Tailoring agricultural extension to different production contexts: a user-friendly farm-household model to improve decision-making for participatory research

Bernet, Thomas; Ortiz, Oscar; Estrada, R.D.; Quiroz, Roberto; Swinton, Scott M.

doi:10.1016/s0308-521x(01)00024-5

Cited by 61 publications

(38 citation statements)

References 11 publications

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“…Scherr (1992) described five basic models for extension for agroforestry practices: 'media-based extension', 'commodity-based extension', 'training and visit', 'farming systems research and extension' and 'community-based extension'. As agricultural production systems can vary considerably in nature and complexity in different settings, it is important to take these differences into account in tailoring extension interventions (Bernet et al 2001). There has been a growing emphasis on farmer-led extension, in which farmers are the principal agents of change in their community and help disseminate the new technology to other farmers (Franzel et al 2001, 2004, Kiptot et al 2006.…”

Section: The Role Of Communication and Extensionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The role of knowledge, attitudes and perceptions in the uptake of agricultural and agroforestry innovations among smallholder farmers in sub-Saharan Africa

Meijer

Catacutan²,

Ajayi³

et al. 2014

International Journal of Agricultural Sustainability

593

362

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Despite the great potential of agricultural innovations, the uptake by smallholder farmers in sub-Saharan Africa seems to be slow. We reviewed existing theories and frameworks for the uptake of agricultural innovations and found that these tend to emphasize the role of extrinsic factors such as the characteristics of the adopter and the external environment in the decision-making process. In this paper, we argue that intrinsic factors such as the knowledge, perceptions and attitudes of the potential adopter towards the innovation play a key role, but this has been less studied. We present an analytical framework that combines both extrinsic and intrinsic factors in farmers' decisions to adopt new agricultural technologies and apply the framework to agroforestry adoption as a case study. We review the literature on agroforestry adoption in sub-Saharan Africa and identify the extrinsic and intrinsic variables affecting the uptake of agroforestry technologies. We conclude that the uptake of agricultural technologies is a complex process influenced by both extrinsic and intrinsic variables, and recommend that future studies aiming to understand the adoption process of agricultural innovations take into account both sets of variables. A mechanistic understanding of how intrinsic and extrinsic factors interact and drive adoption can help in targeting technologies appropriately to ensure sustainability.

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Section: The Role Of Communication and Extensionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The role of knowledge, attitudes and perceptions in the uptake of agricultural and agroforestry innovations among smallholder farmers in sub-Saharan Africa

Meijer

Catacutan²,

Ajayi³

et al. 2014

International Journal of Agricultural Sustainability

593

362

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“…modification of the common agricultural policy (Veysset et al 2005), environmental side effects related to high consumption of pesticides and fertilizers (Rossing et al 1997) or inefficient use of available farm resources (Salinas et al 1999). In the remaining cases, the nature of the problem remained open and had to be clarified for each application (Bernet et al 2001;Castelan-Ortega et al 2003;Groot et al 2007;Louhichi et al 2010). Following Simon's view, the problem was assumed to be stable in all cases.…”

Section: Design Contextmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In all cases, researchers were primary users of the optimisation results that appeared in scientific publications. In some cases, farmers (Rossing et al 2009b;Veysset et al 2005), farm advisors (Bernet et al 2001), policy-makers (Louhichi et al 2010;van de Ven and van Keulen 2007) or a range of them (farmers, farm advisors, experts in Cabrera et al 2008) were other intended users.…”

Section: Design Contextmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The models of Groot et al (2007) and Woodward et al (1995) were the sole optimisation models representing fields individually and even paddocks for the latter. For animals, the smallest modelling unit was an average animal, representative of the herd or a part of it (Bernet et al 2001;Herrero et al 1999). At these smallest scales, agricultural activities (crop rotations, temporary or permanent grasslands, dairy cows, etc.…”

Section: Computer Model Structurementioning

confidence: 99%

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Farming system design to feed the changing world. A review

Martin

Martin‐Clouaire

Duru

2012

Agron. Sustain. Dev.

118

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Agricultural production is unstable as a result of complex, dynamic and interrelated factors such as climate, markets and public policy that are beyond farmers' control. Farmers must therefore develop new farming systems incorporating innovations in objectives, organization and practices adapted to changing production contexts. As a consequence, agronomists have expanded the "farming system design" field of research. A variety of quantitative and qualitative design approaches have been developed to support the analysis of current farming systems and the design and evaluation of alternatives. A comprehensive literature assessment is lacking for this emerging field of agricultural science. Here we review 41 farming system design approaches using computer models. Our main findings are the following: (1) the reviewed literature do not make reference to the theoretical approaches from the field of design science. (2) Two categories of farming system approaches can be distinguished: optimisation approaches, and participatory and simulation-based approaches. These two categories are connected to two of the main design science theories. (3) For optimisation approaches, farming system design is mainly seen as a problem-solving process. Emphasis is placed on the computational exploration of the solution space by a problem-solving algorithm. (4) For participatory and simulation-based approaches, conceptualization of the design problem is central to the farming system design process. The subsequent exploration of the solution space relies on the creativity of humans. (5) Optimisation approaches, and participatory and simulationbased approaches are oriented towards the development of exploitative rather than exploratory innovations. Exploitative innovations involve the exploitation of available knowledge while exploration innovations build on knowledge created in the course of the design process.

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“…Many authors argue that involving stakeholders and more specifically farmer involvement is very valuable (Bernet et al, 2001;Bond et al, 2012;Lang et al, 2012;Stringer et al, 2006;van de Kerkhof, 2006) and this is also the case for designing a sustainability assessment for strategic decision making purposes (Bond et al, 2012;Triste et al, 2014). It will improve the acceptance of the problem definition, the used concept of sustainability but also the outcomes (De Mey et al, 2011), because results will include different viewpoints and different knowledge sources are brought together (Lang et al, 2012;Marchand et al 2010).…”

Section: "Farmers Are Interested To Compare Their Own Figures With Otmentioning

confidence: 99%

A framework for guiding sustainability assessment and on-farm strategic decision making

Coteur¹,

Marchand

Debruyne³

et al. 2016

Environmental Impact Assessment Review

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Responding to future challenges and societal needs, various actions are taken in agriculture to evolve towards more sustainable farming practices. These actionsimply strategic choices and suppose adequate sustainability as-sessments to identify, measure, evaluate and communicate sustainable development. However, literature is scarce on the link between strategic decision making and sustainability assessment. As questions emerge on how,what andwhen tomeasure, the objective of this paper is to construct a framework for guiding sustainability assessment and on-farmstrategic decision making. Qualitative research on own experiences fromthe past and a recentproject revealed four categoriesof actualneeds farmers,advisors andexperts have regarding sustainability assessment: context, flexibility, focus on farm and farmer and communication. These stakeholders' needs are then incorporated into a two-dimensional framework that marries the intrinsic complexity of sustainability as-sessment tools and the time frame of strategic decision making. The framework allows a farmspecificand flex-ible approach leading to harmonized actions towards sustainable farming. As this framework is mainly a procedural instrument to guide the use of sustainability assessment tools within strategic decision making, it fits to incorporate, even guide, future research on sustainability assessment tools themselves and on their adop-tion on farms.

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Tailoring agricultural extension to different production contexts: a user-friendly farm-household model to improve decision-making for participatory research

Cited by 61 publications

References 11 publications

The role of knowledge, attitudes and perceptions in the uptake of agricultural and agroforestry innovations among smallholder farmers in sub-Saharan Africa

The role of knowledge, attitudes and perceptions in the uptake of agricultural and agroforestry innovations among smallholder farmers in sub-Saharan Africa

Farming system design to feed the changing world. A review

A framework for guiding sustainability assessment and on-farm strategic decision making

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