There are currently over 1,000 FFSs in Mozambique

Approximately 27.500 Mozambican producers benefit from the Farmer Field School (FFS) methodology, which has been introduced in the country by FAOMZ. There are, in total, 1.095 schools all over the country.

This approach aims to assist producers to increase their production and productivity, adopt improved technologies to enhance and diversify the production systems as well as to improve the food and nutrition security of their families.

FAOMZ Programme Officer Eugénio Macamo has worked directly with FFSs since this methodology was introduced in Mozambique. We chatted with him to know more about the FFS implementation in the country.

FAO Mozambique (FAOMZ): What are Farmer Field Schools (FFSs)?

Eugénio Macamo (EM): FFSs are producers groups, generally comprising 25 to 30 members, who freely and voluntarily come together during a crop cycle to jointly learn good practices in the fields of agriculture, livestock and forestry.

FAOMZ: How did the FFS approach emerge?

EM: This approach emerged with FAO in the late 1980s and it was first applied in Asia in the context of rice. Later, the methodology spread to other regions around the world, covering different crops and agricultural fields.

FAOMZ: What are the advantages of FFSs?

EM: The FFSs constitute an opportunity to test farming practices. The FFSs allow the participating groups to cover various topics, such as: water and sanitation, post-harvest and seeds and food conservation, nutrition, gender, HIV and AIDS, trade, savings and credit.

FAOMZ: How do FFSs work?

EM: After selecting the group members and preparing all organization conditions such as facilitator trainings and others, the groups come together at least once a week to carry out learning activities. Normally, a FFS cycle lasts an agricultural season and it is expected that the group can practice how to solve an identified problem.

FAOMZ: How did FFSs reach Mozambique?

EM: In Mozambique, the FFSs were first introduced in two districts of Zambézia Province (Nicoadala and Namacurra) by the Provincial Directorate of Agriculture with funding from the African Development Bank and technical support from FAO through a Food Security Special Programme (2002-2005) within the South-South cooperation framework.

FAOMZ: How many FFSs are there in Mozambique and how many producers have graduated from these schools so far?

EM: According to the National Directorate for Agricultural Extension (DNEA) and FAO´s initiatives results, the country today has over 1.000 FFSs which directly benefit approximately 27.500 producers. This is the total number within the collaboration between different partners, namely FAO, Care Mozambique, Agha Khan, ACID-VOCA and the Agricultural Research Institute of Mozambique (IIAM).
It is important to point out that in the case of Mozambique, FFSs are recognized and valued by the government as a participatory extension approach included in the National Agricultural Extension Programme (PRONEA) 2007-2017.

FAOMZ: What benefits do FFSs bring to smallholder producers and their communities?

EM: The group members have improved their livelihoods by increasing their income as a result of production and productivity increase through the introduction of new technologies learned within the FFSs. Also, they have started to keep their children at school and to take care of the family's health, they have improved their homes and barns and have now a diversified and regular diet.

As organized groups, FFSs benefit from credit programmes and agricultural investments both from the public sector and NGOs. Also, they benefit from opportunities to access knowledge on health, nutrition, gender, sanitation campaigns and income generation.

Women in particular have signed up to literacy campaigns. Therefore, FFSs have provided producers groups with more visibility, which allows them to access new services. It is an approach which in many ways empowers everyone who participates in it.

FAOMZ: Why start a climate change project based on the FFS approach?

EM: The FFSs are a strategic entry point for the climate change approach creating greater resilience to shocks caused by crises and by nature. If the producers were isolated from each other, it would be difficult to work with them. That would obviously be quite costly, ineffective and unsustainable. FFSs, on the other hand, cover a higher number of beneficiaries.

The FFS members can replicate what they have learned at the schools on their own fields and with other groups in their villages.

In order to address climate change issues in agriculture and to increase the farmers' resilience, FFSs work with agro-forestry systems in which producers are encouraged to plant trees. These allow for shadow spots and protect from wind, also allowing the fixation of nitrogen in the soil. On the other hand, they work to improve water management, building small dams and other mechanisms to collect and use water.

Regarding animal production, producers are encouraged to raise different species and poultry, which gives them a source of protein. The animal manure can also be used in the preparation of biological compost to help fertilize the farms soils.

FAO Mozambique recently launched the project "Strengthening the capacities of agricultural producers to cope with climate change for increased food security through the Farmer Field School approach" which will be implemented in the provinces of Gaza, Sofala, Manica and Tete and can benefit approximately 90.000 families in a first phase.