Training Workshops for Farmer Field School trainers on “Farmer Field Schools for Fall Armyworm IPM”

09/04/2018 27/04/2018

FAO is organizing two sub-regional training workshops on Farmer Field Schools (FFS) for Integrated Pest Management (IPM) of Fall Army Worm (FAW).

One workshop will be held in Yaoundé, Cameroun from the 9th to 15th of April and involve 31 participants from the central African sub-region (Burundi, Mali and Madagascar). The second workshop will take place in Nairobi, Kenya from the 23rd to 27th of April, involving 38 participants from Eastern Africa.

In each workshop, 1-2 experienced FFS master trainers/facilitators and one researcher working on IPM (and preferably involved in FAW) will participate for each country in the sub-region. Key FAO, government and NGO staff will also be involved.

The workshops aim to improve participants’ skills on IPM for FAW and on how to integrate FAW into FFS curricula. Each small country team will also design the outline for implementation of FFSs activities on FAW in their country; including refresher courses for FFS facilitators, aplan for FAW FFS setup and implementation, and short courses on FAW IPM in communities with high FAW infestation. These plans are expected to be integrated in the implementation of ongoing initiatives in support of Farmer Field Schools on FAW IPM in the sub-regions. After the training the participants will be expected to debrief FAO country and sub-regional offices, and present a national action plan for FFS training.

*Participation to the workshops is by invitation only.

FFS FAW regional training programme

Objectives

Improve knowledge and skills on Integrated Pest Management (IPM) for Fall Armyworm (FAW)
Fine-tune the Farmer Field School (FFS) curricula by integrating FAW IPM
Design refresher courses for FFS facilitators and master trainers to be organized at national level after the training, and
Develop an outline plan for implementation of FFSs on FAW and other short hands-on learning courses in the coming maize season, at country level.

Day 1	Morning	Afternoon
	Getting to know each other, expectations Updates on FAW management and FFS in different countries, innovations at field level. Listing management options for FAW, analysing options. Group work Recap on what is a FFS - interactive	Field work Collection of insects in maize field, recognizing FAW and other pests, and natural enemies Setting up insect zoos Life cycle of FAW
Day 2	Field work: observations for AgroEcosystem Analysis, and simple scouting for FAW AESA analysis and presentations Principles of IPM in a FFS Cropping calendar maize and FAW occurrences – group work Revisit management options Design field studies for FFS Special topic on economic thresholds Feedback on insect zoos
Day 3	Field work: Setting up a crop compensation study – why, how to do, what to pay attention to, what to observe during the season Finding pathogens in the field – infected FAW larvae, adults Discussion on using infected FAW larvae for field management – what is causing the disease, how to use infected larvae Botanical pesticides: discussion, how to prepare botanicals Special topic: pesticides and natural enemies; discuss effects of pesticides on natural enemies and human health Feedback on insect zoos Monitoring of FAW at community level – what can be done, how can it be done? Including mapping, scouting, use of traps… Revisiting cropping calendar: identify additional special topics to be used in the FFS, using the FAW IPM FFS guide Fine-tune field studies
Day 4	Refining FFS curricula to integrate FAW IPM – country work, sharing, feedback Short courses on IPM for FAW using FFS learning approach – discuss relevance of organizing short courses in areas with high FAW pressure and no or limited FFS activities Design short course for participatory FAW IPM management at community level – learning objectives, content
Day 5	Design refresher courses for FFS facilitators on FAW IPM – learning objectives, content. Identify facilitation team to run courses at country level Training strategy at country level (to be presented after the training to relevant government agencies, and FAO Evaluation and closing