In the limited research on farming aspirations, little attention has been paid to the narratives which frame and shape them, and the ways in which the aspirations of those who farm intersect with the goals of extension services. Drawing on multimethod research conducted in Meru County, Kenya, we demonstrate how aspirations are not only situated within a consideration of personal circumstances, but are shaped in crucial ways by networks of relations and by the perceived possibilities afforded by material and cultural resources. We further highlight the accounts of state extension agents that link a lack of engagement with the desires and needs of those who farm to the failure of agricultural development initiatives. We argue that an engagement with aspirations opens up a route to understanding the obstacles and potentialities that matter to those who farm and, as such, might enable more responsive development initiatives centred on the perceptions and desires of those who farm.

在有关农业理想的有限研究中，很少有人关注构成和塑造它们的叙事，以及那些农业理想与推广服务目标相交的方式。利用在肯尼亚梅鲁县进行的多种方法研究，我们证明了抱负不仅是根据个人情况而定，而且是通过关系网络以及物质和文化资源提供的可能可能性以关键方式塑造的。我们进一步强调了州推广人员的叙述，这些叙述将缺乏参与与农民的欲望和需求联系在一起，导致农业发展计划的失败。