This study examined the use of digital tools in extension services delivery amongst extension agents in Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria. Simple random sampling was used to select 47 agricultural extension agents for the study. Data were collected using a structured questionnaire while analysis of the data was done using mean, percentages, and the Binary Logit regression analysis. Results showed that the majority (74%) of the agents indicated that they used digital tools in agricultural extension service delivery with WhatsApp (=3.60) and Video camera (=3.60) as the most used digital tools among them. The extension agents were highly knowledgeable in the use of WhatsApp (=3.68), and mobile phone calls (=3.66). Age, educational status, household size, working experience and sex were found to affect extension agents’ utilization of digital tools. The major constraints were epileptic power supply (=3.72) and loss of privacy over the internet (=3.66). The study concludes that agricultural extension agents in Akwa Ibom are aware of and utilize digital tools though constrained by some factors. It therefore stressed the need for training and retraining of extension agents on the use of digital tools by the Agricultural Development Programme.

Latest estimates indicate that over 820 million people are hungry in the world. Extreme weather events caused by climate change, such as droughts and flooding, are damaging the livelihoods of farmers, fishers and forest-dependent people who are already vulnerable and food insecure. Natural resources, such as land, water and fertile soil, are threatened by environmental degradation, loss of biodiversity and ecosystem services and, in certain areas, urbanization and industrial use. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) believes that agricultural innovation can help its member countries to meet these challenges by moving towards sustainable food systems that reduce food loss and waste and that produce more food, of greater nutritional value, withless environmental damage. When faced with a major crisis like the COVID-19 pandemic, we are all reminded of the importance of innovation in maintaining sustainable food and agriculture systems and uninterrupted food supply chains ensuring diversified, safe and nutritious food for everyone.

The small-scale farms are the main group that has an important role for the development of the agricultural and rural area in Bulgaria. This family business is officially engaged in one member of the family farm and required employment power by all others members. The small-scale farmers with agricultural education are very small. This type of farmers has mostly practical agricultural knowledge and experience and funds their investment costs with their own financial resources. The goal of the present paper is to investigate the role of the extension services for the small-scale farmers. To achieve above goal was (1) to identify farmers’ needs for information and knowledge, (2) to identify actors and their methods of exchange knowledge and (3) to present the processes of achieving knowledge and information among involved actors.

Many studies show that interaction with extension services impact farmer’s technology adoption decisions and profitability levels. However, analysis of extension impact across all farm systems whilst controlling for endogeneity biases is less common. This research attempts to redress that research gap by firstly discussing the various biases related to the motivation to engage with extension services, omitted variable bias and measurement error, and subsequently applying instrumental variable (IV) regression estimation to the relationship between extension engagement and farm level outcomes, namely family farm income over a pooled panel data set. Distance to the local advisory office and the introduction of a policy change were chosen as valid and relevant instruments. The results indicate a positive impact of extension engagement on farm income, and imply that an ordinary least squares approach underestimates the benefits of extension engagement. 

The paper contains the analysis of AKIS systems in three European Countries – Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. The discussed subject is the comparison study of the chosen results of survey of agriculture, the history of creation the agricultural advisory system, and the structures of agricultural advisory and systems of knowledge, information and innovation flows. The analysed three Baltic countries, in spite of nearly half century of their links by common history and central command of economy policy, after regaining independence, they chosen individual ways to build the AKIS structures. In these processes they used patterns taken from some Western Europe countries, and reached different results. 

National-scale studies of pluralistic advisory and extension systems and impacts from privatisation rarely encompass farmer and advisor perspectives for an integrated examination. Without such examination, all pluralistic systems may be considered to share the same risks or require similar forms of intervention. Combining farmer and advisor perspectives could assist diagnose and focus new governance efforts in pluralistic systems. This paper reports on an integrated methodology and results from a study of the Australian agricultural advisory and extension system to examine the extent to which Australia’s pluralistic agricultural advisory and extension system shares the risks, consequences and governance challenges reported in other countries.

This Lessons Learned publication reviews experiences from the IFAD grant “Scaling up sustainable land management (SLM) practices by smallholder farmers: working with extension services to identify, assess and disseminate SLM practices”. The three-year grant (2018-2020) was aimed at piloting – and gaining insights from– the application of WOCAT’s SLM tools and methods with extension services in three countries, namely Cambodia, Lao People’s Democratic Republic and Uganda. In each country, there was an ongoing IFAD-supported loan project, which was the main grant partner. Scaling up was to be achieved by working with these partners to enhance their communities’ resilience to climate change shocks and other environmental pressures. 

This study examined strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats within the extension service delivery in Kaduna State, Nigeria. The total population (130) of extension agents was used for the study. A structured questionnaire and focus group discussion schedule were used to elicit information. Percentages, and mean were used to analyse the data collected. The findings showed Insecurity, high farmer-to-extension agent ratio and inadequate training facilities as challenging factors that affect extension service delivery. The study concluded that extension service delivery was highly ineffective because of the low extension-farmer ratio and low motivation among the agents. It is recommended that the government employ more extension agents to reduce the possible imbalance in extension service delivery to farmers.

This study examined how agricultural extension agents conduct farm or home visits. It analysed the extent to which extension agents follow the guidelines for conducting farm/home visits and the relationship between extension agent’s characteristics and implementation of guidelines for conducting home/farm visits. Data for the study were collected through a survey of 69 agricultural extension agents obtained from 22 Tanzania Mainland and Zanzibar regions. Also, qualitative data were collected through in-depth interviews with key informants. In general, findings showed that home or farm visits are poorly planned which negatively affected the conduct of the visits. Furthermore, due to the high farmer extension ratio, extension agents do not always make follow-ups of their visits. A large number of farmers constrained extension agents from visiting all farmers, despite this reality farm or farm visit is still an important extension method. Nevertheless, for extension agents to be effective, they need to consider planning home or farm visits as part of the successful extension work.

The Adaptive Collaborative Management (ACM) of Forest Landscapes programme was a fascinating experience in participatory action research and social learning. At the start of the programme, some of the concepts were not well defined,in terms of what exactly they meant in practice and how to operationalise them. The experiences on which this chapter on facilitation is grounded go way beyond the ACM programme. Many lessons and insights described here are based on long-term processes in community development and participatory learning and extension which we as PICOTEAM (Institute for People, Innovation and Change in Organisations) have gained since 1991 in Zimbabwe, South Africa, Tanzania, Cambodia and the Dominican Republic.

Le conseil agricole occupe une place prépondérante dans l’appui aux processus d’innovation, particulièrement dans les pays du Sud. Or, l’accompagnement de l’innovation nécessite une diversité de formes d’appuis, appelés services support à l’innovation (SSI). À partir d’une analyse exploratoire à Madagascar, cet article questionne la place du conseil agricole vis-à-vis de la diversité des organisations et des activités d’accompagnement de l’innovation. Les principales organisations fournissant des SSI ont été étudiées dans quatre régions des Hautes Terres de Madagascar et leur offre de SSI caractérisée. Les résultats montrent que le conseil technique reste prépondérant dans l’éventail de l’offre de SSI, avec un fort pluralisme des fournisseurs de conseil et une diversité de combinaisons avec les autres SSI. Or, les porteurs d’innovation doivent bénéficier d’autres SSI, tels que le renforcement de capacité, la mise en réseau, des appuis institutionnels, un accès au financement, intrants et équipements nécessaires à l’innovation.

Local stakeholders and agricultural producers in Latin America have limited access to agroclimatic information and, when they do gain access to it, they have difficulty translating it into processable and actionable knowledge. While climate services are recognized as contributing to bridging the gap between the generation of climate information and its use by stakeholders, their provision and use in Latin America still represents a critical challenge. Effective implementation of climate services implies a process of change in attitude, knowledge and skillsof stakeholders (e.g., institutions, extension services and farmers) to inform decision making in production systems given the expected climate variations in their region. The approach of the Local Technical Agroclimatic Committees (MTAs) has proven to be a very effective mechanism for delivering free climate services that seek precisely to contribute to closing this gap.

Several studies have reviewed pluralistic extension systems, but not within IFAD’s specific context and objectives of working through government services and producer organizations, and targeting poor people in rural and remote areas. A portfolio review of United States Agency for International Development (USAID) initiatives found varying levels of success and a lack of informationon impact, outreach and quality of extension services provided through pluralistic services (USAID, 2019).With the outbreak of COVID-19 in 2020 and the subsequent restrictions on movement and gatherings, ICT has become very important in EAS to reach farmers. Fewer studies have also reviewed how ICT can address some of the limitations identified in both public and private extension.

Accessibility to digital innovations and literacy in digital tools are paramount to unleashing the potential of rural communities to reap the dividends of current digital agriculture economy. This will contribute to the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals(SDGs). While Internet use is growing, significant barriers continue to exist, with the digital literacy gap widening and the digital literacy in rural areas lagging behind. In response, FAO has launched a number of initiatives to strengthen its leadership in promoting digital innovations and farmers’ digital literacy for the transformation of agrifood systems. Driven by development initiatives of integrating digital agriculture as a core strategy to transform agrifood systems by deploying a multitude of digital tools in most countries, agricultural extension and advisory services (EAS) have been undergoing a rapid digitalization process over the past decades.

Jordan’s agricultural extension service is seriously under-staffed and its effectiveness is consequently compromised. Reservations are being expressed about the performance and capability of the agricultural extension system in Jordan. The performance of this sector has been disappointing and has failed to transfer agricultural technology to the farmers. The main objective of this study is to assess the effectiveness of Jordan’s agricultural extension services. Approach: The effect of extension services on olive productivity in the study area was investigated. A total number of 60 olive producers were selected to be interviewed for this study. This number was enough to achieve the study objectives.

Agriculture is multi-functional, producing economic goods including food, feed, fibre, and fuel, as well as providing several intangible or non-tradable services to society free of cost. Non-tradable services, unlike economic goods, remain unpriced; as a result, farmers are not compensated monetarily for the benefits of the several non-tradable services they provide through agriculture. Recognizing the monetary value of non-tradable ecosystem services is crucial to incentivize farmers to adopt eco-friendly technologies and practices for the sustainable development of agriculture. Through a meta-analysis of the existing evidence on ecosystem services, this study attempts to estimate the value of ecosystem services by using direct and indirect valuation methods—for example, carbon sequestration, methane emission, nutrient availability, biological nitrogen fixation, and water saving—generated by several important technological and agronomic interventions, namely the direct seeding of rice (DSR), zero-tillage in wheat, leguminous crops, organic manure, integrated nutrient management, and agroforestry, based on studies conducted in India.

Agricultural advisory services are the most important knowledge-delivery institutions for accelerating the adoption of advanced technologies, and for improving farmers’ learning abilities for their implementation. These technologies have implications for the larger goal of agricultural development and farmers’ welfare. This study explores the spillover effects of an innovative public-sector program in India that provides agricultural advisory services. At the Farm Science Centre (known locally as Krishi Vigyan Kendra [KVK]), scientists demonstrate modern technologies and develop capacity-building programs. This paper examines the extent of direct and spillover benefits of KVKs. It also evaluates the impact of KVKs on the adoption of improved technologies for primary beneficiaries (those who receive the benefits directly from KVKs), and for those farmers who receive information flow from them.

This study assessed the performance of extension services in efforts to maintain the food security of paddy-rice farmers households in Bondowoso, Indonesia. The farmers satisfaction with extension services is very closely related to the management of extension services that can be identified through feedback from farmers as users of extension services. This study was aimed to analyze the performance of extension services and promote the development strategies. The survey method was used to determine the level of innovation needs and availability of innovations through extension services as well as the level of farmer satisfaction with the performance of extension services. Data obtained from structured interviews with 200 respondents and the observation process. The strategy that needs to be developed in improving the quality of extension services is to increase the competency of extension workers in accessing technology and management of farmer groups.

This paper examines the determinants of farmers’ access to agricultural extension services and adoption of technical inputs. It also attempts to identify what works best for Indian agriculture. Based upon all-India unit-level data of 35,200 farming households surveyed by the National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO) under the 70th round in 2013, it applies the binary logistic regression model. The study underlines that the ‘Access’ to agricultural extension services does not guarantee ‘Adoption’ of the technologies or better farm practices, as all the variables emerging as significant in case of ‘Access’ do not emerge as significant for ‘Adoption’. The study finds the strong influence of personal and household characteristics on both ‘Access’ and ‘Adoption’. However, socioeconomic and technology variables such as caste, gender, religion, and usage of ICT are found to be important for ‘Access’ but not for the ‘Adoption’. The paper underlines that physical forms of extension services are far more important than the modern ICT driven services in the developing countries like India. It, therefore, recommends significant strengthening of these services with more generous government support.

The creation of Competitive Research Grants (CRGs) is globally recognized as an institutional innovation for improving the effectiveness of agricultural research. Unlike block grants for research, CRGs are expected to bring in many top-quality proposals from a wide range of actors, selecting the best out of them and thus getting more value for money. The Government of Bangladesh established the Krishi Gobeshona Foundation (KGF) in 2007 as an agency to administer and promote competitive research grants in agriculture. Beyond this, KGF was also tasked with building partnerships and strengthening research capacities. Over the last 15 years, KGF has funded 10 basic research proposals and 260 Competitive Grant Proposals (CGPs). It has also supported several short-term projects/studies. KGF, over the years, has also promoted pluralism in agricultural research and multi-institutional research functioning. Along the way, it also made several changes in its governance and rules related to grant making as well as management processes. In this Good Practice Note, Dr Wais Kabir, reflects on the performance of KGF over the years, its success and challenges and he draws several lessons for all those who are trying to initiate and promote CRGs in agriculture.