15/01/2025

After an intensive three-day bootcamp as part of the FAO Global Innovation Challenge on Sustainable Agricultural Mechanization (SAM) through Farmer Field Schools (FFS), three countries have been selected for their innovative and impactful approaches to addressing mechanization challenges faced by smallholder farmers: Bangladesh, the Philippines, and Rwanda. The bootcamp brought together policymakers, farmer representatives, development practitioners, private sector and technical experts to co-create solutions that enhance productivity, reduce drudgery, and improve rural livelihoods.

The proposals presented at the Bootcamp tailored strategies to promote inclusive and sustainable mechanization, focusing on women and youth participation while building on existing FFS programs to ensure widespread adoption and scalability. FAO will provide USD 200,000 to each of the three selected countries for the implementation of their action plans. The remaining five participating countries – Mauritania, Kenya, Uganda, Nepal and Zimbabwe - will receive soft support in the form of technical assistance, ensuring that all countries benefit from the insights and collaborative outcomes of the Global Innovation Challenge.

Bangladesh: Farmer-led mechanization through the ACCESS project

Bangladesh’s proposal focuses on integrating Sustainable Agricultural Mechanization into the ACCESS project, a platform that partners with the national producers’ organization Sara Bangla Krishak Society (SBKS). Despite ongoing mechanization efforts, many smallholders, especially women, still face low productivity and high labour burdens due to limited access to machinery and technical skills.

The intervention will introduce SAM into the FFS learning cycle across six key commodity clusters: onion, coriander, aromatic rice, potato, beekeeping, and vegetables. By training farmers, with a focus on women and youth, and developing a cohort of machinery operators and mechanics, the proposal ensures farmers not only adopt mechanization but also sustain its use. Investments in common facility centres will enable producer organizations to integrate SAM into their businesses, while peer-to-peer exchanges across SBKS’ network will accelerate adoption.

Through advocacy efforts to revise the National Agricultural Mechanization Policy to formally integrate SAM into existing extension programmes, and partnerships with local machinery manufacturers, this intervention bridges skill development, access to machinery, and enabling policy change - ultimately reducing drudgery, boosting yields, and increasing incomes for smallholder farmers.

The Philippines: Sustainable mechanization through agribusiness development

In the Philippines, the selected proposal builds on the country’s significant investments in mechanization through the Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund. While farm mechanization has increased, SAM remains absent from the training curricula of existing Farmer Field Schools, limiting opportunities for farmers to transform mechanization into sustainable businesses.

The intervention introduces Sustainable Agricultural Mechanization Agribusiness Development along the Value Chain, piloted in two provinces, Isabela and Nueva Ecija, among FFS graduates of for rice (the PalayCheck System). The proposal focuses on equipping farmers with the skills to increase their income by developing context-specific business models, such as mechanization hire services, machinery repair, and off-season transport of agricultural goods.

Leveraging partnerships with government agencies, vocational training institutions, and machinery manufacturers, the intervention will train SAM facilitators, develop site-specific curricula, and implement participatory business planning for FFS groups. The approach will not only enhance access to mechanization but also empower farmers, particularly women and youth, to create agri-mechanization enterprises that improve rural livelihoods and stimulate local economies. Successful piloting will provide a “proof of concept” for integrating SAM into national training curricula, paving the way for national-scale implementation.

Rwanda: Inclusive mechanization for smallholder farmers

Rwanda’s proposal tackles the significant challenges of low mechanization adoption among smallholder farmers, who operate 80 percent of farmland under one hectare. Despite national strategies for agricultural modernization, women farmers, who make up 56 percent of the agricultural workforce, face a disproportionate burden of manual labour.

Building on existing FFS models, the intervention will integrate SAM into the rice, maize, and cassava value chains across three districts: Gatsibo, Kirehe, and Bugesera. Aiming to include 1,500 households, the proposal focuses on increasing access to mechanization technologies such as cassava chippers, mobile solar dryers, and powered threshers.

The initiative will promote business models for cooperative machinery ownership and partnerships with service providers and offer training opportunities to introduce high-skilled occupations such as machinery operators, machine manufacturers  and field technicians. With strong potential for national scaling, the intervention will collaborate with vocational training institutions, private sector partners, and government agencies to build a sustainable mechanization ecosystem, creating jobs, reducing labour burdens, and improving food security.

A shared vision for mechanization and agrifood system transformation

All eight country proposals have demonstrated the transformative potential of Sustainable Agricultural Mechanization when integrated into Farmer Field Schools. By addressing local challenges through innovative solutions, anchored within farmer organizations, large government programmes and ongoing FFS models, they will pave the way for scaling SAM, ensuring that mechanization becomes a driver of economic growth and food security for smallholder farming communities.