5.2.1.2 Technologies responsive to diverse farming systems
A participatory approach that is gaining support is the development of a basket of prototype technologies that match the diversity of farmers’ fields (Weber, 1996; Wezel and Rath, 2002). Under this approach, researchers would not look to the “best” technology under relatively controlled circumstances, but rather would work with farmers to develop a range of technologies (whether those technologies are developed by farmers, scientists, collaborative efforts or adapted from traditional and local practices) that are resilient to the high weather variability, resource availability and market fluctuations. For example, many technologies are known only to a small number of farmers, yet may have broader potential. These can be identified, validated and then incorporated into baskets of technology choices including agricultural engineering hardware. This approach is in contrast to the typical approach in SSA in which a small number of technologies are identified as promising by scientists and then made available to farmers through extension activities. Using a basket approach, farmers take up the technology best suited to their own specific conditions (including soil types, water availability and variability, access to credit and insurance). Small-scale holders in many parts of the world including SSA have been shown to best operate and adopt technologies when they understand their farming systems (Hall, 2001). As yet there is limited evidence that such a new approach is more successful than traditional research and extension.

Learn from other regions. Over the past 20 years, CIAT has accumulated considerable experience in developing, using and promoting participatory research approaches and other innovative methods to enhance agricultural research for development that are appropriate for poor farmers (Ashby et al., 2000). The Comité de Investigación Agrícola Local (CIAL), or Local Agricultural Research Committee is a farmer-run research service that is answerable to the local community. A committee of farmers is chosen for their interest in research and willingness to serve. The CIAL conducts research on priority topics identified through a diagnostic process, in which all are invited to participate. After each experiment the CIAL reports its results back to the community. Each committee has a small fund to offset the costs and risks of research and is supported by a trained facilitator until the committee is able to manage the process independently. There are over 400 CIALs in eight countries in Latin America and the Caribbean. Several studies have been conducted to assess the impacts of these types of empowering approaches on technology adoption and livelihoods.

 Farmer participation at different design stages may affect the direction of research, identify different priorities and other beneficiaries and can impact the design of the technology, as well as the adoption or acceptance of it by the intended users (Lilja, 2003). Farmer participation at the early stages of technology development has been found to be important in improving the relevance and appropriateness of the technologies and therefore enhancing their potential impact (Johnson et al., 2003). For example, as a direct result of farmer participation in the design stage of the research process, a project

shifted its focus from integrated pest management (IPM) to integrated crop management (ICM), thereby broadening the project to include varietal selection, seed and plant health, nutrient management, and economics and marketing. This change had significant implications on the adoption and acceptability of the project results. The International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT) is now adapting and evaluating these types of empowering participatory research approaches in East and Central Africa.

Participatory technology and product development. Community driven development (CDD) is an attempt to give control of decisions and resources to community groups, which usually work in partnership with demand-responsive support organizations and service providers, among them elected governments, central government agencies, the private sector and NGOs (Dongier, 2002). The CDD approach to development attempts to empower poor people, organize economic activity and resource management, provide social infrastructure services, improve governance, and enhance the security of the poorest members of society. The potential for CDD is greatest for goods and services that are small in scale, not complex and require local cooperation, such as common pool goods like pastures and surface water irrigation systems, public goods such as local road maintenance, and civil goods such as public advocacy and social monitoring.

 Experience demonstrates that by directly relying on poor people to drive development activities, treating them as assets and partners in the development process and building on their institutions and resources, CDD has the potential to make agricultural development and poverty reduction efforts more demand responsive, more inclusive, more sustainable, and more cost-effective than traditionally centralized approaches. CDD is more likely to be effective if some conditions are met:

• Local government institutions are strengthened to provide organizational and technical support, adequate resources, decision-making authority and mechanisms for grassroots participation;
• Rural communities and farmers’ associations are entrusted with legal authority and are able to build their capacity to take full part in agricultural development matters (e.g., contracting loans, initiating and implementing programs and projects);
• Linkages are created between research institutions, extension services and technology users for exchange of knowledge and experience on relevant development issues; and
• Legal and financial frameworks are developed that encourage local communities to claim ownership of these services and infrastructure.

CDD practices have shown encouraging results in Senegal, Tanzania and India. In India, several modest experiments started in the 1990s to empower local communities with resources and authority. The outcomes have been dramatically successful in several cases and resulted in poverty reduction. A key lesson from countries’ experiences is that, given clear rules of the game, access to information, and appropriate capacity and financial support, poor men and women can