Launch of the Farmer Field Schools (FFS) Platform

14 February 2018. Rome. The Farmer Field Schools (FFS) approach, currently implemented in over 90 countries, enhances food security and sustainable agricultural development. Through this approach, small-scale farmers have been learning how to better manage crop, fish, livestock and tree production while facing climate change and other challenges, and to strengthen collaboration for improved livelihoods since 1989. 

FAO is launched the Global FFS Platform to better connect the worldwide network of practitioners and facilitate the exchange of knowledge, expertise and information.

• Farmer Field Schools – Over 20 years on the road to sustainable agriculture (Anne-Sophie Poisot, AGP)
• Farmer Field School impacts around the globe – Ensuring quality results (Henk van den Berg, Wageningen University)
• The Global Farmer Field School platform (Suzanne Phillips, AGP)

Panel discussion on Field School experiences with participation from:

• Bukar Tijani, ADG, RAF
• Karl Deering, Director, Climate Resilient Agriculture, CARE
• Norman Messer, Senior Technical Specialist, Rural Development/Institutions, IFAD
• Deborah Duveskog, Resilience Team for Eastern Africa, FAO Kenya
• Johannes Ketelaar, FAO Regional Office for Asia

The event was webcast and is available online

Related:

20 and 21 February 2018. Bilbao, Spain. Communication Toolkit for Launch of GFAR Collective Action on Participatory Research 

The World Rural Forum, with other Partners in GFAR, will launch a GFAR Collective Action for “Enhancing participatory processes between Family Farmers, Civil Society/Rural Communities, Research Institutes”, to continue to strengthen the participation of family farmers, civil society organizations, rural communities and their small and medium enterprises in research processes – an agenda long championed through GFAR’s collective actions. To demonstrate the effectiveness of real collaboration in the field and the impacts for rural communities, it is also essential to be able to monitor and measure the impacts of these partnerships between farmers and research for innovation. 

A full design and action plan for this Collective Action will be agreed among participating Partners in GFAR as a basis for joint collaboration. The Collective Action will create a learning space grounded in fostering bottom-up processes, mutual learning, open sharing and breaking down institutional barriers. Through dialogue, with farmers themselves at the center, this Collective Action will bolster and demonstrate the crucial links between research and society, between science and the people who use it to bring food to our tables.

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