14 February 2018: The Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN (FAO) has launched the Global Farmer Field School Knowledge Platform to support exchange of information and access to best practice and specific expertise for Farmer Field Schools (FFS) around the world.

Initially developed in Asia in the 1980’s as a community-driven approach to agricultural training and education, FFS have become a successful tool to enable smallholder farmers to find sustainable solutions to complex challenges of agriculture. An FFS is a group of up to 30 people meeting regularly to identify common problems and work jointly to develop solutions for their agricultural production areas. The global platform set up by FAO and 15 international partners aims to support sustainable agricultural practices by improving the quality of FFS. The platform includes an online library of resources, a roster of experts and tools to support exchange best practices of successful FFS.

FFS allow farmers to find locally-adapted solutions to specific problems, such as crop diseases, climate change impacts, soil, land and water management, or disaster risk reduction. FFS also have benefits for social inclusion, gender equality and community empowerment as they promote access to critical information, analysis and tools for decision making, and improve framers’ access to markets and the development of sustainable value chains. The impact on agricultural productivity further helps to improve nutrition and the sustainable management of natural resources.

FAO has developed an FFS Guidance Document on the process and decisions necessary to establish a successful FFS programme in the context of local conditions. The publication emphasizes that FFS are one of FAO’s fundamental field contributions to achieve the SDGs noting their suitability to empower smallholder farmers to make their own contributions to the SDGs. [FAO Press Release] [Global Farmer Field School Platform] [FFS Guidance Document] [FFS Fact Sheet]