Hostname: page-component-745bb68f8f-b95js Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-01-08T08:10:03.182Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Strengthening Linkages in Agricultural Research through a Farming Systems Perspective: The Role of Social Scientists

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 October 2008

Derek Byerlee  and
Robert Tripp
Derek Byerlee
Affiliation:
International Maize and Wheat Improvement Centre (CIMMYT), Lisboa 27, Apartado Postal 6–641, 06600 México, DF, México
Robert Tripp
Affiliation:
International Maize and Wheat Improvement Centre (CIMMYT), Lisboa 27, Apartado Postal 6–641, 06600 México, DF, México
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Summary

The principal contribution that the farming systems perspective brings to agricultural research is a farmer and problem-solving orientation. Development of this orientation helps strengthen linkages in national research systems between commodity programmes and between disciplines for both applied and adaptive research. It can also strengthen linkages between research and extension and between research and policy analysis. Issues in strengthening each of these linkages are briefly reviewed with particular emphasis on the socio-economic dimensions and the potential role of social scientists. It is argued that the farming systems perspective in agricultural research should be seen as performing an integrative role in research systems. This can often be developed without significant institutional reorganization.

Type
Research Article
Information
Experimental Agriculture , Volume 24 , Issue 2 , April 1988 , pp. 137 - 151
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1988

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Biggs, S. D. (1983). Monitoring and control in agricultural research systems: maize in northern India. Research Policy 12:37–59.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Byerlee, D. (1987). Maintaining the Momentum in Post Green Revolution Agriculture: A Micro-level Perspective from Asia. International Development Paper No. 10. East Lansing, Michigan: Michigan State University.Google Scholar
Byerlee, D. et al. , (1980). Planning Technologies Appropriate to Fanners: Concepts and Procedures. El Batan, Mexico: CIMMYT.Google Scholar
Byerlee, D., Harrington, L.L., & Winkelmann, D. (1982). Farming Systems Research: issues in research strategy and technology design. American Journal of Agricultural Economics 64:847–904.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Byerlee, D., Akhtar, R. & Hobbs, P. (1987). Reconciling conflicts in sequential double cropping systems through plant breeding; the example of cotton and wheat in Pakistan's Punjab. Agricultural Systems 24:291–304.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cernea, M. (1985). Sociological knowledge for development projects. In Putting People First: Sociological Variables in Rural Development, 3–21 (Ed. Cernea, M.). New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Chambers, R. & Jiggins, J. (1986). Agricultural Research For Resource Poor Farmers: a Parsimonious Paradigm. Institute of Development Studies Discussion Paper 220. Brighton, UK: University of Sussex.Google Scholar
CIMMYT & ISNAR (1984). Issues in Organization and Management of Research with a Farming Systems Perspective Aimed at Technology Generation (Ed. Chang, M. J.). The Hague, Netherlands: CIMMYT and ISNAR.Google Scholar
Collinson, M. P. (1987). Farming Systems Research: procedures for technology development. Experimental Agriculture 23:365–86.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cornick, T. & Kirkby, R. (1981). Interactions of Crops and Livestock Production in the Generation of Technology in Sloped Areas. Cornell International Agriculture Mimeograph 90. Ithaca, New York: Cornell University.Google Scholar
Dillon, J. L., Plucknett, D. L. & Vallaeys, G. S. (1978). Farming Systems Research in the International Agricultural Research Centers. Rome, Italy: Technical Advisory Committee to the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research.Google Scholar
Gilbert, E. H., Norman, D. W. & Winch, F. E. (1980). Farming Systems Research: A Critical Appraisal. Rural Development Paper, 6. East Lansing, Michigan: Michigan State University.Google Scholar
Goodell, G. E. (1984). Bugs, bunds, banks and bottlenecks: organizational contradiction in the new rice technology. Economic Development and Cultural Change 33:23–41.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Harrington, L. & Tripp, R. (1984). Recommendation Domains: A Framework for On-Farm Research. CIMMYT Economics Working Paper 02/84. El Batan, Mexico: CIMMYT.Google Scholar
Heinemann, E. & Biggs, S. D. (1985). Farming Systems Research: an evolutionary approach to implementation. Journal of Agricultural Economics 36:59–65.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hirschman, A. (1984). Against parsimony: three easy ways of complicating some categories of economic discourse. American Economic Review 74:89–96.Google Scholar
Hobbs, P., Mann, C. & Butler, L. (1987). A Perspective on Research Needs for the Rice-Wheat Rotation. Paper presented at the Conference on Wheat Production Constraints in Tropical Environments, Chang Mai,Thailand,Jan.12–23, 1987.Google Scholar
Horton, D. (1984). Social Scientists in Agricultural Research: Lessons from the Mantaro Valley Project, Peru. Ottawa: International Development Research Centre.Google Scholar
IARC (International Agricultural Research Centers) (1987). Proceedings of the Workshop on Farming Systems Research. India: Patancheru, A.P.: International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics.Google Scholar
IRRI (1986). The Cropping Systems Research Program of the International Rice Research Institute. Paper presented at the Intercenter Workshop on Farming Systems Research,ICRISAT,Hyderabad, India,February, 1986.Google Scholar
Kirkby, R. & Matlon, P. (1984). Conclusions. In Coming Full Circle: Farmers' Participation in the Development of Technology. Ottawa: International Development Research Centre.Google Scholar
Martinez, J. C. & Arauz, J. R. (1984). Developing appropriate technologies through on-farm research: the lessons from Caisan, Panama. Agricultural Administration 17:93–114.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Matlon, P., Cantrell, R., King, D. & Benoit-Cattin, M. (1984). Coming Full Circle: Farmers'Participation in the Development of Technology. Ottawa: International Development Research Centre.Google Scholar
Maxwell, S. (1986). The social scientist in farming systems research. Journal of Agricultural Economics 37:25–35.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McIntire, J. & Gryseels, G. (1987). Crop-livestock interactions in sub-Saharan Africa and their implications for Farming Systems Research. Experimental Agriculture 23:235–243.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Merrill-Sands, D. (1986). Farming Systems Research: clarification of terms and concepts. Experimental Agriculture 22:87–104.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Moscardi, E., Cardoso, V., Espinosa, P., Soliz, R. & Zambrano, E. (1983). Creating an On-Farm Research Program in Ecuador. Economics Working Paper 01/83. El Batan, Mexico: CIMMYT.Google Scholar
Pagliettini, L. (1986). Orientacion de Decisiones de Politica Agricola con Datos Generados en Campos de Agricultores: El Caso de Los Fertilizantes Nitrogenados en La Fraylesca, Chiapas, Mexico. MSc Thesis, Colegio de Postgraduados, Chapingo, Mexico.Google Scholar
Remenyi, J. V. & Coxhead, I. A., (1986). A survey of Farming Systems Research in Australia. Journal of the Australian Institute of Agricultural Science 52:135–143.Google Scholar
Simmonds, N. W. (1985). Farming Systems Research. A Review. World Bank Technical Paper No. 43. Washington, DC: World Bank.Google Scholar
Simmonds, N. W. (1986). A short review of Farming Systems Research in the tropics. Experimental Agriculture 22:1–13.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stoop, W. (1986). Organization and Managerial Implications of a ‘Farming Systems Approach’ for NARS. Paper presented at the Intercenter Workshop on Farming Systems Research,ICRISAT,Hyderabad, India,February 1986.Google Scholar
Sutherland, A. (1986). Extension Workers, Small-Scale Farmers, and Agricultural Research: A Case Study in Kabwe Rural, Central Province, Zambia. Agricultural Administration Network Discussion Paper 15. London: Overseas Development Institute.Google Scholar
Tripp, R. (1985). Anthropology and on-farm research. Human Organization 44:114–124.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
World Bank (1985). Agricultural Research and Extension: An Evaluation of the World Bank's Experience. Washington, DC: World Bank.Google Scholar
Yates, M., Martinez, J. C. & Sain, G. (1987). Fertilizer Provision in Les Cayes, Haiti: Addressing Market Imperfections with Farm-Based Policy Research. Draft Paper, CIMMYT, Mexico.Google Scholar
Zandstra, H. G., Price, E. C., Litsinger, J. A. & Morriss, R. A. (1981). A Methodology for Onfarm Cropping Systems Research. Los Banos, Philippines: International Rice Research Institute.Google Scholar