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The current study determined the factors influencing the perception of tea farmers towards organic tea production in Rulindo District, Rwanda. This study used both qualitative and quantitative data from face to face interviews and questionnaires completed with 156 tea farmers and other key informants in the tea sector who were randomly selected in 2019. Using function step AIC in R’s MASS package, the final multiple logistic regression model showed that generating income from tea production, participation in Umuganda, conveying messages at Ihangari, participation to agricultural shows, and receiving training from Farmers Field Schools (FFS) influenced farmers’ perceptions towards organic tea production. Thus, the results of this study could be useful to stakeholders in Rwanda’s tea sector, such as policymakers and decision-makers. They can act as a source of information when developing a more sustainable research-based tea extension program. Moreover, the results of this study can be used during the capacity building of farmers about organic tea production. RESUMO: O objetivo deste estudo é determinar os fatores que influenciam a percepção dos produtores de chá em relação à produção de chá orgânico no distrito de Rulindo, Ruanda. Esta pesquisa utilizou dados qualitativos e quantitativos de entrevistas e questionários presenciais preenchidos com 156 cafeicultores e outros informantes-chave do setor de chá que foram alocados aleatoriamente em 2019. Usando a etapa de função AIC no pacote MASS de R, o modelo final de regressão logística múltipla mostrou que a participação em Umuganda, transmitindo mensagens na ihangari, discussões com um revendedor Agro nas aldeias, obtendo renda com as vendas de folhas de chá verde fresco, acesso dos cafeicultores à Internet, participação na exposição agrícola e treinamento em escolas agrícolas da Cooperativa Os cafeicultores tiveram à previsão da percepção da produção orgânica de chá. Assim, os resultados deste estudo podem ser úteis para as partes interessadas no setor de chá de Ruanda, como formuladores de políticas e tomadores de decisão. Eles podem atuar como fonte de informação ao desenvolver um programa de extensão do chá mais sustentável, baseado em pesquisa. Além disso, os resultados deste estudo podem ser utilizados durante a capacitação dos agricultores sobre o cultivo de chá orgânico.

We evaluate causal impacts of a large‐scale agricultural extension program for smallholder women farmers on technology adoption and food security in Uganda through a regression discontinuity design that exploits an arbitrary distance‐to‐branch threshold for village program eligibility. We find eligible farmers used better basic cultivation methods, achieved improved food security. Given minimal changes in adoption of relatively expensive inputs, we attribute these gains to improved cultivation methods that require low upfront monetary investment. Farmers also modified their shock‐coping methods. These results highlight the role of information and training in boosting agricultural productivity among poor farmers and, indirectly, improving food security.

In recent decades, pigs and pork have been the central elements of Chinese agricultural systems, food security, and diet. China’s rapid income growth has induced a significant change in food consumption patterns, and hog production has received utmost attention from both, the Chinese government and the public. While the impact of Farmer Field Schools (FFS) on crop cultivation has been widely studied, few studies have examined the impact of FFS on hog production. This study uses data collected from 222 hog farmers in Beijing to examine the impact of FFS on the productivity of hog production, focusing on its three main indicators: feed conversion ratio and the mortality of sows and piglets. We found that farms that participated in FFS programs significantly improved the feed conversion ratio of hog production, particularly in small scale hog farms. On average, FFS reduced the feed conversion ratio for herd sizes of 1000, 500, and 200 by 6.8%, 10.7%, and 14.0%, respectively. We did not find evidence that farms that participated in FFS programs had a significant impact on minimizing the mortality of sows and piglets. This study suggests that the knowledge training model of the FFS program could also work in fields other than crop cultivation. Furthermore, we suggest that more attention could be paid to extension services diffusing knowledge of vaccination and disinfection in hog FFS programs.

We evaluate causal impacts of a large-scale agricultural extension program for smallholder women farmers on technology adoption and food security in Uganda through a regression discontinuity design that exploits an arbitrary distance-to-branch threshold for village program eligibility. We find eligible farmers used better basic cultivation methods, achieved improved food security. Given minimal changes in adoption of relatively expensive inputs, we attribute these gains to improved cultivation methods that require low upfront monetary investment. Farmers also modified their shock-coping methods. These results highlight the role of information and training in boosting agricultural productivity among poor farmers and, indirectly, improving food security.

Achieving and maintaining a high herd health and welfare status is an important aim in organic livestock farming. The varying farming systems across and within countries call for models that are relevant for different farming types and that can be integrated into local practice. In stable schools, farmers take responsibility for health and welfare planning by identifying issues, setting goals, and acting to improve the health situation based on farm-specific data, e.g. milk production. This paper reviews the results from intervention studies that used a modified ‘farmer field school’ approach for animal health and welfare planning, providing an overview of ongoing activities and their implementation into advisory situations in selected European countries. Studies on stable schools as an intervention tool showed improvements regarding the specific project aim on the majority of the participating farms. Farmers and facilitators were convinced of the approach and benefits for dairy herds. Farmers’ attitude and attention towards their herds and their ownership of the process appear to be crucial success factors for herd health and welfare situations. In some European countries, this method has been implemented in advisory practice, and in other regions, there are relevant and promising opportunities.

Integrated Pest Management (IPM) is a leading complement and alternative to synthetic pesticides and a form of sustainable intensification with particular importance for tropical smallholders. Global pesticide use has grown over the past 20 years to 3.5 billion kg/year, amounting to a global market worth $45 billion. The external costs of pesticides are $4–$19 (€3–15) per kg of active ingredient applied, suggesting that IPM approaches that result in lower pesticide use will benefit, not only farmers, but also wider environments and human health. Evidence for IPM’s impacts on pesticide use and yields remains patchy. We contribute an evaluation using data from 85 IPM projects from 24 countries of Asia and Africa implemented over the past twenty years. Analysing outcomes on productivity and reliance on pesticides, we find a mean yield increase across projects and crops of 40.9% (SD 72.3), combined with a decline in pesticide use to 30.7% (SD 34.9) compared with baseline. A total of 35 of 115 (30%) crop combinations resulted in a transition to zero pesticide use. We assess successes in four types of IPM projects, and find that at least 50% of pesticide use is not needed in most agroecosystems. Nonetheless, policy support for IPM is relatively rare, counter-interventions from pesticide industry common, and the IPM challenge never done as pests, diseases and weeds evolve and move.

Agriculture in Northwestern Ghana is subsistence in nature with low productivity due to continuous monocropping of cereals with low input usage. Conservation agriculture has been introduced in the northwestern part of Ghana in 2010 as a potential intervention to address these issues. A baseline study was conducted to gather farmers’ biophysical and socio-economic characteristics, farming methods and a knowledge index of conservation agriculture practices. The knowledge index indicated limited understanding of most of the components of conservation agriculture practices by both male and female farmers. Two farmer field schools aimed at promoting the conservation agricultural practices were conducted and offered to approximately 1/3 of all individuals surveyed at the baseline. These same farmers were resurveyed in 2012 in order to determine whether their knowledge on conservation agriculture practices has changed using a double-difference approach. The approach is also be used to determine whether innate perceptions and biases against conservation agriculture have changed over time through the field schools. These findings are supported with partial budgets on conservation practices in order to determine whether knowledge or on-farm economics limit adoption of conservation practices.

Metadata only record This article compares the perceptions of conservation agriculture on the part of farmers with that of the agricultural experts tasked with spreading a technology. Differences among these two groups in reasoning and predictions was examined in Nepal. It was found that outcomes from adoption of conservation agriculture better reflected farmers' predictions than the supposed experts, providing evidence to support two-way learning models and discouraging universal application of an agricultural technology. LTRA-11 (CAPS among tribal societies in India and Nepal)

Metadata only record This article focuses on how farmers learn about new technologies since the adoption of a new technology is a central feature of the transformation of farming systems. There are many possible sources to learn about new technologies such as from other farmers, the extension service, the media, or researchers. The authors focus on how pineapple farmers in Ghana learn in a way that contradicts much of the existing work on this topic.

Metadata only record 2008 was the second year of trials and the 6 participating farmers received much better yields than in 2007. Local government staff were involved in SRI exposure trips to the fields of SRI farmers and now these officials from the local government are supporting and promoting SRI in the region. The SRI method saves time because seedlings are transplanted 8-13 days after seed planting compared to 35-40 days for conventional rice cropping. Thus, the SRI rice plants produce stronger and healthier roots when compared to conventionally planted rice plants. In 2008 the SRI yields were essentially double compared to conventional methods. All the SRI volunteer farmers and neighboring farmers were happy with the SRI results and would like to extend SRI next year.

Metadata only record The continuing saga of efforts to stimulate economic growth in Africa through agricultural development reflects the rise and fall of the many 'fads and fashions' in international development over the past 50 years. Following the poor performance of rural development projects to significantly improve the welfare of the rural poor through the mid-1980s, the region has witnessed an almost universal abandonment of support for large-scale, state-run extension programs. After pursuing alternative policies, such as support of non-governmental organizations and, to a lesser extent, producer associations, a growing number of donors and governments have shown an interest in a renewed backing of state-sponsored agricultural extension programs. Recently, interest has begun to coalesce around the potentials offered by the Farmer Field School (FFS) approach. Included in this paper is a brief look at some of the key elements in the FFS approach, its transfer to Africa, and some notes on the source of information used in this paper. The results and conclusions center around 6 key issues: the responsiveness of the FFS approach to local conditions; FFS achievements in instilling systems learning and generation of new knowledge; facilitation of farmer-to-farmer information exchange; local institutionalization; impact on relationships between farmers, extension, and other stakeholders; and the specific challenges faced by extension programs in integrating the approach into their programs. Some concluding observations are made on the progress, pitfalls, and potentials of the FFS approach to fill a significant role in the revitalization of national extension programs within the region.

Metadata only record Agricultural extension programs or pilots based on the Farmer Field School (FFS) approach are being implemented in many developing countries in Asia and Africa. Evidence from the Philippines and Indonesia, two key areas in implementing this extension effort, shows that fiscal unsustainability of the FFS if applied on a large scale is a risk that cannot be ignored. Because of high costs per trained farmer, the amount of funding for extension in the Philippines cannot provide for significant farmer outreach. Farmer-led field schools are viewed by some as a way out of this fiscal dilemma if part of the cost is shifted to the community, but farm survey data from Indonesia indicate that the extent of the takeover of training responsibilities by farmers has been minor. Furthermore, farmer-led schools are still not funded mainly by community resources. The results suggest a need for great selectivity and caution in initiating FFS pilots, with a focus on the fiscal sustainability of the program if the intention is to scale up these activities. Available in SANREM office, FS

Integrated nutrient management (INM) is a broad-based remedy against excessive soil fertility decline or accumulation, problems which are increasingly recognised as major constraints to farming in both temperate and tropical hemispheres. The different technical indicators of INM (nutrient stocks, nutrient flows, technologies) are listed in the paper. At the same time, INM requires social interventions to arrive at technologies that simultaneously improve soil fertility in a sustainable way, and make sense to farmers given their different social and economic motives. As the limitations of transfer of technology to promote better INM become more obvious (particularly in lesser-endowed regions in the tropics), there is a need to develop new strategies, focussing on the facilitation of farmer learning to become experts at INM and at capturing the opportunities in their diverse environments. Facilitating INM therefore, requires a praxeology (theory informing practice, and practices feeding new theory) about facilitating innovation, focussing on enhancing the farmers' capacity to observe, experiment, discuss, evaluate and plan ahead. The paper lists the work needed to facilitate this learning with respect to INM, borrowing a leaf from earlier successes in the field of integrated pest management (IPM). Indispensable ingredients are participatory rural appraisals and participatory technology development, which emphasizes mutual open-mindedness and empathy between all the participants. The paper provides guidelines for the development of INM learning, but further field testing still has to be undertaken.

The objective of the Savings, Agriculture, Governance, and Empowerment for Health (SAGE4Health) study was to evaluate the impact of a large-scale multi-level economic and food security intervention on health outcomes and HIV vulnerability in rural Malawi. The study employed a quasi-experimental non-equivalent control group design to compare intervention participants (n = 598) with people participating in unrelated programs in distinct but similar geographical areas (control, n = 301). We conducted participant interviews at baseline, 18–, and 36–months on HIV vulnerability and related health outcomes, food security, and economic vulnerability. Randomly selected households (n = 1002) were interviewed in the intervention and control areas at baseline and 36 months. Compared to the control group, the intervention led to increased HIV testing (OR 1.90; 95 % CI 1.29–2.78) and HIV case finding (OR = 2.13; 95 % CI 1.07–4.22); decreased food insecurity (OR = 0.74; 95 % CI 0.63–0.87), increased nutritional diversity, and improved economic resilience to shocks. Most effects were sustained over a 3-year period. Further, no significant differences in change were found over the 3-year study period on surveys of randomly selected households in the intervention and control areas. Although there were general trends toward improvement in the study area, only intervention participants’ outcomes were significantly better. Results indicate the intervention can improve economic and food security and HIV vulnerability through increased testing and case finding. Leveraging the resources of economic development NGOs to deliver locally-developed programs with scientific funding to conduct controlled evaluations has the potential to accelerate the scientific evidence base for the effects of economic development programs on health.