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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 [...]

This case examines some of the human – as opposed to technological – factors that have influenced the scaling up of the FFS. Organisational issues such as leadership, policy, human resources and competition help to explain why the IPM field school has taken off in some places and not in others. Examples are taken [...]

This paper illustrates that the transition to promoting farmer innovation systems requires a total change in mindsets and in strategies for conducting formal research.

This paper describes a case study in small producer system in the Petri-urban areas of Kunming city, Yunnan province on an approach of farmer participatory vegetable community IPM development. The vegetable community IPM development was composted of farmer education, technological development, farmers’ self organization, alliance building and policy supporting. [...]

t We explore the social dimension that enables adaptive ecosystem-based management. The review concentrates on experiences of adaptive governance of socialecological systems during periods of abrupt change (crisis) and investigates social sources of renewal and reorganization. Such governance connects individuals, organizations, agencies, and institutions at multiple organizational levels. Key persons provide [...]

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 [...]

What considerations lead policymakers to invest in agricultural extension as a key public responsibility, and what factors and agency incentives explain differences in extension system performance? To help answer these questions, this article provides a framework outlining farmers’ demand for information, the public goods character of extension services, and the [...]