Glossary

Administrator is the person or organization who coordinates the tricot project. It’s the project manager. The administrator could be a scientist working at a research institute, or at an NGO, governmental extension service, etc. If the administrator is not a scientist, she or he might collaborate with scientists or a research institute to develop the tricot project, and obtain the tested technologies, such as seeds or fertilizer. The tasks of the administrator include: ● Designing the tricot project using ClimMob software ● Recruiting field agents and participants ● Training field agents ● Preparing trial packages ● Organizing initial workshops ● Keeping track of growers’ data collection ● Analyzing data using the ClimMob software ● Communicating final results to participants in final workshops (together with field agents)

Balancing a trial ‘Balancing’ the trial means that all technology options are spread across all the participating villages. Each village will receive packages with consecutive numbers (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, etc.) and not random numbers (3, 11, 9, 23, 1, etc.). If this principle is followed, each of these villages will receive a balanced set and all of the technology options will be tested and evaluated.

ClimMob Online software for the design and management of any tricot experiment (www.climmob.net). The database of all tricot projects is stored here. Project implementers also use ClimMob for the analysis of results and the generation of information outputs at the end of the project.

ClimMobTools is an open-source statistics toolkit available on the R platform. It enables administrators to further explore and analyze their tricot data. The ‘ClimMobTools’ R package supports more sophisticated data analysis than what is offered through the easy-to-handle ClimMob online software. R software (free): https://cran.r-project.org/ ClimMobTools: https://cran.r-project.org/web/packages/ClimMobTools/index.html

Evaluation criteria The 5 to 10 criteria that will be evaluated within the tricot experiment. These criteria should be chosen in consultation with all stakeholders. For example: Plant height, disease resistance, yield, and others.

Explanatory variables Information about meteorology and agronomic management of the trials, serves to improve the analysis. The explanatory variables refine the results and help to identify the most suitable variety for the local conditions of every farmer. Examples: Use of irrigation, use of fertilization, season was rainier or drier than usual, etc.

Farmers / participating farmers Women and men who participate in a tricot experiment by managing their own tricot trial and carrying out the observations, marking the observations on the observation card at the appropriate dates, and eventually reporting the observations to the local field agents. Their recruitment should involve considerations of gender, age and other demographic factors, as well as their task related to the technology under evaluation. In some tricot trials, non-farmers participate, based on their role in food processing, trading, retailing or consumption.

Field agent is the extension worker, linking the implementer and the participants. A tricot project might employ 20 to 30 field agents. Each field agent can cover a different geographical region and can coordinate 10 to 20 participants. Field agents are vital to a tricot project, as they allow many small trials to take place in different regions at the same time. Field agents get trained by the implementer, and in turn pass their knowledge on to the participants. The implementer can also be a field agent. Likewise, a field agent can also participate in the tricot project as an observer. *The tasks of field agents include: ● Staying in personal contact with participants ● Assisting participants with trial cultivation and data collection ● Collecting participants’ observations at the end of the trial through personal visits or telephone calls ● Passing on participant data to the implementer, using the ODK Collect app

Implementing organization/ project implementers The organization that is in charge of carrying out and monitoring the project. It can be an NGO, a government service, or a research program, among other options. Implementers have the major responsibilities in the project, for example: • Training the field agents and farmers • Distributing the trial packages • Carrying out the data analysis once all data is collected and compiled • Feeding back the information to the farmers via the field agents.

Infosheet Personalized information output for every farmer. It is generated automatically using ClimMob and includes: • Names of the three technology options that the farmer received and tested • Names of the most recommended option for their farm • Information about where to obtain more material of the preferred technology option (if applicable).

ODK Collect A free app available for download from Google Play Store to all Android-based mobile devices. ODK Collect is used for farmer registration and data collection in tricot projects.

Observation card A pictorial form printed on thick paper, on which farmers mark their observations of the technology options being tested on their plots. A generic design can be found for downloading at climmob.net and can be adapted to the local requirements.

On-farm trial On-farm trails are tricot experiments conducted on the fields of participants. Participants in this case are farmers, and their role is to test throughout the growing season the three different technologies in their fields.

Randomization The balanced creation of sets of three varieties from the full pool of varieties. The randomization is generated by the ClimMob software and is required to prepare the trial packages.

Researchers Experts studying or using the agricultural technology under evaluation. They select the technology options to be included in the project and supply experimental material for each technology option to the implementing organization.

Technology Using the tricot approach, many agricultural technologies can be tested and innovated. For example: Crop varieties, Fertilizer regimes, Irrigation systems, Pest management strategies, soil management strategies, etc. Every tricot project focuses on one technology (for example, ‘fertilizer composition’), but tests a number of different technology options (fertilizer composition 1, fertilizer composition 2, etc.). In the past, for example, tricot has often been used to innovate a certain crop (technology) by testing new crop varieties (technology options). Experimental design terminology would refer to technology as ‘treatment’, and to technology options as ‘levels’. In the context of tricot, we chose to use ‘technology’ and ‘technology options’ for easier understanding.

Technology options Each tricot experiment focuses on one agricultural technology (for example, ‘fertilizer composition’), but tests several technology options (fertilizer composition X, fertilizer composition Y, etc.). These technology options should in principle be suitable to local conditions and have the potential to be adopted by some of the farmers. The researchers select the technology options, and they are recommended to begin a first experiment made up of between 8 to 12 options.

Trial package A bag given to every farmer at the initial workshop. The large bag is marked with a number and a QR code. It contains: (i) three small bags containing material of the different technology options ( marked with ‘A’, ‘B’, and ‘C’); (ii) an observation card; and (iii) an explanatory brochure about the tricot process.

Trial plot A small area within or at the margin of the farmer’s production plot, with representative soil conditions. It is divided into three equal parts, for the testing of the three technology options assigned to the farmer.

Tricot The word ‘tricot’ is derived from three words: Triadic comparison of technology options. ‘Triadic’ refers to the sets of three technology options that are compared in each trial. In technical jargon, three things define tricot: (1) the use of incomplete blocks of three items (to make the threshold of participation low in terms of farm size and to make it cognitively manageable), (2) the use of ranking as the main way to report observations (to facilitate digital data collection and to make it possible to cultivate a tricot plot with very little training), and (3) the limited control of experimental conditions (following usual technology use practice to maximize external validity).

Tricot trial Field test of different technological options, in sets of three, each grown and observed by a farmer in a small designated area of her/his own farm.

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