llMainstream agricultural research has focused primarily on technical and biophysical aspects and is aimed at controlling or manipulating nature through the use of external inputs, such as agricultural chemicals, or through genetic improvement of crops and livestock. The results of this research have benefited some resource-rich farmers on well-endowed land, but less often the large proportion of small-scale farmers in resource-poor areas. Moreover, the negative environmental effects of ¿modern¿ agriculture are now becoming increasingly evident, while problems of resource degradation are being faced by the farmers confined to the marginal land. There is a need to strengthen research and development (R&D) aimed at ecologically-oriented agriculture and natural resource management (EA/NRM), especially by the poorer farmers who did not benefit from the ¿Green Revolution¿