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This paper reports on how the farmer field school (FFS) approach has been used to successfully catalyse important changes among stakeholders in the savannah zones of West Africa. Improved agronomic practices, better decision-making skills and diversification of smallholder farms in developing countries are shown to provide farmers the opportunity to [...]

The use of synthetic pesticides among vegetable producers in urban and peri-urban Cotonou, Benin, has been increasing to the extent that certain insect pests have developed resistance to the pesticides. This paper assesses the impact of the farmer field school approach in an integrated pest management (IPM) project that aimed [...]

L'expérimentation paysanne permet de mettre à la disposition des agriculteurs des options pertinentes d'adaptation pouvant les aider à accroître la résilience de leurs systèmes de production.

Weaver ants are predatory insects which kill key pests of many tree crops effectively decreasing the need to use pesticides. Paul Van Mele and Jean-François Vayssières describe how these fascinating insects have been husbanded effectively in Asia to manage pests of citrus and cashew. Their use has recently been extended [...]

L'integration d'une approche participative de la protection du cotonnier a partir des « Écoles paysannes » ou FFS.

In this paper, two case studies from Asia and Africa are presented that deal with developing, testing and disseminating educational videos. Processes that contribute to scaling up sustainable rice technologies are analysed. The next sections highlight key elements of effective videos, followed by how videos were used and what effect [...]

This paper presents the findings of a short qualitative study. It showed that pilot cowpea Farmer Field Schools (FFS) in Benin were a vital source of new skills and information, integrating a number of existing knowledge sharing networks of rural men and women.

Eight researchers from Ghana and Benin, with different backgrounds but all co-operating within the Convergence of Sciences project, conducted diagnostic studies as a first step of their research aimed at developing technologies together with resource-poor farmers. The purpose of including diagnostic studies was to increase the likelihood that the resulting [...]

The article is an introduction to a series of articles about diagnostic studies carried out by eight PhD students in Ghana and Benin. These studies form a prelude to their experimental action research with groups of farmers to develop technologies that work in local conditions and are acceptable to farmers. A [...]