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Author: Ragasa, Catherine
Publisher: Intl Food Policy Res Inst
ISBN:
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 12
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Book Description
In July 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 farmers’ demands for information. For this project, IFPRI partnered with Wadonda Consult and the Lilongwe University of Agriculture and Natural Resources (LUANAR) to conduct the household survey and qualitative interviews. Funding came from the Government of Flanders, the U.S. Agency for International Development through the Strengthening Agricultural and Nutrition Extension (SANE), the German Agency for International Cooperation [GIZ]), and the CGIAR Research Program on Policies, Institutions, and Markets (PIM). The project collected two rounds of nationally representative panel data of 2,880 households (2016 and 2018), two rounds of focus group discussions (FGDs), census of extension service providers in 15 districts, and a series of in-depth interviews. This note summarizes the main findings from 10 reports completed to analyze and draw conclusions from the stories behind these datasets.
Author: Ragasa, Catherine
Publisher: Intl Food Policy Res Inst
ISBN:
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 12
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Book Description
In July 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 farmers’ demands for information. For this project, IFPRI partnered with Wadonda Consult and the Lilongwe University of Agriculture and Natural Resources (LUANAR) to conduct the household survey and qualitative interviews. Funding came from the Government of Flanders, the U.S. Agency for International Development through the Strengthening Agricultural and Nutrition Extension (SANE), the German Agency for International Cooperation [GIZ]), and the CGIAR Research Program on Policies, Institutions, and Markets (PIM). The project collected two rounds of nationally representative panel data of 2,880 households (2016 and 2018), two rounds of focus group discussions (FGDs), census of extension service providers in 15 districts, and a series of in-depth interviews. This note summarizes the main findings from 10 reports completed to analyze and draw conclusions from the stories behind these datasets.
Author: Davis, Kristin E., ed.
Publisher: Intl Food Policy Res Inst
ISBN: 0896293750
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 380
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Book Description
Agricultural transformation and development are critical to the livelihoods of more than a billion small-scale farmers and other rural people in developing countries. Extension and advisory services play an important role in such transformation and can assist farmers with advice and information, brokering and facilitating innovations and relationships, and dealing with risks and disasters. Agricultural Extension: Global Status and Performance in Selected Countries provides a global overview of agricultural extension and advisory services, assesses and compares extension systems at the national and regional levels, examines the performance of extension approaches in a selected set of country cases, and shares lessons and policy insights. Drawing on both primary and secondary data, the book contributes to the literature on extension by applying a common and comprehensive framework — the “best-fit” approach — to assessments of extension systems, which allows for comparison across cases and geographies. Insights from the research support reforms — in governance, capacity, management, and advisory methods — to improve outcomes, enhance financial sustainability, and achieve greater scale. Agricultural Extension should be a valuable resource for policymakers, extension practitioners, and others concerned with agricultural development.
Author: Davis, Kristin E.
Publisher: Intl Food Policy Res Inst
ISBN:
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 14
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Book Description
Agricultural extension provides the critical connection from agricultural innovation and discovery to durable improvements at scale, as farmers and other actors in the rural economy learn, adapt, and innovate with new technologies and practices. However, lack of capacity and performance of agricultural extension in lower- and middle-income countries is an ongoing concern. Research on agricultural extension and advisory services (in short, extension) has been an integral part of the CGIAR Research Program on Policies, Institutions, and Markets (PIM) since its inception. This brief synthesizes key findings from research funded by and linked to PIM from 2012 to 2021, presenting lessons learned and a vision for the future of extension. A list of all PIM-related extension and advisory services research is provided at the end. Designing and implementing effective provision of extension is complex, and efforts to strengthen extension services often fall into a trap of adopting “best practice” blueprint approaches that are not well-tailored to local conditions. An expansive literature examines the promises and pitfalls of common approaches, including training-and-visit extension systems, farmer field schools, and many others (Anderson and Feder 2004; Anderson et al. 2006; Waddington and White 2014; Scoones and Thompson 2009). To understand extension systems and build evidence for what works and where, the “best-fit” framework, a widely recognized approach developed by Birner and colleagues (2009) and adapted by Davis and Spielman (2017), offers a simple impact chain approach (Figure 1). The framework focuses on a defined set of extension service characteristics that affect performance: governance structures and funding; organizational and management capacities and cultures; methods; and community engagement — all of which are subject to external factors such as the policy environment, agroecological conditions, and farming-system heterogeneity. To enhance extension performance and, ultimately, a wide range of outcomes and impacts, new and innovative interventions can be applied and adapted within this set of extension characteristics.
Author: Jock R. Anderson
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Agricultural extension work
Languages : en
Pages : 42
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Book Description
Author: Ragasa, Catherine
Publisher: Intl Food Policy Res Inst
ISBN:
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 45
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Book Description
The lead farmer (LF) approach has been implemented and heavily promoted nationwide in Malawi since 2009 to support government extension workers and accelerate technology dissemination. Earlier reports have shown that donor-funded projects in Malawi widely adopted the LF approach, indicating positive roles and contributions of LFs. However, national data show persistently low rates of adoption of management practices being promoted by the LFs, prompting this study to look closely at the nationwide implementation and effectiveness of the LF approach. Specifically, we model the effects of farmers’ interaction with and exposure to LFs and farmers’ access to LFs’ advice on farmers’ awareness of and adoption of several promoted technologies and management practices. We use data from 531 randomly selected LFs linked to panel data from 2,800 farming households and, using correlated random effects, model the effectiveness of the LF approach on technology awareness and adoption. This is complemented by 55 focus group discussions and in-depth interviews with agricultural extension development officers (AEDOs) and service providers. Our results point to two major conclusions. First, LFs support and assist AEDOs in their work, especially in organizing community meetings and farm demonstrations, and are also an important bridge between farmers and AEDOs. But LFs complement AEDOs’ work rather than substitute for it. In communities without strong AEDOs and community leaders to work with and monitor them, LFs were not active or performed at a substandard level. Second, results show limited coverage and weak implementation and effectiveness of the LF approach at the national level. Only 13 percent of farmers reported receiving agricultural advice from an LF in the last two years, and only 20 percent reported having interacted with an LF. Our econometric models also consistently show neither the farmers’ exposure or interaction with LFs nor farmers’ access to LFs’ advice had an effect on awareness of and adoption of the major agricultural management practices being promoted. When heterogeneity and types of LFs are unpacked, results show that quality of LFs, adoption behavior of LFs, and regular training of LFs have strong and consistent effect on the awareness and adoption of most agricultural practices promoted.
Author: International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI)
Publisher: Intl Food Policy Res Inst
ISBN: 0896293505
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 166
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Book Description
IFPRI’s flagship report reviews the major food policy issues, developments, and decisions of 2018, and considers challenges and opportunities for 2019. This year’s Global Food Policy Report highlights the urgency of rural revitalization to address a growing crisis in rural areas. Rural people around the world continue to struggle with food insecurity, persistent poverty and inequality, and environmental degradation. Policies, institutions, and investments that take advantage of new opportunities and technologies, increase access to basic services, create more and better rural jobs, foster gender equality, and restore the environment can make rural areas vibrant and healthy places to live and work. Drawing on recent findings, IFPRI researchers and other distinguished food policy experts consider critical aspects of rural revitalization.
Author: Jochen Knorr
Publisher:
ISBN: 9783823615132
Category : Agricultural extension work
Languages : en
Pages : 119
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Book Description
"After some highlights about the emergence of Agricultural Extension in industrialised countries, a detailed outline of its history in Malawi is given. Besides publications the source of assessment of the Malawi extension system are interviews with farmers as well with actual and with retired extension staff from 2001. Recent developments since 2001 are again followed by literature review. As a result there is a clear picture, that despite regular reforms and changes in the extension approach, most of it did not really reach the ground, did not much affect, what happened at field level. The problems could never be solved in a satisfactory way, and as a consequence extension failed to fulfil its role for rural and small farmer development. The most crucial deficit seems to be, that at no times there was enough appropriate extension content, to justify all the efforts and costs of transfer. The recommended technologies were either too risky, or dependent on non-available inputs, too general and not adapted to local conditions. The recent reform, explained in detail in this book, seems appropriate, but also highly ambitious, certainly needing longer periods for full implementation. Looking to the past, one would be rather pessimistic about its chances for success. But seeing new market opportunities emerging and clear indicators for economic growth in Africa and even in Malawi, there is some good reason for hope. The book is a key to better understanding of the past and present problems of agricultural extension systems in Africa."--Publisher's description.
Author: Per Pinstrup-Andersen
Publisher: Cornell University Press
ISBN: 9780801476921
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 380
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Book Description
Hunger, malnutrition, poor health, and deficient food systems are widespread in Sub-Saharan Africa. While much is known about African food systems and about African health and nutrition, our understanding of the interaction between food systems and health and nutrition is deficient. Moreover, the potential health gains from changes in the food system are frequently overlooked in policy design and implementation.The authors of The African Food System and its Interactions with Human Health and Nutrition examine how public policy and research aimed at the food system and its interaction with human health and nutrition can improve the well-being of Africans and help achieve the United Nations Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Several of the MDGs focus on health-related challenges: hunger alleviation; maternal, infant, and child mortality; the control of HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria; and the provision of safe water and improved sanitation. These challenges are intensified by problems of low agricultural and food system productivity, gender inequity, lack of basic infrastructure, and environmental degradation, all of which have direct and indirect detrimental effects on health, nutrition, and the food system.Reflecting the complexity and multidisciplinary nature of these problems and their solutions, this book features contributions by world-renowned experts in economics, agriculture, health, nutrition, food science, and demography. Contributors: Harold Alderman, World Bank; Christopher B. Barrett, Cornell University; Kathryn J. Boor, Cornell University; Laura K. Cramer, Cornell University; Stuart Gillespie, International Food Policy Research Institute; Anna Herforth, Cornell University; Dorothy Nakimbugwe, Makerere University; Rebecca Nelson, Cornell University, Onesmo K. ole-MoiYoi, Kenyatta University and Kenya Agricultural Research Institute; Per Pinstrup-Andersen, Cornell University and the University of Copenhagen; Marie T. Ruel, International Food Policy Research Institute; David E. Sahn, Cornell University; Barbara Boyle Torrey, Population Reference Bureau; E. Fuller Torrey, Stanley Medical Research Institute; Joachim von Braun, University of Bonn; Speciosa Wandira, Concave International; Derrill D. Watson, Cornell University
Author: John A. Dixon
Publisher: Food & Agriculture Org.
ISBN: 9789251046272
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 424
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Book Description
A joint FAO and World Bank study which shows how the farming systems approach can be used to identify priorities for the reduction of hunger and poverty in the main farming systems of the six major developing regions of the world.
Author: Frans Swanepoel
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781443856805
Category : Agricultural education
Languages : en
Pages : 0
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Book Description
This book, consisting of 17 chapters, focuses on clarifying the challenges, issues, and priorities of Agricultural Education and Training (AET) in sub-Saharan Africa, and provides suggestions for practical solutions that can help guide organisations interested in furthering AET for agricultural development on the continent. It discusses the African context within which a transformed AET system needs to be located; analyses African and international experiences that are relevant to identified AET needs and challenges; dissects AET models that may hold important lessons; and addresses the main critical issues that will impact upon AET in sub-Saharan Africa. The concluding chapter synthesises the ideas, experiences, and evidence from the preceding chapters in order to highlight critical issues for success as well as possible solutions. The book is uniquely positioned to add to a call to action on AET, to pull together state-of-the-art knowledge from within and outside sub-Saharan Africa, and to advance â oeout of the boxâ thinking about the principles, values and character of AET for development, with an emphasis on the models that can help to cultivate leaders and change-makers at all levels of the agricultural sector.
