Knowledge flows in land-use change through institutional innovations and plant breeding

Even a cursory visitor of rural areas in China will notice the transformation which is characteristic of what has been and still is happening even in remote areas of China. The pace of these changes can only be described as breathtaking: whole regions which until recently have been largely under traditional land-use systems are changing to a highly commercialised, private profit oriented agriculture. This paper presents the basic findings of an in-depth analysis of the knowledge-flowprocesses of a set of more recent innovations, which have been chosen as cases studies: rubber, hybrid paddy rice and Yunnan hemp in the Nabanhe National Natural Reserve (NNNR). The NNNR is located close to the borders of Laos and Myanmar. As elsewhere in China, farming systems, land tenure systems, household economies, social life and cultural traditions in the NNNR are in transition, and ecological balance and biodiversity are meeting tremendous challenges. This work focuses on the innovation and modification of agricultural knowledge. It observes the changes within the agricultural knowledge system, identifies the external entities providing new agricultural knowledge and mechanisms of agricultural knowledge flow and dissemination within communities. It analyses dissemination conditions, e. g. social networks, opinion leaders and public space, and compares the results of different mechanisms for internal and external agricultural knowledge flows in order to further determine the characteristics of efficient dissemination.