But How Does it Compare With the Real Data? Lessons From a RRA Training Exercise in Western Nepal.

This paper concerns seasonality diagrams drawn up by farmers during a RRA/PRA training workshop, carried out in western Nepal. Subsequently, the results obtained via the seasonality diagramming were compared with scientifically-collected meteorological data from a nearby agricultural research centre. After briefly reviewing some important methodological data, the paper moves on to discuss the 'goodness of fit' of the two data sets. It concludes that as far as the scientifically collected data represents the 'real data', the data collected from the farmers represents a remarkably good approximation. In fact this latter data set is not only accurate, but, was also constructed in a far more cost effective manner, taking very little time.