id21 viewpoints

Putting farmers first?

To coincide with the 20th anniversary of the original ‘Farmer First' event, IDS is hosting a ‘Farmer First Revisited' workshop next week from 12-14 December. IDS Fellow, Ian Scoones, asks: What are the successes and failures? What lessons have been learned?

In July 1987, some 50 social and natural scientists met at the Institute of Development Studies at the University of Sussex in the UK for a workshop on ‘Farmers and Agricultural Research: Complementary Methods’. It later became known as the ‘Farmer First’ workshop, following the publication of the landmark book.

This workshop was a key moment in the development of approaches to farmer participation in agricultural research and extension. Since that time, methodological, institutional and policy experiments have unfolded around the world, aimed at putting farmers first.

Twenty years on, at a time of renewed interest in agriculture in development and a wide recognition of the importance of effective research and development systems, it is worth asking how have these experiments have worked out. What are the successes and failures? What lessons have been learned?

What new contexts do poor farmers in the developing world face today, given the increasingly globally integrated agri-food systems, the changed configurations of public and private Research and Development and the new governance arrangements affecting innovation systems? How should we see the challenges and priorities of farmer participation in agricultural research and extension?

So what has happened in the twenty years since the first Farmer First conference? How have these ideas spread? What new perspectives have emerged? What have the responses been to critiques? And what have been the institutional and organisational responses in mainstream agricultural Research and Development globally? Twenty years on, it is time to reflect on this experience, and think about new directions and innovations.

In reflecting on the past and looking forward to the future, the ‘Farmer First Revisited’ conference being held at IDS in December 2007 will pursue these questions around three interlocking themes.

First, participants will explore the changing nature of agricultural innovation systems, asking how farmers engage in the diverse systems of agricultural innovation found in the developing world. Do emerging innovation systems, involving new actors – public and private – put farmers first? And if so, how do farmers engage?

Second, the conference will turn to questions of governance, asking how in the context of increasingly globalised and integrated agri-food systems, farmers can gain access to research and development processes. This theme will examine experience of farmer involvement in complex supply chains, as well as the processes for farmer engagement in policy processes defining access to markets and the setting of standards. New models for the brokerage of intellectual property arrangements, as well as open source options, will also be examined.

Third, the organisation of agricultural research and development will be highlighted, together with the challenges of farmer participation on large scales in often highly conventional organisations. Experiences from the CGIAR centres, NARS (National Agricultural Research Systems) and the private sector will be explored, alongside more bottom-up initiatives emerging from farmer organisations and unions. In addition experiences of new, hybrid networked organisational arrangements, involving, for example, partnerships between public and private sectors or integrated approaches involving farmers as well as technicians (as in farmer field schools) will be explored. The theme will ask whether the current institutional and organisational framework – for research, extension and agricultural education – really does put farmers first.

What do you think?
Comment on this viewpoint by emailing id21viewpoints@ids.ac.uk

Further Information
Ian Scoones
Institute of Development Studies
University of Sussex
Brighton BN1 9RE, UK
Tel: +44 (0)1273 678274
i.scoones@ids.ac.uk

Useful links
http://www.future-agricultures.org/farmerfirst/index.html

December 2007

What's your viewpoint?
id21 is inviting academics, practitioners, activists, decision-makers, policy-shapers from NGOs, research institutes, governments, donor organisations - indeed anyone involved in international development – to contribute a short article to id21 expressing their point of view on policy issues relating to their work. Click here for more information.

Click here to go back to previous id21 viewpoints

---

Submit your research to id21

Send us your feedback on the latest editions of 'insights'

Views expressed on these pages are not necessarily those of DFID, IDS, id21 or other contributing institutions. Unless stated otherwise articles featured on the id21 web-site may be copied or quoted without restriction, provided id21 and originating author(s) and institution(s) are acknowledged. Copyright © 2005 IDS. All rights reserved.