an Eldis Resource

This paper evaluates the impact of Farmer Field Schools (FFS) intensive participatory training program emphasizing integrated pest management. The evaluation focuses on whether participation in the program has improved yields and reduced pesticide use among graduates and their neighbors who may have gained knowledge from graduates through informal communications.

The analysis indicates that the program did not have significant impacts on the performance of graduates and their neighbors. The question raised then is: How can an education effort focusing on matters of direct relevance to farmers’ cultivation activities not influence positively their performance? This study cannot provide a direct explanation for this, but suggests some plausible arguments.

The concluding observations of the authors are that it is risky to expand small scale FFS to large scale on the basis of early pilot indicators. The impact of FFS training can be much smaller than envisaged. Implications for improving and reorienting the Farmer Field School initiative so as to improve the likelihood of economic viability include:

• There is merit in reviewing the curriculum, and focusing the training on the highest priority topics, while simplifying the presentation of the information
• The simplification of the program’s content will make it not only more effective with respect to improving the performance of graduates, but also increase the likelihood and speed of diffusion of new knowledge among other farmers. Diffusion can also be enhanced (and made more cost-effective) by employing mass-media and other dissemination approaches for key aspects of the knowledge (e.g., safety rules regarding the use of chemicals).
• The narrowing and prioritizing of the curriculum will also shorten the length of the training, and will thus cut the cost of the program
• Simplification of the curriculum, shortening of the training, and increasing the extent of simple decision rules in the training will make the program less dependent on trainer quality and thus more amenable for scaling up

With changes of the types outlined above, there is less risk and higher prospects of success for large scale FFS programs.

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