Module 2 - Local Agricultural Research Committees

• Include committee experimentation for very poor, risk-averse client groups in social projects with short-term returns to sustain commitment over time and build local capacity.
  
  
• Encourage CIALs to exchange visits and sponsor their own regional meetings to exchange results.
  
  
• Minimize costs of visiting CIALs by possibly targeting agroecological zones that can be reached from an experiment station or municipal extension office.
  
  
• Train experienced farmers with prior experience in a CIAL as facilitators to reduce costs of facilitation, especially when moving into large-scale implementation.
  
  
• Promote attendance of scientists and key R&D decision makers at CIAL meetings to ensure their support for CIALs.

Selected Readings

Asterisk (*) at the end of a reference indicates that it is available on the Web. See Appendix 1 for a full list of Websites.

Ashby, J. A., A. R. Braun, T. Garcia, M. del Pilar Guerrero, L. A. Hernandez, C. A. Quiros, and J. I. Roa. 2001. Investing in Farmers as Researchers: Experience with Local Agricultural Research Committees in Latin America. Cali: International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT).*

CIAT (International Center for Tropical Agriculture). Solutions That Cross Frontiers.
http://www.ciat.cgiar.org/ipra/.

References Cited

 

ISNAR (International Service for National Agricultural Research). Case Study: Honduras Participatory Research. Farmer Participation in Conservation and Research Local Agricultural Research Committees, Honduras and Nicaragua. http://www.isnar.cgiar.org/shiip/Honduras-particip.htm.