Selected PTD / PID readings
- Farmers research in practice: lessons from the field edited by Laurens van Veldhuizen, Ann Waters-Bayer, Riardo Ramirez, Debra Johnson & John Thompson. Intermediate Technology Publications. 1997. 285 pp.
- Developing technology with farmers: a trainer’s guide for participatory learning by Laurens van Veldhuizen, Ann Waters-Bayer & Henk de Zeeuw – see also scanned version
- Manuel pour la capitalisation de l’innovation paysanne – IED Afrique / ILEIA. 2008. 68 pp.
- Global review of good agricultural extension and advisory service practices by Burton E. Swanson, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. FAO, Rome. 2008. 64 pp.
- Farmers’ organizations and agricultural innovation: case studies from Benin, Rwanda and Tanzania
Bertus Wennink & Willem Heemskerk (eds), KIT Bulletin 374. KIT Publishers, Amsterdam. 2006. 112 pp.
In its Agricultural Innovation Systems Series, the Royal Tropical Institute (KIT) brought out a book on the role of farmer organisations (FOs) in agricultural innovation. It is based on case studies in Benin, Rwanda and Tanzania. It reveals the growing importance of FOs in bringing farmers’ voices into various policymaking fora related to agricultural research and development as well as the multiple sources from which farmers gain information through their organisations, but institutional constraints prevent farmers from fully playing their role as actors in formal agricultural innovation systems. It shows that agricultural innovation is a multistakeholder, interactive process in which farmers and their organisations should and can be key actors, if the other actors will accept them as allies in the innovation process. Best practices in this respect are documented. Particularly the Tanzanian case studies will be of interest to Prolinnova partners. One concerns MVIWATA, the national farmer-led network that is part of the Prolinnova–Tanzania platform. The study looks at how the role of FOs could be strengthened, including consideration of funding mechanisms that enhance effective participation in the innovation system – with emphasis on FOs’ participation in decision-making processes about orienting the agricultural innovation process.
- Clapping with two hands: bringing together local and outside knowledge for innovation in land husbandry in Ethiopia and Tanzania
- Exploring new pathways for innovative soil fertility management in Kenya
- Organisational roles in farmer participatory research and extension
- People and pro-poor innovation systems
- Recent experiences with participatory technology development in Africa: practitioners’ review
- Farming for the future: an introduction to low-external-input and sustaianble agriculture (with a chapter on Participatory Technology Development)
- 44 recommended readings on PTD/PID
Resources
- Farmer-centered innovation development: experiences and challenges from South Asia (pdf 2.78 MB) Proceedings and papers of a regional workshop held at Bogra, Bangladesh, November 22–25, 2004. Edited by Annette Kolff, Laurens van Veldhuizen & Chesha Wettasinha. Documentalists: AFM Akhtaruzzaman & Md Nayeemul Karim. Berne : Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) / Intercooperation. 156pp.
- Promoting farmer innovation: harnessing local environmental knowledge in East Africa Will Critchley, Roshan Cooke, Tijan Jallow, Sophie Lafleur, Mineke Laman, Janet Njoroge, Verity Nyagah & Emmanuelle Saint-Firmin. 1999. WR No. 2. ISBN 9966-896-45-7. 131 + 17 pp.
- Farmers’ initiatives in land husbandry: promising technologies for the drier areas of East Africa Kithinji Mutunga & Will Critchley (eds). 2002. TR No. 27. ISBN 9966-896-63-5. 108 + 11 pp.
- Traditions and innovation in land husbandry: building on local knowledge in Kabale, Uganda Will Critchley, Dan Miiro, Jim Ellis-Jones, Stephen Briggs & Joy Tumuhairwe. 1999. TR No. 20. ISBN 9966-896-38-4. 56 + 15 pp.
