“With the PIP approach, I feel able to prepare for my future because I have received the whole technical package to increase agricultural production. […] Even if the project stops today we will still continue because the knowledge we have received from the project is sufficient for the implementation of our PIP. The PIP has developed us a lot, we can’t stop.”
Gaining the technical knowledge to implement and maintain conservation practices is crucial for sustainable land management. In the PIP approach this is mainly done from farmer-to-farmer and on the farms, allowing as such that – next to agro-technical knowledge – farmer trainers exchange their experiences, vision and inspiration. Figure 4 shows how different PIP generations rate the knowledge they have gained over the past years for a variety of crop and land management practices. Non-PIP farmers score close to zero for all practices, meaning that even some basic agricultural practices such as good planning of crop rotations and contour ploughing seem to be unknown to them. This changes rapidly after the PIP trainings, with the 1st and 2nd generations affirming to have acquired (much) more knowledge on all practices, and 3rd and 4th generations scoring just a bit lower. PIP farmers quickly become eager to learn from others and start actively approaching farmers who know more (see quote below of a 3rdgeneration PIP farmer of 65 years old). This scaling process is driven by the different mind-set of these farmers after PIP creation and their awareness of land stewardship.