Monitoring and assessing the impact of participatory research for technology development on soil fertility management in southern Benin.

In response to the failure of over fifteeen years research into soil fertility improvement in the south of Benin, whereby farmers were only involved only at the end of the research process, this document reports on a new more participatory research project started in 1994. The research process began with a topical PRA on soils and cropping systems, followed by a discussion with farmers of a range of potential agronomic principles already tried out elsewhere. Each year farmers tried those they were interested in to compare with ther own traditional practices. The paper describes briefly a study designed to determine the importance of using a participatory approach and the tools and methods used to do so. Impacts examined include those on both the development and adoption of technologies, impact on the welfare of potential users, on long term regional trends and also the impact on both local institutions and other institutions involved in research and extension.