Download or read book How can the farmer field school approach be used to support agroecological transitions in family farming in the Global South written by Bakker, T., Dugué, P., Roesch, K., Phillips, S., Poisot, A.S. and published by Food & Agriculture Org.. This book was released on 2022-05-20 with total page 54 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The key to implementing farmer field schools (FFS) is to trigger an experimentation process based on collaboration between a group of farmers and a facilitator. The purpose of this document is to provide project managers, technicians and designers with practical information on how to use the FFS approach and adapt it to their context of intervention to support the agroecological transition (AET). It also will be useful for research staff, leaders of farmers' organizations (FOs), teachers and students interested in using the FFS approach or better understand its benefits. The findings and recommendations proposed in this document are the result of a partnership between three institutions working to support AET in the Global South: CIRAD, FAO and the NGO AVSF (Agronomists and Veterinarians Without Borders). This document has four parts: -Definition of the FFS approach and its principles, and characterization of the advantages of this approach to supporting family farm AET in the Global South, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa. -Presentation of several important points for a successful FFS, i.e. to strengthen farmers' skills to practically and collectively solve the problems they encounter. This second part is aimed specifically at development project managers and field technicians and facilitators. -Recommendations for project designers and managers for including FFS in development projects. -Proposal of ways in which FSS could evolve to better take into account the needs of farmers and other actors engaged in AET.

Download or read book FAO publications catalogue 2023 written by Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and published by Food & Agriculture Org.. This book was released on 2023-10-10 with total page 148 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This catalogue aims to improve the dissemination and outreach of FAO’s knowledge products and overall publishing programme. By providing information on its key publications in every area of FAO’s work, and catering to a range of audiences, it thereby contributes to all organizational outcomes. From statistical analysis to specialized manuals to children’s books, FAO publications cater to a diverse range of audiences. This catalogue presents a selection of FAO’s main publications, produced in 2023 or earlier, ranging from its global reports and general interest publications to numerous specialized titles. In addition to the major themes of agriculture, forestry and fisheries, it also includes thematic sections on climate change, economic and social development, and food safety and nutrition.

Download or read book Methodological recommendations to better evaluate the effects of farmer field schools mobilized to support agroecological transitions written by Bakker, T., Dugué, P., Roesch, K., Phillips, S. and published by Food & Agriculture Org.. This book was released on 2022-06-30 with total page 54 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The farmer field school (FFS) approach, based on group experimentation of innovative practices and/or farming systems, is in line with participatory farm advisory efforts. This approach has an ambitious goal: strengthening farmers’ skills so that they can adapt their practices, or even invent new ones, and move towards more agroecological farming systems. Assessing such an advisory intervention poses significant challenges. The purpose of this document is to propose fresh ways to update FFS assessment methods, notably the study of changes in farming practices and the detailed analysis of FFS outcomes. Project designers, managers, and evaluators are the target audience for this document, which may also interest teachers, researchers, students, and policymakers. The elements of the FFS assessment methodology presented here stem from the collaboration between three institutions, CIRAD, FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations), and the NGO AVSF (Agronomists and Veterinarians Without Borders), and fieldwork carried out in cotton-growing areas of Burkina Faso and Togo between 2018 and 2019. This document is divided into four parts. We first define FSS and the principles of the approach, then we detail the methods commonly used to assess FSS and the challenges involved. We then present a comprehensive assessment method using a case study in northern Togo. The final part of the report provides a basis for placing the proposed method within the process of designing an assessment for a project involving FSS.

Download or read book Farmers taking the lead thirty years of farmer field schools written by Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and published by Food & Agriculture Org.. This book was released on 2019-06-01 with total page 72 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Farmer Field School (FFS) has been one of the most successful approaches developed and promoted by FAO over the past three decades, empowering farmers to become better decision makers in their own farming systems. Initiated by FAO in 1989, and subsequently adopted by many other organizations and institutions, the FFS programs constitute one of the most important “results of the collective action of millions of small-scale farmers” that FAO has supported. FFS is an interactive and participatory learning by doing approach that offers farmers, pastoralists, fisherfolks, foresters and their communities a place where they can learn from each other,share experiences, co-create knowledge and try new ways of doing. Participants enhance their understanding of agro-ecosystems, resulting in production systems that are more resilient and optimize the use of available resources. FFS aims to improve farmers’ livelihoods and recognize their role as innovators and guardians of natural environments. FFS has attained plenty of outstanding achievements in all aspects of agriculture and rural development.

Download or read book Enabling Response ability written by Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and published by Food & Agriculture Org.. This book was released on 2023-10-03 with total page 96 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Forestry and agroforestry education and extension programmes for forest and farm communities have not kept up with needs in many places. However, the success of achieving international sustainability goals and implementing global commitments with respect to sustainable production, halting land degradation, ecosystem restoration and climate change mitigation is contingent on having capacity in place at local levels, or building it, across a large part of the world’s rural lands. This publication reviews the current and potential application of farmer field schools (FFS) to strengthen the capacities and skills of smallholders and family framers in sustainable forestry and agriculture production. From 2020 to 2021, FAO conducted a stocktaking study to identify opportunities, challenges and lessons learned in the application of the Farmer Field Schools (FFS) approach on forestry and agroforestry. Through the review of over 400 documents (peer-reviewed and grey literature), 36 in-depth key informant interviews and a stakeholder workshop, this stocktaking identified twenty-one majors FFS programmes in forestry and agroforestry, with over 200 000 graduates distributed across every region of the Global South. Three decades of FFS experience on forestry, particularly agroforestry, has taken place in multiple geographic, environmental, and social contexts – from arid and semi-arid savannahs to high rainfall mountain environments. This experience represents a diverse, well-tested, decentralized and, locally situated knowledge base on which to build future programmes aiming at strengthening farmers and forest dwellers’ capacity to create sustainable agricultural systems that include trees and perennial crops. This stocktaking argues that though enhanced understanding of agro-ecological dynamics and farmer-led experimentation, the FFS can enable farmers across the globe to sustain or improve productivity while reducing their dependence on externally based inputs. Forestry and agroforestry applications promise to enhance the environmental integrity and socio-economic impacts of FFS, mainly by increasing the presence of perennials in production systems, useful for stabilizing food security and strengthening on-farm ecosystem services.

Download or read book Agroecological Transitions From Theory to Practice in Local Participatory Design written by Jacques-Eric Bergez and published by Springer. This book was released on 2019-02-28 with total page 335 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This Open Access book presents feedback from the ‘Territorial Agroecological Transition in Action’- TATA-BOX research project, which was devoted to these specific issues. The multidisciplinary and multi-organisation research team steered a four-year action-research process in two territories of France. It also presents: i) the key dimensions to be considered when dealing with agroecological transition: diversity of agriculture models, management of uncertainties, polycentric governance, autonomies, and role of actors’ networks; ii) an operational and original participatory process and associated boundary tools to support local stakeholders in shifting from a shared diagnosis to a shared action plan for transition, and in so doing developing mutual understanding and involvement; iii) an analysis of the main effects of the methodology on research organisation and on stakeholders’ development and application; iv) critical analysis and foresights on the main outcomes of TATA-BOX, provided by external researchers.

Download or read book Farmer field schools for family poultry producers written by Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and published by Food & Agriculture Org.. This book was released on 2022-06-27 with total page 220 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A growing number of poultry farmer field schools (FFS) are being implemented in developing countries by a wide range of actors. Experience over the past two decades has shown that good-quality facilitation and learning activities are key to the success and long-term sustainability of poultry FFS. This manual provides practical information and activities that help facilitators establish and implement good-quality FFS. It focuses on working with women and men poultry producers to sustainably enhance production, productivity and marketing in any family poultry production system, ranging from extensive to small-scale intensified, in line with producers’ aspirations and local conditions. The first module of the manual covers poultry FFS establishment and learning activities, and the second provides “need-to-know” information on poultry production and health and FFS facilitation.

Download or read book Bringing climate change adaptation into farmer field schools written by Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and published by Food & Agriculture Org.. This book was released on 2021-09-24 with total page 200 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) developed this guidance note to assist FFS master trainers and facilitators bring about climate change adaptation in FFS. The guide provides key information on how the climate is changing, and how these changes are impacting the agricultural (crops and livestock), aquaculture and agroforestry systems of smallholder farmers. The note provides guidance to FFS practitioners so that they can better work with individual farmers and communities – using a “climate change lens” – in identifying, testing and adapting new practices that respond to changes and variability in local weather. The guide is not intended as a textbook on climate change but is prepared for easy understanding of basic concepts of climate change to support the interpretation of climate information in specific farming contexts and steps that FFS facilitators “must know” in starting FFS programmes that respond to climate change challenges.

Download or read book Farmer Field School Guidance Document written by Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and published by Food & Agriculture Org.. This book was released on 2018-06-08 with total page 112 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This FFS Guidance Document focuses on the process and critical decisions that are necessary when starting a new FFS programme, and guides the reader through the essential steps required to establish a solid basis for such programmes, in tune with the specific local conditions. It also defines the essential elements and processes required to ensure programme relevance, quality, growth and sustainability. The document differs from most of the FFS manuals and guidelines available in that it focuses on providing support to FFS programme managers and formulators, as opposed to FFS field facilitators or trainers, who are the primary target group for most existing manuals.

Download or read book Handbook on climate information for farming communities What farmers need and what is available written by Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and published by Food & Agriculture Org.. This book was released on 2019-05-31 with total page 186 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The content of this guide is twofold: to describe the most important weather and agroclimatic products that are available by the National Meteorological Service (NMS) and to identify the most important needs of farmers concerning climate information. Special consideration will be given to the local knowledge used by rural farmers, too often neglected, but a key factor to their ability to cope with climate variability and change. An additional objective of this guide is to improve communication among the NMS staff, in particular, meteorologists and agrometeorologists and to encourage Agro-Pastoral Field School (APFS) trainers and facilitators to be more aware of their respective availability. Furthermore, one of the most important aims is the exchange of agroclimatic information that corresponds to the needs of all concerned, thus facilitating the assessment of the existing climatic risks in farming activities. The integration of the Response Farming in Rainfed Agriculture (RF) approach into Farmer Field School (FFS) is feasibly an effective way to reconcile NMS products with the needs of farmers. RF is a method used for identifying and quantifying rainfall variability at a local level to assess the climatic risks of farming communities. The Climate-Responsive Farming Management (CRFM) approach is an enhanced version of RF that uses modern and digital technologies, such as specific computer software, automatic weather stations, real-time telecommunication and smartphone applications. This approach can be implemented at a minimum cost at the farming level.The integration of the Response Farming in Rainfed Agriculture (RF) approach into FFS is feasibly an effective way to reconcile NMS products with the needs of farmers. RF is a method used for identifying and quantifying rainfall variability at a local level to assess the climatic risks of farming communities. The Climate-Responsive Farming Management (CRFM) approach is an enhanced version of RF that uses modern and digital technologies, such as specific computer software, automatic weather stations, real-time telecommunication and smartphone applications. This approach can be implemented at a minimum cost at the farming level.

Download or read book Institutionalizing farmer field schools written by Neza, B.N., Higiro, J., Mwangi, L.W., Ochatum, N. and published by Food & Agriculture Org.. This book was released on 2021-10-28 with total page 58 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Investing in farmers – or agriculture human capital – is crucial to addressing challenges in our agri-food systems. A global study carried out by the FAO Investment Centre and the International Food Policy Research Institute, with support from the CGIAR Research Programme on Policies, Institutions and Markets and the FAO Research and Extension Unit, looks at agriculture human capital investments, from trends to promising initiatives. One of the nine featured case studies is the Twigire Muhinzi National Extension System in Rwanda. Twigire Muhinzi is the government’s homegrown, decentralized and farmer-oriented national system based on two complementary types of farmer-to-farmer extension approaches: farmer promoters and farmer field schools. The model showcases how an extension approach can improve farmer skills, knowledge and empowerment and thus lead to enhanced adoption of relevant technologies and practices. In Rwanda, mainstreaming the farmer field school approach into the national extension system along with financial support from public-private partnerships contributed to its scaling up. This publication is part of the Country Investment Highlights series under the FAO Investment Centre's Knowledge for Investment (K4I) programme.

Download or read book Understanding the Farmer Field School agro ecosystem analysis board written by Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and published by Food & Agriculture Org.. This book was released on 2021-10-27 with total page 76 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The ecosystem-literacy training employed in FFS is vital for enabling smallholder farmers to master the management skills required for sustainable crop production intensification and diversification. This is radically different from the approach used by more traditional extension systems which are designed for “technology-transfer” purposes. Agro Ecosystem Analysis (AESA) is the cornerstone of the field school approach and is based on the ecosystem concept, in which each element at the crop/farm/field has its own, unique role. It involves crops or commodity observations, data collection, analysis, interpretations or discussions, and recommendations. Farmers use AESA method to understand the situation of crop ecosystem in the FFS approach. However, the method still included a reasonable level of complexity where the farmer has to deal with numeric and textual data. This remained a challenge for the facilitator to communicate with the farming community, who cannot easily write and read the observations and perform analysis on a paper sheet and also in the presentation of the same AESA sheet. The New AESA Board is devised to mitigate the challenge of illiteracy and some other challenges in participatory group learning including the difference of age, education level, gender equality, wealth position, social activism in the field school. The pre-designed AESA board provides equal opportunity to all participants including literate, illiterate or poor literacy services. This AESA board along with analytical color language named Jam's 4 Colors by FAO Pakistan remains among the top innovations of 2020.

Download or read book School Farms written by Alshimaa Aboelmakarem Farag and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2021-11-28 with total page 322 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book highlights the potential of school farms to fight hunger and malnutrition by providing access to locally produced, fresh, and healthy food as well as providing young students with educational opportunities to learn, interact with nature, and develop their skills. Hunger is one of the most pressing concerns we face today and there is a clear need to provide alternative sources of food to feed a fast-growing population. School farms offer a sustainable opportunity to produce food locally in order to feed underprivileged students who rely on school meals as an integral part of their daily diet. Approaching the concept of school farms through four themes, Problem, People, Process, and Place, the book shows how they can play an essential role in providing sustainable and healthy food for students, the critical role educational institutions can play in promoting this process, and the positive impact hands-on farming can have on students' mental and physical wellbeing. Utilizing the authors' personal hands-on experiences, and drawing on global case studies, the book provides a theoretical framework and practical guidance to help with the establishment of school farms and community-based gardening projects and an education system which promotes a sustainable and healthy approach to food, agriculture, and the environment. This book will be essential reading for students and scholars of food security, agriculture, healthy and sustainable diets, education for sustainable development, and urban studies. It will also be of great interest to practitioners and policymakers involved in food policy, developing school and community projects, global health and international development, as well as education professionals.

Download or read book Sending Farmers Back to School written by Gershon Feder and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 2003 with total page 52 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Family Farming and the Worlds to Come written by Jean-Michel Sourisseau and published by Springer. This book was released on 2014-11-05 with total page 357 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: What is family farming? How can it help meet the challenges confronting the world? How can it contribute to a sustainable and more equitable development? Not only is family farming the predominant form of agriculture around the world, especially so in developing countries, it is also the agriculture of the future. By declaring 2014 the “International Year of Family Farming,” the United Nations has placed this form of production at the center of debates on agricultural development. These debates are often reduced to two opposing positions. The first advocates the development of industrial or company agriculture, supposedly efficient because it follows industrial processes for market-oriented mass production. The second promotes the preservation of family farming with its close links between family and farm. The authors of this book wish to enrich the debates by helping overcome stereotypes – which often manifest through the use of terms such as “small-scale farming, subsistence farming, peasant, etc.” Research work has emphatically demonstrated the great adaptability of family farming systems and their ability to meet the major challenges of tomorrow but it has also not overlooked their limitations. The authors explore the choices facing society and possible development trajectories at national and international levels, and the contribution that agriculture will have to make. They call for a recommitment of public policies in favor of family farming in developing countries and stress the importance of planning actions targeted at and tailored to the family character of agricultural models. But, above all, they highlight the need to overcome strictly sectoral rationales, by placing family farming at the core of a broader economic and social project. This book is the result of a collaborative effort led by CIRAD and encapsulates three decades of research on family farming. It will interest researchers, teachers and students, and all those involved in national and international efforts for the development of countries in the South.

Download or read book Rural communication services for family farming in Africa written by Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and published by Food & Agriculture Org. [Author]. This book was released on 2024-04-11 with total page 46 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Global Action Plan of the United Nations Decade of Family Farming 2019–2028 (UNDFF) recognizes the need to promote Rural Communication Services (RCS) to advance sustainable food systems. [Author] RCS comprise demand-led communication processes, media applications and institutional arrangements to respond to the needs of family farmers and rural populations in a sustained and inclusive manner. [Author] This report summarizes the results and takeaways of online consultations and a virtual Regional Forum on RCS for Family Farming in Africa, organized in 2022 by Yenkasa Africa, a regional communication initiative, in collaboration with FAO, farmers’ organizations, rural institutions and communication networks. [Author]

Download or read book Farmer field schools for small scale livestock producers written by Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and published by Food & Agriculture Org.. This book was released on 2018-05-15 with total page 60 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: FAO Animal Production and Health Papers This guidance document helps decision-makers gain a basic knowledge of the farmer fields schools approach, learn about its contribution to the livelihoods of livestock-dependent communities and recognize the conditions required for the successful implementation of this approach.