Dorward, Peter

The manual describes a number of participatory farm management methods, which have been developed for use with or by semi-literate and non-literate small-holder farmers. Participatory farm management methods are simple tools, which enable farmers, together with research or extension workers to quantify and analyse the use and production of resources at the farm and household levels.

The farm management tool described in this article has been used over a period of 18 months with ovr 250 farmers in Zimbabwe. It is based on a traditional board game called "mancala" and uses eans, seeds or symols to identify resources and activities. These are laid out in a calendar form, which allows the farmer to make plans, estimate profits, assess resource inputs needed for given farm activities.