Banner photo: A farmer demoes the characteristics of a maize plant infested with fall armyworm. 

Espérance Mwangaza’s maize field has become a busy place over the past year. Farmers from the surrounding communities in the Sud Kivu province of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) gather there to learn from her about how to increase their maize yields. Espérance is happy to share the knowledge she’s gained from attending a local farmer field school since July 2021. Through the school, she has learned many improved climate-smart agricultural practices, including how to identify and manage fall armyworm, such as using integrated pest management, and good agricultural practices, such as proper seeding times and distances, use of improved seeds and organic fertilizer, and intercropping maize with legumes such as cowpeas or soybeans. Fall armyworm is an invasive pest that has been decimating maize production across the DRC since 2016. However, through the use of integrated pest management and good agricultural practices, the negative impacts of fall armyworm can be managed. Espérance has done just this: she increased her maize yield from about 450 kilograms to 700 kilograms this past rainy season, an increase of 56 percent. She sold a portion of that yield, earning an income of $400. And Espérance isn’t keeping this success to herself — she is sharing her knowledge with her neighbors and they, too, are achieving increased yields.

Espérance (right) visits her neighbor's farm. She uses the opportunity to raise awareness about identifying fall armyworm.

A Network of Pest Management Schools

Espérance’s field school is just one of many across the DRC. The USAID-funded Feed the Future Management of Fall Armyworm (MFAW) activity, implemented by Venture37, has set up over 330 farmer field schools throughout Lomami, Tanganyika, South Kivu, Kasai Oriental and Haut Katanga provinces in the DRC. These schools serve as local research, demonstration, and training sites for the surrounding communities. There are 20 technologies and practices under localized research and demonstration at these schools focused on managing fall armyworm, including biopesticides, locally made traps, improved maize varieties and good agricultural practices. The schools have between 15 to 25 members on average. The members meet weekly during the growing season. Local facilitators trained by the project lead these meetings, providing hands-on training for the members. At the beginning of each season, members share issues and specific technologies or practices they would like to learn about at the school.

Through the support from these schools, nearly 8,000 member farmers (96 percent of them) are applying at least one improved technology or practice on nearly 4,800 hectares, or nearly 12,000 acres. These efforts are leading to increased yields: according to the project’s midterm evaluation, farmer field school member farmers reported an estimated 13 percent more maize per hectare than the comparison group of farmers (farmers within the same villages that are not field school members). Member farmers estimated harvesting an average of 1.35 metric tons per hectare — compared to an estimated 1.19 metric tons per hectare by the comparison group.

Closing the Gender Gap in Agriculture

Despite these promising results, there is still work to be done, especially related to gender equity. Female member farmers estimate that their yields are 16 percent less on average than those of men. The gender gap in agriculture is significant, and MFAW is committed to ensuring women farmers have equitable involvement in the schools and access to knowledge and resources for applying improved practices. For example, 46 percent of school members are women and, according to the midterm data, 46 percent of farmers who applied improved practices are women.

Espérance is one of the women working to close this gender gap in agriculture — both for herself and for other women in her community. In a recent interview, Espérance said, “I know that by sharing my experiences, I also push these [women] producers to success, and they will manage to have a certain financial autonomy…which helps them take care of the enormous needs of their households.” She said she also tells her neighbors that they do not need to spend a lot of money to achieve higher yields; respecting these improved agricultural approaches are very effective at managing fall armyworm and increasing yields. Many of her neighbors are now increasing their yields, just like she is. Espérance said one female friend increased her yield from 300 kilograms in the past to 500 kilograms this year — an increase of 67 percent.

Farmer-to-Farmer Learning

These ripple effects from the farmer field schools are not limited to just Espérance’s community. Communities throughout MFAW’s target provinces are seeing increased adoption of climate-smart practices and, resultingly, increased maize yields, among not just school members but also among other community members. The bulk of the outreach of the project comes through peer learning: field school members share what they are learning with their neighbors and friends. Traditionally, government extension agents were the only source of knowledge on improved practices. In a country as large and difficult to traverse as the DRC, farmers may go their entire lives without ever being visited by an extension agent. The farmer field school model empowers farmers to become local extension agents themselves: they go through several months of hands-on training and then share what they are learning with their neighbors and friends. This dramatically increases the number of extension agents, and, since these farmers are known and respected within their communities, their messages are trusted. In fact, research suggests that farmer-to-farmer learning can be up to six times more effective at spreading knowledge of climate-smart agriculture practices than other approaches.

Peer training takes time and effort, but the research shows that providing social recognition to peer trainers supplies substantial motivation to continue doing so. MFAW provides social recognition to its members through “open field days,” where neighboring communities are invited to learn about climate-smart practices. Farmer field school members are presented with certificates at the end of the event to recognize them for their participation. Espérance said that through her participation in the school, she is now recognized as a “model farmer” by her community: “My experiences are more credible because my community is witness to my evolution.”

The project’s midterm evaluation confirmed the extent to which this farmer-to-farmer learning is happening. Member farmers said their main source of agricultural information was the farmer field schools; other sources included neighbors and the radio. When the comparison group of farmers were asked their main source of agricultural information, they said neighbors, by which they meant farmer field school members. Field school member farmers said during focus group discussions that they regularly share what they are learning in the schools with their neighbors. Therefore, MFAW is achieving an impact with direct participants as well as with non-participants through a ripple effect in communities. Taken together, these results show the substantial achievements of this project in just three years.

View this article in French here. Voire la traduction française ici.