From Farmer Field Schools (FFS) to

Pastoralist Field Schools (PFS)

Adopting FFS to Pastoralism in

Karamoja
 Outline of the Presentation

1. Situation in Karamoja
2. FFSs as a Basis for the PFS
3. What is a PFS?
4. Why the PFS Approach?
5. PFS Purpose
6. Fundamental Values of the PFS
7. Possible PFS Topics
8. Challenges
The Situation in Karamoja
• Largely semi-arid, with an average rainfall of 500 – 700 mm
per year
• Livelihood systems depend on livestock husbandry
• Transhumance: production system is a dual system in which
life revolves around two locations at the same time: the
permanent settlement (manyatta) where predominantly
agricultural production takes place and some animals are kept
and the mobile cattle-camp (kraal) where pastoral production
takes place
• A drought is a recurrent and rather normal phenomenon in
Karamoja where people experience prolonged dry seasons
• Prolonged dry season every 3-5 years and a major drought
every 10 years
• Drought contingency planning is a predictable planning
exercise based on normal pastoralist responses to
environmental stress.
The Situation in Karamoja
• Recent years have shown more frequent and more severe
shocks to the Karimojongs’ livelihood system. As weather
patterns become more volatile due to climate change, the
possibility of rebuilding assets by the affected groups is limited
due to reduced and less predictable periods between climatic
shocks
• A drought has often been a trigger to a humanitarian crisis but
the increased vulnerability of the affected pastoralists over the
years has increased the extent and severity of the crisis
• Vulnerability is caused by a wide variety of complex and
interacting factors such as population growth and increasing
competition for scarce resources, which makes it difficult for
the communities to recover.
• As a result, livelihoods of pastoralists have been eroded
From FFS to PFS

 Protecting and improving core livelihood assets is essential in

the event of a crisis. New approaches are currently
implemented where humanitarian agencies work with the
community to find out existing ways of preparing for and
managing drought situations. This means using local
knowledge and practices. One of these approaches currently
being piloted is the Pastoralist Field School (PFS)

 Development of PFS started in 2006, major roll-out in 2008,

and the concept, though at infancy has caught the attention of
development agencies in Eastern Africa
From FFS to PFS
• The PFS developed out of the Farmer Field School (FFS). The
Farmers Field school approach (FFS) originated in Indonesia
in 1989 in response to a pest outbreak caused by the misuse
of pesticides on rice farms

• Aims of the FFS:

- build farmer’s productive capacity
- analyse production systems
- identify major constraints
- test possible solutions, and
- identify and adopt the most suitable practices
From FFS to PFS
• Basic features of the FFS
- The FFS is field based. FFSs are about practical, hands-on
topics. The field is the teacher
- Participatory process
- Between 25 to 30 farmers participate in the FFS and meet
regularly during the course of an agricultural season
- No teaching but group discovery learning thus enhancing
ownership
- The FFS curriculum follows the natural cycle of its subject,
be it crop, animal, soil, or handicrafts
What is a Pastoralist Field School (PFS)
• Applied in the context of communities who live in arid and
semi-arid regions and who depend on animal husbandry
• Like FFS, PFS is a ‘school’ without walls
• It stimulates local innovation in livestock production
• It is a forum where a group of 30-40 pastoralists meet and
make regular observations that relate their production (herds)
to the rangeland ecosystem and vice versa
• Decisions made on use and management of rangelands for
livestock, are based on previous experiences and any new
information that is shared in the forums
• PFS is more about people development than technology
development
Why the PFS-Approach?
 The pastoralists system of livestock production is complex and
is based on experience that is passed down from one
generation to the next. There are, however, changes in the
climate and diseases that require that pastoralists take into
account a host of different factors from those that they were
traditionally accustomed to. This knowledge and innovation is
best realized from a participatory learning approach.
 The objective of the PFS is to build pastoralists capacities to
better cope with the challenges that are associated with
drought and mobility of people and assets.
 Sensitization for technical change and adoption of new
technology is done by carrying out agro ecosystem
observations of the landscape, regularly establishing what
living and non-living elements are affecting the way of life of
the pastoralists and how it is affecting the environment.
PFS Purpose
 The overall goal is to assist the pastoralists’ livelihoods to
become more resilient to disasters and also prepare them to
seize new opportunities. It is about strengthening the capacity
of livestock keepers to apply drought resilient, locally adapted
and environmentally sound livestock production and
agricultural practices

 Objectives:
- To facilitate pastoralist communities to learn new ways to
solve problems at each stage of the drought cycle
- To sharpen the ability of livestock keepers to make critical
and informed decisions that strengthen their coping
mechanisms.
- To provide platforms where pastoral groupings and test and
adapt a variety of agricultural options.
PFS Fundamental Values
 Hands On / Learning by Doing

 Systematic Training Process that responds to migration

 No teaching! PFS is an extension approach and based on

the principle of adult learning and every learner is a potential
trainer.

 Group discovery learning enhancing ownership

 Participation

 Unity is strength! Empowerment for collective action is

facilitated through group dynamic activities
Possible PFS Topics
 Livestock health
- deworming, ethnoveterinary knowledge, drug quality and
control
 Livestock production
- (mineral supplementation), fodder/forage production and
preservation, natural resource management, livestock
management practices, product processing and marketing
 Business skills
 Apiculture
 Poultry keeping and fisheries
 Peace building
Challenges
 Mobility
 Insecurity
 Daily duties, i.e. watering, herding and security patrols
 Traditional ceremonies, i.e. initiation, marriage
 Lost or stolen livestock
 (Rumors of) impeding raid
 Instructions from traditional leaders/seers
 Relief supply
Questions?
Questions?