Impact of FFS on Farmer's Adoption of IPM Options for Onion: A Case Study from Gezira State, Sudan

The objective of this study was to determine the impact of Farmer Field Schools on farmer's adoption of IPM options for onion in the Gezira State. Field surveys were used to collect data from three Farmer Field Schools in the Gezira State in the 2010/2011 growing season. All FFS participants were used, i.e. 30 FFS-participants from each school. Equal number of non-FFS participants (90) was used for comparison by using the simple random sampling technique. The collected data were statistically analyzed and interpreted using percentage, frequency distribution and chi-square test. The results showed significant association between number of seasons of participation in FFS and adoption of recommended IPM package components for onion by FFS participants. It can be concluded that the FFS approach is very efficient in the transfer of farm technology for vegetable farmers through their participation in various activities of FFS schools. Thus, FFSs approach should become national policy, share of authority of extension organizations in control and execution of FFSs activities with farmer unions for more effective participations of clientele in all activities of the schools and more efforts should be exerted in distribution of all inputs to farmers with reasonable prices through various agricultural centres in order to increase the adoption process.