The farmers’ training was conducted on 22nd September, 2020. The objective of the training was to acquaint the 10 selected farmers with the knowledge on trials implementation and management. The on-farm trials are to be Researcher Designed-Farmer managed (Type II). The training was thus, key for effective trial implementation and management by the farmers. A set of 7 treatments had been had been identified for the implementation in each farm by the farmers during the on-station farmers’ field day (Table 1). The farmer had selected the best performing technologies, that could also suit their farming conditions. Each farm had been identified based on their uniformity, making each farm a block. Four of the selected farms had however been identified to have two replications due to the observable variations on the soil types. The farmer-managed trials are to be used as training and demonstration farms to other farmers (Trainers of Trainers) in promoting up-take of the technologies among the community as one of the objectives of VLIR-UOS project (IR 5).
All the 10 selected farmers turned up for the training which was facilitated by Dr Milka Kiboi, Nathan Okoth and Boniface Murangiri. The training was conducted as per the scheduled program. The training began at 9:00 am with a word of prayer from a volunteer, and ended at 2.00 pm with a health break. The training sessions were categorised as; introduction of VLIR-UOS project to the farmers highlighting its objectives; how the selected technologies were to be implemented and managed; and how data will be collected and the role of the farmers in the whole process the entire period of the trial. The farmers were allowed to ask questions and seek clarity as the training continued.
