Doing Development-Oriented Agronomy: Rethinking Methods, Concepts and Direction

Abstract

This special issue brings together a selection of papers that not merely present agronomic research findings, but critically review orientations, methodologies and research practices in agronomy. The focus is on agronomic research as it conducted as component of rural development efforts in the global South or, in short, development-oriented agronomy. Aiming to contribute to development challenges like food security, human welfare and wellbeing, and environmental sustainability, a focus on development-oriented agronomy implies a step beyond a narrow understanding of agronomy as the science of crop production and soil management. Doing development-oriented agronomy forefronts the juggling with productivity enhancing, environmental and social developmental goals entailed when doing agronomy. What is more, development-oriented agronomy generally takes place within a complex environment of (inter)national research and development policy organisations, development donor-funded projects, governmental, NGO and private sector agencies and global professional networks and (public–private) partnerships. Consequently, development-oriented agronomy is a field where debate and contestations over goals and direction, research methodologies and findings of agronomic research are first likely to emerge and become apparent.

Strengthening Conservation Agriculture innovation systems in sub-Saharan Africa: lessons from a stakeholder analysis

“…Viewed as a promising sustainable agricultural intensification strategy for Malawi (Rodenburg et al, 2020), development agencies have invested in CA promotion for over 15 years (Ngwira et al, 2014). Despite purported benefits of CA (see Kassam et al, 2019), impact of CA interventions has been less than convincing among smallholder farmers (Andersson & Giller, 2019;Bouwman et al, 2021). Various authors have drawn attention to CA's complexity (Corbeels et al, 2014), knowledge intensity (Hermans et al, 2020;Ndah et al, 2015) and the need for greater scrutiny of processes in CA promotion (Chinseu et al, 2019b).…”

Exploring social indicators in smallholder food systems: modeling children’s educational outcomes on crop-livestock family farms in Madagascar

“…So, despite its potential, the methodology's immaturity impedes its standalone use, particularly for African smallholder contexts where no case studies exist yet. However, transdisciplinary approaches to AR4D can borrow methodologically from S-LCA when designing comprehensive, context-adapted social impact analyses that support smallholders' sustainable development (Andersson and Giller, 2019).…”

Deconstructive approach in the presentation of botanical knowledge in educational materials for students

“…Agronomy and botany are linked by a common object of study, methods and developmental history. Botanists study the patterns of structure and development, the species composition of wild plants and their groups; agronomists deal with cultivated plants [1,2]. Agronomy originated as an application of botany to crop production.…”