Farmer first: Farmer innovation and agricultural research edited by Robert Chambers, Arnold Pacy and Lori Ann Thrupp Intermediate Technology Publications, 1989, 218 pp.
| Author | L. D. Stifel |
| Date | 01 October 1990 |
| Published date | 01 October 1990 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1002/pad.4230100412 |
414
Book
Reviews
concept
in
the case of the Philippines, and following the 1965 publication of the UN Manual
on the subject, in the case of the other countries. The misnomer is regrettable because, whereas
any student wishing to learn about general budgeting problems in developing countries would
find this book wholly deficient, anyone contemplating the design or introduction of a pro-
gramme and performance budgeting system more or less anywhere would be wise to take
advantage of its cautionary lessons.
The theoretical advantages of performance budgeting are strong-and the early claims
made upon its behalf were even stronger. The method was said (i) to assist governments
to define programmes and activities in a manner that would relate them to the work objectives
of all public agencies, (ii) to bring the system of accounts and financial management into
line with the classification of programmes and activities, and (iii) to formulate for each pro-
gramme and activity work measures that would be useful for performance evaluation.
And the result? The author’s own assessment starts with the words ‘The history of perform-
ance budgeting is one
of
high hopes and disappointing achievements’. Only the new breed
of performance auditors-themselves not universally popular-turn out to appreciate its bene-
fits. Some of the causes are common across countries, others are particular. One eyebrow-
raising conclusion is that the system is of most use to the executive in countries (Singapore,
the Philippines) where least information is vouchsafed to the legislature
or
the public.
The book is the product of
a
good honest job
of
empirical research, its conclusions are
modestly presented and, considering the subject matter, it is surprisingly well written, but
the publisher’s production is austere.
MIKE
FAIIER
Institute
of
Development Studies,
University
of
Sussex
FARMER FIRST: FARMER INNOVATION AND AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH
Edited
by
Robert
Chambers,
Arnold
Pacy
and
Lori
Ann
Thnrpp
Intermediate Technology Publications, 1989,218 pp.
The dramatic success of the Green-Revolution in increasing Asian food production in the
1960s demonstrated the ability of biological scientists to improve the genetic potential
of
key food crops grown as monocrops in favourable areas. The new technology, conceived
and generated on research stations, was transferred down through the extension service to
farmers in these areas. By the
1970s
it became apparent, however, that the billion
or
more
small resource-poor farmers cultivating food in complex systems were receiving only limited
benefits from the Green-Revolution strategy. Their failure to adopt improved technology
was attributed to their ignorance and sloth
or
to the absence
of
supporting infrastructure,
seldom to the inappropriateness of the technology itself.
This volume summarizes the results
of
a workshop held at the Institute of Development
Studies, University of Sussex, in 1987, at which some
50
people, divided between natural
and social scientists, discussed a new and complementary approach
to
the design, generation
and diffusion
of
improved technologies for small-scale farmers. The ‘farmer-first’ approach
is
based on the conviction that peasant farmers are innovative and their indigenous production
systems are efficient, resilient and capable
of
minimizing risk while sustaining the resource
base. These farmers frequently reject Green-Revolution technologies because they do not
fit into their farming systems. Researchers should start by collaborating with farmers to under-
stand these systems, then develop technology options to serve farmers’ needs and support
experimentation by farmers. The editors describe the general state of participatory research
in agriculture and, by means of short case studies, the range of methods and degrees
of
farmer involvement at this stage
of
the field’s development.
Although rapidly growing in influence, participatory research is still at the margin
of
the
international and national agriculture research establishments. There are powerful institutional
and social forces that support the conventional, Green-Revolution transfer of technology
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