KARI’s Farmer Field School pilot project in Kenya
The KARI Farmer Field School (FFS) pilot project was initiated in March 2001 with funding from the Rockefeller Foundation. The project aimed at incorporating the FFS approach in the Soil Management Project (SMP) and Legume Research Network Project (LRNP) of KARI. The first phase of these two projects ended in December 2000 some six years on the ground. Ten technologies were developed and were ready for scaling up at the end of the first Phase.
The two projects adopted the FFS approach as one of the methodologies for scaling up the technologies because of the success it had had in Asia in dissemination of IPM technology. Since the FFS approach was new to most project staff in this region, the pilot project was designed to include a strong training component.
Objectives | |
The project aimed at incorporating the FFS approach in the Soil Management Project (SMP) and Legume Research Network Project (LRNP) of KARI. | |
Methodology: Farmer Field School | |
The Farmer Field School (FFS) approach was one of the scaling approaches adopted by the two projects to disseminate the technologies. It was adopted because of the success it had had in Asia in scaling up IPM technologies for control of rice insect pests. The approach is a participatory approach that uses non-formal adult education methods based on experimental learning techniques and participatory training methods. It emphasizes learning by doing. The learning process takes place in the field and is normally designed to last for a full growing/cropping cycle. This enables farmers to participate fully in implementation of all components of the technology from planting to harvesting. The learning process accords farmers opportunity to observe and reflect the merits and demerits of the technologies and thereby make informed decisions of whether to adopt them or not. The FFS approach was adopted on pilot basis for three years beginning March 2001 with the aim of incorporating FFS approach into the SMP and LRNP activities for disseminating promising technologies. | |
Activities and outputs | |
Activities:
FFS sensitization workshop. This workshop was held from 6-8th March 2001 in western Kenya. Its primary objective was to sensitize senior managers of KARI and Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MoARD), researchers and extensionists implementing SMP and LRNP, and farmers on the FFS approach for information transfer and scaling up of agricultural technologies. About 90 participants attended this workshop. |