A Decision Guide For Rural Advisory Methods

This decision guide is intended to help extension professionals and their organizations make informed decisions on methods and approaches for providing information, technologies and services to rural producers and to facilitate interactions and knowledge flow. Expected users include field-based rural advisors, extension managers and programme planners.

Investing in farmers – or agriculture human capital – is crucial to addressing challenges in our agrifood systems. A global study carried out by the FAO Investment Centre and the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), with support from the CGIAR Research Program on Policies, Institutions, and Markets (PIM) and the FAO Research and Extension Unit, looks at agriculture human capital investments, from recent trends to promising initiatives. This toolkit aims to provide investors including policymakers, government officials, international and national development banks and the private sector, with the evidence, analysis, guidance and processes to make sounder investment decisions on projects, programmes and policies that strengthen farmers’ capacities. This publication is part of the Investment Toolkits series under the FAO Investment Centre's Knowledge for Investment (K4I) programme.

This publication contains twelve modules which cover a selection of major reform measures in agricultural extension being promulgated and implemented internationally, such as linking farmers to markets, making advisory services more demand-driven, promoting pluralistic advisory systems, and enhancing the role of advisory services within agricultural innovation systems. The reform issues consider the changing roles of the various public, private and non-governmental providers, and highlights the collaboration required to create synergies for more efficient and effective high quality services responding to the needs and demands of smallholder farmers. The modules draw on reform experiences worldwide and provide an introduction, definitions and a discussion for each specific reform measure, as well as case studies, tools, exercises and a reference list. The reform topics are envisaged for policy-makers, management and senior staff of institutions providing agricultural and rural advisory services. It can also be very useful for students studying agriculture, rural development, and extension in particular. This is a substantially updated version of the 2009 publication of the same title, but with only nine modules. These nine modules were restructured and up-dated, and three modules were added. The layout of the modules changed to allow a better overview for the reader.

The Government of the United Republic of Tanzania recognizes that sustainable development cannot be achieved without attaining gender equality; hence, gender is mainstreamed in all sectors, including the agriculture sector. This commitment is reflected in the national Constitution, national strategies, plans and policies such as the Tanzania Development Vision 2025, National Five-Year Development Plan 2016/17–2021/22, National Strategy for Growth and Reduction of Poverty (NSGRP I and II), Women and Gender Development Policy of 2000 and the National Agriculture Policy of 2013. The agriculture sector employs nearly 66 percent of the workforce in the United Republic of Tanzania, thereby contributing to bringing the country closer to becoming a middle-income country. However, the sector, like all other sectors, is negatively impacted by the gender inequalities. To address the gender gaps in all sectors, including agriculture, the United Republic of Tanzania established the Ministry of Health, Community Development, Gender, Elderly and Children (MoHCDGEC) as the national institution to mainstream gender.

Multi-actor agricultural innovation platforms (MAIPs), as models for inclusive and collaborative innovation, are increasingly deployed in farmer communities to solve the last-mile bottleneck, namely, the empowerment of smallholder farmers and value chain actors to access innovation and services to drive field-level change. Facilitators play a critical role in establishing and operating MAIPs, stimulating interactions among MAIP actors and thereby supporting co-innovation and co-learning processes. They are usually specialized MAIP actors (e.g. researchers, extension agents, agricultural educationists, brokers, NGO activists, traders and processors). Qualified MAIP facilitators, as value chain intermediaries and coordinators, are required to have strong facilitation skills and relevant technical background. They are normally trained through training of MAIP facilitator courses or through the implementation of a MAIP. This handbook aims to support MAIP facilitators to establish and operate MAIPs. It summarizes the experience of the MAIPs in persimmon, hazelnut and honey value chains that FAO implemented as part of the European Union-funded project “Development of sustainable and inclusive local food systems in north-west region of Azerbaijan (GCP/AZE/014/EC)”, the “Tropical Agricultural Platform Agricultural Innovation System (TAP-AIS)” project implemented in Malawi, and the Science and Technology Backyard (STB) initiative led by the China Agricultural University (CAU). It also draws on the experience of the training course “Training of master trainers for establishing and operating Multi-actors Agricultural Innovation Platforms” co-organized by FAO and CAU on 11–15 July 2023.

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.

This book will convince the reader to care about fruit and vegetables and to see that the small-scale production of these crops is fundamental to achieving sustainable development goals. In five chapters, the reader will learn about the challenges and rewards for producers, sellers, and consumers. Chapter 1: a working definition for fruit and vegetables, making the case for supporting small-scale farmers and value chains. Chapter 2: options for farm management to ensure that production is sustainable including genetic resources, seed systems, management of water, soil, nutrients, and control of pests and diseases. Chapter 3: options to integrate small-scale commercial fruit and vegetable farmers into socially inclusive value chains, including innovative post-harvest handling services, market linkages, and reducing food loss and waste. Chapter 4: options for practitioners and policymakers at different governmental, institutional and social levels to promote the sustainable production and consumption of safe, nutritious, and affordable fruit and vegetables. Chapter 5: key interventions and innovations to facilitate the sustainable production of fruit and vegetables in low- and middle-income countries across the world. This publication takes readers on a journey introducing them to a diverse array of fruit and vegetables through colorfully illustrated studies from around the world. It justifies the importance of these crops and it encourages readers to take an active role both in promoting fruit and vegetable production and in encouraging more people to eat them.

FAO’s Gender and Rural Advisory Services Assessment Tool (GRAST) is designed to support providers of rural advisory services in their efforts to develop gender-sensitive programmes. By undertaking a gender assessment of rural advisory services at policy, organizational and individual levels, GRAST provides entry points for improving the gender-responsiveness of the design and delivery of advisory services in a truly transformative manner. Its ultimate objective is to ensure that rural advisory services respond to the needs and priorities of both rural women and men and that, as a consequence, they can equally access to and benefit from these services.