New look at CBFFS [Coconut-based Farmers' Field School]: education and training for women

The program, _Maunlad na Niyugan Tugon sa Kahirapan_ was conceptualized to address the small coconut farmers_ woes. _Maunlad na Niyugan_ was aimed at improving the farmers_ income through an effective research-based extension technology. The Coconut-based Farmers Field School (FFS) of the Department of Agriculture (DA). The program adopted a broader scope of FFS in the CBFFS. It prepared the farmers to be entrepreneurial, through a system of farm management, making a profitable coconut-based farming system that will showcase a Maunlad model farm. The study examined CBFFS as an effective extension technology that harness participation of women and men in the Maunlad Program_s objective of improving farm productivity and income of coconut farmers. Specifically, the study looked at how an extension technology like CBFFS would make a difference in the lives of women and men in the coconut industry in terms of their participation in decision-making, improving productivity, hence income. It applied focus group discussion with the farmer-participants, to bring out the experiential knowledge of men and women in the course of the 6-month training. Data gathering was facilitated by a guide question, broadly covering the economic/productive gains, decision-making skills, leadership and management skills acquired both by women and men coconut farmers. All the six sites covered in the study were classified as agrarian reform communities under the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP). Results demonstrated the gender responsiveness of CBFFS as an extension technology that harnesses women_s and men_s knowledge-based in coconut farming. It opened up opportunities for the participants to go beyond coconut farming. They were able to explore other possibilities to improve the household income, e.g. vegetable growing and pest management under coconut, other uses of coconut other than oil or copra like soap, buko pandan, buko pancit. They were also able to form cooperatives (piggery, multipurpose) as an outcome of their participation to CBFFS.