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This report describes the 1st Regional meeting of the Expansion of Farmer Field School Programme in Eastern and Southern Africa Project held in Kakamega, Western Kenya from 13-17 November 2006. The meeting was organised into three main parts 1) Country presentations and discussions, 2) Field visit to FFS groups and [...]

Following major initiatives, two Farmer Field Schools occurred during the period August 2003 to September 2004 in the Caura Valley in North Trinidad, West Indies. This paper assesses these schools according to six key issues of Owens and Simpson (2001). A study recorded many observations during the conduct of the [...]

This paper is based on participatory development research carried out in Soroti district of Uganda with the aim to assess the impact of agricultural development among poor farmers. The central argument in this study is that a combination of farmer empowerment and innovation through experiential learning in FFS groups and [...]

Agricultural extension systems in sub-Saharan Africa are increasingly using participatory approaches to improve technology adoption by smallholder farmers. This approach has been successful particularly in low-rainfall areas, where adoption is traditionally slow. Crop productivity, farm incomes and food security have improved as a result. ICRISAT worked with Zimbabwe’s Department of [...]

The agricultural extension service in Uganda has in the last 40 years used a variety of approaches to disseminate technologies developed by researchers and other partners. These included regulatory, advisory and educational approaches. The regulatory and advisory approaches were top-bottom and non-participatory in nature.