Climate Field School Research Articles

Optimalisasi Komunikasi Penyuluhan Pertanian Dalam Sekolah Lapang Iklim Stasiun Klimatologi Kupang

Climate change has an impact on decreasing agricultural production due to changes in cropping patterns. Farmers have difficulty determining planting times to adapt to climate conditions due to a lack of understanding of climate information. Therefore, agricultural education regarding climate information is conveyed by the government to the public through the Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG). The climate information is then conveyed by BMKG through the climatology station in the Climate Field School (SLI) program. The aim of this research is to determine the optimization of agricultural extension communication in the Kupang climatology station's climate field school. The stages of this research method start from a literature review, data collection in the form of primary data and secondary data, then the data is analyzed. The research results show that optimizing agricultural extension communication in the Kupang Climatology Station SLI is carried out by integrating local wisdom with science. The use of local languages by extension agents is an appropriate extension communication strategy used by SLI. This collaboration creates an understanding of how to read climate change which is used to determine the right planting time.

Utilisation of weather forecast information amongst maize farmers in Ido Local Government Area of Oyo State, Nigeria

This study investigated the use of weather forecast information (WFI) as an adaptation measure of climate change among maize farmers in Ido Local Government Area of Oyo State, Nigeria. A multistage sampling procedure was employed to select 120 respondents for this study. A questionnaire survey was used to obtain data, summarized and presented by using tables, frequency counts, percentages and means while Chi-square and Pearson correlation were used to analyze the relationships between variables. Results showed that the mean age, household size, farming experience, average annual income and farm size were 44.9 years, 8 people, 23.2 years, N692,583.3 and 5.0 ha respectively. Also, radio (95.8%) and fellow farmers (94.2%) were the key sources by which the respondents accessed weather forecast information. Half (50 %) of the respondents had a favourable perception towards WFI. Also, 55.8% of the respondents had high usage of WFI. However, its usage was impeded by poor agricultural extension service (=3.58), inadequate extension training on weather forecast (=3.42), lack of assistance in interpreting WFI (=3.40), inadequate electric power supply (=3.28), inadequate knowledge of WFI (=3.16), language barrier (=3.05) and untimeliness of WFI (=3.04). Statistically, there existed a significant association between the respondents’ land ownership and the utilisation of WFI (ꭓ2=13.218, p<0.01). Pearson correlation result revealed a significant relationship (p˂0.01) between maize farmers’ perception of WFI and its utilisation. (r=0.445, p<0.01). For improved adaptation to climate change in the study area, the study suggested an improved agricultural extension service to which could be achieved through the provision of climate field schools to improve farmers’ comprehension, interpretation, and utilisation of WFI.

Building smallholder farmers' capacity to adopt climate‐smart agricultural practices in flood prone areas: Lessons from Bangladesh

AbstractCurrently, there is an increased interest in promoting climate‐smart agricultural practices (CSAPs) around the globe, however, application of these practices may vary for different climate risk hotspots. Although, climate field schools (CFS) are conducted with the aim of empowering farmers with knowledge on the various agricultural practices, little attention has been devoted to building the capacity of smallholder farmers to facilitate adoption of appropriate CSAPs. Given the effects of climate change on agriculture, it is fundamental for agricultural sustainability to answer the question that has hardly benefited from empirical analysis in previous land use studies, which is: Do CFS build farmers' capacity to adopt CSA in flood prone areas? Cross‐sectional data from 600 rural farm households in south Bangladesh is used and the recursive bivariate probit (RBP) is applied to address this knowledge gap. The results reveal that participation in CFS increases the probability of a farmer's soil salinity consciousness by 25% and eventually improves the probability to adopt climate‐smart agricultural practices by 20%. We also analyzed the spillover effects of CFS participation on CSA adoption and found that there is a strong spillover effect which has important implications on the cost effectiveness and sustainability of the program. Overall, the study provides empirical evidence demonstrating that participatory approaches stimulate adoption of appropriate CSAPs by building farmers' capacity in recognizing the existing climate risk hotspots.

Knowledge flow analysis of knowledge co-production-based climate change adaptation for lowland rice farmers in Bulukumba Regency, Indonesia

To increase the resilience of farmers' livelihood systems, detailed knowledge of adaptation strategies for dealing with the impacts of climate change is required. Knowledge co-production approach is an adaptation strategy that is considered appropriate in the context of the increasing frequency of disasters caused by climate change. Previous research of knowledge co-production on climate change adaptation in Indonesia is insufficient, particularly at local level, so we examined the flow of climate change adaptation knowledge in the knowledge co-production process through climate field school (CFS) activities in this study. We interviewed 120 people living in Bulukumba Regency, South Sulawesi Province, Indonesia, involving 12 crowds including male and female farmers participated in CFS and not participated in CFS, local government officials, agriculture extension workers, agricultural traders, farmers' family members and neighbors, etc. In brief, the 12 groups of people mainly include two categories of people, i.e., people involved in CFS activities and outside CFS. We applied descriptive method and Social Network Analysis (SNA) to determine how knowledge flow in the community network and which groups of actors are important for knowledge flow. The findings of this study reveal that participants in CFS activities convey the knowledge they acquired formally (i.e., from TV, radio, government, etc.) and informally (i.e., from market, friends, relatives, etc.) to other actors, especially to their families and neighbors. The results also show that the acquisition and sharing of knowledge facilitate the flow of climate change adaptation knowledge based on knowledge co-operation. In addition, the findings highlight the key role of actors in the knowledge transfer process, and key actors involved in disseminating information about climate change adaptation. To be specific, among all the actors, family member and neighbor of CFS actor are the most common actors in disseminating climate knowledge information and closest to other actors in the network; agricultural trader and family member of CFS actor collaborate most with other actors in the community network; and farmers participated in CFS, including those heads of farmer groups, agricultural extension workers, and local government officials are more willing to contact with other actors in the network. To facilitate the flow of knowledge on climate change adaptation, CFS activities should be conducted regularly and CFS models that fit the situation of farmers’ vulnerability to climate change should be developed.

Disclosing Strategy in Communicating Uncertainty: Case of Climatology Station Climate Information Dissemination in Lombok Island

Certainty of climate information is essential for farmers in developing farming decisions but, climate forecasts produced by Climatology Station contain 30 per cent uncertainty. The fact that climatology station has carried out climate information dissemination to farmers in Lombok. However, many farmers experienced harvesting and planting failure due to climatic uncertainty. The objectives of this research are to describe the communication strategy implemented by the Kediri Climatology Station in communicating climate information to farmers on Lombok Island and to identify obstacles experienced in disseminating climate information. This research was conducted at the Kediri Climatology Station and on the island of Lombok using a descriptive method. Data were collected through in-depth interviews. The collected data were analyzed using descriptive qualitative analysis. The results show that the strategies implemented by the Kediri Climatology Station were strategies to increase the station's credibility through the improvement of data collection technique and analysis to minimize uncertainty, compiling and packaging messages so that farmers easily understand them, conducting direct dissemination through climate field school (SLI) and indirect using media, trying to understand the social and economic conditions of the communicants as well as utilization of feedback. However, there are obstacles faced by the Kediri Climatology Station in providing climate information namely: many extension agents are reluctant to convey climate information to farmers, climate change that affects forecast accuracy, difficulty convincing the public, and lack of funds to conduct Climate Field School, limited personnel, and language barriers.

Sekolah Lapang Iklim di RW 13 Kelurahan Umban Sari Kecamatan Rumbai Kota Pekanbaru

The Climate Field School (SLI) is a learning program for the community so as to improve the ability to make appropriate adjustments and adaptations to deal with extreme weather and climate risks. RW 13, Rumbai Subdistrict, Pekanbaru City has a commitment to be involved in the Climate Field School and Climate Village Program, but not all people understand it, so an approach is needed. As a result, with the involvement of lecturers and students, the community gave a positive response. This is evidenced by their involvement in the program.

EDUKASI BENCANA KEKERINGAN DAN KESIAPSIAGAAN WARGA MASYARAKAT DALAM MENANGGULANGI BENCANA KEKERINGAN DI KABUPATEN LOMBOK TENGAH PROVINSI NUSA TENGGARA BARAT

Geologically, Indonesia is located at the confluence of three of the world's main plates, namely the Indo-Australian Plate, the Eurasian Plate, and the Pacific Plate, which often cause disasters, for example drought. Central Lombok Regency is one of the regencies in West Nusa Tenggara, with these two seasons, most often hit by drought disasters, considering that the rainfall in Central Lombok is very small. So that disaster education and preparedness are needed for residents. This article uses qualitative research methods. The results of the study show that climate field schools have an important role in disaster education. Climate field school is a form of education for farmers that is very useful especially in understanding the weather and climate combined with new agricultural techniques that will allow farmers to plant different crops at different times of the year. Meanwhile, for preparedness, it is carried out through several programs in the form of urging and asking farmers to be disciplined in carrying out cropping patterns according to the zoning in which they are located (rice-padi-palawija or padi-palawija-palawija), mapping of land related to cropping patterns, planting rice parity that requires little water, namely the Situpagendit variety, and urges farmers to insure their rice plants, which is Rp. 36.000/ Ha for one planting season at PT. JASINDI.
 
 Keywords: Indonesia's geological location, disaster, disaster education.

Transforming Agricultural Extension Service Delivery through Innovative Bottom–Up Climate-Resilient Agribusiness Farmer Field Schools

Conventional approaches to agricultural extension based on top–down technology transfer and information dissemination models are inadequate to help smallholder farmers tackle increasingly complex agroclimatic adversities. Innovative service delivery alternatives, such as field schools, exist but are mostly implemented in isolationistic silos with little effort to integrate them for cost reduction and greater technical effectiveness. This article presents a proof-of-concept effort to develop an innovative, climate-resilient field school methodology, integrating the attributes of Farmers’ Field School, Climate Field School, Climate-Smart Agriculture and indigenous technical knowledge of weather indicators in one package to address the gaps, while sensitizing actors on implications for policy advocacy. Some 661 local facilitators, 32% of them women and 54% youth, were trained on the innovation across East Africa. The initiative has reached 36 agribusiness champions working with 237,250 smallholder farmers in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda. Initial results show that the innovation is strengthening adaptation behaviour of agribusiness champions, farmers and supply chain actors, and reducing training costs. Preliminary findings indicate that the process is rapidly shaping group adaptive thinking. The integrated approach offers lessons to transform extension and to improve food security and resilience. The approach bundles the costs of previously separate processes into the cost of one joint, simultaneous process, while also strengthening technical service delivery through bundled messaging. Experience from this initiative can be leveraged to develop scalable participatory extension and training models, especially scaling out through farmer-to-farmer replication and scaling up through farmer group networks.

The potential of Climate Field Schools to boost small-scale farmers’ adaptation capacity

Increasing temperature and changing rainfall patterns cause a decrease in agricultural production. Adapting to climate change is one of the major challenges of farmers in Indonesia. Since the climate will continue to change in the future, it is important to understand the determinants of adaptation in order to know how to support this adaptation process. This study identifies the link between perception and adaptation, in addition to the driving forces for adopting one or more of a set of 21 farm-level adaptation strategies. A survey was conducted among 74 participants of a Climate Field School in Tana Toraja, South Sulawesi, Indonesia. The 2-step Heckman estimation model that was used analyses the link between perception of and adaptation to climate change. The results indicate that better educated farmers and farmers with no off-farm income are more likely to adapt. The logistic regression model demonstrates that the possession of livestock increases the likelihood of applying a wider range of adaptation strategies. The Climate Field Schools offer a promising approach for enabling farmers to select appropriate adaptation strategies. However, other factors need to be considered to make best use of the potential of sustainable adaptation.

Climate field schools to increase farmers’ adaptive capacity to climate change in the southern coastline of Java

Abstract Demonstration plots (demo plots) have been used as participatory research methods to conduct Climate Field Schools (CFS) with farmers from May to October 2018. CFS aimed at improving the adaptive capacities of the farmers and obtaining appropriate technologies to be adopted in the two villages of Ciganjeng and Rawaapu. The demo plots were set up with a different treatment of organic manure (T1 = 10 ton ha−1 of cattle compost; T2 = 10 ton ha−1 of cattle compost + 10 ton ha−1 of Azolla pinnata; and T3 = 10 ton ha−1 of cattle compost + 2 ton ha−1 of Sesbania rostrata) and different rice varieties. The farmers were fully responsible for the monitoring of the parameters (e.g., plant height, number of tillers, and grain yield). The demo plots results revealed that the application of organic manure T2 has increased the soil C and N content by 64.6 and 40.00%, respectively, and rice yield by 27.8% compared to neighboring plots using inorganic fertilizers. The Mendawak variety at both CFS locations showed better performance compared to the other varieties. Moreover, the capacity of the research farmers involved in the CFS has been increased by 52.74% with a gain factor of 0.42 in Ciganjeng and 41.23% with a gain factor of 0.39 in Rawaapu moderately based on pretest and posttest results. It is concluded from the research process that farmers who built up their capacity on on-farm show a high level of confidence and can convey comprehensive information to other farmers.

Correlation Between Knowledge of The Farmers - The Alumni of Climate Field School at Kabupaten Bogor and Adaption to Climate Change

This study aims to find out the relationship between knowledge of the farmers, the alumni of Climate Field School at Kabupaten Bogor and adaptation to climate change. A quantitative research method with a survey approach was used in this study. The study is population research in which the overall respondents were taken from the population. The respondents are the farmers who are the alumni of Climate Field School (CFS) that totaled 25 persons, living in 4 Kecamatan (districts): Kecamatan Leuwiliang as many as 10 persons, Kecamatan Leuwisadeng six persons, Kecamatan Rumpin as many as four persons, and Kecamatan Nanggung totaled five persons. Data collection technique used is a closed questionnaire comprising 25 questions for X variable and 15 questions for Y variable. Based on the result of the study, it shows that the data with medium category was obtained from the medium knowledge. In addition, based on the result of correlation test, it took rcount was as many as 0.486 and table was as many as 0.396, which presented that there is a strong relationship between the knowledge of the farmers who are the alumni of Climate Field School and the adaptation to climate change. So, the result of the study shows that after following Climate Field School the farmers master the knowledge and practice the adaptation to climate change in farming activity.

Comparison between meteorological data and farmer perceptions of climate change and vulnerability in relation to adaptation

How farmers perceive climate change has an influence on how they adapt to climate change. Climate change perception and vulnerability were assessed based on the household survey information collected from randomly selected 118 farmers of Kalapara subdistrict in Bangladesh. This paper identified the socio-economic covariates of climate change perception and vulnerability in relation to agricultural adaptation. It was also determined whether their perception was consistent with meteorological information. Findings revealed that the farmers had a moderate level of perception of and vulnerability to climate change. An overwhelming majority (98%) of the respondents perceived a warmer summer and 96% of them observed a colder winter compared to the past. Among the farmers, 91% believed that rainfall had increased and 97% thought that the timing of rainfall had changed. The belief of increase in soil salinity and associated loss was prevailing among 98 and 99% of them, respectively. Observed climate data were mostly aligned with the farmers' perception with respect to temperature, rainfall, floods, droughts and salinity. Positive correlations were found among the perception of climate change, the perception of vulnerability and the number of adopted adaptation practices. Farmers' level of understanding of climate change, vulnerability and adaptation practices could be improved by involving them in different organizations, such as climate field school and farmer associations. It could accelerate the dissemination of agricultural adaptation practices among them to cope with adverse agricultural impacts of climate change.

The implication of climate adaptation and mitigation research: capacity adaptation of rice paddy farmers to climate change

Climate change requires adjustment, resilience, anticipation, coping with stress or changes to sustainable agricultural development in socioeconomic and biophysical systems. Climate change affects the plants, livestock and also the environment, thus a reactive adaptation by paddy farmers is necessary. A purposive sampling on 30 respondents who had accomplished the Climate field school (CFS) program in “Mandiri” and group of women farmers “Dalima”. The study was conducted from October to November 2017 in Situ Gede sub-district, Bogor, Indonesia. This study used the descriptive analysis with frequency distribution table to describe the respondent distribution of each variable. The research objective is to describe the ability of farmers to adapt to climate change and to realize the sustainability of rice farming. The results obtained are the application of adaptation ability of paddy farmers to changes in rainfall patterns in the form of technical capabilities (knowledge), institutions, social capital, access to business capital is categorized medium, while the technical ability of adaptation (action) is high. Furthermore, the ability of farmers to adapt to the sustainability of socio-cultural lowland rice farming is high in assessing persistence and togetherness are important factors in farming success. The implication is that the technical adaptability of rice farmers will be high if the socio-cultural values and cooperation of rice farmers are maintained as in planning the timing of planting, harvesting and marketing.

Impact of climate-smart agriculture adoption on the food security of coastal farmers in Bangladesh

Climate-smart agriculture (CSA) is a suggested pathway to the improvement of food security in a changing climate. The Department of Agricultural Extension under the Bangladesh Ministry of Agriculture has been promoting CSA with farmers through climate field schools since 2010. This study investigated the impact of adoption of CSA practices on the household food security of coastal farmers in southern Bangladesh. Factors determining household food security were also explored. Data were collected from 118 randomly selected farmers of Kalapara sub-district in Patuakhali, Bangladesh. We identified 17 CSA practices that were adopted by the farmers in the study area. Those practices were saline-tolerant crop varieties, flood-tolerant crop varieties, drought-resistant crop varieties, early maturing rice, vegetables in a floating bed, ‘sorjan’ method of farming, pond-side vegetable cultivation, the cultivation of watermelon, sunflower or plum, relay cropping, urea deep placement, organic fertilizer, mulching, use of pheromone trap, rain water harvesting and seed storage in plastic bags or glass bottles. The farmers adopted on average seven out of these CSA practices. Among the sampled households, 32% were assessed as food secure, 51% were mildly to moderately food insecure and 17% were severely food insecure. Adoption of CSA practices was positively associated with household food security in terms of per capita annual food expenditure (β = 1.48 Euro, p = 0.015). Households with a better educational level, farming as a major occupation, a larger pond size, greater number of cattle, higher household income, smaller family size and less difficulty with access to markets were likely to be more food secure. Increasing the adoption of CSA was important to enhance food security but not a sufficient condition since other characteristics of the farmers (personal education, pond size, cattle ownership and market difficulty) had large effects on food security. Nevertheless, increased adoption of saline-tolerant and flood-tolerant crop varieties, pond-side vegetable cultivation and rainwater harvesting for irrigation could further improve the food security of coastal farmers in southern Bangladesh.

Implementasi Sekolah Lapang Iklim dan Dosis Pupuk Terhadap Karakter Kimia Tanah dan Hasil Jagung

<p>Indonesian Agency for Meteorology Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) stated that the implementation of CFS program can increase the production significantly up to 30% (BMKG 2016). This research was conducted to know the influence of climate field school (CFS) and fertilizer dosage on soil chemical properties and corn yield. The study was conducted with a nested experimental design with two factors. Factor A has two levels: CFS Program (S1) and nonCFS (S2) and factor B was fertilizer dose. Factor B is nested on factor A as A (B). The fertilizer dose factor consists of 6 levels; T0 (without fertilizer); T1 (100% organic fertilizer); T2 (75% organic + 25% inorganic fertilizer); T3 (50% organic + 50% inorganic fertilizer), T4 (25% organic + 75% inorganic fertilizer), T5 (100% inorganic fertilizer). The results showed that CFS program increased available P, available K and soil pH, while fertilizer dose (50% organic fertilizer + 50% inorganic fertilizer) on CFS program yielded the highest soil organic matter (4.12%). CFS and fertilizer dose both did not affect the yield of maize significantly. However, the average yield of maize on CFS land is greater (6.50 tonha<sup>-1</sup>) compared to nonCFS (5.38 tonha<sup>-1</sup>). The treatment with 100% inorganic fertilizers) on CFS program gives highest yield (8.75 tonha<sup>-1</sup>).</p>

Policy Support for Climate Risk Adaptation the Role of Microfinance

Agricultural development in Indonesia is being faced by the unpredictable climate situation. With such a high risk, however, Indonesia should be able to provide sufficient food for all of the people and access to food at affordable prices. In this regard, the climate field school is important to improve farmer’s konowledge to anticipate such climate change. While adapting to the climate change, agricultural activities should be protected and reduced the risk to the lowest possible level. Agricultural insurance is introduced to protect the farms, share the risk, and favor the farmers. Rice farm insurance, in particular, is applicable to share the risk of harvest failure caused by flood, drought and pest and disease infestations. Government support to provide subsidy for premium payment is encouraged. Such subsidy would be reduced gradually and integrated in the farm cost of production. In the absence of agricultural bank in Indonesia, microfinance institution is required to provide sufficient fund to cover cost of production. For a short-term follow up action, the current Rural Agribusiness Development Program (PUAP) is expected to help farmers through its microfinance institution in funding the farm activities. The role of microfinance is part of the climate change anticipation strategy and is very significant to help farmers to envisage the effect of harvest failure risk.

Agrometeorological learning increasing farmers’ knowledge in coping with climate change and unusual risks

Enriching farmers’ knowledge of the risks and consequences of climate change is the most promising strategy to better assist them. Nevertheless, we have to bear in mind that people filter and absorb scientific knowledge through pre-existing cultural models and aspirations for desired outcomes. The severe pest/disease outbreaks during the La-Nina periods of 2009 and 2010/2011, and the unpreparedness of farmers in many places in Java, was a timely opportunity for many parties to reflect seriously on the deficiencies in our approaches and facilitations. Our inter-disciplinary collaboration proved successful in strengthening and enriching farmers’ knowledge by bringing agrometeorological thinking and knowledge, based on scientific ideas, premises, and methods, to local people who had their own “ethnoscience.” This benefits farmers over an extended period and until the public extension intermediaries have been sufficiently trained. Our suggestions are: assisting farmers to discover their own vulnerability issues through continuous dialogues and knowledge exchange in “Science/Climate Field Shops,” and the measurement of rainfall and the observation of weather and climate implications for fields and crops in a standardized way as the basis of an improved Climate Field School. To that end the training of public extension intermediaries is necessary.

Adapting to Climate Variability and Change: Experiences from Cereal-Based Farming in the Central Rift and Kobo Valleys, Ethiopia

Small-holder farmers in Ethiopia are facing several climate related hazards, in particular highly variable rainfall with severe droughts which can have devastating effects on their livelihoods. Projected changes in climate are expected to aggravate the existing challenges. This study examines farmer perceptions on current climate variability and long-term changes, current adaptive strategies, and potential barriers for successful further adaptation in two case study regions-the Central Rift Valley (CRV) and Kobo Valley. The study was based on a household questionnaire, interviews with key stakeholders, and focus group discussions. The result revealed that about 99% of the respondents at the CRV and 96% at the Kobo Valley perceived an increase in temperature and 94% at CRV and 91% at the Kobo Valley perceived a decrease in rainfall over the last 20-30years. Inter-annual and intraseasonal rainfall variability also has increased according to the farmers. The observed climate data (1977-2009) also showed an increasing trend in temperature and high inter-annual and intra-seasonal rainfall variability. In contrast to farmers' perceptions of a decrease in rainfall totals, observed rainfall data showed no statistically significant decline. The interaction among various bio-physical and socio-economic factors, changes in rainfall intensity and reduced water available to crops due to increased hot spells, may have influenced the perception of farmers with respect to rainfall trends. In recent decades, farmers in both the CRV and Kobo have changed farming practices to adapt to perceived climate change and variability, for example, through crop and variety choice, adjustment of cropping calendar, and in situ moisture conservation. These relatively low-cost changes in farm practices were within the limited adaptation capacity of farmers, which may be insufficient to deal with the impacts of future climate change. Anticipated climate change is expected to impose new risks outside the range of current experiences. To enable farmers to adapt to these impacts critical technological, institutional, and market-access constraints need to be removed. Inconsistencies between farmers' perceptions and observed climate trends (e.g., decrease in annual rainfall) could lead to sub-optimal or counterproductive adaptations, and therefore must be removed by better communication and capacity building, for example through Climate Field Schools. Enabling strategies, which are among others targeted at agricultural inputs, credit supply, market access, and strengthening of local knowledge and information services need to become integral part of government policies to assist farmers to adapt to the impacts of current and future climate change.

Science Field Shops in Indonesia

It is argued that beyond the slow progress made the last decades, another step making agrometeorology more operational for solving farmers' livelihood problems is actually needed. Climate field services, as agrometeorological advisories established with farmers their fields, can only really blossom rural areas where also a culture exists other fields. Policies and capacity building these fields do matter very much. The virtual absence Indonesia of extension officers trained what is needed under conditions of a changing climate was already clearly noted previous papers. Given this situation, we have developed Indonesia a new educational commitment that we have called Science Field Shops (SFSs), as learning meetings between scholars, farmers and extension First weather/climate information, advisories and services are distinguished and defined agrometeorology. Subsequently recent views on agricultural extension are reviewed and our SFSs are placed several recognized categories. Basically, we define such SFSs as meetings which scholars answer questions on vulnerabilities expressed by farmers. The idea was based on the Dutch so called Law Shops. SFSs are also suitable to get material for improved curricula of Climate Field Schools (CFSs) for the future training of Extension Intermediaries. We see SFSs as a start for improved agricultural extension that fits a rural response to climate change. There are two more classes of participants needed such SFSs. First, we jointly should create the course of time Farmer Facilitators among farmers, the sense that they can facilitate the introduction of results of the discussions as well as climate services farmer fields. A second other category of participants SFSs that we need are a class of extension intermediaries that work closest to the farmers. However, this definitely asks for well-trained extension intermediaries who should over time take over most of the tasks of the scholars the SFSs. The latter should only initially be used to train them and for backing up. After all, two types of extension intermediaries may be distinguished, one close to the farmers and one close to the producers of agrometeorological information/advisories/services. The latter are therefore called product intermediaries. They should themselves be trained in service by their Institutes. We give a list illustrating some presently important negative issues the livelihood of farmers. They are part of the existing problems mainstreaming a rural response to climate change into development. For the many countries to which this list applies, it is sufficiently specific to encourage activities that do include the creation of new institutional educational commitments such as SFSs and CFSs towards farmers/extension. We show the structures which this thinking can be applied to the agricultural reality.

Climate Information and Agricultural Practice in Adaptation to Climate Variability: The Case of Climate Field Schools in Indramayu, Indonesia

AbstractInspired by the Farmer Field School methodology, a “Climate Field School” was conducted with farmers in the Indramayu region of Indonesia in 2003 to promote adaptive application of climate forecasts to crop selection decisions. However, five years after the Climate Field School, use of the forecasts is still virtually nonexistent. Analysis of farmers' production practices and rationales reveals lack of understanding of climate information is not a primary limiting factor. Instead, we find that the social and technical conditions of agricultural production influence farmers' ability and willingness to apply seasonal climate forecasts as adaptive tools. Furthermore, we analyze the ways that the attempted mode of capacity building affected outcomes in farmers' practices. The implications of our findings bear upon the development of climate information applications and the processes of local level adaptations to climate change and climate variability.