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This guide is meant as a reference for IPM FFS facilitators. It describes exercises for the farmer field school learning process relating to sustainable potato cultivation. This learning process begins with preparing fields for planting and goes on right up to marketing harvest produce. These experiential learning exercises are intended to empower farmers to [...]

In this handbook we have tried to use language understandable to farmers, purposely keeping material as simple but as thorough as possible. It opens with an explanation about the principles of integrated pest management, then moves on to technical production topics about potatoes. These cover cultivation techniques, the ecology of pests and natural enemies, [...]

This text focuses on the role that FFS can play in Malaria control by farmers in the fields. It presents the Integrated Pest and Vector Management (IPVM) developed in Sri Lanka.

The paper presents a methodology that guided several ethnoentomological research projects and goes on to examine and compare the results from two independent research locations in Asia. The first location is in the Philippines, a Green Revolution area that has been heavily impacted by extension messages and insecticide use. The [...]

In this paper, two case studies from Asia and Africa are presented that deal with developing, testing and disseminating educational videos. Processes that contribute to scaling up sustainable rice technologies are analysed. The next sections highlight key elements of effective videos, followed by how videos were used and what effect [...]

Crop productivity has increased worldwide since the late 1950s thanks to the modernisation of agriculture. However, many small-scale farming systems located in regions with limited access to resources have seen their profitability constrained by the intensification of input use. The rain-fed cotton farming sector in South and Central India provides [...]

A season-long assessment of acute pesticide poisoning among farmers was conducted in three villages in India. Fifty female cotton growers reported the adverse effects experienced after exposures to pesticides by themselves and by their male relatives (n = 47). The study documented the serious consequences of pesticide use for the [...]

An Integrated Pest Management (IPM) Farmer Field School (FFS) is a field-based activity that lasts a full cropping season. A typical FFS meets once a week and 25-30 farmers participate in an FFS. In addition to group dynamics activity and a special topic session, an FFS emphasizes scientific learning through [...]

More than half of the world’s cotton is produced by Asian farmers, the majority of them small landholders with plot sizes of less than one-half hectare. Within Asia, cotton production is diverse and this diversity manifests itself among the countries participating in the FAO-EU Integrated Pest Management (IPM) Programme for [...]