Enhancing Farmer Productive Capacity: Case of Action Research Based Conservation Agriculture

Abstract

The study sought to explore approaches for co-creation of conservation agriculture (CA) knowledge amongst farmers, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), government and specialist researchers. The aim of the study was to explore farmer initiated food security strategies among small holder resource poor farmers, through enhancement of farmers' own productive capacity. The study was born out of the limitations observed in the prescriptive linear extension models that failed during the green revolution in Africa. Five sites were purposively selected to explore farmer initiated CA modeled on action research approach. Action research is flexible, adaptable, cyclical allow for immediate application of findings, emancipatory, builds confidence and is collaborative. Results showed that farmers are socialized to believe that innovations only come from experts, and as a result do not believe that they can solve their own farming problems from own initiated innovations that is, ResearchExtensionFarmer. For a sustainable food security, the study recommends that CA innovations should align with the farmer mental model built on existing norms and values that people are grounded in, i.e. Co-creation of knowledge and not transferring of information from specialists. Farmers ought to rebrand specialist researchers in order to create meaningful, sustainable and relevant wealth.