Abstract
Development of the methodology and practice of farming systems research (FSR) stems largely from the pioneering work of research workers at the Guatemalan Institute of Agricultural Science and Technology (ICTA), and certain of the International Agricultural Research Centres (IARCs), notably the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Centre (CIMMYT) in Mexico and the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) in the Philippines. They have played a major role in the field application of FSR, including the Eastern Africa Programme of CIMMYT under the directorship of M. P. Collinson. From his considerable African experience, he independently evolved a farming systems approach to small farm management research. A similar approach was also used by D. W. Norman at Ahmadu Bello University in Nigeria. These three sources are naturally strong protagonists of FSR and they are in fairly close agreement on its methodology and procedures. However, they do place different emphases on the various aspects of procedure.
I am indebted to Michael Collinson for his comments on an early draft of this chapter. They enabled me to remove several ambiguities and errors and to present a more accurate picture of FSR.
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Notes and References
CIMMYT, Planning Technologies Appropriate to Farmers: Concepts and Procedures (Mexico: 1980).
M. P. Collinson, Farming Systems Research in Eastern Africa: The Experience of CIMMYT and Some National Agricultural Research Services, 1976–81, (Michigan State University, 1982).
M. P. Collinson, ‘Understanding Small Farmers’, paper in Rapid Rural Appraisal (IDS, University of Sussex, 1979).
M. P. Collinson ‘Micro-level Accomplishment and Challenge for the Less Developed World’, in Rural Change, 17th International Conference of Agricultural Economists (Gower, 1981).
M. P. Collinson, Demonstration of an Interdisciplinary Approach to Planning Adaptive Agricultural Research Programmes, Report No.3 (Nairobi: CIMMYT, 1978).
J. M. Adam, An Introduction to the Methodology of Farming Systems Research with Special Reference to the CIMMYT Approach to Small Farmer Technology Design, MSc Report (mimeo) (Wye College, 1982).
M. P. Collinson, The Methodology of the CIMMYT Approach to Technology Selection and Adaptive Research Planning (mimeo) (Nairobi: CIMMYT, 1978).
D. W. Norman, et al. Farming Systems Research: A Critical Appraisal, (Department of Agricultural Economics, Michigan State University, 1980).
D. Byerlee, et al. ‘On-farm Research to Develop Technologies Appropriate to Farmers’, in Rural Change, 17th International Conference of Agricultural Economists (Gower, 1979).
M. P. Collinson, Demonstration of an Interdisciplinary Approach to Planning Adaptive Agricultural Research Programmes, Report No.2 (Nairobi: CIMMYT, 1977).
There are also difficulties of transforming statistical results from on-farm testing into economic results, see L. Harrington ‘Economic analysis of 24 factorial agronomic experiments’, Farming Systems Newsletter, No.8 (mimeo) (Nairobi: 1982).
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© 1983 Eric Clayton
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Clayton, E. (1983). The Farming Systems Approach to Adaptive Research. In: Agriculture, Poverty and Freedom in Developing Countries. Palgrave, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-17297-9_7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-17297-9_7
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