FARMERS' STRATEGIES
Step1. What is a typology? Why and how to use it?
We have formed an understanding of the landscape and looked at its history. We are now going to try to establish a famer typology according to their strategy.
What is a typology? Nicole Sibelet explains and illustrates this point through her own experience in the field in different locations across the world.
- What is a type?
- How many types for a typology?
Typologies cannot be composed according to recipes, but require reflection. Nicole Sibelet gives an example.
- There is no "standard" typology
- Typology: a typical case study
- A few clarifications
- Statistical tools and typology
Didier Pillot looks at the first results obtained to start forming a typology that represents the diversity of situations.
- The sources of agricultural diversification
- The strategies and decisions of those involved
- The limited rationality of those involved
- The qualitative approach and the reasoning behind the composition of the sample
- The landscape and history for pre-typology
- The reasoning behind the sample
- Preparing the interviews of those involved
- Creating an interview guide
Step 2. Building a typology of farmers (Part 1): collecting information from interviews
We are going to undertake a qualitative survey: if you are not familiar with this practise, look at the lesson on “Qualitative survey methods applied to natural resource management” /Section 4.
Didier Pillot presents how to synthesise the information collected during the interviews.
- Select the relevant information...
- .. to deduce farmers' strategies
Exercise: Compose a synthetic fact sheet for a farm. Based on the interview with Emmanuel, synthesise the information collected into a synthetic fact sheet according to the model provided.
Download and complete this Farming System model with the following extracts of the interview of Emmanuel.
Step 3. Building a typology of farmers (Part 2): grouping farms or farmers by type
Once all of the synthetic fact sheets have been informed, you can start composing the typology.
Didier Pillot presents the method and the results for the construction of the N'Kosy farmer typology.
- First cases define the first categories
- How to classify the marginal farms
- Refining the types: typology is an iterative process
- Typology process
- Type 1: Preparing retirement farmers
- A specific case
- Type 2: Struggling for diversification farmers
- Discriminating factors that come out of analysis
- Type 3: Struggling for surviving farmers
- Type 4: Extensive cattle breeders
- Types 5 and 6: Businessmen farmers
Exercise: Classifying a farmer according to type. You previously composed a fact sheet for Emmanuel. Where would you classify him in the typology presented by Didier Pillot?
Reflection exercise (no solution): A questionable case. Watch the part of the interview, with this farmer, on farming practices. Then think about the following question: how should we treat this case in our study? (Should we ignore it? Develop it? Who can we question to find out more? etc.)
Bonus exercise: Classify the synthetic fact sheets provided according to Didier Pillot’s typology.
Why is it useful to understand the different types of farming in an area? Didier Pillot provides a few illustrations.