Innovating at the margins: the System of Rice Intensification in India and transformative social innovation

Abstract

ABSTRACT. I explore transformative social innovation in agriculture through a particular case of agroecological innovation, the System of Rice Intensification (SRI) in India. Insights from social innovation theory that emphasize the roles of social movements and the reengagement of vulnerable populations in societal transformation can help reinstate the missing "social" dimension in current discourses on innovation in India. India has a rich and vibrant tradition of social innovation wherein vulnerable communities have engaged in collective experimentation. This is often missed in official or formal accounts. Social innovations such as SRI can help recreate these possibilities for change from outside the mainstream due to newer opportunities that networks present in the twentyfirst century. I show how local and international networks led by Civil Society Organizations have reinterpreted and reconstructed game-changing macrotrends in agriculture. This has enabled the articulation and translation of an alternative paradigm for sustainable transitions within agriculture from outside formal research channels. These social innovations, however, encounter stiff opposition from established actors in agricultural research systems. Newer heterogeneous networks, as witnessed in SRI, provide opportunities for researchers within hierarchical research systems to explore, experiment, and create newer norms of engagement with Civil Society Organizations and farmers. I emphasize valuing and embedding diversity of practices and institutions at an early stage to enable systems to be more resilient and adaptable in sustainable transitions.

Game-changers and transformative social innovation

“…(Avelino et al 2014b:6). Several authors follow this conceptualization of game-changers in their respective articles and subsequently focus on discussing empirical phenomena under study (Campos et al 2016, Prasad 2016, Cipolla et al 2017, Gordon et al 2017. Others propose alternative concepts to both clarify and broaden our conceptualization of game-changers.…”

“…A mixture of all three, can be found in Prasad's (2016) perception of an agricultural crisis as manifested through farmer suicides, productivity increases with stagnating or declining farm incomes, high dependence on external inputs (such as subsidized fertilizers, irrigation based on high extractions of poor quality groundwater), increasing indebtedness, deskilling, drought, and soil deterioration in India. Globally, this agricultural crisis shows through a high and everincreasing ecological footprint, application of synthetic fertilizers as the fastest growing source of greenhouse gas emissions, extractive use of water, and land degrading practices.…”

“…Socio-technical and social-ecological intertwinements are brought out in the discussion by Swilling (2016) of five actor networks that are active in creating a renewables-based electricity system, fighting land grabbing and soil degradation, overcoming food insecurity and water scarcities, and finally in providing better housing with infrastructure facilities in illegals slums. Prasad (2016) considers the agricultural and ecological crises to open up spaces for social (-technical) innovations such as the System of Rice Intensification to emerge. The latter offers an alternative, more social, narrative of change that goes against the current technocratic innovation paradigm in Indian agriculture.…”

“…Part of the analysis and critique of the paper by Prasad (2016) is the role of science and the science system: it argues for both interand transdisciplinarity for strengthening sustainability transitions. Prasad considers that next to "active dissent by CSOs and farmer groups," what is required are "creative dissenters within the scientific establishment who have the ability to listen to nonresearch actors and translate ideas of paradigm change and sustainability to agricultural researchers."…”

“…The paper by Prasad (2016) explores transformative social innovation in Indian agriculture describing the evolution of the System of Rice Intensification (SRI) as social innovation and its relation to game-changing trends such as the (global) agricultural and ecologic crises. It contrasts social innovation with the dominant technocratic innovation paradigm and highlights the importance of a diversity of practices, heterogeneity of networks, and new research paradigms.…”