Farmer field schools on land and water management in Africa

As this book shows, farmer field schools have proven to be a very useful approach for helping African farmers to improve how they manage their land and water. Numerous projects throughout Africa have shown that they result in improved soils, better yields and higher incomes for farmers. The document summarizes some of these experiences, points out successes, and – equally important – shows constraints and gaps that need to be addressed. Particularly important is the list of policy recommendations: committed support and funding from governments is vital if this promising approach to agricultural development is to make the difficult jump from the donor-supported project into an accepted mainstream approach applied by research and extension agencies throughout the continent.