The Lowland Dry Zone of Sri Lanka; Site for Study of Aquaculture Development within Farmer-managed Irrigation Systems and Methodology for Participatory Situation Appraisal.
Abstract
This is one of a series of working papers based on field research that took place in Sri Lanka during December and January 1998, presented as part of a wide-ranging participatory situation analysis. The working papers are interim components of Project R7064, undertaken in Sri Lanka and Southern India, which is of 3 years duration (1999-2002) and aims to investigate the potential for integrated aquaculture options within small-scale farmer managed irrigation systems.
The aims of this paper are twofold. Firstly to characterise rural poverty and to give a broad overview of the agro-ecological, climatic and socio-economic conditions in Sri Lanka which shape poverty. Secondly to present the methodology employed to screen suitable field research areas and the techniques subsequently used to carry out Rapid Rural Appraisal in two upper-watersheds villages. Also presented are details of a concurrent stakeholder analysis that aimed to investigate the capacity of secondary stakeholders to promote sustainable aquatic resource development and to invite their participation in the formulation of a participatory research agenda.
This paper provides the contextual background to the situation analysis followed by a description of the research framework used to gather data. A discussion of the statistical methods used to analyse the collected data and preliminary researchable hypotheses arising from this work are also presented.
Citation
The Lowland Dry Zone of Sri Lanka; Site for Study of Aquaculture Development within Farmer-managed Irrigation Systems and Methodology for Participatory Situation Appraisal. Working Paper SL1.1, University of Stirling, UK, 58 pp.
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