NT

COURSE SYLLABUS

Instructor: CALLIXTE GATALI, MSC

FACULTY OF AGRICULTURE/NUR
Email: cgatali@nur.ac.rw; gatalic@yahoo.fr

July 2008
TABLE OF CONTENTS
TABLE OF CONTENTS............................................................................................................2
Introduction.................................................................................................................................4
Chapter 3. The economic contributions of agricultural extension to agricultural and rural
development: Historical background of Rwanda agricultural extension services. Extension’s
Role in Promoting Agricultural Development. The conceptual foundation for extension
impact. Estimates of economic impacts: A summary. ................................................................5
Chapter 6. Strengthening research-extension-farmer linkages: Agricultural technology: Some
basic concepts. Barriers to extension-education-research linkages. Types of research,
education and extension linkages. Using systems analysis to identifying linkage problems.
Categories of technology. Using different mechanisms to solve linkage problems. Linkages
with farmers and their organizations...........................................................................................5
Chapter 11. Agricultural extension at the turn of the millennium: trends and challenges
(after M.K. Qamar in Human resources in agricultural and rural development, FAO, 2000).
.................................................................................................................................................6
Chapter 1. Overview of Agricultural Development Problems and Roles of Extension Services
in Supporting Agricultural Development ...................................................................................6
1.1. Agricultural development problems worldwide...............................................................6
1.2. Roles of extension services in supporting agricultural development ..............................7
1.3. How to implement the roles which extension services are expected to perform ............9
1.4. Rwanda national policies affecting agricultural development ......................................11
Chapter 2. Agricultural Extension Development......................................................................18
2.1. Extension terminology...................................................................................................18
2.2. Definitions and history of Agricultural Extension.........................................................18
Origins of agricultural extension.......................................................................................19
2.3. Four paradigms of agricultural extension......................................................................21
2.4. Extension as a function and mean for poverty alleviation.............................................22
2.5. Agricultural extension as a knowledge system..............................................................23
2.6. Overview of extension systems throughout the world...................................................26
2.7. Necessary conditions for agricultural extension to evolve............................................26
2.8. Economic Impact of Agricultural Extension..................................................................27
2.9. Government’s role in agricultural and rural extension reform.......................................27
Chapter 3. The Economic Contributions of Agricultural Extension to Agricultural and Rural
Development.............................................................................................................................28
3.1. Historical background of Rwanda agricultural extension services................................29
3.2. Extension’s Role in Promoting Agricultural Development............................................36
3.3. The conceptual foundation for extension impact ..........................................................42
3.4. Estimates of economic impacts: A summary. ................................................................46
Chapter 4. Principles and Methods of Extension Education....................................................50
4.1. Differences between formal education & extension education......................................50
4.2. Objectives of extension education.................................................................................51
4.3. Principles of extension education..................................................................................51
4.4. Learning & teaching in extension: Extension methods.................................................53
4.5. Using rapid or participatory rural appraisal...................................................................58
4.5.1. Conventional methodologies for learning...............................................................58
4.5.2. Alternative systems of learning and action.............................................................59
4.5.3. The different interpretations of participation..........................................................60
4.5.4. Participatory methods.............................................................................................63
4.5.5. The trustworthiness of findings...............................................................................67
4.5.6. Towards a new professionalism in extension..........................................................69
Introduction

What is Agricultural Extension? Why is it important? What is the impact of Agricultural

Extension on agricultural development? How can Agricultural Extension better contribute to
agricultural transformation in Rwanda and bring about change and development in rural
areas? These are the kinds of questions this course will try to find answers to.

“Extension and rural information services provide critical access to the knowledge and
information that rural people need to increase the productivity and sustainability of their
production systems, and thus improve the quality of their lives and livelihoods “
(The World Bank Group1, 2008).

Agricultural extension as an educational and communications tool makes a vital contribution

to agricultural production and rural development. Yet access to extension services and a lack
of well-trained extension staff constitute a challenge facing many developing countries.

Agricultural extension was once known as the application of scientific research and new
knowledge to agricultural practices through farmer education. The field of extension now
encompasses a wider range of communication and learning activities organized for rural
people by professionals from different disciplines, including agriculture, health, and
business studies. Extension practitioners can be found throughout the world, usually working
for government agencies. They are represented by several professional organizations and
extension journals. Agricultural extension agencies in developing countries have received
large amounts of support from international development organizations such as the World
Bank and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations.

Agricultural colleges and universities must play a key role in advancing extension services by
providing knowledge and innovations to the end users through extension services. In addition
closer collaboration among researchers, educators and extension agents is likely to contribute
to agricultural and rural development to enhance rural people’s livelihoods.

This introductory course to agricultural extension provides students with understanding and
basic concepts of agricultural extension, its evolution and roles in supporting agricultural and
rural development for the pro-poor.

It addresses issues related to agricultural education principles and methods, demand-driven

services, research-education-extension-farmer linkages, basic concepts of social and rural
development, communication processes within extension systems, extension programme-
planning and evaluation, and agricultural extension at the turn of the millennium.

The course is structured into 11 chapters.

Chapter 1. Overview of agricultural development problems and roles of extension
services in supporting agricultural development: Agricultural development problems
worldwide. Roles of extension services in supporting agricultural development. How to
1
The world Bank Group: five closely institutions (IBRD, IDA IFC, MIGA &ICSID), all owned by member countries
that carry ultimate decision-making power. Each Institution plays a distinct role in the mission to fight poverty and
improve living standards for people in developing world.
implement the roles which extension services are expected to perform. Rwanda national
policies affecting agricultural development;

Chapter 2. Agricultural Extension Development: Extension terminology. Definitions of

Extension. Extension as a function. Agricultural extension as a knowledge system. Overview
of extension systems throughout the world. Necessary conditions for agricultural extension to
evolve. Economic Impact of Agricultural Extension. Government’s role in agricultural and
rural extension reform.

Chapter 3. The economic contributions of agricultural extension to agricultural and

rural development: Historical background of Rwanda agricultural extension services.
Extension’s Role in Promoting Agricultural Development. The conceptual foundation for
extension impact. Estimates of economic impacts: A summary.
Chapter 4. Principles and methods of Extension Education: Differences between formal
education & extension education. Objectives of extension education. Principles of extension
education. Learning & teaching in extension: Extension methods. Mass media. Group
methods. Using rapid or participatory rural appraisal.

Chapter 5. Demand-driven services: Case studies:

Case study #1: Local lesson learning in demand-driven services (by Clive Lightfoot)
Case study #2: Demand-driven advisory service as a pathway out of poverty: Experience from
NAADS in Soroti district, Uganda (by Esbern Friis-Hansen)
Case study #3: Demand-for-services planning by villagers: a case study from Pakistan (by M.
Kalim Qamar)
Case study #4: Farmer empowerment - experiences, lessons learned and ways forward
Case study #5: SAHA (by Intercooperation MADAGASCAR)
Case study #6: Demand for extension services in Serbia and Macedonia: A synthesis case
study (by Ian Christoplos)

Chapter 6. Strengthening research-extension-farmer linkages: Agricultural technology:

Some basic concepts. Barriers to extension-education-research linkages. Types of research,
education and extension linkages. Using systems analysis to identifying linkage problems.
Categories of technology. Using different mechanisms to solve linkage problems.
Linkages with farmers and their organizations.

Chapter 7. Integrated rural development: What is rural? Why is the international

community concerned with rural development? Rural disadvantages- access and resources.
The reconfiguration of rural values as local development resources. Definitions of
development. Approaches to rural development (RD). The structural approach to rural
development. Rural trends & implications for poverty reduction efforts. The role of an
integrated approach to rural development. Components of integrated rural development
projects. General Guiding Principles of integrated rural development. Successful examples in
rural development: India, China, Singapore and Malysia. Lessons to be learned.

Chapter 8. Communication processes within extension systems: Theory, principles,

methods and techniques in agricultural communication. How communication takes place in an
extension system: paternalism versus participation. Why communication takes place:
persuasion versus education. Four paradigms of agricultural extension.
Chapter 9. Assignment for group work on selected topics addressing Special Problems:
Guidelines how to conduct investigation on selected topics. List of some proposed topics.

Chapter 10. Extension programme-planning and evaluation: Principles of extension

programme-planning. The programme-planning process. Evaluation of extension Programs.
Why Program Evaluation? What is program evaluation? What is our role in program
evaluation? When is the Best Time to Conduct a Program Evaluation?

Chapter 11. Agricultural extension at the turn of the millennium: trends and challenges
(after M.K. Qamar in Human resources in agricultural and rural development, FAO, 2000).

Grading:

• Two Midterm exams: dates to be announced (50%)

• Individual paper I: “How do you understand the role of Agricultural
Extension in supporting food security and agricultural development of Rwanda?” (10%)
• Individual paper II: selected topics (40%) (see list in attachment)

Texts and readings:

There is no specific textbook for this course. Most of the readings for this course are journal
articles. Students are should contact NUR main Library on how to access journal articles
online. They are also encouraged to check other available sources in the main Library and
Faculty Library. Other sources are: MINAGRI website: http://www.minagri.gov.rw; FAO
website: http://www.fao.org; International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI):
www.ifpri.org; technical centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation ACP—EU (CTA):
http://www.cta.int/. Specific readings will be announced by the instructor later on.

Chapter 1. Overview of Agricultural Development Problems and Roles of

Extension Services in Supporting Agricultural Development

“Agriculture is a vital development tool for achieving the Millennium Development Goal
that calls for halving by 2015 the share of people suffering from extreme poverty and
hunger. In much of sub-Saharan Africa, agriculture is a strong option for spurring growth,
overcoming poverty, and enhancing food security. Agricultural productivity growth is vital
for stimulating growth in other parts of the economy. But accelerated growth requires a
sharp productivity increase in smallholder farming combined with more effective support to
the millions coping as subsistence farmers, many of them in remote areas (World
development report 2008).”

1.1. Agricultural development problems worldwide

Most countries are facing the following problems in developing their agriculture in a way,
which makes it possible for their farmers to compete with farmers in other countries and to
earn a decent level of income:
1. The level of knowledge and capabilities of the farmers is of great importance to
compete successfully. The knowledge and capabilities which are required are changing
rapidly. A farmer, who farms now as a good farmer did 10 years ago, will probably no longer,
be able to compete with up-to-date farmers.

2. Farmers need support from an effective system of input and credit supply and of
marketing and processing their products. The structure of these markets is changing
rapidly and therefore the institutions providing this support have to change as well.

3. In countries where the average income is increasing, the proportion of the labor force
which can make a living from farming decreases. Not always other employment
opportunities are available for people who have to leave agriculture.

4. It is necessary to adjust farming systems to changes in the market such as

• an increased demand for animal and horticultural products with a high value,
• increasing international competition,
• increased power of multi-national companies in the market,
• changing government policies, e.g. price and environmental policies.

5. Many of the present farming systems are not sustainable, because they cause erosion
or pollution or decrease the ground water table.

There are also agricultural development problems, which are more specific for different
countries in their process of change from a planned to a market economy, such as:

6. Farmers have to learn how to make entrepreneurial decisions themselves and how to
gain some control over the system of input and credit supply and marketing. Some of
these decisions can be taken by individual farmers, other only together with their colleagues.

7. Helping people, who were in the past specialized workers on large farms or who
worked outside agriculture to gain the knowledge and skills needed to manage a farm as
a whole.

8. Changing the land tenure system and helping farmers to gain access to the capital
needed to manage a modern farm.

Group assignment #1: In groups of 4-5 students, discuss which agricultural development
problems are more critical for Rwanda, try to prioritize them. For each problem, identify
and argue about possible solutions to solve it. You can also use other sources of information
such as published documents and various reports.

1.2. Roles of extension services in supporting agricultural development

Extension and consulting services can play important roles in reducing these agricultural
development problems, such as:

1. Helping farmers to choose the most profitable production technologies and to implement
these technologies successfully.
2. Helping farmers to make decisions on investments and the choice of farming systems.

3. Helping farmers to decide when and how to market which products.

4. Helping farmers to make collective decisions e.g. on:

• management of land, water and other resources,
• marketing
• influencing government policies. .

5. Predicting changes in governmental price, environmental and other policies and taking
these policies into account in decisions on their way of farming.

6. Helping farm families to decide to what extent they will try to earn their income from
farming or from other sectors of the economy.
For extension services it is important to decide which of these roles they will
try to perform. It will be difficult to find an extension agent or a consultant, who is really
competent to give advice on all these decisions. This choice of the extension organization
influences the capabilities which are required in their organization, their relationship with
farmers and the way their organization can be financed. Important questions in this regard are:

a. Who does have the knowledge and information needed to make a good decision: the farmer,
the extension agent or do both of them have a part of this knowledge?

b. If this knowledge and information is not yet available, how can it be developed?

c. Who has the right to make this decision? If values play a role in choosing the right decision,
it will usually be the farm family and not the extension agent, who has this right.

If only the extension agent knows how to solve the problem and there is no disagreement
about the goals of the farmer, he can tell the farmer what he should do. However, also in this
situation it is possible and often desirable to use this opportunity to teach the farmer, how to
solve in the future similar problems himself, e.g. how to recognize a plant disease.

Also new farming systems can only be developed and labor management problems be solved
in the actual farm situation and not in a research institute. It is necessary to analyze the
weaknesses in the present Agricultural Knowledge and Information System, which the
extension service should overcome. If for instance input supply companies or cooperatives
give good advice on the use if their products and farmers are willing to pay for this advice in
the price of these products, there is no reason why an extension service should do the same at
the expense of the tax payers. There may be a need for a competent group in the extension
service to which farmers can turn in case they fear that a company tries to cheat them.

One should distinguish situations where knowledge is a private good and where it is a public
good. Knowledge about technologies is often a public good, because the same knowledge is
valuable to all farmers and if one farmer demonstrates how it works other farmers can also
learn from this demonstration. On the other hand knowledge about an investment decision is
usually a private good, because this decision has to take into account the resources, the
situation and the goals of an individual farmer. However, knowledge about the methodology
to take an investment decision becomes much more a public good from which a large number
of farmers can profit.

When knowledge is a private good a consulting firm paid by fees from its farmer-clients is
usually the most effective way to provide this knowledge. This firm is forced to provide the
knowledge for which farmers feel a need, otherwise they are not willing to pay the fee or turn
to a competing consulting firm. It is also difficult to defend that taxpayers pay for knowledge
through which one farmer can increase its income, although this may be seen as a social
service for pensioners with a low income.

When knowledge is a public good it is usually in the interest of the economic growth of the
country that this knowledge is spread as widely and rapidly as possible. This often results in a
decrease in the costs of food consumption for the consumers taxpayers. Charging a consulting
firm with this task may not work, because this firm tries to make this knowledge only
available to those who pay for it and therefore the firm will e.g. not use a demonstration from
which all farmers can learn.

Increasingly governments try to implement environmental policies, which may not be in the
(short term) interest of individual farmers but in the interest of the society as a whole, e.g.
because they prevent pollution of the drinking water. These policies will only be effective if
the majority of the farmers follow them voluntarily. In that case it is possible to fine those
farmers who refuse to follow these government rules. For that purpose it is important that
rules are formulated which help to realize the goals of the government at the lowest possible
costs for farmers. In order to design such rules bureaucrats need the help of farmers or
representatives of farmers unions, who understand what are the implications of various
alternatives for farmers.

1.3. How to implement the roles which extension services are expected to perform

Crucial for a successful implementation of extension roles is the trust of the farmers that their
extension agent is capable and motivated to help them to realize their goals. Role conflicts
between realizing the goals of the farmers and those of the extension organization should be
avoided. Such conflicts can be expected when the government has goals which cause a
decrease in farm income, e.g. decreasing surpluses in agricultural production or by reducing
environmental problems. Clearly the government should serve the interest of the whole
population and not only those of the farmers or of certain groups of farmers. Therefore the
government may have to take decisions which are against the interests of (some) farmers, but
if the extension organization is asked to implement these decisions it may loose the trust of
their farmers and hence the ability to influence other changes in farming which are in the
interest of farmers as well as in the interest of the society as a whole. The government
extension organization may say to the farmers: "These are rules, which are accepted by
parliament and if you do not follow these rules you may be fined. I am willing to discuss with
you how you can change your farm in such a way that you get the highest possible income
without breaking these rules".

This can also be a problem, if extension is provided by a commercial company selling inputs
or marketing farm products. This company invests in extension in order to increase its profits.
It is possible that in doing, so it will at the same time increase the profit of the farmers. For
instance if a feed company teaches its customers how they can prevent diseases in their
poultry this will increase their own profit as well as that of the farmers, because a chicken
which dies no longer eats feed nor lays eggs. However, there can also be a conflict of
interests. It is e.g. not in the interest of the pesticide company to teach farmers that in some
situations they can increase their profit by replacing most pesticides by knowledge about
insect ecology (Integrated Pest Management) without reducing their yields.

In some countries a government extension service tries to raise money, for their work by
selling seeds and agro-chemicals. Commercial companies may not consider it profitable to
sell these products in remote villages to small farmers. It is also a way to get into contact with
farmers, who do not yet recognize the value knowledge, has for them, but who realize that
they need these inputs. However, the result can also be that farmers loose the confidence in
their extension agents, if the products they sell are not of a really good quality or if as a result
of an inefficient bureaucracy these products do not arrive in time.

It is also important that the extension agents are competent to give good advice. This requires
in the first place that they understand what the goals of this farmer are, in which situation he is
farming and which resources he has. The ability of the extension agent to listen to his farmers
and to learn from their experience is at least as important as the ability to speak clearly. As
there are large differences between farmers it is seldom desirable to give blanket
recommendations which are the same for all farmers, but the advice should be adjusted to the
specific situation of a farmer or a group of farmers.

In the second place this requires knowledge on production technologies, which can come both
from research and from farmers' experience. Therefore a good linkage between research and
extension is necessarily not only to inform the extension agent about the most up-to-date and
most relevant research findings, but also to stimulate researchers to develop the knowledge
which is needed to find solutions for important problems of farmers.

The international experience is that a successful extension agent has to invest about 15% of
his time to keep well informed about new developments in production technologies and
management strategies. One good way to do so can be to participate in on-farm testing of
these technologies in the situation where (s) he works.

In the third place the extension agent should be able to discuss with his farmers which
changes can be expected in market prices and in government policies. For a farmer it is quite
important to adjust his way of farming in time at these changes, but they are often difficult to
predict. This prediction should be the responsibility of the farmer, who bears the risk when the
wrong prediction is made, but he may expect from his extension agent help to make a well
informed prediction.

Farmers are free to listen or not to listen to their extension agent. They will only listen, if they
consider it important for themselves what he tells. This makes it important to start with
problems farmers consider important and not with problems researchers or high ranking
government officers consider important. If the extension agent helps farmers to find a solution
for the problems they consider important, he will gain their confidence. As a result they will
also listen to problems the extension agents considers important. If the extension agent has
e.g. shown the farmer that it possible to prevent that his crop is lost by a plant disease, most
will get convinced that it is important to listen to what this man has to say. He may e.g.
become able to discuss with them whether a change in their farming system is desirable in
order to profit from new opportunities in the market. This is not possible if farm management
advice is given by a different organization than advice on plant protection.

There are three reasons why extension agents should stimulate the exchange of ideas and
experiences among farmers. Firstly this is an important way to develop location specific
knowledge. There are large differences in agro-ecological situation between farmers’ fields
and in socio-economic situation between farmers. Experiments and experiences by farmers
contribute a lot to developing information which is needed in each of these situations.

Secondly farmers will be much more inclined to implement changes which they or their
colleagues have partly developed than changes which are handed down to them by extension
agents from researchers. Farmers have learned by experience that this theory does not always
work in their situation. Thirdly increasingly farmers have to make collective decisions on
resource use, e.g. on erosion control, and on influencing other actors in the marketing chain,
e.g. through co-operatives. In order to make a good decision, which is widely accepted a lot of
discussion among all stakeholders is necessary.

1.4. Rwanda national policies affecting agricultural development

Agricultural development primarily consists in increasing the volume of harvests, overall or

for certain products only by improving the outputs, by a better use of the lands and other
limiting factors (e.g. labor). Agricultural development aims also at improving quality of the
production and added-value, for example in order to improve food security of the populations
or adapt to the requirements of the market.

Agricultural development thus passes through introduction of new productions (crop or

animal), by the improvement of production techniques with an aim of increasing agricultural
outputs, economic profitability or a better use of production factors such as labor, land
potential, fertilizers, etc.

The farmer is considered as an agent to the service of the production, but not as the main
recipient of extension services.

Rural development consists in improving the entire environment surrounding the farmer,
considered this time as the main recipient. It relates at the same time to the roads, villages,
health, education, communication, ICT and on all the economic and social services likely to
improve not only the productive function, but also the social well-being.

The term integrated development means a logical and rational development, aiming, with an
aim of growth, all aspects which depend each on another, so that all necessary conditions to
this development are taken into account. Extension thus consists of a set of tasks among
others (e.g. functions), all necessary to the development and constituting either preconditions,
or complements to extension.

Rwanda national policies directly affecting agricultural development are emphasized in:
• Vision 2020, EDPRS
 • Agricultural sector policies: NAP (National Agricultural Policy), PSTA (Plan
Stratégique pour la Transformation de l’Agriculture au Rwanda)
• Economic planning: PIP, MTEF, HPIC
• Decentralization planning and implementation: PDC
• Funding modalities

These policies and others can be found on the Ministries’ website or at separate documents in
these Ministries. Students are encouraged to search for these policies and read them. Here, I
want to emphasize the Vision 2020 and its pillars.

 Understanding Vision 2020 and its pillars2

Rwanda cannot become a modern, strong and united nation, proud of its fundamental values
without the aspirations of its Vision 2020 whose objectives will be realized through six pillars
driven by three cross-cutting issues. The pillars include good governance and a capable state;
human resource development and a knowledge based economy; private sector-led economy;
infrastructure development; productive and market oriented agriculture; Regional and
International economic integration is another pillar. The cross-cutting areas include; gender
equality, protection of environment and sustainable natural resource management and science
and technology including Information Communication Technology (ICT).

i. Good governance and a capable state

Rwanda will become a modern, united and prosperous nation founded on the positive values
of its culture. The country will be open to the world, including its own Diaspora. Rwandans
will be a people, sharing the same vision for the future and ready to contribute to social
cohesion, equity and equality of opportunity.

Hence, the country is committed to being a capable state, characterized by the rule of law that
supports and protects all its citizens without discrimination. It is dedicated to the rights, unity
and well-being of its people and will ensure the consolidation of the nation and its security,
etc.

In short, we need a small but effective, flexible public sector that can lay the foundations for
Rwanda to be competitive in the modern international economy. Under this pillar, people’s
participation at the grassroots level will be promoted through the decentralization process,
whereby local communities will be empowered in the decision making process, enabling them
to address the issues, which affect them, the most.

ii. Human resource development and a knowledge-based economy

Apart from raising the general welfare of the population, improvements in education and
health services can be used to build a productive and efficient workforce. This will be
essential for Rwanda to become a sophisticated knowledge-based economy.

2
By Gasheegu Muramila (2008). Understanding vision 2020 and its pillars In The New Times. Available at
http://www.newtimes.co.rw. Accessed on Friday, 11thJuly 2008.
As far as education is concerned, Rwanda is committed to reaching “Universal Education for
All”, which is one of the most important Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

Major emphasis will be placed on vocational and technical training in the fields of technology,
engineering and management. This will be targeted at secondary school leavers, as well as
various sections of society (with particular emphasis on youth and women).

The objectives to be attained in the field of health within the next 20 years include; a
reduction in the infant mortality rate from 107 to 50 per 1,000 and the maternal mortality rate
from 1,070 to 200 per 100.000.

Life expectancy will have increased from 49 to 55 years, malaria and other potential epidemic
diseases will have been controlled and the Aids prevalence will have been reduced from 13
per cent to 8 per cent.

Family planning is crucial for reducing both birth rates and the prevalence of HIV/Aids.
Current population policies should go hand in hand with strategies to overcome problems in
the health sector. Indeed, poverty remains a major cause of poor health and vice versa.

iii. Private sector-led development

For Rwanda’s development, the emergence of a viable private sector that can take over as the
principle growth engine of the economy is absolutely key. It is therefore, committed towards a
comprehensive privatization policy that will help reduce costs, prices and widen consumer
choice.

The state will only act as a catalyst; ensuring that infrastructure, human resources and legal
frameworks are geared towards stimulating economic activity and private investment.

The development of the financial sector will be crucial, as it is currently underdeveloped and
poorly adapted to the economic needs of the country. The financial sector must be able to
provide the necessary capital for private sector development. The government will also
promote local business through the introduction of export processing zones, in which foreign
operators could have local partners.

Particular attention will be paid to the labor market. During the 40 years of colonialism, the
Rwandan economy has been able to generate only 200,000 jobs outside agriculture.

If family planning services improve, the population is still projected to reach 13 million by
2020, of which 7 million people will be earning a living on off-farm activities.

Therefore, it will be necessary to create 1,4 million jobs outside agriculture. Given the trends
of the Rwandan economy over the past decades, this is clearly a huge challenge, in which the
private sector needs to play a pivotal role.

iv. Infrastructure development

Needless to say, the rehabilitation and development of infrastructure is a crucial aspect in

lowering the costs of doing business in Rwanda, which will attract domestic and foreign
investment.
 v. Land use management

Land use management is a fundamental tool in development. As Rwanda is characterized by

acute land shortage, a land use plan is needed to ensure its optimal utilization in urban and
rural development. Currently, Rwanda’s land resources are utilized in an inefficient and
unsustainable manner, which limits the profitability of land and infrastructure, whilst
aggravating the national capacity to retain rainwater. To address this, a modern land law
providing security of tenure and freedom of exchange will be instituted.
Rwanda will pursue a harmonious policy of grouped settlements based on economic activity.

Rural settlements organized into active development centers will be equipped with basic
infrastructure and services. This system of settlement will serve as an entry point into the
development of non-agricultural income generating activities. Land will be reorganized and
consolidated so as to create adequate space for modern and viable farming.

vi. Urban development

Rwanda is characterized by low but accelerating urbanization. This has happened in a rapid
and uncoordinated manner, meaning that social services and employment opportunities are
lagging behind. From now until 2010, each town will have regularly updated urban master
plans and specific land management plans. The country will develop basic infrastructure in
urban centers and in other development poles, enabling the decongestion of agricultural
zones.

The proportion of those living in towns and cities will increase from 10 per cent in 2000 to 30
per cent in 2020 (from 5 per cent in 1995). The income difference between towns and rural
areas should remain within reasonable proportions, due to the decentralization of economic
activities to the country.

vii. Transport

Rwanda is landlocked with high transport costs to the ocean ports of Kenyan and Tanzania.
Therefore, it is imperative to develop, alternative lower costs of transport to the sea, notably
through a regional rail extension to Isaka, Tanzania and an extension to the Ugandan Railway
system.

A combined rail and water system that can link to the Banguela Railway will be considered.
Furthermore, a second airport capable of serving, as a regional hub for the great lakes region
will be developed. For the internal market, Rwanda has a reliable and safe transport network
of feeder roads. However, this will continue to be extended and improved.

viii. Communication & ICT

Telecommunication coverage in Rwanda is very low. The communication policy will take
advantage of the small size of the country, its high population density and the single local
language to attract investors so that the sector can be liberalized.
By 2020, Rwanda projects to have internet access at all administrative levels, for all
secondary schools and for a large number of primary schools. Telephone services will be
widespread in rural areas and efficiency of public services will have increased through the
application of e-government principles.

ix. Energy

Inadequate and expensive electricity supply constitutes a limiting factor to development.

Wood is the source of energy for 99 per cent of the population, which leads to massive
deforestation and soil destruction. Imported petroleum products consume more than 40 per
cent of foreign exchange. Rwanda will therefore increase energy production and diversify into
alternative energy sources.

To achieve this, Rwanda has considerable hydroelectric potential, in addition to large deposits
of renewable methane gas in Lake Kivu, estimated at 60 billion cubic meters.

In rural areas direct solar energy or photovoltaic energy can be used, whilst up to 1/3 of 155
million tons of peat deposit is currently exploitable. Rwanda projects that by 2020, at least
35 per cent of the population will be connected to electricity (up from 2 per cent in 2000) and
the consumption of wood will decrease from the current 94 per cent to 50 per cent of national
energy consumption.

x. Water

Only 52 per cent of Rwandans have access to clean water. Daily consumption of water is
estimated at 8.15 litres per person in rural areas, far below the international standard of 20
litres.

The country is endowed with reserves that could provide enough water for both consumption
and agricultural purposes. These include substantial rainfall (between 900 & 1,800 mm per
year) and the abundance of lakes, streams and watercourses.

Furthermore, there is an abundant supply of high altitude water in the western part of the
country, which may be used in providing water by gravity to the southern and south-eastern
regions of the country that face water shortages.

In order to achieve the goals for water set out in Vision 2020, the country will have to increase
the rate of access to potable water by 2.5 percentage points, annually from the current rate of
52 per cent so that the whole of the Rwandan population will have access to drinkable water
by 2020.

xi. Waste management

Access to drainage and sewage disposal services is 85 per cent of the population, whilst 64%
of latrines do not meet the required hygienic standards. Consumption of dirty and unsafe
water is at the origin of various water-borne diseases. The unplanned and disorganized
construction of towns without a suitable drainage system exacerbates sanitary problems.

Sewerage and rainwater can destroy public roads or stagnate, creating ideal breeding grounds
for both human and animal diseases. Since most houses are situated on the summit and on the
slopes of hills, water sources are in constant danger of pollution by domestic sewerage and
other human activities carried by the stream of water. The environmental impact of deficient
waste management is barely taken into account by human settlements and industrial
installations

By 2020, the rural and urban areas are to have sufficient sewerage and disposal systems. Each
town is to be endowed with an adequate unit for treating and compressing solid wastes for
disposal. Households will have mastered and be practicing measures of hygiene and waste
disposal.

xii. Productive high value and market oriented agriculture

Rwanda’s economic policies since independence are said to have targeted agriculture as the
main engine of economic growth. However, the agricultural sector has continued to perform
poorly, with consistently declining productivity. It will be necessary to formulate and
implement realistic developmental policies that move beyond past delusions of viable
subsistence-based agriculture.

Contrary to conventional wisdom, the most important issue retarding Rwanda’s agricultural
development is not land size, but low productivity associated with traditional peasant-based
subsistence farming. Agricultural policy orientation will have to be overhauled, promoting
intensification so as to increase productivity and achieve growth rates of 4.5 percent to 5 per
cent per year.

This can only happen through the production of high value crops and modern livestock management.
The vision aims to replace subsistence farming by a fully monetized, commercial agricultural sector
by 2020.

The key policy areas that need urgent attention to bring about this transformation include the
following; Institutional and legal reforms to ensure security of land ownership, development of a
market in land assets, extensive research and extension services, and investment in rural
infrastructures. Others are use of high yielding varieties, intensive input use especially fertilizers.

Others are; promotion of agro-based manufacturing; environmental control measures to halt the
decline in soil fertility, rural financing schemes and markets. As mentioned above, a viable economic
strategy for Rwanda requires diversification away from the agricultural sector. Agriculture will have to
be developed to permit spill-off effects, beginning with the development of agro-businesses that can
then provide spill-over into other sectors of the economy. Furthermore, it can be very much expected
that the above priority policy areas will not only be supportive to agriculture, but will also benefit the
whole of the rural economy.

xiii. Regional and International Integration

Rwanda considers regional economic integration as one of the crucial elements of achieving Vision
2020. To this end, it will be necessary to pursue an open, liberal trade regime, minimizing barriers to
trade as well as implementing policies to encourage foreign direct investment.

Furthermore, the need to adopt policies to promote competitive enterprises, exports and
entrepreneurship rather than protecting failing industries cannot be over-emphasized. Economic zones
for ICT based production will be crucial for enhancing competitiveness of Rwandan firms.
The vision of accessing larger regional markets will be accompanied through a program of investing in
infrastructure to promote Rwanda as a communication and telecommunication hub. Furthermore,
taking advantage of Rwanda’s comparative strategic position should be exploited in terms of entrepot
functions in trade and commerce. Export processing zones, coupled with the industrial reforms noted
above, will enable the country to consolidate its niche in services and communication sectors and take
advantage of growing regional co-operation in the Great Lakes/ Eastern African Region.

xiv. Vision 2020’s cross-cutting issues

Next to the six pillars, there are the three cross-cutting areas of gender, natural resources
and environment and culture, science & technology. These issues will not only be affected by the
economic transformation but will also play an important role in achieving the Vision’s development
goals.

(a) Gender Equality

Women make up 53 per cent of the population and participate in subsistence agriculture more than
men. They usually feed and provide care for the children and ensure their fundamental education. But
until recently, girls were the minority in secondary schools, women had little access to the
opportunities available to men and they were poorly represented in decision-making positions.

In order to achieve gender equality and equity, Rwanda will continuously update and adapt its
laws on gender. It will support education for all, eradicate all forms of discrimination, fight
against poverty and practice a positive discrimination policy in favor of women. Gender will
be integrated as a cross-cutting issue in all development policies and strategies.

(b) Natural resources and the environment

The major problem in the field of environmental protection in Rwanda is the imbalance
between the population and the natural resources. Land, water, flora and fauna and non-
renewable resources, which have been degrading for decades. This degradation is observed
through massive deforestation, the depletion of bio-diversity, erosion and land slides,
pollution of waterways and the degradation of fragile ecosystems, such as swamps and
wetlands.

The average population growth of 3 per cent per annum during the 1980’s to 90’s period was
faster than that of agricultural production, estimated at 2.2 per cent. This has led to the
occupation of more and more marginal areas and to the rapid and continuous soil degradation
of the fragile ecosystems of the country.

These environmental problems are exacerbated by the poor location of industries and the
direct evacuation of their waste, without any treatment, into waterways and lakes. In order to
ensure sustainable development, Rwanda will implement adequate land and water
management techniques, coupled with a sound biodiversity policy.

© Science, Technology and ICT

Rwandans are rightly proud of their cultural roots and the government will ensure that it takes
advantage of this heritage in all facets of the development process. However, for this
development process to be a success, Rwanda must embrace the future and exploit
innovations in science and technology to complement its cultural strengths.
In Rwanda, the rate of adoption and integration of science and technology in socio-economic
life is very low and the shortage of technically qualified professionals is visible at all levels.
From now until 2020, Rwanda projects to have adequate, highly skilled scientists and
technicians to satisfy the needs of the national economy.

There is a need to generate, disseminate and acquire scientific skills as well as technological
innovations, in addition to integrating them into the social and economic development drive,
detailed above. In order for Rwanda to achieve this objective, it will have to develop the
teaching of science and technology at secondary and university levels. It will facilitate the
creation of high and intermediate technology enterprises and develop access to ICT down to
the administrative sector level, in accordance with the national ICT plan.

Chapter 2. Agricultural Extension Development

2.1. Extension terminology

The term extension was first used to describe adult education programmes in England in the
second half of the 19th century; these programmes helped to expand - or extend - the work of
universities beyond the campus and into the neighboring community. The term was later
adopted in the United States of America (USA), while in Britain it was replaced with
‘advisory service’ in the 20th century. A number of other terms are used in different parts of
the world to describe the same or a similar concept (e.g. French: Vulgarisation, Kinyarwanda:
“Iyamamaza-buhinzi”). In the US, an extension agent is a university employee who develops
and delivers educational programs to assist people in economic and community development,
leadership, family issues, agriculture and environment. Another program area extension
agents provide is 4-H and Youth. Many extension agents work for cooperative extension
service programs at land-grant universities. They are sometimes referred to as county agents
or educators (For more information on Cooperative Extension System see Frank Brewer,
2001).

2.2. Definitions and history of Agricultural Extension

There are many definitions of extension. I choose the following ones:

(1) Agricultural Extension is an informal educational delivery system that can serve as the
link between people and knowledge; it helps people solve their own problems, thereby
improving their livelihood (Brewer, 2001:1). It is an essential element in any agricultural and
rural development program.

(2) Agricultural extension is an advice and assistance for farmers to help them improve their
methods of production and marketing; Extension is part of the effort to achieve a balanced
social and economic development of rural areas (Adams, 1982).

(3) Extension is a non-formal educational function that applies to any institution that
disseminates information and advice with the intention of promoting knowledge, attitudes,
skills and aspirations, although the term “extension” tends to be associated with agriculture
and rural development (Rivera & Qamar, 2003).
Van Den Ban and Hawkins (1988:11-12) define extension systematically as a process which:
• helps farmers to analyze their present and expected future situation;
• helps farmers to become aware of problems that arise in such an analysis;
• increases knowledge and develops insight into problems, and helps to structure
farmers’ existing knowledge;
• helps farmers acquire specific knowledge related to certain problem solutions and their
consequences so they can act on possible alternatives;
• helps farmers to make a responsible choice which, in their opinion, is optimal for their
situation;
• increases farmers’ motivation to implement their choice; and
• helps farmers to evaluate and improve their own opinion-forming and decision-
making skills.

Other definitions include:

• Extension- A form of conscious social influence. The conscious communication of

information to help people form sound opinions and make good decisions.
• Extension education- A science in which strategic questions associated with the
extension process are studied. Extension education tries to bridge the gap between the
social sciences and the practice of extension.
• Extension methods- The methods of communication that can be used in extension for
influencing the target groups.
• Extension agent- A person who has as his main task giving extension assistance or
managing an extension organization at the field level.

“As history has proven, there has been no perfect extension system to meet everyone’s needs.
Each system benefits from, and is constrained by, the environment within which it operates”
(Brewer, 2001:2).

“Extending- it is to present, in an assimilable form for the peasants, the solutions developed
by research to solve their problems of agricultural production. It is a technical and very
practical training to better producing more and/or better; to popularize, it is to lead the
peasants to change certain behaviors with respect to the methods of production; to popularize,
it is to listen to the peasants in order to adapt the innovations, emanating from outside, to the
socio-economic conditions of the medium (constraints and potentialities) and so, with an aim
of improving their standard of living (Coste, 1992:24-25)”.

• Origins of agricultural extension

Men and women have been growing crops and raising livestock for approximately 10,000
years. Throughout this period, farmers have continually adapted their technology, assessed the
results, and shared what they have learned with other members of the community. Most of this
communication has taken the form of verbal explanations and practical demonstrations, but
some information took a more durable form as soon as systems of writing were developed.
Details of agricultural practices have been found in records from ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia
and China going back more than 3,000 years.

It is not known where or when the first extension activities took place. It is known, however,
that Chinese officials were creating agricultural policies, documenting practical knowledge,
and disseminating advice to farmers at least 2,000 years ago. For example, in approximately
800 BC, the minister responsible for agriculture under one of the Zhou dynasty emperors
organized the teaching of crop rotation and drainage to farmers. The minister also leased
equipment to farmers, built grain stores and supplied free food during times of famine.

The birth of the modern extension service has been attributed to events that took place in
Ireland in the middle of the 19th century. Between 1845-51, the Irish potato crop was
destroyed by fungal diseases and a severe famine occurred. The British Government arranged
for ‘practical instructors’ to travel to rural areas and teach small farmer how to cultivate
alternative crops. This scheme attracted the attention of government officials in Germany,
who organized their own system of traveling instructors. By the end of the 19th century, the
idea had spread to Denmark, Netherlands, Italy, and France.

The term “university extension” or “extension of the university” was first used, in
connection with education, to describe the methods of spreading knowledge from the
University of Cambridge in England to the great masses of people in the 1840s (Mosher, 1978
cited by Brewer, 2001; Van Den Ban &Hawkins,1988).

James Stuart, Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge, is considered the father of “university
extension”; He took first practical steps when he gave lectures to women’s associations and
working men’s clubs in the north of England.

It was not until the beginning of the 20 th century, when colleges in the United States started
conducting demonstrations at agricultural shows and giving lectures to farmer’s clubs, that the
term ‘extension service’ was applied to the type of work that we now recognize by that name.
Cooperative Extension Services3 were formed in each state in association with the Land
Grant Colleges. Each state of the union had been granted land by the federal government on
which to develop agricultural experiment stations and to build associated educational
institutions or agricultural colleges.

Other countries started extension efforts later, including the United Kingdom in 1946, India in
1952 and the Netherlands in 1953. New extension systems continue to be developed. As a
formal institution, extension is very new.
In most countries, agricultural extension, as a formal institution, did not become
institutionalized until after World War II.

With independence, some new governments like Rwanda and other African countries,
inherited an existing extension system which was designed to increase export production,
generate foreign currency, maintain regulation and/or carry out government policies and
procedures. To learn from the experience gained in agricultural extension in East Africa and
issues that need to be resolved when designing and implementing future extension projects,
students should read the following paper by Liza A. Schwartz and Jacob Champen (1992).
Agricultural extension in East Africa. A World Bank technical paper No 164. The World
Bank, Washington, D.C.

3
In the United States, the Hatch Act of 1887 established a system of agricultural
experiment stations in conjunction with each state's land-grant university, and the
Smith-Lever Act of 1914 created a system of cooperative extension to be operated by
those universities in order to inform people about current developments in
agriculture, home economics, and related subjects (Brewer, 2001).
Today extension institutions and program offerings exist in nearly every economically
developed and developing country. Public sector extension, private sector extension, non-
government and parastatal-based organizations can all have a role in technology transfer
within a single country. Politics, funding, cultural, administrative structure and agro-
ecological conditions within countries influence how extension services deliver programs.

2.3. Four paradigms of agricultural extension

Any particular extension system can be described both in terms of both how communication
takes place and why it takes place. It is not the case that paternalistic systems are always
persuasive, nor is it the case that participatory projects are necessarily educational. Instead
there are four possible combinations, each of which represents a different extension paradigm,
as follows:

• Technology Transfer (persuasive+paternalistic). This paradigm was prevalent in

colonial times, and reappeared in the 1970’s and 1980’s when the Training and Visit
system was established across Asia and Africa. Technology transfer involves a top-
down approach that delivers specific recommendations to farmers about the practices
they should adopt.

• Advisory work (persuasive+participatory). This paradigm can be seen today where

government organizations or private consulting companies respond to farmers
enquiries with technical prescriptions. It also takes the form of projects managed by
donor agencies and NGOs that use participatory approaches to promote pre-
determined packages of technology.

• Human Resource Development (educational+paternalistic). This paradigm

dominated the earliest days of extension in Europe and North America, when
universities gave training to rural people who were too poor to attend full-time
courses. It continues today in the outreach activities of colleges around the world. Top-
down teaching methods are employed, but students are expected to make their own
decisions about how to use the knowledge they acquire.

• Facilitation for empowerment (educational+participatory). This paradigm involves

methods such as experiential learning and farmer-to-farmer exchanges. Knowledge is
gained through interactive processes and the participants are encouraged to make their
own decisions. The best know examples in Asia are projects that use Farmer Field
Schools (FFS) or participatory technology development (PTD).

It must be noted that there is some disagreement about whether or not the concept and name
of extension really encompasses all four paradigms. Some experts believe that the term should
be restricted to persuasive approaches, while others believe it should only be used for
educational activities.
Paulo Freire4 (1969) has argued that the terms ‘extension’ and ‘participation’ are
contradictory. There are philosophical reasons behind these disagreements.

4
Paulo Freire (1921 – 1997) was a Brazilian educator and is an influential theorist of education
2.4. Extension as a function and mean for poverty alleviation

Like many other important functions in daily life such as education and health, the extension
function is also important for the welfare of farmers, no matter who performs it as long as it is
done satisfactorily. The players in the extension function, besides government extension
departments could be private extension service companies, private extension advisors, NGOs,
universities, farmers’ associations, research institutes, and possibly others as we have seen in
recent years. Extension organization, on the other hand, means how the agency or department
which is responsible for extension function organizes itself for performing this task. This is
what differentiates the term “extension function” from “extension organization” (

Extension, in general terms is function that can be applied to various areas of society:
• Education: University extension (continuing education)
• Agriculture: Agricultural extension
• Rural development (RD): RD extension
• Health: Health extension services
• Industry: Industrial extension

Agricultural extension is an expanded concept. Rural extension, for instance, includes non
agricultural activities such as micro- enterprise development, a priority which is being
advanced by the Inter-American Development Bank.

 Non-farm rural micro-enterprise development. In short rural people are not

dependent solely on agriculture or natural resources for their livelihoods.
 Technical extension: Agricultural and rural extension is the responsibility of various
technical and service units, and serves many purposes (FAO- livestock development;
forest use and conservation; fisheries engineering and capture, food and nutrition
education, as well as crop development).
 Marketing extension: marketing extension provides information on the post-harvest
treatment of specialized crops and provides an important service in countries trading
in food crops, including such fragile products such as banana and cacao.
 Farmers’ associations: Agricultural and rural extension services can also help farmers
and produce processors to organize themselves to meet their mutual agricultural
interests.
 Emerging purposes: As populations grow and rural peoples flock to the cities,
extension may have to deal with urban and suburban clients. Urban extension is a
potential growth area for information transfer. As such, it addresses new audiences and
new programs, and reflects the world’s rapid urbanization.

Agricultural and rural extension is one of the means available to help alleviate poverty and
improve food security (Rivera et al., 2001). It promotes the transfer and exchange of
information that can be converted into functional knowledge, which is instrumental in helping
to develop enterprises that promote productivity and generate income.
In addition to technology transfer, Agricultural and rural extension is a unique service in that
it provides access by small farmers and the rural poor living far from the urban centers to no-
formal education and information services.

While it can provide these populations with services to will depend on institutional
development and income-generation, together with increased food output.
Studies of food security and malnutrition have concluded that the primary cause of
malnutrition in the less developed countries is not the scarcity of food so much as distribution
problems, and the existence of poverty.

In a major report on world agriculture, the World Bank stated: “.in the long run, people can
attain food security only if they have adequate income.”(Rivera et al., 2001:3). The FAO’s
state of food &agriculture 2000 stressed:

(1) Reducing poverty and food insecurity is not simply a question of enhancing
agricultural productivity and production or of generating more income. Institutions
are the structuring features that command access of people to assets (biens), to voice
and to power over their lives and that regulate competing claims to limited resources.
It is fundamental to address those institutional, governance and politico-economic
factors that tend to exclude individuals and population groups from progress.

(2) Perhaps it goes without saying that extension as an institution is only one component
in agricultural and rural development processes, and that it is only one vehicle for
fostering change in agricultural and rural development.
Yet the importance of knowledge and the rapidity of its transfer and exchange in the
modern world are increasingly recognized as central to trade and development, in
high-income as well as in low-income countries. Extension’s high economic rates of
return indicate its potential to bring about change.

Change today is global and rapid; Globalization and market orientation is placing new
pressures on governments and their people to produce more, for both domestic consumption
and trade. Although learning via agricultural extension services is only one component of the
complex process of development, studies suggest that this process produces high economic
rates of returns.

According to the Rwandan Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning (MINIFIN], 2002),
agriculture must be a central element of poverty reduction strategy in Rwanda, and
“Agricultural extensions (where effectively delivered) are very important services and are big
inputs for raising productivity among farmers.

2.5. Agricultural extension as a knowledge system

Agricultural Knowledge and Information System for Rural Development (AKIS/RD) is

illustrated on figure 1-1. As figure 1 illustrates, agricultural information systems for rural
development link people and institutions to promote learning and to generate, share and use
agriculture-related technology, knowledge and information.

According to the AKIS/RD strategic vision and guiding principles (FAO/ World Bank 2000)
the system integrates farmers, agricultural educators, researchers and extensionists, enabling
them to harness (exploiter) knowledge and information from various sources to improve
farming and livelihoods.

In principle, agricultural extension receives relevant information from the agricultural

education system and feeds back field observations to this system.
Extension is also professionally linked to the agricultural vocational and higher education
systems in the sense that these systems also produce the agents who work in extension.
The relationship between agricultural extension and agricultural research is even closer,
because the knowledge that agricultural extension transfers is usually generated by
agricultural research through applied and adaptive agricultural research development.

Within the agricultural sector, however, agricultural extension may be interpreted narrowly or
broadly, which complicates the debate.
(a) In a strict interpretation, the only purpose of agricultural extension is to disseminate
information to raise the production and profitability of the farmers.
(b) (b) In a broader interpretation, the purpose of agricultural extension is to advance not
alone production knowledge but the whole range of agricultural development tasks,
such as credit, supplies, marketing and markets (agricultural process development).
(c) In the broadest interpretation, agricultural extension provides non-formal
agriculturally related continuing adult education- for multiple audiences: farmers,
spouses, youth, community, urban horticulturalists and for various purposes
(including agricultural development, community resource development, group
promotion and cooperative organizational development).

In some countries all three of the above orientations operate, e.g. the U.S. Cooperative
Extension System. Such extension systems encourage the empowerment of farmers in various
ways, including participation in programme planning and decision-making.
 Education
Education

Farmers

Research Extension
Figure 2-1. Agricultural extension as part of AKS/AKIS (source: FAO, 2001)

Rural extension, for instance, includes non agricultural activities such as micro- enterprise
development, a priority which is being advanced by the Inter-American Development Bank:

1. Non-farm rural micro-enterprise development. In short rural people are not

dependent solely on agriculture or natural resources for their livelihoods.
2. Technical extension: Agricultural and rural extension is the responsibility of various
technical and service units, and serves many purposes (FAO- livestock development;
forest use and conservation; fisheries engineering and capture, food and nutrition
education, as well as crop development).
3. Marketing extension: marketing extension provides information on the post-harvest
treatment of specialized crops and provides an important service in countries trading
in food crops, including such fragile products such as banana and cacao
4. Farmers’ associations: Agricultural and rural extension services can also help farmers
and produce processors to organize themselves to meet their mutual agricultural
interests
5. Emerging purposes: As populations grow and rural peoples flock to the cities,
extension may have to deal with urban and suburban clients. Urban extension is a
potential growth area for information transfer. As such, it addresses new audiences and
new programs, and reflects the world’s rapid urbanization
2.6. Overview of extension systems throughout the world

There is a wide range of organizational systems delivering agricultural extension in the world
(Rivera et al., 2001:11):

1. Educational Institutional extension system: The measure of success is the

farming people’s attendance at and participation in the school’s agricultural extension
activities. Example: The U.S. Land Grant System. This university-based system develops
programs using non-formal education through group needs assessment at the local level.

2. The general agricultural extension system: Success is measured in terms of the

rate of take-up of the recommendations, and increase in national production. This system is
found in government organizations carrying out extensive programs most often through the
Ministry of Agriculture.

3. The commodity specialized extension system: the measure of success is usually

the total production of the particular crop such as coffee, tea, moringa, etc.

4. The training and visit extension system: success is measured in terms of

production increases of the particular crops covered by the program.

5. The agricultural extension participatory approach: success is measured by the

numbers of farmers actively participating and benefiting, and the continuity of local extension
organizations.

6. The project approach: Short- run change is the measure of success.

7. The cost sharing approach: success is measured in terms of farm people’s

willingness and ability to share some of the cost, either individually or through their local
government units.

8. The farming systems development approach: success is measured by the extent

to which farming people adopt the technologies developed by the program and continue using
them over time.

2.7. Necessary conditions for agricultural extension to evolve

Apart from the importance of farmers and agriculture in the society and economy concerned,
several conditions appear to be necessary for the initiation and organized development of
agricultural extension work.
The prime condition is that information has been assembled, systematized, and made
available on good or progressive or new agricultural practices suited to a particular
environment, and is based on either (or both) the accumulation of experience or findings from
research (however rudimentary). Second, this information is used, among other things, to
educate professional agriculturists who may further enlarge or refine this body of knowledge
or become active promoters and disseminators of it.
Third, an appropriate administrative or organizational structure exists by and within which the
dissemination activities may be established and conducted. Fourth, there is a legislative or
some other official mandate or influential proponent which prescribes or enables that
agricultural extension work is desirable and must occur. Fifth, there are invariably a variety of
antecedents which have attempted protoforms of agricultural information and advice
dissemination. In addition, the incidence of critical situations, such as famine, crop failure,
soil exhaustion, or altered economic conditions or relationships, may create an immediate
cause for initiating the organization of extension work. All or several of these conditions have
been present in the evolution of modem forms of agricultural extension

2.8. Economic Impact of Agricultural Extension

“Successful transformation of the agricultural sector is crucial to pro-poor growth in Rwanda,

to increasing households incomes, to reducing vulnerability to climatic shocks and changes in
the global market for agricultural commodities”…. (Sixth Annual Government of Rwanda and
Development Partners Meeting: Final communiqué, Kigali, November 2006).

Students are encouraged to read the following paper: Birkhaeuser, D. E., Evenson,
R.E. and Feder, G (1991). The Economic Impact of Agricultural Extension: A Review.
Economic Development and Cultural Change, Vol. 39, No. 3, 607-650.

2.9. Government’s role in agricultural and rural extension reform

Governments are facing new extension challenges: meeting the need to provide food for all,
raising rural incomes and reducing poverty, and sustainably managing natural resources.
These critical challenges such as globalization, new technologies, and the new relationships
developing between the public and private sectors, the multidisciplinary nature of agriculture,
the geographic dispersion of rural people and so on… these realities are putting new pressure
on the developing countries in their efforts to develop.

The state has a critical role to play in establishing markets for commercial and farmer-to-
farmer extension services, providing rural communication infrastructure and developing
human resources.

Group Assignment #2: “How do you understand the role of Agricultural Extension in
supporting food security and agricultural development of Rwanda?” or in other words:
Is agricultural Extension a key issue in promoting agricultural development and food
security in Rwanda? (Written report with references, 3-4 pages maximum)
Chapter 3. The Economic Contributions of Agricultural Extension to
Agricultural and Rural Development

“Viable extension is crucial to the development of agriculture, rural poverty alleviation and
enhanced food security. Therefore serious efforts should be made by countries in the
region to strengthen their extension systems. Although the main responsibility to enable
extension systems falls on governments in the Region, the role of donors and their
contribution to extension reform and development should not be overlooked” (Adhikarya,
1994).

Agricultural extension programmes are quite diverse from an international perspective. Most
are managed as public sector agencies, usually located in the Ministry of Agriculture, but
some are located in other ministries such as education or rural development. Many are
managed by nongovernmental organizations (NGOs). Many private firms and private
organizations (for example, coffee-growers' associations) conduct extension programmes.
Even within the most typical organizational structure, where extension is part of the
government's Ministry of Agriculture, there is great variation in the degree of decentralization
of management of extension services. In some countries, extension is decentralized. In
Rwanda, the new extension system, which is supported by the Belgian Technical Cooperation
(BTC), is a decentralized system. In most developing countries, however, governmental
services are highly centralized, with varying forms of regional and sub-regional units
designed to serve local areas.

Further, there is great variation in the skill level and agricultural competence of field staff. In
some systems, field staff has little formal technical training in the agricultural sciences. In
some cases, this is dictated by a village worker philosophy, in others by local language
demands. But, in most cases, it simply is the result of the decisions to expand agricultural
extension programmes rapidly during the 1950s and 1960s, when few highly trained
agriculturalists were available.

Finally, this diversity of skills, management systems, and objectives has changed over time in
many countries. Perhaps the major changes in the management and design of agricultural
extension systems over the past four decades is associated with the training and visit (T&V)
system introduced in the 1970s by Benor, Harrison, and Baxter (1984) and implemented in
many countries with World Bank lending support.

Given this diversity, broad generalizations about the economic contribution of agricultural
extension to agricultural development are not feasible. Many situation-specific factors
impinge on the effectiveness of extension programmes. The fact that substantial reform and
redesign of many extension programmes has taken place indicates that some of them were
perceived by their supporters to have been less than fully effective.

However, we now have a substantial body of economic studies of extension services in a

number of countries; 75 studies of economic impacts of extension systems have been
published to date. My task in this chapter is to review the findings of 57 of these studies and
to draw out some of the lessons they have to offer.
3.1. Historical background of Rwanda agricultural extension services5

o Historical background

During the colonial period, extension services were mainly geared to improve the
production of cash crops (coffee). The system was authoritative and farmers had to comply
blindly with the requirements of the colonial authorities. Production objectives had to be
achieved through the supervision of colonial agronomists. During that period, potato, cassava
were introduced and produced to fight against recurrent famines. There was no consultation
between farmers and the government.

From 1962 up to 1980, the first independent government maintained the colonial system.
Cash crops (coffee, tea, and pyrethrum) were produced under strict control. Those who were
unable to meet the objectives of production were charged to pay some amount of money.
During this period, many agricultural technicians and Monitors were recruited and dispatched
across the country. Different extension approaches were tested including (1) training through
contact farmers, (2) “training through paysannats”, or (3) “farmers association “etc. Like
many other African countries, Rwanda was engaged in the so called “Integrated Rural
Development Project” initiated and supervised from the top to the bottom. The extension
officers had a multiple role focusing on the increasing of the agricultural production.

From 1980 up to 1994, the pressure on land due to the high rate of population growth
resulted in the decreasing of soil fertility and the subsequent regression in food production.
The extension system was still dominated by the State through the usual command chain from
top to the bottom of the hierarchy. However, new extension approaches were tested through
agricultural development projects. The participatory approach consisting in consultation
between the extension officers and farmers was introduced. At the same time, international
and national NGOs entered the extension scene until 1994.

From 1994-1998, the former extension system based on agricultural monitors (Monagris) and
State was dismantled. The government focused on rehabilitation and reconstruction of the
agriculture sector. Meanwhile new stakeholders including mainly farmers’ organizations,
national NGOs entered the scene and started to do extension work privately.

In 1998, with the suppression of Monagris, Veterinary and Forest extension officers, the
extension system was somehow paralyzed. There was a gap between the high agricultural
institutions of Government and the farmers. Nevertheless, there was some focus on cash crop
like tea, coffee, maize, potato through private cooperatives and farmers associations with
some external financial support.

• The Current situation

Formerly, the Ministry of Agriculture and Animal Resources was responsible for this function
and managed the network of extension staff that stretched to the administrative cell level. The
agricultural monitors referred to as Monagri had the responsibility to get to the farmer at the
5
According to a paper presented by Patrice Hakizimana at the UN-ECA EA-SRO, 11th
Session of Intergovernmental Committee of Experts (ICE) Meeting, Bujumbura,
Burundi, from 16 to 19 April 2007.
cell level and advise the farmer and give a report to the Ministry on the progress through the
reporting hierarchy at district and provincial levels.

After the decentralization program implemented by the Government of Rwanda by 2004-

2005, the agricultural extension function shifted from the Ministry of Agriculture and Animal
Resources to the local administration entities. In that way, a given district does the recruitment
and supervises the performance of the extension staff. The reports on farmer performance and
problems are reported to the district which also reports to the Province and finally to the
Ministry of Local Administration. In this system, the Ministry of Agriculture and Animal
Resources (MINAGRI) can hardly monitor the challenges at the farmer level unless the
Ministry of Local Administration continues to improve the partnership with MINAGRI on
decentralized agricultural extension system.

While the Ministry of Agriculture and Animal Resources has the main responsibility to ensure
improved agricultural performance, it becomes rather difficult to implement it without direct
contact with the farmer. Presently, it is estimated that there are a total of ten thousand farmers
to one extension agent who is under the responsibility of the local administration.

Other than being fewer than recommended, it is also observed that most field officers may not
have the necessary competence to deliver services. At the same time, the capacity to monitor
them by the local authorities is equally limited. It is hence part of the Ministry concern to
establish a working relationship with the local government authorities to ensure access to
information from the farmer and also be able to advise the farmer on the applied technologies.
At the same time, the Ministry of Agriculture and Animal Resources advises on the delivery
of the extension services as required by the farmer so that the ultimate objective to improve
agricultural productivity is achieved.

The former extension system was mainly dominated by 2 schools of thought which are the (1)
Technology Transfer School and (2) the Training and Visit School. These schools used a Top-
Down approach. The new approach is going to focus on bottom-up approach through
consultation and discussion and participatory methods.

It is through the new school that RADA (Rwanda Agricultural Development Authority),
RARDA (Rwanda Animal Resources Development Authority) and RHODA (Rwanda
Horticulture Development Authority) action plans on agricultural services delivery to farmers
are implemented.

• Decentralized agricultural extension system

This system is built on the new decentralized entities of local government such as Province,
District, Sector and Cell. Each entity has an agriculture officer (not yet at cell level) in charge
of agricultural services delivery to farmers, associations and cooperatives. The Province and
District Agricultural Officers are university graduates while the Sector Agricultural Officers
hold a diploma in agriculture or veterinary sciences.

Other institutions that have the responsibilities to strengthen and support that decentralized
system are the central government agencies in Ministry of Agriculture and Animal Resources
(MINAGRI) such as Rwanda Agricultural Development Authority (RADA), Rwanda Animal
Resources Development Authority (RARDA), Rwanda Horticulture Development Authority
(RHODA), Rwanda Agricultural Research Institute (ISAR), High Institute of Agriculture
(ISAE) and Faculty of Agriculture of National University of Rwanda (NUR). The technical
staff from those different institutions are all university graduates and post-graduates and
specialized in various agricultural fields. They are composed by different departments
established according to agricultural sector needs in empowering farmers’ initiatives for
agriculture transformation.

Other main actors in agricultural extension structures that intervene at farmer’s level are non
governmental organizations, private investors and farmers’ cooperatives and unions. Those
organizations use graduates staff and mostly technicians with diploma in agriculture, trained
technicians that hold certificates in agriculture and contact farmers that are trained on new
agricultural technologies. The responsibility of overall coordination of agricultural extension
services belongs to the Ministry of Agriculture and Animal Resources in consultation with the
Ministry of Local Administration.

a. Roles of different actors in agricultural extension system.

• Ministry of Agriculture and Animal Resources

The role of this Ministry is to formulate policies and establish regulations guiding the
establishment and operation of national agricultural extension system. It also has the
responsibility of coordination of all activities conducted by different actors that intervene in
agricultural extension system. It is also the leader in promoting partnership with donors and
development agencies and mobilizing all resources available to strengthen the existing
extension services system.

The Ministry has the duty to work closely and inform other ministries that have the
responsibilities touching agricultural sector (Ministry of Land, Environment, Water and
Forestry, Ministry of Infrastructures and Ministry of local Administration, Good Governance
and Social Development) and gathered in Rural Cluster Ministries.

• Education and research institutions

Their responsibilities are to generate new agricultural technologies and innovations that are
ready to be applied by farmers in order to modernize agriculture and increase sustainable
productivity and competitiveness on regional and international markets. They have to define
efficient mechanisms of technology adoption by farmers in collaboration with other actors
involved in agricultural extension services delivery.

• Agricultural extension agencies

They have to prepare and publish extension material (booklets, leaflets, posters, video and
audio tapes, etc.) on new agricultural technologies or innovations aiming at solving problems
faced by farmers in agricultural activities such as increasing productivity and value addition
for agricultural products. The distribution of extension material is made through the
decentralized entities such as Province, District, Sector, NGOs and Farmers’ cooperatives.

They also have to contribute to the fund mobilization for decentralized entities in order to
solve the transport and programme implementation issues. The agricultural extension agencies
have the responsibility of training the extension officers and farmers on agricultural
technologies use to address critical issues related to agricultural development.

They are also responsible of organizing technical meetings with decentralized entities to
evaluate the progress, to debate on different issues and give solutions and orientations in order
to improve the intervention models of each actor.

As the decentralized entities have limited skills in various agricultural skills, the agencies
provide technical assistance to local entities where necessary and conduct supervision of
extension and infrastructure development activities to empower the decentralized extension
system and to sustain agriculture investment.

• Decentralized agricultural extension services

Those services are represented by agricultural extension officers at province, district and
sector level. Their responsibilities are to train farmers on new agricultural technologies or
innovations, assist farmers on identification of their weaknesses and strengths in agriculture,
organize farmers in cooperatives and show them the benefits of cooperatives, sensitize on
national and district agricultural development programmes, provide available information on
weather, market of products, prices, etc.

They also have to facilitate and collaborate with NGOs and other development partners that
have interventions at local level.

• NGOs, Private investors and other development partners

Their main role is to fund the capacity building programmes of the decentralized extension
system and provide logistics and infrastructures necessary to build a strong agricultural
extension system at local level. They should also comply with the agricultural extension
approach adopted by the system or harmonize their new approaches with the local ones to
avoid disorientation of farmers.

If possible, they could support agricultural extension agencies in various programmes of

capacity building, logistics and extension material multiplication.

• Farmers associations and cooperatives

They have to sensitize farmers to participate actively in problem identification and solution
proposition, help the adoption and efficient use of agricultural innovations or technologies by
farmers. They have to maximize the use of material, infrastructures provided at local level to
get high income or profit.

They are also responsible of ensuring continuity of knowledge use among farmers and
maintain material and infrastructures that sustain the agricultural extension system in place.

IV. Non Governmental Organizations extension services

a) Farmer-based extension system: Case of Rural Sector Support Project

(RSSP)
Le RSSP project is under Ministry of Agriculture and has started the agricultural extension
services initiative before Government establishes the decentralized agricultural extension
system. This project supports nine local NGOs and Private companies working with farmers
in agricultural extension and services delivery using farmer-based extension system. This
system is based on farmers groups and promotes farmer to farmer agricultural services
delivery. This experience succeeds where marshlands have been reclaimed and rice
commodity chain developed. The progressive farmers were trained and they went to train the
rest of the groups by demonstrating in fields, field visits and special theoretical courses.
Among the new trainees, the best farmers were judged and selected as progressive farmers
that have to train other farmers.
b) Caritas agricultural extension system

Caritas activities are focused on ensuring food security among vulnerable groups in very poor
zones where food shortage is a serious problem. Caritas allocates the extension agents to a
number of poor farmers’ group and the agents help them to form the associations with
administrative structure, to initiate income generation activities and to get credit from
microfinance institutions. The training courses on project proposal writing, innovative
technologies in agriculture and cooperative management are provided to farmers. Farmers are
also helped by Caritas to get market for their products and to get necessary infrastructures to
conserve and sell those products.

c) Farmers’ Cooperatives agricultural extension system

INGABO is one of the national farmers’ unions that instored the agricultural extension system
based on extensionists-farmers specialized in agricultural farming and animal husbandry.
Those farmers are volunteers and they train other non skilled farmers. Those specialized in
agricultural farming train farmers on technologies related to crop production and
transformation while those specialized in animal husbandry train farmers on animal keeping,
animal feeds production and animal products transformation. This is a very dense system
because in some areas one extensionist-farmer supervises twenty farmers. This system is
based on the following principles:

• The extensionists-farmers should have innovation and communication skills and

voluntarily deliver agricultural services to farmers.
• The incentives they benefit are training courses, study tours and awards
when they win agricultural competitions.
• Each extensionist-farmer monitors and supervises at least five neighboring farms.
• Each liaison agent from farmers’ union supervises the activities of at least twenty
extensionists-farmers.

V. Agricultural extension systems funding

The current national agricultural extension system that is based on decentralized entities is
still new and the main funding institution is the Government through the Ministry of
Agriculture and Animal Resources and the Ministry of Local Administration. The
Government of Rwanda has developed the Economic Development and Poverty Reduction
Strategy (EDPRS) that includes an agricultural development and investment programme from
2007-2011. As defined under EDPRS, the overall agricultural sector goal is to achieve
sustainable economic growth and social development, leading to the increase and
diversification of household incomes and ensuring food supply and food security for the
entire population.

The Strategic Programme for Agricultural Transformation/Programme Stratégique pour la

Transformation de l’Agriculture (PSTA) will serve as the operational framework for the
implementation of the EDPRS agricultural investment programme.
The PSTA strategic objective is to achieve the targets defined in the larger planning
frameworks of the EDPRS, CAADP and Vision 2020. The PSTA focuses on the four key
programmes and two among four programmes focuses on strengthening the capacity of
farmers’ organizations and agricultural extension and research institutions.
The two programmes are: Institutional Development and Support to professionalization of
farmers. The total cost of Institutional Development Program for 2007-2011 is 16 billion FRw
and the available budget is 2.5 billion FRw while the total cost of Support to
Professionalization of Producers Programme is 66 billion FRw and the available budget is
only 13 billion FRw. The level of agricultural extension services funding for 2007 is 21 % of
total government agricultural budget while the government agricultural budget is 7 % of the
total government budget.

The development of EDPRS and PSTA programmes for agricultural sector by the
Government of Rwanda allowed donors and development partners to get interested in
investing in Rwandan agriculture. The IFAD (International Fund for Agriculture
Development) and DFID (the British Department for International Development) is now
supporting the PSTA implementation by funding capacity building and agricultural pilot
projects, the Belgian Cooperation launched a 3-year project to support the national
agricultural extension system. Despite those partners’ efforts to support the system, the
funding gap is still wide and funds mobilization is to be increased.

The different development partners working in agricultural sector contribute to the financing
of existing agricultural extension systems based on farmers’ associations and cooperatives.
Those are government projects (RSSP, PAPSTA,..), NGOs (Caritas, ROPARWA, Millenium
Village Foundation, Clinton and Hunter Foundation…), Embassies (Netherland, Belgium,
USA,…) and Farmers’ Union (INGABO, IMBARAGA, UCORIRWA,…), Banks (Rwanda
Development Bank, Union des Banques Populaires, Microfinances COOPEC, Multisectoral
Investment Group -MIG,….).

VII. Constraints, on-going activities and perspectives of agricultural

extension in Rwanda

a) Constraints

• The agricultural extension services system is still less operational. The decentralized
structure at District and Ministry level is established but there is a need to clarify and
strengthen the functional framework of this agricultural extension system.

• The participatory approach needs more sensitization among farmers and

Extensionists for rapid understanding. The involvement of the farmer in searching for
solutions to his agricultural problems is still very low, the farmer shows less
commitment.

• Lack of investment in agriculture. New technologies adoption decreases among

farmers and private sector because of low investments that are required to maximize
profit from improved agricultural technologies.

• Insufficiency of off - farm employment. The agricultural sector is full of human labor
that is not committed to agriculture activities because there are less alternatives
regarding off-farm employment. This may be a serious handicap to the performance of
the delivery of agricultural extension services.

• Non availability of land reform plan that is important in organizing and

 supervising farmers in association in order to deliver successfully the agricultural
advisory services.

• Non existence of agricultural information centre to support crop commodity chains.

The information required is agricultural financing opportunities, market information
for products, agricultural inputs, new innovations, cropping season forecast, soil
data…etc.

• Less agricultural technologies and innovations available. The extension officers at all
levels need more agricultural trainings (Ministry and agency staff, local officers,
NGOs and Cooperatives staff).

• Budget limitation for the whole agricultural extension system. This leads to limited
staff and logistics, the personnel incentives is also lacking.

b) On-going activities and perspectives

• Establishment of national agricultural extension services system based on

decentralized institutions (Ministry of Agriculture agencies, Agricultural extension
officers at province, district and sector levels).

• Launching the initiatives aiming at defining and setting up an integrated

Agricultural extension services system and agricultural information delivery system.

• Establishing the demonstration sites at sector level to promote the learning by doing
method in order to support the local administration development initiative called
Umurenge Vision 2020 programme.

• Sensitization of farmers at local level to voluntary participate in agricultural

transformation activities.

• Agricultural budget decentralization at district level to support agricultural extension

services system and agricultural infrastructures development.

• Establishment of an efficient coordination of agricultural extension services activities

carried out by different development partners engaged in agricultural sector
(cooperatives, non governmental organizations, agricultural projects and private
investors, etc.)

• Establishment of centers for agricultural technologies and innovation

development.

3.2. Extension’s Role in Promoting Agricultural Development

There are many different views about what constitutes development. Some think it is an
increase in the average per capita income, on the assumption that people will then be better
off.
More attention is now given to improving quality of life, using indicators such as health,
education and housing. Others stress the extent to which people control their destinies.
However, nobody is complete master off his destiny, because we all depend on each other to
some extent, although we can try to increase the amount we control. Many poor people in the
developing countries have little influence on their situation, a condition that leads to apathy
(indifférence). Paulo Freire and his followers believe the main objective of development
should be to change this situation.

Ministries of Agriculture use agricultural extension as one of their instruments to promote

agricultural development. Agricultural development is often seen as an increase in agricultural
production and/or the productivity of land, labour and capital in agriculture. It can teach
farmers how to produce crops and animals in the most profitable way, as well as how to
organize themselves in cooperatives and other farmer organizations.

There are many different views about what constitutes development:

Economists often use a somewhat more precise definition, stating there is agricultural
development if more production is achieved with the same inputs of land, labour and capital
(efficiency). Clearly the result depends on the prices used for the different inputs.

According to Mosher (cited by Van Den Ban & Hawkens, 1988:16) development requires:

1. Markets for farm products

2. A consistently changing agricultural technology
3. Local availability of supplies and equipment
4. Production incentives which make it profitable for farmers to produce more and not
only profitable for their landlords or middlemen.
5. Transportation to and from the village

These five conditions must be met before agricultural development can be accelerated by
other factors such as agricultural extension. Some people have been concerned that
agricultural development in developing countries will increase income differences and
decrease income and level of nutrition of the poor. Most of the poor in Africa are mostly small
farmers. The agricultural development of the last three decades has decreased food prices,
thus increasing the purchasing power of the urban poor.

Small farmers have adopted modern varieties of crops, fertilizers and pesticides to the same
extent as large farmers in the same area, usually increasing their income.

Large farmers often adopt modern technology sooner than small farmers because of their
ability to bear (support) high risks.

Prices of farm products are often higher during the early stages of adoption so that the large
farmers may reap more benefits from modern technology than the small farmers. In the end
most of the benefits usually go to the consumers, who include the farmers who consume part
of their own harvest.

The introduction of modern agricultural technology is one step in the process of modernizing
the whole society. The consequences of this process are hard to predict and the people
responsible for agricultural extension find them hard to influence. Consequences of
Agricultural development also depend on the power structure of the society. Business men
have so much power in some societies that they can grasp (saisir) nearly all the profits from
use of modern agricultural technology.

• Combining extension with other policy instruments

• Changing farms or changing farmers?

Most agricultural extension agents have been trained by schools of agriculture in how to
change farms. They have learned about plant varieties, fertilizers, animal nutrition, etc.
however, their task is to change farmers who subsequently may decide to change their farms.
Many agents have not been trained in the process of changing farmers, that is, in adult
education and communication.

They have been taught what to tell farmers, but not how to tell it to them so that the farmers
become more capable farm managers. Changing this situation is an important goal of
extension education.
 Agricultural
Research
Extension Extension Farmer Farmer
Agricultural Organization Agent
Policy

Social and
Psychological
Research

(The arrows indicate a line of influence)

Figure 1-2. Information flow in agricultural extension (Source: Van den Ban & Hawkins,
1988:17).

Figure 1-2. gives a somewhat simplified picture of the role of agricultural extension. The
extension organization obtains information from agricultural research, from agricultural
policy decisions and from social and psychological research. This information is used by the
management of the extension organization to instruct the extension agents what they should
tell farmers, in the expectation that such messages will bring about change in farm
management. The main simplification in this figure is that it does not indicate that there is
also a flow of information from farmers to extension agents, the managers of extension
organizations and policy –makers, that is two-way communication. This kind of feedback
information is of crucial importance for successful agricultural extension work and
agricultural development policy.

• Goals

Government may use agricultural extension to achieve two different goals:

• The first is to help farmers reach their goals as efficiently as possible, and
• The second is to change farmers’ behaviour in order to reach government goals. e.g.
Family planning

A government may wish to increase production of export crops in order to earn more foreign
exchange, although at current price levels it may be more profitable for farmers to grow food
for consumption locally.

The major reason why Ministries of Agriculture invest in agricultural extension is that this is
often the cheapest and most effective way to reach their goals, and their goals usually
coincide with those of farmers. For example, the Ministry goal to increase food production
coincides with tat of farmers who can increase their income by increasing their yields (Van
Den Ban & Hawkens, 1988:18).

• Individual vs collective interests

Individual and collective interests will not always coincide. It is often necessary to change the
situation in such a way that is in the individual’s best interests to serve the collective interest.
For example, it may be in the individual farmer’s best interests to pollute the environment
with his livestock or with pesticide sprays. However, the situation will change for the
individual if the government enforces a rule that the polluter pays for the consequences of his
actions. Extension education may be needed to make the situation clear to the individual
under theses circumstances. Extension may also be used to create a psychological climate in
which it is possible to force people to behave in the collective interest.

• Achieving targets

Extension agents in many developing countries are expected to reach certain targets set by
their superiors, an approach not used by agents in developed countries. These targets give the
extension agents a clear picture of what they are expected to do, but they also make them
more inclined to persuade the farmers to adopt certain innovations than to educate them to
make their own decisions.

• Farmers’ organizations

In developed countries, there are farmers’ organizations to exert political pressure on

government, to help farmers with education and information, to increase production
efficiency, e.g. dairy herd improvement associations, to organize irrigation systems and
cooperatives for marketing products, obtaining supplies and credit, etc.

Such organizations pay a crucial role in agricultural development in those countries. In

developing countries such organizations either do not exist or tend to be ineffective. Many are
farmers’ organizations in theory, but in fact are more like government departments.

Establishment of effective farmers’ organizations is at least as important as the introduction of

scientific production technology in many of developing countries. Extension organizations
can play an important role in teaching farmers how to organize themselves effectively.
However, it may require political support to fulfill this role as there may be some people who
fear that it will endanger the power they have over farmers.

• Persuading or helping

We stated in the definition provided above that the task of extension agents is to help farmers.
At the same time we recognize that these agents are often expected to persuade farmers and to
motivate them to adopt modern technology. Is that wrong? Not necessarily, because this may
be the best way of helping farmers.

We must realize, however, that the extension agent has limited power to influence the farmer.
This power is based on the farmer’s trust in the extension agent’s intentions and ability to help
him achieve his goals.

Do extension agents really know what is best for farmers in the long run? We have learned
from past experiences that farmers were sometimes justified in not accepting extension
recommendations. The risk of extension agents giving wrong advice is especially high where
most have urban backgrounds, little practical farming experience and pay little attention to
experienced farmers.

• Educating farmers
According Van Den Ban and Hawkins (1988:22), the main extension task in many developing
countries is to promote adoption of modern agricultural technology such use of fertilizers.
Yield increase is a major objective of in these countries, partly because of the rapidly growing
population, and partly because farmers are often considered to be backward and traditional.
The main way to improve farm efficiency and to increase agricultural production is to educate
farmers.

Farmers may be educated in two different ways.

• They may be taught how to solve specific problems or they can be taught the process
of problem-solving. For example you can teach a farmer to recognize yellow rust in
his wheat and what to do if his wheat is infected. You may also direct the farmer to a
reference book which describes most plant diseases and their treatment, and teach him
how to use the book.
• Farmers should have good insight into which problems they can solve themselves and
which they cannot. Farmers are often eager to learn about new developments. Hence
they must keep well informed about new developments in production technology and
markets. It is an important task for extension agents to support and facilitate this
process of what is called self-directed learning.

• Choice of strategies

Extension organizations have the choice of three different strategies to influence farmers’
behavior:

1. The development and influence strategy. ‘Doing to’, or working to get the farmer in
a situation considered desirable by the extension agent or organization. Extension
agents using this strategy often try to persuade farmers to behave in a ‘better’ or
‘wiser’ manner, usually without being asked to do so.
2. The social marketing strategy. ‘Doing for’, or working for the farmers’ interests. The
social marketing strategy as its name suggests, is drawn from ideas about improved
marketing techniques. Extension messages aimed at helping farmers to save fuel and
energy resources clearly work this way.

3. The problem-solving strategy. ‘Doing with’, or working jointly with the farmer to
solve his problems. The problem-solving strategy helps farmers to achieve what they
want to achieve. An extension agent may confront the farmer with different opinion
about a specific choice, not to convince him to follow that opinion but to help clarify
what he really wants.

Choice of a preferred strategy depends on the following considerations:

a. The problem area: Is extension advice given where an optimal solution can be
found with research, or does solution of the problem depend heavily on the farmer’s value
judgments, involvement and capabilities?

b. Trust in farmers’ capabilities: Is the farmer in a position to make decisions which

are in his own long interests?
 c. The task of the extension organization: Should the extension organization only
promote changes which benefit society as a whole, or should it help individual farmers make
decisions which serve their own interests?

3.3. The conceptual foundation for extension impact

Swanson et al. (1998) point out two conceptual themes that are relevant to extension impact.
The first is the awareness-knowledge-adoption-productivity (AKAP) sequence. The
second is the "growth gap" interrelationship between extension, schooling, and research.

• The AKAP Sequence

It is convenient to visualize extension as achieving its ultimate economic impact by providing

information and educational or training services to induce the following sequence:

A: Farmer awareness
K: Farmer knowledge, through testing and experimenting
A: Farmer adoption of technology or practices
P: Changes in farmers' productivity

Changes in farmer behaviour will be reflected in quantities of goods produced, the quantities
of inputs used, and in their prices. These, in turn, can be measured as "economic surplus,"
which is the added value of goods produced from a given set of inputs made possible by the
extension activities.

Studies of extension impacts have measured farmer awareness (and sources of awareness),
knowledge (and testing of practices), adoption, and productivity.

Not all studies have examined all parts of the sequence. Most have shown a statistical
relationship between the quantity of extension services made available to farmers and
increases in awareness, knowledge, adoption, and productivity.

While the AKAP sequence has a natural ordering, it is clear that real resources in the form of
skills and activities by both extension staff and farmers are required to move along the
sequence. Awareness is not knowledge. Knowledge requires awareness, experience,
observation, and the critical ability to evaluate data and evidence. Knowledge leads to
adoption, but adoption is not productivity. Productivity depends not only on the adoption of
technically efficient practices, but of allocatively efficient practices as well. Productivity also
depends on the infrastructure of the community and on market institutions.

Extension services affect each part of the sequence. They can be seen as both substitutes for
and complements to the acquired skills of their clientele farmers. Empirical evidence indicates
that they are, on balance, net substitutes for farmers' skills as reflected in farmers' schooling.
For example, extension services are typically not the only sources of information (awareness).
Skilled farmers can seek information on their own. Farmers with few skills may not do so.
Extension information then may have a higher impact on farmers with less schooling. It
appears, however, that the awareness-knowledge part of the sequence is where extension
services are strong substitutes for farmer schooling. Through organized frequent contact, they
"teach" farmers, and this is more than simply informing farmers.

The teaching versus informing distinction is also relevant to the "newness" of the information
(that is, of the recommended practice or other technology) and of the nature of the practice or
new technology. When technology is new (as for example with a recently released variety of
rice) and is also "simple" to evaluate and adopt (where it is a matter of using new seed
without altering other practices), information-awareness is relatively easily converted to
knowledge and adoption. Farmers with few skills usually adopt such technology with a time
lag. When the technological practice is more complex and requires substantial changes in
activities and sometimes capital investment, teaching is required. Repeated messages clearly
stated, followed up by field staff and often community organization, are required to proceed
through the AKAP sequence in this case.

• Productivity Gaps and Extension

The AKAP sequencing is, as noted above, related to the flow of new technical information
and to the existing state of unadopted technology. We can see this interrelationship more
clearly in the context of productivity "gaps." Figure 3-1 portrays what is meant by gaps and
relates these to the technological infrastructure types.
Figure 3-1. Sequence of crop yields for five technology infrastructure types. Yield levels for
each type areas follows: A = actual; BP = best practice; BPBI = best practice, best
infrastructure; BPBIRP = best practice, best infrastructure, research potential. These yield
levels define the following gaps: G(P) = practice gap between the best practice (BP) yield and
actual (A) farmers' yields; G(I) infrastructure-institutions gap between the best institutions,
best practice (BPBI) yield and best practice (BP) yield; G(R) = research gap between the
research potential yield (BPBIRP) and the best practice, best institutions (BPBI) yield.

Figure 3-1 depicts crop yields, adjusted for fertilizer and other inputs, for five technology
infrastructure types. Four yield levels are depicted for each type:

A: Actual yields
BP: Best practice yields
BPBI: Best practice, best infrastructure yields
BPBIRP: Best practice, best infrastructure, research potential yields

These yield levels in turn define three "gaps":

G(P): A practices gap between the best practice (BP) yield and actual (A) farmers' yields

G(I): An infrastructure-institutions gap between the best institutions, best practice (BPBI)
yield and best practice (BP) yield

G(R): A research gap between the research potential yield (BPBIRP) and the best practice,
best institutions (BPBI) yield

These gaps provide a way to classify the contribution of extension activities and to show how
research and extension are linked. A stylized sequence across technology types is depicted.
This could also be visualized as a time sequence.

Extension programmes are designed to reduce both the practice gap, G(P), and the institutions
gap, G(I). Extension programmes are not the only activities that reduce these gaps. Providing
market information to farmers and developing organized farm groups reduce G(I).
Information and teaching reduce G(P). Research programmes are generally required to reduce
G(R), although extension programmes can facilitate the reduction of G(R) via facilitating the
importing and local modification of improved technology developed elsewhere. Research
programmes in most developing countries also modify and adopt imported technologies and
germplasm.

Two of the gaps are closely linked. When G(R) is closed (that is, when the BPBI yields go
up), G(P) is opened.6 (This may happen with G(I) also, but to a lesser extent.) Further, it
should be noted that the size of the gap is an index of the potential impact of research or
extension. As extension succeeds in closing G(P), diminishing returns set in. Successful
research opens up new potential by increasing G(P). The relative mix of teaching versus
informing is also related to these gaps. When the BPBI yield level has been constant for some
time, the G(P) gap is closed mostly by teaching. When BPBI is increased, as by "green
revolution" rice and wheat varieties, information and testing advice play a larger role.

The pattern of gaps and yield levels across country groups is intended as a stylized pattern. It
is roughly based on experience. For Type la countries, both G(I) and G(P) are depicted as
large.7 These are traditional economies with not much new technology being produced that is
relevant to them.

As economies move to Type 1b, improvements in institutions allow BP (and A) to rise even
without new technology; BPBI remains unchanged. Extension can contribute to reducing both
G(I) and G(P), and these contributions are qualitatively different from those required in more
advanced country groups. There is little new technology (few new practices) in these
countries, farmers have little schooling, and infrastructure is poor. The teaching and
organizing activities of extension dominate here.

As economies move to the Type 1c category, some new technology has been introduced
(BPBI has risen), and the institutions gap has been further reduced. The practices gap, G (P),
has been both opened (because BPBI increased) and closed because of continued teaching and
because new practices now can be extended.

As economies move further up the technology infrastructure scale, the institutions gap is
further reduced and extension's role in reducing G(I) becomes small. However, G(R) is closed
by national and international research programmes - and the BPBI yields rise, providing
extension with more new practices to extend. The private sector grows in importance and
markets are improved.

3.4. Estimates of economic impacts: A summary.

Table 3-1. summarizes estimates of economic impact from 57 economic studies undertaken in
seven African countries (Burkina Faso, Cote d'Ivoire, Botswana, Nigeria, Ethiopia, Kenya,
Malawi), seven Asian countries (Bangladesh, Indonesia, Malaysia, Nepal, Philippines, South
Korea, Thailand), three Latin American countries (Brazil, Paraguay, Peru), and the United
States and Japan. The studies are grouped into several categories: the distribution of the
estimates by level of statistical significance and, where reported, by level of rate of return to
extension. (Note that some studies reported more than one estimated impact. Many studies did
not calculate returns, and returns are reported only when the estimated coefficient had a high
level of statistical significance).
 Table 3-1. Summary: 57 Economic Studies of Extension for Selected Countries'
Type or Number of Distribution by Level of Statistical Distribution by
Category Studies Significance Returns Estimates
Not Medium High Low Medium High
Significant Significant Significant
Awareness 6 7 2 27 nc nc nc
Adoption 9 16 8 17 nc nc nc
Productivity
Farm
Observation:
Farm Contact 16 21 4 10 2 1 7
Extension 9 11 3 21 1 1 12
Supply
Aggregate 17 4 5 17 2 0 6
Observation
All 42 36 13 48 4 2 25
Productivity
By Period
Before 1980 17 12 3 13 2 2 7
After 1980 40 47 20 79 2 2 18
By Country Group
1A-1B 9 16 6 24 1 9
1C 14 26 11 21 1 1 4
2A 12 5 3 28 2 2 3
2B-2C 13 8 2 10 1 4
Industrialized 9 4 1 9 5

Note: For statistical significance, the estimated "t" ratio is less then 1.5 for not significant,
1.5-2.0 for medium significance, greater then 2 for high significance. For rates of returns, low
is 5-25 per cent, medium 26-50 per cent, high 50 per cent or greater.

* African countries: Burkina Faso, Cote d’Ivoire, Botswana, Nigeria, Ethiopia, Kenya,
Malawi; Asian countries: Bangladesh, Indonesia, Malaysia, Nepal, Philippines, South Korea,
Thailand; Latin American countries: Brazil, Paraguay, Peru; the United States; Japan.

Of the 174 estimated impact coefficients, 59 (one-third) are reported to be not significant.
Very few of these were actually negative. This set of studies, however, cannot be said to be
fully representative of the regions or types of extension programmes. Quite possibly a number
of studies that found little or no extension impact were not reported.

Awareness (Knowledge) Studies

Six studies of extension's impact on awareness and knowledge were undertaken. Three of
these (India, Kenya, Burkina Faso) (see Table 3) examined the impact of T&V management
on awareness of recommended practices. These studies find strong evidence that extension
does create awareness and knowledge and that T&V management makes extension more
effective in doing so.

Adoption Studies

Nine studies of adoption of farm practices were undertaken. All sought to determine the
impact of extension in accelerating adoption. This evidence is somewhat less conclusive than
the awareness evidence.

Most studies found that farm size and farmers' schooling also determined adoption rates. Most
studies found evidence for some extension impact on adoption. The T&V studies found that
T&V enhanced the extension effect. Two of the studies (Kenya and Burkina Faso) linked
practice adoption to productivity. Both found that extension accelerated adoption and led to
productivity change.

Productivity Studies

Forty-two studies reported estimates of extension impacts on farm productivity: 25 used farm
survey data and 17 used aggregated data, such as district-level data. Sixteen of the 25 farm
survey studies used a farm-specific extension variable, usually a contact with extension. As
noted earlier, these variables are highly vulnerable to the endogeneity problem. It is
interesting to note that this category of studies actually had the highest proportion of
insignificant estimates.

In contrast, the nine studies that relied on an extension supply variable such as the number of
extension staff made available in a region or to a group of farms have a high proportion of
highly significant estimates. The T&V studies were in this category, and they generally found
a T&V management enhancement effect. Two of these studies used two-stage procedures to
predict adoption or membership in T&V groups and found that the extension impact was in
general realized via its effect on practice adoption and on T&V group participation.

The 17 studies based on aggregate data in most cases included variables measuring research,
schooling, and infrastructure in addition to extension variables. Almost all found evidence for
an extension impact. The studies that used interaction variables between extension and
farmers' schooling generally found a net substitution relationship. Higher levels of farmer
schooling reduced the impact of extension, and vice versa. The studies that examined the
research-extension interaction generally did not find a significant interaction except in the
U.S. studies.

Estimates by Period and by Country Group

There are no differences in the distribution of significant estimates or rates of return by

period.

In an earlier section of this paper, I noted that the technological and institutional setting in
which extension operates affects its design and impact. The estimates classified by country
group show two things. First, they show considerable variation, with a substantial range of
significance being reported. Second, they show a difference between Type 1 and Type 2
developing economies. For the Type 1 economies, 45 of 105 (43 percent) of reported
estimates have a high level of statistical significance. For Type 2 countries, 38 of 56 (68
percent) of the estimates have a high level of statistical significance. Thus it appears, on the
one hand, that it is possible to design effective extension programmes for the Type la and 1b
economies where new technology is being developed at a slow rate. The T&V studies confirm
this. But it also appears that the more dynamic technological environments of the Type 2
economies provide a setting for broader effectiveness of extension programmes.
Chapter 4. Principles and Methods of Extension Education

In this chapter, we discuss principles and methods in agricultural extension to bring about
knowledge and new practices to farmers to help them form opinions and make sound
opinions. The chapter specifically addresses issues of differences between formal education &
extension education; objectives of extension education; principles of extension education;
learning & teaching in extension: extension methods; mass media; group methods, and using
rapid or participatory rural appraisal.

An extension agent’s choice of any of the many methods available will depend on his specific
goals and on the circumstances in which he works. He must also decide how he will use these
methods. Mass media, group and individual or face-to-face extension methods are discussed
in this chapter. Print and electronic media such as newspapers, radio and television help
extension agents to reach large numbers of farmers simultaneously. However, there is little
opportunity for these farmers to interact among themselves or to provide feedback to the
extension agents. Group methods reach fewer farmers but offer more, if somewhat variable,
opportunities for interaction and feedback. Formal lectures normally provide fewer
opportunities than group discussions, although informal talks usually involve adequate
interaction and feedback opportunities. Individual extension consists mainly of dialogue
between extension agent and farmer. We also discuss briefly how different methods can be
combined in one programme, and how audio-visual aids can increase the effectiveness of
these methods. At the end of the chapter we spend few paragraphs on using rapid or
participatory rural appraisal

Extension education is an applied behavioral science, the knowledge of which is applied to

bring about desirable changes in the behavioral complex of human beings usually through
various strategies & programmes of change & by applying the latest scientific &
technological innovations. Extension education has now developed as a full-fledged
discipline, having its own philosophy, objectives, principles, methods & techniques which
must be understood by every extension worker & others connected with the rural
development. It might be mentioned here that extension education, its principles, methods &
techniques are applicable not only to agriculture but also to veterinary & animal husbandry,
dairying, home science, health, family planning, etc (Krishworld.com, online).

4.1. Differences between formal education & extension education

It may, however, be mentioned here that when extension education is put into action for
educating the rural people, it does not remain formal education. In that sense, there are several
differences between the two. Some of these differences are summarized in table 4-1.

Table 4-1. Differences between formal education & extension education

Formal education Extension education (nonformal education)

1. The teacher starts with theory & 1. The teacher (extension worker) starts with
works up to practicals. practicals & may take up theory later on
2. Students study subjects 2. Farmers study problems.
3. Students must adapt themselves to 3. It has no fixed curriculum or course of
the fixed curriculum offered study & the farmers help to formulate the
curriculum.
4. Authority rests with the teacher. 4. Authority rests with the farmers.
5. Class attendance is compulsory. 5. Participation is voluntary.
6. Teacher instructs the students. 6. Teacher teaches & also learns from the
farmers.
7. Teaching is only through 7. Teaching is also through local leaders.
instructors.
8. Teaching is mainly vertical. 8. Teaching is mainly horizontal.
9. The teacher has more or less 9. The teacher has a large & heterogeneous
homogeneous audience audience.
10. It is rigid. 10. It is flexible.
11. It has all pre-planned & pre- 11. It has freedom to develop programmes
decided programmes. locally & they are based on the needs &
expressed desires of the people.
12. It is more theoretical. 12. It is more practical & intended for
immediate application in the solution of
problems.
(Source: After Krishiworld.com, online)

4.2. Objectives of extension education

The objectives of extension education are the expressions of the ends towards which our
efforts are directed. In other words, an objective means a direction of movement. Before
starting any programme, its objectives must be clearly stated, so that one knows where to go
& what is to be achieved. The fundamental objective of extension education is the
development of the people. Agricultural extension in our country is primarily concerned with
the following main objectives:

(1) The dissemination of useful & practical information relating to agriculture, including
improved seeds, fertilizers, implements, pesticides, improved cultural practices, dairying,
poultry, nutrition, etc.

(2) The practical application of useful knowledge to farm & home; and

(3) Thereby ultimately to improve all aspects of the life of the rural people within the
framework of the national, economic & social policies involving the population as a whole.

4.3. Principles of extension education

The extension work is based upon some working principles & the knowledge of these
principles is necessary for an extension worker. Some of these principles, as related to
agricultural extension, are mentioned below.

1. Principle of interest & need. Extension work must be based on the needs & interests of the
people. These needs & interests differ from individual to individual, from village to village,
from sector to sector, and from province to province and, therefore, there cannot be one
programme for all people.

2. Principle of cultural difference. Extension work is based on the cultural background of the
people with whom the work is done. Improvement can only begin from the level of the people
where they are. This means that the extension worker has to know the level of the knowledge,
& the skills of the people, methods & tools used by them, their customs, traditions, beliefs,
values, etc. before starting the extension programme.

3. Principle of participation. Extension helps people to help themselves. Good extension

work is directed towards assisting rural families to work out their own problems rather than
giving them ready-made solutions. Actual participation & experience of people in these
programmes creates self-confidence in them & also they learn more by doing.

4. Principle of adaptability. People differ from each other, one group differs from another
group & conditions also differ from place to place. An extension programme should be
flexible, so that necessary changes can be made whenever needed, to meet the varying
conditions.

5. The grass roots principle of organization. A group of rural people in local community
should sponsor extension work. The programme should fit in with the local conditions. The
aim of organizing the local group is to demonstrate the value of the new practices or
programmes so that more & more people would participate.

6. The leadership principle. Extension work is based on the full utilization of local
leadership. The selection & training of local leaders to enable them to help to carry out
extension work is essential to the success of the programme. People have more faith in local
leaders & they should be used to put across a new idea so that it is accepted with the least
resistance.

7. The whole-family principle. Extension work will have a better chance of success if the
extension workers have a whole-family approach instead of piecemeal approach or separate &
unintegrated approach. Extension work is, therefore, for the whole family, i.e. for male,
female & the youth.

8. Principle of co-operation. Extension is a co-operative venture. It is a joint democratic

enterprise in which rural people co-operate with their village, block & state officials to pursue
a common cause.

9. Principle of satisfaction. The end-product of the effort of extension teaching is the

satisfaction that comes to the farmer, his wife or youngsters as the result of solving a problem,
meeting a need, acquiring a new skill or some other changes in behavior. Satisfaction is the
key to success in extension work. "A satisfied customer is the best advertisement."

10. The evaluation principle. Extension is based upon the methods of science, & it needs
constant evaluation. The effectiveness of the work is measured in terms of the changes
brought about in the knowledge, skill, and attitude & adoption behavior of the people but not
merely in terms of achievement of physical targets.
4.4. Learning & teaching in extension: Extension methods

Extension is an educational process for bringing about the maximum number of desirable
changes among the people, which involves both learning, & teaching & needs some tools or
methods commonly known as extension-teaching methods. It is, therefore, necessary here to
understand what is meant by learning, teaching & extension methods. 'Learning' is the process
by which an individual, through his own activity, attains a change in his behavior. It is an
active process on the part of the learner. The essential role of an extension worker is to create
effective 'learning situations'. An effective learning situation requires the following essential
elements:

1. An instructor (an extension worker, e.g. an extension officer or a village-level worker).

2. Learners (the farmers, the farm women & the youth).
3. Subject-matter (the recommended improved practices, such as the seeds of high-yielding
varieties, fertilizers, balanced diet, etc.)
4. Teaching material, such as a flannel-board, a black-board, charts, models, samples, slides,
film strips, etc.

5. Physical facilities, such as sitting accommodation, good visibility, etc.

The extension worker should skillfully manipulate the elements of the learning situation &
provide satisfactory learning experiences for the people. The farmer, the farmer women or the
farmer youth are the focal points in the learning situation. The main aim of an extension
worker is to bring about a change in this behavior of the people with the help of a judicious
combination & use of different elements. All the teaching should be carried out according to
the needs & resources of the local community or group.
'Teaching' is the process of arranging situations in which the things to be learnt are brought to
the notice of the learners, their interest is developed & desire aroused, i.e. they are stimulated
to action. For example, if we want to teach the farmers the use & advantages of chemical
fertilizers, we do this by conducting demonstrations on their fields, showing them how the
fertilizers are applied, & compare the yield of the fertilized crop with that of the crop to which
no fertilizers has been applied. After seeing the beneficial effect of fertilizers, the farmer is
convinced & motivated to action & starts using fertilizers regularly.

• Extension-teaching methods

The extension-teaching methods are the tools & techniques used to create situations in which
communication can take place between the rural people & the extension workers. They are the
methods of extending new knowledge & skills to the rural people by drawing their attention
towards them, arousing their interest & helping them to have a successful experience of the
new practice. A proper understanding of these methods & their selection for a particular type
of work are necessary.

• Classification of extension teaching methods

(A) ACCORDING TO USE. One way of classifying the extension methods is according to
their use & nature of contact. In other words, whether they are used for contacting people
individually, in groups or in masses. Based upon the nature of contact, they are divided into
individual, group & mass-contact methods.
i. Individual-contact methods. Extension methods under this category provide opportunities
for face-to-face or person-to-person contact between the rural people & the extension
workers. These methods are very effective in teaching new skills & creating goodwill between
farmers & the extension workers.

ii. Group-contact methods. Under this category, the rural people or farmers are contacted in a
group which usually consists of 20 to 25 persons. These groups are usually formed around a
common interest. These methods also involve a face-to-face contact with the people &
provide an opportunity for the exchange of ideas, for discussions on problems & technical
recommendations & finally for deciding the future course of action.

iii. Mass or community-contact methods. An extension worker has to approach a large

number of people for disseminating new information & helping them to use it. This can be
done through mass-contact methods conveniently. These methods are more useful for making
people aware of the new agricultural technology quickly. Important extension-teaching
methods under these 3 categories are listed in the following table 4-2.
Table 4-2. Classification of extension-teaching methods according to their use

Individual contacts Group contacts Mass contacts

Farm & home visits Method demonstration & Bulletins
result demonstration
Office calls National demonstration Leaflets
leader-training meetings
Telephone calls Conferences & discussion Circular letters & radio
meetings & workshops
Personal letters Field trips Television, exhibitions, fairs &
posters
Source: After Krishiworld.com, online

B) ACCORDING TO FORM. Extension-teaching methods are also classified according to

their forms, such as written, spoken & audio-visual. Some of the important methods under
each of these 3 categories are given in table 4-3.

Table 4-3. Classification of extension-teaching methods according to their form

Written Spoken Objective or visual

Bulletins General & special Result demonstration
meetings
Leaflets, folders &News Farm & home visits Demonstration posters
articles
Personal letters Official calls Motion-picture or movies,
charts
Circular letters Telephone calls, radio Slides & film-strips, models,
&exhibits
Source: After Krishiworld.com, online

In the next paragraphs, we provide a brief description of some of the extension methods
which are commonly used by extension workers.

1. Farm & home visits. Farm & home visits constitute the direct or face-to-face contact by an
extension worker with the farmer or the members of his family. During these visits,
information is exchanged or discussed. The visits may be to get acquainted with the problems
of the farmers, or to organizational purposes. Such visits provide an opportunity for a two-
way communication.

2. Result demonstration. Result demonstration is an educational test to prove the advantages

of recommended practices & to demonstrate their applicability to the local condition. It is
conducted by a farmer under the direct supervision of an extension worker.
It is designed to teach others, in addition to the person who conducts the demonstration. It
helps the farmers to learn by seeing & doing. This method can be used to show the superiority
of practices, such as the use of fertilizers, insecticides & pesticides & high yielding varieties
of seeds.
3. Method demonstration. It is used to show the technique of doing things or carrying out
new practices, e.g. preparing a nursery-bed, treating seed with insecticides & fungicides,
line-sowing, taking a soil sample, grafting fruit trees, etc. This method is usually used for
groups of people.

4. National demonstrations. National demonstrations are the "first-line demonstrations,"

conducted by researchers on the farmers' fields to show how production can be increased per
unit of area & per unit of time. These demonstrations usually include the system of multiple
cropping & the use of high-yielding varieties, along with the best package of practices. They
were first initiated on a modest scale in 1965 & have now become a part of the agricultural
production programme in the country.

5. Group discussions. All the farmers cannot be contacted by extension workers individually
because of their large number. It is convenient & feasible to contact them in groups. This
method is commonly known as group discussion. It is used to encourage & stimulate the
people to learn more about the problems that concern the community through discussion. It is
a good method of involving the local people in developing local leadership & in deciding on a
plan of action in a democratic way.

6. Exhibitions. An exhibition is a systematic display of information, actual specimens,

models, posters, photographs, and charts, etc in a logical sequence. It is organized for
arousing the interest of the visitors in the things displayed. It is one of the best media for
reaching a large number of people, especially illiterate & semi-illiterate people. Exhibitions
are used for a wide range of topics, such as planning a model village, demonstrating improved
irrigation practices, soil conservation methods, showing high-yielding varieties of seeds &
plants, new agricultural implements & the best products of village industries.

7. General meetings. These are usually held for passing on certain information to the people
for future action. Extension workers give lectures to the people on certain pre-selected items
of work.

8. Campaigns. Campaigns are used to focus the attention of the people on a particular
problem, e.g. erosion, general hygiene & plant protection, the production of moringa &
macadamia crops/trees & family planning. Through this method, the maximum number of
farmers can be reached in the shortest possible time. It builds up community confidence &
involves the people emotionally in a programme, e.g. annual celebration of “Umunsi w’igiti”.

9. Tours & field days. Conducted tours for farmers are used to convince them & to provide
them with an opportunity of seeing the results of new practices, demonstration skills, new
implements etc. & to give them an idea regarding the suitability & application of these things
in their own area. Such tours may also be arranged to enable the rural people to visit places &
institutions connected with the problems of rural life, such as research institutions, training
institutions, agricultural universities, model villages, areas of advanced developments, leading
private farms, exhibitions, & agricultural & cattle fairs.

10. Printed matter (literature). Newspapers, magazines, bulletins, leaflets, folders, pamphlets
& wall news-sheets are another set of mass media for communicating information to a large
number of literate people. They are used for communicating general & specific information
on a programme of technology or a practice. Small folders, leaflets & pamphlets are used to
give specific recommendations about a practice, such as the use of fertilizers, vegetable
cultivation, green-manuring & the growing of individual crops, e.g. wheat, rice, corn, barley,
cassava, & sugarcane.

11. Radio. It is a mass medium of communication & can reach a large number of people at
any given time involving the least expense. Extension workers use the radio for
communicating information on new methods & techniques, giving timely information about
the control of croppests & diseases, weather, market news, etc. For this purpose, talks, group
discussions, folk-songs, dialogues & dramas are usually organized. MINAGRI has a special
radio programme for farmers (Ikiganiro cy’ubuhinzi) once or twice a week.

12. Television. It is one of the most powerful media of communication. It has come into
vogue only in the recent years. It combines both audio & visual impact & is very suitable for
the dissemination of agricultural information. It is more useful in teaching how to do a
specific job. The main constraint is that only very few people can have access to Television in
Rwanda. However, we expect that its use will become more extensive in the coming years.

13. Motion-pictures (movies). Movies are an effective tool for arousing interest among the
people, because they involve seeing, hearing, & action. They are the most suitable medium
for drawing bigger audience. A film show can be followed by a discussion with the villagers.

• Mass media

Newspapers, magazines, radio and television generally are the least expensive media to carry
messages to large numbers of people. The sender and receiver tend to employ several
selective processes when using mass media, which often result in the receiver distorting the
sender’s messages (selective publication; selective attention; selective perception; selective
remembering; selective acceptance & selective discussion).

Knowledge is more likely to be transferred successfully if it meets a need or fills a vacuum.

New ideas diffused through the media are more acceptable if they link up with existing
knowledge than when they attempt to modify this knowledge. Someone who is convinced he
has correct information, which can be proven scientifically to be incorrect, will often require a
more personal approach to change his views. We must choose a communication strategy
which links up the knowledge, language use and attitudes of a target group with members’
desire for information. People must want information before we can achieve behavioral
change. This presents a problem in agricultural extension when farmers believe they manage
their farms very efficiently and they have little to learn from so called ‘experts’. They may
accept that expert advice is useful, but they do not always readily accept that it may be useful
to them. Expert advice is always meant for the other person.

• Manner of presentation ‘Your easy reading is damned hard writing’ (Hemingway)

Technical publications produced by the extension services must present their information in a
comprehensible form. German research has shown there are four important factors in
establishing comprehension. They are:

o Use simple language. Technical terms should be explained in short and simple
sentences, using common words which have concrete meanings. Abstract
language and ‘jargon’ should be avoided.
 o Structure and arrange arguments clearly. Ideas should be presented in a
logical order, clearly distinguishing between main and side issues. Presentation
must be clear, with the central theme remaining visible so that the whole
message can be reviewed easily.
o Make main points briefly. Arguments should be restricted to the main issues
and clearly directed towards achieving stated goals without unnecessary use of
words.
o Make writing stimulating to read. The style should be interesting, inspiring,
exciting, personal and sufficiently diversified to maintain the reader’s interest.

Before spreading a message via a mass medium we should try first to answer the following
questions:

1. Precisely which goal am I trying to achieve? Which problem am I trying to arouse interest
in?
2. Precisely who am I trying to reach? What is their level of education? Which problem are
they interested in? How much do they know about it?

• Group methods “When you talk less you can listen more”

Lectures (speeches or talks), demonstrations, excursions and group discussions are the group
methods considered in this section. “Group extension methods have an advantage over mass
media because of better feedback which makes it possible to reduce some of the
misunderstandings that may develop between an extension agent and a farmer”(Van den Ban
& Hawkins, 1988:145). There is also greater interaction between the farmers themselves. This
interaction provides the opportunity to exchange beneficial or useful experiences as well as to
exert influence on group member’s behavior and norms.
Group methods often reach one select part of the target group because only those farmers who
are more interested in extension and/or those farmers who are members of certain farmers’
organizations come to the meetings.

4.5. Using rapid or participatory rural appraisal

4.5.1. Conventional methodologies for learning

Agricultural institutions of all types have long relied on questionnaire surveys and quick rural
visits to gather information on rural people and resources. Samples of people selected from a
larger population are asked the same set of questions, and so it is assumed that the
interviewers do not influence the process. Many informants are selected to account for all
variation, and the resulting data are statistically analyzed. Such surveys are used at practically
all levels, from the large-scale census to small-scale, village-level research; by governments
and NGOs; and for planning, research, and extension.

But there are problems with questionnaire surveys. The questionnaire designer has to
determine the questions well in advance. Yet those who design these instruments cannot know
which issues are important for local people. So they tend to increase the number of questions
to ensure that all relevant issues are covered. This leads, in some cases, to forms of absurd
length, with several hundred questions taking hours to administer. Rarely is attention paid to
the nature of the interviewing process. In the structured survey, many of the contextual
grounds for understanding are systematically removed or ignored, and all too often, the ill-
trained enumerator further influences the process by prompting with answers. Despite many
criticisms of this methodology (Chambers, 1983, 1992c; Fowler & Mangione, 1990; Rhoades,
1990; Gill, 1993 cited by Swanson et al.1998), official surveys, such as sample censuses of
agriculture or household expenditure surveys, remain remarkably popular.

At the other end of the spectrum are the brief field visits made by development professionals. But such
"rural development tourism" is full of biases that misguide professionals into believing they have seen
an accurate picture of rural life. Chambers (1983) cited by Swanson et al. (1998) characterized these
biases into four main types: spatial biases, in which the better-off people living near roads and services
are visited, with those who are remote and thus poorer being missed; time biases, in which visits are
made during the seasons when roads are open and at times of day when people are busy in the fields;
people biases, in which professionals speak only to rural leaders and articulate people who represent
only the elite, dominant, and wealthy groups; and project biases, in which a showcase village or
technology is repeatedly shown to outsiders, who get the impression that this is typical of all efforts.

What all this implies is that institutions come to believe that this selective information
represents a comprehensive picture. Professionals are left with falsely favourable impressions
of the impact of their work, and so they themselves have few reasons for initiating or
encouraging change. Because of these flaws in conventional methods, development
practitioners began in recent years to seek alternatives that avoided some of these problems.

4.5.2. Alternative systems of learning and action

Partly because of these flaws in conventional approaches, there has been a recent rapid
expansion in participatory methods and approaches. These began with the development of
data-gathering methods which came to be known as rapid rural appraisal. During the late
1980s, this growing experience was supplemented by drawing upon long-established
traditions that had put participation, action research, and adult education at the forefront of
attempts to emancipate people. To the wider body of development programmes, these
approaches represent a significant departure from standard practice. Some of the changes
under way are remarkable. In a growing number of government and nongovernment
institutions, extractive research is being superseded by investigation and analysis by local
people themselves. Methods are being used not just for local people to inform outsiders, but
also for people's own analysis of their own conditions (Chambers, 1992b, 1992c; Pretty &
Chambers, 1993; Pretty, 1995 cited by Swanson et al.1998).

The interactive involvement of many people in differing institutional contexts has promoted
innovation and ownership, with many variations in the way that systems of learning have been
put together. There are many different terms (Box 1), but they have the following important
common principles (Pretty, 1994):

• A defined methodology and systemic learning process. The focus is on cumulative

learning by all the participants and, given the nature of these approaches as systems of
learning and interaction, their use has to be participative.
• Multiple perspectives. A central objective is to seek diversity, rather than to
characterize complexity in terms of average values. The assumption is that different
individuals and groups make different evaluations of situations, which lead to different
actions. All views of activity or purpose are heavy with interpretation, bias, and
 prejudice, and this implies that there are multiple possible descriptions of any real-
world activity.
• Group learning processes. All involve the recognition that the complexity of the
world will only be revealed through group inquiry and interaction. This implies three
possible mixes of investigators, namely, those from different disciplines, from
different sectors, and from outsiders (professionals) and insiders (local people).
• Context specific. The approaches are flexible enough to be adapted to suit each new
set of conditions and actors, and so there are multiple variants.

• Facilitating experts and stakeholders. The methodology is concerned with the

transformation of existing activities to try to bring about changes which people in the
situation regard as improvements. The role of the "expert" is best thought of as helping
people in their situation carry out their own study and so achieve something. These
facilitating experts may be stakeholders themselves.
• Leading to sustained action. The learning process leads to debate about change, and
debate changes the perceptions of the actors and their readiness to contemplate action.
Action is agreed upon, and implementable changes will therefore represent an
accommodation among the different conflicting views. The debate or analysis both
defines changes which would bring about improvement and seeks to motivate people
to take action to implement the defined changes. This action includes local institution
building or strengthening, thus increasing the capacity of people to initiate action on
their own.

These alternative systems of learning and action imply a process of learning leading to action.
A more sustainable agriculture, with all its uncertainties and complexities, cannot be
envisaged without all actors being involved in continuing processes of learning.

4.5.3. The different interpretations of participation

In recent years, an increasing number of analyses of projects have shown that participation by
local people is one of the critical components of success in irrigation, livestock, water, and
agriculture sectors (USAID, 1987; Reij, 1988; Finsterbusch & van Wicklen, 1989; Bagadion
& Korten, 1991; Cernea, 1991; Guijt, 1991; Pretty & Sandbrook, 1991; Uphoff, 1992;
Narayan, 1993; World Bank, 1994; Pretty, 1995 cited by Swanson et al.1998). The terms
"people's participation" and "popular participation" have now become part of the normal
language of many development agencies (Adnan, Nurul Alam, & Brustinow, 1992; Bhatnagar
& Williams, 1992 cited by Swanson et al.1998). This has brought new dangers. The term
"participation" has been used to justify the extension of state control and to build local
capacity and self-reliance; it has been used for data collection and for interactive analysis.
Participation has often centred on encouraging local people to sell their labour in return for
food, cash, or materials. Yet these material incentives distort perceptions, create dependencies,
and give the misleading impression that local people are supportive of externally driven
initiatives (Reij, 1988; Bunch, 1991; Kerr, 1994 cited by Swanson et al.1998). This means
that "more often than not, people are asked or dragged into participating in operations of no
interest to them, in the very name of participation" (Rahnema, 1992 cited by Swanson et
al.1998).
Box 1. A selection of terms and names for alternative systems of participatory learning
and action.
AEA Agroecosystems Analysis
BA Beneficiary Assessment
DELTA Development Education Leadership Team
DPR Diagnóstico Rurale Participative
FPR Farmer Participatory Research
GRAAP Groupe de Recherche et d'Appui pour l'Auto-Promotion Paysanne
MARP Methode Accélérée de Recherche Participative
PALM Participatory Analysis and Learning Methods
PAR Participatory Action Research
PRM Participatory Research Methodology
PRAP Participatory Rural Appraisal and Planning
PTD Participatory Technology Development
PUA Participatory Urban Appraisal
PfR Planning for Real
PD Process Documentation
RA Rapid Appraisal
RAAKS Rapid Assessment of Agricultural Knowledge Systems
RAP Rapid Assessment Procedures
RAT Rapid Assessment Techniques
RCA Rapid Catchment Analysis
REA Rapid Ethnographic Assessment
RFSA Rapid Food Security Assessment
RMA Rapid Multi-perspective Appraisal
ROA Rapid Organizational Assessment
RRA Rapid Rural Appraisal
SB Samuhik Brahman (Joint trek)
SSM Soft Systems Methodology
TfD Theatre for Development
TfT Training for Transformation
VIPP Visualization in Participatory Programmes

These many interpretations of the term participation can be arranged into seven clear types
(Box 2). These range from passive participation, where people are involved merely by being
told what is to happen, to self-mobilization, where people take initiatives independent of
external institutions.

It is clear from this typology that the term participation should not be accepted without the
term participation should not be accepted without appropriate qualification. If the objective of
development is to achieve sustainable development, then nothing less than functional
participation should suffice.
Box 2. A typology of participation: how people participate in development programmes
and projects.

Typology Characteristics of Each Type

1. Passive People participate by being told what is going to happen or has already happened. It
Participation is a unilateral announcement by an administration or project management without
any listening to people's responses. The information being shared belongs only to
external professionals.
2. Participation in People participate by answering questions posed by extractive researches using
Information questionnaire surveys or similar approaches. People do not have the opportunity to
Giving influence proceedings, as the findings of the research are neither shared nor checked
for accuracy.
3. Participation by People participate by being consulted, and external agents listen to views. These
Consultation external agents define both problems and solutions and may modify these in the light
of people's responses. Such a consultative process does not concede any share in
decision making, and professionals are under no obligation to take on board people's
views.
4. Participation People participate by providing resources, for example labour, in return for food,
for Material cash, or other material incentives. Much on-farm research falls in this category, as
Incentive farmers provide the fields but are not involved in the experimentation or the process
of learning. It is very common to see this called participation, yet people have no
stake in prolonging activities when the incentives end.
5. Functional People participate by forming groups to meet predetermined objectives related to the
Participation project, which can involve the development or promotion of externally initiated
social organization. Such involvement does not tend to be at early stages of project
cycles or planning, but rather after major decisions have been made. These
instructions tend to be dependent on external initiators and facilitators, but may
become self-dependent.
6. Interactive People participate in joint analysis, which leads to action plans and the formation of
Participation new local institutions or the strengthening of existing ones. It tends to involve
interdisciplinary methodologies that seek multiple perspectives and make use of
systemic and structured learning processes. These groups take control over local
decisions, and so people have a stake in maintaining structures or practices.
7. Self- People participate by taking initiative independent of external institution to change
Mobilization systems. They develop contacts with external institutions for resources and technical
advice they need, but retain control over how resources are used. Such self-initiated
mobilization and collective action may or may not challenge existing inequitable
distribution of wealth and power.
Source: Pretty (1994), adapted from Adnan et al. (1992) cited by Swanson et al.
1998

But the dominant applications of participation are rarely better than instrumental. A recent
study of 230 rural development institutions employing some 30,000 staff in 41 countries of
Africa found that people participated in very different ways. Participation was most likely to
mean simply providing information to external agencies. Another study of 121 rural water
supply projects in 49 countries of Africa, Asia, and Latin America found that participation was
the significant factor contributing to project effectiveness, maintenance of water systems, and
economic benefits (Narayan, 1993 cited by Swanson et al. 1998). Even though most of the
projects referred to community participation or made it a specific project component, only 21
per cent scored high on interactive participation. Yet when people were involved in decision
making during all stages of the project, from design to maintenance, the best results occurred.
When they were just involved in information sharing and consultations, then results were
much poorer.

Great care must therefore be taken over using and interpreting the term participation. It should
always be qualified by reference to the type of participation. What is important is to ensure
that those using the term define ways of shifting from the more common passive and
incentive-driven participation towards the interactive end of the spectrum. A critical way to

4.5.4. Participatory methods

The creative ingenuity of practitioners worldwide has greatly increased the range of
participatory methods in use (see RRA Notes, 1988-1994; IDS/IIED, 1994; Pretty et al., 1995;
Chambers, 1992a, 19920; Mascarenhas et al., 1991; KKU, 1987; Conway, 1987 cited by
Swanson et al. 1998). Many have been drawn from a wide range of nonagricultural contexts
and were adapted to new needs. The methods can be put into four classes: for group and team
dynamics, for sampling, for interviewing and dialogue, and for visualization and
diagramming. These methods collected into unique approaches, or assemblages of methods,
constitute systems of learning and action. In this section, some key methods are briefly
described.

Participation calls for collective analysis and good rapport. Even a sole researcher must work
closely with local people. Ideally, though, teams of investigators work together in
interdisciplinary and inter-sectoral teams. By working as a group, the investigators can
approach a situation from different perspectives, carefully monitor one another's work, and
carry out a variety of tasks simultaneously. Groups can be powerful when they function well,
because performance and output are likely to be greater than the sum of the individual
members. But shared perceptions, essential for group or community action, have to be
carefully negotiated. Yet the complexity of multidisciplinary team work is generally poorly
understood. Various workshop and field methods are used to facilitate this process of group
formation:

1. Team contracts. Team contracts developed by all the team members help to ensure
good group dynamics and may include agreements to hold evening discussions and morning
brainstorming sessions. One person may be elected to monitor team interactions to provide
feedback. The monitor can make a note of each member's location and record interactions by
drawing a circle around individuals' names when they speak or an arrow from talker to person
being talked to, with duration of speech recorded in seconds. The results are used simply for
showing team members how the discussion developed. It then becomes clear who has
dominated and who was quiet.

2. The night halt. Rapport between outsiders and villagers is facilitated by staying in
the village. Many have made this an essential part of participatory analysis and planning. It
provokes change in outsiders' attitudes: they sleep and eat as villagers do; it allows for early
morning and evening discussions when people are less busy; and it is an explicit commitment
by outsiders to village life.

3. Work sharing. When outsiders are taught something by villagers, roles are reversed.
Professionals soon learn how much skill is required, say, to plough a furrow, transplant rice,
weed, lop tree fodder, cut firewood, dig compost, and wash clothes. Such activities prompt
changes in attitude and help to build rapport.
 4. Rapid report writing, with self-correcting notes. It is essential to record, as a team,
the key findings before members disperse to their own organizations. Report writing is made
easier by writing a brief summary of how diagrams were constructed and of the key findings.
Individuals can be encouraged to keep a private diary or series of notes to focus on things they
would like to improve the next time.

5. Shared presentations. The key findings should always be presented to villagers and
outsiders. This is an important opportunity for cross-checking and feedback. Professionals
present and invite comment and criticism. This is a fundamental reversal of roles and is
crucial to establishing the trustworthiness of the findings.

To ensure that multiple perspectives are represented, practitioners must be clear about who is
participating. Communities are rarely homogeneous, so there is always the danger of
assuming that those participating are representative. Those missing, though, are usually the
poorest and most disadvantaged. Sampling is an essential part of these participatory
approaches, and several methods are available:

6. Transect walks and direct observation. These are systematic walks with key
informants through the area of interest, observing, asking, listening, looking, and seeking
problems and solutions. The findings can be mapped on a transect diagram. Most transect
walks result in the outsiders discovering surprising local practices such as indigenous
conservation practices, multiple uses of plants, and a great variety of crops. It has been
instructive for many professionals to realize how much they do not see or do not think to ask
about.

7. Wealth rankings and social maps. Wealth ranking is used to classify households
according to relative wealth or well-being. Informants sort cards, each with one household
name on it, into piles. The wealthiest are put at one end, the poorest at the other, and as many
piles as desired are made.

The process is repeated with at least three informants. Another method is to conduct the
ranking directly on a social map. Villagers are then asked to indicate on the houses the relative
wealth classes. Individual assets such as land ownership, animals, and tools can be marked for
each household. Wealth rankings are useful for leading into other discussions on livelihoods
and vulnerability; producing a baseline against which future intervention impact can be
measured; providing a sample frame to cross-check the relative wealth of informants who
have been or will be interviewed; and producing local indicators of welfare.

Sensitive interviewing and dialogue are a third element of these systems of participatory
learning. For the reconstructions of reality to be revealed, the conventional dichotomy
between the interviewer and respondent should not be permitted to develop. Interviewing is
therefore structured around a series of techniques that promote a sensitive and mutually
beneficial dialogue. This should appear more like a structured conversation than an interview:

8. Semi-structured interviews (SSI). This is guided interviewing and listening in

which only some of the questions and topics are predetermined; other questions arise during
the interview. The interviews appear informal and conversational, but are actually carefully
controlled and structured. Using a guide or checklist, the multidisciplinary team poses open-
ended questions and probes topics as they arise. New avenues of questioning are pursued as
the interview develops. SSIs are a central part of all participatory methods.
 9. Types, sequencing, and chains of interviews. Many types of interviews may be
combined in sequences and chains. These include key informant interviews, by asking who
the experts are and then putting together a series of interviews (e.g., men on ploughing,
women on transplanting and weeding, shopkeepers for credit and inputs); and group
interviews, which may be groups convened to discuss a particular topic (focused or specialist
groups), groups comprising a mix of people whose different perceptions illuminate an issue
(structured groups), casual groups, and community groups.

The fourth element is the emphasis on diagramming and visual construction. In formal
surveys, information is taken by interviewers, who transform what people say into their own
language. By contrast, diagramming by local people gives them a share in the creation and
analysis of knowledge, providing a focus for dialogue which can be sequentially modified and
extended. Local categories, criteria, and symbols are used during diagramming. Rather than
answering questions which are directed by the values of the outside professional, local people
can explore creatively their own versions of their worlds. Visualizations therefore help to
balance dialogue and increase the depth and intensity of discussion:

10. Participatory mapping and modelling. This involves constructing, on the ground
or on paper, maps or models, using materials such as sticks, stones, grasses, wood, cigarette
packets, tree leaves, colored sands and soils, rangoli powders, colored chalk, pens, and paper.
Great play is made of the issue of who holds the stick or pen. The person who holds the stick
talks about what is most important to him or her.
As maps take shape, more people become involved, and so want to contribute and make
sequential changes. There are many types of maps: resource maps of catchments, villages,
forests, fields, farms, home gardens; social maps of residential areas of a village; wealth
rankings and household assets surveys on social maps; health maps, where the health status of
each family member is shown on each house, using colored stickers or other markers
(categories might include cases of malnutrition, ear infection, jaundice, and the like); topical
maps such as aquifer maps drawn by the water diviner or soils maps by soils experts; impact
monitoring maps, where villagers record or map pest incidence, input usage, weed
distribution, soil quality, and so forth. Some of the most illuminating maps combine historical
views with those of the present.

11. Seasonal calendars and activity profiles. Seasonal constraints and opportunities
can be diagrammed month by month throughout the year. Ceremonies can be used as a cross-
check so that names of months are agreed upon. People use pieces of stick, draw histograms
in the dust or with chalk, or make piles of stones, seeds, or powders to represent relative
quantities and patterns of rainfall, soil moisture, crops, labour, food consumption, illnesses,
prices, animal fodder, fuel, migration, pests, income, expenditure, debt, children's games, and
so on. Seasonal calendars can be drawn in linear fashion with twelve months to show a typical
year or eighteen months to illustrate changes between years, or they can be drawn in a circle.
Daily pat terns of activity can be similarly explored by charting typical activities for each hour
of the day, amount of effort, time taken, and location of work. These can be compared for
men, women, the old, the young, and others.

12. Time lines and local histories. Historical analyses have been found to be a good
icebreaker for field exercises and include detailed accounts of the past, of how things have
changed, particularly focusing on relationships and trends. These include technology histories
and review, crop histories and biographies, livestock breed histories, labour availability, trees
and forest histories, education change, and population change. Folklore and songs are
valuable resources for exploring history.

13. Venn and network diagrams. Venn diagrams involve the use of circles of paper or
card to represent people, groups, and institutions. These are arranged to represent real
linkages and distance between individuals and institutions. Overlap indicates flows of
information, and distance on the diagram represents lack of contact.

14. Matrix scoring and pairwise ranking. These methods are for learning about local
people's categories, criteria, choices, and priorities. For pairwise ranking, items of interest are
compared pair by pair; informants are asked which of the two they prefer, and why. Matrix
scoring takes criteria for the rows in a matrix and items for columns, and people complete the
boxes row by row. The items may be ordered for each of the criteria (e.g., for six trees,
indicate from best to worst for fuel wood, fodder, erosion control, and fruit supply); or
participants may put stones, seeds, or berries into piles for relative scoring.

Box 3. A framework for judging trustworthiness.

1. Prolonged and/or Intense Engagement Between the Various Actors. For building trust and
rapport, learning the particulars of the context, and to keep the investigator(s) open to multiple
influence.

2. Persistent and Paralled Observation. For understanding both a phenomenon and its context.

3. Triangulation by Multiple Sources, Methods, and Investigators: la triangulation triangulée.

For cross-checking information and increasing the range of different people's realities
encountered, including multiple copies of sources of information, comparing the results from a
range of methods, and having teams with a diversity of personal, professional, and disciplinary
backgrounds.

4. Analysis and Expression of Difference. For ensuring that a wide range of different actors are
involved in the analysis and that their perspectives and realities are accurately represented.

5. Peer or Colleague Checking. Periodic review meetings with peers not directly involved in
the original information was constructed and analyzed. Without participant checks,
investigators can make no claims that they are representing participants' views.

8. Reports with Working Hypotheses, Contextual Descriptions, and Visualizations. These are
"thick" descriptions of complex reality, with working hypotheses, visualization, and quotations
capturing people's personal perspectives and experiences.

9. Parallel Investigations and Team Communications. If subgroups of the same team proceed
with investigations in parallel using the same system of inquiry and come up with the same or
similar findings, then we can depend on these findings.

10. Reflexive Journals. These are diaries individuals keep on a daily basis to record a variety of
information about themselves.
11. Inquiry Audit. The inquiry team should be able to provide sufficient information for a
disinterested person to examine the processes product in such a way as to confirm that the
findings are not a figment of their imaginations.

12. Impact on Stakeholders' Capacity to Know and Act. For demonstrating that the
investigation or study has had an impact, including participants having a heightened sense of
their own realities, as well as an increased awareness and appreciation of those of other people;
the report itself could also prompt action on the part of readers who have been directly
involved.

Source: Pretty (1994).

Matrices are also useful for ordering and structuring other types of information and include
attributes matrices for technologies, problem-opportunity matrices, and manual discriminant
technique matrices for contrast comparisons.

4.5.5. The trustworthiness of findings

Users who have presented findings arising from participatory learning are often asked a
question along the lines of "But how does it compare with the real data?". It is commonly
asserted that participatory methods involve only subjective observations and so respond just
to selected members of communities. Terms like "informal" and "qualitative" are used to
imply poorer quality or second-rate work. Rigor and accuracy are assumed, therefore, to be in
contradiction with participatory methods.

This means that, unlike conventional investigators, the investigators relying on participatory
methods are called upon to prove the utility of their approach. Conventional researchers use
four criteria in order to persuade their audiences that the findings of an inquiry can be trusted
(see Lincoln & Guba, 1985; Guba & Lincoln, 1989cited by Swanson et al.1998). How can we
be confident about the "truth" of the findings (internal validity)? Can we apply these findings
to other contexts or with other groups of people (external validity)? Would the findings be
repeated if the inquiry were replicated with the same or similar subjects in the same or similar
context (reliability)? How can we be certain that the findings have been determined by the
subjects and context of the inquiry, rather than by the biases, motivations, and perspectives of
the investigators (objectivity)? These four criteria, though, are dependent for their meaning on
the core assumptions of the conventional research paradigm (Pretty, 1994; Lincoln & Guba,
1985; Kirk & Miller, 1986; Cook & Campbell, 1979 cited by Swanson et al. 1998).

Trustworthiness criteria were first developed by Guba (1981 cited by Swanson et al. 1998) to
judge whether or not any given inquiry was methodologically sound. But these criteria "had
their foundation in concerns indigenous to the conventional, or positivist, paradigm"
(Lincoln, 1990 cited by Swanson et al. 1998)). To distinguish between elements of inquiry
that were not derived from the conventional paradigm, further "authenticity" criteria have
been suggested to help in judging the impact of the process of inquiry on the people involved.
Have people been changed by the process? Have they a heightened sense of their own
constructed realities? Do they have an increased awareness and appreciation of the
constructions of other stakeholders? To what extent did the investigation prompt action?

Drawing on these and other suggestions for "goodness" criteria (Marshall, 1990; Smith,
1990), a set of twelve criteria for establishing trustworthiness have been identified (Pretty,
1994) (Box 3). These criteria can be used to judge information, just as statistical analyses
provide the grounds for judgment in positivist or conventional science. The use of a system of
learning without, for example, triangulation of sources, methods, and investigators and
without participant checking of the constructed outputs should be judged as untrustworthy
(Olukossi, 1993 cited by Swanson et al. 1998)).

Box 4. The institutional changes promoted by a course in "Formation pour l'Appui à

l'autopromotion Rurale" (FAR) in Benin.

A one-month course was conducted for participants from eight countries of sub-Saharan Africa
on the approaches and principles of PRA. Farmers and participants analysed the local resources
and capacities; they investigated the past roles of actors in development; and they worked
together on joint inventories for developing self-promoting capacities in villages. The process
of learning involved regular rotation between workshop and the field so as to increase the
opportunities for reflection and iteration.

During the fieldwork, many participatory methods were used, including visualizations, wealth
rankings, mappings, transect walks, seasonal calendars, and so on. These enabled participants
to learn from villagers. It also meant villagers and trainees got to know each other better, and so
mutual confidence grew. After all the data gathering and joint discussions, it was the
presentations that had the greatest impact on attitudes and linkages. The process involved
presenting the findings back to various groups in the community, discussing the range of
conclusions, and seeking accommodation between differing and conflicting interests. This is
very important for the participants and villagers: for the participants, it may be the first time
they have asked farmers and rural people to comment on their findings; for the villagers, it may
be the first time they have seriously been asked for their views. It is also an important
opportunity for the various actors to learn from one another. In this case, it was the wealthy and
more important people in the village who recognized their limited view on a range of issues,
particularly problems raised by groups of women. A second set of restitutions occurred between
villagers and staff of local government agencies and NGOs working locally. Each group of
trainees presented findings to the group, which then led to detailed negotiations between the
farmers and various external professionals. They were able to reach agreement on a plan for the
village, including the priorities for action. The most significant impact was that the external
agencies working in the area had not had any prior formal contact with each other. This was the
first time they had shared perspectives. The production of the joint plan of action had the effect
of strengthening the linkages among the various agencies, as well as involving farmers at the
centre of the process. As a result, trust and understanding among the various actors has
increased.

Note, however, that it will never be possible to be certain about the trustworthiness criteria.
We cannot say that x has a trustworthiness score of y points, but we can say that x is
trustworthy because certain things happened during and after the process of joint investigation
and analysis. The trustworthiness criteria should be used to identify what has been part of the
process of gathering information and whether key elements have been omitted. Knowing this
should make it possible for any observers, be they readers of a report or policy makers using
the information to make a decision, also to make a judgment on whether they trust the
findings.
4.5.6. Towards a new professionalism in extension

Extension has come to mean extending knowledge from a centre of learning to those
presumed to be in need of that knowledge. But this model does not lead to enhanced capacity
amongst extensionists and farmers. These participatory methods and approaches represent an
opportunity to build better linkages between the various actors and to increase the learning
from each other. When PRA and other participatory approaches are used, extensionists and
researchers have the opportunity to work together on the same team. They exchange
knowledge and experiences and reach some consensus with farmers on what is most needed.
As a result, all parties come closer together. Farmers become more confident that
professionals can help them, without imposing solutions on them. An example of how this can
strengthen linkages is illustrated in
Box 4.

Widespread and persistent change is more likely where all elements combine, namely, new
systems of participatory learning, new learning environments for professionals and local
people, and new institutional settings, including improved connections both within and
between institutions (Roche, 1992; Pretty & Chambers, 1993; Pretty, 1995 cited by Swanson
et al. 1998).

The wider challenge is for agricultural organizations to become learning organizations. To do

this, they will have to promote experimentation, promote connectivity and group work based
on roles rather than disciplines, and develop monitoring and self-evaluation systems to
improve learning and awareness. The central concept of sustainable agriculture is that it must
enshrine new ways of learning about the world. This has profound implications for
agricultural development institutions. The focus is less on what we learn, and more on how we
learn and with whom. This implies new roles for development professionals, leading to a
whole new professionalism with new values, methods, and behavior.