Systems approaches for agriculture and rural development in the South African transition situation
1998
Laurent, Catherine | Van Rooyen, Johan | Bonnal, Philippe | Carstens, Johan | Hubert, Bernard
South African agriculture has to address a number of strategic challenges. An important dimension deals with the processes of technological transformation : how to integrate "historically disadvantaged" farmers with technology transfer and extension schemes? How to produce relevant technical knowledge for these farmers? How to establish or reaffirm links between research, training, extension and development, etc? Both Anglophone and Francophone approaches to farming systems research and extension (FSR/E) were designed to deal with these types of problems, in those faced by agricultural scientists to produce relevant knowledge for development situations. Therefore it seems worthwhile to test concepts, methods and experiences from FSR/E approaches elsewhere to serve the present situation of agriculture in South Africa. However, some specificities of the SA transition period require caution with the manner in which these are used. A generalised and "catch phrase" programme can create confusion at planning and management levels and undermine the objectives of FSR/E strategies. This paper will therefore attempt to establish a critical perspective on the usefulness of FSR/E in South Africa. This discussion is organised around four main topics which are felt to be among founder concerns of FSR/E approaches : (i) to take account of farmers' practices; (ii) to favour systemic methodologies to allow holistic approaches of the agricultural production; (iii) to take account and model the diversity of the productions unit and of the production methods; (iv) to integrate spatial and historical dimensions of the development processes in the design of new development prospects
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