Welcome to the family of Farmer Support Studies (FSS), where farmers educate farmers. Farmer Support Studies supports farmers to obtain farming knowledge and positions them to benefit from their farming business. Here is a word from the Executive Director
We achieve this through training, farmers sharing information with each other, exchange visits (local and global), field visits, school excursions, internships, fellowships, farmer-led research, and twinning arrangements between communities of farmers and institutions of learning. The ultimate objective is to enable farmers to acquire practical knowledge that they can transfer to their farms.
What we believe
FSS believes that each farmer is endowed with unique knowledge, which if shared, benefits other farmers. The reach of FSS is local, regional, and global. FSS, therefore, works within and across borders to bring farmers together to share experiences, which unlocks the potential to improve yields, and to reduce losses. It also enhances food safety, adds value, and reduces on-farm and off-farm losses, which lower the profit margins, especially, for rural farmers.
Justification
According to the World Bank, COVID-19 has resulted in severe and widespread reduction in food security. This has affected vulnerable houses in almost every country and the impact is expected to spread beyond the year, 2022. It has accentuated the need for farmers to gain additional knowledge and to share information. This way, they can face pandemics more effectively, and keep their farm firms afloat. Farmer Support Studies through knowledge sharing the world over, become part of the global community of Farmer Support Studies. Through farmer-led research, farmers gain access to essential knowledge, with farmers educating farmers. Through enhanced knowledge sharing and transfer, Farmers shall prosper economically while increasing food security, through improved farming practices.
About the Executive Director
Nanziri Bukomeko Rhene is a graduate of Makerere University Kampala, holding a B.COM (Finance) and an MBA (Management from Ndejje University Uganda). Rhene grew up on the farm, where her parents paid her school fees, by growing coffee. Rhene and her siblings were active farmers from a very early age. It was here, that her farming antics were activated. She has 18 years of experience managing agricultural programs at the community and national levels.
In 2013 she Managed a Public-Private Partnership involving the Ministry of Agriculture in Uganda, FAO, and URDT. Through this PPP, the Mini Estate Processing Enterprise launched and established 13 Rural Producer Organizations in Kibaale District Uganda. In 2015 she attended a Leadership Training at Cannan Leadership Institute in South Korea that focused on Cooperatives management.
In 2016 she attended the Drivers of Change Course in the Netherlands supported by Agriterra. The program focused on motivating farmers to become the change they need. She is a public speaker and organization development expert who focuses on establishing good governance for strong farmer organizations.