Embrapa Balbino Has a Number

Embrapa

Balbino has a number of different options with respect to promoting ICLS. He can petition the government for tax incentives; work with input corporations to diffuse the product via their sales teams; increase promotional efforts; focus on using multipliers such as co-operatives and associations.

Using multipliers has benefits -- they are effective and they have the trust of farmers. However, there are hundreds of such multipliers and it would be difficult to launch a co-ordinated effort with them. Moreover, the multipliers' effectiveness in the south can be attributed to the smaller farm size and more co-operative culture. In the Cerrado, farms are much larger, more capital-intensive enterprises and the culture is more geared towards independence.

The use of tax incentives is valuable because it addresses financial considerations both immediately and in the long-term. One of the problems with adoption that has been identified is that the benefits are not immediate and many farmers cannot wrap their heads around the long-term benefits. If the government provided immediate benefits, the farmers would be more apt to adopt. Moreover, the government is spreading the cost of the environmental improvements around the entire taxpayer base, not just allowing the farmers to bear the full cost. The downside is that the government's funding levels are poor and budget issues mean that the government may not be willing to provide short-term tax incentives even for projects that have strong long-term benefits.

Using corporations will get the system exposure, but the ICLS system is not congruent with corporate sales remuneration programs. The salespeople are unlikely to spend the time marketing ICLS unless it is profitable for them to do so. This requires a significant payout, since the corporate sales staff will need to be involved in the training process. However, the corporations will be able to reach all of the farmers, and use their sales skills to increase adoption of ICLS.

Promotional efforts can be effective in overcoming the educational barriers to adoption, which are plentiful. Farmers do not like the steep learning curve and many of the ranchers do not understand the underlying scientific principles of the ICLS strategy. However, the promotional efforts are hampered by a small budget, and it is unlikely that they will result in substantial adoption without the use of at least one other tactic.