Participatory learning for sustainable agriculture

doi:10.1016/0305-750X(95)00046-F

World Development

Volume 23, Issue 8, August 1995, Pages 1247-1263

https://doi.org/10.1016/0305-750X(95)00046-F Get rights and content

Abstract

Emerging evidence for the success on farms of resource-conserving technologies and practices must not tempt agricultural professionals into making prescriptions about what constitutes sustainable agriculture. Sustainability is a complex and contested concept, and so precise definitions are impossible. The dominant scientific paradigm of positivism has served us well over three to four centuries, but it is not well suited to contexts where uncertainties are high, and problems are open to interpretation. Many methodological and philosophical alternatives to positivism have arisen from both the “hard” and “soft” sciences. These indicate that new understanding and solutions can only arise with wide public and scientific participation. But the term “participation” has become fashionable with many different interpretations, some hindering rather than supporting sustainability. New systems of learning are needed, using participatory methods and criteria for trustworthiness. These have profound implications for agricultural professionals, who must now actively create a whole new professionalism.

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^∗

An earlier version of this article benefitted from many insights arising from discussions with colleagues and from practical issues arising during many training workshops.

I am particularly grateful to David Blacket, Andrew Campbell, Robert Chambers, John Devavaram, Irene Guijt, Sam Joseph, Charles Lane, Neela Mukherjee, Michel Pimbert, Niels Röling, David Satterthwaite, John Thompson, Alice Welbourn and Jim Woodhill, together with three anonymous referees, for comments on earlier versions of this article. Any errors, omissions and misleading statements are, of course, solely my responsibility.

View full text

Participatory learning for sustainable agriculture

Abstract

Journal of Dairy Science

World Development

World Development

Agricultural Systems

Futures

Ecological Economics

Historical Sociology

People's Participation, NGOs and the Flood Action Plan

Teaching smart people how to learn

Harvard Business Review

Organisational Learning

Competing technologies, increasing returns and lock-in by historical events: the dynamics of allocation order increasing returns

Economic Journal

The role of on-farm trials in the evaluation of composite technologies: the case of alley farming in Southern Nigeria

Agricultural Systems

Developing irrigators' organisations; a learning process approach

The impact of regular research field hearings (RRFH) in onfarm trials in northeast Brazil

Experimental Agriculture

Participatory watershed management in Leyte, Philippines: experience and impacts after three years

Alley cropping as a sustainable agricultural technology for the hillsides of Haiti: experience of an agroforestry outreach project

American Journal of Alternative Agriculture

A learning approach to sustainable agriculture and rural development: Reflections from Hawkesbury

Creating learning systems: a metaphor for institutional reform for development

Sage Library of Social Research

Participatory Development and the World Bank: Potential Directions for Change

Popular epidemiology: community response to toxic waste-induced disease in Woburn, Massachussets

Science, Technology and Human Values

EPAGRI's work in the State of Santa Catarina, Brazil: Major new possibilities for resource-poor farmers

Low Input Soil Restoration in Honduras: The Contarranas Farmer-to-Farmer Extension Programme

Soil recuperation in Central America: Measuring impacts 4 to 40 years after intervention

Participatory inquiry: Beyond research and extension in the sustainability era

Landcare: Communities Shaping the Land and the Future

PRA for Nepal: Concepts and methods

Putting People First

Participatory rural appraisal (PRA): Challenges, potentials and paradigm

World Development

Challenging the Professions: Frontiers for Rural Development

Soft systems methodology

Human Systems Management

Systems Thinking, Systems Practice

Soft Systems Methodology in Action

Quasi-Experimentation: Design and Analysis Issues for Field Settings

For the Common Good: Redirecting the Economy Towards Community, the Environment and a Sustainable Future

Public involvement, conflict management: means to EQ and social objectives

Journal of Water Resource Planning and Management

Interpretive Interactionalism

The Growth Illusion

The meaning of alternative paradigms for practice

Real-Life Economics

Integrated farming system of Lautenbach: A practical contribution toward sustainable agriculture

Soil loss and conservation planning in tea plantations of Sri Lanka

Facilitating innovation: An action oriented approach and participatory methodology to improve innovative social practice in agriculture

Against Method: Outline of Anarchistic Theory of Knowledge

Beneficiary participation in development projects: empirical tests of popular theories

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Social Theory and Modern Society