Global Farmer Field School Platform

Season's greetings from the Global Farmer Field School platform!

07/01/2021

Check out new articles on Farmer Field Schools:

 

  • Leading issues in implementation of farmer field schools: a global survey. Henk van den Berg, Suzanne Phillips, Anne-Sophie Poisot, Marcel Dicke, Marjon Fredrix

The Farmer Field School (FFS) has been used to enable farmers to adapt their farming decisions according to the field situation. This paper explores the methodological state, challenges and lessons learned, of the FFS around the World. Results highlight strengths and shortcomings in design, implementation and evaluation of the FFS. The information acquired can be used to support the quality of ongoing and future programmes.

Thank you to all the authors and sincerely to all the respondents of the survey on the d-group. The article has been published based on your answers and participation.

Access it here: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/1389224X.2020.1858891

 

  • Impacts of farmer field schools in the human, social, natural and financial domain: a qualitative review. Henk van den Berg, Suzanne Phillips, Marcel Dicke, Marjon Fredrix

The objective of this qualitative study is to review the available evidence on FFS effects across the human, social, natural and financial capital domains of the sustainable livelihoods approach (Scoones 1998), in order to inform operational programmes about the types and pathways of effects that can practicably be expected. Foreknowledge about these effects could help current and future FFS programmes to improve their interventions and evaluations. It was not the purpose of this paper to provide a meta-analysis. This review was part of a process to develop a new framework and guidance for evaluation of the FFS (FAO 2019).

Access it here: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12571-020-01046-7

 

  • Is the farmer field school still relevant? Case studies from Malawi and IndonesiaHenk van den Berg, Jan Willem Ketelaar, Marcel Dicke, Marjon Fredrix

Contemporary questions about the FFS go further than the immediate outcomes of the FFS and seek answers on how the FFS helps farmers to improve their livelihood situation, how the FFS interacts with its institutional and political environment, and how the FFS contributes to rural development. Such questions regarding the relevance and position of the FFS require in-depth studies on a case-by-case basis (Settle et al., 2014Sherwood et al., 2012). This paper provides case descriptions of experiences with the FFS in two countries.

Access it here:  https://authors.elsevier.com/a/1bCf3_ZnncXZwP