Cluster-based Farmer Field School in the polders of Bangladesh: improving effectiveness of extension approach

 Rice Today   |  

Many approaches are adopted in agricultural technology dissemination across the globe. Among them, the Farmer Field School (FFS) model has been widely adopted in Asia, especially in Bangladesh. The key features of the FFS model include primary learning, which starts at a crop field and lasts for an entire cropping season; the meeting place is close to the learning plots; the FFS educational methods are experiential, participatory, and learner-centered; and are generally done involving between 25 and 30 farmers of a village.

The FFS approach enhances the knowledge and skills of a group of farmers sporadically chosen from a geographical area (a village) to improve productivity and farm income on a seasonal basis but not focused on year-round cropping and farming system. Since FFS is focused on geographical boundaries, hydrology is not considered one of the determinants for technology dissemination. It is broadly assumed that an individual farmer can successfully adopt agricultural innovations without linkages with other community members.

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