HISTORICAL CONTEXT OF AGRICULTURAL DEVELOPMENT - Science for Agriculture and Rural Development in Low-income Countries - page 18

technology; farming systems research (FSR), participatory research methods.

(2) Integrated rural development programmes to focus on 'basic needs' and income

generation. (3) New techniques to reduce environmental impact (integrated pest
management, sustainable agriculture, on-farm conservation).

The farming systems research (FSR) approach (1970s)

In the mid-1960s, there was little interaction between technical scientists (who were
mostly on experiment stations) and social scientists (who tended to be concentrated
in planning units).
Thus, in the Green Revolution areas, because of the spectacular nature of the
technology, experiment-station based technical scientists were very successful in
their work. However, the lack of success in using a similar approach in poorer
agricultural areas (i.e., with resource-poor farmers), led to the evolution of the FSR
approach, in which there is close cooperation between technical and social scientists.
Work with farmers in various countries in the late 1960s and early 1970s revealed
that these limited-resource farmers (Norman 1993):

Are rational (i.e., sensible) in the methods they use. For example, in Africa, there
was little support from station-based research on mixed cropping until the early
1970s, although earlier farm-based research had revealed the rationality of the
practice (Norman 1974).

•

Are natural experimenters (Biggs and Clay 1981). Obviously, the methods
farmers naturally use will be those that appeal to them and are informal in nature
(Lightfoot et al . 1989), in the sense that they are not usually amenable to formal
statistical analysis.

•

Understand the environment in which their rather complex farming systems
function. These systems consist of crops, livestock, and off-farm enterprises
(Norman et al . 1981). In fact, it could be asserted that such systems are often
more complex than the specialized farming systems in many high-income coun-
tries. Unlike the case with limited-resource farmers in low-income countries,
many of the constraints in specialized agriculture in high-income countries can
be broken or avoided through seeking advice and taking advantage of and
receiving external help (Norman and Collinson 1986).

•

Consequently, considerable respect developed for limited-resource farmers. The
FSR approach evolved because of increased awareness on the part of researchers
that such farmers:

Had a right to be involved in the technology development process, because they
stood to gain or lose most from adoption of the technology;

•

Could productively contribute to the development of appropriate improved
technologies.

•

Therefore, the fundamental principle of FSR was that farmers could help in
identifying the appropriate path to agricultural development. It is now recognized