Farmer field school approach By Mr Allah Dad Khan Visiting Professor The University Of Agriculture Peshawar

2. Farmer Field School
Approach
By
Mr. Allah Dad Khan
A Lecture To students
Visiting Professor the
University of Agriculture
Peshawar

3. Farmer Field School
 Farmer Field Schools (FFS), originally
associated with promoting Integrated Pest
Management, work at the grassroots level to
advance the principle of stakeholder
participation in programme decision-making with
a view to eventually giving full responsibility to
stakeholders for programme developmen

4. Farmer Field School
 FFS underscores FAO’s commitment to the
development of agricultural extension
participatory approaches - in line with its general
philosophy and practice of seeking to advance
equitable development. Originating in projects
initiated in Asia in the mid-1980s

5.  FFS has spread to other regions. And today, FFS is
beginning to develop in Latin America as one of the
alternatives to traditional national extension activities, in
such countries as Bolivia, Ecuador and Peru. In its
efforts to promote farmer-led extension FFS is proving to
be a viable alternative to centralized and state-owned
extension. The approach is currently one of the forefront
extension- related activities sponsored by FAO, and the
principles and methodology of the approach are being
replicated by other technical services such as Irrigation
and Water Use and Forestry. In fact, the Irrigation and
Water Use technical unit has already successfully
piloted an FFS project in Zambia.

6. Farmer Field School
 FAO’s Forestry Policy and Institutions Branch
has also adopted the FFS approach, but has
changed the name to suit its community forestry
development purposes: Farmers’ Forest
Management Schools (FFMS).

7. Farmer Field Schools
 One of the most widely used approaches in
participatory extension is “Farmer Field Schools”,
which are also applied in field . The
 Farmer Field School (FFS) is a group-based
learning process that hasbeen used by a number
of governments, NGOs and international
agencies to promote Integrated Pest
Management (IPM). The first FFSs were designed
and managed by the UN Food and Agriculture
Organization in Indonesia in 1989. Since then,
more than two million farmers across Asia
 have participated in this type of learning

8. Farmer Field School
 The Farmer Field School brings together concepts and
methods from agro-ecology, experiential education
and
 community development . As a result, hundreds of
thousands of rice farmers in countries such as
 China, India, Indonesia, the Philippines and Vietnam
have been able to reduce pesticide use and improve
the
 sustainability of crop yields. FFS has produced other
developmental benefits that are broadly described as
 “empowerment”, and FFS alumni in a number of
countries are involved in a wide range of self-directed
activities
 including research, training, marketing and advocacy

9. The principles of FFS
 1) Experiential learning
 2) Agro-eco systems analysis
 3) Community Development

10.  The Farmer Field School is a group-based learning
process. During the FFS farmers carry out
experiential learning activities that help them
understand the ecology of their rice fields. These
activities involve simple experiments, regular field
observations and group analysis. The knowledge
gained from these activities enables participants to
make their own locally specific decisions about crop
management practices. This approach represents a
radical departure from earlier agricultural extension
programmes, in which farmers were expected to
adopt generalised recommendations that had been
formulated by specialists from outside the community
(the Transfer of Technology model of extension).

11.  Although Farmer Field Schools were designed to
promote IPM, empowerment has been an
essential feature from the beginning. The FFS
curriculum was built on the assumption that
farmers could only implement IPM once they had
acquired the ability to carry out their own
analysis, make their own decisions and organise
their own activities. The empowerment process,
rather than the adoption of specific IPM
techniques, is what produces many of the
developmental benefits of the FFS. Thus, the
extensionist adopts a coaching role rather than
one of imparting knowledge.

12.  This original model of rice Farmer Field Schools has been
further developed, copied and adapted to other crops,
agro-ecological systems and livestock farming. What must
remain unchanged is the focus on agro-ecology,
experiential learning and community development. The role
of the FFS facilitator is challenging, since it unites
facilitation skills, knowledge on the agro-ecology of the
crop/livestock in question, skills in community development
and social mobilisation, experience of participatory
innovation development, and more. In the original model,
FFS facilitators underwent season-long on-campus training,
which included the real facilitation of a FFS (learning by
doing). This required substantial investment, both in terms
of human resources and finances, which is not feasible in
every situation.

13. The basic features of a typical
Farmer Field School
 The FFS is field-based and lasts for a full cropping season. A
FFS meets once a week during the growing season. The
primary learning material at a FFS is the field with its crop(s) or
the livestock. The FFS meeting place is close to the learning
plots, often in a farmer’s home or another convenient place.
The FFS educational methods are experiential, participatory and
learner-centred. Each FFS meeting includes at least three
activities: agro-ecosystem analysis, a “special topic” and a group-
dynamics activity. In every FFS, participants conduct a study
comparing a conventional practice with an improved practice, e.g.
IPM. A FFS often includes several additional field studies
depending on local field problems. Between 25 and 30 farmers
participate in a FFS. Participants learn together in small groups of
five to maximise participation. All FFSs include a field day in
which farmers make presentations about the results of their
studies to fellow farmers. Preparatory meetings precede a FFS
to determine needs, recruit participants and develop a learning
contract.