Aquaculture CRSP
SECTION A: NEW WORK PLANS
HONDURAS RESEARCH
Decision Support for Policy Development: Planning Conferences for Collaborating Researchers,
Public Agencies, and Nongovernmental Organizations Working in Aquaculture
Adoption/Diffusion Research 7 (9ADR7)/Activity
Objective
To foster linkages among national and regional organizations—including nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), national agricultural research institutions, other CRSPs, and international agricultural research centers—toward the common purpose of post–PD/A CRSP aquacultural development.
Significance
The "Red Nacional de Acuicultura" (National Aquaculture Network) was created by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) in 1992 to integrate international institutions and the private and public sector of Honduras. Among the participants were: Dirección General de Pesca y Acuicultura (DIGEPESCA), Universidad Nacional Autónoma de Honduras (UNAH), Escuela Agrícola Panamericana El Zamorano, Escuela Nacional de Agricultura (ENA), Agricultural School John F. Kennedy, Peace Corp Honduras, Federación de Productores y Exportadores (FPX), Asociación de Acuicultores de Honduras (ANDAH), and Instituto Nacional de Agricultura (INA).
In place for about a year, FAO organized the network with the intention of eventually withdrawing in favor of Honduran management. Unfortunately, leadership problems caused most organizations to suspend participation and FAO moved on. Zamorano is now in a position to reactivate this network as a hub for information exchange, research activity, and policy leadership.
What is needed is a series of events that will reawaken the dialogue and focus attention on a strategic vision for aquaculture development in Honduras and on the problems and possibilities of small- and medium-scale tilapia aquaculture (Kaimowitz, 1991). We propose to accomplish this not only through a series of planning conferences, but also through the collaboration and exchanges that such meetings will be designed to stimulate.
The agricultural sector in Honduras is currently being modernized under a World Bank–supported project (1998–2002). However, discussions are still ongoing as to the mechanisms of modernization and decentralization. At the present time, in part because aquaculture is handled under the Ministry of Natural Resources (DIGEPESCA), aquacultural sector development is not being concurrently pursued. We believe that there is a unique opportunity to pursue capacity building and institutional strengthening for aquaculture through the networks that have been established by our collaborators—CIAT—and Zamorano. Further, given the resources that are being put into place by various donor agencies (including USAID) following Hurricane Mitch, the proposed work is a strategic intervention that can potentially put aquaculture at the forefront of natural resource–based activities in the country.
Policy development work is a fairly long-term activity, and actual policies might not be put into place at the end of the two-year project for which resources are being requested from the PD/A CRSP. However, the major contribution of the proposed work is not to actually develop policies (the specifics of these must evolve from the stakeholders themselves), but to foster the development of an enabling environment within which plans that address social, environmental, and economic concerns can be developed in a participatory manner, and within which expertise and information is shared. Discussions with donor agencies (e.g., FAO and the World Bank) suggest that resources may be made available for aquacultural sector development, provided the initiatives and specific plans are developed by Honduran institutions. For instance, the FAO has indicated an interest in supporting sustainable shrimp culture in the Gulf of Fonseca, which borders Honduras, Nicaragua, and El Salvador.
The concept of an enabling environment has been identified as a key prerequisite for sustainable aquacultural development (Shehadeh and Pedini, 1997). Experiences in natural resource management initiatives for the hillside regions of Latin America (CIAT, 1997) suggest that creating partnerships among stakeholders involved in managing and/or using natural resources is part of the process of fostering an enabling environment; the other aspect is to adopt an integrated decision-making framework for use in such environments (Nath et al., 1999a). The latter framework (referred to as concurrent decision-making) has been applied in workshop settings for natural resource management initiatives in Central America (Honduras, Nicaragua) and similar work is planned for South America (Colombia, Ecuador). With the exception of Ecuador (where the work is in collaboration with the SANREM CRSP), these initiatives are being pursued with CIAT.
A number of nongovernmental organizations have had an enduring focus on rural communities in Honduras. Donor coordination to support new farmers and existing fish culture practitioners is vital. Pluralistic ignorance—mutual unawareness of one another’s actions and intentions—is a common condition among organizations in a developing country. Nonetheless, this is not an acceptable rationale for the lack of communication and joint action among projects and agencies in Honduras. Donors must work together jointly to complement and extend the activities of the government.
Donor support will be particularly important for sustaining the promise of fish culture among the mid-sized and subsistence sector in Honduras. Tilapia has a role in integrated, small-scale, mountain farming systems where fish ponds may be an appropriate farm enterprise for a segment of small holders with a water source, manure supply, and some management ability. The USAID Hillside project has targeted this segment of poor, small farms. Activities focused on hillside agriculture could incorporate fish culture as one enterprise in an array of alternatives available to farmers.1
Anticipated Benefits
The creation of an enabling environment within which stakeholders can interact in a participatory manner would provide a sound foundation for developing policies and plans for aquaculture development. Previous experience (e.g., CIATs networks in Central America) suggests that very productive and long-term partnerships can be developed among personnel within such environments. Other benefits include training opportunities for Zamorano staff and other institutions in the concurrent decision-making process, thereby building capacities in these institutions.
This activity is intended to integrate the activities and leadership of Zamorano into the matrix of organizations and agencies working in aquacultural development. There is a clear need to articulate a strategic, multidisciplinary, and cohesive approach to aquaculture development, research, and outreach in Honduras and the Central American region.
Identification of Beneficiaries
Public and private organizations working in the tilapia industry are the primary targets of this activity with the ultimate objective of improving support for producers in Honduras.
Collaborative Arrangements
The three institutions will work together to foster productive relationships among tilapia researchers, instructors, and technical assistance providers throughout the country, and to the rest of Central America where appropriate and feasible. We will link to FAO and other international organizations working in aquacultural development in Central America.
Activity Plan
We will conduct a series of three meetings with expanding levels of participation. These meetings will be organized to coordinate project activities and to involve other institutions in the PD/A CRSP program. An established literature on extension programs and methods will be used to guide outreach efforts (Albrecht et al., 1990a, 1990b; Engle and Stone, 1989). Expected participants include representatives of farmer organizations, collaborating researchers, NGOs working in aquaculture, and officials from international organizations.
The first task will be to identify and interact on an individual level with the primary actors involved with development of the aquaculture sector. Through the PD/A CRSP, Zamorano, and CIAT networks, some actors are well known (e.g., DIGEPESCA, Ministry of Agriculture, ANDAH, the World Bank, USAID/Honduras, FAO, CIDA). However, others including local community representatives, women's groups, and NGOs will have to be contacted and informed of our interest in pursuing development of the aquaculture sector. It should be noted that interactions with producers will occur throughout the course of the project through the systematic investigation described in 9ADR8, "Production strategies characterizing small- and medium-scale tilapia farms: Approaches, barriers, and needs," as well as through the farmer meetings and informal interaction that will occur in connection with the other studies following Chambers et al. (1983) and Kaimowitz (1991).
•Meeting 1 will be held at the beginning of year 1 of the project at El Zamorano for two days. The first meeting will take place at inception of the project to bring the collaborating researchers into interaction over the objectives and timetables of this project. This meeting will feature a tour of Zamorano facilities and extended discussion over the problems and possibilities of the project as it bears on the management of El Carao, fingerling production, the provision of technical assistance to producers, and policy development activities. UGA, AU, and Zamorano researchers and technical staff will be the primary participants. This meeting may be held as a pre-conference event to the Latin American Aquaculture Conference at San Pedro Sula.
•Meeting 2 will be held in the middle of year 1 in Tegucigalpa and will feature a review of the prospects, potentials, and problems facing tilapia production in Honduras with a focus on the services and supporting activities necessary to ensure the viability of the industry. A comprehensive three-day workshop will follow, in which the concurrent decision-making approach and supportive tools will be used. The approach involves development of a group vision, detailed analysis of stakeholder roles, development of individual and group goals, identification of assessable indicators, identification of influences impeding attainment of goals, development and evaluation of decision alternatives, selection of suitable alternatives, and examination of sequencing activities to be pursued (Nath et al., 1999a). Researchers, technical staff, and extension leaders will be the primary participants, along with representatives of DIGEPESCA and other public/private organizations working in aquaculture.
Decision support tools that we have used in such workshops included automated (computerized) templates to record stakeholder perspectives, sharing of these perspectives through intelligent tools that interpret these perspectives and classify them according to those unique to individuals and those that are common to all stakeholders, tools for conflict resolution (Nute et al., 1999), and model/GIS outputs (e.g., maps of land use, production potential). These tools are being developed at the University of Georgia as part of a grant from CIAT. Further, manuals for facilitators and participants (in both English and Spanish) are being developed (Nath et al., 1999b). In other words, we will leverage work on that grant for the PD/A CRSP activity. Our experience has been that these workshops should be kept to a small number of participants (fewer than 20), should involve mini-groups (of about five people) with planned and spontaneous feedback sessions, and must be facilitated by a team consisting of a lead facilitator, together with personnel trained in the process. 2
• Meeting 3 will be held at the end of year 2 in San Pedro Sula for two days. It will feature a dialogue over the progress of tilapia culture in Honduras with the objective of identifying practical matters that impede progress of the industry. This will be a widely publicized symposium that will draw together all sectors of the tilapia industry in Honduras. It also should be of interest to the broader community of public and private organizations working in aquacultural development in Central America. 3 This symposium should provide a capstone perspective on the prospects and possibilities for aquacultural development focusing on the experiences and achievements of the Honduran industry.
Regional Integration
The proposed work is complementary to UGAs other activities in Nicaragua and Honduras, and is expected to strengthen them. In our discussions with Nicaraguan counterparts (via CIATs network), we will inform them about initiatives being pursued in Honduras and stimulate interest in pursuing similar ones in their country. If resources permit, we will also engage one or more Nicaraguans who will be trained in concurrent decision-making (May 1999) to apply their skills in the aquaculture context. Such personnel can potentially serve as lead facilitators in Nicaragua should an occasion arise there. The symposium will be advertised in other Central American countries (Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Nicaragua, and Panama) thereby providing opportunity for a wider impact. Zamorano is expected to benefit from such activities in terms of experience gained, training opportunities, and increased exposure as the lead institution for aquaculture in Honduras.
Identification of Deliverables
The deliverables for this activity will be the minutes of each planned meeting. In addition, a detailed report will also be developed for the second conference. Finally, proceedings of published abstracts will be generated following the final conference.
Schedule
The work will commence by mid-October 1999. The initial meetings among project personnel and other stakeholders will occur by October 1999, and the proposed workshop will be conducted in October 2000. The final conference will be held in March 2001. Follow-up tasks will be completed by April 2001.
References
Albrecht, H., H. Bergmann, G. Diederich, E. Groer, V. Hoffman, P. Keller, G. Payr, and R. Sulzer, 1990a. Agricultural Extension—Volume 1: Basic Concepts and Methods, Verlagsgesellschaft mbH fur Technische Zusammenarbeit (GTZ), Eschborn, Germany.
Albrecht, H., H. Bergmann, G. Diederich, E. Groer, V. Hoffman, P. Keller, G. Payr, and R. Sulzer, 1990b. Agricultural Extension—Volume 2: Examples and Background Materials. Verlagsgesellschaft mbH fur Technische Zusammenarbeit (GTZ), Eschborn, Germany.
Chambers, R., A. Pacey, and L. Thrupp (Eds.), 1989. Farmer First: Farmer Innovation and Agricultural Research. London: Intermediate Technology Publications.
CIAT, 1997. Community-led management of watershed resources in hillside agro-ecosystems of Latin America. Annual highlights for project PE-3. October 1997. International Center for Tropical Agriculture, Cali, Colombia.
Engle, C.R. and N.M. Stone, 1989. A Review of Extension Methodologies in Aquaculture. Rome, FAO. ADCP/REP/89/44.
Kaimowitz, D., 1991. The evolution of links between extension and research in developing countries. p.101-112 in W.M Rivera and D.J. Gustafson, (eds.) Agricultural Extension: Worldwide Institutional Evolution and Forces for Change. Elsevier, Amsterdam.
Nath, S.S., B.P. Verma, J.H. Park, D. Nute, and E.B. Knapp, 1999a. Concurrent Decision-making: Principles, Supportive Technology and Applications. Paper presented at the National Center for Environmental Decision-Making Research (NCEDR) annual meeting, April 12 – 14, 1999.
Nath, S.S., B.P. Verma, D. Nute, E.B. Knapp, and V. Zapata, 1999b. Decision Making methodology for multiple stakeholder teams. CIAT, Cali, Colombia (in preparation).
Nute, D., S. Nath, G. Rosenberg, B. Verma, H.M. Rauscher, M.J. Twery, and M. Grove, 1999. Goals and a goal orientation in decision support systems for ecosystem management. Intl. Union of Forest Res. Orgns. (IUFRO). (Submitted.)
Shehadeh, Z.H. and M. Pedini, 1997. Issues and Challenges. In: Review of the State of World Aquaculture, FAO Fisheries Circular No. 886 <www.fao.org>.
1El Centro Internacional de Agricultura Tropical (CIAT) is conducting various projects in Central America focusing on participation and conservation of natural resources. Specifically, "Proyecto CIAT-Laderas (CIATHILL)" is undertaking a series of investigations at three scales; regional (Centro América); national (Honduras and Nicaragua); and in specific sites at different elevations in Honduras and Nicaragua. The work sites are in the departments of Atlantida, Yoro, and El Paraiso in Honduras, and in the department of Matagalpa (San Dionisio) in Nicaragua. <www.intertel.hn/org/ciathill/SITIOS/Sitios.htm>
2The lead and supporting facilitators will be identified after consultations with various Zamorano personnel in Honduras. It will be necessary to train the identified personnel in the concurrent decision-making process and associated facilitation skills prior to the actual workshop. We have already undertaken such training activities in Honduras and Nicaragua in association with CIAT.
3Escuela Nacional Agrícola (ENA) is located in the town of Catacamas, department of Olancho. Managed by the Ministry of Natural Resources (Ministerio de Recursos Naturales) as a semi-autonomous institution that offers a three-year Agronomy degree. ENA fish culture facility has 26 ponds that are used for education, training, and to produce food for the students. ENA has ties with the Organización Latino Americana para el Desarrollo de la Pesca (OLDEPESCA‹Latin American Organization for Fisheries Development) has a branch for Central America called PRADEPESCA (Proyecto Regional de Apoyo al Desarrollo de la Pesca en Centro America). With EEC support, a 14-pond research unit was built in Catacamas near the ENA campus (Molnar et al., 1997).
PD/A CRSP
