What’s the Story on Agriculture? Using Narratives to Understand Farming Households’ Aspirations in Meru, Kenya

Dilley, L and Mausch, K and Crossland, M and Harris, D (2021) What’s the Story on Agriculture? Using Narratives to Understand Farming Households’ Aspirations in Meru, Kenya. The European Journal of Development Research (TSI). ISSN 0957-8811

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Abstract

In the limited research on farming aspirations, little attention has been paid to the narratives which frame and shape them, and the ways in which the aspirations of those who farm intersect with the goals of extension services. Drawing on multimethod research conducted in Meru County, Kenya, we demonstrate how aspirations are not only situated within a consideration of personal circumstances, but are shaped in crucial ways by networks of relations and by the perceived possibilities afforded by material and cultural resources. We further highlight the accounts of state extension agents that link a lack of engagement with the desires and needs of those who farm to the failure of agricultural development initiatives. We argue that an engagement with aspirations opens up a route to understanding the obstacles and potentialities that matter to those who farm and, as such, might enable more responsive development initiatives centred on the perceptions and desires of those who farm.

Item Type:	Article
Divisions:	Research Program : East & Southern Africa
CRP:	CGIAR Research Program on Grain Legumes and Dryland Cereals (GLDC)
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Agency, Extension services, Adoption,Livelihood strategies
Subjects:	Others > Livelihoods Others > Agriculture-Farming, Production, Technology, Economics Others > Agricultural Extension
Depositing User:	Mr Arun S
Date Deposited:	16 May 2021 11:53
Last Modified:	16 May 2021 11:53
URI:	http://oar.icrisat.org/id/eprint/11799
Official URL:	https://doi.org/10.1057/s41287-021-00361-9
Projects:	UNSPECIFIED
Funders:	UNSPECIFIED
Acknowledgement:	This work was undertaken as part of, and funded by, the CGIAR Research Program on Grain Legumes and Dryland Cereals (GLDC) and supported by CGIAR Fund Donors. We would like to thank all those who participated in this research. We would also like to thank two anonymous reviewers for their helpful and insightful comments. All errors remain our own.
Links:	Google Scholar

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