Beyond Farmer First Rural People's Knowledge, Agricultural Research and Extension Practice

About this book

This book goes beyond the Farmer First philosophy by describing agricultural development as a highly ideological and political process. The contributors come from many different disciplines, and case material is drawn from many parts of the world.

Contents

Part 1 Theoretical reflections on knowledge, power and practice: introduction; knowledge, power and agriculture - towards a theoretical understanding, I. Scoones and J. Thompson; knowledge, consciousness and prejudice - adaptive agricultural research in Zambia, M. Drinkwater; the interweaving of knowledge and power in development interfaces, N. Long and M. Villareal; indigenous management and the management of indigenous knowledge, D. Marsden; "the technicians only believe in science and cannot read the sky" - the cultural dimension of the knowledge conflict in the Andes, M.A. Salas; trees, people and communities in Zimbabwe's communal lands, F. Matose and B. Mukamuri; declarations of difference, J. Fairhead and M. Leach; indigenous soil characterization in Northern Zambia, P. Sikana; agricultural discourses - farmer experimentation and agricultural extension in Rwanda, J. Pottier; composing rural livelihoods - from farming systems to food systems, A.J. Bebbington. Part 2 Methodological innovations, applications and challenges: introduction; acknowledging process - challenges for agricultural research and extension methodology, A. Cornwall et al; participatory watershed management in India - the experience of the Aga Khan Rural Support Programme, P. Shah; challenges in the collection and use of information on livelihood strategies and natural resource management, K. Schoonmaker Freudenberger; developing interaction and understanding - RRA and farmer research groups in Zambia, M. Drinkwater; quality control, method transfer and training, J. Jiggins; the ethics of documenting rural people's knowledge - investigating milk marketing among Fulani women in Nigeria, A. Waters-Bayer; stimulating farmer experiments in non-chemical pest control in Central America, J. Bentley; encouraging knowledge exchange - integrated pest management in Indonesia, Y. Winarto; learning by improvization - farmers' experimentation in Mali, A. Stolzenbach; experimenting farmers in Northern Ghana, D. Millar; local knowledge formation and validation - the case of rice production in Central Sierra Leone, P. Richards; participatory methods and political processes - linking grassroots actions and policy-making for sustainable development in Latin America, L.A. Thrupp et al. Part 3 Transforming institutions and changing policies: introduction; tiwards a learning paradigm - new professionalism and institutions for agriculture, J.N. Pretty and R. Chambers; from research to innovation - getting the most from interaction with NGOs, J. Farrington and A.J. Bebbington. (Part contents).

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