PARTICIPATORY AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH

Review for South Africa and KZN

E Kruger. KwaNalu CoP, 5,6 August 2014

PARTICIPATORY AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH

International trends

Recognition of the importance of reduction of rural poverty, food insecurity and malnutrition

Through giving attention to agricultural innovation systems that lead to outcomes at scale – Smallholder family farmers become central in the design of research processes as partners in planning and implementation

This requires multi-dimensional and multi stakeholder learning processes

From----To

From increase in production to improvement in local livelihoods

From technology transfer to co-development of innovation systems

From beneficiaries of projects to influential stakeholders within programmes

From functional participation to empowerment

From applied and adaptive research to strategic and pre-adaptive research

Themes

Increasing productivity and sustainability; mostly in the developing South and mostly with support from more developed Northern countries Pro poor targeting Conservation and sustainable use of

natural resources Local governance and equity (especially

gender) Trade globalisation and supply chains Migration and rural-urban dynamics Property rights and collective action Agriculture and human health Multi stakeholder partnerships

Underlying assumptions/goalsx New technology is the key leading factor in

the process of desired social changex Increased yields and production is the

underlying goal of all agricultural research and development

Meaningful participation of user groups in the process of investigating improvement in local situations

Increased livelihood diversity, resilience and security is to be the underlying goal of all agricultural research and development

In SA

Two broad trends Participatory innovation

development Primarily NGOs supported

through international donor or more recently, CSI funding.

Including organisations with an advisory/extension role

Participatory action research More the domain of

Universities; Easier to tailor around post

graduate degrees

Participatory Action Research

Emphasises participation and action, through research

Seeks to understand the world by trying to change it, collaboratively and following reflection

Collective inquiry and experimentation grounded in experience and social

history.

Provides academic

flexibility and rigour and a framework to include socio-political and

cultural aspectsPrimarily a

method of social enquiryMethodologies:

PRA and PLA , experiential learning and indigenous knowledge facilitation techniques, photo voice, community theatre, role plays

Participatory Innovation Development

Learning and innovation in sustainable agriculture programmes

Involves collaboration between researchers and farmers in analysis and testing of alternatives

Methodologies; farming systems research and extension, PTD, Farmer to Farmer , Farmer Field Schools,

Response to locally defined problems

by involving farmers as users of

the research process; lately

expanded beyond technologies to

socio-organisational arrangements

Lessons from Agricultural Extension

Researcher Extension Officer Farmer

A Technology Transfer System

(linear)

Researcher

Extension Officer

Farmer

An Action Research / Learning System

(facilitation)

Example 1: GrainSA SFIP

Farmer centred innovation systems research process working with farming learning groups and local facilitators to implement a farmer experimentation process

Focused on conservation agriculture -situated within the whole maize value chain and organised around Saving and Credit groups as the organising principle.

Example 2: University of Missouri- KwaNalu Community of Practice

The Community of Practice (CoP) approach includes smallholders, their communities, scientists, and agribusiness and government representatives and allows emerging farmers to be at the centre they will experiment and use GM crops in their own fields. 

Such participatory research creates feedback loops for researchers, farmers, extension advisors, policymakers and others involved

SA Policy Catch all

Technology transfer: diffusion of technology still seen as relevant, with training of extension officers and on farm training of farmers

Participatory approach; builds on farmers’ own capacities and abilities to organise themselves, with on farm trials and dissemination of innovations

Advisory approach; achievable in the highly commercial farming sector where farmer are highly competent, able to identify their own problems and are innovators. (DoA 2005 Strategy)

This highlights the difficulties Government is facing in providing a systematic and coherent service to farmers and an inability to integrate the concepts of placing farmers centre stage in any

of the agricultural research and development processes