Constructions of the Farm Field School at a cost of Rs: 117m at Thirappane in NCP

Dr. Milinda Pathiraja expalins his design

The Climate Smart Irrigated Agriculture Project (CSIAP) under the Ministry of Agriculture commenced the preliminary work of constructing a Farm Field School (FFS) at Mannakkulama village of Thirappane in Anuradhapura District in this month. The proposed school will train farmers in 11 districts of the six provinces (North Western, North Central, Northern, Eastern, Uva and Southern Provinces) where the Climate Smart Irrigated Agriculture Project being implemented and provide them with experience in climate change farming practices and technology. The FFS will cost Rs. 117 million which is funded by the World Bank.

The 2700 selected male and female farmers, 150 Extension Staff of the Department of Agriculture and the Department of Agrarian Development will be direct beneficiaries of the FFS, which is designed to be environmentally friendly and adapt to the farming environment, said Eng. R.M.B. Rajakaruna, the CSIAP Project Director. The FFS will be also used to provide training for marketing and value addition, subjects coming under the Agrarian Business School to prepare farmers as entrepreneurs and Farm planning, he further added.

The design of the Farm Field School

The FFS will provide short-term courses such as the Training of Trainers programme for the officials and a general training programme for the farmers. Those courses will cover Climate Smart Agriculture (CSA) technologies and practices that can be applied in both Maha and Yala seasons in hot-spot areas, wetland paddy cultivation, upland cultivation, homestead cultivation and for the other field crops (OFCs). Dr. Milinda Pathiraja, who took over the architectural design of the Farm Field School, provides his services free of charge with his team.