Contested Agronomy: Moving Beyond Silver Bullets

Contested Agronomy: Moving Beyond Silver Bullets

The diversity of farmers’ biophysical and socio-economic conditions makes it unlikely that any particular agricultural technology (like a new variety or type of equipment) will work effectively across these conditions. Instead it has long been recognized that farmers need to be offered a basket of choices to choose from and that technologies need to be locally adapted so that the interventions match farmers’ conditions and livelihood strategies. Unfortunately, it is still all too common to find agricultural development projects that promote specific technologies for all farmers across a wide range of conditions. Two potential reasons for this include donor excitement about promising technologies and the difficulty implementing agencies face in effectively training staff on wide range of technologies and how to adapt them locally. Lack of adoption of technologies is not surprising when the intervention is not contextualized to the farming system and local conditions.

The Snapp Lab is investigating the following promising options:

• Innovation Platforms
• Mother & Baby Trial Design
• Participatory Research and Action Learning