Research with Subsistence Farmers: Lessons from the Edge

The paper highlights recent fieldwork experiences among subsistence farmers in north-central Ethiopia. It begins by describing two interrelated aspects of subsistence farmer-oriented research. These are planning the fieldwork and increasing farmer response. It is noted that activities relating to each of these two have been mainly influenced by two conventional assumptions: one is the view that farmers will not refuse to provide free information, and the other is the notion that the "village" provides the appropriate setting for gathering information. Challenges to both assumptions came in the wake of sustained fieldwork-focused interaction with subsistence farmers.