Assessing the nature of participation in a farmer research group: The case of Ecuador's participatory bean improvement program

Traditional strategies toward agricultural research and extension do not always meet the needs of resource-poor farmers. One approach to increasing the relevance of research to poor farmers is the use of the local agricultural research committee (or CIAL in Spanish) methodology. This approach builds communities of inquiry by training farmer groups in formal research and facilitative leadership, thereby forming collaborative relationships amongst scientists and farming communities. While CIALs are perceived to be a cost-effective means to perform adaptive technology testing, many organizations focus on the outcomes and are not prepared to create or sustain communities of inquiry as suggested by the CIAL methodology.;Research was conducted to explore the consequences of focusing on the outcomes of the CIAL methodology without investing in the participatory process by studying the case of Ecuador's bean breeding CIAL program. Results show that scientists worked consultatively with select farmers without emphasizing the critical link between CIALs and their communities and that adoption of improved seed and complementary practices was lower than expected. Further, results show that there was a lack of information flow between CIALs and their communities and that farmer expectations of outsider involvement remained unchanged. The findings suggest that research organizations should consider the extent to which participatory approaches match their objectives and whether they have the capacity to create and sustain communities of inquiry before adopting the CIAL methodology.