Hildebrand, P.E.
1982 Combining Disciplines in Rapid Appraisal: The
Sondeo Approach. Agricultural Administration 8:
423-432. 7
1985 On-Farm Research: Organized Community IncorporatingWomen into
Adaptation, Learning and Diffusion for Efficient
Agricultural Technology Innovation. Farming Systems Monitoring and Evaluation in
Support Project Newsletter 3:4:6-7. Farming Systems Research and Extension
Hildebrand, P.E. and D. Cardona
1977 Sistemas de Cultivos de Ladera para Pequenos y Jonice Louden
Medianos Agricultores: La Barranca. Guatemala:
ICTA.
Perrin, R. K., D. L. Winkelmann, E. R. Moscardi and J. R. OVERVIEW OF FARMING SYSTEMS RESEARCH AND EXTENSION
Anderson
1976 From Agronomic Data to Farmer Recommendations: During the past few decade;, a number of programs
An Economics Training Manual. Mexico: CIMMYT. designed and financed by national and international agenReiche Caal, E.C., P. E. Hildebrand, S. R. Ruano and J. Wyld cies tried to improve the productivity of rural popula1976 El Pequeno Agricultor y Sus Sistemas de Cultivos tions. Among the strategies adopted were the "Green Revoen Ladera. Guatemala: ICTA. lution," extension, research and development, credit, irriRogers, E.M. gation, and soil conservation. While these innovations
1983 Diffusion of Innovations. New York, NY: Free have made technological advances, a number of limitations
Press. have also been detected. The plant breeding breakthroughs
Ruano, S.R. of the "Green Revolution" of the 1960s, that produced high1977 El Uso del Sorgo para Consumo Humano: Caracter- yielding grain varieties favored more progressive farmers.
isticas y Limitaciones. Guatemala: ICTA. Most of this research concentrated largely on plantations
and export crops and provided little technical assistance to the small farmer.
The strategy employed by extension services took results generated on research stations to the farmer. Implicit in this approach was the assumption that farmers have inadequate knowledge about agriculture and must depend on information from professional groups. Farmers often rejected advice based on what they perceived as "book learning" rather than practical experience about farming. Due to the limited success of the extension approach, it was imperative that new strategies be employed to improve agricultural production and to correct the food deficit situation now becoming acute in most developing countries.
The farming systems approach was introduced during the 1970s to work more effectively with the problem of increased agricultural production through improved technology. Farming Systems Research and Extension (FSR/E) aims at improving the effectiveness of national research and extension services in generating and disseminating technologies appropriate to farmers. A farming system may be broadly defined as the way in which a farm family manages the resources it controls to meet its objectives within a particular ecological, social and economic setting.