Community engagement on Scientific Research: The process of communicating Agricultural research results to Farmers by the Rwanda Agriculture Board

Abstract

Studies have revealed that in spite of investments in agricultural research and innovations in Rwanda, farmers have not been aligning themselves with agricultural research findings. Many farmers still practise traditional farming and remain vulnerable to weather and related conditions. Among the issues that might cause this phenomenon is ineffective communication of agricultural research findings to farmers. Since the most important institution dealing with agricultural research in Rwanda is the Rwanda Agriculture Board (RAB), the aim of this study was to find out how RAB communicates agricultural research findings to farmers. The study subscribed to the relativist ontology and interpretive epistemology. The qualitative approach was used with data generated using interviews and focus group discussions. Study participants included RAB researchers, as well as farmers that worked with RAB in the Southern Zone. Participants in the study produced lengthy and multi- thematic narratives on how research results were communicated to farmers at RAB, which were analysed and arranged according to emerging themes and sub-themes in accordance with the research objectives. While Transmission and Transactional Models of Communication were used to describe the communication of agricultural research results to farmers, Diffusion of Innovation Theory, Participatory Communication Approach, Freire’s Theory of Conscientization, and Active Audience/Reception Theory helped to understand that communication. The study revealed that research results at RAB were communicated to farmers using two approaches: direct and indirect. In direct approaches, researchers engaged farmers directly without any mediation. This was mainly used when RAB researchers went to farmers’ fields to validate the results of their research. Indirect approaches consisted in extensionists taking research results and related messages to farmers through face- to-face meetings as well as the use of mass media. While RAB staff blamed farmers for being held back by their traditional beliefs and poor farming practices, farmers also blamed RAB staff of overloading them with instructions that in some cases were not realistic, ignoring their voices and rejecting everything they had been practising. Findings suggest that while new farming practices had been adopted by farmers especially in the demonstration farms, the majority of them continued their traditional farming practices in farms not accessed by the RAB staff. They blamed RAB of imposing new farming practices without considering their traditional knowledge systems. The study argues that the top-down, often authoritarian method of engagement with farmers led to a lack of sustainability in the implementation of ideas emerging from agricultural research organizations, hence undermining research efforts. In line with theories used in the study, the study recommends that a dialogic process of engagement be adopted in order to empower farmers with knowledge, the need to adopt new agricultural practices and how these would enhance their productivity.