Researchers miss a lot because they just drop in to do research. They don't live there. They get the Margaret Mead treatment (What do these strange people want to hear? Let's tell them that.) I live in a rainfed farming area in NE Thailand. Most farmers don't "take up" the wonderful innovations because they would rather be doing something besides farming. Lots of groundwater in NE Thailand? Why don't they dig wells so they can grow dry season crops? Because they can make more money going off to Bangkok to drive a taxi or to Salaburi to cut sugar cane AND they get to drink and play cards everynight with the other lads. Duflo's book sounds like a better approach. As Alain said in one of his posts, too much focus on crop yields.
Researchers miss a lot because they just drop in to do research. They don't live there. They get the Margaret Mead treatment (What do these strange people want to hear? Let's tell them that.) I live in a rainfed farming area in NE Thailand. Most farmers don't "take up" the wonderful innovations because they would rather be doing something besides farming. Lots of groundwater in NE Thailand? Why don't they dig wells so they can grow dry season crops? Because they can make more money going off to Bangkok to drive a taxi or to Salaburi to cut sugar cane AND they get to drink and play cards everynight with the other lads. Duflo's book sounds like a better approach. As Alain said in one of his posts, too much focus on crop yields.