AGRICULTURAL EXTENSION

APPROACH

- AKIS
- Research – Extension - Linkages
- Overview of various extension
approaches
AGRICULTURAL KNOWLEDGE and
INFROMATION SYSTEMS (AKIS)
• Farmers may use many different sources including their
own, to obtain knowledge and information they need to
manage their farms.
• The new knowledge is developed not only by research
institutes but also many different actors.
• These constitute the Agricultural Knowledge and
Information Systems (AKIS) for an area or for a group of
people and comprise : other farmers, government extension
organisations, private companies selling inputs and buying
the produce; banks and cooperatives; other government
agencies and marketing boards; leaders and elected
representatives of the people; farmers’ organisations; farm
publications and mass media; voluntary organisations e.t.c
AKIS
• It is necessary to analyze the AKIS to discover possible
gaps which hamper development as well as possible
overlaps which waste resources and might cause conflicts
• An important task of the extension agent is to see that
there is a unified approach at the local (operational) level
and the system components do not contradict each other
in providing information and knowledge to the people.
AKIS
• Is divided into
i. Technology and research
ii. Technology dissemination/ extension
iii. Technology use and utilisation
Factors affecting AKIS
•.
Policy environment
- Laws
- Incentives

External sector
- Donor agencies
- Commercial
Political
Bureaucratic AKIS sector
- International
Structure
Agricultural
Research
Centers (IARCs)
Structural conditions
- Markets
- Infrastructure
RESEARCH – EXTENSION-FARMER
LINKAGES
• Reasons for the links
i. Strong links to improve the efficiency of research
ii. To develop site specific technologies, to avoid technology
failures
iii. To empower farmers for self development – in this case
farmer becomes more confident with whatever they know or
have
iv. To understand farmer’s criteria for selecting a particular
technology e.g. yield, cost, labour, resistance to disease,
length of production cycle, taste etc.
v. To increase efficiency of extension
vi. To increase adoption rate of technologies because of
relevance, improvement, appropriateness and compatibility
that may occur because of linkages
Models in agricultural extension
• A model may be defined as a schematic description of a
system, or phenomenon that accounts for its known or
inferred properties and may be used for further study of its
characteristics
Models in Agricultural Extension
1. Transfer of Technology model (TOT)

Research Extension Farmers

• It assumes a linear communication from international

agricultural research stations to national research centres
via extension to farmers
• It is the worst model because it is unidirectional as there is
no feedback in the whole process.
2nd Model of agricultural extension
• Have, Lock model (1986)

solutions

User
Resource Meta communication community
community

Problem
Have, Lock Model
Meta communication
• Communication through constant interaction dialogue
• Resource community can also be farmers
• In this model there is constant interaction between the
farmers and resource community, whereas the TOT is
only one way (no feedback)
• When linkages are discussed there should be genuine
farmer participation
• Research must be based on farmer identified problems
and the findings must meet the needs of the farmers,
based on both on-farm trials and on-station experiments
Reading assignment
• Commodity extension model
• Training and visit model
• The public extension model
• Private sector extension model
• NGO (international and local) model
• Farmer field School (FFS) model
Extension approaches
• The approach is the essence of an agricultural extension
system.
• The approach is the style of action within a system and
embodies the philosophy of the system.
• It is like a doctrine for the system, which informs,
stimulates and guides such aspects of the system as its
structure, its leadership, its program, its resources and its
linkages.
Extension Approaches
1. General Extensions Approach
2. On- farm trials
3. Multi- disciplinary approach
4. Training and Visit (T&V) Extension Approach
5. Commodity Specialized Approach
6. Farming Systems Research/Extension (FSR/E) Approach
7. Cost Sharing Approach
8. Participatory Extension Approach
9. Educational Institution Approach
10. Project Approach
11. Group development approach
General Extensions approach

• This approach assumes that technology and knowledge

that are appropriate for local people exist but are not
being used by them.
• The purpose is to help farmers increase their production.
The approach is usually fairly centralized and
government-controlled.
• Planning is done on a national basis by the central
government ‘which knows better than farmers’.
• This is a typical case of top–down planning.
• Field personnel tend to be large in number and high in
cost, with the central government bearing most of the
cost.
General Extension approach
• The rate of adoption of important recommendations and
increases in national production are the measures of
success.
• A survey of agricultural extension programs indicated that
agricultural extension generally was part of the Ministry of
Agriculture, with field extension officers at the bottom of
the hierarchy and a minister at the top.
• This approach lacks two-way flow of information. It fails to
adjust messages for each different locality.
• Only farmers who seek advice benefit and these tend to
be large-scale wealthier farmers. This approach does
provide farmers with information on a number of
production alternatives from one single source.
On-farm trials (OFT)
• an aspect of farming systems research
and experiments are done on the
farmer’s farm
• It provides an opportunity for
researchers, extension worker and
farmers to come together
Multi- disciplinary approach

• Experts from different disciplines work together in

identifying and designing interventions and experiments
• Also share tasks in monitoring and training extension
agents, farmers or researchers, in interacting with farmers
and communicating
• Encourages a multi-disciplinary team, which includes local
government bodies for support of inputs, credit and
influence of extension staff and development of
infrastructure
Farming systems Research (FSR)

• Developed as a result of failures of TOT approach

• It is based on farmer needs and identified problems
• This approach assumes that technology which fits the
needs of farmers, particularly small-scale farmers, is
not available and needs to be generated locally
• Planning evolves slowly and may be different for each
agro-climatic farm ecosystem. Concerned about users’
environment
• Encourage multi-disciplinary and inter-disciplinary
research teams e.g. rural sociology, economists,
agronomists and food scientists
FSR
• Close ties with research are required and technology for local
needs is developed locally through an iterative process
involving local people.
• Analyses and field trials are carried out on farmers’ fields and
in homes.
• The measure of success is the extent to which farm people
adopt technologies developed by the program and continue to
use them over time.
• Control of the program is shared jointly by local farm families,
extension officers, and researchers.
• Advantages of this system include strong linkages between
extension and research personnel, and the commitment of
farmers to using technologies they helped to develop.
• Costs can be high, and results can be slow in coming.
Training and visit approach ( T&V)
• Was introduced in India in 1974 with the World Bank assistance
• The purpose of the training and visit approach (often called T&V)
is to induce farmers to increase production of specified crops.
• This fairly centralized approach is based on a rigorously planned
schedule of visits to farmers and training of agents and subject
matter specialists.
• Close links are maintained between research and extension
agents who are only involved in technology transfer.
• Planning is controlled centrally and field personnel tend to be
numerous and dependent on central resources.
• Success is measured in terms of production increases of the
particular crops covered by the program
• Extension agent receive training on a frequent basis from
scientists and go to train farmers
T&V
• The T&V approach is again a top–down approach.
• The emphasis is on disseminating unsophisticated, low-cost
improved practices, and teaching farmers to make best use of
available resources.
• It provides closer technical supervision and logistic support, but at a
high cost.
• Actual two-way communication is lacking and there is little flexibility.
• This approach has only been successful in irrigation projects, but
not much of a success in dry land farming
• The approach is resource intensive because of motorization and
allowances.
• The approach has been nicknamed “Touch and Vanish approach”
as World Bank often withdraws funding but very good at training
extension workers
T& V weaknesses
• With continued budgetary crises of less developed
countries, some argued that it was too expensive and
impossible to implement over extensive regions.
• Highly dispersed farmers could never establish frequent
contact with extension agents. And their needs varied
widely and could not be addressed with a single, inflexible
technology package
Commodity Specialized approach
• The key characteristic of this approach groups all the
functions for increased production—extension, research,
input supply, marketing and prices—under one
administration.
• Extension is fairly centralized and is oriented towards one
commodity or crop and the agent has many functions.
• Planning is controlled by a commodity organization for
the purpose of increasing production of a particular
commodity.
• Highly trained scientific personnel equipped with
expensive vehicles and field scientific apparatus are
employed.
Commodity Specialized approach
• Techniques recommended must produce financial benefits
for farmers, and be demonstrable on farmers’ own fields.
• New inputs must be accessible, a credit scheme
established, and the ratio between farm-gate inputs and
commodity prices considered.
• Technology tends to be appropriate and distributed in a
timely manner because it focuses on a narrow range of
technical concerns.
• Interests of farmers, however, may have less priority than
those of commodity production organizations
Cost sharing approach
• This approach is based on local people sharing part of the cost of
the extension program.
• Its purpose is to provide advice and information to facilitate farmers’
self-improvement.
• It assumes that cost-sharing with local people (who do not have the
means to pay the full cost) will promote a program that is more
likely to meet local situations and where extension agents are more
accountable to local interests.
• Control and planning is shared by various entities and is responsive
to local interests.
• Success is measured by farmers’ willingness and ability to provide
some share of the cost, be it individually or through local
government units.
• Problems may arise if local farmers are pressured into investing in
unproven enterprises.
Project Approach
• This approach concentrates efforts on a particular
location, for a specific time period, often with outside
resources.
• Part of its purpose is often to demonstrate techniques and
methods that could be extended and sustained after the
project period.
• It uses large infusions of outside resources for a few
years to demonstrate the potential of new technologies.
• Control is at the central government level and there are
often considerable financial and technical inputs from an
international development agency.
• Short-term change is the measure of success.
The educational institution approach
• This approach uses educational institutions which have
technical knowledge and some research ability to provide
extension services for rural people.
• Planning is controlled by those determining the curriculum of
the educational institution.
• Implementation is through non-formal instruction in groups or
individuals through a college or university.
• Attendance and the extent of participation by farmers in
agricultural extension activities are the measures of success.
• Ideally researchers learn from extension personnel who, in
turn, learn from farmers. However, this rarely occurs in practice.
• The advantage of this approach is the relationship between
specialized scientists and field extension personnel
Group development area approach

• This approach was used throughout the 1960s and most

of the 1970s, when a large number of group development
areas (GDAs) were established in Mashonaland East
Province, particularly in Murewa and Mutoko Districts.
• The GDA approach was based on area and project
development through community participation in which, in
some cases, the local people provided labour while
government or donors provided the necessary inputs.
• The GDA concept allowed the extension service to
penetrate difficult areas and introduce agricultural
extension technology, as well as making it easier to
introduce other development initiatives closely related to
agriculture.
The main drawbacks in Zimbabwe
• it was usually difficult to direct services to the needy; the
focus on a particular individual or group could preclude
support and services for other deserving clientele;
• a heavy reliance on government and donors made
projects vulnerable in the event of government deficit or
donor weariness;
• The approach assumed that all farmers faced similar
problems and operated in a homogenous environment.
Exercise
• Discuss the strengths and weaknesses of these extension
approaches.