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Discoveries in Agriculture and Food Sciences - Vol. 10, No. 4

Publication Date: August 25, 2022

DOI:10.14738/dafs.104.14097.

Shekmohammed, S., & Lemma, S. (2022). Review of Farmers Field School Approach for Facilitation of Climate Smart Agriculture.

Discoveries in Agriculture and Food Sciences, 10(4). 12-22.

Services for Science and Education – United Kingdom

Review of Farmers Field School Approach for Facilitation of

Climate Smart Agriculture

Siraj Shekmohammed

Africa Center of Excellence for Climate Smart Agriculture and

Biodiversity Conservation, Haramaya University, Haramaya, Ethiopia

Samuel Lemma

Africa Center of Excellence for Climate Smart Agriculture and

Biodiversity Conservation, Haramaya University, Haramaya, Ethiopia

ABSTRACT

Sustainable agricultural development strategies depend on ensuring farmers

access technology and management techniques. Policymakers employ agricultural

extension and advisory services to accomplish this goal. The extension was

traditionally viewed as a 'top-down' institution, and used by policymakers to

disseminate knowledge about farming to the public. These traditional extension

methods have received criticism for being "one size fits all," failing to account for

the wide variety of socioeconomic and institutional contexts that farmers must

operate in, and failing to involve farmers in the creation of technology and practices

suitable for their environments. Additionally, it was thought that more intensive

strategies were required to communicate complex messages. Since the 1980s, a

more inclusive methodology has been used to deliver extension services, with

farmer field schools emerging as a key component. This paper examined farmer

field schools as a strategy for promoting climate-smart agriculture. The paper also

examined the role of this approach in promoting climate-smart agriculture and

engaging the general public. A discussion of farmer field schools' experiences

around the world is also included, with a focus on the effects of their methodologies.

The paper also outlined the strength and weaknesses of farmer field school

strategies.

Keywords: Approaches, Advisory service, Extension service, Farmer Field Schools,

Technologies, Traditional, Social mobilization.

INTRODUCTION

Agriculture production, food systems, and food security are all negatively impacted by climate

change and variability [1]. Depending on the crop, climate change is expected to continue to

hurt overall crop yields in East Africa by up to 5-72%, or an average of 24.3% [2]. More climate- resilient, environmentally sustainable agricultural production practices must be adopted to

boost agricultural productivity and strengthen agribusiness resilience in the face of rising

climate variability [3]. This call requires coordinated investments from agricultural value

actors and partners to support transformational change. For such a transformation, actionable,

sustainable climate information is essential [4][5]. However, the majority of smallholder

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Shekmohammed, S., & Lemma, S. (2022). Review of Farmers Field School Approach for Facilitation of Climate Smart Agriculture. Discoveries in

Agriculture and Food Sciences, 10(4). 12-22.

URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.14738/dafs.104.14097

farmers currently do not receive actionable climate information for efficient decision-making

due to the difficulties of the climatic "new reality" [6][1].

Agriculture must become "climate-smart" to address some of the complex issues brought on by

climate change. To do this, agriculture must sustainably boost agricultural productivity and

incomes, adapt to the changing climate, and build resilience to it. Wherever possible, it must

also reduce and/or eliminate greenhouse gas emissions [7]. Agriculture that practices climate- smart practices (CSA) helps to achieve sustainable development objectives. It combines the

economic, social, and environmental aspects of sustainable development by jointly addressing

the problems with food security and the environment.

A crucial element of CSA is the use of a co-learning strategy among all stakeholders to promote

social learning. Farmer Field Schools are one such important capacity-development strategy to

improve organizational and individual capacities [8]. One of the delivery models used in

agricultural extension, the field school model is a concept based on group dynamics and

experiential adult learning [9]. The goal of developing climate-resilient agricultural systems can

be achieved by using field school methods that emphasize and incorporate climate information.

FFS methodology is a bottom-up strategy based on Robert Chambers' "farmer first"

philosophy [10]. Through social learning and capacity building, the methodology has been

widely used to promote adaptation practices [11].

With an emphasis on problem-solving and discovery-based learning, the FFS approach is a

cutting-edge, interactive, participatory learning strategy. FFS aims to increase farmers' ability

to evaluate their farming systems, spot issues, test potential fixes, and ultimately persuade

participants to adopt practices best suited to their farming systems [12]. To adopt, and grow,

the pedagogical and empowering FFS approach has also been developing into "Climate Field

Schools. This paper examined FFS as a scaling-up strategy for CSA practices.

HOW TO SCALE UP CSA: THE ROLE OF EXTENSION AND ADVISORY SERVICES

Expanding Climate Smart Agriculture can benefit greatly from the use of extension and advisory

services (EAS) (CSA). All three of CSA's goals—food security, adaptation, and mitigation—are

made possible by EAS, but at the moment their attention is primarily on the first goal, namely

achieving food security through increased productivity. EAS now needs to be used more

actively to aid rural communities in adapting to climate change and to help mitigate it [13].

Millions of agricultural producers will need to change their behavior, approaches, and

agricultural practices to scale up CSA. These producers must learn more about the effects of

climate change to adopt more climate-smart approaches.

EAS has long provided a link between agricultural research and farmer support by

disseminating information on emerging technologies. However, the successful expansion of

CSA necessitates strategies that go far beyond modifying agronomic practices at the farm level

[14]. It necessitates identifying and promoting appropriate practices, technologies, and/or

models (new, improved, adapted) within welcoming enabling environments. Additionally, it

calls for beneficial institutional arrangements, policies, and monetary investments on both a

local and global scale [15]. Therefore, EAS needs to be supported by extensive expertise and

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Discoveries in Agriculture and Food Sciences (DAFS) Vol 10, Issue 4, August- 2022

Services for Science and Education – United Kingdom

skills to encourage interaction and the flow of knowledge among a wider range of stakeholders

than is currently the case.

Contribution to Sustainably Increasing Productivity

The extension's emphasis is shifting away from disseminating knowledge, skills, and

technologies about how to produce crops, livestock, and forestry products to farmers and

toward developing technologies alongside farmers and fostering and facilitating innovation

processes in response to the evolving nature of agriculture and farmers' needs. This change in

emphasis is consistent with the requirement for site-specific assessments to determine the

appropriate agricultural technologies and practices required for CSA.

Extension providers have demonstrated great success in many countries using participatory

techniques and strategies, such as participatory technology development, enabling rural

innovation, and innovation platforms to develop and disseminate technologies and promote

innovation through multi-stakeholder engagement [16]. EAS also has a wealth of experience in

disseminating technologies, knowledge, and practices using a variety of approaches, such as

conventional extension modes (such as face-to-face interaction, demonstrations, field days,

printed materials, etc.), ICTs (radio, mobile phones, video, social media), rural information

centers [17], farmer-to-farmer extension [18], for a Kenyan experience. Through the

development and information sharing, EAS significantly contributes to improving adaptation

technology while steadily increasing productivity.

Role in Building Resilience

With a focus on improving farmer experimentation and problem-solving skills to promote

adoption and decision-making regarding knowledge-intensive agricultural practices, EAS has a

wealth of experience with non-formal education and experiential learning approaches (such as

farmer field schools, farmer learning groups, and local agricultural research committees) [19].

To promote livelihood diversification, some AS have adopted a market-oriented approach to

extension by supporting farmers in the area of marketing, value addition, and enterprise skills

development. EAS collaborates closely with humanitarian organizations to distribute seeds and

inputs, which helps to increase resilience after extreme climate events [20]. Although the role

of EAS in building resilience has not received much attention, it is clear that enhancing this

importance will typically necessitate new organizational and individual capacities and skill sets

[21].

Supporting Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation

The "linking" function of extension organizations, which connects farmers to other rural

stakeholders and service providers, is one of their traditional roles. More recently, agricultural

innovation systems (AIS) have been supported by AS providers in many nations by

participating in various ways in the creation of multi-stakeholder innovation platforms. These

include serving as the principal innovation broker (the entity that sparks the innovation

process and connects the participants), serving as a "bridging" entity that promotes

communication between participants, organizing and building networks, assisting participants,

facilitating access to information, knowledge, and expertise, and offering technical support [22].

According to Leeuw and Hall [23], innovation platforms are a type of institutional innovation