We knew you had it in you

This book is a fine and readable example of a new wave in agricultural thinking, also known as Farmer First, which recognises that the farmer often knew best all along. The power of the farmer to innovate is now being accepted for its real worth. Promoting Farmer Innovation provides a variety of insights into innovation, using examples of programmes in Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda. For those who know farmers well (including farmers themselves, of course!), it has little value, but for agricultural professionals who know they must change their approaches, this book is a great encouragement. It has the excited air of a person who has just had his eyes opened to something new, and it darts around from praising indigenous knowledge, through a case study of organic matter management, to some rather self-conscious homilies on partnership building. Never settling long enough on a phenomenon to discuss it in length, it barely touches on the issue of gender and 'women s low participation in innovation'. But there s the clever bit: the compilers know that attitudes do not change by ponderous preaching but by continued exposure to new ideas, bit by bit. They have done well. Promoting Farmer Innovation. Harnessing Local Environmental Knowledge in East Africa. SIDA-RELMA and UNDP copublication. 1999. 133 pp. US$ 10 10.40 (Payable to DOS VU Amsterdam) Resource Development Unit CDCS. De Boelelaan 1115 1085 HV Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Fax: +31 20 444 90 95 E-mail: CAE.de_Groot@dienst.vu.nlPromoting Farmer Innovation. Harnessing Local Environmental Knowledge in East Africa. SIDA-RELMA and UNDP copublication. 1999. 133 pp. US$ 10 10.40 (Payable to DOS VU Amsterdam) Resource Development Unit CDCS. De Boelelaan 1115 1085 HV Amster