IICA builds capacity in Farmer Field School Methodologies

On July 18th to 21st, 2016 the IICA delegation in Belize, in partnership with the Ministry of Agriculture and CATIE held a four-day training exercise geared towards building capacities of the extension service in Farmer Field School (FFS) Methodologies. The FFS schools are a participatory, interactive and innovative approach to extension, whereby farmers are given an opportunity to make informed decisions and choices in the methods of production through discovery based learning. Among the participants were technical personnel from the Ministry of Agriculture, The Pesticides Control Board (PCB), Sustainable Harvest International (SHI), Ya’axche Conservation trust (YCT), and Toledo Cacao Growers Association (TCGA).  Main topics imparted included: What is FFS, the concept of agro-ecosystem, characteristics of a good facilitator, steps in establishing a FFS, formulating a FFS curriculum, among others.  A total of 21 participants successfully completed the training workshop. 

In an effort to institutionalize the FFS methodology as a strategic tool to make extension efficient and effective, the extension officers will now move to the establishment of their own FFS in their respective districts.  

This training is a phase One in a series of follow up training that will see successful establishment of FFS in Belize. It is envisioned that at least four schools will be established by the end of 2106.

The Consultants were Dr. Danilo Pezo, form CATIE in Costa Rica and Mr. Jairo Cardona, from Petén Guatemala an expert in this area.