The Meaning of Practices: Farmers' Conceptions in Agricultural Development Strategies

Autor/in	Mathieu, Anne
Titel	The Meaning of Practices: Farmers' Conceptions in Agricultural Development Strategies
Quelle	In: Journal of Agricultural Education and Extension, 10 (2004) 3, S.101-109 (9 Seiten) PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	1389-224X
Schlagwörter	Research and Development; Agricultural Education; Educational Technology; Change Strategies; Prior Learning; Educational Practices; Agricultural Production; Agricultural Skills; Rural Extension; Technology Transfer; Educational Principles; Training Methods; Training Objectives; Media Adaptation + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Forschung und Entwicklung; Agriculture; Education; Landwirtschaftliche Ausbildung; Landwirtschaft; Ausbildung; Unterrichtsmedien; Lösungsstrategie; Vorkenntnisse; Bildungspraxis; Production; Produktion; Agrarproduktion; Landwirtschaftliche Produktion; Technologietransfer; Bildungsprinzip; Didaktik; Trainingsmaßnahme; Training objectiv; Ausbildungsziel; Trainingsziel; Medienverwendung
Abstract	Agricultural development programs often produce unexpected results. This can be attributed to the fact that the target-farmers already have their own knowledge and competencies which, in turn, determine their practices. In order to be adopted, an innovation has first to be discussed, and then appropriated by a local group of farmers in their system of knowledge and in their system of meaning; subsequently the innovation may be rejected or adopted by all the farmers concerned or by a sub-group of farmers with a given social position. The author of this paper suggests that knowledge of these local systems of farmers' knowledge is useful for agricultural research and development programs. It enables not only identification of the differences between researchers', development agents' and farmers' conceptions of technical processes, but also an understanding of the social meaning of the adoption of innovation. The importance attributed to farmers' forms of knowledge in different research and development approaches is analyzed, and a brief description is given of principles and methods that can be used to reveal different conceptions of technical processes by groups of farmers. Three examples are cited of the utilization of such knowledge in agricultural research or development programs to illustrate the proposals. Finally, the benefits to be gained by agricultural scientists through an understanding of these conceptions are discussed. (Contains 1 figure and 1 table.) (As Provided).
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Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2017/4/10