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Local Knowledge of Coffee Productivity and Ecosystem Services in

1. Object hierarchy A way of organising knowledge about specific objects under more generic terms e g avocado trees and bananas are all types of fruit tree Primitives Small program segments within AKT5 employed for running a tool Process A type of formal term used to refer to a change or a flux in the natural world e g decomposition erosion Prolog WinProlog An artificial intelligence programming language used for developing AKTS software Source The origin of the information contained within a statement There are two types of sources interview sources and reference sources Subobject of an object An object that appears below another object in an object hierarchy e g Grevillea robusta would be a subobject of trees Superobject of an object An object that appears above another object in an object hierarchy e g trees would be a superobject of Grevillea robusta Synonym A word with the same meaning as a formal term usually used to denote a local or scientific name for a specified species and as a method for switching between English and the language of the particular research site There can be any number of synonyms System tools Tools stored within AKT5 which can be used to interrogate and evaluate the content within knowledge base s Tool A small computer program supplied with AKT5 that serves to interrogate and reason with the content of the
2. action Attributes are generally measurable e g height colour frequency rate gradient temperature Boolean search A keyword search mechanism for retrieving statements containing particular key words Any combination of words may be used in conjunction with AND and OR Causal statement A statement about the causal relationships between two objects processes or actions Comparison A type of formal term used in comparison statements Comparison statement A type of statement that compares the properties of two objects Conditions The conditions that need to be in place for a specific statement to be true Control structures When working with tools program segments within AKTS5 which control when and upon what knowledge primitives are used Data A set of observations which may be quantitative or qualitative Derivation The origin of the information given by a source e g observed hearsay unknown Diagram A way of graphically representing causal and link statements Formal language The restricted syntax grammar by which knowledge is entered into AKT5 Formal term Terms words that constitue a formal language statement that do not belong to the reserved AKT5 grammar Knowledge The outcome independent of the interpreter of the interpretation of data or information Knowledge base Kb An articulated and defined set of knowledge stored on a computer whi
3. AKTS screen 13 Sources Sources tell you the origin of a statement All statements have a source which can be of 2 types an interview with a person e g a farmer or a literature reference e g a journal article In the case of the Nicaraguan knowledge base all the sources are coffee farmers surrounding Macizo Pefias Blancas Reserve Go to the tool bar on the main AKTS5 screen top left and select Sources from the KB drop down menu On the left is a list of all the sources interviewed for the knowledge base Let us look at one of them Highlight the name Arturo Cruz Mar n Pe as Blancas 2008a and click on Details A dialog box appears giving you the name of the person interviewed the interviewer and date of interview You are also given the gender age category farm size category farming method and a location which is their community of residence If you select Memo you will be given any further details that the creator of the knowledge base deemed important contextual information in this case there is not a memo Click on X on all three dialog boxes to return to the main AKTS screen Topics From the tool bar on the main AKTS5 screen select Topics from the KB drop down menu This gives you a list of all the topics in the knowledge base Highlight Trees and mammals and select Details Edit In the dialog box that appears you will see in the Boolean Search S
4. E i Tamarindus indica amorado Medium Medium Not pruned Small Closed Medium Evergreen Exotic Soft Medium Medium Medium Medium Undefined Coralito Medium Medium Not pruned Medium Closed Soft Deciduous Native Soft and plentiful Medium Bad Medium Good je ia Coyote Medium Slow Not pruned Small Open Soft Deciduous Native Soft Medium Medium Medium Medium Solanum bansii Cuernavaco Medium Fast Easy Medium Open Soft Evergreen Native Soft and plentiful Fresh Good Good Medium crie Gavil n High Medium Not pruned Medium Open Soft Deciduous Native Soft and plentiful Medium Medium Medium Bad Acosmium 2 panamense Granadillo High Slow Not pruned Medium Open Hard Deciduous Native Hard Caliente Medium Bad Bad Inga sapintoides Guaba blanca Medium Medium Easy Medium Open Soft Evergreen Native Soft and plentiful Fresh Good Good Good Inga oerstediana Guaba colorada Medium Medium Easy Big Open Soft Evergreen Native Soft and plentiful Fresh Good Good Good Inga nobilis Guaba negra Medium Medium Easy Medium Open Soft Evergreen Native Soft and plentiful Fresh Good Good Good Inga jinicuil Guaba cuajinicuil Medium Medium Easy Medium Open Medium Evergreen Native Soft and plentiful Fresh Medium Medium Good 49 Inga punctata Guaba c
5. Reserve 29 44 46 Title pg 7 10 24 37 iii 1 Local knowledge of coffee productivity and ecosystem services in coffee plantations surrounding Macizo Penas Blancas Reserve Nicaragua A GUIDE TO USING THE CAFNET NICARAGUA KNOWLEDGE BASE 1 1 What is the purpose of this guide This publication is intended to guide first time users through a knowledge base Kb created in Macizo Penas Blancas Reserve of Matagalpa and Jinotega Department Nicaragua It has been designed to assist new users in exploring the local knowledge base that has been developed for the CAFNET project The knowledge base contains agro ecological knowledge primarily about interactions between coffee productivity and shade tree species used on plantations and the role of coffee plantations in providing ecosystem services Greater explanation regarding the AKT5 methodology and the steps to creating a knowledge base can be found in the comprehensive user manual written by Dixon et al 2001 a translation in Spanish is also available The principles of knowledge base creation have been explained by Sinclair and Walker 1998 and Walker and Sinclair 1998 how this approach applies within a natural resource management context is discussed by Sinclair and Walker 1999 and Sinclair and Joshi 2000 The software and manual can be downloaded from the AKTS5 website at http akt bangor ac uk 1 2 Consulting knowledge bases Kbs Local knowledge can help researchers
6. Shows the good soil trees object hierarchy with its subobjects Tree leaf litter and root systems herbicide applications and weeds were considered major factors influencing soil erosion and could be managed in ways that could either increase or reduce erosion and therefore soil fertility It was more often that farmers appreciated the function of trees in conserving soil across areas with steep slopes rather than gently sloped and flat land They also considered weed roots as helping against soil erosion and this was the main reason why organic and some conventional farmers disagreed with herbicide application The statements about herbicide use in the knowledge base all indicate that it can lead to an increase in soil erosion and decrease in soil fertility because it kills weeds good and bad and seedlings of native tree species observed on farms as well soil microorganisms heard at training sessions For two farmers in Los Andes Community it proved cheaper to plant good shade trees to control weeds than apply herbicides Kb Statement No 269 one of these farmers was certified organic and the other was considered low conventional in his methods 39 4 3 3 Climatic regulation and water provision At a coffee plantation scale farmers did not plant trees in a particular way to exploit their ability to draw water up from deep in the ground or help rain water infiltrate the soil However they were very careful in the case of t
7. and Forest Sciences University of Wales Bangor Walker D H and Sinclair F L 1998 Acquiring qualitative knowledge about complex agroecosystems Part 2 Formal representation Agricultural systems 56 pp 365 386 43 Appendix 1 Tools for analysing the knowledge The Tools in AKT5 perform automated reasoning System tools come with the AKT5 software whereas Other User Tools are developed with a specific knowledge base or collection of knowledge bases in mind in this case CAFNET knowledge bases The tools enable the user to analyse and compare knowledge in a much more powerful manner than would otherwise be possible using simple Boolean search operations Tools are used primarily for two distinct functions 1 to facilitate the development of knowledge bases and 2 knowledge base exploration especially when there is more than one knowledge base to be interrogated at the same time Table 4 Useful tools for CAFNET knowledge bases Name of Tool Description Tool Location knowledge_base_report Produces a report that summarises the main Kb content System tools Knowledge Evaluation formal_terms_table Tabulated output that shows all formal terms and their presence across System tools Comparative Analysis interactions between object hierarchies or singular objects within the Kb statements all open Kbs interactions_amongst_components Tabulated output Other User
8. be more than its contribution of organic matter Figure 14 Banana fruits from the research area were well valued on the national market and gave reason for farmers to keep them within the coffee plantations particularly because banana selling was possible throughout the year unlike coffee which was seasonal zs Statement Details cafnet nicaragua Statement No 598 Knowledge Base cafnet nicaragua SM suc j Sources Derivation az EE 1 2008 a 7 observe m TESI Derivation Rafael Angel Amador Altamirano Divisiones del Cu 20 observed Germ n Rugama Garc a La Chata 2008 a observed Guadalupe Rivera La Chata 2008 a observed Jos Dolores Ubeda E Cua 2008 a observed 4 Noe Adans R o Santa Rosa 2008 a observed Oscar Danilo Tores Los amp ndes 2008 a observed Formal Terms Memo m Formal Language Statement process banana shading coffee causeslway att valuei soil f Syuntay Check b d Translate att valueibanana amount hicdgh y Auto grammar help Figure 14 Kb Statement No 598 showing the impact of growing a high amount of bananas with coffee with eight sources appended to it 4 2 2 Summary Trees were classified largely according to the main extremes of fresh and caliente and this helps to show the ideal shade trees to be used within coffee plantations in comparison to the less ideal But the reason for growing particular species with coffee
9. forest areas depending on the farming practices carried out 7N Gobierno de Nicaragua Ministerio del Ambiente y los Recursos Naturales MARENA RESERVA ve LA BIOSFERA posawas RESERVA NATURAL MACIZO DE PENAS BLANCAS JINOTEGA AA MATAGALPA PA we SSS ras 2 j 2 MUNICIPIO RANCHO GRANDE iN Pee 4 A Figure 3 Location of Macizo Pe as Blancas Reserve 2 2 1 Technical assistance for coffee farmers in study area In comparison to the other CAFNET research areas in Guatemala and Costa Rica the research areas of Matagalpa and Jinotega Departments in Nicaragua had much more training available for coffee farmers In El Cu Municipality there was a Swedish coffee project that was running for 10 years FondeAgro and had started in the year 2000 it was aiming to increase farm income in two areas in Nicaragua within Matagalpa and Jinotega Departments by increasing both livestock and crop productivity through farmer capacity building Project components included technical assistance for coffee and livestock production and home garden management for female groups There were more than 18000 persons such training from FondeAgro including the majority of coffee farmers in El Cua Municipality Technical assistance throughout the different phases of coffee production was taking place For instance when interviews were being conducted FondeAgro was carrying out a campaign promoting coffee pruning Another w
10. order to understand locally held perceptions of tree diversity and agro ecological interactions within coffee agroforestry systems For the local knowledge component of the CAFNET project the main objectives are 1 to document local agro ecological knowledge of coffee farmers on the diversity of species found within coffee plantations and the interactions between species in terms of productivity and sustainability and 2 to identify any key gaps in the knowledge held by coffee farmers or scientists and to pull out any contrasting or comparative knowledge between coffee farmers and scientists 2 2 Study area Central America is the central geographic region of America which connects northern South America Colombia with southern North America Chiapas Tabasco Campeche and Quintana Roo Mexican states Central America is made up of seven countries Belize Guatemala El Salvador Honduras Nicaragua Costa Rica and Panama Central America has approximately 522 000 square kilometres with coffee being grown on an estimated 893 000 hectares of this area CEPAL 2002 Coffee has been one of the main agricultural crops and source of export earnings over the last century currently playing an important role in the national income of several countries including 7 296 of the Gross Domestic Product GDP in Nicaragua 4 2 in Guatemala and 1 3 in Costa Rica ICAFE 2005 Three areas were selected in Central America to take part in the CAFNET pro
11. protecting water sources and shade quality for coffee Other fresh tree exceptions included guaba cuajinicuil Inga jinicuil and guaba cuajilote Inga punctata which were regarded as having medium value for both shade quality for coffee and impact on soil in comparison to other nga species Consistently however there were not any caliente trees considered as having any good impacts or fresh trees as having any bad impacts on soil and water The classification of trees into the fresh and caliente categories was shaped by the shade quality they were observed to offer coffee Trees were stated as either not used for shading coffee or providing bad medium or good shade For instance trees that were not used for shading coffee were those species that were never or very rarely found within coffee plantations farmers would either know of these species from using them on other parts of the farm or because they was present in the nearby forests A tree that provided bad shade for coffee would be one that farmers understood to have a competitive interaction with coffee but was found within coffee plantations because of other reasons that overrode the competition aspect usually income related Trees that provided good shade for coffee were deemed the most appropriate species to intercrop with coffee and were usually the most abundant within coffee plantations 28
12. said in the interview that he had learnt in the trainings about the pod shape of the fruits this then resulted in him observing the effect on soil of the trees that he knew had such attributes A farmer from Empalme Pefias Blancas Community also mentioned that a technician showed him the seeds that Inga trees have in the roots and that are fixing nitrogen He was using the word seeds when referring to root nodules Plate 4 Farmer showing the seeds the roots of an Inga tree in Empalme Pefias Blancas Community Photograph taken by Carlos Cerd n May 2008 Although knowledge about nitrogen fixation was recorded during interviews it was not clearly understood by the farmers with two farmers one from Pefias Blancas Community and another from Divisiones del Cu Community explaining nitrogen fixation in various ways during the interviews seemingly distorted from what they had originally been taught in training sessions The aforementioned farmer from Pefias Blancas Community was visited three times and in each interview he varied the fixation attribute of the Inga 24 genus first of all he said that nga species fix nitrogen during the second interview he said that they fix calcium and in the last visit he said that they fix phosphorus On the whole farmers knew the word nitrogen but were unable to explain it further as illustrated by the eight statements in the Kb that are limited in their explanatory dept
13. the appropriate icon from the Start menu 2 Always start AKT5 and then load a knowledge base never start by clicking on Kb file to open 3 Open the cafnet nicaragua kb by selecting KB from the tool bar at the top of the page clicking on Open Kb then selecting the cafnet nicaragua kb from its saved location and clicking on Open 11 Welcome Dialog Box Read the Welcome Memo dialog box to get an idea of what the knowledge base is about Select Further Details to find out where when and how the knowledge base was made Click on Pictures Diagrams read the text at the top and then view each picture by clicking on it When you have finished with each picture diagram click on the X in the top right corner to close the dialog box The diagram provides background information about the livelihoods of the farmers who participated in the research Click on the X in the top right corner to return to the Welcome Memo screen Switching the language of the knowledge base English Spanish Spanish English In some knowledge bases including this one it is possible to switch from English script to a largely Spanish script To access this function go to the Tool drop down menu on the main toolbar in the top left hand corner of the page Select transpose formal terms and synonyms Kb Position from the General drop down menu which can be found under System Tools Figure 4 ms Current k
14. the first synonym as the Spanish translation The second synonym is the scientific name Where possible all plants and animals have scientific names entered as their synonyms because of the differences possible in local terminology In the case of no English equivalent the Spanish term is used Now select Show use in hierarchies You will see that guaba appears in many object hierarchies Figure 6 Select OK 16 WIN PROLOG E x A guaba is a member of the following object hierarchies arboles buenos para el agua arboles buenos para el suelo arboles frescos arboles perennifolios arboles utiles para lefia quaba todos los rboles Figure 6 Object hierarchy details of formal term Click on Show use in statements The 26 statements that appear are all the statements in the knowledge base that mention the term guaba Introduction to Diagrams Diagrams are a way of representing interacting statements However only causal and link statements can be represented diagrammatically One statement is represented by two nodes a rectangular or oval box connected by an arrow The different colours and shapes of the boxes indicate different types of node action process object and attribute nodes The words written within the nodes are key terms used within the statements The arrows represent the linkages between nodes It is possible to view diagrams in either English or another language when
15. to the sources and the statements that are entered from interviews with those sources this is done by a memo function Source details that are required in AKTS are the name of the informant location of the interview and gender In the Nicaraguan case other information included size of coffee farm age and farming method Further context was recorded in source and statement memos 2 4 The knowledge base The cafnet_nicaragua Kb was built up from interviews with one female and nineteen male informants The age of informants was categorised into below 35 young 35 60 middle and above 60 old the dominant age range was 35 60 with thirteen interviews followed by below 35 with four interviews and above 60 with three interviews Tables 1 and 2 below summarise the information gathered from different locations and different sized farms As can be noted interviews took place across a range of coffee farm sizes and communities There are a total of 720 statements in the Kb with 502 of these demonstrating causal relationships A high number of causal statements would indicate a fairly high level of manzana is equal to 0 69 hectares explanatory knowledge that was able to be articulated by the coffee farmers Out of the 720 statements there are 92 conditions attached to statements this means that there are particular conditions that need to be in place for the statement to be applicable and these sho
16. under more general headings e g Soil erosion Soil moisture and Soil fertility all fall under the general topic hierarchy of General soil interactions On the left you can see a list of the topic hierarchies in the knowledge base Highlight Commonly held knowledge On the right you will see a dialog box with a column called Topics in hierarchy containing a list of all the topics in this topic hierarchy Next to this column you will see Commonly held knowledge highlighted in the Topic box and immediately below all the Immed Subtopics Select View Tree and scroll down the page this will show you the full topic hierarchy with all its subtopics Click on Close to go back to the previous window Now select Common knowledge of small farmers from the Topics in hierarchy list You will see that it now appears in the Topic box with Commonly held knowledge specified as the Supertopic above it and Small middle farmers specified as one of the Immed Subtopics below it Close this dialog box to return to the Topic Hierarchies box Now highlight in turn each topic hierarchy listed under Topic Hierarchies Answer the following question Question What topics are shown to be in the topic hierarchy Water infiltration Click on Close on both dialog boxes to return to the Welcome Memo and Close again to arrive at the main
17. using the transpose formal terms and synonyms Kb Position tool with the latest version of Windows 2000 Repeat the process outlined above to show the Formal Term Details of the object banano banana Then select Show use in statements within the Formal Term Details box Click on All Statements shown under the Diagram Selection Type at the bottom of the dialog box The diagram that is generated will show you all the statements containing banano that are able to be represented diagrammatically causal and link statements 17 us Current knowledge base cafnet_nicaragua File KB Diagram Tools Help Diagram 10 al causal C link Copy to Clipboard Memo ddinode banano sombreando tasa Object 3 6 suelo banano omes banane hojas att sombreando fertilidad hojas l a Zoom Out caf frutas cantidad cortar Centre Zoom cantidad banano tallo fertilizantes i ad Label Mode Process gt Auto Refresh Attribute clima temperatura banano Undo frutas banano tallo Show Paths Print Window 5 aves Node Link dificultad 5 barreras muertbs Navigate hechura guatuza zoro cola pelada f 1 Statements ced Effects r Show Hide Label m Select Diagram Node Link x gt Figure 7 Banano diagram If you want to find out more about what is being said by a node e g banano tallo cantidad you can cli
18. was also the case that a range of different tree species could often be found within the farms 4 Viu i LIV m ne l N 3 Plate 2 Coffee under Inga trees in Macizo Pe as Blancas Reserve Photograph taken by Carlos Cerd n May 2008 2 3 2 Informant selection Due to the fact that the majority of farms were known by local partners informants were suggested by local technicians who were in charge of giving technical assistance to farmers Serviteca and ADAC Differences in levels of productivity and ecosystem services provision by farms was the initial stratification exercise following advice given by the technicians who had identified varying methods of coffee plantation management This strategy proved to be not consistent enough to provide useful comparisons but there was noticeable difference between farmers whose training had varied and or had different sized farms age was also a factor that shaped the depth of knowledge that farmers had about species and the surrounding environment The farms included in the study were classified as small less than 1 manzana to 5 manzanas medium between 5 and 10 manzanas and large above 10 manzanas Distinction could be made between different sized coffee farms due to differences in the composition and diversity of tree species planted with coffee small producers were likely to retain more shade trees within coffee plantations to supplement their income and for subsistence purpos
19. Local Knowledge of Coffee Productivity and Ecosystem Services in Coffee Plantations Surrounding Macizo Penas Blancas Reserve Jinotega Matagalpa Departments Nicaragua A GUIDE TO USING THE CAFNET NICARAGUA KNOWLEDGE BASE Plate 1 Coffee farmer Guadalupe Rivera on his farm in La Chata community Photograph taken by Carlos Cerd n June 2008 C Cerd n G Lamond T Pagella G Soto F L Sinclair School of Environment and Natural Resources Bangor University Gwynedd Wales UK LL57 2UW Tropical Agricultural Research and Higher Education Centre CATIE Turrialba Costa Rica Acknowledgements This work is funded as part of the European Commission s CAFNET project with its primary focus on connecting enhancing and sustaining environmental services and market values of coffee agroforestry in Central America East Africa and India CAFNET unpub 2007 The European Commission cannot accept responsibility for any information provided or views expressed The AKTS5 software was initially developed as an integral part of a suite of research projects funded by the UK Department for International Development DFID for the benefit of developing countries Forestry Research Programme R7431 R6322 R7264 Natural Resources Systems Programme R7516 Livestock Production Programme R7637 but DFID bear no responsibility for any information provided or views expressed Recently AKTS development has primarily been supported by CAF
20. Medium Medium Medium Good Moringa oleifera Marango Medium Medium Medium Good Cordia collococca Mufieco Fresh Good Good Good Azadirachta indica Nim Medium Not used Bad Medium Juglans olanchana Nogal Caliente Medium Bad Bad Brosimum alicastrum Ojoche Medium Bad Medium Good Bombacopsis quinata Pochote Medium Medium Bad Medium Sangriento o Croton draco sangredado Caliente Bad Medium Medium Vernonia patens Tatascame Medium Not used Medium Medium Leucaena magnifica Vaina de casio Fresh Medium Good Medium Notes demajaue undefined pera de agua undefined chilca undefined mamon nacional undefined but thought by a technician to be a variety of mammon chino Melicoccus bijugatus and mango rosa undefined but thought to be a variety of mango Mangifera indica were all trees that could not be verified by more than one source and were not seen by the researcher himself they remain in the knowledge base but were excluded from this table Just 11 of the 69 tree species described by farmers were considered as providing good shade for coffee Figure 13 but many of the other trees were still abundant within coffee plantations even though they lacked this attribute This was because their other products outweighed the shade factor fruit trees were some of the species that remained despite providing medium or bad shade for coffee e g avocado or Citrus spp like lemon or orange Timber use need for live fences medicinal value an
21. NET project funding and has undergone many changes in addition specific tools have been designed and developed for the project knowledge bases by James Doores Tim Pagella Genevieve Lamond and Fergus Sinclair CAFNET Nicaragua local knowledge research has been carried out with the support of the Tropical Agriculture Research and Higher Education Centre CATIE in Costa Rica and Bangor University in Wales UK Support from the CAFNET local partner FondeAgro project was essential during the research period We acknowledge with thanks Roberto Jerez for his support during the fieldwork phase and the first interviews that he did This guide uses an approach that was pioneered in Ghana Moss et al 2001 to introduce first time users of AKTS to existing knowledge bases and it was subsequently used in Thailand Pagella et al 2002 and Lesotho Waliszewski et al 2003 The template for this document was used by kind permission of the authors of these previous documents The software itself has been developed over many years primarily by Knowledge Engineer James Doores in collaboration with Edinburgh University in Scotland UK Table of Contents Acknowledgements i Table of Contents ii List of Figures iii List of Tables iii List of Plates iii 1 Local knowledge of coffee productivity and ecosystem services in coffee plantations surrounding Macizo Pe ias Blancas Reserve A GUIDE TO USING THE AGRO ECOLOGICAL KNOWLEDGE TOOLKIT AKT5 1 1 1 Wh
22. Table 3 This table represents all the trees present in the knowledge base excluding those mentioned in the notes It shows the local classification system for trees in the research area and the species that fit into these different categories Good means that the tree was said to decrease soil erosion maintain soil moisture and protect water sources The opposite is true for bad Trees with medium value for shade type and shade quality were neither strongly positive nor negative in their effects upon coffee productivity and trees with medium value for their impact on soil and water were good but not as good in comparison to the trees classed as good see Appendix 3 for a full table of tree attributes alongside these classifications Trees Local functional classifications Type of shade fresh or Quality of shade Impact on water Scientific name Local name caliente for coffee Shading impact on soil protection Erythrina berteroana Helequeme Fresh Good Good Good Erythrina fusca Bucaro Fresh Good Good Good Musa spp Banano Fresh Medium Good Medium Cordia alliodora Laurel Caliente Bad Bad Bad Inga vera Guabilla Fresh Good Good Good Gliricidia sepium Madero negro Fresh Good Good Medium Cecropia obstusifolia Guarumo Fresh Medium Good Medium Pinus oocarpa Pino Caliente Medium Bad Bad Eucalyptus deglupta Eucalipto Caliente Bad Bad Bad Cedrela odorata Cedro
23. Tools that shows the cafnet_tool file number of phenology analysis Comparative analysis tool that pulls up all common topics across Kbs and presents the topic search terms e g flowering pollinating with their associated objects attributes and values in a tabulated output Other User Tools cafnet tool file objects with their subobjects and or superobjects depending on user get components Kb Objects Synonyms Pulls up all selected Other User Tools objects and their cafnet tool file synonyms get objects Kb Objects Pulls up all selected Other User Tools cafnet tool file 44 specified search criteria hierarchic objects usage Compares objects across object hierarchies and shows which hierarchies they appear in Other User Tools cafnet tool file hierarchical actions and processes Shows the actions and processes associated with the objects within a selected object hierarchy Other User Tools cafnet tool file 45 Appendix 2 Glossary Table 5 Key terminology and concepts using AKT5 AKTS term Description Action A type of formal term used to refer to a human activity usually for the purpose of managing crops or livestock e g weeding or planting AKTS Agroecological Knowledge Toolkit a methodology and software for creating knowledge bases Attribute A type of formal term used to describe an object process or
24. and development workers explain the rationale behind farmers actions and can contribute towards more effective decision making in developing appropriate strategies for particular development issues Knowledge bases can be consulted by e viewing sets of statements that fall under specific topics e using search facilities within AKT to find out the details of particular terms words e generating diagrams from statements and using these to investigate causal relationships and e using customised tools small computer programs that are incorporated into AKTS that interrogate and reason with the knowledge base 1 3 The Agro ecological Knowledge Toolkit AKT5 1 3 1 What is AKT5 AKTS5 is a methodology and software that enables the user to create a knowledge base about a chosen domain which is shaped by the topic of the knowledge base the research area and the people chosen to be interviewed In this case coffee growers were interviewed in order to collect local knowledge of coffee productivity and ecosystem services in coffee plantations surrounding Macizo Pe as Blancas Reserve A knowledge base is built up by collating knowledge about a chosen topic from a variety of sources usually farmers scientists extension workers and or scientific literature So far AKTS has been used primarily as an analytical research tool to explore the extent and nature of agro ecological knowledge at a wide range of localities This has led to 1
25. arison to the trees classed as good Trees Tree attributes Local functional classifications C Growth Prune Leaf Leaf sak Type of shade Quality of Shading Impact on water Scientific name Local name Height t Crown Canopy Origin Root system fresh or shade for impact on rate easiness size texture s protection caliente coffee soil Erythrina Helequeme High Fast Medium Big Open Nery Deciduous Exotic Soft and plentiful Fresh Good Good Good berteroana soft Erythrina fusca Bucaro High Fast Easy Big Open bee Evergreen Exotic Soft and plentiful Fresh Good Good Good Musa spp Banano Low Fast Easy Big Open Soft Evergreen Native Soft Fresh Medium Good Medium Cordia alliodora Laurel High Fast Not pruned Small Open Hard Deciduous Native Hard Caliente Bad Bad Bad Inga spp Guabilla Medium Fast Easy Medium Closed Soft Evergreen Native Soft and plentiful Fresh Good Good Good Gliricidia sepium Madero negro Low Fast Medium Medium Closed Soft Evergreen Native Soft and plentiful Fresh Good Good Medium Cecropia LIS Guarumo High Fast Not pruned Too big Open Soft Evergreen Native Soft Fresh Medium Good Medium obstusifolia Pinus oocarpa Pino High Fast Not pruned Small Open Hard Evergreen Native Hard Caliente Medium Bad Bad Eucalyptus deglupta Eucalipto High Medium Not pruned Medium Open Hard Deciduous Exotic Hard Caliente Ba
26. at is the purpose of this AKTS guide 1 1 2 Consulting knowledge bases Kbs 1 1 3 The Agro ecological Knowledge Toolkit AKT5 1 1 3 1 What is AKT5 1 1 3 2 What is knowledge 2 1 3 3 What is a knowledge base 2 2 The CAFNET Nicaragua knowledge base Context of the study 4 2 1 CAFNET 4 2 2 Study area 4 2 2 Technical assistance for coffee farmers in study area 6 2 3 Methodology 6 2 3 Location and definition of the knowledge base 6 2 3 2 Informant selection 7 2 3 3 Compilation of the knowledge base 8 2 4 The knowledge base 8 3 How to consult the knowledge base 11 3 Using the guide 11 3 2 A quick sightseeing tour around AKT5 11 4 Exploring the knowledge base Some highlights from local knowledge 23 4 1 Derivation of farmers knowledge 23 4 1 1 Knowledge derived from hearsay and first hand observation 23 4 1 2 Contrasting knowledge 25 4 1 3 Summary 25 4 2 Local classification of trees and their attributes 25 4 2 1 Discussion of Table 3 27 4 2 2 Summary 34 4 3 Coffee plantation composition soil fertility Climatic regulation and water provision 35 4 3 1 Coffee plantation composition 35 4 3 2 Soil fertility 38 4 3 3 Climatic regulation and water provision 40 4 3 4 Summary 41 5 References 42 Appendix 1 Tools for analysing the knowledge 44 Appendix 2 Glossary 46 Appendix 3 Full table of tree species their attributes and classification 48 ii List of Figures Figure 1 General soil interactions topic hierarchy Figu
27. avil n Medium Medium Medium Bad Acosmium panamense Granadillo Caliente Medium Bad Bad 30 Inga sapintoides Guaba blanca Fresh Good Good Good Inga oerstediana Guaba colorada Fresh Good Good Good Inga nobilis Guaba negra Fresh Good Good Good Inga jinicuil Guaba cuajinicuil Fresh Medium Medium Good Inga punctata Guaba cuajilote Fresh Medium Medium Good Andira inermis Guacamaya blanca Medium Bad Bad Bad Undefined Guacamaya roja Medium Bad Medium Bad Guazuma ulmifolia Guacimo Medium Medium Medium Medium Enterolobium cyclocarpum Guanacaste Medium Not used Good Good Ochroma pyramidale Guano Caliente Medium Medium Medium Hymenaea courbaril Guapinol Caliente Bad Medium Bad Terminalia oblonga Guayabo liso Caliente Not used Bad Bad Jifiocuao o Indio Bursera simaruba pelado Medium Not used Good Medium Spondias purpurea Jocote ciruelo Medium Not used Medium Medium Cordia gerascanthus Laurel de la India Medium Not used Medium Good Leucaena salvadorensis Leucaena Fresh Not used Good Medium Liquidambar styraciflua Liquidambar Caliente Bad Medium Medium Calycophyllum candidissimum Madrofio Medium Medium Medium Medium 3l Delonix regia Malinche Medium Not used Medium Medium Citrus reticulata Mandarina Medium Bad Medium Medium Rhizophora mangle Mangle Fresh Not used Good Good Melicoccus bijugatus Mamo n chino
28. ay that coffee farmers within the area were receiving training was through cooperatives mainly consisting of small farmers Coffee cooperatives were a common form of organisation by coffee growers in Nicaragua and through group organisation coffee farmers would receive technical assistance from FondeAgro in El Cu or from Nitlapan Cecocafe and Cafenica in Rancho Grande and La Dalia Municipalities Nitlapan was a research institute of a private university whereas Cecocafe and Cafenica were unions of cooperatives For some farmers in particular the larger farms it was common to receive assistance from coffee buyers as well as from the mentioned organisations However despite the various means of training and assistance being carried out most were not systematically established The main technical assistance was provided by FondeAgro through a company called Serviteca but it had only been available over the last 3 4 years and had not yet reached all coffee farmers because it was focusing on only one municipality in the area El Cua Technical assistance and training was often being accomplished through loans of money credits and could cover further aspects such as farmer organisation coffee certification legal procedures and help with trade In the last two years a competition on coffee quality has been held in order to show farmers the importance of the entire coffee production process in influencing the quality of cup However FondeAg
29. ch can be accessed and processed systematically Link a A type of formal term used in a link statement b On a diagram the connection between two nodes represented by an arrow Link statement A type of statement used to represent knowledge that cannot be represented by any other type of statement Local knowledge Knowledge based on a locally derived understanding formed by experience and observation Memo A facility within AKT5 which provides the Kb creator with space to add any additional explanatory information about a knowledge base formal term statement bit map diagram topic Natural language statement A statement which has been automatically translated by AKT5 from the formal language to a natural language computer stylised translation 46 Navigate A command used when working with diagrams that adds to a diagram all the causal nodes immediately associated with a user selected node Node Causal and link statements can be represented on a diagram by two nodes connected by a link A node is the diagrammatic representation of one half of a causal or link statement and appears as a rectangular or circular box There are four types of node i objects ii processes iii actions and iv attributes of either objects processes or actions Object A type of formal term used to refer to a material or conceptual thing e g pests shade trees or coffee plantation
30. ck on the Statements button circled in Figure 7 on the right to get a list of all the statements represented in the diagram Then select the relevant statement in this case no 392 and click on Details From doing this you will see a dialog box that contains the natural language statement at the top and the formal language equivalent at the bottom Figure 8 18 ms Statement Details cafnet nicaragua ss rf x Statement No 392 Knowledge Base cafnet nicaragua Source Sources Derivation Evelin Delgado La Chata 2008 a observed v denn erivation Natural Language Cara gaye banano tallo cantidad is incremento causes hechura of barr 5 I SS Formal Terms LF re or r Formal Language Statement t value part banano tallo cantidad incremento Translate 4 1 Auto grammar Figure 8 Statement details dialog box Now click on Formal terms select barreras muertas and then click on Details this will give you an explanation of the selected formal term Close all the dialog boxes to return to the diagram Statements are typed into the knowledge base as formal language statements using a formal grammar like a code specific to AKT5 The AKTS program translates the formal language statements into stylised natural language equivalents Because of this computer generated translation some statements in the knowledge base
31. crease 4 3 2 Soil fertility The amount of leaves produced and released by trees was highly related to the importance attributed to them as providers of nutrient cycling and soil organic matter The trees present in the good soil trees object hierarchy Figure 18 were those that were said to produce high levels of organic matter and or were associated with nitrogen fixation Out of these 21 good soil species however only nine were regarded as providing good quality shade for coffee see Table 3 showing that just because a tree is beneficial for soil it might not necessarily be an appropriate species to intercrop with coffee Inga spp guaba was widely considered the best option for soil nutrient status due to the amount of leaves produced and their texture the leaves fell all year round and were valued for providing a thick litter layer Leaf texture was considered by farmers as the most valuable characteristic of leaves because of the effect this could have on degradability and 38 soil organic matter formation as can be seen from Figure 12 leaf texture was said to affect both shade quality and soil fertility good 30il trees avocado cocoa fresh trees bucaro caoba chaperno chilamate guaba black guaba cuajinicuil guaba cuajilote guabilla red guaba white guaba guar umo he lequeme higuerilla madero negro mango matapalo mu eco guanacaste ji ocuabo Figure 18
32. ct object All the objects in the knowledge base are now listed Scroll down and get an idea of the objects in the knowledge base Highlight guaba and select Details This tells you what guaba is the most common shade tree found on coffee plantations in the research communities Figure 5 mx Formal Term Details cafnet_nicaragual Formal T erm EgET 1 2 3 Type Flores 5 Fart of Parts friw as zu Definition A native tree that is the mosh common shade tree Eounmnd in coffee Its Synonyms up Il Fi NE Zs Inga spP down Il Show Use in statements Show use in hierarchies Figure 5 The Formal Term Details box provides a brief description including information on the type of formal term definition synonym and a thumbnail photograph if one is available You can click on the thumbnail to enlarge the picture to see it more clearly Understanding the Formal Term Details box Figure 5 Part of This dialog box shows if the formal term is a part of something else e g flowers are a part of trees Parts This shows if a formal term has parts that are represented in statements In the example given above there are statements about the part fruits of guaba Definition Provides further information about the formal term Synonyms Lists the synonyms attached to a specific formal term During knowledge base development in Nicaragua the standard practice has been to include
33. d Bad Bad Cedrela odorata Cedro real High Fast Not pruned Medium Open Medium Deciduous Native Medium Medium Medium Medium Medium Persea americana Aguacate Medium Fast Medium Medium Open Medium Evergreen Native Medium Medium Medium Medium Good Mangifera indica Mango Medium Fast Medium Medium Closed Medium Evergreen Native Medium Fresh Bad Good Good Theobroma cacao Cacao Low Fast Easy Big Closed Medium Evergreen Native Medium Medium Bad Good Medium Citrus aurontifolia Lim n Low Fast Medium Medium Closed Medium Evergreen Native Hard Medium Bad Bad Medium Bactris gasipaes Pejibaye High Medium Not pruned Medium Open Hard Evergreen Native Hard Caliente Bad Bad Bad Psidium guajava Guayabo Low Medium Medium Small Closed Hard Evergreen Native Hard Caliente Bad Bad Bad Ricinus communis Higuerilla Low Fast Not pruned Big Open Soft Evergreen Native Soft Fresh Good Good Medium 48 Cocos nucifera Coco High Medium Not pruned Big Open Hard Evergreen Native Hard Caliente Bad Bad Bad Tabebuia rosea Roble High Medium Not pruned Medium Closed Medium Deciduous Native Hard Caliente Bad Bad Medium Citrus sinensis Naranja Low Fast Medium Medium Closed Medium Evergreen Native Hard Medium Bad Bad Medium Ficus spp Matapalo High Fast Diffic
34. d rate of natural regeneration strongly affected the abundance of trees within plantations There were particular tree species that were never grown within coffee plantations because their interaction with coffee plants was deemed too unproductive but farmers also had detailed knowledge of these trees and depending on their utility would keep them within the farm but not intercropped with coffee good shade trees black guaba bucaro cuernavaco qguabilla he lequeme higuerilla madero negro male cedar mu eco red guaba white guaba Figure 13 Showing the list of trees classified as good shade trees within the object hierarchy of shade trees Inga spp was considered by farmers to have the most desirable attributes for growing within coffee plantations and this meant that it had the highest abundance out of all shade trees across the coffee farming landscape In Table 3 four species of Inga I vera I sapintoides I nobilis and I oerstediana are given as interacting in a good way with soil water and coffee while two are good for soil medium for protecting water and medium for their impacts on coffee I punctata and I jinicuil The differences between these species were minimal but observable by farmers one of the differences being the leaf texture of I punctata and I jinicuil they were said to have less fresh leaves than the other four nga species mentioned above meaning t
35. do not sound like natural English 19 Undo Shor Feoathis Print ido T ica mb Statements Causes E EF eC Ed Effects lt S elect E3dc rre Figure 9 Diagram options Diagram options Click once on the Label Mode button circled in Figure 9 This will then show arrows that indicate causal relationships between nodes Click twice on the Label Mode button This gives you the statements written on the diagram in full You can make the statements more legible by using your mouse to drag the nodes across the screen to separate them out When working with complex diagrams it can be too confusing if all labels are pictured Turn the label mode off by clicking a third time on Label mode By clicking on the Zoom Out button you will be able to see all the nodes that have been generated by the diagram You can then click on Zoom In to restore the diagram to its original view Click first on Navigate and then a node in this case click on cantidad fertilizantes aplicar this will generate the immediate causes and effects of that node The selected node will be highlighted in green and additional nodes will appear connected to it Carefully drag sideways all new nodes to reveal any further nodes underneath by pressing the left hand mouse button over the node and dragging the node away Red lines indicate that there is more then one line
36. e incidence Farmers showed a good understanding of which trees and plants were useful in terms of decreasing soil erosion maintaining soil moisture and deeper groundwater but explanations were often lacking further detail Although physical attributes of trees were well linked with environmental impacts the actual processes were not so clearly understood or able to be verbally expressed Moreover the reasons given for keeping particular trees on coffee plantations were not the associated beneficial environmental impacts a tree would often have to prove itself useful in additional ways to be kept there for example providing a food source Where there was an important water source in the landscape however farmers were careful and did not tend to disturb the natural species composition around these areas in case it led to a diminishing water supply Water supply was not usually a problem in coffee plantations around Macizo Pefias Blancas Reserve but suitable water for human consumption was a problem in the urban areas in the lower ranges around the reserve particularly during the dry season this was partly because of a lack of effective water storage facilities Farmers were aware of this and it was likely to be the reason for them thinking that water should be protected in the forest and in the coffee farms Tools Useful AKTS tools e Boolean Search tool found under KB Boolean Search Can be used to search statements that are attached t
37. e weather conditions was given as the primary reason for experimenting with coffee varieties Farmers were trying to assess the implications of seasonal change on growing conditions for coffee and by experimenting they were equipping themselves with knowledge that could potentially prove useful in the long term It was not only trees that could contribute to water provisioning services as mentioned earlier a few farmers appreciated the role of ground cover plants that were classed as good weeds It was said that these weeds such as pan de mula murruca santa maria sombrillita and zacate de conejo Figure 15 were considered beneficial for coffee plantations because 40 they were keeping soil moisture at a sufficient level for coffee plants and also because their roots were binding together the soil thus avoiding erosion 4 3 4 Summary Within coffee plantations it was not just the tree species that was important for maintaining soil moisture pruning at different levels for different times of the year according to where the farm was situated was also important A good coffee yield could be obtained when shade level was low in dry season because this was the growth stage at which coffee plants were increasing their number of leaves whereas when the rainy season starts shade was observed to protect ripening fruits It was said that shade levels should never be excessive because this can lead to decreased coffee yields and increased diseas
38. earch string will now have caf and erosi n as its search criteria Figure 10 ee Boolean search cafnet_nicaragual Display Eb terms of type Name of new topic Process List of existing terms in Kb of the specified type transposed Save em Jas areas mlt em lo alto de la mc Number of terms enfermedades cafe 357 enfermedades canusac epoca Llluxaioza D etailz poca seca Search options P tf object estbiercal ccc Boolean options subobjects estructura Select superabjects eucalipt o Fuzzy E cil AND on minimum number of fertilidad statement sources Search Boolean Search String eee and erosion Er Figure 10 Boolean search dialog box When ready click on Search Three statements will appear These are the only statements in the knowledge base which include both caf and erosi n Boolean search options There are a variety of Search options you can choose from Figure 11 You can select to include subobjects superobjects and fuzzy in the search Fuzzy makes sure search terms that have prepositions in statements are included e g in high altitude You can also filter statements according to the number of sources attached to the statements For example if you only want to pull up statements with at least three sources attached to them you enter 3 into the box next to minimum numbe
39. eated using AKT5 software Each statement is tagged referenced with its source of knowledge this could be a singular person a number of people if it came from a group interview or a literature reference The knowledge is organised according to a number of principles e topics arrange knowledge around specific subject areas e g soil erosion Topic hierarchies gather similar topics under an umbrella title e g soil erosion soil fertility and soil moisture all fall under the broader topic of general soil interactions Figure 1 and e object hierarchies organise knowledge about specific objects under umbrella terms e g black guaba guarumo and helequeme are all types of trees found within coffee plantations and would therefore fall under the umbrella term fresh trees as they share attributes that make them suitable as shade trees Figure 2 General spil interactions Soil erosion Soil fertility Soil moisture Figure 1 The topic general soil interactions is arranged in a topic hierarchy tree with a list of subtopics fresh trees bucaro caoba ceibo chaperno chilamate cuernavaco quaba black guaba cuajinicuil guaba cuajilote guabilla red guaba white guaba guarurmo he lequeme higuerilla leucaena madero_negro mangle mango matapalo mu eco vaina de_casio Figure 2 The object fresh trees is arranged in an object
40. ers or even with the same farmer over several interviews The main derivations used were observed knowledge acquired from first hand experience and hearsay knowledge that had been heard from someone else but had not been observed first hand 4 1 1 Knowledge derived from hearsay and first hand observation Most of the information within the knowledge base came from observations made by farmers themselves but there was also knowledge that could not have been observed without the necessary equipment and expertise and thus was more likely to have come from technical advisors Much of the terminology and knowledge articulated by coffee growers was said to originate from technical training and was not always clearly understood by the farmers interviewed For instance two farmers from La Chata Community and one farmer from Empalme Pe ias Blancas Community stated that the applying of herbicides causes the death of soil microorganisms Kb Statement No 568 When asked how they knew this happened the reply was they had been told at training events Two of these farmers also said that they learnt that the death of soil microorganisms leads to negative consequences such as a decrease in fertility of soil Kb Statement No 569 Much of the knowledge within the Kb that mentions micro life and processes within farming came from trainings clearly because such explanations could not be formulated by general observation with the naked eye A
41. es Farms were further stratified according to their position across a continuum of organic and conventional methods of farming there were certified organic uncertified organic low conventional medium conventional and high conventional Some farmers had previously been certified organic but the cost of this was deemed too expensive for them to continue being certified and they would apply small amounts of inorganic herbicides making them low conventional distinct from the farms classified as medium or high conventional 2 3 3 Compilation of the knowledge base Interviews with key informants were held on coffee plantations where possible and lasted no more than an hour unless the informant was keen to continue The interviews were informal and semi structured using non leading questions in order to elicit informants knowledge rather than influence answers Notes were taken and digital recording devices were used where permission was granted this then enabled the researchers to go through the interviews thoroughly afterwards and break them down into unitary statements to enter into the AKT5 knowledge base This led to a process of iterative evaluation throughout knowledge base creation with repeat interviews taking place where necessary to clarify or add value to what had already been said by informants Creating a knowledge base enables the local context of the knowledge to be attached
42. esence of coffee borers with a high level of shade 37 seventy coffee pruning coffee coffee_plantatipn fruits profitability amount coffee borer good shade trdes pruning time 1 pruning coffee coffee age raining rate 1 RE If raining rate is not high Figure 17 AKT causal diagram showing major factors that have an effect on coffee productivity Nodes represent human actions boxes with rounded corners or attribute and values of objects processes or actions boxes with straight edges Arrows connecting nodes denote the direction of causal influence The first small arrow on a link indicates either an increase 1 or decrease in the causal node and the second arrow on a link refers to an increase 1 or decrease in the effect node Numbers between small arrows indicate whether the relationship is two way 2 in which case fA causing B also implies A causing 1B or one way 1 which indicates that this reversibility does not apply Words instead of small arrows denote a value of the node other than increase or decrease e g when weather temperature is high there is a decrease in coffee fruits amount Conditions are shown where applicable next to the causal relationship arrows e g if raining rate is not high A black dot on a causal arrow indicates a negation of the node it is coming from or going to e g not pruning coffee causes the amount of coffee fruits to de
43. h This indicates that some aspects of the farmers technical training were being repeated in whole or part but the farmers were lacking a full understanding of the processes being talked about 4 1 2 Contrasting knowledge The knowledge that was derived from on farm observations by farmers is detailed in its information about the physical attributes of different tree species that could be found in the farming landscape the feeding habits of various mammals and birds seasonal changes and other directly observable features within coffee farms This contrasts with the knowledge derived from training sessions and technical advice which tends to revolve around the different chemical components needed to both increase soil fertility and the productivity of coffee plants The technical and the first hand knowledge can be complementary when both are understood properly but when trainings have not been understood perhaps because of a lack of concrete examples that can be observed by farmers farmers explanations can prove to be inconsistent even on an individual basis 4 1 3 Summary In the cafnet_nicaragua knowledge base the knowledge gained from first hand observation and experimentation is different from that gained from trainings because technical advisors tended to talk about the further detail of agro ecological processes that farmers could not easily observe first hand Some of the teachings could be correlated with what was observed on farm
44. hey were comparatively harder in texture All Inga spp were fresh trees and were kept on farms for various reasons including soil improvement and soil conservation they were also stated to require less strenuous management than other shade trees nga vera was the dominant species because of its easy reproduction and management There were other reasons for keeping particular tree species on a farm over others and one of these was for firewood vital for everyday household tasks This was a major reason why farmers preferred Inga instead of Erythrina species even though Erythrina was said to be very similar in its interactions with coffee and providing water and soil benefits 33 Another abundant species in coffee plantations was banana classed as a fresh tree and grown primarily for its fruit Although banana was considered as fresh with good impacts on soil and medium shade for coffee farmers interviewed explicitly mentioned that intercropping bananas with coffee had an adverse effect on coffee growth despite banana leaves and stem contributing towards increased soil organic matter This was explained as happening because of too high a level of nutrient competition between banana and coffee plants The following unitary statement has eight sources appended to it and shows that growing a high amount of banana can lead to a decrease in soil fertility this was because the nutrient requirement of banana was said to
45. hierarchy tree with a list of its subobjects 2 The CAFNET Nicaragua knowledge base Context of the study 2 1 CAFNET CAFNET is a four year European Commission funded project that hopes to make some positive changes to how the coffee process chain operates in order to improve coffee farmer income while at the same time protecting biodiversity hotspots A major concern of the project is environmental services and how coffee farming practices can benefit the environment as well as the farmer Approximately 125 million people across Asia Africa and Latin America depend on coffee for their livelihoods and it is the second most valuable export commodity after petroleum Lashermes and Anthony 2007 Osorio 2002 The importance of coffee both as a cash crop and as a possible buffer crop around protected areas has been highlighted by the CAFNET project and the local knowledge research that has so far been carried out aims to lead to a better understanding of farming practices carried out by the coffee farmers who are an integral part of the system Biodiversity is an important indicator of sustainable land use practices and whereas most of the research on biodiversity in coffee agroforestry systems has concentrated on documenting tree species richness and abundance by surveys and data collection M ndez et al 2006 the objective of this work was to document the knowledge held by those involved directly with coffee production This is in
46. ium Evergreen Native Superficial and hard Medium Bad Medium Good nds sis Pochote Medium Medium Not pruned Small Open Medium Deciduous Native Deep Medium Medium Bad Medium Croton draco pe laters Medium Medium Not pruned Medium Open Hard Deciduous Native Hard Caliente Bad Medium Medium Vernonia patens Tatascame Low Fast Not pruned Medium Open Soft Deciduous Native Medium Medium Not used Medium Medium Wein Vaina de casio Low Fast Easy Small Open Soft Evergreen Native Soft and plentiful Fresh Medium Good Medium Native many of the trees considered native by farmers were classified scientifically as exotic this difference was because farmers had grown used to them due to introduction of the species a long time ago 51
47. ive topic hierarchies that organise the farmers knowledge under useful headings that can be searched easily by the user The five topic 9 hierarchies are entitled Commonly held knowledge broken down into sections according to farm size age and farming method Trees and biodiversity interactions between trees mammals and birds General soil interactions aspects of erosion fertility moisture and Water infiltration impacts of different tree species and coffee plants on water infiltration within farms E Kan Ta Plate 3 View from above a large coffee farm in the top of Macizo Pefias Blancas Reserve Photograph taken by Carlos Cerd n June 2008 10 3 How to consult the knowledge base 3 1 Using the guide It is suggested that the user start with A quick sightseeing tour around AKTS to familiarise themselves with the different functions of the AKTS software Once this is completed the user should then be able to consult the knowledge base according to particular topics of interest using any of the examples provided Farmers knowledge according to farm size or farming method Desirable attributes of trees within coffee plantations Impacts of coffee plantation composition on soil fertility and water provision Coffee productivity and its relationship with agroforestry practices The topics given above indicate the type of knowledge contained in the knowledge base and the ways in
48. ject and they were located in Guatemala Nicaragua and Costa Rica Selection criteria for the research areas were according to their geo hydrological attributes the percentage of land covered by 4 coffee plantations and their proximity to protected areas and wildlife parks this was to assess their potential as buffer zones for purposes of enhancing biodiversity conservation and watershed protection in fragmented landscapes CAFNET researchers have been working in El Hato Watershed San Agustin Acasaguastl n Municipality El Progreso Department Guatemala Macizo Pefias Blancas Reserve in Matagalpa and Jinotega Departments in Nicaragua and Volc nica Central Tamalanca Biological Corridor in Cartago Province in Costa Rica Macizo Pefias Blancas Reserve is a protected area that is situated within the buffer zone around the Bosawas Biosphere Reserve the latter being the largest forest reserve in Central America and the third largest in the world The Macizo Pefias Blancas Reserve is politically part of three Municipalities of two northern Nicaraguan departments El Cua in Jinotega and La Dalia and Rancho Grande in Matagalpa Figure 3 MARENA 2003 The protected area consists of 11 300 hectares located at 13 13 27 N and 85 35 25 W with the highest point in the reserve at 1745 meters above sea level Coffee farms were situated around the reserve and therefore could be classed as a potential form of environmental protection and extension of the
49. knowledge base s Topic A collection of statements organised around a particular topic e g bio indicators of clean water or miang pests Topic hierarchy A collection of topics organised under a broader umbrella topic area User defined tools Tools created by the knowledge base user that are stored separately to the main AKT5 program file with an mcr extension Value A type of formal term that is always attached to an attribute and describes that attribute e g 5kg yellow high increase WinAKT The old name for AKT5 Agroforestry Knowledge Toolkit for Windows 47 Appendix 3 Full table of tree species their attributes and classification by coffee farmers in Macizo Penas Blancas Table 6 Shows the local classification system for trees in the research area and the species that were said to fit into these different categories Under Tree attributes the local classifications were made by comparing the tree species found in the research area with one another Under Local functional classifications good means that the tree was said to decrease soil erosion maintain soil moisture and protect water sources The opposite is true for bad Trees with medium value for shade type and shade quality were neither strongly positive nor negative in their effects upon coffee productivity and trees with medium value for their impact on soil and water were good but not as good in comp
50. n issue found with farmers explanations originating from hearsay was that they were not always clearly understood and seemed prone to distortion For example in a memo attached to Statement No 568 a farmer said that glifosato glyphosate herbicide had lower 23 negative effects on soil microorganisms than other kinds of herbicide but he could not substantiate the statement any further The available knowledge that involves soil microorganisms was all learnt from various trainings including the following statements e The burning of soil causes death of soil microorganisms Kb Statement No 290 e Soil microorganisms increase the amount of soil organic matter Kb Statement No 291 Another example of knowledge learnt through training and technical assistance was the biological process of nitrogen fixation Farmers associated nitrogen fixation with attributes of Inga and Erythrina genus two of the most common types of shade tree in the region Farmers recognised trees with pod shape fruits as nitrogen fixer species this was because of trainings that taught farmers how the shape of fruits can indicate further attributes of a tree From being taught these skills of association farmers were then able to observe for themselves the effects of particular tree species according to what they had learnt from trainings A farmer from La Chata Community mentioned acacia Prosopis juliflora as a species able to fix nitrogen Kb Statement 341 and
51. nd they could cover and protect but the impact on water sources was species dependent Most species with big leaves were positively related to water source protection the exception was coco Cocos nucifera which was negative in its impact and was classed as a caliente species Leaf colour Although leaf colour in itself was not said to impact on shade quality of coffee it was associated with particular positive and negative tree species It was much easier to observe than explain in words the types of leaf colour but on the whole fresh looking leaves were a brighter green and more succulent looking than caliente leaves Leaf colour was a factor of associative identification so farmers could point out a tree with leaves that had a fresh look and know its associated attributes and therefore the impacts it was likely to have on its environment Rooting depth Shallow roots were associated with keeping the soil together and avoidance of erosion so this was always a positive impact that trees with shallow roots could have on the other hand deep roots could be beneficial but this was not always the case there were good and bad deep roots according to farmers depending on the trees species and how nutrient hungry there were 4 2 1 Discussion of Table 3 Farmers classified trees into two main groups fresh and caliente trees Table 3 These local classification systems were developed mainly with relation
52. nowledge base cafnet_nicaragua Fle KB Diagram Tools Help Use a Tool Tools for this KB Load Tool File System Tools checkForLoops Kb Make a Tool Other User Tools gt Comparative Analysis diagram report Kb Close Tool File Control Structures Knowledge Analysis edit knowledge base source Primitives gt Knowledge Evaluation merge_External_Statements Knowledge Exploration merge_formal_terms Tool List Query restore original formal terms Kb CMM switch_synonyms Kb Positiont Position2 Select Tool Output Mode Fonts transpose Formal terms and synonyms Figure 4 Tools menu A new dialog box will appear click on Run select Description to see an explanation of the tool Another dialog box is produced the name of the knowledge base will appear in the KB field and the Position field will be blank Type in 1 in the Position field this will change the current formal terms to their first position synonyms Once you have done this select Continue and wait for the tool to run for large knowledge bases this can take a few minutes Where there is no synonym available in position 1 the term will keep its original name in the main Kb language This is achieved by utilisation of the synonym function of the AKT5 program This allows substitution of all the main language formal terms for a listed synonym Switching formal term synonym positions requires the use
53. o particular formal terms sources and user values e Topics found under KB Topics Can be used to pull up statements that have been grouped together as topics such as Soil erosion Soil fertility or Water infiltration 4 5 References CAFNET unpub 2007 Annex 1 Description of the Action European Commission Grant Application Form Programme on Environment in Developing Countries CEPAL Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean of the United Nations Organization 2002 Centroam rica El impacto de la ca da de los precios del caf Series Estudios y Perspectivas No 9 pp 61 Dixon H J Doores J W Joshi L and Sinclair F L 2001 Agroecological Knowledge Toolkit for Windows Methodological guidelines computer software and manual for AKTS School of Agricultural and Forest Sciences University of Wales Bangor ICAFE Coffee Costa Rican Institute 2005 Informe sobre la actividad cafetalera de Costa Rica pp 85 Lashermes P and Anthony F 2007 Coffee In Kole C ed Genome Mapping and Molecular Breeding in Plants Technical Crops Berlin Heidelberg Springer pp 109 118 MARENA unpub 2003 Plan de manejo de la Reserva de la Biosfera Bosawas Mendez V E Gliessman S R and Gilbert G S 2007 Tree biodiversity in farmer cooperatives of a shade coffee landscape in western El Salvador Agriculture Ecosystems and Environment 119 pp 145 159 Mo
54. of an AKT5 system tool 12 When the tool has finished running a Tool output is produced which tells you it has successfully carried out transposing the terms Click on Close to close the window and then click on X to close the list of tools and return to the main AKTS5 screen To return to the original format i e the English script you would need to use the tool Testore original terms Kb which is found in the same list of tools as transpose formal terms and synonyms Kb Position When viewing the statements and diagrams after converting the knowledge base into Spanish script you will see that some words remain in English These are reserved words that have restricted meaning within the AKTS5 system Topics topic hierarchies and sources cannot be switched using this tool and will remain in the main Kb language It is only formal terms and statements which can be viewed in the Spanish translation Computers with modern versions of the Windows operating system will also be able to show the diagrams in Spanish Now let s look at Topics by selecting Topics from the KB drop down menu on the toolbar on the main AKTS screen or from the Welcome Memo dialog box Topic hierarchies Topics are ways of organising information around a particular subject e g Soil erosion or Flowering of tree and plant species In Topic hierarchies specific knowledge can be grouped together as topics and arranged
55. ons for a fully functioning ecosystem in comparison to the long evolved natural forest areas Because of the management practices required to maintain good yields coffee plants were not the ideal nesting place for creatures and it was only if they were intercropped with favourable plant and tree species that there was scope for birds and mammals to nest visit and feed in plantations Many farmers both small and large were trying to maintain forested areas within their farms for many reasons to protect groundwater levels to avoid soil erosion on sloped land and or because a portion of land was unsuitable for growing coffee and other crops Socio economic factors were influencing the existence of trees and forested areas within farms but there were also individual preferences amongst farmers that shaped whether they decided to grow more trees or not Some farmers kept forest areas on their farms because the management requirement was less than coffee or simply because they enjoyed having forested areas within the landscape Forests were generally considered the best and sometimes the only way to provide all the ecosystem services described above This explains why some farmers especially those with enough land were keeping zones without crops that acted as small reserves within their farms In addition they could obtain some services from these zones in the form of firewood timber medicine or just the pleasure of keeping biodiversit
56. or arrow on top of one another If you select Show KB Diagrams from the Diagram drop down menu on the main toolbar top of the screen you can look at diagrams that have been organised previously Alternatively diagrams can be browsed by clicking on the buttons underneath Select Diagram When you have finished go to the main toolbar top left hand corner and select Hide Diagrams from the Diagram drop down menu This will return you to the main AKT5 screen 20 Boolean Search Go to the main toolbar top left and select Boolean Search from the KB drop down menu You will see Display Kb terms of type in the top left hand corner of the dialog box with formal terms and sources underneath it Click on the downwards arrow next to formal terms and sources scroll down and select object Select caf from the List of existing terms in Kb of the specified type and click on Details to see the definition and or synonym of that formal term Then Close the Formal Term Details dialog box by clicking on X and this will take you back to the Boolean search dialog box While the same term is highlighted click on Select and caf will appear in the Boolean Search String at the bottom of the dialog box Then press the AND button under Boolean options Now highlight erosi n a process and click on Select once more The s
57. ose by farmers i e food timber firewood shading coffee but were also observed to 25 impact on the environment in various ways that were often secondary to the primary purpose s Short Key relationships Z Height Tall Pa Positive SSRRERRRRRRRRURHREREE Fat N Negative SA ee Aer mns Growth rate pe Ax EN Species dependant 5 We oN Unclear link with the classifications r s y it WE Nit XN Prune easiness Difficult Pees PA N SES Quality of amp djs Schade to coffee odi KA n ai N Kl k an d ee Hard eL Erosion Do fee i x Caliente Z 7 Big C77 P A Impact on sol a S Size Smal Y Vb od ios ec Fresh A 5 Fertility E 4 0 Colour ny ee k SS e 7 af P nebo 4 a P Water sources protection Impact on water ee Many r Soilmoisture N Few fe Shallow 7 Q fs E Depth c or m r Soft Texture Hard Figure 12 Caliente and fresh classifications according to the major tree attributes which were influencing shade quality soil and water as identified by farmers Notes growth rate indicates not only the speed at which a species was said to grow but also the likelihood of survival after planting and or the re growth amount after pruning The diagram Figure 12 illustrates the way farmers classified trees and the way that tree attributes were feeding into some classifications but not others e g leaf tex
58. ot used Good Medium salvadorensis perd Liquidambar High Fast Not pruned Big Open Soft Deciduous Native Deep Caliente Bad Medium Medium Caly COP hylur Madro o High Slow Not pruned Medium Closed Soft Evergreen Native Medium Medium Medium Medium Medium candidissimum Delonix regia Malinche Medium Fast Difficult Medium Open Medium Deciduous Exotic Medium Medium Not used Medium Medium Citrus reticulata Mandarina Low Fast Medium Small Closed Medium Evergreen Native Medium Medium Bad Medium Medium Rhizophora mangle Mangle Medium Medium Not pruned Medium Open Medium Evergreen Native Soft Fresh Not used Good Good Melicoccus 5 bijugatu Mam n chino High Slow Not pruned Medium Closed Medium Evergreen Exotic Medium Medium Medium Medium Good Moringa oleifera Marango Medium Fast Not pruned Small Open Soft Evergreen Exotic Deep Medium Medium Medium Good Cordia collococca Mu eco Medium Medium Not pruned Big Closed Hard Evergreen Native Medium Fresh Good Good Good Azadirachta indica Nim Low phis d Easy Small Closed Medium Evergreen Exotic soft Medium Not used Bad Medium Juglans olanchana Nogal High Fast Not pruned Small Open Hard Deciduous Native Superficial and hard Caliente Medium Bad Bad 50 Brosimum Alicastr rm Ojoche High Slow Difficult Small Open Med
59. over 50 years ago that farmers referred to when talking about the past The old varieties were said to have been more shade tolerant than those grown since the coffee plants grown in recent years were chosen more for their larger berries and higher yields coffee variety bourbon variety catimor variety caturra variety maragojipe variety old variety pacamara Figure 16 Shows the coffee object hierarchy with its coffee variety subobjects 36 Plate 5 TEE of pu with young coffee SENE in Ta Chata Photograph taken by Carlos Cerd n June 2008 Complex multi strata coffee agroforests were not established because farmers understood that an increase in the level of shade was not economically viable because of the impact on coffee productivity The rate of trees shading coffee was seen to affect its growth in ways that were related to overall coffee productivity Figure 17 One factor impacting on coffee growth was the amount of sunlight received by the plant Farmers said that shade was important to protect coffee plant but only when the sun shining rate was very high Coffee farmers observed that too much shade leads to a low amount of sunlight reaching the coffee plants which leads to a reduction in number of leaves and consequently the energy required for flowering and fruit formation is not enough Shade was further related to increased levels of diseases mainly fungal diseases with some farmers associating the pr
60. profound changes in the way that research and extension are planned in areas of Africa Kenya Tanzania Ghana and Cameroon Asia Nepal Thailand Sri Lanka and Indonesia and Latin America Colombia Costa Rica and Nicaragua as well as forming the basis for successful participatory crop improvement and the development of decision support tools for the production of extension materials tailored to farmer circumstances When local knowledge is explicitly stored within a knowledge base it can then be consulted by natural resource scientists policy makers and development workers in a variety of ways to help them meet their own objectives 1 3 2 What is knowledge To define knowledge is to enter a philosophical minefield nevertheless an explicit definition is required in this context For the purposes of AKT5 knowledge is the outcome of the interpretation of data whereas data is recorded observations that may be either qualitative or quantitative Knowledge in this context could be called interpreted observations that are often shared within and across farming communities Knowledge is distinct from understanding which is a result of the interpretation of knowledge or data and is specific to the interpreter These definitions are more fully discussed in Sinclair and Walker 1999 1 3 3 What is a knowledge base A knowledge base is a store of knowledge that consists of a collection of statements and locally defined taxonomic relationships cr
61. r of statement sources 21 Close the Search results dialog box by clicking on X In the Boolean search dialog box select Clear under Boolean options to delete the search string Select the same terms again caf and erosi n but this time select OR instead of AND from the Boolean options Then click on Search Now you will have 267 statements This is because you have selected all the statements that include either caf or erosi n Close the Search results dialog box by clicking on X In the Boolean search dialog box keep caf or erosi n in the Boolean Search String but this time select subobjects in addition to object under Search options Figure 11 Click on Search once more Search options tf object zsubobjects superabjects fuzzy minimum number of statement sources Figure 11 Search options dialog box You will now have 282 statements because besides the statements that include the term caf you have also selected statements that relate to the subobjects of caf Close all the dialog boxes by clicking on X This will return you to the main AKTS screen Closing a Knowledge Base Close the knowledge base by going to the main toolbar and selecting Close Kb from the KB drop down menu Close AKTS5 by selecting Exit from AKTS from the File drop do
62. re 2 Fresh trees object hierarchy Figure 3 Location of Macizo Pef as Blancas Reserve Figure 4 Tools menu Figure 5 Formal terms detail box Figure 6 Object hierarchy details of formal term Figure 7 Banano diagram Figure 8 Statement details dialog box Figure 9 Diagram options Figure 10 Boolean search dialog box Figure 11 Search options dialog box Figure 12 Caliente and fresh classifications Figure 13 Good shade trees object hierarchy Figure 14 Eight sources appended to the same unitary statement Figure 15 Spontaneous herbs object hierarchy Figure 16 Coffee object hierarchy Figure 17 AKT causal diagram showing factors affecting coffee productivity Figure 18 Good soil trees object hierarchy List of Tables Table 1 Location of the sources from cafnet_nicaragua Kb Table 2 Size of coffee farms and associated statements from cafnet_nicaragua Kb Table 3 Local classifications of trees and their attributes Table 4 Useful tools for CAFNET knowledge bases Table 5 Key terminology and concepts using AKT5 List of Plates Plate 1 Coffee farmer Guadalupe Rivera on his farm in La Chata Community Plate 2 Coffee under nga trees in Macizo Pefias Blancas Reserve Plate 3 View from above a large coffee farm in Macizo Pefias Blancas Reserve Plate 4 Farmer showing Inga nodule roots in Pefias Blancas Community Plate 5 Intercropping of banana and coffee in Macizo Pefias Blancas
63. real Medium Medium Medium Medium Persea americana Aguacate Medium Medium Medium Good Mangifera indica Mango Fresh Bad Good Good Theobroma cacao Cacao Medium Bad Good Medium Citrus aurontifolia Lim n Medium Bad Bad Medium Bactris gasipaes Pejibaye Caliente Bad Bad Bad Psidium guajava Guayabo Caliente Bad Bad Bad Ricinus communis Higuerilla Fresh Good Good Medium 29 Cocos nucifera Coco Caliente Bad Bad Bad Tabebuia rosea Roble Caliente Bad Bad Medium Citrus sinensis Naranja Medium Bad Bad Medium Ficus spp Matapalo Medium Medium Medium Good Ficus spp Chilamate Fresh Medium Good Good Trichilia hirta Alamo Medium Not used Medium Medium Prosopis juliflora Acacia Medium Bad Medium Medium Undefined Acacia africana Caliente Medium Bad Bad Andira inermis Almendro Caliente Not used Medium Medium Cinnamomum verum Canela Medium Medium Medium Medium Swietenia macrophylla Caoba Medium Medium Medium Medium Undefined Capulin Caliente Bad Medium Medium Carapa guianensis Cedro macho o cocula Medium Good Medium Medium Ceiba pentandra Ceibo Fresh Medium Good Good Lonchocarpus minimiflorus Chaperno Medium Bad Medium Good Comenegro o Tamarindus indica tamarindo Medium Medium Medium Medium Undefined Coralito Medium Bad Medium Good Platymiscium pinnatum Coyote Medium Medium Medium Medium Solanum bansii Cuernavaco Fresh Good Good Medium Pseudosamanea guachapele G
64. rees around natural springs and streams and often left the trees alone that naturally grew in those locations Farmers had knowledge of the specific species that were useful for protecting water sources represented in Table 4 and stated the important role that tree cover can play in water storage and purification Such water services were seen as best supplied by forest areas rather than cropped land but trees on farms were still associated with providing benefits in terms of regulating moisture in the soil and air something frequently mentioned by farmers Coffee agroforestry systems were said to enhance water provisioning services if there were high numbers of shade trees interspersed with the coffee and such systems compared favourably against cattle farming however it was clear that farmers regarded coffee agroforests as less than favourable in this aspect when compared with forest areas Replacement of forest with any crop was said to impact negatively on water provisioning and regulation The majority of farmers in the research area managed the trees within their coffee plantations in a similar way the exception being two large plantations that were located centrally inside the reserve and were not visited for interviews Most farmers kept a high number of shade trees with different degrees of pruning being carried out depending on individual opinion about shade level requirement during the dry and rainy seasons and dis advantages of in
65. ro project is near to finishing and there is a risk that all the things obtained up until now will not continue without the institutional support 2 3 Methodology 2 3 1 Location and definition of knowledge base This guide is primarily focused on examining coffee farmers explanatory knowledge of interactions between coffee productivity and the ecosystem of which the crop is a part Coffee farming practices the impact of such practices on ecosystem services and knowledge about tree species diversity within the coffee farming landscape was the basis for this research Interviews were conducted across eight communities surrounding Macizo Pefias Blancas Reserve There was a variety of farm sizes with both conventional and organic methods being practised to varying degrees Coffee was growing at different altitudes within the 6 research area with some farms being located in higher areas and consisting of few if any shade trees within the coffee plantations These higher up full sun plantations were owned by large farmers and were not representative of the area it was actually just two farms Las Brisas and El Cielo There were other plantations especially in Rancho Grande which had more indigenous shade tree species intercropped with coffee these trees had made up the forest land before the coffee plantations were established The majority of farmers were managing their coffee under the shade of dominant species of Inga but it
66. s Link statements represent any connections between objects that cannot be represented using the other statement types Please be aware that AKTS5 automatically generates a natural language translation in stylised English and that the same process will apply for conversion into the other languages that are represented as synonyms This will be explained in the relevant sections below Object hierarchies What we refer to as objects are words used to refer to material or conceptual things e g pests soil trees birds policy Object hierarchies are another way of organising knowledge by arranging specific objects under more general headings these also have to be object terms e g cuernavaco madero negro and guarumo are all types of tree classified as arboles frescos fresh trees by farmers Therefore cuernavaco madero negro and guarumo are all subobjects of the object arboles frescos Arboles_frescos is then a superobject of the objects cuernavaco madero negro and guarumo Object hierarchies are similar in structure to topic hierarchies From the tool bar on the main AKTS screen select Object Hierarchies from the KB drop down menu On the left you will see a list of the object hierarchies in the knowledge base From this list select arboles de sombra shade trees On the right a dialog box will appear and you will see a long column containing a list of all the Objects in Hierarchy To
67. s for example the root nodules of Inga and the tree species effect on the soil but other teachings were not so well understood because of the terminology used or because they were describing the unseen processes of agro ecological interaction Tools Useful AKTS tools e Boolean Search tool found under KB Boolean Search Can be used to search statements that are attached to different derivations run the tool by selecting Display Kb terms of type derivations and then the derivation you want to see the statements of 4 2 Local classification of trees and their attributes Even though there was a common pattern to which shade tree species were dominant across coffee plantations there was still a relatively high diversity of species that could be found within the farms surrounding Macizo Pefias Blancas Reserve This was due to the utilisation of tree species for more purposes than just shade for coffee they were being used for a range of functions such as fences fruits within the family diet medicine amongst many others Moreover because of the small distance to forest areas for farmers either within the reserve or as a part of the farms the knowledge of coffee growers about attributes and characteristics of many trees species was very high Trees were classified according to physical attributes factors influencing how trees were observed to interact with their local environment Many trees were utilised for a specific purp
68. se of the leaf fall and shade management Kb Statements No 45 149 151 and 332 but this was more likely to occur on small and medium farms because of the higher shade tree density than the large farms The cafnet nicaragua Kb shows that the farmers who practiced low conventional methods of coffee farming gave the most information about good and bad weeds while the farmers who practiced high conventional methods and had more than 10 manzanas of coffee plantations did not mention good weeds at all spontaneous herbs bad weeds grass varilla negra good weeds murruca pan_de mula santa maria sombrillita zacate de conejo Figure 15 Shows the spontaneous herbs object hierarchy with its subobjects of bad weeds and good weeds and the species that fall under these categories There were a few different varieties of Coffea arabica present on farms which were grown separately because they were originally planted at different times so a space would have already been filled by one variety There was not said to be any other reason for not mixing varieties but technicians said that it made it easier in terms of management to grow them in different plots e g times would vary for fertiliser applications pruning harvesting The main varieties were catimor and caturra Figure 16 with small amounts of other varieties present on some farms The variety old shown in Figure 16 refers to the coffee varieties used
69. ss C Frost F Obiri Darko B Jatango J A Dixon H and Sinclair F L 2001 Local knowledge and livelihoods tools for soils research and dissemination in Ghana School of Agricultural and Forest Sciences University of Wales Bangor Osorio N 2002 The Global Coffee Crisis A Threat to Sustainable Development ICO London UK Pagella T F Chalathon C Preechapanya P Moss C and Sinclair F L 2002 Local knowledge about watershed functions in Northern Thailand A guide to using the Agroecological Knowledge Toolkit AKT School of Agricultural and Forest Sciences University of Wales Bangor Sinclair F L and Joshi L 2000 Taking local knowledge about trees seriously In Lawrence A Ed Forestry forest users and research new ways of learning ETFRN Series No 1 European Tropical Forest Research Network Vienna pp 45 61 Sinclair F L and Walker D H 1998 Acquiring qualitative knowledge about complex agroecosystems Part 1 Representation as natural language Agricultural systems 56 pp 341 363 Sinclair F L and Walker D H 1999 A utilitarian approach to the incorporation of local knowledge in agroforestry research and extension In L E Buck J P Lassoie and E C M 42 Waliszewski W S Mabote R and Sinclair F L 2003 Local ecological knowledge about rangeland agroecology in the highlands of Lesotho A guide to using the Agroecological knowledge Toolkit AKT School of Agricultural
70. tensive coffee management Despite the perception that intercropping trees with coffee was not as effective as keeping forest areas for regulating the local climate some farmers were increasing the amount of shade trees because of microclimatic benefits that were important for successful coffee plant development Farmers observed that trees helped in particular during the dry season when sunlight could be very intense and had the potential to heat and dry up the soil Tree canopies filtered sunlight and helped to retain soil moisture within coffee plantations which meant that pruning was generally carried out far less during the dry season but when and how farmers would manage their shade trees was further influenced by farm location and topography factors There was generally overlap between when shade trees and coffee plants were pruned so that coffee plants could benefit from higher sunlight levels The climate was understood to have a high impact on coffee productivity and changes in season length were considered to be locally felt conditions of global climate change Coffee farmers said that trees were vital in reducing impacts of global warming called locally recalentamiento but that temperature regulation on this scale only works when trees are part of forests rather than dispersed amongst crops There was no further detail attached to these statements as farmers could not explain why this was the case Climatic change leading to more extrem
71. the right of this you will see arboles de sombra highlighted as the Object and immediately below are the Immediate SubObjects Click on View Tree and scroll down the page This shows you the full object hierarchy with all its subobjects Click on Close to go back to the previous window Now select arboles buenos para sombrear cafe good shade trees from the Objects in Hierarchy list You will see that this term appears in the Object box with arboles de sombra specified as the SuperObject above it and bucaro cuernavaco and mufieco specified as the SubObjects below it Close all dialog boxes Formal Terms Formal terms are the key components of statements They are essentially singular words or words strung together Objects as described above are one type of formal term Other types of formal term include actions activities with a human agent e g harvesting or planting and processes activities without a human agent e g growing or infiltration You will notice that underscores e g dry season are used to connect two words to make a single formal term in AKTS5 Terms which require a capital letter are put in inverted commas e g Inga spp 15 Go to the toolbar on the main AKTS screen and select Formal Terms from the KB drop down menu Click on the downwards arrow to scroll down the Type menu to see the different types of formal terms within the Kb Sele
72. to tree attributes like leaf texture and size root texture and depth canopy height and growth rate Figure 12 Tree attributes in terms of management qualities were also mentioned by farmers such as the ease of pruning and whether tree species were regarded as native or exotic to the local environment Coffee growers usually called trees exotic if they had been relatively recently introduced rather than species that had been introduced many years ago such as orange coffee or bananas A full table of the tree species mentioned by farmers and their attributes can be found in Appendix 3 Farmers in the research area were not found to divide tree impacts on soil further than good bad or medium but from looking at Table 3 it becomes clear that classifications were strongly linked for example fresh trees were associated with soil and water protection On the other hand caliente trees were strongly related to low protection of water and bad impacts on soil 27 In a few cases caliente and fresh tree species were classed as having medium effects on soil and water For instance guano Ochroma pyramidale was classed as a caliente tree but some farmers perceived it as a medium tree for protecting water sources and providing medium quality of shade for coffee Furthermore vaina de casio Leucaena magnifica was a fresh tree but was only considered a medium tree for both
73. tring how the topic was created it is a search for any of the following object terms todos los rboles all trees and mamiferos mammals Click on Show use in statements at the bottom of the dialog box and a list of all the statements on Trees and mammals will appear There are 23 statements in all As you scroll through the list of statements you will notice that the translation does not sound like a natural use of English or synonym language if you are using the transpose formal terms and synonyms tool this is illustrated and explained further on Close the list of statements and the topic details dialog box Try the same thing with the topic Soil fertility Answer the following question Question How many statements are there on soil fertility You can see that the number of statements generated by a topic is often a large number to look through We will now continue to look at smaller collections of knowledge Close all open dialog boxes and return to the main AKTS5 screen All knowledge in the knowledge base is represented by statements we call these the basic units of the knowledge base There are 4 different types of statement Attribute statements tell you about the properties attributes of something they are descriptive 14 Causal statements give you information about cause and effect relationships Comparison statements compare the properties of two object
74. ture impacts on soil fertility and indicates whether a tree might be considered caliente or fresh whereas leaf size impacts on soil erosion but does not feed into the caliente or fresh categories Particular physical attributes were considered generally negative in their environmental impacts while others were generally positive but it depended on a combination of attributes that determined whether a tree was caliente negative or fresh positive overall The values in Figure 12 with grey lines extending from them require further explanation Canopy height Trees with a tall and broad canopy e g chilamate of the Ficus genus were associated with protecting water sources while trees with a tall but narrow canopy were more frequently 26 classed as caliente trees or aridos translated as hot or arid The trees with a narrow but tall canopy were usually used for timber Figure 12 shows a negative link between short trees and quality of shade for coffee because such trees were unable to provide shade for the coffee plants and led to a decrease in air circulation on plantations there is not a positive link between tall trees and quality of shade for coffee because this was species dependent a tall tree would have to have other attributes to be considered positive for coffee shading Leaf size Big leaves were always considered good for combating soil erosion because of the area of grou
75. uajilote Medium Medium Easy Medium Open Medium Evergreen Native Soft and plentiful Fresh Medium Medium Good Andira inermis T ed Medium Slow Not pruned Medium Open Hard Deciduous Native Hard Medium Bad Bad Bad Undefined Guacamaya roja Medium Slow Not pruned Medium Open Hard Deciduous Native Medium Medium Bad Medium Bad Guazuma ulmifolia Guacimo Low Fast Not pruned Small Open Soft Deciduous Native Medium Medium Medium Medium Medium Enterolobium Guanacaste Medium Fast Not pruned Medium Closed Soft Deciduous Native Soft Medium Not used Good Good cyclocarpum Ochroma pyramidale Guano High Fast Not pruned Big Open Medium Evergreen Native Hard Caliente Medium Medium Medium Hymenaea i l co rbaril Guapinol Medium Slow Not pruned Small Closed Hard Evergreen Native Deep Caliente Bad Medium Bad Terminalia f oblonga Guayabo liso High Slow Not pruned Small Open Hard Deciduous Native Hard Caliente Not used Bad Bad Bursera simaruba pee qe Medium Fast Easy Small Open Soft Deciduous Native Medium Medium Not used Good Medium Spondias purpurea Jocote ciruelo Low Medium Easy Big Closed Medium Deciduous Native Medium Medium Not used Medium Medium ie Laurel de la India High Medium Not pruned Medium Closed Medium Deciduous Native Deep Medium Not used Medium Good Leucaena Leucaena Low Fast Medium Small Closed Soft Evergreen Native Soft Fresh N
76. uld be considered carefully when analysing the knowledge base Table 1 Location of the sources from cafnet nicaragua Kb Location No of informants No of associated statements Colon a Agr cola l 26 Divisiones del Cu 2 44 El Cu 1 143 Empalme Pe as Blancas 1 50 La Chata 5 331 Los Andes 3 78 Pe as Blancas 5 244 Santa Rosa 2 71 Table 2 Size of coffee farms and associated statements from cafnet_nicaragua Kb Size of coffee farm cafetal No of informants No of associated statements Between 0 5 manzanas 8 319 small Between 5 10 manzanas 7 374 medium More than 10 manzanas 5 235 large Within the Kb there are a number of object hierarchies and topic hierarchies that have been created to enable the user to search chunks of knowledge much quicker than would otherwise be possible How to do this will be explored in the following section There are 19 object hierarchies that classify trees and animal species according to the agro ecological interactions that farmers attributed to them e g good soil trees The object hierarchies show the importance of particular attributes of trees for them to be maintained in a farming landscape with possible short and long term trade offs evident for instance there might be a tree that attracts many animal species but has a negative impact on coffee productivity There are 34 topics arranged into f
77. ult Medium Closed Medium Evergreen Native Hard Medium Medium Medium Good Ficus spp Chilamate Medium Fast Not pruned Medium Closed Medium Evergreen Native Soft Fresh Medium Good Good Trichilia hirta Alamo Medium Medium Not pruned Medium Closed Medium Evergreen Native Medium Medium Not used Medium Medium Prosopis juliflora Acacia Low Fast Not pruned Medium Closed Medium Evergreen Native Hard Medium Bad Medium Medium Undefined Acacia africana Medium Medium Not pruned Medium Closed Hard Evergreen Native Hard Caliente Medium Bad Bad Andira inermis Almendro Low Slow Not pruned Big Open Medium Deciduous Native Medium Caliente Not used Medium Medium Vico Canela Medium Medium Not pruned Medium Closed Medium Evergreen Exotic Medium Medium Medium Medium Medium Swietenia p Caoba High Slow Not pruned Medium Open Medium Deciduous Native Medium Medium Medium Medium Medium macrophylla Undefined Capulin Medium Medium Not pruned Medium Closed Hard Evergreen Native Hard Caliente Bad Medium Medium Carapa guianensis CERO Ud M High Medium Easy Big Open Medium Evergreen Native Soft Medium Good Medium Medium Ceiba pentandra Ceibo High Slow Not pruned Small Closed Medium Evergreen Native Soft Fresh Medium Good Good TORO UD ur Chaperno High Fast Not pruned Big Open Medium Evergreen Native Soft Medium Bad Medium Good minimiflorus f a Comenegro o A
78. was not usually just for the shading properties they possessed if they were useful in other ways then they would often still be kept in plantations Some trees from each of the categories fresh caliente and medium were not used this was either because they did not provide products of livelihood value or coffee plantations were not the right environment for them and they were grown elsewhere Tools Useful AKT tools e Cafnet tool hierarchic objects usage Can be used to see all the object hierarchies that particular trees appear in 34 e Knowledge evaluation tool object hierarchies found in AKTS Tools System Tools Knowledge Evaluation Can be used to see the number of statements attached to each object hierarchy It is vital to note that the number of statements does not indicate the level of utility that those statements might represent there might be few statements of great utility in comparison to many statements of less useful knowledge 4 3 Coffee plantation composition soil fertility climatic regulation and water provision The land area used for coffee cultivation was continually increasing around Macizo Pefias Blancas but although this was beneficial for farmer livelihoods the increase in coffee meant a reduction in forest areas Farmers were aware of the forest decline and recognised the negative effects this was having upon the environment coffee on its own could not provide the necessary conditi
79. which to access it will be explored below After completing A quick sightseeing tour around AKTS the user will be able to consult the knowledge base using topics different search options and exploring diagrams These skills will then be reinforced and developed by the section entitled Exploring the knowledge base some highlights from local knowledge which introduces more contextual information and how to utilise AKTS5 tools Once the user has completed these sections they should then be able to explore the knowledge base independently There are tools designed to help the user pull out relevant information and some of the more useful ones are listed in Appendix 1 Tools for analysing the knowledge Definitions of key terms and concepts used in the sightseeing tour and the AKTS software are included in Appendix 2 Glossary The user should note that not all functions of the software are explained in this publication because the software is used for both creating and accessing knowledge bases The User Manual Dixon et al 2001 provides a more comprehensive guide to the software and how to create your own knowledge base 3 2 A quick sightseeing tour around AKTS This quick tour around AKT5 with the cafnet nicaragua knowledge base is designed to help familiarise you with the AKTS software and the ways in which you can manipulate a knowledge base Getting Started 1 Install the AKTS program onto your computer by clicking on
80. wn menu 22 4 Exploring the knowledge base some highlights from local knowledge From practicing with A quick sightseeing tour it should now be possible to explore the knowledge base more thoroughly Some of the initial findings from the local knowledge research have been introduced below to help develop your skills in navigating around the knowledge base as well as add a bit more context to the research findings Tools that can aid your exploration of the knowledge are given where relevant at the end of each section some of these are explained in Appendix 1 Section 4 1 explores the origin of farmers knowledge surrounding Macizo Pefias Blancas Reserve and how training and technical assistance impacted upon farmer understandings of agro ecological processes Section 4 2 examines classification of trees in the research area according to specific attributes and how these relate to tree species impacts on soil conservation and water protection Section 4 3 is a summary of farmers knowledge about tree interactions with soil fertility water sources and climatic regulation and how this knowledge affects the tree composition of coffee plantations and the wider landscape 4 1 Derivation of farmers knowledge The statements in the cafnet nicaragua knowledge base were given derivations according to the origin of the information This is useful to know during kb analysis particularly in the case of inconsistencies between farm
81. y refuges How coffee plantations were managed really shaped the impact they could have upon the environment both positively and negatively Depending on whether coffee was grown on its own or with other plants and trees the level of pruning and weeding the amount of chemical applications throughout the year and when these took place were all factors that had an effect on soil condition and water protection as well as micro climatic implications These factors were influenced by farm size farmer preference and financial constraints 4 3 1 Coffee plantation composition Across the small and medium sized farms coffee was grown most often with Musa spp Plate 5 Inga spp and a few other tree species In the larger farms there was less diversity and only nga spp was intercropped with coffee All the plantations had weeds growing at the ground level and these would be treated with herbicides and or cut manually with machetes Grasses were referred to as bad weeds while some herbs were said to be good weeds Figure 15 in the smaller farms farmers tended to cut the bad weeds with machetes and leave the good weeds On the bigger farms workers were employed to cut 35 the weeds and this led to far less discrimination between the good and the bad weeds because it would take longer and thus be more costly for farmers It was also found that particular trees on plantations led to less problematic weeds becau

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