FAO/Bayan Ksiebi

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) has launched a new cycle of Farmer Field Schools (FFS) in five governorates across Syria, as part of the ‘Building Local Resilience in Syria (BLRS)’ project, funded by UK Aid. FAO will use its expertise in empowering farmers to achieve better production and improve their income while tackling social issues such as gender-based violence (GBV) within the targeted farming communities.

The FFS are an interactive platform providing farmers with practical knowledge to solve production challenges and improve decision-making skills in farming, as well as having the opportunity to share experiences with each other through experiential learning or ‘learning by doing’. The first FFS programme in Syria was launched by FAO in 2004 and discontinued due to the conflict. FAO re-launched the FFS in Syria in 2020 implementing, so far, more than 300 FFS and reaching thousands of farmers. The FFS programme helped farmers to overcome their farming problems using adaptable, sustainable and efficient agricultural techniques, and to cope with the ongoing production challenges – including climate change - that a farmer might face. From June 2023 and onwards, FAO will implement 113 Farmer Field Schools in Aleppo, Hama, Homs, Deir ez-Zor, and Rural Damascus, to reach more than 2 800 beneficiaries under the BLRS project.

The FFSs will address topics that are prioritized by the farmers, with expert technical guidance on livestock production, agricultural production, relevant climate-smart agriculture (CSA) approaches, food processing and business training, as well as cross-cutting issues such as gender-related issues through the prevention of Violence against Women and Girls (VAWG) pilot. The latter will target 800 couples in Homs governorate, with a focus on reducing economic violence and addressing early marriage in the targeted communities. 

The motivation to address gender inequalities in agri-food systems resonates with a recent FAO report which concluded that achieving women’s equality in agri-food systems has the potential to boost the global economy by as much as 1 trillion USD, and reduce the number of food insecure people by 45 million.

FAO representative in the Syrian Arab Republic, Mike Robson, says: “Farmer Field Schools have been developed and implemented by FAO for over 30 years in more than 100 countries, and they are a reliable modality to spread knowledge and efficient production practices among a wide audience of farmers. As much as the technologies, the FFS has proven to be particularly effective in terms of community engagement, social cohesion and empowerment.”

“FFS will be a platform to help mainstream gender-related issues and work towards gender equality in farming communities. We have a long-standing relationship with farmers in Syria and we will continue to work with them through Farmer Field Schools to help them make their farming practices more profitable, more resistant to the effects of climate change and more sustainable for the future.” he concludes.