ABSTRACT
The diagnostic analysis of farming systems has been conducted in many developing countries, but relatively few have led to successful research programs that have resulted in developing farmer-accepted technologies. The target area is a geographic area selected for a project based on the needs of the people living there or to research a specific regional production problem. After the research area has been selected as a unit representing the conditions typical of the target area, the interdisciplinary team makes a concentrated study of the human and technical aspects of the farming systems in the area. The purpose of the design stage is to use information from the diagnostic stage to design alternative solutions to identified constraints, then plan the research. Research methodologies used in on-farm research are based on the traditional discipline-oriented procedures but modified for use in the more heterogeneous farming systems environment.
