Field Schools to Help Farmers Fight Poverty

from All Africa

The Monitor (Kampala)

NEWS

By Proscovia Nansubuga & Ashah Ntabadde

In a bid to control the various agricultural problems, farmers countrywide will have to adopt a new approach - the farmer field school.

This is an arrangement through which farmers play the leading role in learning how to observe, identify and analyse the various technologies used in agriculture.

The approach requires farmers to design a programme that guides them in determining the duration of their field visits that enables them share observations and recommend the way forward.

Ms Loy Nkoola, a member of Bulumbi Farmer Field School, Budaka sub-county in Budaka District, said a combination of Mucuna, soil and water conservation trenches and cariandra has helped her improve her harvest hence increasing her income.

"I share a lot of this knowledge with my neighbours whenever they ask me about the magic that keeps my crops healthy and growing especially in the dry season," she said.

Farmers under the guidance of extension workers form groups of 10 to 20, usually with a common interest of improving soil fertility for increased productivity, design an Agro-eco system analysis tool that helps them determine the impact of the technologies at the various stages of the test crop growth.

Nkoola said, "Through a season experiment, farmers are introduced to various soil and water management technologies out of which they choose the most appropriate approach. They also learn the agro-ecology of their fields, assess the labour requirements, effectiveness and cost implication of a given technology".

"Using the knowledge I acquired through the farmer field schools, I can identify the mineral that is absent in a given crop by just looking at the colour of crop," Perez Mulongo, facilitator, Umoja Farmer Field School in Tororo District said, adding that, "I and my neighbours can now realise better yields from our once unproductive soils.

The farmer field school has worked with small scale farmers, in four sub-counties of Budaka and Petete, Busano and Busiu in Palisa and Mbale Districts.

Each member benefits from the project. Mr Paul Nyende the co-ordinator, Integrated Soil Productivity through Research and Education (INSPIRE) activities added that farmers are empowered with the knowledge and skills to attain maximum value from the technology.

Some of them have graduated as farmer teachers and are now disseminating the technology to fellow farmers". INSPIRE is one the most cost effective strategies established to fight poverty, food insecurity and address soil productivity challenges in the eastern region.

Last year farmer field schools approach won the Environmental Alert, 2006 World Energy Global Award, under the earth category. This is one of the most prestigious Awards given to innovative projects that contribute to livelihoods improvement and environmental sustainability. The farmer field school approach was first used on a rice experiment project in Indonesia and several pilot projects have since been conducted in many parts of the world including Africa.

Results have indicated a greater potential for the extension approach to empower farmers to identify and address a wide range of production constraints that have for long frustrated efforts to fight poverty and food insecurity especially in Agro-based countries like Uganda.

Nyende however said that the National Agricultural Advisory Services has to play its role and identify the missing link that has limited the speed at which poverty reduction and its major goal is being realised.