Paul Tchawa[1],
Félix Nkapemin[2]
and Jean-Marie Diop[3]
The Process of
Institutionalising PTD in Cameroon
Impact of the Strategies to
Institutionalise PTD
In the framework of the Indigenous Soil and Water Conservation (ISWC) action-research programme, that involves seven countries in Africa, an interesting innovation was discovered in Cameroon. Farmers had devised the “night paddock” (manuring of cropland by kraaling cattle on it overnight) to increase soil fertility for growing a local cash crop. The innovation spread rapidly within the community without any formal extension activities, and led to follow-on innovations by other farmers. In a participatory process, farmers, extension agents and researchers collaborated in validating and improving the new technology. This led to further experimentation by farmers on their own. Extension agents showed great interest in this approach, as it produced locally appropriate technologies that they could extend to other farmers. Policymakers regarded the night paddock as a tool for reducing conflict between crop farmers and cattle herders.
The ISWC programme used this positive example of local innovation and experimentation as an entry-point to introduce Participatory Technology Development (PTD) into the formal research and extension system. Both informal and formal strategies were pursued in this process involving, among other things, workshops, training, use of mass media and deliberately targeting link-minded people in key institutions.
Setting of the Initial PTD Work
in Cameroon
Actors, their Motivations and Roles in the PTD Process
The principles of PTD, which are related to identifying farmers’ problems and seeking solutions to them, fit well into the current institutional context in Cameroon. The National Programme for Management of the Environment (PNGE) states that: “The extension of appropriate farming techniques requires first the identification of the existing farming techniques in order to integrate the farmers’ know-how. During a second step, the adaptability of those techniques will be assessed, … and than the most appropriate techniques will be promoted.”
PTD can play an important role in the systems of agricultural production, research and extension in Cameroon, because it starts with local knowledge and focuses on small-scale farmers. Referring to the food situation in Cameroon, Varlet (1995) wrote: “Analysis of the sources of available food shows an increase in imports (from 6 to 17%) and in production from large agro-industrial projects (from 7 to 15%), whereas the contribution of the traditional sector to food availability has decreased greatly (from 86 to 67%).” This points to the need for initiatives to boost food production by small-scale farmers. In response, international donors have tried to involve State organisations in their strategy (e.g. 4238 employees in the Rural Development Project in Western Province, with a budget of almost FCFA 24 billion or about US$ 32 million), whereas international non-governmental organisations (NGOs) have focused on organising local communities to tackle their problems. In general, evaluation of the large-scale projects has revealed that the results are disappointing compared to the investments made.
Looking back at the history of agricultural development efforts in Cameroon, two important observations can be made:
Today, new conducive elements for greater institutional openness have become apparent. For instance, the current government extension policy is to seek partners for collaboration in development. An indicator of this change to more favourable conditions for institutionalising a participatory approach to research and development is the shift in name from PNVA (National Programme for Agricultural Extension) to PNVRA (National Programme for Agricultural Extension and Research) and from IRA (Institute of Agronomic Research) to IRAD (Institute of Agronomic Research and Development). This reveals a growing willingness to link research and extension.
The farmer-innovation approach to PTD taken by the ISWC programme is based on the assumption that local innovators have already made their own assessment of local problems and opportunities, even without being involved in PRA (Participatory Rural Appraisal) or similar exercises. Their innovations show what is possible to achieve when local resources and local creativity are combined. Their innovations are based on and lead to further informal experimentation. The local innovations and experiments indicate the type of questions that farmers are trying to answer in order to improve their livelihoods. The ISWC programme encourages formal research and extension staff to recognise these local innovations and to enter into PTD based on the questions arising out of them.
The PTD work in Cameroon started three years ago in the “grassfields” of the Western highlands, one of the main areas of agropastoral production in the country. Initial work was done in the village of Babanki, which lies in North-West Province, about 30 km from Bamenda, the provincial capital. The mean altitude of Babanki is about 1970 metres above sea level. The southwest monsoon from the Atlantic Ocean brings heavy rains from mid-March to mid-November (2000 mm/year). The soils are of volcanic origin and fairly fertile, especially in the higher areas where the humus is not removed. The rapid development of cattle-keeping in the grassfields in the last 50 years can be explained in part by the fact that the tsetse fly does not thrive at these altitudes. The landscape is highland savanna with hilly terrain. Here, both cropping and livestock keeping are practised, but there have been frequent conflicts between crop farmers and herders. The population density is relatively high (more than 150 people/km2).
Farmers in Babanki village, when faced with a decline in soil fertility for cropping, started to develop a system of improving the fertility by inviting herders to keep their animals on the fields overnight. This innovation, known as the “night paddock”, was discovered by partners in the ISWC programme, who then entered into a process of PTD to help farmers find answers to questions they wanted to explore in connection with the innovation: namely, the most efficient way of paddocking livestock for manuring purposes in terms of both the number of animals and the length of time they should be kept in the paddocks. The crop planted on the manured plots is a Morella species locally called “hockberry” or “dianma-dianma”. Its leaves are used as a vegetable and are in high demand on town and city markets.
Several socio-economic factors facilitated the introduction of a PTD approach in the Babanki area of North-West Province. These included:
The first step in the ISWC programme consisted of identifying farmer innovators and their innovations. During this step, in 1998, the partner organisations that had discovered the local innovation of night-paddock manuring found it to be very relevant for wider application. The NGOs regarded the PTD approach as challenging and very relevant for their work. They were attracted to an approach rooted in farmer innovation. They also expected that participation in the ISWC programme, particularly in training activities, would strengthen staff capacities and increase their renown and credibility in the field. This aspect of their motivation increased still further when they saw the interest of the mass media in covering the PTD activities.
The farmer innovators were attracted to the ISWC programme because it recognised their priorities, knowledge and skills and because the programme’s approach differed greatly from the external interventions they had experienced previously.
The motivation of the scientists was quite different. The country was in an economic crisis, and funds for research had been drastically reduced. Scientists who were approached by ISWC to take part in the programme regarded this as an opportunity to escape inactivity, to embark on new paths in research and thus publication, and to apply their knowledge and skills to addressing farmers’ priorities in a concrete way.
Table 1 gives an overview of the partners involved in the PTD process, their motivations and their roles. In addition, other partners that have played a very important role in developing and promoting the process are the radio stations: the Uku rural radio and the Bamenda provincial radio have made regular broadcasts on farmer innovation and PTD activities.
Table 1: Motivations and roles of partners in the PTD process in Cameroon
|
Partners |
Motivations |
Roles |
|
KEKUFAG ( Kedjom Ketingoh
Union Farmers Group) in Babanki |
Appreciation of their
knowledge; increase in yields |
Mobilising farmers, monitoring
and record keeping, spreading the approach |
|
Kedjom Ketingoh Chiefdom |
Village development |
Institutional guarantee at
local level |
|
CIPCRE |
Renown; strengthening the
interventional capacity of its staff |
Creating links between farmers
and researchers, exchange visits |
|
University of Dschang |
New scope for research; possibility
to publication |
Proposing alternatives (add-on
options) to farmers; analysis and documentation |
|
IRAD Bambui |
Escaping from inactivity;
possibility to publish |
Proposing alternatives (add-on
options) to farmers; analysis and documentation |
|
ISWC-Cameroon |
Introducing an approach that
was working well elsewhere |
Provision of facilitation,
training and means |
The institutionalisation of PTD in Cameroon was based from the start on a strategy of producing “success stories”. It was only when concrete results were available to be displayed that ISWC approached the National Agricultural Extension and Research Project (PNVRA, the government body responsible for extension throughout the country). Therefore, contact with PNVRA did not commence until the second year of the ISWC programme. The PTD process was started with NGOs and farmer organisations. The institutional conditions permitted two simultaneous strategies: informal and formal.
It is debatable whether it is favourable or not that the
agency trying to promote a PTD approach in Cameroon was not a government
structure. A “National Coordinator” had been selected by the international
programme coordination (a consortium of Dutch and British organisations) and was
given the responsibility to launch the programme in collaboration with both NGO
and government research and extension services. In a country like Cameroon,
where hierarchical, top-down approaches are still quite strong, one can imagine
the difficulties faced by one individual seeking to work with national research
and extension structures. This explains why priority was given initially to an
informal approach and why concrete results were sought in the field before
approaching national policymakers.
The ISWC programme was hosted by SNV (Netherlands Cooperation Services). The image and good reputation of SNV in Cameroon was an asset for the programme. The Memorandum of Understanding for collaboration with SNV gave the ISWC coordinator considerable flexibility and room for manoeuvre, as well as important moral support, in planning and implementing the PTD activities. This was based on the conviction that success in building up the programme in Cameroon would depend primarily on the involvement of like-minded persons rather than institutional structures, at least initially.
This informal approach to promoting PTD gave greatest importance to producing concrete results in the field, in collaboration with interested individuals, and then involving policymakers in dialogue about the results, rather than trying to convince them only with words. To this end, the case of farmer-led experimentation with the night-paddock manuring system in Babanki village served as a entry point for institutionalising PTD in government research and extension structures. The ISWC programme had quickly realised that farmer-led experimentation with the night-paddock manuring system had several assets:
The programme therefore felt that there would be considerable advantages in using the farmer-led experiments with the night-paddock system as an inspiring example of PTD. Nevertheless, strategies to reinforce the impact on the key organisations involved (SNV, IRAD and PNVRA) needed to be developed. These consisted of the following:
SNV. One participant invited to the 1998 PTD training in Bamenda was a technical assistant in agriculture working with an SNV-funded project in Ngie, North-West Cameroon (Diop 1998). She found the PTD training to be very relevant for issues related to natural resource management and decided to put the PTD approach on the agenda of the annual meeting of SNV. She made people higher up in the organisation aware of the approach and wrote an article entitled “Beyond appraisals: Participatory Technology Development” for the internal newsletter of SNV. She argued that: “The principles of PTD are highly relevant for the SNV policy, and training on PTD may well improve the functioning of staff involved in agricultural development .…” (Pinners 1998).
IRAD. A similar approach was taken with IRAD. Initially, people at IRAD headquarters in Yaoundé showed little interest in the PTD approach. ISWC therefore approached an open-minded animal scientist working in the IRAD field research station in Bambui (near an area where many farmer innovators and innovations had been identified) and sought to interest him in the approach. A visit to a site of night-paddock manuring convinced him of the relevance of the innovation and of the farmer-innovator approach for developing locally appropriate technology. This researcher then played the role of contact person with the IRAD research station of Bambui. Two researchers from this station took part in several PTD training sessions and, attracted by interesting research questions in their own disciplines, redesigned their research around the night-paddock system.
PNVRA. The main objective of PNVRA is the diffusion of appropriate and efficient technologies to farmers. The ISWC experiences were used as examples to approach PNVRA in both informal and formal ways:
The Process of
Institutionalising PTD in Cameroon
The interaction with PNVRA gradually moved into a more formal phase, the milestones of which were:
PTD training for PNVRA extension staff. Before the PTD training workshop, the terms of references were formulated and the responsibilities of PNVRA and ISWC were shared (also in financial terms). The main training objectives were:
The training workshop in Bamenda (21–31 August 2000) was a milestone in the formal collaboration between PNVRA and ISWC. The workshop was prepared, funded and facilitated by both partners. During the field study, the workshop participants had the opportunity to discover and assess the strategies of developing and spreading the indigenous technologies identified through the ISWC programme.
Participation of PNVRA National Coordinator in ISWC Annual Meeting. The invitation of PNVRA to the ISWC Annual Meeting in Tunisia in October 2000 was highly strategic. It was the time for defining the scope of the next phase of the programme and for specifying the expected roles of PNVRA within it. Two main decisions pertaining to institutionalisation of PTD were made at the Tunisia meeting:
The PNVRA National Coordinator’s mission report to the MoA lauded the PTD approach and the collaboration between PNVRA and ISWC. The key steps towards institutionalising the PTD approach within the national extension service are shown in Figure 2.
Other activities aimed at institutionalising PTD. Other activities carried out with the aim to integrate PTD, above all into the government extension service in Cameroon, have included PRA and PTD training workshops and exchange visits; meetings with donors and international organisations; use of mass media (radio, television, newsletters, posters etc); organising the Francophone Regional Workshop in Cameroon; soliciting support from traditional leaders; and advising students preparing their theses on ISWC:
Monitoring and improving the approach. The farmer-led experiments in Babanki and the PTD approach itself were monitored by farmers, the ISWC field agent and NGO staff members. During their evaluation sessions, they were generally joined by research scientists. This process has played an important role in the institutionalisation of PTD. Firstly, the involvement of the scientists in assessing the experiments helped to convince them about the approach, and some of them are now including it in their research methodology. One scientist in Bambui is seeking to base his doctoral thesis on the participatory research on night-paddock manuring. Secondly, the monitoring and evaluation reports were made available to PNVRA staff and convinced some of them to include farmers’ innovations in the extension programme. Thirdly, the farmers who keep records in their notebooks usually show these when staff from extension headquarters come to visit them; this makes extension managers aware of farmers’ capacities to carry out and record experiments. Also the reports of the ISWC programme include analyses of and comments on the farmers’ records and indicate the efficiency of some of the locally improved technologies.
The participatory assessment of the PTD process revealed some difficulties encountered in the approach, and improvements were made. Some of the difficulties and solutions are shown in Table 2. For example, one problem was the feeling of farmer experimenters that they were being marginalised by the community. During a field visit by the ISWC coordinator, the experimenters reported that some members of their Union (KEKUFAG) had complained that only the innovators (experimenters) were benefiting from the PTD process: the innovators had received materials for the experiments and were keeping the knowledge to themselves. The experimenting farmers did not feel at ease and asked the coordinator to organise a meeting of experimenters and KEKUFAG representatives in order to clarify the situation. During this meeting, the misunderstanding could be explained: the experimenting farmers and NGO staff had not invited some people from the Union to take part in the different stages of implementing the PTD in the field. It was decided that, in regular village meetings, the experimenting farmers and ISWC partners would inform the Union about the evolution of the PTD work in Babanki. The President of the Union then said that the whole village trusted their experimenters, because these had been chosen openly in the presence of the Union. The village meeting ended with a small feast.
Table 2: Difficulties encountered and improvements made in PTD experiments
|
Difficulty |
Comments |
|
|
Farmers do not understand
their role in the experiments. |
Going back a step in the
iterative PTD process Using resource flow maps |
This was done with the support
of the external adviser to the ISWC programme in Cameroon. |
|
Farmer experimenters complain
that they feel marginalised by their community. |
Information meetings in the
village |
Farmer experimenters were the
first to notice that their involvement in PTD experiments was leading to
their marginalisation. |
|
Researchers complain that the
PTD type of research does not favour their professional advancement. |
Meeting with researchers and
display of journals, newsletters etc in which PTD findings can be published |
|
|
Lack of availability (due to
overwork) of field workers in partner NGOs |
Recruitment of an ISWC field
agent for monitoring the experiments and disseminating the information |
Farmers particularly
appreciated this initiative, as it led to better monitoring and circulation
of information. |
|
The “empowerment” of farmers
in the PTD process leads to distrust on the part of certain NGOs. |
Organisation of meetings for
clarification and discussions about the creation of farmer-innovator networks
|
Farmers explained that some
NGOs insist on being the “obligatory path” between farmers and outsiders;
they claim they know their needs and can express them without an
intermediary. |
The monitoring of the field activities and the circulation of information about the experiments is continuing, even though the ISWC programme no longer has a field agent going regularly to the farmers to facilitate this process. Farmers have been trained to record the data. The ISWC coordinator visits the experimenting farmers periodically. Sometimes a farmer experimenter even travels to meet the coordinator in his office. Efforts are now being made to build up a strategy with PNVRA regional staff so that they can support the PTD process in the long term.
The Process of
Institutionalising PTD in Cameroon
Impact of the PTD Process in
Babanki
Impact at Provincial and National Level
The impact of the strategies to institutionalise PTD within government agencies and NGOs in Cameroon can be seen at two levels: 1) in Babanki, where the experiments on night-paddock manuring are being carried out; and 2) at provincial and national level.
The night-paddock manuring system has brought great benefits for both the crop farmers and the herders. The crop farmers have built up good relationships with the herders. Doctoral research has commenced on conflict between the two groups. Initial data reveal that, particularly in Tubah Subdivision, there has been a marked decrease in frequency of land disputes. Positive changes could be also seen during the exchange visit organised by ISWC, when the crop farmers and herders in Babanki joined forces to welcome visiting farmers and herders from Mbiame. The herders from Babanki explained to their colleagues from Mbiame that it is possible to live in peace with crop farmers. The farmers explained that the cattle know how to avoid crops when grazing. When Babanki farmers ask herders to provide cattle to manure the land, the latter are prepared to do so and the farmers pay the herders an acceptable fee for this service. These statements and this behaviour are evidence that farmer-herder relations in Babanki are good.
The community of Babanki gives recognition to the farmer experimenters in their midst. Look-and-learn visits for farmers from outside the community are organised regularly at the sites of farmer-led experimentation. The farmer experimenters are the experts who explain the techniques to the visitors. Recently, two farmers involved in the night-paddock manuring experiments in Babanki were named as local farmer trainers by the SNV-funded project at Ngie, which wants to scale up the innovation. The farmers are paid for their services through a contract with CIPCRE.
Because the results of the PTD experiments are bringing answers to the problems raised by the farmers at the outset of the process, the farmers’ confidence is increasing. The night-paddock innovation is spreading quickly, as was documented in a student’s thesis in 2001. The main reason why the irrigation network in Babanki has been extended is because farmers in the newly connected area want to practise night-paddock manuring for dry-season production of Morella. The farmers involved feel that the programme has improved their capacity to experiment and, thus, to innovate. Also their self-help capacity appears to have been stimulated: the farmers are mobilising themselves to re-organise the marketing of Morella leaves now that production have been boosted by the night-paddock manuring system. With the support of wealthy people from Babanki living in the capital city, Yaoundé, the farmer innovators have set up an association for the “fair trade” of Morella. They claim that the middle-women were taking an unduly large margin for their services; the innovators want to handle the marketing themselves. ISWC supported this initiative and now Babanki farmers send 20 bags of Morella to Yaoundé twice a week in the growing season.
The Chief of Babanki has been very involved in the PTD process. He has given important moral support through his presence at the meetings, as well as logistical support in organising workshops and receiving visitors to the research village. This has helped to give strong social backing to the PTD activities.
Impact of the Strategies to
Institutionalise PTD
The creation of networks of farmer innovators is a sign that farmers are assuming ownership of the PTD process. Thus far, the following networks have been formed:
Farmers formulated their first ideas for innovator networks during workshops and field visits organised by ISWC. They had become aware that – in order to sustain the approach – they needed to organise themselves into structures for sharing ideas, defending their common interests and organising joint sale of their products. They asked ISWC to facilitate the process of building up the networks.
ISWC started in Haut-Nkam by asking some key farmers to seek other innovators in their area and to invite them to a first meeting. The farmers set up an Executive Committee and gave it the task of continuing discussions with the other farmers in order to propose rules (statutes). ISWC organised and sponsored a two-day workshop, during which some cases of networks were presented. The farmers discussed these examples and decided on the form of organisation they wanted. After the workshop, further functioning of the network was supported by the farmers’ own contributions. Recently, however, ISWC contributed to travel costs for identifying new innovators. The first activity of the network was an exchange visit among the members in order to discuss their different innovations in the field. They then started to organise themselves to collect and to sell their products. Later, the members contacted the local administration in order to legalise their network. During monthly meetings, the network discusses technologies, marketing, input availability, new innovators, training needs, contacts with NGOs and possible joint initiatives.
The network in North-West Province was formed in a similar way. Then the farmers in Bamboutos Province followed the example of these two other networks. Thus, the innovator networks were created as a result of the growing self-confidence and spirit of self-help among the farmers involved in the PTD process. The process of network formation was carried by the initiative of the farmer innovators but was facilitated by ISWC in collaboration with official structures such as the Délégation Provinciale et Départementale de l’Agriculture. Direct contacts have been established between the three networks of farmer innovators, and representatives from each network will be invited to the workshop to formulate the next phase of the farmer-innovation programme.
The dynamism of the farmer-innovator networks is evident in their increasing initiatives to negotiate collaboration with research scientists, instead of waiting (as they used to do) for scientists to find solutions and bring them to the farmers. Members of the farmer-innovator networks also refer to the buffer role that they can play in countering the top-down approach that is still taken by many development NGOs. In general, the innovator networks want to choose themselves the NGO with which they will collaborate, rather than being chosen as collaborators by an NGO; they explained that some NGOs use farmers simply to justify the NGO projects.
SNV has not yet integrated the PTD approach into its own strategy for rural development. However, as mentioned above, the SNV-funded project at Ngie in North-West Cameroon has asked farmer innovators collaborating with ISWC to facilitate training sessions for farmers in the Ngie area. This is a sign that SNV recognises the strength of the PTD approach in building farmers’ capacities. At a later stage, after SNV has assessed the involvement of the farmer innovators in the Ngie project, there is a good chance that the decision-makers in SNV will propose the approach to other projects of rural development or natural resource management, such as the one in Mayao Oulo (Far North).
The national extension service PNVRA has recognised the relevance of including indigenous innovations among the technologies they offer to farmers. The PNVRA National Coordinator made the outcome of the training in Bamenda known to all regional directors of PNVRA and officially requested them to give more attention to local innovations and include them in the extension programme. The ISWC coordinator was invited to join the team that carried out the mid-term review of PNVRA, together with the World Bank Task Manager of PNVRA. This involved a visit to farmer innovators in West Cameroon. After having seen and obviously been impressed by the innovations developed by Mr Kamgouo Emmanuel, the Task Manager explained to the PNVRA staff, in the presence of the farmer, that the PNVRA must include this type of innovation in the “basket” of technologies to be proposed to farmers. This was also written in the mission report. A month later, the regional PNVRA staff invited the farmer to present his technology to zonal extension workers and recompensed him for this work.
This recognition given to farmer innovators, which started during the PTD training for PNVRA staff, represents a major change in PNVRA policy with respect to the type of technologies to extend. The formal research system is no longer considered to be the sole source of information for extension. Farmer innovation is now considered to be another relevant source of appropriate technologies.
After the PTD training for PNVRA staff, terms of reference were drawn up for collaboration between PNVRA and ISWC. The PNVRA National Coordinator assigned national-level working groups on extension content and research-extension linkages to include indigenous innovations among the technologies to be disseminated. The assignment entails the following steps:
For the first time in Cameroon, a group of farmer innovators was invited to the Research-Extension Linkages Workshop organised by PNVRA and the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), a donor of PNVRA. An important output of the workshop was the recognition of farmers as reliable sources of appropriate technologies for extension. This promises to have a positive influence on agricultural policy in Cameroon. The PNVRA National Coordinator recently declared that, in future, farmers’ representatives would attend the PNVRA planning workshops at national level.
It was after this, in May 2001, that the PNVRA National Coordinator invited the ISWC coordinator to take part of the mid-term review. During this mission, it was clear from all the discussions about the re-orientation of extension that the challenges were now to build on farmer knowledge and to change the attitudes of extension workers and researchers. According to the recommendations, PNVRA should continue discussions with ISWC in order to build up an efficient programme for “Promoting Farmer Innovation in Africa”. It has been recommended that the PNVRA National Coordinator keep in touch with ISWC concerning the training needs of PNVRA, because the greatest change in attitude appeared to have been achieved by training in participatory approaches to innovation development and dissemination.
The Governor of North-West Province has invited the ISWC coordinator to serve as a resource person in a meeting to plan development of the Province and to facilitate the session on “Participation and Partnership in Local Development”. Three farmer innovators identified by ISWC have received awards from the Provincial Agropastoral Committee in West Cameroon; this is a committee under the MoA that acts at provincial level to give awards to the best farmers selected according to certain criteria. These are indications that decision-makers at provincial level have a positive perception of the approach to development being promoted by ISWC-Cameroon.
The major remaining challenge is to integrate the farmer-innovation approach to PTD into the curricula of the institutions of higher education. To this end, university staff heading the Departments of Agronomy, Rural Economy and Sociology will be invited to the national workshop to be organised for drawing up the proposal for the next phase of the Cameroon programme within the larger regional programme “Promoting Farmer Innovation in Africa”.
Impact of the Strategies to
Institutionalise PTD
Encouraged by the PTD programme in Cameroon, farmer experimenters developed three independent networks, covering 3 geographical areas, aiming at sharing knowledge, training, defend common interests, and improve marketing. To what extend have these networks managed to realise their plans to continue after the project ended? How are activities facilitated? Who are resources mobilised and managed? What is the longer-term perspective of these networks? Do they need to be linked to the farmers’ unions? What are experiences elsewhere?
The response of PNVRA, the national agricultural research and extension programme of the government, to the policy lobby towards PTD has been impressive. To what extend is this resulting now to concrete changes in the approach taken by PNVRA in the various districts? Is the acceptance of PTD limited to taking farmer innovations serious in extension or is there evidence of serious attention to joint experimentation of farmers, research, extension?
Diop J-M. 1998. Formation en Développement Participatif de Technologies et appui général au projet CES II – Cameroun, septembre-octobre 1998.
Pinners E. 2000. Beyond appraisals: Participatory Technology Development. Splash 2: 3–5.
Tchawa P. 2000. Chains of innovation by farmers in Cameroon. ILEIA Newsletter 16 (2): 14–15.
Tchawa P & Diop J-M. 2000. Rapport de l’Atelier Régional Francophone de Programme CES II, Bamenda, Cameroun, 29 novembre-2 décembre 1999.
Varlet F. 1993. Dynamique de l’alimentation au Cameroun: présentation et interprétation des données quantitatives disponibles pour la période 1970–1992. Montpellier, France, Document de travail n°1, CIRAD-SAR.
[1] ISWC National Coordinator, c/o SNV, BP 1239, Yaoundé, Cameroon (ptchawa@iccnet.cm)
[2] National Coordinator, PNVRA, BP 11362,
Yaoundé, Cameroon
[3] External advisor to ISWC-Cameroon, c/o ETC Ecoculture, POB 64,
NL-3830 AB Leusden, Netherlands (jm.diop@etcnl.nl