traditional knowledge, Evans, cited reference, This paper focuses on the environmental knowledge of farming communities in Africa. How can the researcher investigate such knowledge? How could be used in rule development processes? The scope in limitation of farmers, knowledge concerning agricultural pests is illustrated in the case study. The process of knowledge formation is a consequence of the kinds of observation, the former is able to make. Inaccuraacies may stem from observational limitations. On the other hand, the farmers own point of view reflects dimensions of experience of which the research or extension agent may be unaware. These dimensions may be vital to the success or failure of rural development schemes, and should be systematically incorporated into research and development process. This in itself implies new approaches to eliciting information, which hand over the initiative and interviews to respond reportory credit analysis is discussed as an example of a relevant methodology.