68 The Global Food System
one type of LEIT would be more likely to lower their use of external inputs in
general. This does not seem to be the case, however. Honduran farmers who use
in-row tillage and Kenyan farmers who establish conservation structures are both
more likely to use fertilizer on their food crops. In these cases, the LEIT provides
an environment in which a profitable fertilizer response is more assured. These
examples illustrate that there is no necessary connection between the use of one
type of LEIT and a general reduction in external inputs. In most cases, farmers
make decisions about various crop management technologies independently and
pragmatically, without reference to any overarching philosophy regarding external
inputs. In addition, farming systems evolve and require the consideration of new
management practices. The success of the LEIT project in Honduras is one of the
factors that motivated some farmers to begin commercial vegetable production
and this has led to a considerable increase in the use of pesticides (and there is no
indication that vegetable growers employing in-row tillage use less pesticide than
their neighbours who use conventional tillage).
This is not to say that farmers are unaware of environmental concerns or that
the LEIT projects were not successful in helping encourage farmers to consider the
importance of resource conservation. Rice farmers in Sri Lanka were anxious to
extend what they had learned about IPM to vegetables, but had not been able to
do so. In some cases those farmers credited environmental concerns for their inter-
est in IPM, and FFS participants were much more likely than the non-participants
to cite environmental rather than economic reasons for their choice of practices,
but there was no evidence that such rationale took precedence over economic fac-
tors in decisions about technology use.
Human and Social Capital
Because LEIT utilizes local resources, is often developed through adaptive experi-
mentation, and may be introduced through processes of social learning, it is rea-
sonable to expect that it can make a greater contribution to the development of
individual farmers’ skills and broader community capacities than the introduction
of conventional technology. LEIT projects often make a conscientious effort to
promote these goals of developing human and social capital. The project in Hon-
duras put particular emphasis on farmer experimentation and support to farmer-
extensionists, following a model developed earlier (Bunch, 1982). Organization of
conservation work in the Kenya case was guided by an elected committee, and the
FFS approach used in Sri Lanka is well known as an effective application of social
learning techniques.
In many instances, the technology introduced by the projects led to subsequent
adaptation. In Honduras, about one-fifth of the participants who established in-row
tillage made some type of modification subsequent to the initial adoption. Similarly,
about one-third of the Kenyan farmers who established a conservation structure