Participatory, on-farm research has long been acknowledged as an approach with great potential for increasing the adoption of research results for development purposes. However, sometimes there can be unexpected obstacles, including the farmers themselves.
In participatory, on-farm research farmers become partners in the design, implementation, evaluation and modification of farming technologies. The involvement of farmers can reduce the time needed for adaptation and increase the adoption rate of the improved or introduced technology and thus increase the impact on farmers’ livelihoods.
Taking advantage of this, a project called Agroforestry for Livelihoods of Smallholder Farmers in Northwest Vietnam (AFLI), which is funded by the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research and the CGIAR Research Program on Forests, Trees and Agroforestry, has been testing a range of agroforestry systems and specific technologies in the northwestern uplands of Viet Nam.
