Participatory research at Nazareth, Ethiopia

Resource-limited farmers in developing countries like Ethiopia operate within a risk-prone farming system, which presents complex, interrelated problems. To solve these problems, researchers usually develop technologies on station, without the active participation of the clients. This may result in technologies that do not fit the prevailing agro-ecological and socioeconomic conditions farmers face. Thus, an alternative research approach which constitutes farmers as active participants in the research process is imperative, in order to develop site-specific, adoptable technologies. Two farming communities were selected for farmer participatory research (FPR). A multi-disciplinary team of researchers and extensionists was involved during the PRA activities. Several problems were identified and prioritized and potential solutions were proposed Farmers conducted trials geared to test potential solutions and select and adopt the ones that worked best. Our experience of this project indicated that it is possible to integrate FPR with other approaches such as on-station research, thus enabling researchers and farmers to develop adoptable technologies within a short period and in a cost-effective way.