ADDA's working methods - or: what do all the abbreviations mean?

Anne-Marie Foged, Board member
Published 13th of September 2007

When ADDA's projects are described, abbreviations such as IPM, TOT, FFS and SHG are often used. It can appear like inside talk and technical, but the abbreviations cover a particular and concrete method by which you can train farmers in developing countries with such a big and lasting effect so that they improve their yields and reduce usage of pesticides.

In the late 1980's FAO (UN's food and agricultural organisation) developed a method for agricultural development for an agricultural development project in the Philippines, and which has since been used by several NGOs. The method is called Integrated Pest Management (IPM) and it has been shown that this has a very good effect on a down-to-earth level.

IPM was started as a reaction to the uncontrolled way pesticides were used by poor and untrained farmers in developing countries, and who were easy victims of advertising made by the big pesticide manufacturers. Several farmers became ill when they had sprayed their crops against pests and plant diseases, just as the people and animals that ate the products. The method is undergoing continuous development, and several NGOs contribute with their experiences, and in the same way ADDA will at some time contribute with experience in agroforestry (simultaneous operation with trees and crops).

The basis of all ADDA's completed and running projects is the central principles of IPM which are as follows: all projects must show results that can immediately be implemented by the farmers; you follow the course of a crop all the way through from sowing and to harvesting; and that the farmers do not risk their own crops. Furthermore it is very important that the teacher/instructor is local so that newly gained knowledge does not disappear as it could be the case when a foreign expert finishes his/her contract and leaves after the project is completed.

The core of the method is that the best way to learn new things so you remember them and use them actively is to take part in the whole process, and to do it with others so you learn that you are better at helping each other if you do it together, and that you have a stronger position with regard to, for example, authorities and consumers.

The project will run from 2006 until 2011 and has just started to take shape. ADDA's project co-ordinator in Hanoi has together with local departments of the Vietnamese Farmers Union selected 72 farmers to be educated as instructors from the 30 involved municipalities. All 72 farmers will by May 2007 have completed an intensive 4 month course, both practical and theoretical, at the agricultural school in Xuan Mai, taught by 5 teachers nominated by ADDA. After the course they will all together teach in 240 field schools with participation of up to 14,000 farmers. During the course it is only possible for 1 visit back to the family, so it is necessary with a high level of personal commitment from each person.

Here there are practical experiments to understand erosion risks in fields with various degrees of inclination.

A large part of the course consists of practical experiments in the fields. There are fields in connection with the school and the participants are in practical training in the villages where they are responsible for teaching and crop trials. The subjects of the course are: growing maize (sweet corn), forestry, teaching and communication, FFS methodology and last, but not least: development of the local society.

Co-operation - and having fun at the same time - is something very important to learn.

Farmer Field Schools (FFS)

After training the instructors return to their own areas to establish field schools for the 20-30 farmers who have asked for/been chosen to participate from each of the selected villages. The instructors are paid by ADDA, ca. 100DKK/month during the course of the project (2-3 years) and they also receive ca. 10DKK for the weekly teaching day. In the long run they have the possibility to have income as consultants at the local level.

A field school lasts 4 months which is the time it takes to follow a crop, like for example maize, from sowing until harvesting. The crop chosen to be studied varies from project to project dependent on local conditions. Field schools can also be made in animal husbandry, and the IWEP project in Cambodia has field schools with tomatoes or beans and animal husbandry field schools with pigs or chickens. In other words, there can be two groups from the same village who participate in different field schools.

One morning a week, the group meets in the field which is rented for the purpose by ADDA. The field is divided in to two parts: one which is cultivated by the IPM principles and one that is cultivated by traditional methods (Farmer Practice - FP). The IPM field is distinct from the FP field by focussing on the quality of the seed corn and fertiliser, watering and spraying according to needs, which is documented through field studies and from the knowledge acquired from training and education.

The maize fields are divided in to IPM and FP (Farmer Practice). Each group has its own area where they observe the plants, measure growth and gather insects.

The group is divided in to 3-4 smaller groups, which now closely observe the maize growth, pests and soil conditions in both areas. Teaching takes place in the village hall after the observations, where the observations are drawn and written on wall sheets and are discusses by the groups and the instructors. An important feature of this kind of teaching is that it is not the instructor who gives the answers. He/she helps the farmers to make their own conclusions based on what they have observed. The idea of drawing is that you can only make a drawing if you have really looked closely, and it helps later in the field when you look for signs of deficiency disease and pest attack. It is also important to have fun in the field schools, so games are played in the breaks.

The instructor is explaining how the weekly observation sheet must be made. The IPM and FP fields are compared with regard to the plant growth, need for nutrients, insects (divided in to pests and useful insects)

When you have to draw a plant or an insect, you learn to observe, and it is necessary to know what has to be done. Fx. yellow leaves show there is a lack of nitrogen and when you have drawn an insect and put it on the wall sheet as useful or damaging, you know how to deal with it when you come across it later in the field.

The collected insects (in the bags) are studied.

It is not easy drawing insects!

The farmers attend to their own fields as well as taking part in the field school and farming the test field. The size of the individual farmer's fields both in Vietnam and Cambodia is 1 - 3 hectares, so it is of utmost importance how efficiently the land is farmed. After teaching has been carried out for some time, when it is apparent that the IPM field has better crops, it can be difficult to wait to learn when and how you should spray your own fields. If you ask the instructor you do not get a concrete answer, but you are asked how you judge it based on your own observations. This is a really effective educational tool!

The field school training ends with awarding a diploma at a big party for several village field schools - a Field Day - where the results from the fields and wall sheets are published for the rest of the village and local dignitaries from the neighbourhood. It is now up to the individual farmer to use his/her new knowledge and experiences. It will be possible to get support from the instructors the next couple of years, and ADDA is trying to raise funds for several projects to establish follow-up training for the field school participants.

Field school training in Cambodia - it is not the arrangement of the classrooms that is important for the quality of the teaching!

The programme for the day

Self-help groups (SHG)

ADDA also operates with other ways of follow-up on the field schools. Self-help groups have been established in the IWEP project (the aim of this project is improvement in women farmers' conditions in Cambodia) for the trained farmers who are interested. Approximately half of them choose to continue. Like with the field schools, local instructors do the teaching and the participants meet once weekly. As the farmers have now learnt to produce more and better products, and to co-operate in groups, the aim now is to help them sell their products at better prices and to make joint savings in able to be able to invest jointly.

If you want to strengthen your self-assurance and improve your position in society you must know your rights. This is what is being taught here. Many Cambodians older than 30 are illiterate because of the terror regime under the Khmer Rouge in the late 1970's. This makes special demands on the teaching material.

The self-help group formulates the group's rules itself with help from the instructor. As everyone knows, this takes time and long discussions, but at the same time it is a very effective way to learn about democracy in practice. A very important thing to learn is to dare to get up and tell the group about your opinion - and to dare to believe that your own opinion is just as good as the others.

The participants pay an agreed amount to the joint kitty at every meeting, and the cashier presents incomings and outgoings.

ADDA contributes with salary for the instructor, cash box, books, seed corn, veterinary drugs and vaccine as well as interest-free loans. If the group has been good at saving up and managing their capital, ADDA will double up the amount after 6 months. One of the self-help groups has been very good at seeing possibilities for earning money jointly. They bought soya just after harvesting, when it was cheapest. They invested their own money and a loan from ADDA. Then they sold it cheaply to the group members, and a little more expensive to other self-help groups and villagers, and then most expensive at the market. It resulted in a good profit, which can be invested in other ways.

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