ICRISAT Archival Report 2006 - The seedlings of success in the ...

This study aims to understand and clarify less understood aspects of the relationship between livelihoods, food
insecurity and HIV/AIDS. A set of six case studies is planned to examine the dynamics of risk behavior and the
spread of the HIV epidemic. This paper gives initial insights and key findings from this initiative in Bhongir and
also throws light on preliminary observations made from the reconnaissance visit in Kolar, Karnataka.
The initial analysis and readings of the ethnographic data present unique dimension to the way HIV/AIDS have
been perceived and this paves the way to look at the connections between HIV/AIDS, rural livelihoods and
agriculture. Majority of the people who were tested are involved in agricultural labor or owned lands and
cultivated. A majority of these people from agricultural background, who visited VCTC even though they were
not tested to be HIV positive suffered from STDs. There remains many questions, some of which may be
answered with the quantitative analysis and some may require in depth ethnographic study. The questions that
arise are: What are the migratory patterns of these men and women. How do they tap the sex network in the city
in which they migrate and what are the local sex networks. Since most of them are temporary migrants who
come back to the village after working in the cities, what facilities can be made or how can technology
innovations including agricultural and NRM interventions be harnessed to improve their livelihoods, create a
strong income and asset base to cope with the disease and provide additional and supplementary nutrition. The
case studies thus pave the way for further in depth analysis of the HIV – poverty –rural livelihood linkages, to
better understand the gaps in order to enable targeted interventions.
1E.4. Options for targeting technology interventions for HIV/AIDS affected households defined (2006)
Several studies have been conducted on targeting technology interventions for HIV/AIDS to improve rural
livelihoods within the agricultural sector:
• Seed Systems and HIV and AIDS Impacts
• HIV and AIDS impact mitigation: convergence of short-term humanitarian and longer-term
development interventions
• Harnessing Social Capital for HIV and AIDS Impact Mitigation: Implications for Agricultural
Technology Targeting
• Scaling out agricultural technologies to HIV and AIDS orphaned and vulnerable children
• Mainstreaming HIV/AIDS and gender in the challenge program Water for Food project in the Limpopo
river basin
Objectives: The overall objective was to understand the impacts and to inform research and development policy
both at ICRISAT and for partners in the process of designing and implementing effective technology delivery
systems for scaling up/out.
Main findings and policy implications:
Seed systems: Commodity-specific extension by the private sector (NASFAM) contributed significantly to the
transfer of information and knowledge on seed particularly for crops with relatively high market value within
generations. The two main inter-generational pathways utilised focused on interventions involving kinship ties
particularly grandparents through involvement and teaching-by-doing. The alternative pathway utilised formal
schools as institutions.
Action research and short-term versus long-term interventions: Action Research will be useful across the shortterm,
transition and long-term phases. In the short-term, AR should be applied to Aid the targeting process and
to specifically identify entry points into communities. It should further be utilised to set priorities upon which
the transition phase will build.
Social capital in HIV and AIDS impact mitigation: Two main forms of social capital were most useful to the
communities: community-based networks and meso-level formal organizations working with the communities.
The implication is that agricultural development and research institutions need to engage formal and informal
community-based networks and the health sector in addressing the effects of HIV and AIDS.
Scaling out of agricultural technologies: The study recommended that for interventions that offer direct gains to
orphaned and vulnerable children to succeed, several important issues ought to be considered: understand the
socio-demographic characteristics of the communities; inclusive beneficiary targeting process; the choice of
project interventions based on proper appraisal and targeting; and stronger partnerships and synergies with
formal and informal local networks.
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