Participatory Evaluation Of Work With Self Help Groups To Promote Conservation Farming

Author : Elsie Assan
Publisher :
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 0 pages
Book Rating : 4.:/5 (138 download)

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Download or read book Evaluating The Implementation of and Farmers' Participation in the Environmental Quality Incentives Program written by Elsie Assan and published by . This book was released on 2023 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The negative environmental impacts of intensive agricultural production activities across the globe and specifically in the United States (US) is well known. Governments in affected countries including the US have instituted agri-environmental programs to address the negative environmental impacts of agriculture. At the US federal level, a suite of conservation programs referred to as Farm Bill conservation programs (e.g., Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP)) provide technical and financial assistance to farmers and other rural land managers in exchange for their voluntary adoption of best management practices (BMPs) to address resources concern resulting from agriculture. The planning, policy development, and implementation of these programs encourage partnerships among government-sponsored conservation agencies and other public-private conservation agencies as well as public participation at the federal, state, and local levels of decision-making. Partnerships and public participation in conservation program planning and implementation processes are encouraged since it helps to account for public concerns, increase understanding of resource concern priorities, increase acceptance of the resultant program, and improve the efficient use of program resources and achievement of program goals. However, there is limited research conducted to explore the extent of public participation in program planning and implementation as well as how farmers make decisions to either participate or not participate in these government-sponsored agri-environmental programs. Drawing on the environmental governance framework and the diffusion of innovation theory, this dissertation sought to evaluate the implementation of and farmers' participation in the Environmental Quality Incentives Program in Pennsylvania. This dissertation is built around three essays. The first essay utilizes data from interviews with conservation managers at federal, state, and local levels and program document analysis to explore the extent to which EQIP planning and implementation processes follow four concepts of environmental governance: adaptiveness, flexibility, and learning; knowledge co-production; acknowledgment of new actors and their roles; and accountability and legitimacy, at the federal, state, and local levels. The findings of the study show the presence of certain components of the four concepts in program planning and implementation processes, mainly because program decision-making processes and implementation practices are informed by congressional mandates and legislation. There is the participation of diverse stakeholders and conservation agencies in program processes at all three levels of decision-making and stakeholders play diverse roles in enhancing the achievement of program objectives. The essay also discusses the challenges identified and recommends strategies to enhance the governance of EQIP. The second essay reports the findings from interviews with conservation field staff at the local level regarding their perspectives on diverse stakeholder participation in EQIP planning and implementation practices at the local level, approaches and challenges to outreach, and barriers to EQIP implementation at the local level. The findings revealed a mixed perspective on the participation of diverse stakeholders in program processes. Further, the results showed that mostly government conservation agencies, their partners, and stakeholders work together and sometimes separately to conduct program outreach utilizing a variety of communication channels and delivery methods. The key outreach approach relied on by both government and non-government agencies is "word of mouth" to disseminate program information. The study findings indicate that farmer-related challenges (e.g., costs associated with program participation, anti-government sentiments, bureaucracy, and inadequate awareness about program existence and goals) and program-related challenges (e.g., staff capacity, attitude, and knowledge about agriculture, inadequate funding, bureaucracy, inflexible program rules, regulations, and internal policies, etc.) could hinder program implementation at the local level. The final essay utilizes both qualitative and quantitative data collected from three Pennsylvania counties within the Chesapeake Bay watershed to explore how farmers make decisions to participate in the Environmental Quality Incentives Program. It specifically examined farmers' familiarity with the program and perception of program fit to local farm management practices, farmers' sources of conservation program information, motivators of and barriers to program participation. The findings suggest that both EQIP participants and non-participants have differing levels of familiarity with the program and perceived the program as a good fit for addressing resources concern on the farm and off the farm. Further, EQIP participants and non-participants access program information from multiple sources including formal and informal sources. The findings also revealed program-related characteristics (e.g., cost share, environmental benefits, etc.) and personal reasons (e.g., environmental stewardship, social recognition for conservation efforts, etc.) as motivators for program participation. Self-autonomy and distrust of government conservation agencies, inadequate information on EQIP goals and benefits, religious reasons, and perceived limited knowledge of the heterogeneity of farms among conservation staff were some of the barriers to program participation. The essay also discusses how understanding the differences between the two groups of farmers can help conservation professionals enhance the participation of farmers in conservation programs. Taken together, the three essays highlight program governance issues that could be improved to enhance public participation, support, and buy-in for conservation programs. Overall, this dissertation findings could improve understanding of how national-level decisions about natural resources conservation influence implementation decisions at the state and local level as well as farmer participation in EQIP. More generally the findings could enable states in the northeast region, particularly, Pennsylvania to secure conservation gains and enhance farmer participation in conservation programs such as EQIP over time.