Farmer Field Schools for IPM: Refresh your memory

What is a Farmer Field School?

A Farmer Field School (FFS) is a season-long training activity that takes place in the field. It is season-long so that it covers all the different developmental stages of the crop and their related management practices. The training process is always learner-centered, participatory and relying on an experiential learning approach.

The basic elements of an FFS for Integrated Pest Management include:

The FFS consists of a group of 20 to 25 farmers.
The FFS is field-based and lasts for at least one cropping season (from seeding to harvest).
The FFS farmers have regular (weekly) meetings during the cropping season.

In the FFS, farmers conduct a study comparing IPM strategy with common farmers’ practice. They have an IPM plot and a Farmers’ Practice (FP) plot.
The FFS includes other field studies, based on local field problems.
The FFS includes special topics that deal with specific issues selected by the farmers.
Each meeting includes at least an agro-ecosystem analysis activity conducted in the field (AESA) ending with a discussion of crop management decisions.
FFS educational methods are experiential, participatory, learner-centered, and based on non-formal education.
The FFS group is guided by at least one facilitator offering experiential learning opportunities, rather than delivering top-down instruction.

Why season-long training?

An FFS is a season-long training for a number of reasons:

Each stage of the crop has different pest problems. This makes it necessary to spread the training over at least one entire season, covering all stages of the crop.
Each stage of the crop has different requirements (water, fertilizer, mulching, weeding, thinning, pruning, etc.). Crop management therefore depends on the development of the crop.
Some processes that need to be observed (population dynamics of an insect, disease epidemics, possible plant compensation, etc.) develop gradually over the course of the entire cropping season.
The results of crop management decisions made during one crop stage can only be observed at a later stage of the crop. It is especially important to be able to observe how each action has an effect at the time of harvest (e.g. yield and quality, economic factors).

Season-long training: from seed to harvest

One or more seasons?

Only a season-long training can cover all the crop stages. But pest problems can also vary from season to season. A vegetable crop grown during the cool dry season (November-January) has different pest problems than a crop during the hot dry season (March-May) or during the rainy season (June-September). Therefore, in many cases even more time is required to become familiar with all aspects of the crop. Second and third season FFSs are advisable. The role of facilitators during these follow-up FFSs can gradually diminish as farmers become more experienced in the learning process.