Experiences of farmer participation in soil fertility research in southern Zimbabwe

This paper documents the experiences of the Farming Systems Research Unit (FSRU) with participatory research on soil fertility in Chivi, southern Zimbabwe. The FSRU is at the Department of Research and Specialist Services of the Ministry of Agriculture in Harare. The paper focuses on the empowerment processes used to convert farmers from mere spectators in on-farm research to full participants in the Chivi based Farming Systems Research team from 1992 to 1997. The report avers that over the five year period, farmers became co-researchers, co-analysts and resource persons and were able to plan appropriate research and technology development for use by small scale farmers.