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Farmer
IPM Trainers TOT, Birgani, 1-10 May, 2000. The training approach
used in the TOT was to have participants practice an activity, then to
analyse the process of the activity. Facilitators at the TOT asked a
series of questions to help in the analysis of activity processes.
Among the questions asked were:
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Why
was the activity important to review in the TOT? |
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Why
is the activity important in an FFS? |
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What
took place during the activity? |
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How
can the FFS facilitator help the learning process in this activity? |
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When
should this activity be conducted in an FFS? Why? |
The
TOT curriculum covered four major categories of activities, the AESA,
Special Topics, Group Dynamics, and FFS Management. The AESA activity
was done several times during the TOT. The participants practised and
analysed all of the steps in the AESA process. The objective was that
participants would master the facilitation of the AESA process.
Among the Special Topics that were
practiced during the TOT were: Insect Life Cycles, the Insect Zoo,
Categorising Arthropods, Drawing and Identifying Insects, Major Pests in
Rice, Plant Root and Vascular System, Pesticide Poisoning, Fertilizer
Management, Soil and Water Management, Weed Management, Plant Morphology and
Growth, Disease Management, Economic Analysis, and Applied Statistics
The TOT participants also practiced
17 different Group Dynamics activities during the TOT. In this TOT
Group Dynamics were used to improve the learning climate before a session or
after lunch.
Management topics focused on three major
issues, preparation for an FFS, conducting the FFS, post-FFS activities.
Preparation topics focused on needs assessment, participant selection,
budgeting, and curriculum development. Topics related to conducting
the FFS included work plans, and conducting the ballot box activities and
the FFS field day. Post-FFS topics included evaluation and the
planning of follow-up activities.
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Sri
Lanka
The first farmer-to-farmer training in
Sri Lanka started spontaneously when farmers in three districts decided that
they should begin to take responsibility for training farmers in their
neighbourhoods. In 1999, the Community IPM programme supported a
technical exchange with the IPM programme in Bangladesh. The exchange
enabled experienced TOT trainers from Bangladesh to participate with Sri
Lankan trainers in a Farmer IPM Trainers TOT curriculum development workshop
in Sri Lanka. The trainers designed a five-day curriculum. The
curriculum was used in five different TOT’s in the Maha 1999/2000 season.
Participants in these TOT’s were FFS alumni from Galle, Puttalam,
Anuradhapura, Kandy, Ratnapura, and Hambantota districts. These new
Farmer IPM Trainers conducted 26 FFS during the following season.
After the first season of
farmer-to-farmer training Farmer IPM Trainers and project Field Trainers
participated in a workshop to evaluate the farmer-to-farmer FFS that had
been conducted. One of the results of the workshop was lengthening of
TOT’s from five days to 10 days to allow for more training on facilitation
and technical issues. This new model of farmer TOT is now being implemented
in new districts and irrigation systems.
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