UN Division for Sustainable Development

Case Study Detail Record

Organization type:	Government

Name of Ministry/Agency:	Kenya Agricultural Research Institute (KARI), Ministry of Agriculture

Country:	Kenya

Name of Focal Point:	Eve Crowley

Initiative Title:	Farmer Field School for up-scaling soil management technologies, western Kenya

Internet links:	http://\\faoext06\FTP_Waicent\SD\SDA\SDAR\sard\English GP\EN GP Africa\field_school_Kenya.pdf

Scope:	Regional: - Africa

Status:	Ongoing

Timeframe:	Start: Pre 1997 End:

Stakeholders/Partners:	Rockefeller Foundation (donor), Kenya Agricultural Research Institute (KARI), Ministry of Agriculture, Local NGOs: Vi-Agroforestry, Community Mobilization Against Desertification Others: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) Nairobi office, The Rockefeller Foundation

Relevent issues:

Objectives/Challenges:

The dominant farming system in western Kenya is a crop-livestock mixed
system where intercropping of maize and common bean is closely integrated
with livestock production. The population density ranges from 250 to 1200
persons/km2. The household land sizes vary from as low as 0.02 acres in the
densely populated highlands to as high as 100 acres in low potentials areas.
Most of the land is under freehold land tenure systems, but the majority of
farmers have not acquired title deeds for it. About 54% of land is used for
growing food crops (e.g. maize, beans, sorghums/millets, and vegetables),
15% for cash crops (e.g. tea, coffee, sugarcane) and 23% for pasture. The
mean household size is 6 persons and the majority of households (over 80%)
are male headed. Females perform more than half of the household
activities. About 50% of household heads are educated to primary school
level. The percentage of those with a higher level of education is greater in
households with livestock. Over 70% of agricultural households have income
of less than US$ 65 per month. The majority of households experience
severe food insecurity for three to eight months in a year lacking even maize,
the staple food in Kenya). Only about 5% households have piped water and
electricity is connected to only about 2% of the households. The average
distance from households to the nearest market or trading centre is 1.8 km.
Poor infrastructure and long distances to urban centres limit access to
markets and availability of other essential services.

Lessons Learned:

1.Village immersion: The facilitators of the planned
FFS enter into a community. They hold a series of meetings with the local leaders and administrators in which they explain the objectives and goals of the anticipated activities. They also discuss what is expected from the community.
2.Ground working: With the assistance of the opinion leaders, facilitators convene an open meeting with members of the community – they explain the objectives and goals of the anticipated activities. They also discuss what is expected from the community. Sites for schools are chosen and farmers willing to enrol are enlisted.
3.Day one of FFS: On day one, the school leadership is chosen and the norms and rules governing the school are developed. The FFS concepts and objectives / goals are explained to the enrolled participants.
4.Setting up Participatory Technology Demonstrations (PTDs): Plots are laid out and planted with different technologies to be scaled-up. A farmer plot where conventional practices are carried out is also set up in order to make comparisons. Participation of farmers is essential to enhance their ability to experiment.
5.Running the FFS approach: In setting up the agro-ecosystem analysis, the participants look at the interface between a crop and its physical environment. Farmers collect data, process them and present them to the “class’’. Based on the results, decisions are made on their next course of action. Lessons and / or special topics are presented by the facilitator.
6.Special topics covered in the FFS: - including, for example,
food production, disease control or water provision.
7.Field day hosted by the FFS: Open day for exchanging
information about technologies demonstrated to the wider community with the intention of increasing diffusion and enhancing adoption.
8.FFS exchange visits: Made to other FFS in similar or
different Agro-Ecological Zones and socio-economic settings, to broaden the visitors’ knowledge in terms of how other farmers manage their resources.
9.Group cohesion and dynamics: Group cohesion is critical to successful completion of any FFS. This is fostered by good leadership and facilitation as well as social activities that cement the group together.
10.FFS Graduation: At graduation those farmers who have successfully gone through the FFS training and have met the groups’ norms and conditions for graduation are given certificates. Some of them can facilitate new FFS.
11.Assessment of FFS graduates one year after graduation: This
assessment aims at establishing the value of FFS in diffusing
knowledge/technologies, how acquired knowledge contributes to the welfare of farmers and how FFS enhances farmers’ experimentation skills.
The FFS training has had a positive impact on women:
• More women attend FFS training and hence gaining new skills in farming, leadership and decision making. They now help in running women groups in the rural areas;
• They have gained significant amount of knowledge in HIV/AIDS
management and prevention;
• Their livelihoods have been enhanced by being exposed to many
different food crops and taught how to add value to their staples. For example, an FFS group in one of the project site is baking bread at home and making tomato and fruit jams.

Over 3000 farmers have graduated so far. Farmers gain significant knowledge of the technologies experimented in the FFS helping them to increase their productivity. They acquired leadership skills and gained significant experimentation, organizational and decision making skills. The groups formed networks for accessing more knowledge and improving their welfare in general. Some groups also have accessed government funds for development, through constituency development funds.

Policy Options:

• In this case, there was reliable funding from the Rockefeller Foundation and KARI
There was also;
• Support from KARI and the Ministry of Agriculture
• Technical support from FAO FFS trainers. Training of trainers exercise
conducted by FAO officers at the beginning of the project imparted
quality facilitation skills to the trainers
• Availability of backstopping support from FAO officers and availability of
FFS manual
• Support from local administration in mobilising the communities made the
setting up of the FFS much easier
• Strong research-extension-farmer linkages
• Participatory nature of the training

Summary:

The Farmer Field School (FFS) is a participatory approach that uses nonformal adult education methods based on experimental/discovery learning techniques and participatory training. It improves farmers’ capacity to analyze their farming systems and practices, and to develop and test possible solutions that address their prioritized needs, combining local and scientific knowledge. It emphasizes learning by doing.
The learning process takes place in the field and is normally designed to last for a full growing/cropping cycle. This enables farmers to observe and reflect upon the merits and demerits of the technologies and make informed decisions of whether to adopt them or not. Several studies conducted to assess the effectiveness of the FFS process have found that high quality learning takes place in schools, and that technology adoption
is higher among FFS graduates. Farmers acquire experimentation skills as they participate in data collection and the evaluation of technologies. The Kenya Agricultural Research Institute introduced the FFS approach in five centres, Kitale, Kakamega, Kisii, Embu and Mtwapa, in Western Kenya to scale-up the following 10 soil and crop management technologies:
1. improved preparation, management and use of organic manure to
improve soil fertility;
2. different combinations of organic and inorganic fertilizers for maize, finger millets, forages and vegetables (kales and cabbages);
3. soil improving green manure legumes;
4. low cost soil conservation structures;
5. bean varieties tolerant to bean-fly infestation and root rot;
6. food legumes other than beans for intercropping with maize;
7. suitable forages for waterlogged soils;
8. high yielding forage species for milk production;
9. suitable crop varieties for different agro-ecological zones;
10. plant extracts for control of crop pests
Three major activities were carried out:
FFS sensitization workshop. – in order to sensitize senior managers of KARI and the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, researchers and extensionists implementing the Soil Management Project and farmers on the role of the FFS approach in information transfer and scaling up of agricultural technologies. About 90
participants attended the workshop. Topics covered during the workshop included development of FFS training curricula, monitoring and evaluation of FFS and FFS for scaling-up integrated soil fertility and nutrient management and conservation technologies.
Training of Trainers course in the FFS approach. – in order to equip the Soil Management Project staff with methods, skills, attitudes and knowledge to design, facilitate and implement FFS in their project mandate areas. A total of 60 participants (30 research officers, 15 extensionists and 15 farmers) underwent the training. The course was divided into two parts: the first part covered the theory of FFS and the second part was a season long training in the field. FAO Kenya provided two facilitators to conduct the training.

Development of participatory monitoring and evaluation (PM&E) tools for the FFS. A six day workshop was organised to design and develop participatory tools for internal monitoring and evaluation of the effectiveness of FFS as an approach for up scaling technologies. A total of 35 participants attended the workshop.
The FFS process disseminated information to many farmers directly and indirectly. Many neighbouring farmers attended field days hosted by the FFS participants and learned about soil and crop technologies. After graduating, the FFS farmers passed on technical knowledge to an average of 10 farmers each. The Ministry of Agriculture has embraced it as promising
extension tool. The NGOs in the project site have recognized FFS as an upscaling methodology.