APPROPRIATE EXTENSION METHODS

NATIONAL AGRICULTURE AND LIVESTOCK EXTENSION

PROGRAMME (NALEP)

A GUIDE TO EFFECTIVE EXTENSION

METHODS FOR DIFFERENT SITUATIONS

NALEP, June 2011

Compiled by: Mary Nduru

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APPROPRIATE EXTENSION METHODS

FOREWORD

Agricultural extension provides the bridge between the research

stations and the farmers, carrying and bringing back knowledge
based upon local experience for further investigation. Essentially, it
is rural teaching whose participation is purely voluntary with the total
rural population as the potential class. This was clearly stated at
the introduction of extension in Kenya, in the colonial agricultural
policy of 1945, which stated that extension work consists of the
supply of advice to all farmers, large scale and small scale through
all the available extension methods. Agricultural extension is the term
used to describe the process by which rural people are persuaded
to adopt improved farming methods to improve crop and livestock
productivity. There are several extension methods in use today
geared at achieving this goal.

This document seeks to identify relevant extension methods in

different situations for maximum impact, taking into consideration the
diversity of needs by the whole spectrum of extension beneficiaries/
clients.

I believe this document will enhance the work of extension

service providers in imparting information and skills to the farming
community.
.

Tom Bonyo
NALEP PROJECT COORDINATOR

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Acknowledgements are made to the Nalep Coordinators in Kilifi,

Malindi, Nyeri, Nyandarua, Muranga, Garissa and Fafi districts for
facilitating this process. The Provincial Coordinators and staff; Uzel
Mzera, Ruth Mwangi and Peter Githunguri who accompanied the
PCU team in group discussion with various respondents are hereby
acknowledged.

Our gratitude goes to Nalep Coordinator, Mr. Tom Bonyo who

facilitated the development of this important document by providing
the necessary funds. The contributions of Coast Province Nalep
Coordinators and SMS in pretesting and revising the data collection
tool are greatly appreciated.

Appreciations go to Moses Kamau, Mary Mugo, Patrick Nkonge and

John Ayere who diligently made sense of the data collected in seven
districts and 14 respondent groups to come up with this document.
All those who contributed directly or indirectly to the development of
this document are highly acknowledged

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TABLE OF CONTENT

FOREWORD..........................................................................ii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS................................................ iii
ABBREVIATIONS AND ACRONYMS......................................v
ABSTRACT.............................................................................vi
1 INTRODUCTION............................................................ 1
2 STUDY METHODOLOGY............................................... 1
2.1 List of extension methods as suggested by staff and farmers
in the five districts............................................................. 1
2.2 Data Collection.................................................................. 2
2.3 Findings............................................................................. 3
3 DISCUSSIONS AND CONCLUSIONS........................... 6
3.1 Field days.......................................................................... 6
3.2 Demonstrations.................................................................. 7
3.3 Individual Farm Visit........................................................... 7
3.4 Courses............................................................................. 7
3.5 Barazas.............................................................................. 8
3.6 On-Farm Trials................................................................... 8
3.7 Educational tours............................................................... 9
3.8 Farmer Field Schools......................................................... 9
3.9 Mass media....................................................................... 9
3.10 ICT................................................................................... 10
3.11 Group visit........................................................................ 10
4.0 RECOMMENDATIONS................................................ 10

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APPROPRIATE EXTENSION METHODS

ABBREVIATIONS AND ACRONYMS

ATC Agriculture Training Centre

GOK Government of Kenya
ICT Information (and) Communication Technologies
MOA Ministry of Agriculture
MOLD Ministry of Livestock Development
NALEP National Agriculture and Livestock Extension Programme
SIDA Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency
SMS Subject Matter Specialists

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ABSTRACT

In the past NALEP has used several extension methodologies to

diffuse innovations and technologies to the clients. Nalep carried
out a study to evaluate these methodologies in Coast and Central
provinces. The study endeavored to identify and evaluate viable
methodologies in use, in order to understand when and where
various methods are relevant and put more emphasis on the most
effective ones in different situations

From the findings of this study, Individual Farm Visits are the most
preferred extension methodology by farmers. The reason given
by farmers for this is because of the opportunity offered by the
method to ask questions and learn skills interactively on the farm.
The study recommends that the Government of Kenya increases
the extension staff strength. as a way of enhancing the number of
farmers reached.

ICT as an extension methodology has huge potential. It therefore

should be emphasized by enhancing the capacity of the extension
officers and improving the requisite infrastructure like providing
internet connectivity in field extension offices. Agricultural Training
Centers should also be equipped with computer laboratories.

Other extension methodologies considered in this study include

Field days, Demonstrations, Courses, Educational tours, On-farm
trials, Barazas, Farmer field schools and Mass media with varying
preferences by extension staff and farmers.

Pairwise comparison method was used as tool for this analysis. The
study considered five evaluation issues i.e. effectiveness, efficiency,
and adoption process, inclusiveness of participation and gender
responsiveness. Every one of these five issues was evaluated
through two indicators.

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1 INTRODUCTION

NALEP uses the focal area extension approach to reach its clients
and stakeholders in agricultural production. Several extension
methodologies have been used to diffuse innovations and
technologies to the clients since inception of the programme in July
2000. The programme endeavors to identify and evaluate viable
methodologies in use, in order to understand when and where
various methods are relevant and put more emphasis on the most
effective ones in different situations. This is on the premises that
phase II of NALEP will end in December 2011 and this study will
inform the next phase of the programme which is in the process of
conceptualization to be implemented in January 2012.

2 STUDY METHODOLOGY.

The study was carried out in Kilifi and Malindi in Coast province and
Nyandarua, Nyeri and Muranga South in Central province and Fafi
and Garissa in NEP. The first activity was to take an inventory of
all extension methodologies in use in the districts and pick the six
most used based on the farmers and staff preferences for further
evaluation.

2.1 List of extension methods as suggested by staff and

farmers in the seven districts.
1. Individual farm visit
2. Educational tours
3. Demonstrations
4. Field days
5. Courses
6. Farmer Field Schools
7. On-farm trials

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8. Barazas
9. Mass media
10. ICT
11. Group visit

EVALUATION ISSUE INDICATORS

Numbers reached
1 EFFECTIVENESS
Content
Time
2 EFFICIENCY
Cost
Number of technologies.
3 ADOPTION
Skills acquisition.
Other extension service
PARTICIPATORY/ providers participation
4
INCLUSIVENESS Farmers ability to participate
actively
GENDER Men preferring the method
5
RESPONSIVENESS Women preferring the method

The six chosen extension methodologies were evaluated on the basis

of the following five issues and their corresponding indicators.
Pairwise comparison tool was used to evaluate these methods in
each of the five districts. The evaluation team did a pretest with the
NALEP coordinators and subject matter specialists (SMS) in Coast
Province who gave valuable input to the tool.

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2.2 Data Collection.

The extension methodologies were evaluated by two respondent

groups- one for farmers and another for extension staff in each district.
For each group the six methods were paired and compared on each
issue and its corresponding indicators. The groups discussed and
based on consensus agreed on preferred methodologies. Scores
were recorded for each methodology.

2.3 Findings
The following matrix shows the scores for each extension method
based on the five issues and their corresponding indicators.

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Staff Farmers Staff Farmers Staff Farmers Staff Farmers Staff F

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Staff Farmers Staff Farmers Staff Farmers Staff Farmers Staff Farmers Staff Farmers Staff Farmers

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3 DISCUSSIONS AND CONCLUSIONS

All the evaluated extension methods had their varying strengths

and weaknesses. It is noted that extension officers and farmers had
different choices of the six most important extension methods. Staff
in Nyeri and Kilifi did not include individual farm visit among these,
yet this method scored highest with farmers in 4 out of the seven
sampled districts and was chosen by farmers in all 7 districts.

It is clear that some methods like Barazas and Mass Media are good
for creating awareness whereby many farmers are reached within a
short time. These methods are however very poor on content and
skills acquisition.

Mass media and ICT were only picked in one district each (Nyeri
and Kilifi respectively) and only by extension staff. Group visit was
selected as an important extension method in Fafi and Garissa
districts of NEP.

Below is a detailed discussion on each of the extension methods.

3.1 Field days

Field days scored high both from the farmers and staff
perspective on numbers reached (92%, 88%).
This method scored very low on content (16%, 24%) for both
farmers and staff
Staff indicated that field days are cost effective (84%).With
a limited budget and time an extension officer can reach a
sizeable number of farmers through field days.
Field days are not effective in imparting skills.
When there are many technologies to be passed to farmers

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field days are ideal.

Field days are also the ideal method for involving many service
providers in a single extension event.

3.2 Demonstrations

This method ranks high on content, skills acquisition and

beneficiary participation by both farmers and staff
Female farmers prefer demonstrations compared to male
farmers.
Demonstrations are not appropriate for promoting many
technologies in a single event.

3.3 Individual Farm Visit

Individual farm visits are the most preferred extension

methodology by farmers .The reason given by farmers is the
opportunity offered by this method to ask questions and learn
skills interactively on the farm. This method has no financial
cost and is time efficient to the farmer as it is demand driven.
The method however is not popular with staff because of low time
and cost efficiency considering scarcity of extension staff.
Beneficiary participation and skills acquisition rated high at 96%
for both farmers and staff.
Individual farm visit does not encourage participation of other
service providers who would prefer an event that has a large
number of clients for time and cost efficiency.

3.4 Courses

This method scored well with farmers in giving detailed content

of technologies, number of technologies passed in an event

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and high number of service providers participation. However

the number reached is low because of the cost implication and
complicated organizational logistics.
Residential courses are popular with women farmers but from
staff respondents more men than women attend the training.
The women indicated that they would like to attend but are
constrained by household chores and some are not allowed
to attend by their husbands.
Farmers do not find courses time efficient as it keeps them
away from their farming activities.

3.5 Barazas

This method is ideal for creating awareness in a short time on

sensitization issues such as disease outbreaks, input availability
weather forecasts and other emergencies.

It scored very poorly in content, skills acquisition, number of

technologies and beneficiary participation.
Barazas are more popular with male than female farmers
because they are also used as platforms for current affairs.

3.6 On-Farm Trials

This method is not widely used in extension but where it is

applied, it was highly regarded especially by farmers in Kilifi.
The method was picked in three out of the five districts where
the survey was done. These were Malindi, Kilifi and Nyeri.
On farm trials did well on skills acquisition and content of
extension technology.
The method is relatively poor in beneficiary participation.

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3.7 Educational tours

The method is low in numbers reached because the tours are

mainly self sponsored by farmers and even when programmes
sponsor them only a few benefit. It is therefore inefficient on
cost and takes farmers away from their farms.
Men are generally more interested in tours than women
farmers. Women however are limited by their gender roles and
permission from their spouses.

3.8 Farmer Field Schools

This method did well on content, skills acquisition and

beneficiary participation. The beneficiaries are able to move
with the enterprise through all the stages of production.
The method is more popular with women farmers as compared
to men.
It is weakest on number reached and service provider
participation and number of technologies covered as it is
enterprise based.

3.9. Mass media

The method scored high on number reached, time efficiency

and it is favored by male farmers compared to women.
Mass media especially radio is an effective method in creating
awareness within a short time because of its wide coverage.
The method is weak in content; cost efficiency, skills acquisition,
number of technologies passed, service provider participation
and beneficiary participation.
The method was picked as important in Nyeri only out of the
seven districts.

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3.10 ICT
The method scored high in content, number of technologies,
service provider and beneficiary participation.
It is more popular with female than male farmers.
The method is weak in number reached, time efficiency and
skills acquisition. This is because of low computer literacy and
poor ICT infrastructure.

3.11 GROUP VISIT

This method was only applicable in group farm of North Eastern

Province where beneficiaries of extension services are members of
irrigated group farms. Group visits are organized when extension
officers have information to pass on to the whole group.
It scored high on time and cost efficiency where staffs are
concerned in Fafi and Garissa districts.
The method ranks fairly well with farmers on handling many
technologies and skill acquisition

4 RECOMMENDATIONS.

i. The Government of Kenya should increase the extension staff

strength as a way of enhancing the use of individual farm visits
methodology of extension which proved to be the most popular
with farmers from this study

ii. There is need to exploit the opportunity of using the Agricultural

Training Centers for technologies that require more content
such as training farmers on agronomy of new crop varieties like
Nerica rice .

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iii. Field days as a methodology are very effective in passing many

technologies as well as involving many service providers in a
single extension event. The study recommends up scaling of the
use of field days to increase farmer coverage and participation
of more service providers.

iv. Demonstrations are appropriate for passing technologies

that need skills acquisition e.g. value addition and fodder
preservation. It is recommended that this method be used for
targeted technologies.
v. ICT as methodology has huge potential but has been grossly
underutilized. This situation should be reversed by enhancing
the capacity of the extension officers to use ICT as a tool by
improving the requisite infrastructure like providing internet
connectivity in field extension officers. Agricultural training
centers should be equipped with computer and requisite ICT
equipments.
vi. Mass media especially radio has high potential to reach farmers.
It is recommended that extension programmes make use of
this methodology to give messages that are sensitization in
nature like crop varieties, weather predictions and farm inputs
availability.

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OVERALL SCORE FOR THE SELECTED METHODS

Method FD D IFV TR B T OFT FFS MM ICT GV

Total
416 414 356 304 181 113 103 115 14 24 23
score

IFV - Individual farm visit

T - Educational tours
D - Demonstrations
FD - Field days
T - Training/ Courses
FFS - Farmer Field Schools
OFT - On-farm trials
B - Barazas
MM - Mass media
ICT - Information communication technology
GV - Group visit

Field days, demonstrations and individual farm visit ranked the first
3 methods overall considering both staff and farmers preferences.
Training ranked fairly well at position 4, followed by barazas, FFS and
tours. Its worth noting that each method has its place even though
they rank poorly in this survey because respondents selected them
among their 6 most important ways of accessing extension services
for farmers; and passing on agricultural technology by extension
officers. They are relevant in different situations.

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