Impact of Farmers' Participation in Farmer Field Schools

The Farmers' Field School (FFS) is a non-formal learner-centered education process. It seeks to empower people to solve their field problems actively by fostering participation, interaction, dialogue, joint decision making etc. The present investigation was carried out in Chickaballapur district of Karnataka State. The three taluks viz. Shidlaghatta, Bagepalli and Chinthamani were purposively selected for the study where FFS has been organised in the year 2004-05. The study revealed that there was a significant difference in the overall knowledge level of participants and non-participants of FFS. More number of participants (41.67 per cent) belonged to high level of knowledge, whereas, more number of non-participants (45.00 per cent) belonged to low level of knowledge. Variables like age, education, extension participation and extension contact, mass media exposure and achievement motivation of the farmers were found to have significant association with knowledge level of participants.