Usually, the process of developing new technology has very little participation from the farmers. Their inputs are, for the most part, ignored. With the aim of involving farmers in the development process, SAMUHA started the Participatory Technology Development (PTD) programme.
PTD involves farmers in technology development - from the inception of ideas to the execution of them. In this programme, the farmers experiment on the Navane crop. They document the progress of the crop in their own field; identify problems; describe what actions they have taken in the past to minimise each problem; and prioritise these problems. Then they discuss what action they would like to take to solve these problems in the future.
At this point, the researcher provides farmers with a broad range of technical solutions. After testing these technologies, there is a period of evaluation. During this stage, farmers describe the technologies they prefer and their reasons for doing so.
Currently, there are about 10 farmers involved in this programme.
