Based on fieldwork and involving farmers, extension workers and researchers, this is an edited volume of studies of how farmers successfully experiment and innovate to increase productivity, often in adverse and resource-poor conditions. It covers a wide range of countries and varieties of farming and shows how successful and motivating an approach that builds on farmer innovation can be. It confirms the resourcefulness of the farmers themselves and provides an alternative to the conventional "transfer of technology" development paradigm - one that recognizes the farmers themselves as the...

Examines new conceptual and methodological developments in agricultural innovation systems, and showcases recent on-the-ground experiences in different contexts in Africa.

One of Africa's major untapped resources is the creativity of its farmers. This book presents a series of clear and detailed studies that demonstrate how small-scale farmers, both men and women, experiment and innovate in order to improve their livelihoods, despite the adverse conditions and lack of appropriate external support with which they have to contend. The studies are based on fieldwork in a wide variety of farming systems throughout Africa, and have been written primarily by African researchers and extension specialists. Numerous lively examples show how a participatory approach to...