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Inventory of Farmer Study Group Initiatives in Africa – A Synthesis Report Arnoud R. Braun Farmer Field Schools The Farmer Field School (FFS) grew out of the Training and Visit (T&V) process in 1988 through improvements needed at the time to address the national threat of a rice insect outbreak in Indonesia that depended on local complex decision making by farmers in their fields. Under T&V, schooled extension staff were expected to be experts delivering messages from research to farmers, but many messages were inappropriate, too simple and the messengers not local experts. This “technology transfer” model was not functioning to manage large-scale outbreaks of the rice brown planthopper which threatened rice self-sufficiency in Asia, nor were the more than US$150 million in pesticide subsidies (FFS programmes cost significantly less). In FFS, extension staff became “facilitators” who assisted men and women farmers to merge local indigenous knowledge with modern scientific rice ecological knowledge. The changed relationship honored local farmer expertise and allowed for better relationship with their external extension staff while encouraging new ecological science to be incorporated into decision making. In these traditional cultures, it was also culturally inappropriate for young extension staff to instruct older farmers but not culturally inappropriate for them to lead learning activities. Other FFS changes included promotion of farmer facilitators who were often considered better than external extension agents because they knew local terms (e.g. terms from that particular village related to particular insects, pathogens, etc.) and knew participants better. The hands-on nature of FFS experiential learning is merely a good educational practice of using more senses in a learning process. The FFS form and structure therefore grew from the practical need for field observation and decision making practice, use of a facilitative leader, or formation of a local group to self-organise the study field and participants. Weekly (most annual crops and livestock), biweekly (some long-term crops) or monthly (most perennial crops) regular schedules of meeting developed as a compromise between learning cycles based on crop management timing and farmer schedules. It should be noted that models such as functional literacy, children’s primary health care and other practical programmes were used during design processes under an adult education team leader. Appendix III provides a short practical description of the FFS approach. FFS in Africa 7 After a brief introduction in Sudan in 1993 and Kenya in 1995, a larger-scale launch of the FFS approach in Africa actually started in Zimbabwe in 1997. FFSs are presently being conducted by a wide range of institutions in Africa, including FAO, DANIDA, many national governments, and numerous NGOs. Unique challenges have arisen while attempting to apply this approach, first developed in Asia, in Africa. At its introduction in Africa the focus of FFSs was on integrated production and pest management (IPPM) because of the relatively low levels of production and pesticide usage. Cotton, vegetables and tobacco are the largest 7 For detailed information on FFS development in Africa, see Appendix II of Braun et al. (2006) 10
Inventory of Farmer Study Group Initiatives in Africa – A Synthesis Report Arnoud R. Braun recipients of pesticide treatments. For example, in cotton IPPM, most farmers conclude that they are over-using pesticides and under-using quality seed, irrigation and fertilisers. In rice IPPM as well, farmers learn to improve yields without increasing use of (or beginning to use) costly pesticides. In Africa the problem of pesticide use was less apparent and as a result several innovations have taken place since FFSs were introduced from Asia. First is the inclusion of more health and nutrition “special topics” due to the low level of awareness by farmers about the dynamics of diseases such as HIV/AIDS and malaria that are crippling many rural communities. Basic nutrition, water boiling, intestinal parasites and women’s reproductive health are included in FFSs by non- IPPM extension officers or NGO guest facilitators. Perhaps the most exciting innovation, Table 2. Summary data of FFS implementation in Africa (1993-2005); for detailed information see Appendix II of Braun et al. (2006) Country Start Facilitators/ Farmers FFS Year Trainers trained Angola 2005 nda nda Nda Benin 2001 125 ~1500 80 Burkina Faso 2001 > 217 > 6,253 360 Cameroon 2003 58 nda 64 DR Congo 2002 848 11,281 357 Ethiopia 1999 > 500 > 2210 ~571 Gambia 2004 nda nda Nda Ghana 1996 nda nda Nda Ivory Coast nda 41 nda 126 Kenya 1996 ~1,660 nda ~2300 Madagascar nda nda nda Nda Malawi 2001 32 nda >77 Mali 1997 >179 >7,693 >430 Mozambique 2001 >158 ~1,605 243 Namibia 2004 40 240 8 Niger 2001 ~50 ~500 25 Nigeria 2001 >90 >1,000 >57 Rwanda 2005 nda nda nda Senegal 2000 >277 >6,468 >370 Sierra Leone 2003 260 18,400 736 South Africa nda nda Nda Nda Sudan 1993 1,626 4,197 >812 Tanzania 1997 >456 >10,000 >560 Togo 2004 30 307 12 Uganda 1999 >290 nda >500 Zambia 1999 ~382 ~1,900 ~140 Zimbabwe 1997 166 >3,500 >480 Source: Braun et al. (2006) developed by womens’ groups in Western Kenya, are “commercial plots” which are group production plots adjacent to the FFS learning plots. Such commercial plots allow the groups to raise funds and become self-financing in their activities. Efforts are underway to institutionalise these commercial plots in the FFSs so that they will be largely self-financed from the outset of programs. The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) is funding a four-country effort to develop the methodology by working with these innovative FFS groups. As a result of the interests shown by farmers in health and nutrition, FAO, Wageningen University and Research Centre (WUR) and other institutions are in the process of adapting the approach to work with vector-borne diseases (Van den Berg and Knols, 2006) such as malaria and bilharzia, particularly in West Africa. The gender and development service of FAO has put a large effort in 11
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