FAO.org

The online course “Farmer Field Schools on Farmer Seed Production and Marketing” is part of the program’s work on seed production for the local market. The objective of this work is (1) to improve farmers’ access to seed of well adapted crops and varieties not offered by the formal seed sector [...]

This document aims at providing a guideline for the development of farmer field school (FFS) curricula on Nutrition and Local Food Plants with a gender approach, which is part of the SD=HS program. The FFS on Nutrition and Local Food Plants aims at contributing to the SD=HS objective on improving [...]

This document aims at providing a guideline for the implementation of a baseline survey to capture information on nutrition and local food plants, which corresponds to the work on nutrition (third Pillar) of the “Sowing Diversity=Harvesting Security” Program (SD=HS). SD=HS is a global program, currently implemented by consortium partners in [...]

The breeding objectives and activities of a Farmer Field School (FFS) season are based on the ‘diagnostic stage’, in which farmers perform a collective diagnosis of their situation and the problems and challenges they encounter in growing their crops and varieties. The diagnostic stage is crucial to ensure that the [...]

This report unpacks and explores farmer-managed seed systems and their contribution to food and seed sovereignty, including the benefits they provide to farming communities as a part of their sociocultural, economic, spiritual and ecological livelihoods. The report highlights, exposes and explores how these systems work. It builds on reports of [...]

In this module we will prepare the Farmer Field School (FFS) site and the plots of land on which we will do the fieldwork and testing of lines for the next season. The way we design the plots and allocate each of the lines that we sow should minimize the [...]

This manual provides instructions and background for the SD=HS Training of Trainers (ToT) courses. In these courses (which mostly take up around three weeks), trainers are prepared to facilitate a season of Farmer Field School activities on Participatory Plant Breeding. Topics include the organisation of a Farmer Field School, the [...]

In EDN 133 we described a cereal/legume intercropping strategy in which two rows of a cereal crop are alternated with four rows of a legume. This “2:4:2” planting sequence is an outcome of research done by the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) and national partners, with cowpea as the [...]

This handbook is a companion to Community seed banks: concept and practice: facilitator handbook by Ronnie Vernooy, Bhuwon Sthapit, and Guy Bessette (Bioversity International 2017). The three booklets making up this handbook were written and designed for rural producers who are interested in establishing, supporting, and managing a community seed [...]