caa a22 4500 386376182 CHVBK 20180307112019.0 cr unu---uuuuu 161130e198912 xx s 000 0 eng 10.1017/S1742758400012534 doi S1742758400012534 pii (NATIONALLICENCE)cambridge-10.1017/S1742758400012534 The role of social science in generating technologies for the farming community in Africa [Elektronische Daten] This paper is based on experiences obtained during a joint enterprise between the Social Science Interface Research Unit, of the Crop Pests Research Programme, and the Livestock Ticks Research Programme at ICIPE. Topics bearing on technology design and development are emphasized. The resource-poor farmer as conceptualized within ICIPE and reinforced by research experience, is by definition a person who operates a diversified system of production in which food security concerns and cash income intakes are crucial. The family/household provides most of the labour required in production in African farming communities. For this reason, their labour investment into the adoption of novel activities or technological innovation and their assessment of the value of such innovations requiring changes in their normative practice, is appraised primarily in terms of the returns they would get for the additional labour input. It is noteworthy that much of the so-called family labour is, in fact, female labour. It is therefore arguable that the perception of the women of technological inputs and innovations as profitable, is crucial for the successful adoption and social acceptance of novel technology. Although agricultural land is in increasingly short supply, it would appear that the crucial limiting factor in production is not a shortage of land per se, since a good number of households do not fully exploit all the agricultural land at their disposal. Labour, and/or cash income to secure additional labour, appears to be the most important constraint to production. This tends to suggest that for future technological interventions in agricultural systems of the rural poor, consideration will have to be given to inputs which optimize the use of family/household labour. The escalating population growth suggests that focus on women's health and incomes could significantly and qualitatively improve the prospects for the adoption of new and improved technology in areas such as pest and vector control. Copyright © ICIPE 1989 Social-science interface nationallicence family labour nationallicence resource-poor farmer nationallicence technological inputs nationallicence pest control nationallicence vector control nationallicence Prah Kwesi K. The International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology (ICIPE), P.O. Box 30772, Nairobi, Kenya Okeyo Achola Pala The International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology (ICIPE), P.O. Box 30772, Nairobi, Kenya International Journal of Tropical Insect Science Cambridge University Press 10/6(1989-12), 777-782 1742-7584 10:6<777 1989 10 JTI https://doi.org/10.1017/S1742758400012534 text/html Onlinezugriff via DOI 1 research-article jats NATIONALLICENCE 856 40 https://doi.org/10.1017/S1742758400012534 text/html Onlinezugriff via DOI NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Prah Kwesi K. The International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology (ICIPE), P.O. Box 30772, Nairobi, Kenya NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Okeyo Achola Pala The International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology (ICIPE), P.O. Box 30772, Nairobi, Kenya NATIONALLICENCE 773 0- International Journal of Tropical Insect Science Cambridge University Press 10/6(1989-12), 777-782 1742-7584 10:6<777 1989 10 JTI CC0 http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0 nationallicence BK010053 XK010053 XK010000 NATIONALLICENCE NATIONALLICENCE NL-cambridge