What should we expect from Farmer Field Schools? A Sri Lanka case study

    Collection:
    Agricultural Communications Documentation Center (ACDC)
    Contributers:
    Tripp, Robert (author / Overseas Development Institute, London, UK), Wijeratne, Mahinda (author / University of Ruhuna, Kamburupitiya, Sri Lanka), and Piyadasa, V. Hiroshini (author / University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka)
    Format:
    Journal article
    Publication Date:
    2005-10
    Published:
    USA
    Location:
    Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 146 Document Number: C23161
    Journal Title:
    World Development
    Journal Title Details:
    Vol. 33(10) : 1705-1720
    Subject Term:
    agricultural development, Asia, development, education effects, educational methods, farmer education, farmers, farming methods, information issues, insecticides, pest management, pesticides, rice, Sri Lanka, sustainable agriculture, teaching methods, and farmer field schools
    Notes:
    15 p., The results of a study in Sri Lanka, combined with a review of the literature, provide evidence that Farmer Field Schools (FFS) can contribute to increasing farmers' skills and lowering insecticide use in rice. However, there are questions about their capacity to reach the majority of farmers and there's little evidence that skills learned are passed to nonparticipants, or that an FFS is a likely basis for sustained group activity. The results draw attention to the problems of relying on simple formulas in agricultural programs and point to inadequacies in the assessment of donor projects.

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