Farmer Field Schools in Bungoma District of Western Kenya: a Rapid Appraisal Anthony Machacha Iowa State University
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Iowa State University Capstones, Theses and Retrospective Theses and Dissertations Dissertations 2008 Farmer field schools in Bungoma district of western Kenya: a rapid appraisal Anthony Machacha Iowa State University Follow this and additional works at: https://lib.dr.iastate.edu/rtd Part of the Agriculture Commons, and the Sociology Commons Recommended Citation Machacha, Anthony, "Farmer field schools in Bungoma district of western Kenya: a rapid appraisal" (2008). Retrospective Theses and Dissertations. 15449. https://lib.dr.iastate.edu/rtd/15449 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Iowa State University Capstones, Theses and Dissertations at Iowa State University Digital Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in Retrospective Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Iowa State University Digital Repository. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Farmer field schools in Bungoma district of western Kenya: A rapid appraisal by Anthony Machacha A thesis submitted to the graduate faculty in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of MASTER OF SCIENCE Co-majors: Sociology; Sustainable Agriculture Program of Study Committee: Robert E. Mazur, Co-major Professor Ricardo J. Salvador, Co-major Professor Francis Owusu Jan Flora Iowa State University Ames, Iowa 2008 Copyright © Anthony Machacha, 2008. All rights reserved. 1454628 454628 2008 ii TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF FIGURES IV LIST OF TABLES V ABSTRACT VI CHAPTER ONE. OVERVIEW 1 Introduction 1 CHAPTER 2. PERSPECTIVES FROM SOCIOLOGY AND SUSTAINABLE LIVELIHOODS 4 Origins of FFS 4 Farmer Field Schools in Western Kenya 8 The Sustainable Livelihoods (SL) Approach and Framework 10 Participation, education, and empowerment 18 Expectations 22 CHAPTER 3. STUDY SITE AND METHODOLOGY 26 Site selection 26 Bungoma District, Western Province, Kenya 26 Farmer Field Schools in Bungoma District 28 Selection Method: Four Case studies 30 Key Research Foci 33 CHAPTER 4. FINDINGS 35 Group Origins 35 Components, procedures, and assumptions about FFS 39 Inputs 42 Roles for members 44 iii Group agenda 44 Experiments and innovations 46 Changes 48 Group effectiveness and lessons learnt 50 Financial stability and independence 55 Individual versus collective activities 58 Development of group analytical abilities 58 Summary of Findings 60 CHAPTER 5. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION 63 Origins, issues, and approaches adopted 63 Empowerment and control 64 Self-sufficiency 66 Capabilities (analytical and organizational) 68 Impacts on broader (non-FFS) community 70 Lessons learnt, challenges, and strategies for future 70 Role of gender 72 Role of facilitators 74 Conflict and malfunction 76 Conclusions 76 APPENDIX 85 Thematic questions. 85 Semi-Structured Group Interview Questions 86 Semi-Structured Individual Interview Questions 87 REFERENCES 93 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 97 iv LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1: Sustainable Livelihoods framework .................................................................................................11 Figure 2: Map of Kenya showing Bungoma District (in gray), Western Province (in black)......................89 v LIST OF TABLES Table 1: Summary of findings ...........................................................................................................................60 Table 2: Levels of Sustainability Indicators (static and dynamic) observed within the Farmer Field Schools .......................................................................................................................................................81 Table 3: 2000 – 2004 Registered FFS in Bungoma District. ...........................................................................90 vi ABSTRACT Africa has experienced the least socioeconomic progress in recent decades by many measures. Poverty, disease, drought, and conflict have combined to trap many nations in endless cycles of misery and plummeting quality of life. Agriculture, one potentially significant avenue out of these cycles and Africa’s largest economic sector, is burdened with significant problems. Over the last five decades, various approaches to agricultural development have been introduced with some modest levels of success. The latest extension innovation in the fight against rural poverty is the Farmer Field School (FFS), introduced to Africa from South East Asia in the early 1990s. FFS are groups of people with a common interest getting together regularly to discuss, observe, understand, and practice the ‘how and why’ of particular topics in agriculture. FFS are specially adapted to field study where specific hands-on management skills and conceptual understanding is required. Kenya was one of the first countries in Africa where the UN-FAO set up pilot FFS projects, many of which developed into success stories. The present study was initiated to find out how the concept of the FFS has been adopted and scaled-up, and what qualitative difference this has made in the lives of the farmers involved. This researcher is personally interested in Western Kenya because he grew up there and wants to understand its development challenges and opportunities, and the region has a significant number of agencies involved in agricultural development. The first objective is to learn more about Farmer Field Schools as organized in this region today; the second objective is to compare some elements among the FFS in order to identify the characteristics and processes that are associated with outcomes that provide members the greatest benefits in terms of learning and sustainable livelihoods. vii This study may form part of a long-term study to understand the role of FFS in changing peoples’ lives from a Sustainable Livelihoods perspective. It involved the collection of qualitative data through semi-structured interviews and focus groups from four FFSs that were then be compared on the basis of group development and maturity, and the groups’ contribution to the sustainability of members’ livelihoods. Contrary to the expectations at the beginning of the study, the groups reflected greater variation than anticipated. While it appeared that groups with more years of experience were more independent than newer groups, the former had not yet initiated other groups. But there was evidence that the more experienced groups had helped to promote the spread of new technologies and methods to other groups and individuals. Secondly, groups that were well funded were not always more independent than those that were poorly funded or self-financed. Lastly, groups with initial high social and human capital were not necessarily more mature and independent than those that were formed for the sole purpose of the field school. This probably calls for the need to distinguish between pre-existing social capital within a community before the residents form an action group and the social capital that is created when they form the group. There is a significant role that the facilitator plays, and while group leadership influenced the perceived performance of the group, the level of literacy of the leaders was not a predictor for group performance. The style of leadership and experience in leadership roles determined how the groups responded to their leaders. Based on these observations, group viability is largely influenced by members’ other primary occupations, external facilitator skill and commitment, and proximity of the members’ homes relative to each other and relative to the experimental farm. viii This implies that planning for a successful field school should include a process for selection of members whose primary occupations as well as relative proximity to other potential members’ farms and to the experimental farm would not keep them away from participating in the field school activities as needed, and the designation of a well-trained and committed facilitator to the group. A more thorough analysis of such groups can help one predict the success or withering of a group with some degree of certainty, allowing that memberships within groups can always change and in turn shift the perceived trajectory of a group’s fortunes. 1 CHAPTER ONE. OVERVIEW Introduction Among regions of the developing world, Africa has experienced the least progress in recent decades by many measures. Poverty, disease, drought, and conflict have combined to trap many nations in endless cycles of misery and plummeting quality of life as revealed by several recent UN Human Development Reports (UNDP 2004). Agriculture, one potentially significant avenue out of these cycles and Africa’s largest economic sector, is burdened with significant problems. At the same time, the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) makes a sobering prediction for sub-Saharan Africa. UNIDO’s Industrial Development Report for 2004 states that …the economies of Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) have been in decline for a quarter of a century, and unless this disturbing trend is reversed, the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) are unattainable for Africa… SSA is not just failing to converge with other regions, its decline is absolute: per capita incomes are significantly lower now than a quarter-century ago… On present trends most of the developing world will continue to converge with the developed world, but significant parts of Africa will not merely fall behind; they will fall apart (UNIDO 2004: 29). However, despite the seemingly dire situation, various agencies have continued to strive to revive and improve agriculture and reduce