSION Men and women have been growing crops and raising livestock for approximately 10,000 years. Throughout this period, farmers have continually adapted their technologies, assessed the results, and shared what they have learned with other members of the community. Most of this communication has taken the form of verbal explanations and practical demonstrations, but some information took a more durable form as soon as systems of writing were developed. Details of agricultural practices have been found in records from ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia and China going back more than 3,000 years. It is not known where or when the first extension activities took place. It is known, however, that Chinese officials were creating agricultural policies, documenting practical knowledge, and disseminating advice to farmers at least 2,000 years ago. For example, in approximately 800 BC, the minister responsible for agriculture under one of the Zhou dynasty emperors organized the teaching of crop rotation and drainage to farmers. The minister also leased equipment to farmers, built grain stores and supplied free food during times of famine. The birth of the modern extension service has been attributed to events that took place in Ireland in the middle of the 19th century. Between 1845–51 the Irish potato crop was destroyed by fungal diseases and a severe famine occurred (see Great Irish Famine). The British Government arranged for "practical instructors" to travel to rural areas and teach small farmer how to cultivate alternative crops. This scheme attracted the attention of government officials in Germany, who organized their own system of traveling instructors. By the end of the 19th century, the idea had spread to Denmark, Netherlands, Italy, and France. The term "university extension" was first used by the Universities of Cambridge and Oxford in 1867 to describe teaching activities that extended the work of the institution beyond the campus. Most of these early activities were not, however, related to agriculture. It was not until the beginning of the 20th century, when colleges in the United States started conducting demonstrations at agricultural shows and giving lectures to farmer‘s clubs, that the term "extension service" was applied to the type of work that we now recognize by that name. In the United States, the Hatch Act of 1887 established a system of agricultural experiment stations in conjunction with each state's land-grant university, and the Smith-Lever Act of 1914 created a system of cooperative extension to be operated by those universities in order to inform people about current developments in agriculture, home economics, and related subjects. TABLE III (AFTER [14])

FOUR GENERATIONS OF EXTENSION IN ASIA

1997: Extension [is] the organized exchange of information and the purposive transfer of skills.

The development of extension services in modern Asia has differed from country to country. Despite the variations, it is possible to identify a general sequence of four periods or "generations":

1999: The essence of agricultural extension is to facilitate interplay and nurture synergies within a total information system involving agricultural research, agricultural education and a vast

Colonial agriculture: Experimental stations were established in many Asian countries by the colonial powers. The focus of attention was usually on export crops such as rubber, tea, cotton

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and sugar. Technical advice was provided to plantation managers and large landowners. Assistance to small farmers who grew subsistence crops was rare, except in times of crisis. Diverse top-down extension: After independence, commoditybased extension services emerged from the remnants of the colonial system, with production targets established as part of five-year development plans. In addition, various schemes were initiated to meet the needs of small farmers, with support from foreign donors. Unified top-down extension: During the 1970s and ‗80s, the Training and Visit system (T&V) was introduced by the World Bank. Existing organizations were merged into a single national service. Regular messages were delivered to groups of farmers, promoting the adoption of "Green Revolution" technologies. Diverse bottom-up extension: When World Bank funding came to an end, the T&V system collapsed in many countries, leaving behind a patchwork of programmes and projects funded from various other sources. The decline of central planning, combined with a growing concern for sustainability and equity, has resulted in participatory methods gradually replacing topdown approaches. The fourth generation is well established in some countries, while it has only just begun in other places. While it seems likely that participatory approaches will continue to spread in the next few years, it is impossible to predict the long-term future of extension. Compared to 20 years ago, agricultural extension now receives considerably less support from donor agencies. Among academics working in this field, some have recently argued that agricultural extension needs to be reinvented as a professional practice. Other authors have abandoned the idea of extension as a distinct concept, and prefer to think in terms of "knowledge systems" in which farmers are seen as experts rather than adopters. TABLE IV (AFTER [14])

important as that of researchers or government officials. Participatory approaches involve information-sharing and joint decision-making. The terms "interactive" and "bottom-up" have been used to describe these approaches. The development of participatory extension requires a reexamination of the communication process. At the present time, no single description has replaced the transmission model that is referred to above, but two ideas are becoming widely accepted: • Communication in the context of participatory extension cannot usefully be described in a linear manner with distinct groups of senders and receivers. Instead, extension activities take place within a knowledge system consisting of many actors who play different roles at different times. • Although some actors in the knowledge system have more authority than others, communication usually involves a negotiation rather than a transmission. What takes place is a dialogue, with actors collaborating in the construction of shared meanings rather than simply exchanging information. The related, but separate field of agricultural communication has emerged to contribute to in-depth examinations of the communication processes among various actors within and external to the agricultural system. This field would refer to the participatory extension model as a form of public relations rooted two-way symmetrical communication based on mutual respect, understanding, and influence between an organization and its stakeholders. 2. Why communication takes place: persuasion versus education Although extension programmes have many different goals, most programmes fall into one of two basic categories: • systems of communication that aim to change the behaviour of rural people

COMMUNICATION PROCESSES WITHIN EXTENSION SYSTEMS

• systems of communication that aim to change the knowledge of rural people

The term "extension" has been used to cover widely differing communication systems. Two particular issues help to define the type of extension: how does communication take place, and why does it take place.

There is, of course, a close relationship between knowledge and behaviour; changes in the former often lead to a change in the latter.

1. How communication takes place in an extension system: paternalism versus participation Early books on extension often describe a model of communication that involved the transmission of messages from "senders" to "receivers". As part of this model, senders are usually people in authority, such as government planners, researchers, and extension staff, while receivers are usually farmers who are relatively poor and uneducated. Although this model might include something called "feedback", it is clear that the senders are in control of the communication process. The transmission model of communication is closely related to the idea that extension workers are the link (i.e. message carriers) between researchers (senders) and farmers (receivers). Extension programmes based on this model has been described as "paternalistic"; in other words, the actors in the communication process have a parent/child or teacher/student relationship. Other authors have used the term "top-down" to describe these programmes. In many countries, paternalistic extension is gradually being replaced by more participatory approaches, in which the knowledge and opinions of farmers is considered to be just as

If government policy-makers, project managers or researchers direct the topics addressed and projects undertaken, then the purpose of extension is to change behaviour. This approach to extension has been variously described as directive extension, social marketing and propaganda. If farmers and other rural people direct the extension towards their own needs, then the purpose of extension is changing knowledge. This knowledge helps rural people make their own decisions regarding farming practices. This approach to extension is closely related to non-formal education and conscientization. Four paradigms of agricultural extension Any particular extension system can be described both in terms of how communication takes place and why it takes place. It is not the case that paternalistic systems are always persuasive, nor is it the case that participatory projects are necessarily educational. Instead there are four possible combinations, each of which represents a different extension paradigm, as follows: •

Technology Transfer (persuasive + paternalistic). This paradigm was prevalent in colonial times, and reappeared in the 1970s and 1980s when the Training and Visit system was established across Asia. Technology transfer involves a top-down approach that delivers specific

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recommendations to farmers about the practices they should adopt.

Q2. If the cloudy sky has already been darkened, how many more minutes the rain will fall down?



Advisory work (persuasive + participatory). This paradigm can be seen today where government organisations or private consulting companies respond to farmers enquiries with technical prescriptions. It also takes the form of projects managed by donor agencies and NGOs that use participatory approaches to promote predetermined packages of technology.



Human Resource Development (educational + paternalistic). This paradigm dominated the earliest days of extension in Europe and North America, when universities gave training to rural people who were too poor to attend full-time courses. It continues today in the outreach activities of colleges around the world. Topdown teaching methods are employed, but students are expected to make their own decisions about how to use the knowledge they acquire.

Answer 2. I have some difficulties in understanding the question. Color is hardly a good indication because cloud depth and processes within these clouds determine what will happen. In the tropics turbulence in rain clouds is very heavy and once drops start to fall within the clouds, they grow by catching smaller droplets till they are something as 7 mm. Then they split into smaller droplets that catch again other droplets and those that reach the earth are the rain.



Facilitation for empowerment (educational + participatory). This paradigm involves methods such as experiential learning and farmer-to-farmer exchanges. Knowledge is gained through interactive processes and the participants are encouraged to make their own decisions. The best known examples in Asia are projects that use Farmer Field Schools (FFS) or participatory technology development (PTD).

It must be noted that there is some disagreement about whether or not the concept and name of extension really encompasses all four paradigms. Some experts believe that the term should be restricted to persuasive approaches, while others believe it should only be used for educational activities. Paulo Freire has argued that the terms ‗extension‘ and ‗participation‘ are contradictory. There are philosophical reasons behind these disagreements. From a practical point of view, however, communication processes that conform to each of these four paradigms are currently being organized under the name of extension in one part of the world or another. Pragmatically, if not ideologically, all of these activities are agricultural extension. TABLE V

QUESTIONS BY INDRAMAYU RAINFALL OBSERVERS OF DECEMBER 2011. ANSWERS BY KEES STIGTER IN JANUARY 2012. Q1. By measuring rainfall only can we determine the weather without measuring air temperature? Answer 1. In the tropics, air temperature is much less variable in space and much more logically (and predictably) varying in time than rainfall. Over one season it is hardly influencing yields in the lowland tropics while rainfall and rainfall distribution in space and time are all determining. So measuring temperature is not necessary on-farm. The most determining for rice is the night minimum temperature but also that one hardly is very different over a season as far as influence on yields are concerned. However, what is important is to keep track of the consequences of global warming over time. The night minimum temperatures have risen over the last decades and this is ongoing. The time will not be far that this will influence rice yields negatively if it not already has started to do so. So in the long run, temperature in tropical lowlands, such as the Indonesian coastal areas, will negatively influence rice yields and it would be wise to diversify agriculture before this is doing real damage.

Now the ―darkness‖ of clouds very much depends on where the sun is and how much sun is still reflected by the sides of clouds. Once there is full cover and the clouds are thick it gets darker, but the processes inside the clouds determine when the rain will reach the earth surface. The thicker the clouds are, the darker they are, and the darker they are the more rain you may expect. But now the position of the clouds comes in. When they are right above you, the rain will reach you. You can very often see the rain coming from another area, because the clouds already rain but they have not yet reached you. You see from a distance dark clouds raining but the sun is still around and you may see rainbows and white reflections from the side of approaching clouds. Q3. In my place, there are many drillings by Pertamina (more than tenths). To what extent does the drilling affect the soil? In previous days when there were no Pertamina‘s drillings, there were lots of muddy soil (local terms: embel soil, or embut-embutan) up to 1—4 m depth. Now, after the drillings there are no muddy soils any longer. Answer 3. It is indeed possible that drillings have aerated the soils. Mud, because it is liquid, can get to deeper soil layers through the drilling holes. Of course when the drilling hits lower mud layers under pressure you get a situation as in Torong/Siduarjo, and mud can get upwards and is difficult to stop when there is much and the pressure is high. Q4. Many people said that next month the rainfall will be above normal or otherwise next month the rainfall will be below normal. In my thought, normal is the distance between the highest level and the lowest level of rainfall. My question: what kind of rainfall is categorized as ‗normal‘? Is it measured by the frequency of rain or by the rainfall? Answer 4. Rain is measured (categorized) by the total amount of rain within a period, say one day or one week or one month or one year. Now ―Normal‖ rain was what falls as an average over 30 years in a certain measuring place over each of such periods. But because of climate change, you better take these days the average over the last 10 years. Then we have to make an agreement what we will call ―Near Normal‖ and we express that as a part of the rainfall distribution. The wettest one third of that distribution is most often taken as ―Above Normal‖ rainfall, the driest one third as ―Below Normal‖ rainfall and the middle one third as ―Near Normal‖ rainfall. But it becomes even more complicated when we have to indicate the probabilities that rainfall is ―Above Normal‖, ―Near Normal‖ or ―Below Normal‖. Because total chances that anything happens are 100%, we must in predictions distribute the chances of ―Above‖, ―Near‖ and ―Below‖ Normal over these 100%. So for example somewhere in Indonesia there may be 20% chance of ―Below Normal‖ rainfall, 35% chance of ―Near Normal‖ rainfall and 45% chance of ―Above Normal‖ rainfall. But in another part of Indonesia the distribution may be 40%, 35% and 25% for these same categories of ―Below‖, ―Near‖ and ―Above‖ Normal rainfall. For users of such data, the interpretation is often not easy because everything is still possible, only some chances are more likely than others. Because of such complications in

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understanding probabilities, in the simple climate predictions that we distribute based on the NOAA ―ensemble‖ climate predictions, we try to use wordings, like for January and February 2012, as ―somewhat or fairly above average‖ and ―Chances increase that the rainfall will be back to ―normal‖ when the dry season starts‖. In this case we do not have specific numbers in mind but a qualitative assessment that can be easier to understand and is not inferior to the probabilistic figures exemplified above. Q5. In the 1970s, there were ‗blue rainfalls‘ or ‗hails‘ (in the form of ice). My question: did the rain turn into ‗ice‘? Answer 5. Hail in the tropics occurs largely at higher elevations because clouds in the tropics are generally warmer and again warmer in the low tropics. Clouds can only form when there is water vapor, vertical movements and low temperatures. In middle and higher latitudes all rain has been ice before it falls. In most tropical situations the clouds do not reach the freezing level. Indeed almost only where freezing levels in clouds have lowered can it exist in the tropics. Hail can only exist in clouds with heavy upward turbulence that brings water droplets up to the freezing level, down again below the freezing level, up again, etc. That is why hailstones are layered ice pellets. Global warming will lower chances of hail in the lower tropics. However, you should realize that outside a high flying airplane, the temperature is something as -50 degrees, also in the tropics. So if clouds reach freezing heights, hail may be formed under highly turbulent conditions as in cumulonimbus clouds. Q6. What are the differences between the old days and the present in the following problems? Q6a) Before we seldom had typhoons which reached the ground. Now, we always have typhoons every year. Q6b) Before, in 1970—1990, we always found mud emerging from beneath the soil every dry season, but in 2000—2011 there was no more mud coming out, the soil was dry. Answer 6a. The word typhoon is not the best, because what we are talking about is a ―whirl‖, a small scale turning of air that takes debris from the soil. Its character is like a tornado but much smaller, from only 1 m till 10 m diameter and up till a few hundred meters high. We are talking about a ―whirl‖ wind. Coming into existence of whirl type movements has to do with heat and dry patches of soil that create strong upward movements. I think that there are these days more dry surfaces not used for agriculture and that is where such whirls are born, above tarmac or hard soil, above a ―slijp‖, above court yards that do not get water etc. Again global warming may increase their numbers and their intensity as well. Above water they form waterspouts. There may also be clouds that form ―trunks‖ that can reach the soil. Then it is called a ―water whirl‖ or also a ―waterspout‖. Answer 6b. See Answer 3. above. The drier soils are also a source of the ―whirl‖ winds or ―dust devils‖ that are more and more occurring. Q7. Why there are more rains in the mountainous areas rather than in the lowland areas? Answer 7. If air flow meets a mountain, it has to go upwards and that causes the air to become cooler and this forms so called ―orographic clouds‖ and rain from such clouds, if the air is lifted high enough and has enough water vapor! The cooling and turbulence of the rising air causes the rain. However, at the other side (the lee side) of the mountain it is much drier because of descending air. Q8.

Is it true that crystal salt could help restoring the soil

fertility? Answer 8. One of the myths that surround commercial fertilizers is that the salts they contain are ―harsh‖ on the biology of the soil. The reality is that salt is essential to all of life. Either too much or too little can harm. Are fertilizers indeed too salty? Fertilizer salts form soluble ions in soil water. Increased concentration of ions make it harder for plants to take up water. This is why plants affected by ―fertilizer burn‖ look about the same as if they had been stricken by drought. They can‘t get the water, because there‘s too much salt in it. Fertilizer doesn‘t have to burn, though. It‘s all a matter of dosage. Plants can‘t grow without salt either. The nutrients they need are salts. The dissolved ions are exactly the form they take up. As long as the dosage is controlled, there is no harm applying a salt to the soil. The kind of salt is important. Specific salt ions have greater effects than others. The ammonium ion in particular can release free ammonia, especially at higher soil pH. Ammonia moves directly into plant cells. High concentrations can prevent root growth and even kill seedlings. On the other hand, phosphate ions hardly pose a salt hazard at all, since they never get to high concentrations in soil water. Salt is often associated with sodium, because common table salt (crystal salt) is sodium chloride. Sodium ions can destroy soil structure and clog the flow of soil water. But there‘s hardly any sodium in most commercial fertilizers. The chloride ion is one of the most soluble. Grapevines, woody trees, and many legumes are sensitive to it. Research in the southern states of the USA showed some soybean varieties to be sensitive to chloride. But research in many other places has found muriate of potash (potassium chloride) to be an effective source of potassium for soybeans grown in deficient soils. And crops like wheat and corn show great benefits from fertilizing with chloride. Several fertilizers aren‘t truly salts. Urea, for example, is a soluble substance that isn‘t a salt. Nevertheless, its solubility means it can have an osmotic effect, just like any other fertilizer. It also quickly decomposes to form a salt–ammonium ion. Elemental sulfur is neither salt nor soluble–but it oxides into sulfate, which is a salt. (…….) How to avoid salt injury? Guidelines for safe rates are specific for each crop and are based on distance from the seedling, soil texture, soil moisture content, and the specific ions in the nutrient source. (..….). In order to utilize that advantage, commercial fertilizers need to be applied at judicious rates. The unique advantages of organic fertilizers are their positive influence on soil structure and water holding capacity. But also manures and composts contain inorganic salts, organic salts, and insoluble organic forms of nutrients, but just like inorganic fertilizers not much crystal salt. Q9. In our region of Sumbon we have dry rainfed rice fields. How to cultivate paddy which can withstand drought? As I know, eggplants can be cultivated in the dry season. Which elements of the eggplants can we mix with rice so that the plants (paddy) can be resistant to drought as the eggplants do? Answer 9. Breeding does not exactly work like that but some rainfed rice varieties are drought tolerant. In contrast to irrigated rice systems, gains from crop improvement of rainfed rice have been modest, in part because there has been little effort to breed and select for drought tolerance for the target rainfed environments. A crop improvement strategy being used in Thailand considers three mechanisms that influence yield in the drought prone targets: yield potential as an important mechanism for mild drought (where yield loss is less than 50%), drought

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escape (appropriate phenology) and drought tolerance traits of leaf water potential, sterility, flower delay and drought response index for more severe drought conditions. Genotypes are exposed to managed drought environments for selection of drought tolerant genotypes. Scientists have been trying for a long time to breed rice that grows well in dry conditions -- with little success. In previous work, groups of researchers actually found regions of the rice genome (DNA) that led to drought-resistance. But in every case, those genes only helped the rice grow in one place or in one year. In the search for something more reliable, breeders in the USA created a new strain of rice by crossing two other strains: one that farmers grow in lush lowlands and one that's commonly used in upland areas, where soils tend to be drier and far less productive. Then, they attempted to grow about 400 of the resulting lines of rice in extremely dry conditions. Some of the new strains yielded 700 kilograms of rice per hectare -- more than double what any of the parent plants yielded in the same conditions. Scientists have identified a group of genes that consistently double the yield of rice in drought conditions. This discovery could help provide a reliable source of food for people in some of the poorest places. Sahbhagi Dhan, which means rice developed through collaboration, is the result of 15 years of joint efforts by scientists at the Manila-based International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) and the Central Rainfed Upland Rice Research Station (CRURRS) in Hazaribag town. Upland is a term used to define areas which are rain-deficient and nearly six million hectares of land in India falls in this category. Agriculturists say the field trials of Sahbhagi, which began in 2006, have given positive results. It's being tested in several villages and was proposed for release in the states of Jharkhand and Orissa. It looks as if local breeding efforts for upland rice are needed in Indonesia as well. Q10. There is a plot in my rice field which has always been the subject of striking lightning. The growth of paddy in that particular spot is not good. What could I do to avoid this and to make the growth of paddy in that spot better? Answer 10. Lightning strikes places with highest electrical conductivity. You may also say that it strikes places with lowest electrical resistance against conduction. The place in your rice field, with no trees or other protruding objects, must be highest or wettest or have a composition that fosters conduction of electricity. Changing its composition or making it drier could be a solution, but then may be another place will suffer. Perhaps it is wiser to not use that plot or the part of that plot that is stricken for agriculture. If this is economically disastrous, it might make sense to have the composition of that part that is regularly stricken investigated by a soil laboratory. Make sure that there are no metal objects hidden below but relatively close to the surface of that part of your plot! TABLE VI

AGROMETEOROLOGICAL SERVICES It has now been generally accepted to distinguish the following ten categories of agrometeorological services [3], [6]: A. B. C. D.

Agrometeorological characterization products, such as in zoning and mapping; Advice on design rules for above- and below-ground microclimate management or manipulation; Advisories based on the outcome of response farming exercises; Measures reducing the impacts and mitigating the consequences of weather and climate related natural

E. F. G. H. I. J.

disasters; Monitoring and early warning exercises directly connected to such already established measures; Climate predictions and meteorological forecasts; Development and validation of adaptation strategies to changes (such as in climate); Specific weather forecasts for agriculture, including warnings for suitable conditions for pests and diseases; Advices on measures reducing the contributions of agricultural production to global warming; Proposing means of direct agrometeorological assistance to management of natural resources; TABLE VII

SYLLABI AGROMETEOROLOGICAL EXTENSION INTERMEDIARIES Proposed agrometeorology related syllabi contents for inservice training of AEIA and AEIB intermediaries: - an agrometeorology related syllabus for in-service training of AEIA intermediaries (extension agrometeorology within extension) Elementary: Review of local administrational context issues: functions and responsibilities. Review of local climate issues, including traditional knowledge. Review of farming systems in the subregion/country/region/continent concerned. Production constraints of farming systems reviewed. Fields of agrometeorology relevant to local agriculture (choice from INSAM categories for example). Agrometeorological components of production constraints identified. Assessments of needs as seen by the farmers in the various systems. [Practicals possible with farmers on the last two subjects and additional ones with AEIB intermediaries as indicated below. Results of such practicals could be discussed with AEIB intermediaries in joint classes.] Advanced: Review of processes of change (economic, social, environmental etc.) taking place in the sub-region/country/region/ continent concerned. Extension approaches suitable in the farming systems reviewed for the production constraints identified. Policies of existing extension and their decentralization. Extension agrometeorology locally available to meet assessed needs. Agrometeorological services already applied or tried. New extension agrometeorology possible. Constraints in applying extension agrometeorology through agrometeorological services and their relief solutions. [Practicals possible with farmers on last three subjects and additional ones with AEIB intermediaries as indicated below. Results of such practicals should be discussed with AEIB intermediaries in joint classes.] - an agrometeorology related syllabus for in-service training of AEIB (or product) intermediaries (extension agrometeorology within NMHSs, research institutes, universities) Elementary: Needs assessments of farmers and farming systems for agrometeorological products. Available products from weather services, research institutes and universities directed at farming systems in the sub-region/country/region/ continent concerned. Client friendliness of those products as assessed by users.

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Documented or remembered use of such products, successes & failures and assessment of their causes. [Practicals possible together with the AEIA intermediaries on last two subjects. Results to be discussed in joint classes.] Advanced: Needs for additional products from weather services, research institutes and universities. How to commission such products in these organizations. How to make such products most client friendly for the farming systems concerned. Discussions on potential new products with potential users. Bringing new products into new or existing agrometeorological services. [Practicals possible together with the AEIA intermediaries on last two subjects. Results to be discussed in joint classes.]

Kees (C.J.) Stigter, Amsterdam, February 1940. Phys. Cand. (1962) & Phys. Drs. (1966), experimental physics, Municipal University of Amsterdam, Netherlands. Dr. Agric. Sc. (1974), agrometeorology, (Agricultural) University of Wageningen, Netherlands. Diplomas of NUFFIC courses (1962 and 1963) in development cooperation at the Tropical Institute, Amsterdam After his early years in Wageningen, where he was nominated an Associate Professor in 1974, he became a Resident Associate Professor (1975-1978) and Full Professor (1978-1985) at the University of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, to establish a section agricultural physics/meteorology. From 1985 till 2005 he was for Wageningen University a visiting professor simultaneously in Sudan, Kenya and Tanzania, to which Nigeria was added in 1991. From 2005 till the present he is a Visiting Professor for Agromet Vision in Africa (presently Ghana, South Africa, Sudan, Zambia and Zimbabwe) and Asia (presently Indonesia, since 1999, and Iran, since 2005, while having held a similar position in China from 1997 till 2011). In 1993 (French) and 1997 (English) he was coauthor with Charles Baldy of ―Agrometeorology of multiple cropping in warm climates‖ (INRA (French) and respectively for the English version: Paris, France, INRA, + New Delhi, India, Oxford & IBH Publ. Co., + Enfield, USA, Science Publ. Inc.). From 1999 onwards he was Editor in Chief of the third Edition of the Guide to Agricultural Meteorological Practices (Geneva, Switzerland, WMO, 2007/2010). Most recently he published as the sole Editor the compendium ―Applied Agrometeorology‖ (Heidelberg/Berlin, Germany, Springer, 2010, 1101 pp.). Works these days particularly on connecting agricultural sciences, environmental sciences, social sciences and extension services, proposing to use new educational commitments such as Climate Field Schools for training extension intermediaries and Science Field Shops with farmers. Published, authored and co-authored more than 800 papers and reports in agricultural meteorology and climatology and related social, economic and management fields. Prof. Stigter was the Dutch representative (principal delegate) in the Technical Commission for Agricultural Meteorology (CAgM) of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) from 1985 till 2010. He was vice-president of CAgM from 1986 till 1991 and president from 1991 till 1999. He remained a nominated member of the Management Group of CAgM till 2010. He presently is the founding president of the International Society for Agricultural Meteorology (INSAM, www.agrometeorology.org) since 2001. INSAM has more than 1900 members from 125 countries and tries to connect agroclimatology and agrometeorology to problem solving in farmers‘ fields. The term

agrometeorological learning applies to such situations. He is a member of the editorial board of Agricultural and Forest Meteorology since 1985 and reviews for various other journals such as most recently for Agricultural Water Management, for the Journal of Land Use Science, and for Land Use Policy. He was awarded the Wageningen University Research Prize for parts of his Ph.D.-thesis in 1974. He was the Tanzanian nominee for the Sasakawa Environment Prize in 1982 and nominated by the Dutch Government for the IMO prize (WMO) in 2011, 2012 and 2013. Yunita T. Winarto, Malang, Indonesia, June 1950. BA in anthropology, Padjadjaran University (1972), Sarjana Sastra (1st degree) in anthropology, Universitas Indonesia (1980), Magister (2nd degree) in anthropology, Universitas Indonesia (1984), M.Sc. in environmental technology, Imperical College of Science, Technology & Medicine, UK (1985), and Ph.D. in anthropology, the Australian National University (1997). She was appointed as a faculty staff in the Department of Anthropology, Faculty of Letters at North Sumatera University, Medan in 1980 and moved to the Department of Anthropology, Faculty of Social & Political Sciences at Universitas Indonesia in 1982. From 1998-2003 she served as the editor-in-chief of the Journal Antropologi Indonesia. In 2003, she spent 6 months in the Center for Southeast Asian Studies, Kyoto University, Japan, as a visiting research fellow. In 2004, she got a position as a visiting professor in Southeast Asian Studies at the International Area Studies, Pukyong University, Busan, South Korea. In 2005, she was accepted as a senior visiting research fellow at the Asian Research Institute, National University of Singapore. She got her professorship in anthropology from the Universitas Indonesia in 2008. She was the holder of an Academy Professorship Indonesia in Social Sciences and Humanities (KNAW-AIPI) from 2006 to 2009 at the Gadjah Mada University (Yogyakarta) and from 2009 to 2011 at the Universitas Indonesia (Depok). She has published various articles in scientific journals and edited books on the dialectics between scientific and local knowledge, farmers‘ creativity and empowerment, and rural response to climate change. She is the author of Seeds of knowledge: The beginning of integrated pest management in Java (New Haven, Yale Southeast Asia Council, 2004). Together with Kees Stigter she edited Agrometeorological learning:Coping better with climate change (Saarbrűcken, LAP Lambert Publishing, 2011). Several documentary videos on farmers‘ selfgovernance have been produced in the period of 2007 to 2012, not only as the products of her academic research, but also as a means for policy advocacy and farmers‘ learning. Prof. Winarto has been a member of the Indonesian Association of Anthropology since 1997, a steering committee member of Collective Action and Property Right (CAPRi), CGIAR from 2003, and once a member of Agricultural Research and Extension Network (ODI) and International Union of Anthropological and Ethnological Sciences. From 2010 she joined the International Association of the Society of the Commons as a member. After being nominated as the Academy Professor Indonesia in Social Science and Humanities by the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW) and Indonesian Academy of Sciences (AIPI), she was appointed as a member of the Cultural Commission of the Indonesian Academy of Sciences from early 2013.

JASA Volume 2, Issue 2 Jun. 2013 PP. 112-123 www.j-asa.org © American V-King Scientific Publishing 123