Selecting Villages

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Farmer-First Process Design
Participatory Agricultural Development
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(No Transcript)
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The problem is not one of producing enough food
in the world. It is more of who grows it, where
it is grown, and who has access to it.
Robert Chambers, 1993
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Three Types of Agriculture
Industrial Green Revolution Diverse, Risk-Prone
Industrialized countries, Plantations in developing countries. Developing countries, resource rich areas. 3rd world, resource poor areas and countries. Poorest of the Poor
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Industrial Green Revolution Diverse, Risk-Prone
Over-production. Very high external inputs. Simple, stable systems. High, continuous inputs from research High-production. High external inputs. Simple, fairly stable systems. Frequent inputs from research. Undeveloped, low production. Low external inputs. Complex, diverse environment. Low to none.
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Diverse Risk-Prone Farming Systems

• Complex environment.
• Many crops/ species/ animals.
• Risk-prone, climate, prices, sickness,
  social/physical disasters
• Diverse many farming systems.
• Small to very small holdings. gt6acres.

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Is technology being transferred to Diverse
Risk-Prone areas? How well?

• Formal Transfer
• Agricultural Schools.
• Government Research Stations.
• NGO Demonstration / Training Farms.

• Informal Transfer
• Being there, working with entrepreneurial groups
  and persons.
• Peace Corps.
• Mission Workers

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Participatory Agricultural Development

• Participatory
• Community ownership and empowerment
• Use of local resources
• Individual to individual transfer of technology
• Holistic

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A. Selecting Villages
CHE Villages With Agricultural Needs
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What do we have to offer?

• Particular skills, knowledge and technologies.
• Is our expertise relevant to farmers needs?

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Where will we be likely to have the most impact?

• Do many farmers in this village have an important
  problem which we can help solve?
• Is there local support, leaders?
• Person who is a champion?
• Spiritual atmosphere for cooperation, learning
  together?
• Where people trust each other.

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B. Agreeing To Work Together

• Confirm that there is real potential for
  participatory agricultural development.

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C. Participatory Diagnosis Villagers meet to

• Outcome Agreement on which problems to solve or
  opportunities to develop, and how to work
  together to find solutions.

• Identify and prioritize which problems to solve
  or opportunities to develop.
• Identify who in the village is most affected by
  these problems, and
• Nominate who in the village will be responsible
  for working together to solve these problems.

Participatory diagnosis is not just a process to
extract information from farmers. It is the
first step in engaging with a village as partners
in finding solutions.
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Is there real potential for working in this
village?

• Are there problems or opportunities which the
  farmers consider important enough to commit their
  time in working towards a solution?
• 2. Are there many farmers and other villages who
  have the same problem?
• 3. Are some farmers already trying to solve this
  problem?
• 4. Are there potential solutions which you can
  offer farmers (and which can provide substantial
  benefits)?
• 5. Is the CHE Committee/Program functioning well?
• 6. Does the CHE Committee and local champion(s)
  share the vision for agricultural development?

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C. Participatory Diagnosis Step 1. Planning
village walk

• Learn about the village. Familiarize yourself
  with the farming system by walking through the
  area and holding discussions with village leaders
  and farmers.
• Decide who in the village would like to attend
  the participatory diagnosis. Ask Am I going to
  reach the farmers who are most likely to benefit
  from what I have to offer?
• Identify your interest group. Make sure they
  are well represented.

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C. Participatory Diagnosis Step 2 Identifying
major issues village meeting

• Explain objectives.
• Encourage active participation.
• Define social groups.
• Discuss major farming issues.
• List, discuss and prioritize the most important
  problems now facing the village.

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C. Participatory Diagnosis Step 3 Agree on a
plan of action village meeting

• Come to an agreement on which problems or
  opportunities to address.
• Ask the villagers to nominate a small group of
  farmers with particular interest to work on
  behalf of the village (focus group).
• Agree on a time to start working in the
  focus-group in search for technology options to
  test.

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C. Participatory Diagnosis Searching for
technology options

• Step 1 Analyze the problems (Problem-cause
  diagram).
• Step 2 Searching for potential solutions
• (discussion/games).
• Step 3 Deciding which options to test.
• Farmers are keen experimenters and will want
  quick action once they have decided which options
  to test!

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D. Testing Options -Starting small

• Start on a small scale. Minimizes risk and gives
  opportunity to experiment with the options.
  Design to answer questions i.e., Do my animals
  like to eat these varieties. How well does
  each variety grow in the dry season.
• Keep the trials simple. Large numbers of
  technology options are difficult for farmers to
  manage and compare.
• Encourage farmers to play with the technology
  options. Farmers adapt rather than adopt. They
  are looking for ingredients or building
  blocks which they can put together in innovative
  ways to fit their particular needs.

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D. Testing Options How to test options

• Step 1 Planning how to test the options
• What characteristics of the new technologies
  they would like to measure and when are they
  planning to do these measurements?
• How to test the technologies? In a group at one
  location, or on each farmers land?
• Include a control treatment which compares
  farmers practice with the new innovation.

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D. Testing Options How to test options

• Step 2 Testing the options support needed
• Locating materials needed for the technology
  options (e.g., seed),
• Helping farmers establish their trials,
• Making regular visits soon after establishment,
  and,
• Regular follow-up visits to discuss progress and
  help resolve the simple problems that inevitably
  arise at this early stage.

Providing this active support for farmers will
encourage them and build their confidence.
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D. Testing Options How to test options
As farmers test and adapt new technologies they
are continually evaluating them. They are
looking for benefits, problems, and ways of using
them on a larger scale. You need to understand
options farmers prefer or reject and reasons for
choices.

• Step 3 Evaluating the results.
• Regular monitoring.
• Measurements.
• Understanding experiences
• (Preference Analysis).