Entry: Bill Guyton, World Cocoa Foundation and TJ Ryan, ACDI/VOCA

We are very sorry to learn that James Mangan, who developed the ACDI/VOCA farmer field school methodology and curriculum in Indonesia, Vietnam and Ecuador, has passed away. For those familiar with the SUCCESS Alliance program in Southeast Asia, you would have known the great influence and impact James was able to make. In the field of curriculum development and farmer field school methodology, James was simply without peer. He not only taught how to teach but also how to value every single participant in our projects as well as many other valuable lessons. He will be sorely missed.

Photo: James Mangan at a Farmer Field School in Ecuador

James was a self trained entomologist and a voracious reader who could hold forth on a wide range of subjects. He instilled discipline in those he trained, commitment to a highly participatory methodology and indirectly raised the self-esteem of tens of thousands of farmers who didn't think they could conduct research or implement the improved crop husbandry techniques taught in the farmer field schools but were firm believers by the second or third session of the FFS. If ACDI/VOCA implements the farmer field school methodology well, we owe that to James without any doubt. Fortunately James was an excellent teacher with many devoted students and so his impact will continue on in cocoa groves (and other crops) around the world.

He really was an extraordinary person and we will miss him.

Other tributes from those in the cocoa world:

From BK Matlick:
I too am saddened by this news of the loss of James!! Like most of us who are FFS advocates I owe my basic understanding of the methodology to James. His methodology and technical expertise in the many crops that FFS have been used as a training method has improved the quality of life of millions of small farm families. Those of us who have studied under James and have transferred his FFS training exercises to many countries and millions of farmers will remember him and always.

Please forward to his widow my personal thanks for her sharing James with us over the past eight years!! BK Matlick

From Uriel Buitrago in Ecuador:
Of course this is really terrible news. James was the "one and only" Mentor of all our 21,710 smallholder farmers' successful FFS training. We really admired him for all his wisdom, not just in FFS but also in a broad number of subjects including entomology , to which he was really devoted. James set the basis of our projects' success, there is absolutetly no question about it. Without him I simply don't knw how we would have done.

From Ross Jaax:
You will be amazed to know that in January this year, James climbed to the summit of Mt. Kilimanjaro! He was 64, and unbeknownst to him, he was already terminally ill with cancer. May we all live life to the fullest and remain forever curious as James did.

James was never more happy than we was working with cocoa farmers in the field. He enjoyed that crop a lot. And he especially enjoyed his time in Ecuador working alongside you of the partners. He would have liked to return there again.