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Farmer Research Committees (also known in Latin America as Comites de Investigacion Agropecuario Local or CIALs ) are an approach to community organizing and agricultural extension that provides rural communities and farmer organizations in developing countries with an adaptive research and technology testing service run by volunteer farmers. This approach to agricultural innovation is used in international development and rural community development for improving adoption of appropriate technology and the development of sustainable agriculture. The approach involves collaboration and joint decision-making among extension agents, farmers and researchers to develop locally acceptable farming practices and accelerate their adoption. Farmer Research Committees also produce a broad set of benefits that are generally referred to as empowerment,including the increased self-esteem and effectiveness of farmers to organise and negotiate with extension service and agricultural input providers, market chain actors, banks and politicians. Farmer Research Committees do adaptive research experiments to help farmers manage the risk of trying something new that extension has not validated under local conditions. In Latin America, numerous Farmer Research Committees have been particularly effective in evaluating and selecting new varieties and multiplying seed, enabling large numbers of farmers to access a new variety at low cost, improve their food security, generate employment and increase their income. On a lesser scale, Farmer Research Committees have worked on small machinery, fertilisers or pest and disease control regimes, enabling the adoption of cost-effective strategies in which local farmers have confidence. Farmer Research Committees may have an important role to play in rural communities' adaptation of their agriculture to climate change and globalization because they increase community-level innovative and adaptive capacity by strengthening its human and social capital. In contrast to Farmer Field Schools which are intended to transmit proven extension recommendations to farmers using experimentation for discovery learning, Farmer Research Committees set out to generate new recommendations.Their results are usually a novel blend of what was already known and what was unknown, drawing on both indigenous technical knowledge and external resources. Farmer research committees and farmer field schools can be highly complementary, as is discussed in more detail below == Costs == Most of the costs of establishing a Farmer Research Committee are a one-off investment incurred during the first year for training and a petty cash or inputs fund for operations. * Training of a facilitator, who may be a salaried extension professional or a para-professional farmer, involves a 5-day, on-site course and then follow-up visits by trainers to reinforce field practice. In Latin America, trainers use cellphones and the internet to mentor trainees. Numerous professionals experienced in Farmer Research Committee training exist in Latin America.〔For further information see Andean Change Program (Cambio Andino) Directory of Trainers http://www.cambioandino.org/directoriocapacitadores.shtml〕 * Training a Farmer Research Committee involves learning by doing: in the first planting season (usually 4–6 months in the tropics), the facilitator mentors the Committee through a six step process.In the second season, the majority of steps in the process are delegated to the committee, the facilitator’s visits are reduced significantly and costs drop by as much as 50 percent. By the third planting system, a Committee is mature and can run its own process with minimal contact with a facilitator.〔Ashby, J.A., Gracia, A.T., Del Pilar Guerrero, M., Quiros, C.A., Roa, J.I. and Beltran, J.A. 1995. Institutionalizing farmer participation in adaptive technology testing with the “CIAL.” ODI Agricultural Research and Extension Network. Network Paper 57.〕 Some mature Committees in Latin America have been running their own process in this way for over 5 years.〔J. A. Ashby, A. Braun, T. Gracia, M.P. Guerrero, L.A. Hernandez, C.A. Quiros & J.I. Roa. 2001.Investing in Farmers as Researchers: Experience with Local Agricultural Research Committees in Latin America. CIAT, Cali, Colombia.〕 * In Latin America the start-up fund for Committee operations can range from US$25 to US$200 in cash or kind, depending on the costs of experimental inputs not available locally.〔Ashby et al., 1995;http://go.worldbank.org/Z5B4XVXP00 World Bank Agriculture Investment Sourcebook. Module 2 - Local Agricultural Research Committees〕 The average yearly cost for running a Committee was estimated at US $325 over six years in the late 1990s.〔A. R. Braun, G. Thiele and M. Fernandez.2000. Farmer field schools and local agricultural Research committees: complementary platforms for integrated decision-making in Sustainable agriculture. ODI Agricultural Research and Extension Network .Network Paper No.105:12〕 In approximately 50% of the 200 or so farmer research committees established in Latin America by 2003, 50 percent had maintained or increased the size of this fund, in some cases by selling seed of new varieties they were recommending, in other cases from local contributions. Farmer Research Committees need a lively and sustained communication with external sources of information and technology to keepon bringing innovations into their experiments. When cellphone coverage exists this can be achieved through cellphone contact and this helps to reduce costs further. A facilitator can support from 20 to 50 mature Farmer Research Committees, depending on distances between them and the availability of cell phones. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Farmer Research Committee」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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