(ii) At the diagnosic. stage, we may wish to consider In some cases, it is possible to incorporate improved analysis of
household type and composition am important variables in the farm household's patterns of labor allocation, decision-making, and
selecting the recommendation domain and the households to be resource flows directly within the FSH process as currently practiced in
sampled within that domain. For example, If a high the field. In order to do so, however, and to analyze adequately some
proportion of households are headed by women. and ir we have types of especially Important intra-houmehold interactions, it may be
reason to believe that their resource access Is different necessary to undertake complementary social science research, to inform
from that of men-headed households, we may wish to include the characterization of the production systems, specification of the
much households in our sample, as this characteristic may recommendation domain, and prioritization of technological interventions
shape household prior'itiem for technology design and for in-depth experimentation. Such complementary study is analogous to
responses to new technologies at the testing stage. This the biological research performed on experiment stations, which is also
point relates to a larger question within farming systems viewed as an Important complement to the iterative FSH process. The
analysis, in my view -- that is, how do we determine what literature on the household is rich and growing -- why is it so seldom
constitutes a "representative farmer" within a specific reviewed as an integral part of FSR as practiced in the field?
context? As part of the diagnostic process, the FSH team will need to decide for which socioeconomic variables it is necessary to look within the household. In assessing the highest priority interventions from a sample household's perspective, we should try to Interview the appropriate
decision-makers and then make a quick-and-fairly-clean attempt to assess which technologies would be improvements from the viewpoint of different family members. Since the formal field diagnostic survey often includes qualitative questions, it may be possible to assess these variables through this channel. If specific labor, decision-making,
and incentive issues are Identified which seem to be critical, It may be necessary to organize complementary studies for their analysis.
(11i) At the technology design stage, the input of female scientists and field workers may reduce the incidence of incorrect assumptions about relationships within the household.
(iv) At the testing stage, accuracy of response may be Increased by involving the appropriate family members In the field tests (appropriate from the perspective of who contributes the labor, who decides about application of the new technology, and who will benefit). This is obviously most important at the testing stages which are jointly managed by scientists and farmers or are farmer-managed. It may also be useful to monitor how the farm household actually copes with the reallocation of resources required by the new technology.
(v) And finally, at the extnsion stage, it is, of course, important to involve women farmers and farm workers, as well as female extension agents, in diffusing technologies for crops and tasks In which women predominate.
60260