Collaboration without consensus: Building resilience in sustainable agriculture through ICTs

Abstract

In this article, we draw on a case study of a weather information system in West Bengal, India to examine how the design and usage of ICTs can play a much larger role in steering holistic changes in everyday practices of smallholder farmers as they cope with effects of climate change. In doing so, we focus on the role of the information system in forging collaborative practices across diverse set of actors with varied interests. We show how collaborative practices facilitate village capacity building to make effective use of outside expertise, convert them into locally relevant knowledge, and imbue them with new meaning in their everyday practices. We argue that these capacities are a necessary means by which smallholder farmers can build resilience in the face of the global climate crisis.