Forest producer organizations

FAO’s main activities on forest producer organizations include:

• Support the contribution of forestry to reducing rural poverty in ways which are sustainable by promoting policy and capacity development in countries for more effective organization of small-scale forest producers.
• Develop normative products that respond to country capacity needs including thematic capacity building materials as well as communication products to enhance understanding and knowledge about producer organizations.
• Provide technical advice on issues of forest tenure,  community-based forest management,  small-scale forest enterprise development and forests' contributions to food security and nutrition, for enhancing the extent and effectiveness of smallholder and community-based forestry.
• Coordinate with the Forest and Farm Facility, various forestry projects, decentralized offices and relevant divisions in FAO on issues related to poverty reduction, smallholder empowerment, rural institutions, cooperatives, producer organizations and small enterprise development.
• Facilitate and promote partnerships and collaborative activities to leverage resources, finance and opportunities for FPOs to improve livelihoods, access services and markets and engage in policy discussions.

• Provide technical assistance in the design and implementation of extension and capacity development services tailored to the specific needs and priorities of producer organizations, particularly in the application of farmer field schools on forestry.

Extension and capacity building services are essential to improve smallholder producers’ livelihoods and support their work in sustainable forest management and farm production. However, smallholders and their organizations face several challenges in accessing extension and capacity building-related services, including the lack of investment, dominance of technology-centered interventions and the lack of inclusion of local and traditional knowledge into extension programs.

To support producer organization’s accessing extension and capacity development services, the Forestry Division and the Global Farmer Field School Platform from the Office of Innovation, are working together to apply the Farmer Field School (FFS) approach to forestry and agroforestry, aiming to explore how FFS experiences could be strengthened and mobilized for improving capacity building, enabling farmers, communities, and small-scale producers to address their most pressing concerns, and advancing sustainable forest management and agriculture production.

What?

Farmer field schools (FFS) are a non-formal approach to adult education that emphasizes self-directed, discovery and experiential learning. As interactive group learning, it helps farmers understand the basic biological and ecological functions that underpin agriculture, adapting to local conditions and needs.

Who?

The FFS creates a risk-free environment for knowledge exchange among small-scale producers, including farmers, foresters, pastoralists, Indigenous Peoples and local communities while building participants’ technical and decision-making skills. Between 15 and 30 interested community members work with a facilitator to identify the challenges they face with a crop, animal or tree of interest, and map local technical knowledge.  

Where?

Sessions take place in the field (forests, farm, agroforestry plot and/or any chosen study plot), which is the best place for learning.

Why?

Farmers are empowered in their problem-solving capacities, addressing local challenges with global implications. The FFS approach enhances participants’ skills in critical analysis while promoting continual learning and experimentation. By building on local knowledge systems and integrating them with scientific concepts through testing and validation, FFS encourages the synthesis of local and external knowledge. This integration occurs through observation, critical analysis, and debate. Consequently, FFS assists rural communities in transforming existing production systems, driving changes towards more sustainable practices and systems.

Additionally, FFS fosters collective action, enhancing group cohesion and community decision-making to improve agriculture, landscape functions and livelihoods.

How?

The farmer field school offers a seasonal training programme over at least one production cycle with regular weekly or biweekly meetings. Farmers conduct experiments, identify production problems, and brainstorm solutions. Study plots allow them to compare local and improved practices through hands-on, self-discovery experiments. These "learning plots" enable participants to test ideas and evaluate outcomes of alternative practices such as distance planting, new varieties, or multi-cropping based on their needs and priorities.

A core element of the weekly sessions is the agro-ecosystem analysis (AESA), which may also occur biweekly or monthly for forestry. FFS participants observe and monitor all elements of the agro-ecosystem, learning to make informed management decisions. Working in small groups, they collect and analyze data from their experiments, fostering group cohesion, teamwork and trust. Additionally, topics of the day and special topics help build in-depth knowledge on specific issues.

Participants gain self-esteem and practical problem-solving skills, enabling them to devise effective alternatives. Many FFS graduates develop leadership and social skills, strengthening organizational capacities through group work and collective activities during and after FFS, promoting empowerment beyond the field.   

FAO has identified several examples from Africa, Asia, and Latin America demonstrating that Farmer Field Schools on forestry have empowered small-scale producers, fostering knowledge, skills, and social organization for regenerative natural resource stewardship. Since the early 1990s, FFS applications have addressed major forestry-related themes, particularly in smallholder forestry and agroforestry. These experiences have generated a diverse, well-tested, decentralized knowledge base.

Through FFS, participants sustain or improve productivity while reducing their reliance on external inputs. This is achieved by increasing the presence of trees and perennials in production systems, establishing agroforestry systems, small-scale woodlot production, and effective landscape management. There is significant potential to expand the FFS approach in forestry to strengthen extension services, education, and capacity building. This can empower smallholders and forestry communities to address sustainable forestry, halt deforestation, and enable farmer-led ecosystems restoration.

The experiences of farmer field schools (FFS) around the world show a tremendous potential to advance small-scale forestry and agroforestry. By applying the FFS approach to agroforestry and forestry, it is possible to:

• Enable family farmers across the globe to develop the necessary knowledge, skills and social organization to achieve a more regenerative natural resource stewardship in and through small-scale and family farming, and to collectively contribute to sustainability and climate change targets.
• Support people-centered forest extension and community-based forestry by demonstrating the key role of better education and ecological literacy in empowering change in rural communities.
• Develop “response-ability”, i.e. the capacity of small-scale producers to respond to challenges in agriculture, food and natural resources management with renewed creativity, knowledge and technological development.
• Develop multiple ways of reducing the environmental impacts of agriculture while ensuring food security and nutrition and contributing to ecosystems restoration, climate change mitigation and adaptation, as well as biodiversity conservation.