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.

Keywords

• climate field schools
• farmers capacity
• organic manure
• rice varieties