Agricultural extension services are among the most important factors that drive the development of smallholder farmers. During the development of Malawi’s National Agricultural Policy (NAP) (2016-2020), agricultural extension services were identified as a major constraint but having potential to increase productivity and contribute to the agricultural transformation in Malawi. The National Agricultural Investment Plan (NAIP) (FY 2017/18 - 2022/23), highlights major investments needed towards institutional capacity strengthening and revitalizing agricultural extension services. However, little was known on the overall impact of agriculture extension services on the development outcomes set forth in the NAP and NAIP. To fill this knowledge gap, in 2016 the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) and partners launched a three-year evidence-based policy support project to analyze demand for and supply of agricultural extension services in Malawi and help design activities to strengthen service providers’ capacity to address farmer’s demands for information. The study collected two rounds of nationally representative panel data involving 2,880 households in 2016 and 2018, two rounds of focus group discussions, a census of extension service providers in 15 districts, and a series of in-depth interviews.
To mark the finalization of the study, validate and disseminate the findings, IFPRI Malawi organized an end of project event on November 13, 2019 in Lilongwe.
In his opening remarks Pearson Soko, Senior Agribusiness Officer in the Department of Agricultural Extension Services (DAES), highlighted the important role of agricultural extension in Malawi and the importance of this study. He noted that the study can be used to guide projects and called on all stakeholders in agricultural extension services to improve the lives of smallholder farmers in Malawi.
Catherine Ragasa, project leader, presented on the key findings of the study. She highlighted six positive trends: (1) high coverage of extension services, comparable to Ethiopia and much higher than Uganda; (2) improvements in access to extension services for women and men, youth and non-youth; (3) consistently high ratings from farmers on the usefulness of extension services; (4) more diversity in extension messages; (5) greater use of cost-effective tools, such radio and community/groups; and (6) greater crop diversification.
However, national trends also reveal areas for improvement. While extension services led to greater technology awareness, they did not translate to significant adoption of technologies and management practices. Farm productivity, food security, and commercialization also remain low. Unpacking these results, there is a clear indication that receipt of quality advice along with greater knowledge of certain technologies leads to greater adoption, higher productivity and food security. Ragasa highlighted that access to agricultural and nutrition information from radio programming affects organic fertilizer use and dietary diversity; access to marketing extension effects crop diversification; and, combining different sources of advice and extension approaches affects the adoption of some technologies at the national level.
When investigating the impact of lead farmers, the study found that exposure to lead farmers and the number of lead farmers in the community did not have an effect on technology adoption at the national level. However, the quality of lead farmers plays a big role here. An effective lead farmer approach requires regular training of lead farmers, support from Agricultural Extension Development Officers (AEDOs) and community leaders, and a transparent and participatory selection process. Ragasa went on to describe a similar situation with Village Agricultural Committees (VACs). Overall, presence of VACs did not have an impact on technology adoption at the national level. But the study found that active and responsive VACs with strong grassroots organizations are associated with greater technology adoption.
“The studies reveal numerous pockets of successes, but these remain exceptions rather than rules,” said Ragasa. “Huge challenges remain to replicate, scale, and accelerate these pockets of successes.” She concluded her presentation with take away messages that called for a focus on priority value chains, the improvement of the content and quality of extension messaging, reviews of the technologies being promoted, intensifying capacity strengthening at community level, inclusion of ICT methods into extension packages, nurturing a culture of learning and rigorous evaluations of extension interventions, building on what this study has started.
Following her presentation Nikolas Bosscher, Deputy General Representative of the Government of Flanders, and Clodina Chowa, Chief of Party of SANE, gave their key messages.
“The study provides useful lessons not just to the government but also NGOs working on these issues. We would like to continue to fund such rigorous studies,” Bosscher said. He appreciated that government accepted the results of the study and noted that the findings of the study would contribute towards improvement of the extension policies. Bosscher highlighted that sustainability of projects remains a key challenge, which only will be solved if government takes over and builds on achievements demonstrated by these development projects. He also called for the launch of the agriculture extension strategy.
Chowa from SANE highlighted the importance of DAES platforms to facilitate coordination. She reiterated the study’s findings and emphasized the need to look at value chain approaches, to ensure functioning of DAES coordination structures, and to build capacity of VACs and grassroots organizations.
The panel discussion focused on how the research findings can be used to improve agricultural extension services. Former Professor of Extension and Rural Sociology at LUANAR university, Dr. Charles Masangano addressed the issue of research. "This is wonderful work […] especially in terms of research methodology and interpretation of results. I wish all students were here; they would have benefited a lot in that regard," he said.
Caitlin Shaw of Farmers World said: "The study shows which types of extension have impact on diversification. Now, we know that combining agricultural and market information is crucial for improved diversification. We have been focusing on production extension and not so much on market information."
George Vilili, CEO of Farm Radio Trust, highlighted that “the findings of the study are helping our organization upscale the use of radio and mobile platform to reach more farmers.” He also remarked on the relevance of the study, which provides an opportunity to measure the impact of extension and various tools used for extension delivery as well as evidence to justify the use of ICT as an important part in extension delivery.
Victoria Lonje, National Coordinator for the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP) - Agricultural Technical Vocational Education and Training (ATVET) Project, emphasized the importance of the study in their program, including the need to careful select and provide capacity of lead farmers. She noted that the concept of extension services could also be applied to areas in the private sector, such as trade and manufacturing, which would benefit from well-developed extension system.
The event concluded with closing remarks from Noel Limbani from DAES. He expressed the Ministry’s gratitude for the study, as it helps to plan future interventions. Limbani highlighted the role of the lead farmer in promoting technologies. This is crucial as the number of extension workers are not sufficient to make a significant impact on technology adoption. Limbani then called for more research to analyze the challenges facing the lead farmer approach and emphasized the role of the decentralized extension structures. He concluded by stressing that extension services deserve increased funding as they are essential to the adoption of new technologies that drive agricultural sector development.
The presentation by Catherine Ragasa is available as SlideShare below.
Please find here the Project Note Synthesis: Assessing and Strengthening Malawi’s Pluralistic Agricultural Extension System. (PDF 0.47 MB)
More information on the project can be found on the project website.
Event photos are available here.
Event videos are available here.
