Lessons for farmer-oriented research: Experiences from a West African soil fertility management project

Abstract

Donors, scientists and farmers all benefit when research and development projects have high impact. However, potential benefits are sometimes not realized. Our objective in this study is to determine why resource-poor farmers in Togo (declined to) adopt recommended practices that were promoted through a multi-organizational project on soil fertility management. We examine the processes and outcomes related to the adoption process. The project was undertaken in three villages in the Central Region of Togo in West Africa. The development and research processes that took place during the implementation of the project were critically analyzed using a conceptual framework that may be useful for improving the impact of future participatory projects. At the macro level, opportunities for innovation were not deliberately explored with participating farmers and other village members; consequently ''pre-analytical choices'' made during the planning phase resulted in practices that resource-poor farmers were, for a variety of reasons, unable or unwilling to adopt. From the outset, donors and scientists focused on soil fertility management, but failed to take into account the wider economic context within which soil fertility management took place. This was a major obstacle to the subsequent adoption of recommended management strategies. Scientists and donor partners measured the success of the Project in terms of crop productivity, but farmers' choices were influenced by a complex mix of socio-economic, political and technical factors. We also illustrate the importance of selecting appropriate categories of farmers for a particular experiment. We conclude that for participatory research and development projects to be successful, it is not enough to develop technologies that ''work'' in a technical sense. In order to be scaled up and widely implemented, such technologies must also meet a variety of needs of resource-poor farmers and be acceptable from a socio-cultural point of view.

Effects of accession, spacing and pruning management on in-situ leaf litter decomposition of Jatropha curcas L. in Zambia

“…J. curcas yields a marketable product thus any soil fertility benefit is an additional benefit rather than the main reason for incorporating J. curcas in any intercropping system and highlight a significant advantage over typical hedgerow intercropping species. Indeed, Snapp et al [46], working in southern Africa, and Nederlof and Dangbégnon [47] working in West Africa, concurred that technologies, such as integrating leguminous trees that only contribute to soil fertility are unlikely to be adopted by farmers unless they significantly lower labour requirements.…”

A crop needs more than a drop: Towards a new praxis in irrigation management in North Africa

“…As a consequence, we generally had requests both from students, who wished to continue their research with the project, as well as from local actors, who were interested in being associated in the project activities. Thirdly, we progressively set up (by trial and error) specific mechanisms to systematically debate the research principles, questions, approaches and results, enabling us to question some of the ''pre-analytical choices'' of the different research teams (Nederlof and Dangbégnon, 2007), to progressively involve stakeholders, and to confront our findings and reasoning with those of the international scientific community. Most mechanisms involved regular and continuous interactions, including systematic presentation (and debate) of research approaches and results, frequent field workshops in the different research sites, study trips for researchers and local actors to the different research sites.…”

Socio-economic factors affecting adoption of improved agricultural practices by small scale farmers in South Africa

“…Given the complexity of resource-poor agriculture, the context in which it occurs cannot be meaningfully changed to meet the requirements of new technologies (Nederlof and Dangbe´gnon, 2007). Therefore, to be successful, Berg 4491…”

“…The importance of farmers' knowledge of their context is recognized and their involvement in the research and technology adaptation processes is crucial (Nederlof and Dangbe´gnon, 2007). However, in South Africa, acceptance of these two criteria has been rather slow within the public sector agricultural research and extension services (Mazibuko et al, 2008).…”

“…Several attempts at developing improved agricultural practices and to initiate research projects have been made during the past decade in the Limpopo province of South Africa. The cost of the improved practices, the extension methods, the age of the farmers and poor rainfall have emerged as the main factors determining adoption in this province (Nederlof and Dangbe´gnon, 2007) and even though several agricultural technologies have been introduced, adoption amongst smallholder farmers in Limpopo is limited (Sasa, 2009). Limpopo is the poorest province in South Africa (Eastwood et al, 2006) and shares borders and ecological zones with Botswana, Mozambique and Zimbabwe.…”