Browsing by Subject "paikallinen innovaatio"

While a situational analysis by an intervention research program CoS-SIS was being conducted in Lawra and Nadowli regions in Northern Ghana, it was noticed that some farms performed differently: they had more animals, better market off-take or they employed uncommon practices. This raised an interest in this kind of behaviour; what kind of positive deviance exists and what enables it? The objective of this study was to gain understanding on enabling factors for better livelihood outcomes. Study design was a case study where positive deviant (PD) and commercial farmers were contrasted to regular farmers. Qualitative ethnographic methods were used in data collection. Semi-structured interviews with open-ended questions were conducted with the main 12 PD informants. Recorded and transcribed data was analyzed by using thematic content analysis. The findings suggest that subsistence production is most common while commercial farming is rare. Recreational farming exists as well. Only commercials sell animals in sales purposes; commonly animals are sold only in need. The main constraints refer to animal mortality, stealing and lack of water. At the back of the problems there are insufficient service delivery and input dealing as well as farmers’ identity and attitudes towards animal rearing. Positive deviance manifests in larger animal holdings and areas in cultivation. This is attributed to the practices employed: PDs offer supplementary feeding, vaccinate and deworm the animals as well as house them for the night. The practices have been learned through neighbours and relatives as well as through extension and projects. Characteristics to PDs is an off-farm income source which enables investments in agriculture. It can be concluded that PD is about basic practices which have been learned from rather common sources. Creating an enabling environment for small ruminant production requires institutional changes as regards to farmers’ attitudes and service and input delivery. Local practices as responses to constraints would be suitable topics for further research.