...

 

The diagnostic report was written under Feed the Future’s Developing Local Extension Capacity (DLEC) project, a network of the world’s foremost extension experts that provides technical and strategic support to USAID missions and country extension and advisory service (EAS) systems to improve smallholder farmers’ livelihoods. The five-year (2016-2021) leader with associates (LWA) project is designed to diagnose, test and share locally-customized, best-fit solutions for agricultural extension systems and services to help missions across the Feed the Future countries meet their objectives. Led by Digital Green in partnership with Care International, the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) and the Global Forum for Rural Advisory Services (GFRAS), DLEC is an action-oriented, evidence-based learning project. Three mechanisms work together to help reach the project’s end goal of building the capacity of country actors increase access, quality and sustainability of EAS systems.

 

This training manual was prepared under the EU-funded project Capacity Development for Agricultural Innovation Systems (CDAIS), a global partnership (Agrinatura, FAO and 8 pilot countries) that aims to strengthen the capacity of countries and key stakeholders to innovate in complex agricultural systems, thereby achieving improved rural livelihoods. CDAIS uses a continuous learning cycle to support national agricultural innovation systems in eight countries in Africa (Angola, Burkina Faso, Ethiopia and Rwanda), in Asia (Bangladesh and Laos), and Central America (Guatemala and Honduras). CDAIS brings together key partners and actors to address commonly identified challenges and opportunities in specific regions or within particular value chains. Together they develop and implement national capacity development plans to strengthen agricultural innovation. This manual is a resource for the training of National Innovation Facilitators (NIFs) across all 8 countries. The objective of the training is to strengthen the NIFs’ facilitation skills and their ability to carry out Capacity Needs Assessments (CNAs) in agricultural innovation niche partnerships. The training is intended to be delivered by the Agrinatura Focal Persons (AFPs) and the Country Project Managers (CPMs) in each country, with the help of various other support personnel from Agrinatura and FAO. These trainers have themselves gone through a Training of Trainers process to familiarise them with the training manual, the interactive and participatory approach required and the use of the various facilitation tools that are contained within it.​

Smartphones and their applications are innovations bringing good solution for agriculture development in other to help farmers to have acces to relevant informations. It participate in the amelioratiton of agriculture extension work and advisory services. In Africa rural areas, this innovation is limited due to their expensiveness, to poor or absence of internet connection and farmers insufficiant knowledge on their utilisations. From these constraintes, innovators should think of alternatives that can best help farners and that is adapted to Africa rural areas such as development of tools easily accessible through simple phone that is provision of relevant informations through short message service (sms) and the Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) code system.

ໃນຂະນະທີ່ໄດ້ມີການປຶກສາຫາລືກັນຢ່າງຫຼວງຫຼາຍຢູ່ໃນຊຸມປີທີ່ຜ່ານ ມາກ່ຽວກັບການເສີມສ້າງວຽກງານສົ່ງເສີມ ແລະ ສະໜັບສະໜູນການບໍ ລິການໃຫ້ຄໍາປຶກສາດ້ານກະສິກຳໃນຊຸມຊົນເຂດຊົນນະບົດໃຫ້ເຂັ້ມແຂງ ຂຶ້ນ ແຕ່ຄວາມຮູ້ກ່ຽວກັບວິທີການສ້າງຂີດຄວາມສາມາດທີ່ຈໍາເປັນໃນ ການບໍລິການໃຫ້ຄໍາປຶກສາດ້ານກະສິກໍາ (EAS) ແມ່ນຍັງມີໜ້ອຍ.ເຊັ່ນ ດຽວກັນກັບບົດບາດຂອງການສົ່ງເສີມ ແລະ ການບໍລິການໃຫ້ຄໍາປຶກສາ ດ້ານກະສິກໍາຢູ່ໃນລະບົບການປະດິດສິ່ງໃໝ່ໆທາງດ້ານກະສິກໍາ (AIS). ທີ່ຍັງບໍ່ເປັນທີ່ຮູ້ຈັກຢ່າງກ້ວາງຂວາງເທື່ອ. ເອກະສານສະບັບນີ້ມີເປົ້າ ໝາຍເພື່ອເພີ່ມເຕີມໃສ່ຊ່ອງຫວ່າງຂອງຄວາມຮູ້ດັ່ງກ່າວດ້ວຍການສ້າງ ວິໃສທັດອັນໃໝ່ສໍາລັບການບໍລິການໃຫ້ຄໍາປຶກສາດ້ານກະສິກໍາ (EAS) ຢູ່ໃນລະບົບການປະດິດສິ່ງໃໝ່ໆທາງດ້ານກະສິກໍາ (AIS), ທີ່ພວກເຮົາ ເອີ້ນວ່າ “ນັກສົ່ງເສີມຍຸກໃໝ່” ເຊິ່ງບໍ່ໄດ້ໝາຍເຖິງບົດບາດ ແລະ ຂີດ ຄວາມສາມາດຂອງບຸກຄົນໃດໜຶ່ງເທົ່ານັ້ນ ແຕ່ໝາຍເຖິງບົດບາດ ແລະ ຂີດຄວາມສາມາດຂອງທັງອົງການຈັດຕັ້ງ ແລະ ຂອງລະບົບທັງໝົດ. ເອກະສານສະບັບນີ້ ຈຶ່ງເວົ້າເຖິງແນວທາງຕ່າງໆເພື່ອພັດທະນາຂີດ ຄວາມສາມາດທີ່ຈໍາເປັນເພື່ອເຮັດໃຫ້ວິໃສທັດດັ່ງກ່າວສາມາດດໍາເນີນ ການໄດ້ຢູ່ທຸກລະດັບ. 

In this fast-changing environment, farmers and their ruraladvisory service (RAS) providers must learn new skills andfind new ways of working together to develop inclusivebusiness models that help link diverse farmers andentrepreneurs to growth markets. One solution to help withrural commercialisation is to support the growing numbersof agripreneurs, who could play a catalytic role in generatingnew income streams and jobs. Politicians and practitionersas well as scientists have recognised that farmers,processors, and local service providers increasingly requireagripreneurship support, in addition to sound managementand technical skills, to be sustainable in the future.

The purpose of thisnote is to highlight the emergence of private sectordeliveredRAS that aim to address the gaps in traditionalgovernment extension. Private sector RAS can serve acompany’s business goals while also providing farmerswith the essential agronomic and business knowledgeneeded to be more productive and earn higher incomes.It is in the private sector’s interest to engage with andimprove their clients’ farming practices in order to achieveincreased company revenues and profits. This enablesthem to ensure commercial viability, resulting in long-termmutual benefits for farmers, employees, and shareholders.

The landscape of agricultural development has changeddramatically in the past two decades, calling fortransformation of the curricula of programmes, courses, andtraining related to agricultural extension and rural advisoryservices (RAS) in terms of what is taught, and how. Manyhigher learning institutions and training providers recognisethe need to review and change their existing curricula and/orto develop new ones that are responsive to current marketdemands. However, there is often limited know-how andcapacity to implement successful processes of curriculumdevelopment, especially in the extension and RAS community.This note describes a structured process of curriculumdevelopment in the context of extension and RAS. Theexperience of the Global Forum for Rural Advisory Services(GFRAS) in developing the New Extensionist Learning Kit1 ispresented as an example of this process at global level. Othercases are used to bring out the national-level experienceconsolidating the lessons learned.

While some professions,such as medicine and engineering, have been well knownand recognised through standard qualifications for manyyears, others – such as rural advisory services (RAS) – haveonly recently begun to aspire to a higher level ofprofessionalism. The benefit of professionalised practices isevident for both practitioners and those who receiveservices. Many professional regulatory bodies exist thatprovide checks and balances on the performance standardsof different sectors. While there are pockets of evidence onthe professionalisation of RAS, the majority of countries areat the stage of seeking to professionalise their services, andneed strengthened capacity to initiate this process.

This document on Good Practices in Extension Research and Evaluation is developed as a hands on reference manual to help young researchers, research students, and field extension functionaries in choosing the right research methods for conducting quality research and evaluation in extension.

 

There are few global examples of validated national agricultural extension policies. Policies that affect the provision of agricultural extension and advisory services are more typically written in the larger context of policies for the agricultural sector overall. As an extension professional, you are at the forefront of making development happen. You, therefore, constantly encounter situations where existing policy constraints development interventions or where new policies could better support development. While policy is not your day-to-day function, you are in better position to generate evidence in order to inform good policies and organise the relevant stakeholders in articulating policy needs to the relevant authorities.