Managing food supply – strategies to increase
production:
appropriate/intermediate technology solutions. What is Intermediate Technology? Kukri Mukri case study Kenya Case study What is Appropriate or Intermediate Technology? |
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The green revolution sought to bring high technology solutions to poorer nations from richer nations. The use of Genetic modification and other biotechnology approaches are also very High Tech. However, these are not always the best solutions for farmers working in poorer nations. They can lack the technical expertise and know how, or finance, to get these strategies working properly. Intermediate or appropriate technology is a middle way between high tech and low tech farming methods. It was founded by Dr E.F. Schumacher as an alternative path for development for poorer people. He founded his Intermediate Technology Development Group (ITDG) in 1966 and published his ideas in a book "small is beautiful" in 1973. His argument centred around the old proverb "Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day, teach him how to fish and you feed him for life" |
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Think about it! Research the Appropriate Technology Asia website to discover; What sorts of projects they are implementing Where they are implementing the projects Why those schemes are needed Consider how those schemes can be classified as appropriate or intermediate technology. |
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The goal was to move away from a dependency on aid and handouts and towards self sufficiency and self respect.
This criticises big grandiose aid projects and
advocates a smaller more appropriate form of help for the world's poorest
people. In most poor countries, high tech industries are too expensive to
develop and inappropriate to the needs of local people.
Appropriate/intermediate technology is usually; A) Labour intensive - utilising
and creating employment for local labour. Some case studies: |
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View A map of the Kukri Mukri area in a larger map |
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Kenya -
The Intermediate Technology Development Group (ITDG) is a
British Charity which has worked in Rural Kenya. It aims
to help people meet their basic needs of food, clothing,
housing, energy and employment. It use local knowledge,
training and finance to help people become more self sufficient.
In Kenya the ITDG has; The previously Nomadic Maasai herdsmen are being forced to become sedentary. ITDG is helping them find affordable housing, helping them repair roofs with small amounts of cement, and by incorporating guttering and water collection jars into housing women are being spared the job of walking long distance to collect water. Kenyan women rely on wood for cooking. This can take rural women a long time to collect. An improved cooking stove (jiko) has been developed that reduces the amount of wood and charcoal needed and is based on a traditional design and constructed using scrap materials. |
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