4 Integration into Development: Translating International …
69
they are aware that the programme took place) is that the programme was concerned
with large significant disaster events rather than the day-to-day impacts that relate
directly to their experiences.
Farmers in the area for decades have been adapting plant varieties to the conditions
of the area in order to produce successful yields, innovating water efficiency solutions, windbreaks, inter-cropping, agroforestry, soil fertility measures and essentially
implementing climate-smart agriculture in a harsh coastal (sand) area through their
own techniques of innovation, community learning and adaptation. Farmers continue
to maintain their resilience through practices of livelihood and crop diversification.
Farmers interviewed, in general, were very aware of increased climate variability,
and impacts, particularly in rainfall changes, increased heat, coastal winds, and ocean
inundation events. The variability in seasons and growing conditions related to the
unpredictability from previous experiences of past growing conditions were of great
concern (altering the use of local knowledge and traditional practices like use of the
Javanese calendar Pranoto Mongso). Variations in planting times and pest incidences
are now very hard to predict and have resulted in substantial crop losses. Along with
increased coastal wind impacts damaging crops with ocean salt spray and adding to
soil salinity. Farmers have had to adapt watering practices according to increased
heat. The processes of farmers’ learning and innovation (learning from neighbours’
successes, and by individual trial and error—then picked up by others if successful),
were not incorporated into the programme. Nor were the social sharing practices
and cooperative agreements in managing the area included (e.g. agreed strategies
for crop dates to prevent pest incidence, negotiate market prices and so on). Revegetation activities for conserving the coastal sand areas and adding ecosystem-based
protection, for example, were undertaken under the PDPT programme. However,
non-local revegetation varieties were originally introduced under the programme
for the first year (and failed), until local farmers’ knowledge and suggestions for
local species were incorporated into programme activities. These activites were then
reportedly successful in the second year of the programme.
The PDPT programme also connects with the musyawarah perencanaan dan
pengembangan or Musrenbang process. The Musrenbang process is intended to
address and bring discussion about local development needs. Overall, the process
should provide local desa (villages) with access to the budget for their needs. If
communities come together and decide upon priorities for short-term improvements, then submit these priorities to the local government planning department, then
resources should be assigned according to these priorities’ (according to the availability of funds). However, in reality, most farmer households were unaware of the
opportunities and processes in which to participate and link in with local government
planning. This has implications to the longer-term sustainability and maintenance
of the infrastructure and activities carried out under the PDPT programme, and the
programme outcomes in the long-term.
The second case study—describes community-level farmers in Gunung Kidul in
the Yogyakarta Region of southern Java, and their interactions with climate change
adaptation programming in development, implemented through agricultural extension Climate Field School (CFS) programme experiences (Anantasari et al. 2011;
69
they are aware that the programme took place) is that the programme was concerned
with large significant disaster events rather than the day-to-day impacts that relate
directly to their experiences.
Farmers in the area for decades have been adapting plant varieties to the conditions
of the area in order to produce successful yields, innovating water efficiency solutions, windbreaks, inter-cropping, agroforestry, soil fertility measures and essentially
implementing climate-smart agriculture in a harsh coastal (sand) area through their
own techniques of innovation, community learning and adaptation. Farmers continue
to maintain their resilience through practices of livelihood and crop diversification.
Farmers interviewed, in general, were very aware of increased climate variability,
and impacts, particularly in rainfall changes, increased heat, coastal winds, and ocean
inundation events. The variability in seasons and growing conditions related to the
unpredictability from previous experiences of past growing conditions were of great
concern (altering the use of local knowledge and traditional practices like use of the
Javanese calendar Pranoto Mongso). Variations in planting times and pest incidences
are now very hard to predict and have resulted in substantial crop losses. Along with
increased coastal wind impacts damaging crops with ocean salt spray and adding to
soil salinity. Farmers have had to adapt watering practices according to increased
heat. The processes of farmers’ learning and innovation (learning from neighbours’
successes, and by individual trial and error—then picked up by others if successful),
were not incorporated into the programme. Nor were the social sharing practices
and cooperative agreements in managing the area included (e.g. agreed strategies
for crop dates to prevent pest incidence, negotiate market prices and so on). Revegetation activities for conserving the coastal sand areas and adding ecosystem-based
protection, for example, were undertaken under the PDPT programme. However,
non-local revegetation varieties were originally introduced under the programme
for the first year (and failed), until local farmers’ knowledge and suggestions for
local species were incorporated into programme activities. These activites were then
reportedly successful in the second year of the programme.
The PDPT programme also connects with the musyawarah perencanaan dan
pengembangan or Musrenbang process. The Musrenbang process is intended to
address and bring discussion about local development needs. Overall, the process
should provide local desa (villages) with access to the budget for their needs. If
communities come together and decide upon priorities for short-term improvements, then submit these priorities to the local government planning department, then
resources should be assigned according to these priorities’ (according to the availability of funds). However, in reality, most farmer households were unaware of the
opportunities and processes in which to participate and link in with local government
planning. This has implications to the longer-term sustainability and maintenance
of the infrastructure and activities carried out under the PDPT programme, and the
programme outcomes in the long-term.
The second case study—describes community-level farmers in Gunung Kidul in
the Yogyakarta Region of southern Java, and their interactions with climate change
adaptation programming in development, implemented through agricultural extension Climate Field School (CFS) programme experiences (Anantasari et al. 2011;