Farmer Participation in strongResearchstrong Implications for.pdfVIP

Journal of Social Development in Africa (1997), 12,1,53-66 Farmer Participation in Research: Implications for Agricultural Development + ERASMUS D MONU * ABSTRACT Recently, there has been a great deal of attention devoted to the notion of farmer participation in agricultural research. In this connection, there has been a challenge to the conventional research model which conceives of the farmer as a passive partner so far as the identification of the problem, the conduct of the research and the development of the solution is concerned. This paper reviews a number of models suggested for agricultural research, noting the strengths and weaknesses of the models . Based on the authors experiences and other case studies, the implications of farmer participation in the development and dissemination of agricultural technologies are examined. Introduction It could be difficult nowadays to find an agricultural researcher who would argue against the involvement of die farmer in the research process . However, it should be remembered that it has only been since the 1970s that an explicit recognition of the role of the farmer in the research process has been made . In fact, despite this recognition, most of the agricultural researchers in Africa, at best, pay only lip service to active farmer involvement in the research process . Those who have strongly advocated for greater involvement of the farmer in the research process argue that the failure of the Green Revolution to improve the living conditions of the small-scale farmers could be attributed to the incompatibil- ity of the Green Revolution technology with the conditions of the farmers. The argument further points out that had the small-scale farmers been involved in the development of the technology, the scientists would have been made aware of the group specificity of the technology. + A revised version of a paper prepared