Local knowledge collection and analysis

Local knowledge was acquired using knowledge-based systems methodology and software (Sinclair and Walker 1998). This methodology involves a series of iterative cycles of eliciting knowledge from a small purposive sample of farmers, through semi- structured interview, and then representation and evaluation of the knowledge obtained

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55 using an explicit knowledge-based systems approach. The knowledge base remains a durable and accessible record of the knowledge acquired and is subjected to validation in a generalisation phase where a questionnaire instrument is used with a large random sample of informants to explore the occurrence of knowledge amongst people within the community (Walker and Sinclair, 1998).

Prior to compiling knowledge bases, a short scoping study with key informants was completed in order to refine the objectives of knowledge acquisition. Meetings were held with seven coffee extension staff and eight farmers. Local coffee technicians, knowledgeable about farmers and farms, explained the variation in management intensity within the research area that varied from low intensity diversified farms thought to be providers of environmental services to the high intensity but less diverse farms where coffee production was the overriding goal.

A stratification of farmers, based on the intensity of management of coffee was constructed in discussion with coffee extension staff. Coffee farmers in the area were classified into three groups: a) farmers who applied coffee management practices for high coffee productivity labelled intensive coffee producers, b) farmers who does not managed coffee practices, and supossedly have more complex and diversified tree cover, labelled as environmental service providers, and c) farmers who applied some coffee management practices and have an intermediate complexed tree cover in their plantations, labelled as balanced farmers (Figure 3.3). Coffee technicians suggested the coffee farmers in each group to be interviewed. Most coffee farmers in the area were men and gender was not used as a stratification criterion since we were not pursuing hypotheses related to differences in knowledge by gender (there was one woman in the sample of farmers interviewed). The age of informants was recorded and most (13) were between 35 and 60 years old with four younger than this and three older.

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Figure 3.3. Framework for stratification of farm management intensity and environmental service provision within the study area according to local extension staff, and the number of farmers interviewed from each group

Interviews comprised four sections. The first focused on farm characteristics, coffee management calendar, soil conservation practices, water conservation practices and reasons for doing management activities. The second section focused on trees: shade canopy management, usefulness of trees, tree attributes and classifications; and what mammals and birds were associated with trees. The third section focused on the positive and negative impacts on ecosystem services of the trees mentioned previously. The fourth and last section focused on the trade-offs among ecosystem services and coffee productivity.

A set of 47 interviews were held with 20 farmers in an iterative cycle of interview, representation, evaluation and then further interviews as required to clarify or probe more deeply. The interview cycle continued until further interviews did not result in a change in the knowledge representation, with 13 farmers interviewed twice, eight three times, five four times and one five times. Interviews were a combination of semi- structured (Pretty, 1995) and depth interviews(Laws et al., 2003) that probed farmers’

57 knowledge about topics indicated above. Each interview lasted no more than 90 minutes, unless the farmer was keen to continue. Interviews were always initiated with a full description of the purpose of the research. Interviews were held in the farmer’s coffee farm, where possible, so that farmers’ explanations were articulated in context, and farmers were able to support their assertions with examples from the surrounding environment. Non-leading questions were used to elicit farmers’ knowledge without influencing their answers. Care was taken to ensure that farmers felt comfortable during interviews and focused on the topics that farmers were knowledgeable about.

Local knowledge was recorded using the AKT software system (Dixon et al. 2001) that involved disaggregation of knowledge into sets of unitary statements represented using a formal grammar (Walker and Sinclair 1998), with associated contextual information about the definition and taxonomy of terms (Sinclair and Walker 1998). The knowledge was evaluated for coherence and consistency as it was collected, using a suite of automated reasoning tools and a diagrammatic interface to explore connections among statements (Walker et al., 1997).

Notes were taken during interviews and a digital recording was made with permission from the interviewee, to facilitate representation. During knowledge acquisition, farmers were asked how they came to know the items of knowledge that they articulated.

This information was used to classify unitary statements as being either observed (directly observed by the informant), perceived (believed to be true, often from self- evident reasoning, but had not been directly observed), or received (contributed to the informant from another source, such as a person, book, radio or other media but not corroborated by direct observation).