The conference was supported by the Knowledge Sharing in Research (KSinR) project, of the CGIAR's Information Communication Technology and Knowledge Management (ICT-KM) Program. The two year project, started in 2007, aims to improve the impact of CGIAR's work by investigating how to integrate knowledge-sharing into different stages of the research process. As one of six pilot projects supported by KSinR the Farmers' Conference objective was to bring together farmers from different countries to share their experience and learn from each other.

The Conference also examined the value of storytelling as a way of farmers to share information, both with fellow farmers and with scientists. The storytelling format was seen as a flexible tool to accommodate any issues the participants wanted to discuss, while also being less formal than conventional presentations. It gave the farmers an opportunity to narrate their own experiences and learn from each other. Participants found the stories easy to understand, commenting that the stories were "better than speeches, because they felt more like real life."

 

During the four days the participants visited ICARDA's research facilities and farmers' fields and showcased their seeds and products at a food fair. Stories told during the Conference sessions covered subjects such as selecting plants with high productivity and resistance to disease, drought or frost; village based seed production; agronomic practices and women's role in variety selection.

 

Dr Stefania Grando, ICARDA's Principal Barley Breeder and the KSinR Pilot Project leader, said the conference achieved its objectives of collecting and consolidating farmers' knowledge, which will help scientists in better targeting their research to address farmers' needs. Also, the conference was successful in establishing linkages between national level networks of barley farmers in these six countries. Exploring how farmers' knowledge can be used to improve the research or plant breeding process where researchers and farmers work together to select desirable crop traits and test plants under a range of management systems is also at the heart of the participatory barley breeding program. It was first implemented in Syria in 1997 and the model and concepts were gradually applied in other countries (for more information click here).