Learning with Farmer Field Schools
IPM Farmer Field Schools for rice farmers in Asia have been immensely successful. This success has attracted the attention of development workers around the world. As with every successful approach, there is a strong movement to copy and adapt it to other situations. This issue of LEISA looks at the development of the FFS concept beyond rice and into a seemingly limitless realm of possibilities for assisting and educating farmers.
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4 - 4written by ILEIA editorial teamIPM Farmer Field Schools for rice farmers in Asia have been immensely successful. This success has attracted the attention of development workers around the world. As with every successful approach, there is a strong movement to copy and adapt it to other situations. This issue of LEISA looks at the development of the FFS concept beyond rice and into a seemingly limitless realm of possibilities for assisting and educating farmers.
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5 - 6written by Kevin GallagherIn general, FFS consist of groups of people with a common interest, who get together on a regular basis to study the \"how and why\"of a particular topic. The topics covered can vary considerably, from IPM, organic agriculture, animal husbandry to income generating activities such as handicrafts. What are the essential elements? This article presents a list of elements that commonly appear in successful FFS programmes.
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7 - 7written by Rik ThijssenFFS and PTD are both participatory approaches for promoting sustainable agricultural development. They both work towards improving farmer decision-making capacity and stimulating local innovation. But what are the differences? Are these approaches overlapping or complementary? And what can they learn from one another?
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8 - 10In the Central and Rift Valley provinces of Kenya, approximately 90% of rural households are agricultural, and of these, 73% have dairy cattle. Currently, over 1000 FFS on integrated pest management and/or integrated soil management are being successfully implemented in Kenya. Can the FFS methodology be developed for similar complex issues like animal production and health, where responses to interventions may not be so fast?
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11 - 12written by Polo YechNational Route 5 in Cambodia is part of the Trans-Asia highway linking India, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam. Along its route, the movement of people is steadily increasing - and so is the spread of HIV/AIDS. Farmer Life Schools, based on Farmer Field School community strategies, are now being developed along Route 5 to mobilise and empower farming communities, and reduce vulnerability to HIV/AIDS. These schools are often a natural follow-on activity from a previous IPM FFS. They carry out Human Ecosystem Analysis, including observation and interviewing of selected families within the community, and discuss the alternatives available to resolve health issues faced by these families. Through improved understanding of how various factors impact upon their lives, the farming communities are able to make changes to reduce risky behaviour which might lead to chronic diseases, and plan to achieve healthier and more peaceful lives.
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13 - 15written by Hukum B. SinghThe Sharada Devi forest in Nepal has been protected and used by local communities under community forestry arrangements since the 1980s. However, although the condition of both forest and water resources have visibly improved under these arrangements, the flow of products from the community forest is far below its capacity for sustainable production. Community forestry has succeeded in protecting the forest, but has failed to provide the expected benefits to users. Recent initiatives to set up Farmer Forest Management Schools have attempted to address this issue.
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16 - 17written by Jorge Chavez-Tafur , Kim GroenewegLooking at the many training and extension programmes currently taking place in the rural areas of Peru, there is not one which does not include the word "evaluation" as one of its activities. On paper, all projects and programmes evaluate many of their activities. In practice, however, the picture is not so clear or straightforward: evaluations are perceived as being very difficult and complex. So much so, that often they simply so not take place. A survey carried out as part of the FFS process initiated with a FAO IPM-FFS project in Peru showed many of the limitations all FFS actors face.
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18 - 21written by John PontiusMany participatory approaches have been used by the staff of IPM projects in Indonesia to examine the results of IPM activities. The most recent, a photo study in the Ciamis district of West Java, was carried out by Farmer Study Groupd to learn about the impact of Community IPM on poverty in farming communities. A total of three villages were selcted for the study.
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22 - 23written by Jaap Van de PolImplementing the Farmer Field School approach in the Egyptian context has posed a number of challenges. The traditional approach for Egyptian extensionists has been one of technology transfer, and the hands-on, participatory focus of the FFS has required a change of mindset. Many aspects of the traditional IPM FFS have needed to be rethought to make the approach work in the Egyptian setting, and a lot can be learnt from these experiences. Lessons include the importance of training, and the need for the adaptation process to be a joint activity of farmers, facilitators and project management.
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24 - 25written by Shiraz Wajih , Seema TripathiSelf-help groups for women living in the Terai of Eastern Uttar Pradesh have been used not only as appropriate institutions to help women improve their socioeconomic status, but also to mobilise them as agents of change. The process of `greening` these groups towards sustainable agriculture has brought together many different extension and support mechanisms, including agro-service centres, master trainers and Farmer Field Schools.
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26 - 27written by Mansour FakihAs a result of the ongoing perception that FFS in Indonesia are still not gender equal, a special programme is now being introduced into IPM activities. This programme is firmly rooted in the participatory approach, and aims to make all those involved in IPM FFS aware of what gender discrimination is, and why and how it occurs.
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28 - 29A common point of concern for those considering FFS as an extension mechanism is the cost. This article describes several innovations to improve the financial sustainability of FFSs that have been developed and introduced by the East African Sub-regional Pilot Programme on Integrated Production and Pest Management (IPPM). The cornerstone of these innovations has been the evolution of the original grant system (semi-self financed FFSs) into an educational revolving fund (self-financed FFSs), supported by the proceeds of commercial plots that are managed alongside the study plots. Local governments, NGOs and rural microfinance institutions are now becoming more and more interested in the approach, and in Kenya some farmers have even begun gathering resources together to fund their own FFS activities, the so-called self-sponsored Farmer Field Schools.
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30 - 31written by James Mangan , Margaret S. ManganSince 1997, FFS have been developed in Indonesia for Integrated Pest Management in five crops: cashew, cocoa, coffee, pepper and tea. Applying the FFS approach to IPM for perennial tree crops has required several adaptations, including changes in the content and duration of the FFS, and the mthods employed in Agro-Ecosystem Analysis. This article is based on our experiences with the IPM Smallholder Estate Crop project and the SUCCESS project to control cocoa podborer.
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36 - 36In November 2002, the editor of LEISA revista de Agroecologia and the director of ILEIA travelled together to Central America. The prupose of the trip was to present the magazine to the region and to make contacts for future information exchange. Teresa Gianella and Anita Ingevall had the opportunity to meet and discuss with farmers, technicians and NGO representatives in El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala.
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