Adopsiteknologi’s Blog

Sebuah pengalaman bagaimana sebuah teknologi mampu diterima dan popler dimanfaatkan oleh petani – komunitas masyarakat yang umumnya awam teknologi. Pengalaman uji coba dan sosialisasi teknologi ini menunjukkan bahwa, untuk bisa diterima dan akhirnya popluar dimanfaatkan oleh pengguna sebuah teknologi haruslah:

1. Diujicobakan terlebih dahulu digunakan langsung oleh komunitas pengguna dalam skala komunitas kecil, kemudian di-evaluasi.

Pendekatan ini memiliki banyak kelebihan yang telah terbukti, diantaranya: mampu mendeteksi/mengevaluasi faktor-faktor yang dapat menyebabkan penolakan pengguna, menarik perhatian dan rasa “kepemilikan” calon pengguna karena merasa dilibatkan dalam pengembangan teknologi bahkan dilibatkan dalam manajemen penggunaannya.

2. Sebagai awal supply pengguna dengan berbagai kemudahan memiliki teknologi, misalnya keringanan kredit, pemberian cuma-cuma, inisiatif supply dari pemerintah pusat terlebih dahulu.

3. Tahapan berikutnya, sebaiknya proses supply teknologi melibatkan komunitas lokal dalam bentuk ‘business venture’ sehingga harga teknologi dapat diturunkan dan pengguna dapat langsung membeli dari supplier lokal.

Berikut Case Study Bangladesh dalam Teknology untuk Petani:

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Involving farmers and farming communities in decisions about new agricultural technologies or management practices and allowing them to try a technology form the crux of the participatory approach to research. Not only does this give farming communities a sense of ownership, it also ensures that the technologies are sustainable under the farmers’ own management.

But is farmer participation alone enough to ensure that new technologies are successfully adopted? Even if a new technology initially proves acceptable to farmers, it may ultimately be policy support from governments that catalyzes its spread. Attracting such support requires that governments themselves also participate in the technology adoption process.

In Bangladesh, the direct seeding of rice with plastic drum seeders provides a good example. A drum seeder consists of a series of perforated drums supported between two wheels. Seeds are placed in the drums and the device is hand-pulled by one farmer, allowing seeds to fall in rows into the puddled field. This technology offers great potential to save labor and increase yield and income for Bangladeshi farmers.

Beginning in the 2003 aman (monsoon) season, an IRRI-led drum-seeding trial had five farmers try the technology in their fi elds. By the next boro (dry) season, the trial had expanded to include farmers in 56 locations across the country. Now, after just three seasons, demand for drum seeders is rising rapidly. Some 4,000 Bangladeshi farmers are currently using the technology, with hundreds more seeking access to it.

In the early stages of the trials, IRRI, the Bangladesh Rice Research Institute and the Bangladesh Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE) supplied drum seeders to participating farmers. This was designed to be a starting point rather than a sustainable approach. In the longer term, IRRI envisioned a local manufacturer producing and selling drum seeders as a business venture, and local farmers purchasing directly or through retailers. But this is not something that IRRI and its research and funding partners can achieve alone — it requires the backing of the Bangladeshi government. Sure enough, encouraging government involvement has been a critical part of ensuring the policy support needed for widespread adoption of drum seeding.(M. Zainul Abedi, IRRI 2005)