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Irrigated Rice Research Consortium

Working with farmers 

The IRRC utilizes the power of partnerships to move beyond sharing knowledge and information to finding solutions to farmers' problems.

Participatory needs and opportunities assessment (NOA) is a modification of participatory rural appraisal (PRA) that goes beyond simply identifying problems to jointly develop and evaluate solutions with farmers through an action plan agreed upon by concerned stakeholders. NOAs are used to identify and address farmers' real problems and needs and thereby ensure the dissemination of technologies that meet those needs. Through NOAs, we can find suitable areas for dissemination of available technologies andidentify other opportunities in crop management that can improve farmers' livelihoods. 

In 2001, the impact workgroup assisted the Nutrient Management or RTOP and Water Saving workgroups in developing frameworks and action plans that incorporate village-level farmer evaluation of technology options.  This improved the workgroups' ability to address policy interventions that enhance technology adoption, strengthen extension strategies to promote successful technologies in target areas, and focus demand-driven research on emerging problems. 

The Nutrient Management and Water Saving workgroups modified their plan of action based on the results of NOAs. As a result of the greater emphasis on delivery and expansion, researchers and extensionists have increasingly tailored nutrient- and crop-management activities to specific needs at individual sites. This has facilitated a stronger sense of ownership by NARES, as they increasingly take the lead in developing and extending solutions to specific constraints affecting their farmers. Water-shortage, for example, is a specific constraint that should not be viewed in isolation from other problems if the ultimate goal is rural development — that is, improving farmers' livelihoods through higher profit from farming.

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About Impact
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Regional Research-Extension
-Farmer Meeting at Tien Giang

"If scientific findings are to have impact, researchers must apply their knowledge and insights according to the wisdom gained through reintegrating their research findings, and coordinating their outreach activities."