The course aims to teach students an understanding of small-scale farmers' decision-making process for the effective use of both internal and external resources, encompassing natural, human, and cultural resources for both subsistence and commercial production. Students are encouraged to critically evaluate existing theories and practices, generate innovative research ideas and gain proficiency in applying standard research methods to tackle present-day challenges of farming systems from the scientific and development perspective.
This course aims to acquaint students with the significance of integrating economic theories with cultural, institutional, and ecological principles to endorse sustainable development and boost the resilience of farming systems. Students will acquire an in-depth understanding of farming systems' theoretical aspects, including genesis/origin, classification, resources, processes, living standard and cash-flow analysis. Moreover, students will develop expertise in interdisciplinary approaches (ecological-social-economic) for farming systems development. Additionally, they will be familiar with quantitative and qualitative methods related to assessing household resources, examining market/value chains, scrutinising living standards, and devising coping/adaptation strategies.
The curriculum is divided into eight hours of theoretical lectures, followed by four hours of seminars. During meetings, students have the opportunity to interact with their lecturer and classmates. Students are also expected to engage in self-study by reading relevant literature. The lectures and seminars will be conducted on MS Teams platform. The sessions will be recorded and available to students on Microsoft Stream and Moodle. All the necessary materials including the study materials and presentation will also be accessible.
Lectures:
- Farming and rural systems development: genesis and descriptive analysis.
- Farm-household resource capacity and use.
- Process analysis, profitability and sustainability.
- Economic evaluation methods for farm investments.
- Household analysis, living standard and economic success.
- Coping/adaptation strategies.
- Inclusiveness and diversity of household income.
- Promoting value chains with neglected and underutilised resources.
Seminars:
- Research methods and theories – farming system typology.
- Research methods and theories – understanding decision-making system.
- Discussing selected case studies.
- Student project presentation.
