Scaling green rubber cultivation in Southwest China—An integrative analysis of stakeholder perspectives

Wigboldus, Seerp; Hammond, J. J.; Xu, Jianchu; Yi, Zhuang-Fang; He, Jun; Klerkx, Laurens; Leeuwis, C.

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2016.12.126

Cited by 24 publications

(21 citation statements)

References 39 publications

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“…Messages which appeal to sense of place and long term benefit to family might therefore be more successful than messages relating to environmental impacts. These findings are in line with recent work based on integrative qualitative assessment in Xishuangbanna (Wigboldus et al, 2016).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 92%

“…The Incentive-centric cluster scored highly on innovation values, but showed a relatively low willingness to adapt their behaviour and cited more obstacles to behaviour change than most other clusters (see Figure 2), therefore subsidies alone are unlikely to motivate them to trial new practices. In line with other research in Xishuangbanna, we therefore suggest that subsidies are not the most appropriate mechanism to encourage a change in behaviour (Smajgl et al, 2015b;Wigboldus et al, 2016;Yi et al, 2014b), but should form part of a wider strategy of removing obstacles to adaptation. It is interesting to note that out of the four scenarios outlined to participants in this study, the one which elicited the most positive response from participants was the government subsidy program for native trees replacing rubber trees to match present incomebut also that a small number of households also rejected this scenario with the reason that they did not believe it was feasible.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 83%

“…Whilst scientists are seriously concerned about the risks posed by declining levels of biodiversity, soil health and economic vulnerability due to rubber cropping (Ahrends et al, 2015;Warren-Thomas et al, 2015), concerns about economic well being predominate amongst the local population (Wigboldus et al, 2016) and rubber farming has been the route out of poverty for most households surveyed. This is not a society which would be easy to influence unless some sort of crisis were to destabilise the social equilibrium.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Farm types and farmer motivations to adapt: Implications for design of sustainable agricultural interventions in the rubber plantations of South West China

Hammond

Wijk

Smajgl³

et al. 2017

Agricultural Systems

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Tropical land use is one of the leading causes of global environmental change. Sustainable agricultural development aims to reduce the negative environmental impacts of tropical land use whilst enhancing the wellbeing of the small holder farmers residing in those areas. Interventions with this goal are typically designed by scientists educated in the Western tradition, and often achieve lower than desired uptake by small holder farmers. We build on work done in farm type classification and studies of factors that influence adaptation, trialling a suite of household survey questions to elucidate the motivational factors that influence a farmer's willingness to adapt to external change. Based on a sample of 1,015 households in the rubber growing region of Xishuangbanna, Southwest China, we found that farm types based on structural characteristics (e.g. crops, livelihoods) could not be used to accurately predict farmers' motivations to adapt. Amongst all six farm types identified, the full range of motivational typologies were found. We found six motivational types, from most to least likely to adapt, named: Aspirational Innovators, Conscientious, Copy Cats, Incentive-centric, Well Settled, and Change Resistant. These groups roughly corresponded with those identified in literature regarding diffusion of innovations, but such classifications are rarely used in development literature. We predict that only one third of the population would be potentially willing to trial a new intervention, and recommend that those sectors of the population should be identified and preferentially targeted by development programs. Such an approach requires validation that these motivational typologies accurately predict real behaviourperhaps through a panel survey approach. Dedicated data gathering is required, beyond what is usually carried out for ex-ante farm typologies, but with some refinements of the methodology presented here the process need not be onerous. An improved suite of questions to appraise farmers' motivations might include value orientations, life satisfaction, and responses to various scenarios, all phrased to be locally appropriate, with a scoring system that uses the full range of potential scores and a minimum of follow up and peripheral questions.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 92%

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 83%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Farm types and farmer motivations to adapt: Implications for design of sustainable agricultural interventions in the rubber plantations of South West China

Hammond

Wijk

Smajgl³

et al. 2017

Agricultural Systems

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“…In these areas land use modifications of significant scale require serious attention to the potential impacts on the ecological integrity and ecosystem functions and services. The ongoing improvements in the scientific understanding and practice of concepts such as rubber based agroforestry systems (Langenberger et al 2017) and Green rubber eco-certification (Kennedy et al 2017) offer promising options for environmentally friendly rubber cultivation, particularly as support from the smallholder side for participation in ecosystem protection appears to grow (Min et al 2018, Wigboldus et al 2017.…”

Section: Contrasts and Conjunctions With Comparable Studiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Climate change impact assessment on the potential rubber cultivating area in the Greater Mekong Subregion

Golbon

Cotter

Sauerborn

2018

Environ. Res. Lett.

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In order to map potential shifts of rubber (Hevea brasiliensis) cultivation as a consequence of the ongoing climate change in the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS), we applied rule-based classifications to a selection of nine gridded climatic data projections (precipitation and temperature, and global circulation models (GCMs)). These projections were used to form an ensemble model set covering the representative concentration pathways (RCPs) 4.5 and 8.5 of the Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change at three future time sections: 2030, 2050 and 2070. We used a post classification ensemble formation technique based on a majority outcome of the classification to not only provide an ensemble projection but also to spatially track and weight the disagreements between the classified GCMs. A similar approach was used to form an ensemble model aggregating the involved climatic factors. The level of agreement between the ensemble projections and GCM products was assessed for each climatic factor separately, and also at the aggregate level. Shifting zones with high confidence were clustered based on their land use composition, physiographic attributes and proximity. Following the same ensemble formation technique and by setting a 28• C threshold for annual mean temperature, we mapped areas prone to exposure to potentially excessive heat levels. Almost the entire shift projected with high certainty was in the form of expansion, associated with temperature components of climate and temporally limited to the 2030 time window where the total area conducive to rubber cultivation in the GMS is projected to exceed 50% by 2030 (from 44.3% at the turn of the century). The largest detected cluster (41% of the total shifting area), which also is the most ecologically degraded, corresponds to Northern Vietnam and Guangxi Autonomous Region of China. The area exposed to potentially excessive heat is projected to undergo a 25-fold increase under RCP4.5 by 2030 from 14568 km 2 at the baseline.

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“…David, 2011). The PRactice-Oriented Multi-level perspective on Innovation and Scaling (PROMIS) methodological approach (Wigboldus et al, 2016(Wigboldus et al, , 2017 was selected because of its suitability for understanding a range of dimensions and dynamics involved in scaling processes (see section 3). This choice is in line with findings by Van de Fliert, Christiana, Hendayana, and Murray-Prior (2010) who emphasized the need for a systems perspective when introducing innovations.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Scaling and institutionalization within agricultural innovation systems: the case of cocoa farmer field schools in Cameroon

Muilerman

Wigboldus

Leeuwis

2018

International Journal of Agricultural Sustainability

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The farmer field school (FFS) concept has been widely adopted, and such schools have the reputation of strengthening farmers' capacity to innovate. Although their impact has been studied widely, what is involved in their scaling and in their becoming an integral part of agricultural innovation systems has been studied much less. In the case of the Sustainable Tree Crops Programme in Cameroon, we investigate how a public-private partnership (PPP) did not lead to satisfactory widespread scaling in the cocoa innovation system. We build a detailed understanding of the key dimensions and dynamics involved and the wider lessons that might be learned regarding complex scaling processes in the context of agricultural innovation systems. Original interview data and document analysis inform the case study. A specific analytical approach was used to structure the broad-based exploration of the qualitative dataset. We conclude that scaling and institutionalization outcomes were impeded by: the lack of an adaptive approach to scaling the FFS curriculum, limited investments and genuine buy-in by extension actors, a failure to adapt the management approach between the pilot and the scaling phase, and the lack of strategic competencies to guide the process. Our findings support suggestions from recent literature that pilots need to be translated and adapted in light of specific contextual and institutional conditions, rather than approached as a linear rollingout process. These findings are relevant for the further spread of similar approaches commonly involved in multi-stakeholder scaling processes such as innovation platforms.

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Scaling green rubber cultivation in Southwest China—An integrative analysis of stakeholder perspectives

Cited by 24 publications

References 39 publications

Farm types and farmer motivations to adapt: Implications for design of sustainable agricultural interventions in the rubber plantations of South West China

Farm types and farmer motivations to adapt: Implications for design of sustainable agricultural interventions in the rubber plantations of South West China

Climate change impact assessment on the potential rubber cultivating area in the Greater Mekong Subregion

Scaling and institutionalization within agricultural innovation systems: the case of cocoa farmer field schools in Cameroon

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