Agriculture and capacity building towards sustainable development in the Maldives

Abstract

ABSTRACT The building of agricultural capacity through sustainable means is widely noted within the relevant literature relating to developing countries. Less so, is its coverage in the literature relating to small island developing states, specifically the Republic of Maldives. In addressing this lack of knowledge, this research seeks to provide an answer to the main research question: How can farmers in the Maldives build agricultural capacity through sustainable means? In answering this question, this research employs a vigorous, robust, and original methodology comprising a multisite case study with a phenomenological line of inquiry. This inquiry undertakes interviews, discussions, and journal observations with farmers, government experts, and associated community members in order to investigate the sociocultural, economic, and environmental context of the farmers’ agricultural experiences, and as importantly, what meanings the farmers derived from these experiences. This research noted that despite the agricultural interventions by the Maldivian Ministry of Fisheries and Agriculture (MoFA), the key provider of agricultural assistance to farmers, their attempts to build sustainable agricultural capacity often resulted in unanticipated and disappointing intervention outcomes for farmers. The findings of this research revealed that intervention slippages occurred where there was insufficient traction between MoFA, its donor partners, and the intended beneficiary farmers. These slippages were invariably characterised by dysfunctional projects and disinterested participants. As an agriculturalist based in the Maldives, I had observed such phenomena first hand, but the question remained “Why”? Analysis of the findings and relevant literature established where the intervention deficits resided, how they came about, and how best they could be addressed. This analysis was presented as a six-point farming framework that noted institutional interventions should be recalibrated with greater emphasis on the following: the sociocultural island context in which agriculture is undertaken; the preference for individualistic farming activity; the capture and promotion of entrepreneurialism and profitability in agriculture; the inclusion of migrant agricultural labour as a valued resource; knowledge transfer to farmers, institutions, and youth; and, the production and marketing connectivity between farmers and factor and producer markets. The research concluded that the opportunity for building sustainable capacity in agricultural practices resided within this framework.