India launches Agricultural Wikipedia

This is a photo of a shantaben (widow, literally means "peace (shanta) sister (ben)" and her son. She is an agricultural worker and the only wage earner in the family of four. Location: Nokna Village, Rajasthan, India. Photo taken by Dan Morrison (www.1Well.org)

Dan1Well has contributed a photo to this story.

Malaysian Agricultural Park , the only agro-forestry park around, is located in Shah Alam and the rain forest spans up to 1290 hectre. The park is unique because

People come here to either explore, or for recreation. One of the many reasons to why the park is visited by many is because of the many activities that is in store for the visitors. Services provided are live demonstrations, cultural exhibits, accomodation, permanent displays and descriptions, and activities for educational purposes.
Families and friends come her to relax, or to enjoy a picnic.

ichi has contributed a photo to this story.

Great video of Vandana, she's amazing!  Agropedia sounds cool too!

Interestingly, the pics of mine used in this article is from a ecosan test field. That is, rather than dumping our [human] waste into the rivers/lakes/etc, folks have been gathering our urine and dried feces (separately), the Urine is rich in the key ingredients of fertilizer, N, P & K, and so the rice fields are watered with it.  That pic was of a test crop, comparing yields with different dilutions of urine, no urine, and possibly also a fertilizer one I can't quite remember.  AWESOME.

Excellent, and especially the video of video of Vandana Shiva.  She says it all!

My only worry about Agropedia is that it does not permit access to those who cant read.  And it would be difficult to take into account the very real and different problems in different Indian States - Bihar versus the Punjab, for example.  But it is a step in the right direction and will certainly appeal to the early adopters (rural sociologists reckon these are the critical farmers for taking up new ideas). That takes account of the innovations the risk takers/early adopters are looking for. But the other key issue is advice to farmers who have problems they need resolving.  That can only come about through a close connexion between experts and farmers, where the experts are interested in really listening to the small farmers and then going out to answer these issues.  That cannot come about through a broad net like Wikipedia!  The UK has an excellent farm advice service where there is a great deal of trust between farmers and advisers. 

Some friends of mine, years ago, went off to farm 17 disused terraces in rural Portugal.  What they found was that everyone in the village watched their progress, as they did every farmer's work.  If they did well, everone knew about it, and some farmers might copy their innovations!  If they did badly, they were the laughing stock of the village.  Gossip is a very powerful sanction in the countryside! In Thailand, the King has six experimental farms in the six Thai regions, given over to the typical problems that local farmers have.  This is why people in the countryside love their king.  I think what Indian small farmers need is a proper local agricultural advice and support service, able to help farmers with their very real problems.