Participatory innovation development and diffusion : adoption and adaptation of introduced legumes in the traditional slash-and-burn peasant farming system in Yucatan, Mexico.

Campesino families of the Yucatan Peninsula have traditionally depended on a slash and burn system (milpa) for staple food production. Milpa productivity has decreased resulting in lower levels of food self-sufficiency, and conventional responses have encouraged increased use of fertilizers and herbicides. This is beyond the economic capacity of most families, hence a sedentary system based on the use of legumes as a green manure and as weed control has been introduced by NGOs. Case studies from three different communities have been used to analyse the strategies of adoption and adaptation of this innovatory crop system, using a participatory research methodology. The results show that once practised by the campesinos, the innovation has been subject to a series of experiments by individuals in order to optimise its contribution to food security and income generation. It was found that the conventional approach to technology development has not been appropriate to the situation of small scale farmers in Yucatan, yet the communities showed an interest and a capacity to be partners in the technology and diffusion process which, the authors suggest, requires a new actor network.