Farmer Field School Facilitation for Agricultural Extension Training Course

Course overview

Agricultural extension programmes often struggle to move beyond one-way farmer training sessions that provide recommendations but do not build local problem-solving capacity. Farmer Field Schools (FFS) address this gap by placing farmers at the centre of seasonal learning, using observation, comparison, experimentation and group analysis to make decisions about crops, livestock or natural-resource management. This course prepares extension professionals to facilitate that process reliably, including where groups have mixed literacy levels, competing priorities, limited inputs and variable access to demonstration sites.

Participants learn to design an FFS cycle around a priority production issue, conduct agroecosystem analysis (AESA), establish comparison plots, guide discovery-based learning and manage group dynamics without reverting to lecture-led extension. The programme covers participatory needs assessment, learning objectives, season-long curriculum design, field observation protocols, integrated pest management decision-making, gender and inclusion planning, and monitoring evidence of farmer practice change. Participants also learn how to use KoboToolbox and ODK Collect to capture field observations and group learning data.

Delivery combines instructor-led method briefings with facilitated practice, realistic extension case studies, role-played field-school sessions and small-group design studios. Participants work with an agricultural scenario relevant to their context, such as maize pest management, vegetable production, soil health or smallholder irrigation. By the final day, each participant leaves with a reviewed Farmer Field School Facilitation Pack: a session plan, AESA worksheet, demonstration-plot protocol, inclusion plan, monitoring framework and implementation action plan ready for adaptation within their extension programme.

The course is designed for professionals who already work with farming communities and need a structured participatory extension method rather than a technical production course. It is particularly valuable for agencies seeking to standardise FFS quality across field teams while retaining responsiveness to local farmer priorities.

Course objectives

By the end of this course, participants will be able to:

• Conduct a participatory needs assessment that identifies a priority farmer decision, production constraint and learning-group profile
• Design a season-long Farmer Field School curriculum with sequenced learning objectives, field activities and review points
• Facilitate agroecosystem analysis using observation, field sampling, field sketches and farmer-led decision discussion
• Set up comparison plots and simple farmer experiments with treatments, indicators, observation schedules and safeguarding controls
• Lead discovery-based sessions using probing questions, small-group tasks and visual learning aids for mixed-literacy groups
• Apply integrated pest management decision thresholds and natural-enemy observations within Farmer Field School activities
• Create an inclusive facilitation plan addressing gender, youth participation, accessibility, language and local power dynamics
• Produce a Farmer Field School Facilitation Pack containing session plans, data tools, monitoring indicators and an implementation schedule

Benefits of attending

Target competencies

Who should attend

• Agricultural Extension Officers — who need to facilitate farmer-led learning rather than deliver prescriptive advisory talks
• Farmer Field School Facilitators — who need a repeatable structure for AESA, discovery learning and seasonal group management
• Agronomists — who translate crop-management evidence into practical learning experiments for smallholder groups
• Programme Managers — who oversee extension quality, facilitator consistency and results across agricultural projects
• NGO Livelihoods Officers — who run climate-smart agriculture or food-security activities with producer communities
• Lead Farmers and Cooperative Trainers — who support peer learning and need credible facilitation tools for group sessions

Requirements and prerequisites

Participants should have practical exposure to agricultural extension, producer-group engagement or farm advisory work, and be comfortable discussing basic crop production concepts such as planting, soil fertility, pests, diseases, irrigation and yield. Experience facilitating meetings or training is useful, but formal teaching qualifications are not required. Participants should be able to use a laptop or smartphone for simple data entry and bring examples of a crop, livestock or natural-resource issue from their work area. No prior Farmer Field School certification, advanced agronomy, statistics software or GIS expertise is required.

Training methodology

The course uses short instructor-led inputs to establish the Farmer Field School method, followed by practical facilitation laboratories. Participants analyse a farm scenario, practise AESA with sample observation data and images, design comparison plots, and role-play difficult group situations such as dominant participants or conflicting farmer advice. Teams build a seasonal FFS curriculum and test one session through peer facilitation. Case reviews examine field-school quality, inclusion and evidence use. The final application-planning workshop turns each participant’s work into an implementable Facilitation Pack for their programme area.

Course outline

Day 1: Farmer Field School foundations and diagnosis

• Farmer Field School principles and the facilitator role
• Differences between advisory extension, demonstrations and discovery learning
• FFS cycle stages from mobilisation to graduation
• Participatory rural appraisal for agricultural learning needs
• Problem-tree analysis of production constraints
• Farmer-group profiling by enterprise, season, gender and access to resources
• Defining measurable FFS learning objectives and farmer decisions

Workshop: Participants conduct a simulated community diagnosis and produce a priority-learning statement, participant profile and draft FFS objective.

Day 2: Agroecosystem analysis and field learning

• Agroecosystem analysis purpose, sequence and facilitation standards
• Field observation zones and representative sampling methods
• Crop growth-stage assessment and plant-health observations
• Pest, disease, weed and natural-enemy identification basics
• Soil moisture, nutrient-condition and weather observation indicators
• AESA field sketches, group reporting and decision matrices
• Facilitator questioning techniques for evidence-based farmer discussion

Workshop: Participants complete an AESA using a crop scenario dataset and produce a field sketch, observation table and farmer decision record.

Day 3: Experiments, comparison plots and technical discovery

• Selecting field-school experiments from farmer questions
• Comparison-plot design with treatment and control options
• Plot layout, replication, randomisation and practical field constraints
• Observation calendars and indicator definitions
• Integrated pest management discovery exercises
• Cost-benefit recording for farmer-managed trials
• Biosafety, pesticide-risk communication and ethical field protocols

Workshop: Teams design a comparison-plot protocol for a local production problem and produce a plot map, treatment schedule and data sheet.

Day 4: Facilitating inclusive seasonal learning groups

• Season-long curriculum sequencing and session architecture
• Learning-by-discovery activities for mixed-literacy groups
• Visual aids, local materials and non-text-based instruction
• Gender-responsive participation and household decision dynamics
• Youth inclusion, disability access and language adaptation
• Managing dominant voices, conflict and misinformation in farmer groups
• Attendance, group governance and referral pathways for extension support

Workshop: Participants facilitate a timed FFS session role-play and receive structured feedback on questioning, inclusion and group-management choices.

Day 5: Monitoring, digital data and implementation planning

• FFS monitoring framework for attendance, learning and practice change
• Baseline and endline questions for farmer knowledge and decision confidence
• KoboToolbox form design for AESA and session monitoring
• ODK Collect workflows for offline field data capture
• Data quality checks, consent and responsible data handling
• QGIS mapping of FFS sites and demonstration plots
• Facilitator supervision, quality assurance and scale-up planning

Workshop: Participants assemble and present a complete Farmer Field School Facilitation Pack, including a digital monitoring form and 90-day implementation plan.

Tools & standards covered

KoboToolbox, ODK Collect, QGIS, FAO Farmer Field School Guidance Document

A typical training day

Live online deliveries follow the same structure in the East Africa Time zone, with shorter screen blocks and longer breaks.

What the fee includes

How you can take this course

Certification

Participants who complete the full five days receive the Skillset Development Certificate of Completion, stating the course title, course code, dates and delivery format — suitable for professional-development records and employer reimbursement.

Frequently asked questions