How Can We Use Farmer Field Schools to Complement the Training and Visit Approach in the Eastern Cape?

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An efficient agricultural extension system is crucial for enhancing productivity, as farmers rely on accurate information to optimise resource utilisation. However, South Africa's public agricultural extension services have been criticised for inefficiency due to capacity constraints, among other challenges. While Farmer Field Schools have been successful in other countries and in one localised case study with smallholder vegetable farmers, their wider application has not been explored. Therefore, this article explores the potential of Farmer Field Schools (FFS) as a complementary approach to the conventional Training and Visit (T&V) system in the Eastern Cape. Drawing insights from a 15-month pilot study in Alice, involving 40 small-scale livestock farmers, this study highlights the effectiveness of FFS in enhancing farmers' knowledge of climate change and its impact on livestock farming. Thus, a longitudinal research design was applied to a purposive sample of 40 livestock farmers, whereby descriptive and narrative impact assessments were employed to analyse the results. Findings indicate that farmers who participated in FFS-based study groups better understood climate change adaptation strategies than their prior knowledge. Integrating FFS with traditional extension approaches could strengthen knowledge transfer, peer learning, and resilience among smallholder farmers.

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