Livelihoods of most farmers in different ecological settings are local, extremely complex, diverse, dynamic and unpredictable. The situation of low-income farmers is even more complex: poor infrastructure; diverse and risk-prone agro-ecological conditions; strong interactions between crop, livestock, tree and fodder components of the farming system, between agriculture and the management of common resources, combining cropping and herding with off-farm activities; and diverse socio-economic conditions.

Until recently, agricultural research in developing countries had predominantly been conducted under conditions ‘controlled’ by researchers, on topics chosen predominantly by researchers and in ways largely determined by researchers. Concern over the complexity and diversity of situations faced, especially by low-income farmers, paved a way to the steady development of a range of participatory approaches which, in turn, led to the increasing recognition of farmers’ participation (though in varying degrees) in the research process, if research were to generate and spread appropriate agricultural technologies with some prospect of uptake by farmers.

The purpose of this paper is to provide information on ‘Farmers’ Participatory Research’ (FPR), i.e. research in which smallholders play leading roles, from diagnosis through implementation to assessment of results and dissemination. With particular emphasis on recent experiences in Ethiopia, the rationale, techniques, application and some results of FPR, carried out in different settings at different times of the year, are reviewed.

The paper highlights local peoples’ abilities in identifying and prioritizing their own problems; significant rôles, if allowed to participate, in identifying and prioritizing the ‘best-bets’ and, or, researchable issues, carrying out and evaluating research. The degree of smallholders’ participation in setting the research agenda, their involvement in the research process and ultimately success or failure depend on various factors. Of these: nature and state of problems limiting agricultural productivity; types and stages of research; expected duration of the research; time and resource availability; and favourable policy issues are considered to be amongst the most important.