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 Irrigated Rice Research Consortium
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Weighing IRRC's impact in Asia To tease out and document a single homogeneous picture of farmers’ practices in rice production is like building a sandcastle too close to the shore. It would be a futile effort since farmers’ practices are constantly changing and are widely varied. However, social scientists involved in technology adoption and impact research in the Irrigated Rice Research Consortium (IRRC) have to come up with a general understanding of farmers’ behaviors in relation to the technologies introduced. The IRRC has been conducting field trials and setting up demonstration plots to identify appropriate approaches and technologies for rice-producing communities in several Asian countries. To measure the impact of introducing new technologies, credible baseline information must be collected, then compared with another set of information a few years after IRRC activities have been in place. This is done by conducting focus group discussions (FGDs), key informant interviews, and household surveys on knowledge, attitude, and practice (KAP) and input-output (IO) on rice production before and after the introduction of IRRC technologies. Initial interviews and FGDs are conducted to get a thorough idea of what will be included in the survey questionnaire. We identify the key questions relevant to the IRRC research technologies. We meet with farmers in their houses or villages so that they feel more comfortable in an open discussion setting, encouraging their various views and opinions to surface. The FGDs and initial interviews use a participatory approach that gets the farmers more involved in the study.
IRRI researcher Rica Flor (center) leads a focus group discussion with farmers in Tarlac. (IRRI Social Sciences Division photo) The KAP survey is a structured method of assessing what farmers know, what they do, and how they perceive and feel about specific aspects of rice production that influence their day-to-day practices. To an extent, it records their behavior on specific aspects of farming. Farmers’ current practices directly affect their farm expenses (costs of inputs and quantity used) and incomes (price of output and production per acre or hectare). This is also known as the input-output aspect of production. Data collected from an IO survey include farmers’ inputs (e.g., fertilizers, insecticides, fuel, and other costs incurred in rice production) and yield. We use KAP and IO surveys to measure the changes in practices and their related costs and incomes.
An enumerator (left) interviews a farmer in Bohol on his inputs and production. (Photo by A. Malabayabas) We also conduct participant observation, which involves extended observations and interviews within the research area. This method is used to gain insights into topics that cannot be covered by a survey questionnaire, or those that require some validation and context. In the Philippines, KAP and IO surveys have been conducted in Bulacan, Bohol, and Tarlac provinces. Surveys have also been conducted in the Ayeyarwaddy and West Bago divisions in Myanmar. In 2008, another round of these socioeconomic methods will be undertaken to assess the adoption and impact of IRRC technologies.
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