Participatory systems put farmers' knowledge into research. Validated RNRRS Output.
Abstract
This is one of 280 summaries describing key outputs from the projects run by DFID's 10-year Renewable Natural Resources Research Strategy (RNRRS) programmes.
Summary for Project title: R7446: Shortened bush-fallow rotations for sustainable livelihoods in Ghana.
A participatory process in Ghana is developing technologies with key input from end users. Participatory technology development (PTD) is helping to convert current land use—based on growing crops in rotation with bush-fallow—into more productive systems. The PTD method incorporates farmers' local ecological knowledge about fallows into designs that fit in with local tenure rules and farming practices. It's also behind two pilot decision-support tools. These garner locally appropriate information, to improve the way fallows are managed in West and Central Africa, and to produce custom extension materials that aim to boost yields in cocoa-based farming systems. The PTD method is currently being used in Ghana, while the decision-support tools (that are available from several websites) are used internationally, including in the West Indies, Venezuela and Mali.
The CD has the following information for this output: Description, Validation, Current Situation, Current Promotion, Impacts On Poverty, Environmental Impact. Attached PDF (18 pp.) taken from the CD.
Citation
NRSP20, New technologies, new processes, new policies: tried-and-tested and ready-to-use results from DFID-funded research, Research Into Use Programme, Aylesford, Kent, UK, ISBN 978-0-9552595-6-2, p 122.