Farmer-initiated research key to sustainable agriculture

Abstract

Over the past decade, the FAO has championed what it calls ‘Farmer Participatory Research’ (FPR) as a foundation for sustainable agriculture. A recent review of these international programs (published in the July issue of Plant Disease) and written by Rebecca Nelson et al. finds that FPR has been remarkably successful at managing rice blast disease in Asia and potato blight in Peru. By helping individual farmers ask questions about which varieties are best to plant and the benefits of crop rotation, the principles of ecologically sustainable agriculture become practice (http://www.communityipm.org/).The success of these programs is prompting their proliferation in other crop systems and resource-poor countries world wide. The three key ingredients are: education outreach; public involvement in actual scientific inquiry; and networks of data and information exchange. It is a little embarrassing that environmental management in many so-called advanced wealthy countries often lacks these ingredients that are making farmer-initiated agricultural ecology such a success. PK