government after the late 1980s. After a period in which participatory approaches
were only applied within the framework of bilateral and international rural development projects, the Vietnamese government has increasingly promoted participatory
approaches within its national programs (Friederichsen 2009; Minh 2010).
In the Philippines and Indonesia, the rapid adoption and spread of participatory
approaches has been the result of strong institutional support coming from international NGOs such as the International Institute of Rural Reconstruction (IIRR) in
the Philippines, and international research centers such as the Southeast Asian
Office of the World Agroforestry Center (ICRAF) in Indonesia. Since the late
1990s, both these countries have instigated large domestic programs aimed at
participatory watershed management and research (cf. Rhoades 1999).
In the Philippines, ICRAF has played a vital role in promoting the Landcare
approach, a movement of farmer-led organizations supported by local government
and technical facilitators who share a desire to see sustainable and profitable land
use on sloping lands while at the same time conserving the natural resource base
(Garrity 1998). However, despite the strong current towards participatory research
and a long tradition in establishing links between research and extension, national
research organizations in most Southeast Asian countries continue to follow the
conventional model of agricultural research in which the objective is simply to
develop technologies that can then be transferred to farmers via extension services.
The majority of researchers remain reluctant to leave their research stations and
involve farmers in the planning, design, implementation and evaluation of on-farm
and other research activities. An important reason for this reluctance is the widespread view that research carried out beyond the borders of the research station is
‘non-scientific’, mainly because agro-ecological and other ‘disruptive’ parameters
cannot be controlled – a view that is shared by many agricultural scientists in
industrialized countries.
Experience from various research projects in Southeast Asia suggests that interaction between farmers and scientists can be fostered through a multitude of approaches
(e.g., Neef 2005a). In Vietnam and the Philippines, promising experiences with
Farmers’ Field Schools have been gained in the field of Integrated Pest Management
and with rice production systems (e.g., van de Fliert et al. 2007). This approach has
also been adapted towards improving smallholder livestock systems under the Farmer
Livestock School approach in Vietnam (Minh et al. 2010).
In the upland areas of Southeast Asia, participatory research approaches have
focused strongly on experiments in soil and water conservation, but the long-term
effectiveness of such measures has often been constrained by social, economic,
cultural and institutional factors (e.g., Minh 2010; Saint-Macary et al. 2010). As a
response to this limited success, new approaches have recently emerged – such as
Payments for Environmental Services (PES) – an approach that combines farmer
participation and economic incentives. These approaches are discussed in Sect. 9.4.
326
A. Neef et al.
were only applied within the framework of bilateral and international rural development projects, the Vietnamese government has increasingly promoted participatory
approaches within its national programs (Friederichsen 2009; Minh 2010).
In the Philippines and Indonesia, the rapid adoption and spread of participatory
approaches has been the result of strong institutional support coming from international NGOs such as the International Institute of Rural Reconstruction (IIRR) in
the Philippines, and international research centers such as the Southeast Asian
Office of the World Agroforestry Center (ICRAF) in Indonesia. Since the late
1990s, both these countries have instigated large domestic programs aimed at
participatory watershed management and research (cf. Rhoades 1999).
In the Philippines, ICRAF has played a vital role in promoting the Landcare
approach, a movement of farmer-led organizations supported by local government
and technical facilitators who share a desire to see sustainable and profitable land
use on sloping lands while at the same time conserving the natural resource base
(Garrity 1998). However, despite the strong current towards participatory research
and a long tradition in establishing links between research and extension, national
research organizations in most Southeast Asian countries continue to follow the
conventional model of agricultural research in which the objective is simply to
develop technologies that can then be transferred to farmers via extension services.
The majority of researchers remain reluctant to leave their research stations and
involve farmers in the planning, design, implementation and evaluation of on-farm
and other research activities. An important reason for this reluctance is the widespread view that research carried out beyond the borders of the research station is
‘non-scientific’, mainly because agro-ecological and other ‘disruptive’ parameters
cannot be controlled – a view that is shared by many agricultural scientists in
industrialized countries.
Experience from various research projects in Southeast Asia suggests that interaction between farmers and scientists can be fostered through a multitude of approaches
(e.g., Neef 2005a). In Vietnam and the Philippines, promising experiences with
Farmers’ Field Schools have been gained in the field of Integrated Pest Management
and with rice production systems (e.g., van de Fliert et al. 2007). This approach has
also been adapted towards improving smallholder livestock systems under the Farmer
Livestock School approach in Vietnam (Minh et al. 2010).
In the upland areas of Southeast Asia, participatory research approaches have
focused strongly on experiments in soil and water conservation, but the long-term
effectiveness of such measures has often been constrained by social, economic,
cultural and institutional factors (e.g., Minh 2010; Saint-Macary et al. 2010). As a
response to this limited success, new approaches have recently emerged – such as
Payments for Environmental Services (PES) – an approach that combines farmer
participation and economic incentives. These approaches are discussed in Sect. 9.4.
326
A. Neef et al.