This study investigated the knowledge acquisition and changes in farming practices of climate field school (CFS) graduates in Camarines Sur and Masbate. The main objective of the CFS is to disseminate to farmers farming knowledge and climate information to lessen their vulnerability to climate change and enable them to practice adaptability in agriculture. Knowledge gain of the CFS farmer graduates was assessed through differences in knowledge scores before and after participation in CFS. Thirty- eight farmers from two barangays in Pamplona, Camarines Sur, and 78 farmers from three barangays of Milagros, Masbate, were the respondents in this study. A five-
point Likert scale was used to assess farmers’ knowledge on topics discussed in the CFS. These topics were divided into climate, rice, vegetable and animal production, pest and water management. The farmers’ responses were analyzed using weighted means. The Mann Whitney U method was used to test the significance of the differences in the pre-and post-test scores. Results showed that, prior to CFS, farmers in both areas have a low knowledge of CFS topics based on pre-test scores. However, post-test scores of the farmers have increased. The differences between pre- and post- test scores were highly significant (at 5% level), especially on the clustered topics of climate, land preparation and seedling establishment, soil nutrient, pest management and harvesting. On the other hand, with topics on organic agriculture and water management and special topics on agribusiness marketing and farm plan budgeting, no significant results were seen. Changes in farm practices of the graduates were also observed after CFS. Farmers stated that some of their farm technologies have advanced because of the shift from the usual crop varieties of rice and vegetables that they grow to high-value crops. Farmers also became more conscious and systematic in their land preparation approaches. Participants have also learned about new productive activities through CFS such as backyard farming, which became a supplemental source of income.
