Kommunikation und Beratung, Band 80
ISSN 0947-0352
2007; xii + 108pp.; 21 x 14,8 cm; paper

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Participatory experimentation is expected to contribute to the development of effective, adoptable technologies as well as to sustainable development through the empowerment of the farmers´ own capacities. In many cases, however, the use of participatory techniques and strategies is disconnected, not allowing a holistic view of the process. In addition, participatory techniques are rarely combined in a continuous procedure to show how the results may be used in the classical selection of new technological options and to draw conclusions concerning the wider target population. These were the initial assumptions, which formed the starting point for the study documented in this book. Based on
experiences in Honduras, Nicaragua and Costa Rica, this study proposes a framework for integrating farmers as active participants throughout the technology-development process to facilitate the design of forage alternatives better tailored to the broad heterogeneity in the diverse contexts of the three countries. This book assesses the potential benefits and limitations of using the framework and identifies key phases for success in its implementation. It contributes to a new direction in R&D through the transformation of conventional
selection of forage varieties over the past decade when it evolved from an
economic threshold-oriented approach to a much broader ecological and
participatory approach.

Zur Autorin

Luis Alfredo Hernández R. was born in 1951 in Espinal (Tolima Department), Colombia. He completed his undergraduate studies and MSc degree in agronomy at the School of Agronomy of the National University of Colombia in Bogotá. He was coordinator of the Instituto Colombiano Agropecuario’s Pastures and Forages Program at the ICA Carimagua Research Station in the Eastern Plains (Meta Department) of Colombia. Since 1988 he became particularly interested in developing procedures to integrate farmers’ and scientists’ knowledge through participatory procedures from diverse ecosystems and crops coordinated by the International Center of Tropical Agriculture (CIAT) in Cali, Colombia. In this study the author had farmers, research institutions and technology designers working together; he used mathematical techniques to understand the reasons why such a technique may be used, and finally he integrated farmers’ perceptions into the conventional data of breeders or germplasm developers. Luis Alfredo Hernández R. finished his PhD in 2007 and currently works as a research associate at CIAT.