Rapid rural appraisal A Presentation By Mr Allah Dad khan

4.  · Main crops grown (by season)
 · Land use intensity
 · Extent of inter-cropping
 · Soil types and soil conditions (degree of salinity, water-logging)
 · Farm sizes areas owned and areas cultivated
 · Extent of farm fragmentation; size of individual plots, average
number of plots owned, and distances from farmstead
 · Ground topography: upland/lowland; land slope, field
characteristics (average size, obstacles for efficient use of
machinery)
 · Irrigation supply canal, rainfed, tubewell, time, day and
duration of water received
 · Crop yields

5.  · Land preparation
· Planting, sowing, transplantation
· Fertilizer application
· Weeding
· Irrigation, drainage
· Harvesting
· Crop processing
· Transportation

6.  · Inventory/ownership of equipment (tractors, implements,
tools)
 · Use of different power sources for each operation
(mechanised, animal or hand)
 · Problems experienced in conducting different operations
(e.g. labour supply, cost, crop quality, conditions)
 · Use of hiring/contracting services for different operations
(reasons)
 · Labour utilisation type (family, hired), labour cost and
availability
 · Sources of funds used to purchase machines/equipment
in past
 · Machine requirement priorities

7.  · Land tenure systems: tenants, owners, owners-cum-
tenants
 · Decision making units; extent and influence of social
networks on machine/implement/tool purchasing
 · Farm incomes: sources and amount
 · Availability of resources: sources of funds if required
(personal, friends, relatives, agricultural banks, money
lenders)
 · Age and level of education.

8.  Armed with tentative questions and information objectives, field research can begin. At
first everything may seem confusing in the field. However, before long the region will
become understandable if researchers follow three simple principles of fieldwork:
 Observe:
 Researchers should keenly watch for patterns of crop production, land use, and
farm/farmer behaviour.
 Converse:
 Researchers should stop and talk to farmers and listen to their concerns and views.
 Record:
 Researchers should write everything down. Complete field-notes are crucial. This is
especially essential in the early stages of the appraisal to help organise thinking.

9.  A convenient way to systematically and accurately
record basic agricultural data is to develop agricultural
maps of the area whilst in the field, a technique often
referred to as 'field plotting'. Field characteristics such
as crop types, field sizes, irrigation methods, soil
conditions, and so on are identified and base maps are
then annotated to illustrate the location and extent of
each of the characteristics observed.

10.  The first step is to prepare an outline of the area to be studied.
Any available maps of the district should be consulted in the
preparations, and the final base map should feature:
 · Major and minor communication routes· Major and minor
settlements (towns and villages)
 · Major geographical/topographical features (e.g. irrigation
canals) which may assist researchers in the field to identify their
exact location in relation to the map
 · Major roads
 Minor roads'
 · Water ways
 · Villages/minor settlements; land use
 · Field mapping of land use.