Farming Systems Research to Improve the Livelihood of Small Farmers: Discussion

Abstract

Dave Norman presents an interesting point of view on what systems research is, what it can do, and what it cannot do. I like way he starts paper, by pointing out that systems research has developed in an evolutionary way, rather than as a radical departure from previous thinking about research on agriculture in developing countries. The author divides previous thinking about, or philosophy towards, inducing technical change in agriculture in LDCs into four stages which could be called (a) colonial extraction stage; (b) Corn Belt-county agent stage (if it works in Corn Belt, it will work in Nigeria if properly extended); and (c) within-country (LDC) but still high income-country-type research (fossil fuel, commodity based). The fourth stage is systems stage, which is characterized as being farmer-based, whereas previous stages were top-down. The author implies that we are more firmly into stage four than I feel we are. I think that researchers, research administrators, and others who control research funding in LDCs are still predominantly in third stage in their thinking and their attitudes on research. Only a small minority, but thankfully a vocal minority, are firmly into systems stage. Granted, one cannot fully elaborate systems research model in only eleven pages; yet, next section starts off with what seems to me to be a serious omission. The author defines a farming system as the result of a complex interaction among a number of interdependent But he neglects to include household as one of those components. Consumption by household, as well as its time allocation decisions, is a necessary and integral part of systems for small farms in LDCs. The household producing-consuming model is becoming more widely known through such studies as Singapore Household Studies Workshop (De Tray) sponsored by A/D/C. Research papers on LDC problems involving household model are also beginning to be seen in this Journal (Benito, Evenson). Another example is Hayami.