Research with Farmers in East Africa.

A model for conducting research with Ugandan farming communities initiated in 1992 and implemented in several other countries was one of numerous approaches to working with small holder Africa farmers in research. This research with farmers was part of the research-extension-adoption interchange and had different levels of research-farmer involvement ranging from complex on-station researcher designed and managed trials to farmers exploring ideas on their own and farmer involvement in extension. Farmer research in a community was typically initiated with a series of activities for characterization, diagnosis, identification of research priorities and planning of research. The farmer research addressed a range of topics including variety testing, integration of green manure/cover crops and agro-forestry into diverse cropping systems, fertilizer use, and alternative crops. Farmers shared their results after each season and new research was planned. Variations of this model were eventually implemented more or less successfully with 13 communities in five countries in the 1990’s. Current collaborative work in Ethiopia is focused on assisting smallholders in semi-arid areas to adapt to atypically harsh and variable climate conditions that have occurred in recent years.