Critical introductory notes on farming systems research in developing Third World agriculture.

K. Jansen, R. Brouwer

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticleAcademic

    8 Citations (Scopus)

    Abstract

    In Third World agricultural research of household-managed production units, the systems approach is applied in the form of Farming Systems Research (FSR). Several authors reviewed here have criticized the way in which this is done. It appears that most of them neglect the fact that most FSR belongs to the "hard" systems approach. The problem context (the household production unit and its surrounding socioeconomic system), however, consists of sense-giving subjects, which have conflicting goals and interests. Their thinking and behavior are determined largely by power relations. Therefore, in FSR, the hard systems approach should be discarded and a critical alternative approach should be developed instead.
    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)379-395
    JournalSystems Practice
    Volume2
    Issue number4
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 1989

    Keywords

    • agriculture
    • critical systems thinking
    • farming systems research
    • Third World

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