Influence of Group Dynamics on Farmers’ Field Schools in Nepal

Journal of Agrarian Change

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2017

This study was conducted in Uganda to determine whether socio-economic factors influence farmer participation in mixed sex coffee Integrated Pest Management group processes mobilized by the USAID funded Integrated Pest Management Collaborative Research (IPM CRSP) Program in Uganda. The study used a cross sectional research design and a total 126 (71 men and 55 women) coffee IPM group members by census. A participation index was computed as a measure of level of participation in group processes. The ordered probit regression model was used to analyze determinants of level of participation in coffee IPM groups processes. Findings revealed that about 46% of the men compared to 25% women rated high on the group participation index with a significant chi-square difference (p< 0.05). Membership in economic groups, being a man, access to extension services, age, total number of household labor and participation in non-farm income generating activities significantly and positively influe...

Crop Pretection, 2019

This paper addresses the conditions and mechanisms that sustain pesticide use by Cambodian rice farmers and constrain a transition to more sustainable pest control practices. We analyzed data from a survey of individual farmers (N ¼ 320), focus group discussions with farmer groups, and interviews with input sellers, rat hunters and local extension agents. Our findings show that farmers mix different types (e.g. herbicides and insecticides) and brands of pesticides in one application. Other chemicals, in particular 'growth activators' are often added to these mixes. The interaction patterns and financial arrangements among farmers, pesticide sellers, and laborers promote or sustain these practices. Increasing returns to information and recursive social interaction at the community level thus create a lock-in situation for pesticide use. These findings have direct implications on targeting interventions, which are often aimed at providing knowledge to government extension agents and farmers. Our results suggest that farmers' knowledge on pest management is not the only driver for their decisions and practices. A broader scope of intervention in communication and feedback loops between stakeholders directly interacting with farmers can help to diversify the suite of recommendations while providing a balance in the information that reaches farmers. Changes in these social arrangements and informal rules may be required to affect positive changes in rice pest management.

A comparative study was conducted from June to September 2001 in the Sudan's Gezira Scheme to assess the long-term impact of integrated pest management (IPM) farmer field schools (FFS) on farmers ' self-reported knowledge, attitudes, practices, and empowerment. FFS were implemented between 1993 and in the context of an FAO IPM in Vegetables Project. This paper is based on a comparison and contrast of results from a 1993 baseline study, a 1995 evaluation study, and a restudy conducted in 2001. The duration of the original FFS project of only three years provided an opportunity to explore the lasting results of an intervention. Although the methodology had several flaws, some tentative conclusions which are supported by the time series data are: Former participants in the FFS training, compared with non-participants, continued to follow FFS recommendations on: • Using the recommended quantity of pesticide per feddan 2 • Using the recommended number of sprayings per season • Using protective clothing • Observing safety periods The study also provided evidence of the degree of empowerment among the participant group when assessed by the following indicators: • Strengthening friendship and trust among FFS participants • Collective activities • More self-confidence of Gezira field inspectors • Incipient organization • Non-compliance with Scheme regulations The overall conclusions are: • FFSs can be considered as a transformational learning process that qualifies farmers with a long-term effect. • The changed behaviours of participants do not seem to have diffused to farmers in non-FFS villages.

Agriculture and Human Values, 1994

Investment in agricultural extension, as well as its design and practice, are usually based on the assumption that agricultural science generates technology (“applied science“), which extension experts transfer to “users“. This model negates local knowledge and creativity, ignores farmers' self-confidence and social energy as important sources of change, and, in its most linear expression, does not pay attention to information from and about farmers as a condition for anticipating utilization. In practice, farmers rely on knowledge developed by farmers, reinvent ideas brought from outside and actively integrate them into complex farming decisions. Effective extension seems based on checks and balances that match intervention power with farmers' countervailing power, and mobilize farmers' creativity and participation in technology development and exchange. Alternative models for informing extension investment, design, and practice stress adult learning and its facilitation. The farmer is seen as an expert and farm development as driven by farmers' energy and communication. The article is a case study of a rare large scale attempt to use such an alternative model. It suggests that a shift to knowledgeintensive sustainable practices requires a learning process based on participation and empowerment.

Frontiers in human dynamics, 2023

Over the last three decades, Nepal has experienced a rapid transition in rural livelihoods, from largely subsistence farming to more diversified o-farm employment and remittances. Despite this, subsistence farming continues to be a central part of rural production. Why does farming persist in the face of other, more remunerative, o-farm employment options? In this article we argue that subsistence food production continues to be important for rural livelihood security by providing food needs from farming, thus helping households to cope with uncertainties in o-farm employment and international labor migration. Taking the COVID-pandemic as an example of a high level of livelihood stress, the paper provides insights and further explanations on the logic of maintaining subsistence food production as part of rural households' livelihood security. Drawing on in-depth qualitative study, complemented with a quantitative survey from eight villages in rural Nepal, we examine the impact of the pandemic on farming and o-farm activities and explore the reasons behind peoples' choice of livelihood strategies and how these vary between di erent social groups. We show that there was only limited impact of the dramatic disruptions caused by the global pandemic on subsistence farming, however it brought substantial challenges for emerging semi-commercial farming and o-farm incomes, including both local and migratory wage labor. During the pandemic, people increased their reliance on locally produced food, and subsistence farming served as a critical safety net. Our analysis underscores the continued importance of subsistence production amidst contemporary shifts toward o-farm employment among rural households. We also find a growing interest in semi-commercial farming among farmers with better access to land who seek state support to develop such production. This suggests that it is important for agricultural development policy to recognize and support subsistence farming alongside emerging commercial agriculture production as an integral foundation of future farming and rural livelihood security.

The recent group-based training approaches such as Farmer Field School (FFS) and Common Interest Group (CIG) have been promoted in Kenya to accelerate dissemination of new technologies among farmers. The acceleration of technology adoption is, in turn, expected to have positive impacts on yield, income and adoption of pest management practices. Yet, no conclusive evidence exists to confirm that this might be the case. Using a data from random sample of 495 FFS, CIG and individual farmers this paper evaluated the impact of FFS and CIG participation on yield, income and pest management practices among smallholder horticulture farmers in Kenya. A propensity score matching method was used to determine the average treatment effect on FFS and CIG participation against farmers who operate individually. From the analysis results, FFS and CIG participation had a positive impact on yield and adoption of pest management practices respectively suggesting the importance of farmer groups.

2001

Submitting papers to the Gatekeeper Series We welcome contributions to the Gatekeeper Series from researchers and practitioners alike. The Series addresses issues of interest to policy makers relating to the broad area of sustainable agriculture and resource management. Gatekeepers aim to provide an informed briefing on key policy issues in a readable, digestible form for an institutional and individual readership largely comprising policy and decision-makers within aid agencies, national governments, NGOs and research institutes throughout the world. In addition to this primary audience, Gatekeepers are increasingly requested by educators in tertiary education institutions, particularly in the South, for use as course or seminar discussion material.

Global Journal of Environmental Science and Management, 2019

Understanding farmers’ perception is important in the development of sustainable and cost-effective integrated pest management strategies. Hence, farmers’ perception on rice insect pests and pesticide use was evaluated by selected 112 farmers composed of 77% males and 23% females, over the rice growing areas of North Cotabato, Central Mindanao, Philippines. 62% of farmers that were interviewed use pesticides based on the presence of pests. These farmers identified white stem borer and rice leaf folder as the most encountered insect pests on the local rice crops. Due to these insect pests, rice production became constrained producing low income for the farmers. Pesticide application was perceived to be effective (73%) but not efficient in controlling insects. Moreover, farmers recognized the negative effects of pesticide applications in the environment (76%). However, in spite of these expensive pest control strategies, local farmers still agreed (83%) to apply these methods to incre...

IFAD Research Series, 2020

Rice farmers in the mid-hills region of Nepal are vulnerable to drought, which can drastically reduce yields. Stress-tolerant rice varieties (STRVs) can mitigate this vulnerability, as can having a high seed replacement rate and using best management practices (BMPs) in rice cultivation. In 2013, IFAD established and trained 12 seed producer groups (SPGs) across three districts in Nepal to improve local access to STRV seed. This paper presents propensity-score–weighted regressions used to estimate the spillover effects of SPGs on the adoption of STRVs and BMPs, as well as on the seed replacement rate of non-member households in villages with an SPG, or that are next to a village with an SPG, compared to randomly selected villages in the region.