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Changing research and extension design in agriculture. An example in Argentina |
Cahiers Agricultures. Volume 11, Number 4, 259-68, Juillet - Août 2002, Méthodes et techniques
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 Résumé
Article gratuit
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Author(s) : Eduardo Chia, Benoît Dedieu |
Summary : In Argentina, the Inta (Instituto Nacional de Technologia Agropecuraria) is a public body in charge of research and extension in agriculture. The unsuccessful results of the top-down organisation question the conception of new R & D pratices. The Franco-Argentinian cooperation project IDEAS (Innovaciones, Desarrollo, Exploitationes Agropecuarias, Sociedad local) aims at changing these practices, elaborating diagnostic tools at the farm and locality levels and proposing actions that take into account the real problems of the farmers. This program is based on the activities of two different groups bringing together scientists and extensionists in the Pampa region (one in a livestock farming area, the other in a crop/fattening one). The collective learning process was based on the achievement of farms monographies, aiming to understand and index the technical, economical and management operation of some farms, on testing and discussing French tools (used to analyse farmers' practices, territory and farming diversity) that did not refer to the local either scientific or extension background. We discuss the results of the first four years of the project, i.e. the common understanding, the specific research questions identified, and the questions that remain open. As a central part of the project, farm case studies appear as a positive initial step for a collective learning of how the farmers behave, but induce a certain dilution of competencies that make it difficult for researchers to return to their discipline community, for the extensionists to re-define their function, and for the two groups to structure future steps. |
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