Module 3:Farmer Experimentation

National FSA TrainingModule 5: Research with farmers

Module 5Research with farmers

Objectives

At the end of this module participants will understand:

Basic concepts used in farmer experimentation
Planning for farmer experimentation
Approaches to farmer experimentation

Content

5.1Introduction

5.2Agricultural and Knowledge Information Systems

5.2.1Introduction

5.2.2Key actors in AKIS

5.2.3Conditions for an effective systems perspective

5.3Farmer participation

5.4On-farm trials

5.5Farmer Field Schools (FFS): an example of organised farmer experimentation

5.5.1Introduction and key principles

5.5.2Procedure for starting and guiding a FFS

5.6Farmer Research Groups: another example of organised farmer experimentation

5.6.1Background

5.6.2Characteristics of an FRG

5.6.3Procedure for establishing FRGs

Key terminology

1. Experimentation

Experimentation is a set of procedures by which the best potential new technologies that address identified constraints or opportunities are tested. Unlike formal experimentation (that is largely undertaken by researchers) farmer experimentation involves farmer participation at different levels of testing and often undertaken on farmers fields.

2. On-Farm Experimentation (OFE)

On-farm experimentation is a process whereby technology testing is undertaken on farmers’ field or with farmers’ livestock. Depending on the stage of testing three main categories of on-farm experimentation are identified:

Researcher managed and researcher implemented
Researcher managed and farmer implemented
Farmer managed and farmer implemented.

3. Agro-ecosystem

Agro-ecosystem is a complex agro-socio-economic system that arises from agricultural interventions in the natural ecosystem (Mettrick1993).

4. Agro-ecosystem analysis

According to Chambers (1997) the agro-ecosystem analysis concept draws on systems and ecological thinking. It combines analysis of systems and system properties (productivity, stability, sustainability and equality) with pattern analysis of space (maps, and transects), time (seasonal calendars and long term trends), flows and relationships (flow, causal, venn and other diagrams) relative values and decisions (e.g. decision trees).

5. Non-formal education

This is an organised educational activity outside the established formal system, where operated separately or as a component of a broader activity that is intended to serve identifiable learning clienteles and learning objectives.

6. Farmer Field School (FFS)

The Farmer Field School is a participatory extension approach that is based on non-formal education methods. A FFS is conducted for purposes of creating a learning environment (learning by doing) in which farmers can master and apply specific management skills. The emphasis is on empowering farmers to implement their own decisions on their own fields.

7. Farmer Research Group (FRG)

In the context of farmer experimentation an FRG consists of a number of participating farmers who come together to test new agricultural technologies and discuss the relevance of the results of the tests for adoption. Researchers and extension staff often facilitate the group activities.

8. Agricultural and Knowledge Information System

"A set of agricultural organizations and/or the linkages and interactions between them. These organizations and individuals are engaged in the generation, transformation, transmission, storage, retrieval, integration, diffusion and utilisation of knowledge and information. The purpose of AKIS is to synergistically support decision making, problem solving and innovation in a given country's agriculture or domain thereof."

5.1Introduction

Farmers are the ultimate users of outputs of research programmes. In the last few decades researchers developed technologies which were not appropriate for many farmer situations and circumstances. As a result impact of research-developed technologies at the farmer level has been minimal. One of the reasons has been the low level of farmer involvement in agricultural research. Farmer involvement improves researcher understanding of the farmer circumstances and vice versa. In the process of involving farmer’s relationships between researchers and farmers are developed. These relationships start to complement scientific and informal ways of doing things. This complementarity improves research programmes making them more appropriate and brings impact. This module tries to describe agricultural knowledge and information systems and focuses on the relationships and different ways researchers can work with farmers.

5.2Agricultural Knowledge and Information System (AKIS)

5.2.1Introduction

The links between agricultural research and technology transfer agents in developing countries are often a major bottleneck in agricultural technology systems and received inadequate attention in the past (Sands, 1988). Research and extension should not be seen as separate institutions that must be linked. Instead, scientists involved in basic, strategic, applied and adaptive research, together with subject-matter specialists, village-level extension workers and farmers, should be seen as participants in a single Agricultural Knowledge and Information System (AKIS).

The concept of an AKIS has been discussed by several authors in literature, using a number of different nomenclatures and definitions (Bunting, 1986; Engel, 1987; Lionberger and Chang, 1970; Nagel, 1980; Rogers et. al., 1976; Rolling, 1986a and 1988a; Swanson and Claar, 1983). Rolling (1990) defines AKIS as:

The goal of the system is to improve the output of the agricultural sector in terms of quantity and quality to enhance the contribution of that sector to the well being of the population as a whole. The objectives of the systems are to generate and adopt relevant and effective knowledge and technologies aimed at a more efficient, equitable and sustainable utilisation of the productive resources in the agricultural sector.

The concept of an AKIS should be distinguished from that of a Management Information System. The former is the entire system that produces the knowledge used in agriculture. The latter evaluates the productivity or other aspects of an enterprise (not necessarily an agricultural one) in order to help management make decisions. Within an AKIS, the research-technology transfer interface is an especially important one in determining the performance of the whole system.

5.2.2Key actors in AKIS

There are 5 key actors in AKIS: research, technology transfer agents, farmers and farmer organisations, policy makers and other actors. The first, i.e. research, covers the whole spectrum of scientific inquiry and technology development, from basic to adaptive research. It includes the work performed by public and private institutes, and organisations that carry out scientific inquiries in the broadly defined area of agriculture. These institutes and organisations include, among others, research departments and units of ministries of agriculture, semi-autonomous agricultural research institutes, commodity boards, agricultural parastatals with research mandates, and university faculties of agriculture.

Technology transfer agents are all institutional bodies that attempt to:

Bring research results to farmers in the form of new agricultural technologies and new information.
Supply research responding to the needs of farmers regarding production constraints and feedback on technologies. These include agricultural extension services, commodity boards, government and parastatal seed production units, and commercial firms. The term "technology transfer" has a broader coverage than extension in terms of organisations involved, but it refers only to the dissemination aspects of generating and transferring improved technologies.

Farmers' organisations can simply be defined as those agrarian interest groups with formal memberships. They vary from traditional or (new) grassroots organisations to more formally institutionalised (national) farmers' associations.

Policymakers are those individuals in charge of both technology policies and development instruments such as agricultural pricing, public investments and market regulations. Since decisions made by policymakers can expand or restrict the technology span available to the country, these decision-makers are also key actors in the technology systems.

Other actors of the technology development and transfer system who play important roles are:

Non-governmental organisations (NGO). According to Esman and Uphoff (1984) an NGO can broadly be defined as international and national, non-profit making, philanthropic and voluntary bodies who operate through programmes and projects in less developed countries (LDCs).
Commercial agro-industrial companies.
Private research firms and foundations

The above key actors of the AKIS are shown in Figure 5.1.

Research

(on-station, on-farm)

AgriculturalExtension

policy makers

Farmers

(including NGO's and farmers’ organisations)

Figure 5.1 Actors in the Agricultural Knowledge and Information System

Each of the indicated actors has its' own specific objectives. These objectives are summarised in Table 5.1.

Table 5.1Objectives of key actors

Key actor / Objectives
Research /

To acquire information on the technological needs and production conditions of farmers and other technology users
To disseminate results
To gain access to more resources (physical, human and financial)

Farmers and farmers' organisations /

To influence/control the research agenda.
To gain access to information and knowledge when needed

Extension services and other technology transfer agents /

To influence the research agenda
To gain access to information and knowledge needed for their own programs
To gain access to more resources (human)

5.2.3Conditions for an effective systems perspective

A system perspective means that all actors of the technology system are part of a single AKIS. All actors share and adhere to a common strategy, which allows them to work toward a shared strategic goal or mission i.e. to make relevant technologies available to the farmers and the processors of the system. The basic elements or conditions for a system perspective are:

Shared strategic goal: A strategic goal is a desired outcome of the system. These goals are critical because they serve as unifying elements and determinants of the system's orientation. They also partially define the organisational strategies and instruments to be used by the system, and the nature and scope of the resources required.
Synergy: Synergy, or smooth co-operation among the actors or component organisations, is essential. It is what makes the whole greater than the sum of the parts.
Leadership: Someone must co-ordinate the whole. While each actor is responsible for his/her own contribution, someone must assume responsibility for the outcome of the totality. It could be any of the actors identified or an apex body.
Accountability: Each actor of the system should be accountable to the others. Especially research and technology transfer institutions should be, in one way or another, accountable to policy makers and farmers or their organisations. They have to account for the resources available to them in terms of achievement of the technology system.
Active involvement of farmers in the system: Farmers and their organisations should be as active as the other participants in the system. They should not be seen as passive recipients of the results of the technology generation and transfer process, as is often the case. They can initiate, suggest, or be involved in the implementation of decisions, events, or tasks at all levels of the process.
Effective linkages: Effective linkages are essential for the performance of the system. Without linkages, the system is an engine without pipes.

5.3 Farmer participation

Farmer participation in agricultural research is a phenomenon that has been developed in the last two decades. The farming systems approach took the view that farmers were primary clients of agricultural research and development programmes, and that on-farm research should incorporate the clients perspective when defining the research agenda (Baker and Norman, 1989, Merril Sands et al. 1989).

Reasons for farmers to participate in research include:

Provide aid in understanding the system
Help to choose trial sites
Can be a source of technology, in that farmers gain access to new technology earlier.
Farmers’ knowledge and experience incorporated in the choosing or commenting on treatments.
Researchers get an ongoing feedback on the performance of treatment applications that can allow for modifications as the growing season progress. Farmer feedback saves research time.
Improves farmers’ capacity and expertise for conducting collaborative research in that they can assist or completely manage experiments.
Farmers can assess technology by introducing the researcher to their criteria and put the results into perspective.
Can alter conclusions about what farmers will adopt

Literature on farmer participation identifies a typology for describing farmer participation in on-farm experimentation. The main difference in the different modes of participation is based on the extent of farmer involvement in decision making. Four modes of participation are identified (Ashby, 1987):

Contractual: Researchers hire or borrow land/labour and other services from the farmer. In this mode of participation researchers dominate decisions. In this approach the role and participation of farmers is passive. The technologies are designed and developed at research stations and passed over to farmers in a research managed trial. Multi-locational testing is a good example of contract participation.
Consultative: Researchers consult farmers about farming system, their problems and possible solutions throughout. After consultation researchers give solutions, plan experiments and finally gives recommendations. This is slightly different from contract participation in the sense that researchers consult the farmers about their production constraints and then develop the solutions. The role of the farmers is that of identifying the problems but they have no control over the type of solutions. This form of participation is referred to as “doctor-patient” relationship. This is a typical approach for many research stations even in Tanzania where researchers plan formal and informal surveys to diagnose problems. Experiments (solutions) are designed by scientists based on the problems identified. In most cases the emphasis is largely on adapting technologies from research shelves to the socio-economic and ecological circumstances
Collaborative: Researchers and farmers are partners in the research process and continually collaborate. In this approach the participation of farmers is more advanced in the sense that both the farmers and researchers participate in the process as partners. Researchers draw on farmers’ knowledge and conduct experiments to seek solutions to identified constraints. Regular meetings between the partners are held to discuss different issues pertaining to the experiment and results are jointly reviewed.
Collegiate: Farmers play the lead role in identification of the content of experimentation Researchers help farmers to promote indigenous technical knowledge and informal research. Scientists work to strengthen farmers’ capacity to undertake informal research and development systems on their own. It also involves making information and services from the formal research system available. Farmer Research Groups can be singled out as an example of this form of participation.

Normally the relationship between researchers and farmers begins with either consultative or contractual. At the collegial stage researchers and farmers are both exchanging knowledge on equal terms.

5.4 On-farm trials

The major categories of on-farm trials are exploratory, refinement, verification, farmer experiments and demonstrations. The choice on the type of on-farm trials is usually based on the purpose of the trial. The following five questions can be used as a guide in the choice of the type of trial:

Has the needed technology been identified?
Has the technology been decided upon but needs preliminary development?
Has the technology been tried extensively with the farmers?
Has the technology been developed and tested but needs further trial with farmers?
Has the technology been verified but not introduced to many farmers?

Answers to the above questions determine the type of on-farm trial that can be used. Below you find a list of possible on-farm trials.

Exploratory trials:

This type of trial is used when further information about the farming system is needed. They could be considered as part of a continuing diagnostic stage. The researcher is still searching for an innovation and needs to explore the situation further by using experimental treatments. The trial sites are usually few in numbers, relatively area specific, and the trial is largely under researchers’ management. However, the “add-on” type can be superimposed and be managed by the farmer. Exploratory trials can be investigative or diagnostic. Trials are simple where the researcher investigates a problem. However, while conducting an experiment, the researcher may uncover a new problem, which may need further experimentation to solve.

“Add-on” or “take-off” trial:

The researcher may decide to test one factor in addition to the farmers’ practice (“add-on”) or remove one or more factors (“take-off”) from a a package of recommendations. This technique helps to sort out factors that are important to the farmer. The “take-off” design is more complex than the “add-on” design but can give more information and is less complex than a complete factorial.

Refinement or adaptation trials:

These trials are conducted when the researcher has an idea of the type of technology to concentrate on but needs more details on performance in the farmers’ environment thus “refining” the possibilities. This type of trials has traditionally been done on research stations but experience has shown that information generated on research stations for environmentally or management sensitive technology may not be relevant for problems such as weed control or implement testing. These trials are usually larger, more complicated and require more researcher supervision than other types of on-farm trials because more treatments and replications are used at any given site. A factorial treatment arrangement can be used where the researcher is interested in many effects and interactions. Two types of these trials are:

Levels - This type of trial is used to determine a response curve, as with fertiliser, or animal feeds and/or economics of a certain technology that can be applied at different rates under given circumstances.
Screening - A “Screening” experiment is used to determine which are the “best bets” treatments to select from a relatively large array of choices. It is used with, for example, chemicals, varieties, timing of operations and alleviation of a stress (drought, Phosphorus, Potassium, animal loss in weight).

Verification or validation trials: