Malawis experiences with the implementation of pluralistic, demand-driven and decentralised agricultural extension policy

Abstract

Clear agricultural policies and strategies are very crucial for influencing the performance of agricultural extension and advisory services (AEAS). Malawi has implemented its agricultural extension policy titled "agricultural extension in the new millennium: towards pluralistic and demand driven services in Malawi" for a period of seventeen years. The policy specified seven guiding principles which include provision of demand-driven extension services, ensuring accountability, promoting user participation in extension financing, ensuring resource sustainability, ensuring equal access to extension and advisory services, promotion of pluralism and provision of decentralised but well-coordinated AEAS. The study assessed the effectiveness of four of the seven principles in ensuring user access to quality AEAS. The study used a mixed methods approach which included action research, focus group discussions, key informant interviews and review of various documents. The results show that the four guiding principles which included pluralism, demand-driven services, decentralised coordination and user participation in extension financing had some potential for a positive influence on increasing access to quality AEAS. Pluralism helped in increasing number of service providers thereby increasing farmer access but did not influence the quality of extension. Most of the farmers are not demanding for services and most districts do not have functional District Agriculture Extension Services System (DAESS) structures. Most service providers are not using DAESS structures and this is resulting in poor coordination of services. Malawi should put more efforts in implementing the policy if its fruits are to be fully realised. Particularly, institutionalization of DAESS structures and ensuring their effective operationalization will help to ensure that the benefits of the principles of demand driven services and decentralised coordination are realized. The country also needs to train and engage more extension workers in order to increase farmer access to quality extension services.

Policy Actors' Perceptions of Obstacles to Sudan's Policy of Wheat Self-Sufficiency Implementation

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A Study of Effects of Village Based Plant Clinic Service in Selected Regions of Ethiopia

“…Although Ethiopia is said to have a high concentration of frontline extension staff 1 (Ragasa et al, 2013), as well as local structures such as farmers' training centres (FTCs), there are obvious gaps in the conventional extension system in terms of providing practical plant health advice to farmers (MoANR, 2016). Countries, including Mozambique, Malawi, India and many Latin American countries now focus on the provision of extension services to farmers through a pluralistic approach (Chowa et al, 2013;Gêmo et al, 2013;Singh et al, 2013;Klerkx et al 2016;Masangano et al, 2017) that involves both public and private sectors. Plantwise, through its community-based plant clinics offers an alternative approach to address some of the critical gaps in plant health advisory services and forms part of a pluralistic extension approach (Negussie et al, 2017).…”

Information and Communication Technology Use Capacity Within Extension Networks: Development and Preliminary Validation of an Empirical Scale

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