FAO Malawi is set to kick-off three Farmer Field School (FFS) master trainer’s courses that will run from 8 October 2018 to 28 February 2019 . These courses aim to impart knowledge and skills to 90 government and non-governmental organization (NGO) extension workers, training them as master trainers on FFS methodology. This is the second cohort to undergo training, with an initial 84 government extension workers graduating as master trainers in June 2018.

The master trainer’s courses come as part of the FAO project, Revitalizing Agriculture Clusters and Ulimi wa M’ndandanda through Farmer Field Schools. This project is part of a wider European Union funded programme, KULIMA ("Kutukula Ulimi m'Malawi"), which literally means, “promoting farming in Malawi”.

Smallholder farmers in Malawi continue to register low productivity, contributed largely by low adoption of agricultural technologies, low access to farm inputs, limited knowledge and skills to address the various emerging constraints, limited use of irrigation, and weak linkages to markets.

It is within this context that FAO Malawi with support from the Government of Flanders and the European Union, in collaboration with the Government of Malawi, aims to build the requisite capacity and strengthen quality assurance in the implementation of FFS programmes within the national extension services. The FFS approach is recognized in the National Agricultural Policy of Malawi as one of the approaches for attaining sustainable agricultural production and productivity.

During the five-year KULIMA programme period, FAO Malawi aims to train at least 600 extension workers as master trainers on FFS methodology. The 600 extension workers will in turn transfer their knowledge and experience reaching at least 8000 community based facilitators in 10 districts in Malawi.

For more information contact [email protected].