Participatory Research Methods for Technology Evaluation: 
A Manual for Scientists Working with Farmers

 PDF FormatAvailable in PDF format / Download whole document (889.81KB)


 

Contents

Tables

Figures

Foreword

Preface

An Introduction to Farmer Participatory Research (44.70KB)

  • Farmers’ Local Knowledge

  • Farmers’ Experiments

  • Farmers’ Exchange of Information and Technologies

An Overview of the Projects Used as Examples in This Manual (48.11KB)

  • The Oaxaca Project: Conserving Maize Diversity

  • The Chihota Project: Improving Soil Fertility

  • The Chiapas Project: Linking Farmers’ Local Knowledge and Crop Management Decisions

  • A Structure for a Participatory Research Project and Some Caveats

Participation: Identifying the Places, People, and Procedures for Research (49.77KB)

  • Where to Work: Site Selection

  • Who to Work With: The Selection of Participants (Informants/Experimenters)

  • How to Interact: Types of Interviews/Interactions

  • Gender

Diagnosis of Farmers’ Conditions (104.57KB)

  • Local Classification of Farmers

  • Wealth Ranking

  • Minimum Set of Socioeconomic Indicators

  • Calendar of Activities

  • Local Taxonomies of Soils

  • Local Classifications of Climate

  • Local Crop Taxonomies

  • Identifying Points of Intervention

Evaluation of Current and New Technological Options (140.83KB)

  • Eliciting Farmers’ Perceptions of Technological Options

  • Comparing Different Technological Options

  • Eliciting the Constraints on Using a Technology

  • Demonstration Fields and Field Days

  • Carrying Out Experiments with Farmers

Assessing the Impact of New Technologies (41.59KB)

  • The Complexity of Assessing Impacts

  • The Impact Assessment Process

Conclusions, References  (28.96KB)

Appendix 1. Farmers’ Classification of Themselves, Chihota, Zimbabwe
Appendix 2. Examples of the Cards Used to Depict Variety Characteristics, Oaxaca Project (demand and supply of characteristics)
Appendix 3. Examples of the Data Used for Analyzing the Supply and Demand of Characteristics
Appendix 4. Using an Attainment Index in Farmer Participatory Research
Appendix 5. An Example of the Modified Stability Analysis

 


Tables

Table 1. Levels of interaction between farmers and scientists and possible outputs
Table 2. Data collected in an exercise to elicit farmers’ classification of themselves, Chihota, Zimbabwe
Table 3. Farmers’ classification of themselves and their characteristics, Chihota, Zimbabwe
Table 4. Comparison of farmer characteristics by wealth rank, Chiapas, Mexico
Table 5. Field day participants in Oaxaca, Mexico, characterized by agricultural activity, gender, and other variables
Table 6. Selected personal and household characteristics of participants in field days and sample survey, Oaxaca, Mexico
Table 7. Farmers’ soil taxonomy, Chihota, Zimbabwe
Table 8. Soil chemical properties by farmer soil class, Chiapas, Mexico
Table 9. Underlying factors defining “good” and “bad” seasons according to farmers, Chihota, Zimbabwe
Table 10. Maize types and their characteristics in Santa Ana Zegache, Oaxaca, Mexico
Table 11. Perceived advantages and disadvantages of maize types, Oaxaca, Mexico
Table 12. Characteristics and criteria used to judge maize types, Oaxaca, Mexico
Table 13. Perceived advantages and disadvantages of soil fertility improvement technologies, Chihota, Zimbabwe
Table 14. Characteristics and criteria used to judge soil fertility improvement technologies, Chihota, Zimbabwe
Table 15. Average ratings of importance of maize characteristics by males and females, Santa Ana Zegache, Oaxaca, Mexico
Table 16. Average ratings of importance of maize characteristics by wealth rank for males and females, Santa Ana Zegache, Oaxaca, Mexico
Table 17. Average rating of the performance of different maize types, for several characteristics of importance to male and female farmers, Santa Ana Zegache, Oaxaca, Mexico
Table 18. Technological options available to farmers in Chihota, Zimbabwe to improve their soils, and the constraints they face, by local soil type
Table 19. Impact indicators identified by farmers and scientists in a participatory research project, Oaxaca, Mexico
Table A3.1. Ratings of importance for each characteristic for men (demand of characteristics), Santa Ana Zegache, Oaxaca, Mexico
Table A3.2. Ratings of importance for each characteristic (demand of characteristics) for women, Santa Ana Zegache, Oaxaca, Mexico
Table A3.3. Ratings of performance of each maize type for each farmer with respect to each characteristic (supply of characteristics), Santa Ana Zegache, Oaxaca, Mexico
Table A4.1. Demand and supply ratings for several characteristics and two maize types grown by the man in household 4 used for
calculating an attainment index, Santa Ana Zegache, Oaxaca, Mexico

Top


Figures

Figure 1. Hypothetical matrix to classify villages
Figure 2. Classification of survey sites by source of income, ethnicity, and maize potential
Figure 3. Causal diagram of the factors that affect yields based on those identified by farmers’ classification of themselves in Chihota, Zimbabwe
Figure 4. An example of a calendar of activities, Santa Ana Zegache, Oaxaca, Mexico
Figure 5. Classification of maize types in Vicente Guerrero, Chiapas, Mexico
Figure 6. Hypothetical example of cards rating the importance of maize characteristics
Figure 7. Example of a card layout to rate characteristics
Figure 8. Layout of a demonstration field, Oaxaca Project
Figure 9. Layout of a demonstration field with two factors, Chihota Project
Figure A4.1. Matrix of scores for an attainment index
Figure A5.1. Yield response to the environmental index in six communities of the Central Valleys of Oaxaca, Mexico

Top



Foreword

This manual on farmer participatory research continues a tradition in the CIMMYT Economics Program of developing practical, instructive guides that are based on direct experience in field research.  The methods presented here have been tested and revised in rural communities over the course of many years, and they lend themselves to fieldwork in a wide range of settings.

I am pleased that the Economics Program ’s evolving experience in working with farmers can be made available to a wider audience through this manual.  Although these methods may not be suited to every situation that researchers are likely to encounter —after all, each rural community, household, farmer, and researcher is different —I believe that readers will certainly benefit from the advice and experience distilled here, just as we shall benefit from their recommendations after they have used this manual in their own fieldwork.

It is important for readers to understand that this publication does not pretend to offer the final word in farmer participatory experimentation.  Participatory research methods will continue to develop as researchers and farmers continue to learn from each other. For the present, however, Mauricio Bellon has given us a valuable guide to the insights as well as the uncertainties that agricultural scientists often experience as they seek to make the research process more inclusive —and ultimately more rewarding —for all who participate.

Prabhu L. Pingali
Director, CIMMYT Economics Program

Top



Preface


This manual presents a set of methods for agricultural scientists and farmers to evaluate technologies/practices jointly. It is intended for agricultural scientists who work on the development, adaptation, or diffusion of agricultural technology and want to incorporate a participatory approach in their work.  It focuses specifically on methods that can be applied to germplasm and soil fertility technologies.

The manual describes how to collect, analyze, and use information for participatory research. The user of this manual should pick and choose the relevant methodologies for his/her work rather than launching into some pre-determined scheme.  The methods are presented under three main activities in farmer participatory research: diagnosing farmers ’ conditions, evaluating current and new technologies and practices, and assessing the impact of new technologies and practices.  Ideally these activities should fit into a coherent plan for developing technology, rather than being one-off exercises.

The methods presented here are illustrated with examples from three research projects. The first project involves participatory conservation and improvement of maize landraces in the Central Valleys of Oaxaca, Mexico. The second concerns participatory evaluation of soil fertility improvement technologies in Chihota, Zimbabwe. The third project is a more conventional study in a community of central Chiapas, Mexico, where participatory methodologies were used to understand the relationship between farmers ’ local knowledge of maize diversity and soils and their crop management decisions.

The manual begins with an introduction to participatory research, especially to some of the conceptual issues that are important in this kind of research. This introductory section is followed by an overview of the three projects used as examples throughout the manual so that the reader understands the context of the examples. Next, three central concerns of participatory research are explored: Where should this kind of research be undertaken? Who should participate? How should the participants work together?

The next sections of the manual describe the participatory methods associated with the three main activities mentioned above: diagnosing farmers’ conditions, evaluating current and new technologies/practices, and assessing their impact. First, the rationale behind each participatory research activity is given. (For example, why do researchers need to conduct a participatory diagnosis of farmers’ conditions?) Afterward, the methods corresponding to each activity are explained. The goal of each method is outlined and the procedures are described. Methods are illustrated with examples from the projects mentioned earlier.  Occasionally the examples present the  work of other researchers and, very occasionally, consist of hypothetical situations. Comments on each method, such as a discussion of its limitations and advice for its application, are presented as well.

This manual is not a comprehensive exposition of all methods available for farmer participatory research. It deals with the methods that I and my colleagues have experience in using. The strength of this approach is that the manual can provide sound examples of how the methods were applied, including their advantages and limitations in a variety of situations.

I wish to acknowledge the participants and funding agencies that supported the three projects used as examples in this manual. The  project in Oaxaca, formally named “CG Maize Diversity Conservation: A Farmer-Scientist Collaborative Approach,” has been implemented jointly by the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) and Mexico ’s National Institute of Forestry, Agriculture, and Livestock Research (INIFAP), under a grant from the International Development Research Centre (IDRC), Ottawa, Canada. The author gratefully acknowledges the work of the project team (Melinda Smale, José Alfonso Aguirre Gómez, Julien Berthaud, Suketoshi Taba, Flavio Aragón, Irma Manuel Rosas, and Jorge Mendoza). The project in Chihota, formally named “Chihota Soil Fertility Project,” has been implemented jointly by CIMMYT and by Zimbabwe ’s Department of Agricultural, Technical and Extension Services (Agritex) and Department of Research and Specialist Services (DR&SS). The project in Chihota is one activity of the Soil Fertility Management and Policy Network for Maize-Based Farming Systems (Soil Fert Net), funded by the Rockefeller Foundation. The list of participants is too long for all to be acknowledged, but I wish to recognize the work of Stephen R. Waddington, Peter Gambara, Tendai Gatsi, Timothy E. Machemedze, Christine Kuwaza, Johannes Karigwindi, Philip Tawuyandago, and Obert Maminimini. Finally, the project in Chiapas was funded by a grant from CIMMYT and implemented jointly by the author and Jean Risopoulos.

I hope that researchers who are interested in using a participatory approach in their work find this manual useful, and I would appreciate any suggestions on how to improve it.  Finally, I would like to express my appreciation to the farmers and researchers who, over the years, have contributed to the teaching and learning experiences distilled in the pages that follow. I particularly wish to thank José Alfonso Aguirre Gómez for sharing his ideas on farmer experimentation, Angel Pita and Xóchitl Juárez for providing one of the examples used, Stephen R. Waddington, Malcolm Blackie, Robert Tripp, Jeffrey B. Bentley, Michael Morris, and Janet Lauderdale for comments on earlier drafts, Prabhu Pingali for his encouragement to write this document, Kelly Cassaday for editorial assistance, Miguel Mellado for design, and Marcelo Ortiz for production.

Mauricio R. Bellon
CIMMYT, December 2000


Top

Published on May 2001

August, 2004