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Research-based Recommendations versus Farmers' Practices: Some Lessons From Cotton-Spraying in Malawi

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 October 2008

John Farrington
John Farrington
Affiliation:
The Polytechnic, University of Malawi, Blantyre, Malawi
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Summary

The discrepancy between farmers' performances and research-based recommendations in the control of cotton pests in Southern Malawi is discussed. Analysis of the former in two seasons revealed that the farmers' low levels of insecticide application approached the economic optimum, whereas several factors of economic importance were omitted from the research-based justification of high spraying levels. Recommendations for improving the applicability of research recommendations to smallholder farming are made, with particular reference to the farming risks that arise from uncertain rainfall, the wide range of farming ability encountered in practice, and the dangers of atypically high levels of management in research experiments.

Type
Research Article
Information
Experimental Agriculture , Volume 13 , Issue 1 , January 1977 , pp. 9 - 15
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1977

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References

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