You will not be able to provide examples of every aspect of agroforestry practice within your immediate area where the training is being organized. Participants will understand concepts much better if they have first-hand experience of them. Therefore, you should try to take them to locations, ideally within a reasonable distance, where they can experience things for themselves. You may know a local farmer who has planted a new variety of tree, or another farmer who is combining agroforestry trees with a new type of crop. Perhaps you could take the participants to a site where soil erosion is a particular problem, or to a place where farmers are marking out contour lines on a hillside.
Tips for trainers
— It is important that a field visit serves an educational purpose, and is not just a ‘sightseeing’ trip, although interest and enjoyment are important aspects of the field visit.
— Preparation is essential; you should organize the visit well in advance and inform anyone who should know about it.
— Visits take time, and you may need to make special arrangement in advance. You should discuss this with your participants first - some of them may have other commitments.
— You might find that one of the participants on the course has something interesting to show which other trainees would find useful as a learning experience.
— To prepare for a visit, you should always discuss the topic with the participants in advance. You could then ask them questions, which they should answer as a result of the visit, or give them a written sheet that they should complete.
— During the visit, encourage discussion and questions, and encourage participants to ask questions as well. When you return to the location of the training, have a review of the visit as soon as possible to ensure that the learning objectives have been achieved.