how to improve agricultural extension services
In Kenya, giving farmers measuring spoons led to higher fertilizer adoption [4]. 16 - Acquiring and managing financial resources, Obtaining financial resources News, ideas, and analysis from J-PAL staff and affiliated professors. Studies in Bangladesh on leaf colour charts and Kenya on measuring spoons for fertiliser application indicate that these simple tools help farmers calibrate their input decisions and lead to higher and more accurate rates of usage (Islam 2014, Duflo et al. Recommendations note on statistical methods and issues for economic evaluation J-PAL Europe is based at the Paris School of Economics in France. methodologies for learning, Alternative This will not only increase the operational resources for effectively targeting the ATMA activities but will also help the national schemes to meet their objectives and make ATMA sustainable in the long run. References, Chapter Because where you live can affect how and when you grow plants, it's important to know how to locate . systems of learning and action, The different broader planners' roles and new skills research-based knowledge to the rural sector in order to improve the lives of farmers. A variety of methods and approaches can be used to test, evaluate, and iterate the design of digital agricultural extension services to improve service delivery and impact (see Box 8.4). In the context of a new or novel technology where farmers are relatively uninformed, extension and information services can serve an important role to help farmers learn about the benefits of a technology. The workers, who have the most frequent contact with the small-scale farmers, are the field extension agents. J-PAL Africa is based at the Southern Africa Labour & Development Research Unit (SALDRU) at the University of Cape Town in South Africa. How can we increase access to energy, reduce pollution, and mitigate and build resilience to climate change? Issues that J-PAL is based at MIT in Cambridge, MA and has seven regional offices at leading universities in Africa, Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean, Middle East and North Africa, North America, South Asia, and Southeast Asia. Experimental evidence from Bangladesh, Working Paper. References, Chapter ; Extend images: Extend the canvas of your image, then make a selection of the empty region.. the evaluation effort: You can't evaluate everything, so let's set limits, Selecting Improving convergence through harmonization The ATMA has made some progress in the convergence of agricultural extension services at the district level. Towards the Modern Era From a goal of generating transformative change in agricultural systems in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia, improvements in information infrastructure can best be seen as a complementary factor transformative change requires transformative opportunities. Second, extension providers working with youth should demonstrate how . 2015). and delivery Potential if farmers can call or text in and sufficient expertise is available. AgReach is a leader in the push for greater support to extension, working to improve agricultural and nutrition extension services and systems that benefit smallholder farmers.By . For this reason, the detailed implementation plans within the overall NAEP strategy varied widely. Macro-factors Using information A randomized evaluation found that farmers with access to the mobile extension service increased cumin yields by 28 percent and cotton yields by 8.6 percent [8]. for supportive policy processes, Steps in establishing 19 - Strengthening research-extension-farmer linkages, Agricultural Improvement of a country's human capacity for productivity is a prerequisite for social and economic development. Notes Farmers need many types of information to assess new technologies and make optimal management decisions. The trustworthiness of Agricultural extension program will help to increase productivity of the farm, reduce poverty, minimise the food productivity etc. 3 - The context of extension in agricultural and rural development, A systems perspective "AGCOM is delivering on Malawi's Vision 2063's core goal of agricultural transformation. Staffing Conclusion Programmes that provide input subsidies are also largely taken up by male farmers. In Bali, farmer-led experimentation among seaweed producers led farmers to change their production methods. There is need to improve the capacity of farmers with knowledge, information, and technology to improve their livelihood. What are agricultural extension strategies? extension services can do to further collaborate with NGOs the decision-making process These trainings are often infrequent, meaning . 15 - Training and professional development, Learning theories and Can a Rule-of-Thumb Tool Improve Fertilizer Management? rural development, Investment Text message reminders about input use and a complaint hotline to report service delays have similarly shown (on a preliminary basis) to increase fertiliser usage and lower input delivery problems for contract farmers in Western Kenya (Casaburi forthcoming). and incentives, Improvement of The distant origins this can be done by the teaching technical and managerial skill and demonstrate the new relevant technology at the farmer field. - Formulating extension policy, Role J-PAL recognizes that there is a lack of diversity, equity, and inclusion in the field of economics and in our field of work. Thus, the role of agricultural extension today goes beyond the transfer of technology and improvement in productivity, but also, it includes improvement in farmers' managerial and technical skills through training, facilitation and coaching, among others. and opportunities: Rural women and extension strategies, Recommendations J-PAL initiatives concentrate funding and other resources around priority topics for which rigorous policy-relevant research is urgently needed. Each of these broad groups has a crucial role to play in creating an environment that ensures optimal utilization of all available resources for successful implementation of NAEP. interactive processing Challenges Agricultural extension plays a crucial role in promoting agricultural productivity, increasing food security, improving rural livelihoods, and promoting agriculture as an engine of pro-poor. Conclusions Linkages Ligon, E and E Sadoulet (2017), Estimating the relative benefits of agricultural growth on the distribution of expenditures, UC Berkeley: Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics, UCB. Conclusions Over the past eight years, the ATAI community has also generated unique bodies of evidence on farmer credit and savings, input and output markets, risk and insurance, along with rare data on the costs from the interventions being evaluated. Jones, Maria Ruth, and Florence Kondylis. Improving Lives in Rural and Urban Areas The hallmarks of the extension program openness, accessibility, and service illuminate how cooperative extension brings evidence-based science and modern technologies to farmers, consumers, and families. Precision farming provides one of the most important solutions for managing agricultural production to advance global food security. MIS Monitoring indicators In sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia, however, the traditional agricultural extension services designed to address these needs often face critical personnel shortages and offer recommendations that few farmers adopt (Coughlin 2006, BenYishay and Mobarak 2014, Glendenning et al. The different Phases of training References, Chapter 6 - Using rapid or participatory rural appraisal, Conventional conceptual framework for strategic planning of extension campaigns, Getting started with evaluation: Avoiding a passive sabotage of evaluation efforts, Selecting Hanna, R, S Mullainathan and J Schwartzstein (2014), Learning through noticing: Theory and experimental evidence in farming, The Quarterly Journal of Economics 129(3): 1311-1353. interactive processing, System With continued effort and innovation, we will generate more evidence on what helps farmers adopt new technologies and how these improvements integrate with the broader agricultural systems needed for fundamental change. Traditional government agricultural extension programsfor example, top-down approaches like training and visitoften focus on extending commonplace agriculture practices. For example, the Kenyan Ministry of Agriculture based recommended fertilizer amounts on maximizing yields, which may serve broader food security goals, whereas the optimal amount from the farmers perspective to maximize profit was much lower [4]. Jones, M and F Kondylis (2016), Your feedback matters, to you: Evidence from extension services, World Bank Development Economics Research Group. evaluation findings for improving extension: Who should be told what? The main difficulties identified by extension agents regarding technical services providing to farmers were lack of resources, poor knowledge regarding improved agricultural technologies, illiteracy among the farmers and communication problems. Feedback Matters: Evidence From Agricultural Services. Impact Evaluation Series, Policy Research Working Paper no. Connect with us for all media inquiries and we'll help you find the right person to shed insight on your story. Waddington, H, B Snilstveit, J Hombrados, M Vojtkova, J Anderson and H White (2014), Farmer field schools for improving farming practices and farmer outcomes in low-and middle-income countries: A systematic review, Campbell Systematic Reviews 10(6). Resource-conserving The e-agriculture platform, the ictupdate and many others have collected the various cases where ICTs have been applied within agriculture. Waddington, Hugh, and Howard White. LITTLE ROCK Jeantyl Norze, a new extension associate professor of Organizational Accountability and Evaluation for the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture, said he looks forward to increasing the visibility of extension, particularly in urban communities . broader planners' roles and new skills, Incorporating needs In Bali, seaweed farmers used the optimal amount and spacing of seaweed. In Malawi, for example, 70% of people needed to see at least two connections to be persuaded to adopt a novel planting technique that required substantial labour investments but no other additional inputs (Beaman et al. Participatory methods 2018. Extension services have been traditionally used to bridge the gap between research and innovation for farmers by providing information on, for example, recommended input applications (e.g . Literature does not consider the fact that agroecology practices are often adopted via entering a group (formed . Evidence from Armenia, Mathematica Policy Research, Working Paper 19. References, Chapter Extension evaluation of MIS in the management of agricultural extension programmes new professionalism in extension In Bangladesh, providing farmers with leaf color charts to inform fertilizer application aligned farmers timing of urea application with productive periods during the growing cycle [9]. Yield increases were smaller overall and too varied across farmers to be able to conclude whether the SMS messaging had any impact or whether the SMS messaging would have a high-benefit cost ratio. 14 - Managing human resources within extension, Human resource "Improving extension services to increase smallholder productivity." RSVP for the Zoom event. Conclusion In addition, some studies suggest that the question of who provides agricultural extension advice may play a large role in a farmers decision to uptake the advice ( Buck and Alwang, 2011, 2011; Moser and Barrett, 2006 ). Towards a foundation for extension impact, A Traditional extension services may have low use in part because they focus on maximizing yields rather than maximizing farmers profits. planning for extension This has two important components: New roles for extension BenYishay, A, M Jones, F Kondylis and A Mobarak (2015), Are gender differences in performance innate or socially mediated?, Working Paper. Led by affiliated professors, J-PAL sectors guide our research and policy work by conducting literature reviews; by managing research initiatives that promote the rigorous evaluation of innovative interventions by affiliates; and by summarizing findings and lessons from randomized evaluations and producing cost-effectiveness analyses to help inform relevant policy debates. In Sierra Leone, a randomized evaluation of the rollout of an improved rice seed variety, NERICA, found that yields only increased for farmers who received extension services alongside free seed kits. Mitra, S, D Mookherjee, M Torero and S Visaria (2018), Asymmetric information and middleman margins: An experiment with Indian potato farmers, The Review of Economics and Statistics 100(1): 1-13. Learning from others, however, can be less effective in delivering messages or promoting technologies if social networks are segregated or small (Beaman and Dillon 2016, Emerick et al. Central Time, followed by questions and answers. Abstract Agricultural extension services globally are face with a challenge to become more effective and responsive. Applications for such permission, with a statement of the purpose and extent of the reproduction, should be addressed to the Director, Information Division, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Viale delle Terme di Caracalla, 00100 Rome, Italy. Information and communications technologies can improve on traditional extension by tailoring recommendations to farmers needs at relevant times during the agricultural cycle. effectiveness, efficiency, and impact Adopting the recommendations of a local NGO-run extension program would have reduced farmer profits (but increased yields) [5]. Agricultural development remains the cornerstone of the fight against global poverty. The eAfghan Ag was developed with this objective in mind - eAfghan Ag "provides credible relevant information to those helping farmers in Afghanistan". How can financial products and services be more affordable, appropriate, and accessible to underserved households and businesses? indicators challenges for sustainable agriculture, Sustainability and There is a growing body of experience providing lessons on factors required for successful ICT applications in agricultural extension and on how ICT can lead to beneficial behavior change amongst poor farmers (Bell, 2016). different mechanisms to solve linkage problems, Linkages new professionalism in extension, Extension Jensen, R (2007), The digital provide: Information (technology), market performance, and welfare in the South Indian fisheries sector, The Quarterly Journal of Economics 122(3): 879-924. Using In Sierra Leone, a randomized evaluation of the rollout of an improved rice seed variety, NERICA, found that yields only increased for farmers who received extension services alongside free seed kits. Bottom up approachesfor example farmer field schoolsoften focus on helping farmers adopt newer, more sustainable practices. Present and Casaburi, L, M Kremer, S Mullainathan and R Ramrattan (Forthcoming), Harnessing ICT to increase agricultural production: Evidence from Kenya. Suggested The epidemic is changing the traditional composition of the clientele for extension services. Predicting organizational 2015). There has been a major shift in modernizing extension and advisory sevices and key studies were done by Bell (2011) and Vignare (2013). methods for evaluation of teaching and learning: How do we know that learning of extension "privatization", Examples Farmers who received seeds alone did not experience gains in yields [7]. 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