## 4 Discussion
Nevertheless, there are still some issues that should be considered for achieving higher farmer engagement. This analysis has shown that farmers of lower incomes are less keen on participating in PRPs, despite the fact that there is a positive relation between income increase with involvement in PRPs. Considering the positive relationship between a less profit-oriented stance of farmers and engagement in PRPs, we estimate that a considerable proportion of open-minded farmers may be left out of PRPs just because they cannot afford their participation due to income constraints, which is usually the case of arable crops due to their low profitability. In this context, a major issue of equal opportunities is raised by the fact that part-time farmers are more engaged in PRPs than their full-time colleagues. This finding demonstrates that a large proportion of farmers for whom the research outcomes are primarily addressed, do not have the opportunity to make any substantial contributions to the whole PRP process. This in an issue that has to be searched more, because while the development of the primary sector lies upon the full-time farmers, considerable segments of them do not realize the necessity of obtaining new knowledge, or gaining access to new technology by the alternative ways mentioned in this paper. In addition to the above, a gap has been also observed in the participation between women and men. The fact that women have been found as more active in PRP than men is very positive for the wider future of female farmers in agriculture, and sets the scene for additional studies towards this direction. On the other hand, the very low proportion of women farmers casts doubt regarding how this gap could affect the largest possible engagement of farmers in PRP. Therefore, if males are not so interested in engaging in PRPs, then the participation rate of the whole community will only increase substantially if men are better motivated to enroll in PRPs, or more women are engaged in farming activities. It should be mentioned though that this finding should be handled with caution, due to the small number of females participants in this survey, compared with the number of males. As for the lack of any statistically significant finding for the other farmers' ability variables, such as their age, education, and place of residence, this could be considered as a satisfactory result, as factors that have been found significant for driving or preventing farmers' participation in ESs participation do not seem to affect their willingness to join PRPs. Therefore, no extra effort is needed by policy-makers to confront any additional gaps emanating from a large number of demographic characteristics of farmers. The results of the study may help authorities to draw more effective and tailor-made policies in engaging farmers in PRP. This is crucial for enhancing farmers' participation, especially in countries like Greece where engagement is very low. Considering the income barriers and the need to engage more full-time farmers in research, it is advisable that research calls are backed with some incentives or subsidies headed to the low-income full-time farmers, in order to increase participation. Moreover, better communication of the procedures required for farmers' participation as well as the wider dissemination of results could improve the trust and the perceived usefulness of farmers for the research projects, and therefore increase their overall participation levels. In order to achieve this target, farmers with a less profit-oriented engagement with agriculture and those with significant activity in collaborating with others could be used as the group on which any dissemination activities should be based upon, to convey the desired messages to larger groups of the agricultural community.