FAO.org

Farmer field schools (FFS) and local agricultural research committees (CIALs) are participatory platforms for improving decision-making capacity and stimulating local innovation for sustainable agriculture. CIALs are a permanent agricultural research service staffed by a team of four or more volunteer farmers elected by the community. The committees create a link [...]

In many popular intervention methodologies aimed at stimulating sustainable rural development (in the widest possible sense) the idea of ‘participation’ is a leading principle. This article will demonstrate that the process in which actors are supposed to participate is often thought of as being a process of planning, decision‐making and/or [...]

The book is mainly designed as a working aid for field practitioners carrying out actual project implementation, monitoring and evaluation. It deals with the specifics and peculiarities of IPM, to be applied in the context of pilot IPM projects or IPM components in agricultural projects. The objective is to assist crop [...]

Ecologically sound agriculture is not just a question of changing farm practices. It also requires a transformation of a coherent system of learning, its facilitation, institutions and policies. The paper describes the transformation involved on the basis of some country experiences.

These materials and exercises will help school children understand the dangers of pesticide use. The author is interviewed about her work during the Toxic Trail Documentary.

Emerging evidence for the success on farms of resource-conserving technologies and practices must not tempt agricultural professionals into making prescriptions about what constitutes sustainable agriculture. Sustainability is a complex and contested concept, and so precise definitions are impossible. The dominant scientific paradigm of positivism has served us well over three [...]