In Nepal, last year was underscored by much political unrest, conflict, and socio-economic uncertainty. However, things were a little different for 1394 farmers of 47 Farmer Field Schools groups, supported through APHD and its partner agency Caritas Nepal. These Farmer Field Schools for Integrated Pest Management (IPM) for rice, community members demonstrated that farmers could work together effectively to address low productivity in rice and environmental sustainability concerns. Daring the year, 47 neighborhood Farmer Field Schools groups were formed and in monsoon rice season they learned of sustainable rice production practices through a process of learning by doing. A total of 1394 farmers undertook trials on traditional practices, trials on possible new practices, and demonstrated a 50 percent rise in production on average upon adopting sustainable (IPM) practices. The farmers learned to enhance the agroecosystem dynamics to improve crop productivity and sustainability of the land. Farmers realized results much higher than the national average of 2.8 tons per hectare, whereas, trial results show average production was 6.33 tons in hills (19 trial units), and 7.7 tons in plains (in 27 trial units). Some 140 farmers adopted these practices in year one itself. Caritas Nepal launched the program in January 2005. The participants of these Farmer Field Schools demonstrated fruitful group dynamics by arriving at consensus decision on agriculture and cooperative actions (while respecting the varied opinions of each other). Together with the 23 NGOs and Cooperative partners of Caritas Nepal, these farmers were active in voicing for unity and peace in their communities, and in Nepal as a whole.