Intensive monitoring activities should emphasize learning from observations
and evaluation by farmers since there are currently few scientifically
validated methods available to allow for statistically confirmed findings. In
on-farm technology testing it is therefore important to integrate farmers into
the process in a collaborative or collegial way (see Section 3.1). Farmers
should be encouraged to try out new things on their own, for example
through comparison plots with and without agroforestry technologies or
with different variations of technology designs. The reliability of information
obtained through technology testing in projects may be improved by (1)
avoiding potential sources of bias, by testing under similar ecological conditions
and reducing non-treatment factor variation, (2) random selection of
test and control plots and (3) replication across farms. Care should be taken
when intepreting information from technology or component trials (see
Section 3.3). Informal observational or exploratory trials may be particularly
important when introducing unfamiliar components, configurations or
management practices.