Participatory research with farmers: Lessons gained from postgraduate training courses in Vietnam

摘要

Anevaluationwasmadeof17studentswhoparticipatedinthreeMSccoursesinsustainableagriculturalproductioninVietnam.Theevaluationfocussedonthreemainaspectsreflectinganapproachthatseekstocombineanecologicalperspective,focusonresourcepoorfarmers(RPF)andtheparticipationofthesefarmersintheprocessofresearchandextension.Overall,nbsp;65%ofthestudentswereperformingwithinaframeworkgenerallycorrespondingtothiscombination.AspectsconcerningatechnologicalperspectiverelevantfortheenvironmentandRPFstoodstrongest.Itiscrucialthatparticipatoryprocessesareembeddedinarelevanttechnologicalperspective,asapurefocusonthefarmersperspectiveisillusoryjustasthefarmer#146;sperspectivetendstobenarrowandopportunistic.However,eventhoughafirminstrumentalparticipatoryperformancewasidentified,itisrecommendedthatnbsp;forfuturecoursesthereshouldbemoreemphasisontheparticipatoryprocessesinamoreopen-endedway.Thisisforemostaprerequisitetocreatemorecommitmentandtobuildupcapacitiesamongfarmersandtherebyaddressinabetterwaycriticalconcernssuchasthesustainabilityofthetechnologytogetherwithit#146;slateralspread.Thefinalperspectiveoftheproposedapproachistheconcernthatpolicy-changestowardsthekindofdevelopment,sohighlyemphasisedrecently,thatisbasedonastrongfocusontheenvironment,andtheneedsandprioritiesoftheintendedbeneficiariesthroughtheirparticipationintheprocess,areworthonlylittleifthepersonstocarryoutthistaskhavenoexpertiseinthesubjectmatter.Theactualperformanceofthestudentsanalysedrepresentsseriouspotentialsinaddressingthisconcern.