Farmer field schools: a participatory large scale extension approach

This article is a case study of a successful farmer field school in West Java Indonesia. It is successful because the farmers organise, finance and facilitate their gatherings, and have become the owners of their extension program. Government officials are present at the gatherings but sit silently in the background. The article explores how this æextraordinary situationÆ has come to be by looking at the history of integrated pest management in the area and how they merged with non-formal adult education, and by looking at the main differences to the training and visit extension approach characteristic of the farmer field schools. The article concludes by looking at the challenges for the model beyond rice and pest management, which include speed, scale, and quality.