The document summarizes a farmer field school conducted in TavengLeu commune in Ratanakiri province to improve indigenous chicken rearing practices. Over 8 training sessions, 12 young farmers learned techniques like separating chickens by size, building cages and biosafety fences, providing mixed feed, and constructing mobile cages for transporting chickens. Farmers applied these new skills and saw benefits like healthier chickens that grew faster. The field school faced some challenges but also demonstrated successes of the approach like motivating farmers through experience sharing.

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Improved chicken rearing for indigenous farmers using farmer field school (FFS) approach
Life and Nature Project, April 2016
TavengLeu commune isabout60kmnortheastof Banlungprovincialtownof Ratanakiriprovince.
The road from BanlungtoTaveng Leucommune isdifficultespeciallyinthe rainyseason. More than80%
of the total population in the commune is indigenous people (Prov). Agriculture and non-timber forest
productsare theirmain sourcesof foodand incomes. Livestock isalsoanothersource of livelihoods. Life
andNature projecthas 4 target villagesinthe commune.Few Non-GovernmentalOrganizationscurrently
working in the commune, such as Save Cambodia Wildlife (SCW), PLAN International etc.
The Ministryof Environmentisthe maincounterpartof FAOinthe implementationof the LifeandNature
project in close partnership with aligning institutions to include Ministries of Agriculture, Forestry and
Fisheries – General Directorate of Agriculture and Forestry Administration; Woman’s Affairs; Rural
Development; Water Resources and Meteorology, etc. The objective of the project is to build adaptive
capacityof rural communitiesandreduce their vulnerabilitytoClimate Changethroughmicrowatershed
management and climate resilient agriculture practices to ensure food security. The project’s on-the-
ground efforts will take place within four locations: Lvea Krang commune, Varin District, Siem Reap
Province; PoPok Commune, Stoung District, Kampong Thom Province; Ta Veaeng Leu Commune, Ta
Veaeng District, Ratanak Kiri Province; and, Kulen Chheung Commune, Kulen District, Preah Vihear
Province in four commune micro watersheds that cover a total area of 59455 hectares and has a
population of ~9793.
Life and Nature project conducted a climate change vulnerability and impact assessment(VIA) to assess
vulnerabilityandadaptationmeasures of the community.Capacitybuildingonchickenrearingwas raised
by the interviewedrespondentsduringthe VIA.Chickenraisingiscommonlyappliedbythe people inthe
commune, but the result was not so good. No proper care and regular feeding provided, and chicken
frequently eaten by other wildlife. Some chickens died when the indigenous farmers cross
the Sesan River from the village center to Chamkar. By this reason, Life and Nature project cooperated
with the Provincial Department of Agriculture (PDA-Ratanakiri) to implement a pilot FFS. Mr. Bunsong,
technical officialfromPDA was the trainerandMr. LeangSambath,projectextensionofficeractedasthe
FFS facilitator. An officer from the district office of agriculture (DOA) also assisted in implementing the
FFS. In total, 12 young farmers attended the FFS, from February to April 2016. Eight training sessions
organized on breed selection, caring of chicks and chicken, preparation of chicken house, chicken
pen/biosafety fence, mobile cage, feeding, vaccination, etc.

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Photo 1: Chicken house (traditional practice) Photo 2: Unclean water provided for chickens
(traditional practice)
Figure 1: Process of the FFS implementation
The farmershave improvedtheirchickenrearingtechniques afterattendingthe farmerfieldschool such
as confine big and small chickens separately, provide mixed feed to chicken, get vaccination for their
chicken,providecleanwater,etc.allof these practiceswerenotappliedbefore the FFS. Detailof changes
are elaborated below:
1. Identificationand
selection ofinterested
farmers
2. Organize village
meeting tointroduce
farmer field school,
3. Organize exposure
visit for interested
farmers
4. Organize training for
FFS members, field
practice was themain
method.
5. Provide follow up
advice by FFS trainer
and project extension
officer
6. Organize finalsession
ofthe FFS (reflection,
planning...)
7.ContinuedsupportFFS

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1) Separate small and big chickens:Big chickennormallybitsmall chickenswhenfeedisprovidedinthe
same place. Small chicken cannot eat or having enough feed if they eat together with the big chicken.
Making cages to separate the big and small chickens are prepared by the indigenousfarmers after they
receivedthe trainingfromthe project.Currently,theysee goodgrowthof the chickens.Mixedfeedand
clean water are provided regularly – this enables the chickens to grow faster.
Photo 3: The chicken cage newly constructed after the training
2) Buildingbiosafetyfence andmobile cage:traditionally,theyallowedchickenstogoanywhere fortheir
food. Now, the farmers make chickenpen or biosafety fence to confine their chicken,the purpose is to
prevent chickens from infectious diseases. Photo below shows the chicken house and fence be ing
constructed.
Photo 4&5: Chicken fence & chicken house – to be completed
Wildbambooisavailable inthe community,sothe farmersdon’tneedtospendforthe bambooto make
chicken cage, fence, etc. However, the indigenous community needs to make sure that this resource
issustainableforlongtermuse. Inaddition,the farmersalsobuildmobilecage totransporttheirchickens
from village centertoChamkar. In TavengLeu commune,the farmers live intwo differentplaces,atthe
village centerduringthe dryseasonandinChamkarduringthe rainyseason.Theyalsomove all livestock
/poultrytogetherwiththemfromplacetoplace.FromvillagetoChamkar,theyneedtocrossSesanRiver,
theywere difficulttomanageagoodtransportof their chickenswhilecrossingthe river.PDA trainedthem
to prepare mobile cage to keep their chickens inside when crossing the river to Chamkar.

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Photo 6: Sesan River where
the indigenousfarmers need
to carry their chicken from
the village centerto Chamkar
Photo 7: Local chicken cages are lighter so they are good to
use for carrying chicken
3) Mixedfeed/feeding:Itisdifferentfromwhattheyhaddonebefore.Now,theypreparefeedcontainer
from bamboo, and provide mixed and nutritious feed for their chickens.
Photo 8: Feed container Photo9: Youngcassavaleavescanbe usedasfeed
for chickens
Some farmersusedfeedfromthe factorytofeedthe chicks,the ideais tofasterthe growthof the chicks
when they were young. Actually, it is important for the farmers to be able to make mixed feed by
themselvessothat theydon’tneedpay moneyforbuyingfeedfrommarkets.There are some local feed
available in their community such as termite, young leaves of the cassava, etc.
4) Building capacity of the village animal health workers: 2 out of 12 FFS members are village animal
health workers. It was good for them to refresh what they have learned before through attending the
pilot FFS. Additionally, the PDA director will invite them to join another one-month training to be
organized by PDA.
Challenges in implementing the FFS
- We needto further improve the implementationof the FFS approach – this mainlyfocuson the
sharingof knowledgeandexperienceamongfarmersaswellasthe fieldpracticesthatenablethe
farmers to learn effectively. Class lecturing need to reduced.
- Definitely, FFS does not need much external incentive support such as materials/equipment
needed for the preparation of chicken pens, chicken cage, mobile cage, etc. however, if the

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projectalsohave thissupport,all of these materialsneedtobe procuredanddeliveredquicklyto
the farmers. This enables the farmers to apply the techniques that they have learnedvery well,
and they may be able to see results.
- Concept of climate change to be integrated into the training curriculum. Some brief about the
climate change concept provided by the project extension officer, but not much detail. There
should a session on climate change integrated into the training sessions.
- FFSgroupleadersshouldbe selected.The groupneedtobe well-organizedandstructuredforthe
future development.
Lessons learned
- Organization of the exchange visit to learn from experienced farmers is a good method to
motivate farmers to apply new techniques
- Selection of young farmers – they have high motivation and commitment compared to the old
farmers. The young indigenous farmers also can speak Khmer better than the old farmers.
- Demonstrationandregularfollow upvisitisthe keytosupportfarmerstoapplynew ideas.Trainer
and extension officer provided good demonstration to farmers in applying new techniques.
- Making friend and close relationship with farmers with the key to gain confidence and
participationfromthe farmers.In the indigenouscommunity,women’sparticipationislimitedif
trust and confidence is not building up.
- Training curriculum need to be well-prepared from the beginning of the FFS, training materials
shouldbe ready before the trainingorganized.Visual toolslike picture,videoclipare useful tool
for the training while majority of the participants are illiterate.
- The projectextensionofficertogetherwithFFStrainershoulduse the FFSrecordbook.Usingthe
record book would enable them to record what happening in each training sessions, and other
information related to the follow up visit and advice, incentive support, problems encountered
and proposedsolutionaswell assuccessof FFScomparedto its objectivesandexpectedresults.
Next actions
- Provide technical follow up support to the FFS members to help them improving the chicken
rearing and provide solution if any problem happened.
- Forthe nextseason,the farmersare interestedinFFSonrice,vegetables.Pigandfishraisingwere
also raisedby the farmers,but these practicesare only suitable forsome specificlocationinthe
commune.
- As the project has another component on alternative livelihood, the strengthening and building
up on the existing FFS would help.