Minya, Egypt - Experts from the Regional Office for the Near East and North Africa of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and government officials from 12 Arab countries concluded the activities of the first regional forum on the future of Farmer Field Schools for sustainable agricultural and food systems, which was held for two days in Minya, Egypt.

The first day of the forum witnessed a field visit to two FFS schools in one of the villages of west Samalut, Minya, where meetings were held with local FFS farmers, listening to their experiences, and learning about the many success stories achieved by the FAO Field Schools project in Egypt.

In the speech of Mr. Abdelhakim El-Waer, Assistant Director-General of the Food and Agriculture Organization and Regional Representative for the Near East and North Africa, which was delivered on his behalf by Mr. Nasr El-Din Haj El-Amin, FAO Representative in Egypt, he said that farmers are at the center of any transformation process and therefore they must be provided with the knowledge and capabilities that allow them to play an effective role and improve their participation in decision-making to accelerate the transformation of agricultural and food systems in the region. Therefore, FFS is a great tool in rural development to empower farmers as stakeholders rather than beneficiaries in a sustainable, participatory and experiential way. These schools have improved the skills of more than 4 million farmers, pastoralists and fishers in the world.

He added that between 2015 and 2022, there were about 52 projects out of a total of 192 projects implemented in 13 countries in the region, which included the implementation of Farmer Field Schools to focus on key priorities such as enhancing crop production and protection, integrated management of transboundary pests, poultry, and livestock. , water and irrigation management, and the empowerment of rural women, so the forum provided an opportunity to understand the role of Farmer Field Schools and their contributions to the adoption of sustainable agricultural and food systems. Challenges and priorities in implementing and scaling them strategically and moving forward.

For his part, Jingyuan Xia, Director of Plant Production and Protection Division at FAO Headquarters, said: “We are facing great challenges with regard to food and agriculture, as by 2050 the population will double, and this increase must be kept up by increasing agricultural production by 50%, and 80% of this increase is from plant sources, which makes Farmer Field Schools a necessary tool for transforming agricultural food systems to be more comprehensive, flexible and sustainable“.

“The world needs to apply technology and innovation in the agricultural field to increase production in a shorter time and with fewer resources. For the ability of technology to provide better and safer nutrition while maximizing benefit and reducing losses and waste of food and agricultural crops, as well as reducing chemical inputs. Pointing out that the recommendations and discussions that came out of this regional forum will be put forward and used in the Global Forum for the Future of Farmer Field Schools, which will be held in Malawi on June 14-16” he added.

In a session titled “Overview of FFS”, Anne-Sophie Poisot, Director of the Global Farmer Field School Platform, Division of Agricultural Production and Plant Protection, FAO, Mai Hani, Senior Program Officer, Regional Office for the Near East and North Africa, FAO, and Mohamed Yacoub , Assistant Representative of the Food and Agriculture Organization of Egypt, gave presentations on the status of Farmer Field Schools at the global, regional and local levels, the challenges they face and future prospects for these schools.

Experts in Farmer Field Schools in Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, and Algeria presented field school experiences in each country, including the approach used, challenges, needs, factors of distinction, opportunities, future expectations, and the achievement of sustainability and development factors, in addition to the perceived impact of its performance in the rural community.

• Recommendations to expand its application and spread experiences and success stories regionally
• Demands to establish a regional platform and a regular forum to upgrade schools to the second stage

“The success of organizing the first regional forum on the future of farmer field schools is a quantum leap in terms of advancing these schools and their members intellectually, cognitively, skillfully and technologically, which is a major step for using this tool. In a more effective way to bring about a sustainable transformation in agricultural practices and applications at the level of the Near East and North Africa region, which directly contributes to improving the food and agricultural systems in the region and thus overcoming current and future challenges in terms of achieving food security and eliminating hunger and poverty”. Thaer Yassin, coordinator of the forum and the regional officer for plant protection in the regional office of the organization, explained.

In a session entitled "Selected Thematic Areas on FFS", Thaer Yassin, Forum Coordinator and Regional Officer for Plant Protection, FAO, Domitille Vallee, Chief Technical Expert in FAO Regional Office, and Danny Lisha El Khoury, Project Manager for FAO in Lebanon, By highlighting the role of Farmer Field Schools in the issues of plant production and plant protection, water scarcity, and agricultural business management, besides presenting successful models of what these schools can achieve in these issues.

Faten Adada, Agriculture and Rural Development Expert, Regional Office, Mahmoud Abdel Nabi, Farmer Field Schools Expert and International Advisor to the Food and Agriculture Organization, Emad Nahhal, Farmer Field Schools Expert, and Valentina Franchi, Gender Specialist, FAO Regional Office, also managed group discussions on moving forward on issues of capacity development, exchange of knowledge and communication, technologies and innovation, coordination, as well as, enabling environment, gender and integration. The discussions concluded with the need to work on applying technology and innovation, whether at the level of communication, agricultural mechanization, or precision farming technology on a larger scale, while conducting the necessary training and educating farmers on the importance of technology in achieving better production with fewer resources, cost, and time.

It also concluded the necessity of increasing efforts aimed at raising the capacities of facilitators, master trainers, male and female farmers, and providing the necessary mechanisms for the effective exchange of knowledge and experiences, with a proposal to organize a forum periodically to exchange experiences, knowledge, experiences, and success stories. It was called for the necessity of coordination and cooperation with international organizations, funds and platforms regarding promoting the work of Farmer Field Schools. In addition to encouraging the participation and empowerment of women in agricultural and food business and providing the capabilities and resources necessary for their effective involvement through Farmer Field Schools.

Noteworthy that FFS is being implemented in more than 90 countries with approximately 0.4-1 million farmers graduating annually as a good tool to engage farmers in validating and adapting agrifood systems to better meet their needs. Several reports have documented how FFS improves farmers' skills and knowledge to create more sustainable production systems and contribute to achieving all the Sustainable Development Goals.

It is also indicated that the forum provided an opportunity to better understand the role of Farmer Field Schools and their future contributions to sustainable agricultural and food systems through exchanging experiences and innovations between NENA countries, providing technical guidance to enhance the capabilities of Farmer Field Schools, and identifying challenges and priorities in their implementation with the aim of adopting transformation and comprehensive and sustainable agrifood systems. Furthermore, strengthening communication among members of the global FFS community, and strategically expanding its reach in the region.

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