As a co-design and participatory action research (PAR) platform, the field day interfaced diverse stakeholders including farmers from 6 districts, the community leaders, their frontline extension agents and District Directors who shared lessons with the researchers: from national institutes CSIR-Crop Research Institute (CRI) and Soil Research Institute (SRI) and the Alliance of Bioversity and CIAT(The Alliance).. The primary goal was for the hosting farmers to showcase the impact of different maize varieties, fertilizer applications, and cropping systems on production, income, and community health. Excitingly, it also allowed farmers to actively participate in evaluating the performance of early maturing open pollinated maize varieties and hybrid in response to various fertilizer recommendations and cropping systems.
Agric Extension Agents and farmers actively participated in evaluating maize varieties and treatments based on field observations, experiences with maize production, and personal perspectives. The evaluation criteria ranged from yield and food security to varietal responses to fertilizer application and market demand.
