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Approach

Research and development activities are guided by the principles of systems thinking, interdisciplinarity and participatory approaches and methods.

Over the past 40 years I have been working with low external input farming and livelihood systems in many countries of Europe, Africa and Asia. From an original background in agricultural science I spent most of my working life with both natural and social scientists, researching and developing ways of managing natural resources more sustainably and trying to evolve more sustainable livelihood systems for poorer rural and peri-urban people. The methods used in this process have been based on constructionism, action research, systems theory and experiential learning though participatory action.
Farmer preparing land for groundnuts in Darfur  

Most of the field work that I have experienced has been with natural scientists and practitioners who have been trained in positivist – reductionist science which has been directed towards a high productivity based agriculture. My role as facilitator and partner has been to work with these scientists and their managers to try to make their research more relevant to the real life context in which they are working. By working together with social scientists, community practicioners and farmers, I have been able to develop research approaches in which all stakeholders can contribute to the improvement of these politically and socially complex situations.

Although most of my field experience has been in developing countries, I have recently been applying the experience and skills gained from this work to situations and problem areas in Europe and the UK in particular. The same methods and principles of the research approach have been found to apply to many situations in a European context, and not only within research institutions but also within many government and non-government institutions where a systemic, participatory researching mode of operation is not common, but would appear to be relevant and needed.

Recent activities

Current research activities include :-
1. Contributions to SLIM . This is an EU funded project on Social Learning for Integrated Management of water at catchment scale . It involves a partnership of teams from UK ( Systems discipline, Open University) , Italy, France, Netherlands and Sweden that seek to develop better ways of managing water through analysisng, understanding, reflecting and using participatory processes as a policy approach. See www.slim.open.ac.uk


 2. Partner in a DEFRA funded research project on Weed Management in Organic Farming Systems. David is acting as a member of the research team which is coordinated from the Henry Doubleday Research Centre, Ryton Gardens. See website www.organicweeds.org


3. Research support for Farmers Participatory Research on Integrated Rice-based Farming for Improved Livelihood for Resource-Poor Farm Households project in Bangladesh .

 
Picture above .Woman processing cassava in Adja Plateau area of Western Benin
Some previous research projects have been:

1. Farming Systems Research within National Agricultural Research and Forestry Institute, Laos. Funded by Sida, 2002.
2. Kavango Farming Systems Research Programme, Namibia . UK aid. DFID. 1995-6
3. Farming Systems Research at Pakhribas Agricultural Research Station, Nepal. ODA. 1987-88
4. Farming Systems Research Programme, ICARDA, Syria. 1977-80. CGIAR. Washington.
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