Thirty-five years after Farmer First: embedding farmer participation in national agricultural policy and practice

Thirty-five years ago, the Farmer First movement presented a new paradigm for agricultural R&D, making the case for a more prominent role for farmers in the design, development, and dissemination of agricultural technologies and practices. Since then, a diverse range of projects have been implemented with explicit attention to the engagement and participation of farmers and farmer-based organizations. After nearly four decades, it is worth reflecting further on the full extent of this paradigm’s impact on research and innovation policy. Specifically, has the movement led to the institutionalization of meaningful farmer engagement and participation in national policy formulation and implementation? To answer this question, we adopt a case study approach and combine project and public policy document analysis with key informant interviews held with actors in government, research institutions, donor agencies, and farmer organizations. We select three farmer-first-oriented projects in Honduras, Mali, and the eastern Africa region, each of which have had long exposure to the participatory principles we expect to see reflected in the agricultural policies of the country. We document the specific interactions between project actors and the policy space. We then analyze common policy trends across case studies. First, we find that change is often driven by highly motivated individuals who operate with a lack of buy-in from policy-relevant institutions. Second, we observe change when organizations practicing farmer-first approaches partner with more influential organizations, which may not have internalized those principles but have a common interest in the dissemination of technologies and practices. Third, we find that national agricultural policies in the case study countries are not codifying well-established participatory practices. We discuss pathways toward greater farmer participation in light of these findings.