Participatory budgets : a farm management type tool to assist farmers in their decision-making

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.