Participation of Farmers in Planning and Designing of Extension Support Through Stakeholder Platforms: Lessons from Strengthening Agriculture and Nutrition Extension Project in Malawi
Résumé
Agricultural extension systems continue to shift from a centralised, public, top-down system to a more pluralistic, demand-driven system. However, in many countries, principles and institutional arrangements of the latter have not been adequately achieved. This study was conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of the Strengthening Agriculture and Nutrition Extension (SANE) project on the Malawi decentralised agricultural extension services system (DAESS) in improving farmers' participation in the design of extension support. A structured questionnaire was administered to 389 randomly selected SANE farmers of Dedza district and 22 service providers from governmental and non-governmental organisations involved with SANE. Using descriptive and content analysis, the study found that 76% of the farmers participated in discussions on DAESS platforms regarding planning and extension support. Still, only 1.7% and 0.9% were involved in the actual “needs identification” and “proposal development,” respectively. Although DAESS platforms were perceived as ‘tolerant’ and as allowing farmers the freedom of expression, they were not the preferred choice for seeking advice due to issues of inaccessibility: driven by their reliance on periodic meetings, limited expertise among platform members, lack of enforcement authority, and insufficient resources within the platforms to effectively address farmers’ needs. Overall, the study showed that SANE increased opportunities for farmer participation in extension planning; however, it also indicated that DAESS platforms remain underdeveloped. The study recommends that all agricultural projects be implemented through DAESS platforms.
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