Resources

Amid the growing realisation that top-down, technocratic approaches to agricultural development largely fail, alternative approaches have begun to emerge, based on participatory methods, the use of local technologies and resources and the notion of 'farmers first'. In this context, a project began in the Chivi District in southern Zambia, which aimed to work, using alternative methods, with smallholder farmers to develop technological options in order to reduce poverty and improve livelihoods in marginal areas. The book describes the background of the farmers, and then details the community-based approach which involved needs-assessment surveys, institutional surveys, participatory planning, awareness-raising training, visits to view new technologies and local seed varieties. The ways in which the project sought to strengthen women's position in the local community is also described.