Reversals, Institutions and Change 95- open interviews and iterative group conversations (Floquet, 1989);
- ethnohistory and ethnobiography (the biography of a crop, or of a person’s
experience of a crop, an historical analysis of the experience of a community
etc.) (Box, 1987); - inspection and discussion: visiting trial sites, observing innovations, field days,
and visits by farmers to research stations when they observe and discuss (Ashby
et al, 1987); - visual aids to analysis: seasonal and other diagramming (Conway, 1985), aerial
photographs (Carson, 1987), systems diagramming on a board (Lightfoot et al,
1987), other uses of diagrams with and by farmers and communities (Kabutha
and Ford, 1988; McCracken, 1988) and drawing maps (Gupta, 1987a, b); - eliciting clients’ criteria and preferences, where individuals or groups (women,
men, farmers etc.) articulate their reasons for preferences, and then rank items
according to them (Ashby et al, 1987; Chambers, 1988); - key questions and approaches to questioning: ‘ways in’ or ‘points of entry’ such as
‘What would a desirable variety look like to you?’ (Ashby et al, 1987, p27), ‘What
would you like your landscape to look like in the future?’ (Rocheleau et al, 1985),
‘When you were a boy, what was the oldest variety of (a particular crop) that
you knew about?’ (Box, 1987) and ‘Comparing agriculture practiced at the
time of your father and grandfather with the agriculture practiced by you
today, what are the major changes that have occurred?’ (Gubbels, 1988); - contrast analysis, where groups or individuals are asked to explain the contrast-
ing conditions or behaviour of others, thus setting a frame of reference before
analysing their own (Gupta, 1987a, b) - sequences of meetings and visits (Rocheleau et al, 1985; Mathema and Galt,
1987; Lightfoot et al, 1987; Repulda et al, 1987; Norman et al, 1988); - innovator workshops where farmer innovators meet to discuss their new prac-
tices (Abedin and Haque, 1987; Ashby et al, 1987).
The role of the outsider is to elicit, encourage, facilitate and promote analysis by
farmers, providing where necessary the stimulus, the occasion and the incentive for
meetings and discussions. The outsider can take part, but does not dominate.
Farmers’ own analysis, criteria and priorities come first. Requests are generated for
outsiders to search for what farmers want and need, and to provide them with
choices or ideas for experiments to solve a problem or exploit an opportunity
(Lightfoot et al, 1987; Repulda et al, 1987).
(ii) Choice. Choice by farmers is prominent in the farmer-first paradigm. It has two
aspects. First, farmers’ analysis generates an agenda of requests for information and
material. Second, farmers need a range of choice, so that they can pick and choose to
suit their conditions, extend their repertoire and enhance their adaptability. Norman
et al note ‘the technology assessment process in which a wide range of options are
presented to a large number of volunteer farmers’ (1988, p141). To find and present
variety and choices to farmers is largely a task for outsiders. Some examples are: