Making technologies work for resource-poor farmers

Abstract

The need for productivity increases in the agricultural sector in Botswana in order to help improve farm incomes, especially incomes of resource-poor farmers, has been an important concern in the poverty alleviation effort in the country. Appropriate technology generation and dissemination in both the crop and livestock production sub-sectors hold the promise of improving agricultural productivity. This paper discusses how the farming systems approach (FSA) can contribute to the successful generation and dissemination of appropriate agricultural technologies. The paper concludes that prerequisites for success in the technology generation and dissemination process include the political will to do so, adequate funding, the provision of relevant technical personnel and the willing participation offarmers in the technology generation process.