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Danish support promotes integrated farming systems through Farmers Field Schools
Agriculture is one of the key sectors for the Bangladeshi economy.
Bangladesh agriculture is predominandy marginal and small farm agriculture with crops including homestead vegetable, fisheries and livestock as sub-systems of the farming system.
Denmark has supported the agriculture and rural development sector in Bangladesh since the mid 1970s. At present the Agricultural Sector Programme Support Phase II (ASPS II) is under implementation. 1\vo of the three components in the programme involve field based agricultural extension. The Agricultural Extension Component is implemented by the Department of Agricultural Extension, promoting Integrated Crop Management, and the Regional Fisheries and Livestock Development Component is jointly implemented by the Department of Livestock Services and the Department of Fisheries, focusing on livestock and fisheries sub-sectors. The extension approach followed by both initiatives is the so-called Farmers Field School (FFS) approach.
The FSS is a participatory group learning approach that follows the experiential learning cycle for adult education. The participants of FFS are men and women and consists of a number of learning sessions held 15 days apart in which the farmers come to a central place, usually at a particular crop field or pond
side. In the case of the FFS, farmers are not given any lectures on any agricultural issues. Instead they learn by making careful observations of what is happening in their own fields. Based on these observations, they formulate and test their own ideas about how to manage their production.
The Farmers Field School assumes that farmers already have a wealth of experience and knowledge, and the approach encourages farmers to continue learning through a process of experimentation and carefill observation. FFS provides an environment in which farmers acquire the knowledge and skills to improve expected levels of production for their crop cultivation, livestock and poultry rearing and fish production through application of sound production manage-
ment decisions.
FFS empowers farmers to become “experts" on their own farms and to be more confident in solving their own problems. FFS sharpens farmers' abilities to make critical and informed decisions that make their farming activities more profitable and sustainable, improve farmers' problem solving abilities and shows farmers the benefits of working in groups and encourages group activities.
Under this strategy, the ASPS II components put a major effort into developing integrated farming systems for its farmers through mobilization of their total agricultural household resources to raise their income as well as reduction of associated risks. Resource persons from different government extension agencies are pulled together as facilitators. Advice and
information provided to the farmers take integrated farming systems perspective. The farmers in the FFS receive a coordinated training support to improve productivity of their crop agriculture including homestead vegetable cultivation, fisheries, livestock, poultry and in nutrition and health issues.
One or more villagers with the interest and capacity to become facilitators or trainers are selected jointly by the community, programme staff and government extension staff. These persons are chosen for their communication skills and motivation to train others and undergo an intensive Training of Trainers course. Initially facilitators and trainers operate as apprentices/co-facilitators, after gaining a certain level of experiences, they run new FFSs as independent facilitators and become the community's resource person on agriculture.
FFS has become a joint platform for the government extension staff, programme staff and the trained community resource persons with differing expertise providing coordinated extension services to the farmers. The Agriculture Sector Programme Support Phase II (2006-11), which is supported by the Government of Bangladesh and Denmark, plans to support more than 700,000 poor households through 28,000 Farmer Field Schools.