PLA Notes CD-ROM 1988-2001 6 Finding the poorest in a Tamil Nadu village: a sequence of mapping and wealth ranking

Document begins: PLA Notes CD-ROM 1988­2001 6 Finding the poorest in a Tamil Nadu village: a sequence of mapping and wealth ranking Jules Pretty, S. Subramanian, N. Kempu Chetty, D. Ananthakrishnan, C. Jayanthi, S. Muralikrishnasamy and K. Renganayaki Introduction investigators. But it is the attitudes and practice of the team that are critical. These Tamil Nadu Agricultural University is methods revealed an apparent complete picture collaborating with the Ford Foundation in of wealth groups in the Harijan community, exploring the applicability of recent advances but it was only with persistent triangulation in farmer participatory research and extension and probing that we found our original picture methods to rainfed conditions in Tamil Nadu. to be inaccurate. Good use of the PRA A recent review found that the university had methods is not necessarily guaranteed by the been able to make a significant contribution to methods alone. agricultural development in the better endowed irrigated lands, but had less success Social mapping and other participatory in the diverse and risk-prone drylands. methods Accordingly, a participatory on-farm programme with a farming systems We arrived at the village to find a bustling perspective was recommended as a means to small urban centre. At first the ...