NATURAL RESOURCES DEVELOPMENT COLLEGE

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION AND EXTENSION

MODULE: AGRICULTURAL EXTENSION (ED 361)

Written by: Z. Sikananu-Nchimunya (BSc. Agric Sciences; Masters for Development in

Rural Extension and Teaching) - 2010

Revised by: C. Sondo (Cert. in Agric. & Hort; CAE, DAE, BAE; MSc in Agric. Ext. & Rural
Dev.) 2012
MODULE OVERVIEW

Introduction …………………………………………………………………………………...... iii

Module learning outcomes …………………………………………………………………………………. iii

About this module …………………………………………………………………………………. iv

Assessment …………………………………………………………………………………. v

Learning tips …………………………………………………………………………………. v

Studying at a distance …………………………………………………………………………………. vi

If you need help …………………………………………………………………………………. vi

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 Acknowledgement

This module has grown directly out of vast field in the Ministry of Agriculture (Extension
Section) and academic experiences in teaching agriculture extension to students in various
Colleges and Universities. At some point, references have been drawn from Participatory
Extension Approaches: Trainers’ Manual of the Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives,
2002.

The authors wish to thank the following officers in Lusaka District who reviewed and made
useful comments on this module: The Senior Agricultural Officer (SAO) Mr. Banda;
Agricultural Specialist (Farm Power and Mechanisation) Mr. Louis Chipepo and the District
Agriculture Coordinator. The people who contributed to this training manual derserve my
appreciation.

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INTRODUCTION

Welcome back to your Third year at Natural Resources Development College! You are most
welcome to this Module- Introduction to Agricultural Extension.

Extension as a discipline has a history that dates back over a century and it has a broad
application such that it is almost inevitable to make sense of development efforts without
applying its principles. It is a social science that generously taps from principles and
theories of adult education, rural sociology and management. It is essential therefore,
that you as a prospective mid-career professional agriculturist not only clearly understand
what the term extension means, but also some other related concepts and be able to come
to term with the implications and applications of basic principles in extension. When focus
is on agriculture and the rural sector we call the discipline Agricultural Extension.

This course requires you to spend a lot of time reading and studying it. That is why a
great effort had been put into its development in an attempt to make it
readable, very clear and comprehensible. As you attend residential school, we
would also advice you to avail yourself with the opportunity of attending
lecture sessions. By doing so would avail yourself with the opportunity to
understand the issues you did not when you went through this module alone thereby, get
explanations from the lecturer.

MODULE LEARNING OUTCOMES

Learning outcomes are statements that tell you what knowledge and skills you will have
when you have successfully worked through a module.

The course aims at equipping you with some knowledge, understanding and skills required in
the field of agricultural extension.

Knowledge

When you have worked through this module you should be able to:

 Trace the history of agricultural extension over the years, with focus on Britain and
U.S.A;
 Explain the adult learning theories that have contributed to development of extension
approaches;

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 Explain the importance of community participation in planning, monitoring and evaluation
of development programmes;
 Explain the process of conducting training Needs Assessment; and
 State how to manage an agricultural extension organisation.

Skills

When you have worked through this module, you should be able to:

 Stimulate learning among farmers;

 Iniate participatory community development programmes;
 Conduct a Training Needs Assessement

ABOUT THIS MODULE

This Agricultural Extension module is divided into five units.

Unit 1: Brief historical development of agricultural extension elsewhere and in Zambia.

In this unit, you will look at the early development of agricultural extension
elsewhere and in Zambia. Secondly, the meaning of extension will be discussed. You
will finally end the unit by looking at agriculture extension approaches implemented
in Zambia and their challenges or/ limitations.

Unit 2: Adult learning theories

In this unit, you will define adult learning concepts. You will briefly look at the
development of adult learning theories that have influenced extension approaches.
Finally, you will look at factors affecting adult learning.

Unit 3: Community participation in programme planning

In this unit, you will look at community participatory approaches implemented in
Zambia, the challenges of participatory approaches. You will also look at the
theoretical basis for community participation. You will end by looking at the steps
considered in planning community–based development programmes.

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Unit 4: Participatory Monitoring and evaluation of community development programmes

In this unit, you will look at Monitoring and Evaluation of community development
programmes. You will start by looking at definitions of evaluation and monitoring.
You will then look at reasons why development programmes are rarely evaluated.
You will also go further and look at the types of evaluation and finally the purposes
of evaluation.

Unit 5: Extension Methods and Techniques

In this unit, you will look at extension methods and techniques that are commonly

practiced in day to day extension services.

Unit 6: Management of extension organisations

In this unit, you will first discuss factors either motivating employees to work
hard or not to work hard. You will also learn about how to identify Training Needs
among the employees, or farmers. The major challenges facing agricultural
extension organizations in Zambia will also be discussed.

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Table 1 below shows you which units cover the different module learning outcomes.

Table 1: Learning outcomes

Units

Module Learning Outcomes 1 2 3 4 5

Knowledge

1. Briefly trace the historical 

background of agricultural extension
elsewhere and in Zambia.
2. Explain learning theories that have 
contributed to development of adult
learning theories.
3. Explain the importance of community  
participation in planning, monitoring
and evaluation of development
programmes.
4. Explain how extesion methods and  
techniques are applied.
5. State how extension organisations are 
managed.
Skills

1. Stimulate learning among farmers. 

2. Initiate participatory community  

development programmes.

3. Conduct Training Needs Assessment 

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ASSESSMENT

This module is divided into five units. Each unit addresses at least one of the learning
outcomes. You will be asked to complete various tasks so that you can demonstrate your
competence in achieving the various learning outcomes.

Assessment Methods

The course will be assessed in two aspects. These are: 1. Continuous Assessments (CAs)
and 2. End of semester examination.

Continuous Assessments (CAs)

Continue assignments: The continuous assessments component of the overall assessment,

accounts for 30% of the total score. You will be given two (2) CAs comprising one (1) quiz,
and a test during your residential school of a semester.

Final Examination and Grading

This examination concludes the assessment for the course. To prepare for this
examination, revise all the areas covered in the course. Revision of all the
exercises and the assignments before the examination will also be of help to you. The
revision should start after you have finished studying the last unit. This examination
constitutes 70% of the whole course. A written theory examination will be set at the
begining of the following semester. It will contribute 70% of the final mark.

Learning tips

Duration: You will most likely take about 48 hours to work through this module. This
includes the time you will spend on the activities and self-help questions.

Activities: This module has some activites under the different units. These activities
are meant to help you revise the various aspects of the course that you will
have covered. This is a way in which you will prepare yourself for the written
examination. In addition, the activities offer you an opportunity to

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 experience, first hand aspects of Agricultural Extension. Hence you are
encouraged to perform these activities.

Icons: This module uses a number of icons. Icons are pictures or symbols that serve
as indicators or guides that tell you what you should do. Below are the icons
you will find in the module:

Activity
(Complete the activity)
Assignment
(Scores add to your CA. Refer
to page iv above)

Self-help
Note It
(Answer the question)
(Indicates important points)

(Indicates remember)

Studying at a distance

By now, you have some experience regarding the demands of distance learning. However, it
is important to point out one or two things regarding time management. You have to make
your own time-table not like the students in full time programs. For that reason, it is
important that you allocate your time in such a manner as to afford yourself enough time
to go through this module. The module contains suggestions regarding how much time
should be spent on an activity. These are merely guides. In addition, you should ensure
that you meet the expected learning outcomes and not just aim at going through the
module on the basis of the suggested time.

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If you need help
It will be necessary for you to contact us by phone for various consultations. As such
enquire from the Program Coordinatior regarding the telephone numbers that you may
have to call. You can also come to the college whenever you are in Lusaka or if you live in
Lusaka. In addition, you will be advised (during your the residential school) regarding
contacting your lecturers or tutors by e-mail.

If you need the help of a course lecturer, consultation hours must be pre-arranged.

I hope you will find this learning experience exciting and beneficial.

GOOD LUCK

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UNIT 1: THE MEANING AND GENESIS OF AGRICULTURAL EXTENSION

1.1 Introduction

Having read through the course outline, it means you now have a general
understanding of what this unit is all about and how it fits into the course as a whole.
The purpose of this unit is to begin by outlining the origins of agricultural extension in
Britain and the U.S.A, and with particular focus on Zambia. Next, you will examine the two
major extension paradigms implemented in Zambia since independence. A grasp of the
basic understanding of meaning and the history of any profession is important, as it
provides a record of events which took place in the past; it enables current and
future mid-career professionals to appreciate the status, strengths and weaknesses of
extension approaches which were implemented in the past in order to avoid re-inventing
the wheel. It is expected that by the end of this unit, you will have acquired more
knowledge on the genesis of agriculture extension or extension and its function.

1.2 Genesis of agriculture extension in Britain and USA.

Basically, the word ‘extension’ was first coined in the 1840s in Britain to describe adult
education programmes when travelling teachers used the programmes to expand or extend
the work of universities beyond the campus into neighbouring communities. This was then
called ‘University Extension’ or ‘Extension of the University’ as scope of knowledge
extended was disparaged and not specific to any particular field (i.e. it focused mainly on
literacy and social topics). After being influenced by this, the Land-Grant Colleges in the
United States of America (U.S.A) formally established the Agricultural extension
activities by conducting demonstrations at agricultural shows and giving lectures to
farmers’ clubs that the term ‘agricultural extension’ service was first used.

Thus, the word extension is derived from the Latin roots ‘ex’ meaning “out‟ and ‘tensio’
meaning “stretching‟. Therefore, extension is stretching out to the people who are beyond
the limits of an educational institution (Ladele, 2008).

Since then, we have several authors defining extension emphasizing the importance of
transferring ready made innovations generated at research centres to farmers. On the
other hand, extension has been defined differently as depicted in the elephant analogue
below.

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Analogue of the function and meaning of extension

One can argue about what an extension service is and what it should do; the story of the
six wise men from India is a good example of what may result.

Fig. 1: Extension elephant

Six blind wise men from India met an elephant. They carefully felt its body. The first
found a tusk and said, "It seems to me that this magnificent specimen of an elephant
strongly resembles a spear." The second explored the side of the creature's body and
found it high and flat. "Aha!" he cried and concluded, "This animal is like a wall.” The third
had discovered a leg and declared, "I know what we are dealing with - this creature is like
a bean. The fourth got hold of the trunk and said, "This so-called elephant is really only a
snake ". The fifth was holding one of the animal's ears, stroking it with his fingers. "I have
it!” he exclaimed, "This creature is like a fan!". The sixth came upon the tail and explored
it. "Listen to me!" he demanded, "This animal is nothing more than a rope."

Thus, the blind men argued about the shape of the elephant and, although each was right
to some extent, they were all wrong.

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This story has resulted in the creation of the "extension elephant". No-one will deny that
this comparison-like any analogue has its weak points. However, we do not want to talk
about the clumsiness of the elephant but rather, with the help of the drawing, to state
that extension has been defined differently as you will discover in the next section.

Concept of extension

As indicated in the elephant analogue and with time, the term extension has been defined
variously by different scholars and practitioners. Here are some various definitions:

 Extension education has been described as an informal and out-of school education
system of education designed to help rural people to improve their standard of
living by their own efforts, through making wise use of natural resources at their
disposal for the benefit of the individual, family, community and nation as a whole
(Bradfield, 1966).

 Extension is a service or system which assist farm people, through educational

procedures in improving farming methods and techniques, increasing production
efficiency and income, bettering their levels of living and lifting social and
educational standards (Maunder, 1973).

 Extension involves the conscious use of communication of information to help people

form sound opinions and make good decisions (van den Ban, 1974).

 Extension is an on-going process of getting useful information to people [the

communication dimension] and then assisting those people to acquire the necessary
knowledge, skills and attitudes to utilize effectively this information and
technology [the educational dimension] (Swanson and Claar, 1984).

 Agricultural extension is assistance to farmers to help them identify and analyze

their production problems and become aware of the opportunity for improvement
(Adams, 1982).

A critical analysis of the above definitions, indicate that the definitions adopted at any
point in time depends, on one hand the level of development attained in a particular society
or country and on the other hand, on the goal of the individual or agency doing extension
work.

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Therefore, based on this analysis, in this module, extension may be defined as “a non-
formal educational process whereby an extension officer enables farmers identify their
own problems/needs or opportunities, and then find potential appropriate solutions from
various choices.” In short, the prime objectives of extension should be to enable and
empower the farmers to take well informed and suitable decisions to maximize their farm
productivity.

1.3 A BRIEF HISTORY OF AGRICULTURAL EXTENSION IN ZAMBIA

1.3.1 Introduction

As a potential extension officer in various disciplines, it is necessary for you to know the
historical development of agricultural extension approaches implemented in Zambia. You
have to know that worldwide many different extension approaches have been adopted to
execute extension programmes. Therefore, the genesis of agricultural extension in Zambia
is linked to both the political and colonial agricultural history of Zambia. Thus, in this unit,
you shall look at extension approaches that are considered relevant to Zambian context. In
Zambia, agricultural extension approaches range from the top-down commodity-based
approaches of the pre- and post-independence to more participatory approaches post the
1990s.

1.3.2 Major Extension Approaches

It must be mentioned that an ideal or universal extension model or approach does not
exist. Different options are available, and choices depend upon a great number of
variables. It is necessary, for example, to have a clear definition of who plans (the
institutional scene), for whom (the potential beneficiaries), who takes the initiative, what
the goals are, what the means are, what the time frame is, and what the socio-political
environment is. Other variables may also be very important, such as the source of funds or
the project's physical scope (Dusseldorp and Zijderveld, 1991).

It is current in our days to contrast different programme development approaches by

using the following perspectives: centralized - decentralized, top-down - bottom-up, and
blueprint - process. The two extremes represent, indeed, distinct ways of approaching
programme development and correspond to somewhat opposite assumptions, theories, and
practices. To facilitate the discussion, let us stick to this continuum (range) for a while.

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Thus, in Zambia, approaches of agricultural extension range from the top-down commodity-
based approaches of the pre- and post-independence to more participatory approaches.

THE COLONIAL PERIOD (1890-1964)

The Military Extension Approach

From 1890-1924, Britain ruled the then Northern Rhodesia through the British South
African Company (BSA Co). Within the first phase of colonialism, the field of agriculture,
just like any other field, was not the priority of the BSA Co. Agriculture was not their
priority. They were only interested in the mining sector. It was in 1924, when the British
government took over the rule from the BSA Co. when agriculture policy was put in place.
The British government settled the white farmers on fertile lands and in the process;
the displaced black Zambian farmers were re-settled on marginal lands. Nevertheless, the
British imposed farmers to adopt their innovations, and fines or imprisonment were meted
for non-adoption of these innovations. For instance, the late release of cattle from kraals
invited either a fine or imprisonment.

The Bonus Extension Approach

This extension approach was introduced after the military extension approach. The major
role of extension workers was to give bonus to farmers who were adopting innovations such
as crop rotation, green manuring crops, application of kraal and farm-yard manure, etc.

The Artificial Fertilizer Extension Approach

During this time of 'Green Revolution,' the use of organic fertilizers (manure) was
replaced by the use of inorganic fertilizers. Alongside the introduction of inorganic
fertilizers, a lot more Technologies such as hybrid seed, exotic livestock breeds,
pesticides, labour-intensive machinery, canned baby products, vaccines, etc, were
introduced. Monoculture also replaced mixed- or intercropping agricultural system. In the
process of continuous application of these inorganic fertilizers, most soils became acidic,
thereby, resulted in being unproductive.

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POST-COLONIAL PERIOD (1964-todate)

The General Type of Extension Approach

The colonial extension approaches influenced the post-colonial extension approaches for
the simple reason that at independence, there were very few educated people to handle
both administrative, technical, and professional positions, and the fact that the
colonial masters were chased away without handing over power, the implication
was that, there were almost no records in most offices, and agriculture was one of
the affected social entities. This meant that there were no crop and livestock statistics to
help formulate agricultural policies. T o establish baseline information, the
ministry responsibl e for agriculture then carried out a national survey or census
on all agricultural sectors. During this time, extension workers spent 90% of their
time collecting data on: area planted (by crop), number of fertilizer bags
applied/hectare, number of livestock and so on. Extension officers were also involved in
loan disbursements and recoveries, political activities, and so forth.

Can you try to image how this approach blundered? You must have come up with all sorts of
answers. However, this approach faulted in:

 Absence of a systematic, frequent and comprehensive programme of

training for extension workers;
 Lack of detailed programme of work;
 Absence of involvement of supervising officers;
 Assignment of regulatory and other extraneous functions –procurement of farm
inputs, recovering loans, group organizations, etc,

The Considerate Extension Approach

The limitations of the General type of extension prompted the introduction of the
Training & Visit (T&V) Extension System. In 1978, the T&V extension system was
introduced and funded by the World Bank. The T&V extension approach introduced a
systematic and methodological extension approach that established an intensive contact
between farm families and extension workers through regular visits to contact farmers.

Therefore, the main features of T&V extension approach were:

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  To strip away the extraneous functions discussed in the previous approach;
 To have a strong hierarchical structure with extension workers backstopped by
subject matter specialists;
 To rely more on transfer of technologies from researchers to farmer through
extension workers;
 To insist that extension should uniquely be a public-funded, public-delivered
service.

The Modified T&V Extension Approach

When the MMD Government came into power in 1991, it implemented Zambia Agricultural
Research & Extension Programme (ZAREP). With this approach, there were some elements
of the T&V system which were proven valuable. The programme was created mainly for
capacity building. Extension officers from various sections were re-trained. In 1994/95,
the programme was replaced by the Agriculture Sector Investment Programme (ASIP).
ASIP focused on the liberalization of the economy which entails the transfer of certain
responsibilities from government funding to the private sector funding. The main activities
of the government through the ministry responsible for agriculture, food and fisheries
were more of a supportive nature than providing all the services without involving potential
private initiatives.

However, one of the major implications especially on small-scale farmers was that farm
inputs were beyond their reach. Prices sky-rocked, there was occasional untimely delivery
of farm inputs, experienced very poor marketing systems. With this approach, some of the
roles of an extension worker were:

 Help farmers identify farming priorities;

 Collection of reliable farm management data which should be used to formulate
sound technical messages for extension staff;
 Seek to bridge the gaps between private traders and farmers by supplying both
parties with relevant information on prices, production, potential buyers and other
marketing information;
 Encourage crop diversification to minimize the risks that farmers were subjected
to;
 Extension education to re-orient farmers to learn how to scout for market.

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Summary of these Extension Approaches

The first word in each of the pairs above is centralized, top-down, and blueprint. In
general terms, they correspond to the so-called conventional way of developing a
programme. This extension model predates the colonial period. Among the extension
approaches implemented were: The military extension approach, the Bonus extension
approach, the fertilizer extension approach, the commodity extension approach, the
Training and Visit extension approach etc. These extension approaches have one common
agenda; extension workers generally used persuasive methods and techniques for telling
farmers which varieties and production practices they should use to increase their
agricultural productivity and thereby maintain national food security for both the rural
and urban populations in the country. This “top-down” model primarily delivers specific
recommendations from research, especially for the staple food crops, to all types of
farmers (large, medium, and small).The primary goal of this extension model is to increase
food production, which helps reduce food costs.

Transfer of Technology generated by research scientists and passed on to the farmers via
extension methods such as field visits, demonstrations, agricultural shows etc is called the
Transfer of Technology (ToT) (Figure 1). The theory behind this approach had been the
‘diffusion of innovation’ model.

RESEARCH EXTENSION FARMERS

Fig. 1: The ToT model

In 1992, just after the MMD came into power, the government embarked on agricultural
sector policy reforms, which were part of the overall economic reforms pursued under the
Structural Adjustment Programme. The main policy thrust of the reforms was
liberalization of the agricultural sector and promotion of private sector participation in
production, marketing, input supply; processing and credit provision (MACO, 2004). As a
result, Agriculture Sector Investment Programme (ASIP) was implemented. Therefore,
private farm traders and other non-governmental organisations were mandated to supply
farm inputs and buy farm produce. The onus of the government through the Ministry of
agriculture was to provide an enabling function of national agriculture policy guidance,
coordination among various actors, quality control, resource mobilization, manpower
development, monitoring, research, evaluation, impact assessment and documentation.

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By then, some of the roles of extension workers were:

 Help farmers identify farming priorities;

 Collect reliable farm management data which was used to formulate sound technical
messages for extension workers;
 Seek to bridge the gaps between private traders and farmers by supplying both
parties with relevant information on prices, production, potential buyers and other
marketing information;
 Encourage crop diversification to minimize the risks that farmers were subjected
to;
 Extension education to re-orient farmers to learn how to scout for market.

A Critical Analysis of the ToT Extension Approach

Obviously, one cannot forget to commend the tremendous progress these extension
approaches contributed to the agricultural sector as a whole. Evaluation studies conducted
found that the ToT had benefits in terms of staff training, increased geographical
coverage, and improved linkages with research. In addition, the approaches have laid a
foundation upon which the current extension approaches are established, and that
productivity and production of crops and livestock has improved. However, a critical
analysis of these extension approaches indicated that, there was few success stories as
far as adoption of these innovations were concerned, especially for small-scale farmers.
One would ask, how? The following were some of the factors that led to low adoption rates
of the recommended and promoted technologies:

 Generally, the physical, socio-cultural, and economic conditions of these

farmers were not similar to those obtaining on research stations or contact
farmer's field where these recommendations or innovations were generated
or demonstrated.
 There were poor road infrastructure and marketing systems. As the result,
farmers failed to sell or buy farm inputs on time;
 Lack of or inadequate farm input supply, and in most cases if available were
costly, delivered late or did not fit in the agro-ecological zones;
 Inadequate networking among extension providers from extension, research,
and training;
 There was high poverty and illiteracy levels among small-scale farmers, in
some areas, above 80%;
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  The pro-source bias assumption that the extension worker was considered
blameless in case of a farmer making some mistake;
 The pro-innovation bias assumption that modern innovations once adopted
were advantageous over traditional innovations;
 The Hole-In-The-Head assumption that farmers did not know anything about
agriculture and only extension workers knew. This approach has been
described as “sock-it-to-them”.

In short, farmers were mainly passive and malleable recipients of innovations generated at
research centers while extension officers were purveyors of the innovations. The issues
around here centers on what is known in extension as top-down.

Participatory Extension Approach (PEA)

The emergence of the so-called participatory development at the end of the 1990s,
stemmed from an awareness of the limitations of the top down extension approaches
strategies adopted during the first three decades following independence. These
strategies were based on the idea that it was the role of the State, to lay down guidelines
and decide on the most appropriate measures and how they should be implemented.

Thus, in 1999, PEA was implemented by the Ministry of Agriculture and cooperatives
(MACO). It was first piloted in Central, Lusaka, Southern, Copperbelt, and Eastern
provinces, and up- scaled to all districts countrywide. It was implemented following success
stories with most Non-Governmental Organizations, private organizations, and other
programmes outside the countries, such as Tanzania, Uganda and Zimbabwe in
participatory processes.

PEA is a participatory learning process in which all village residents are actively involved in
identifying, prioritizing, and analyzing their problems, making action plans to address the
problems, implementing and monitoring the activities through the community implementing
committees. PEA covers a whole spectrum of agriculture and rural development activities.
The philosophy behind this approach is: “Nobody Knows Nothing and Nobody Knows
Everything.” In PEA, the major role of an extension officer as an outsider is a facilitator
and catalyst, thereby, designs a schedule of activities and proposes different methods
of interaction to the group. In short, he/she is a methodological resource person.

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As regards the role of the community as insiders they play an active role in the planning
process, that is, they have to identify their needs, prioritise them, plan, implement their
action plans, execute and evaluate them.

More details of participatory development are discussed in Unit 3.

Self-help!

1. Is the extension organisation expected to transfer technology from the research

institutes to the farmers? Do you think that this is a major role this organisation
should perform? Why?

2. Trace the history of “agricultural extension” in the USA.

4. Discuss the historic development of agricultural extension in Zambia during the

three periods.

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UNIT 2: LEARNING THEORIES

2.1 Introduction

The question that you may ask is: why should you learn about adult learning, after all, you
are majoring in animal science, agriculture education, food and nutrition, agribusiness
management, water engineering etc? The shortest answer is that the adults are the
extension officers’ largest target group. This unit reviews some of the major learning
theories and how they have contributed to the field of agricultural extension approaches.
Once you broaden your understanding of why and how adults learn, and factors impeding
their learning, only will you know how to work with them and facilitate their extensive
potentials.

2.2 Definitions

Although learning has been defined in a variety of ways, most definitions include the
concepts of behavioural changes and experience. A common definition from behaviourism
psychologists is that ‘learning is a change in behaviour due to experience. It seems obvious
that a person’s behavior must change if they learn something but we don’t want to include
all changes in behavior in our definition. First, the change must be “relatively permanent.”
When a person gets hungry, he may start to eat. When he is full, he will automatically stop.
These are changes in behavior, but we don’t want to say that the person has “learned” to
eat or stop eating several times each day. There are many temporary changes in behavior
such as eating, sleeping, and getting angry, that don’t qualify as learned behaviors. Since
these are not “relatively permanent” changes, our definition excludes them.

2.2.1 Types of learning

Now that you have a scientific and technical definition of learning, let’s look at the types
of learning. Learning is divided into three types and is briefly described in the table 2
below:

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Table 2: Types of learning and description

Learning Description
Type
Formal Learning typically provided by an education or training institution, structured
Learning (in terms of learning objectives, learning time or learning support) and leading
to certification. Formal learning is intentional from the learner’s perspective.
Not of immediate use.
Non- Learning that is not provided by an education or training institution and
formal typically does not lead to formalized certification. It is, however, structured
Learning (in terms of learning objectives, learning time or learning support). Non-formal
learning is intentional from the learner’s perspective and of immediate use.
Informal Learning resulting from daily life activities related to work, family or leisure.
Learning It is not structured (in terms of learning objectives, learning time or learning
support) and typically does not lead to certification. Informal learning may be
intentional but in most cases it is non-intentional (or incidental/random).

2.2.2 The learning theories

There are four main categories or orientations of learning theories which have influenced
extension approaches and these are: behaviourism, cognitivism, humanist and education for
change. The first two learning theories have tremendously contributed more to the ‘Top-
down extension approaches’ while the last two have more influence on “Bottom-up
extension approaches”. These learning theories in one way or another have influenced the
way people/practitioners have designed educational or extension programmes.

(a) Behaviourism learning theories

Behaviourism theories encompassing the work of people like B. F.

Skinner is characterised by the following underlying assumptions
about the process of learning: Learning is manifested by a change in
behaviour. (b) The environment shapes behaviour. And (c) the
principles of contiguity (how close in time two events must be for a

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bond to be formed) and reinforcement (any means of increasing the likelihood that an
event will be repeated) are central to explaining the learning process.

In short, learning is a change in overt, observable behaviour (not concerned with internal
processes). Therefore, since learning is shaped by the environment, the course and
content of learning (syllabus, modules, course outline) are controlled by stimuli (School,
College, University, project mangers) in the external environment, not by the individual
learner (Student, pupil, farmer, client, patient). Learning results from stimulus and
response in a person’s environment.

There are two types of possible conditioning:

Conditioned response is where the behaviour becomes a reflex response to stimulus as in

the case of Pavlov's experimentation on a dog. During this experiment, each time food was
presented to the dog, a bell was sounded. After a while, at the mere sound of the bell, he
saw the dogs responded by drooling saliva. The dogs learned to associate the sound of the
bell with food. This was called classical conditioning.

At the same time, another theory was developed by B.F. Skinner on rats, pigeons and
monkeys. Skinner discovered that behavior was a function of its consequences. Each time a
reward was given to these animals, a response (behavior) was realized. For example, if a
child is fond of crying for pizza and it is given (positive reinforcement), the crying will be
associated with the pizza. However, each time the child wanted pizza and was not given
(negative reinforcement), the child would stop crying for it. Thus, the child would either
repeat or stop the behavior if positive or negative reinforcement follows the behavior
(Burns, 1995).

Positive reinforcement, or ‘rewards’ can include verbal reinforcement such as ‘That’s great’
or ‘You’re certainly on the right track’ through to more tangible rewards such as a
certificate at the end of the course or promotion to a higher level in an organization.
Negative reinforcement also strengthens behavior and refers to a situation when a
negative condition is stopped or avoided as a consequence of the behaviour. Punishment, on
the other hand, weakens behaviour because a negative condition is introduced or
experienced as a consequence of the behaviour and teaches the individual not to repeat
the behaviour which was negatively reinforced.

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The behaviourist orientation to learning underlies much educational practice, including
adult learning. Skinner stated that the ultimate goal of education was to bring about
behaviour that will ensure survival of the human species, societies and individuals (Skinner,
1971). In this vein a systematic design of instruction, behavioural objectives, programmed
instructions etc are solidly grounded in behavioural learning theory. Therefore, the
teacher’s role is to:

(a) Design an environment that elicits desired behaviour toward meeting these goals.
The teacher teaches by providing knowledge and skills (much of it is western,
English media)to pupils/students that are supposed to be useful later in their adult
life; and
(b) To extinguish behaviour that is not desirable through beating, whipping, threats in
cases where a pupil portrays deviant behaviour.

Influence on extension approach

Resulting from this orientation, several extension approaches such as the T&V, military
extension approach, commodity extension approach etc can be traced to this type of
learning. Under this educational philosophy:

 The role of an extension officer (as an expert) is to create an environment of

generating and disseminating modern technologies or recommendations so as to
change farmers’ traditional methods of farming. If it is a workshop/seminar, the
sitting arrangement is that which is characterized by the teacher-pupil
relationship; and
 Secondly, the implication of the above approach culminated in the provision of free
or subsidized farm inputs to farmers every agricultural season, which has created a
dependency syndrome in which farmers tend to expect the farm inputs. In the
event these services are not provided, farmers can react or say extension officers
do not visit them.

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 (b) Cognitivism theories

The earliest challenge to the behaviourists came in a publication in 1929 by Bode. He

criticized behaviourists for being too dependent on environment shaping behaviour to
explain learning. Cognitive psychologists such as Piaget, Bruner, Gagne, Ausubel all agree in
their view that learners have thoughts in their minds which will have definite full control
of the learning not just being influenced by the external environment. Two key
assumptions underlie this cognitive approach: (a) that the memory system is an active
organized processor of information and (b) that prior accumulated knowledge plays an
important role in adult learning than children. Therefore, learning is not seen as change in
behaviour, but as changes in the way in which the learner understands or organizes the
elements of the environment. It is internal change that cannot be directly observed. In
short, the learner takes control of the learning situation or acts on the environment, not
the other way around.

Influence on extension approaches

The role of an extension officer is to structure the content of learning activity that is
related to the learners. He/she engages the farmer through the discovery learning that is,
allow farmers or clienteles to discover their own information, by doing so, you promote the
process of problem solving. This is a situation where farmers are involved in identifying
their problems and finds the solution. In summary, the learner takes control of the
learning thereby can change the learning environment. Somehow, this was evidenced
during the T&V and FSR/E systems.

(c) Humanist learning theories

Humanist learning theories consider learning from the perspective of the human potential
for growth. Humanists reject the view that behaviour is pre-determined by either the
environment or one’s subconscious. Rather, human beings can control their own destiny;
behaviour is a matter of human choice or a consequence of human choice. From a learning
perspective, people have the freedom and responsibility to become what s/he is capable of
becoming as long as one is motivated. The purpose of learning is to fulfill one’s potential; a
holistic process of personal growth and an active search for meaning; directed by the
learner who alone knows his/her needs and goals. Therefore, an extension officer

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relinquishes a great deal of authority and becomes a facilitator instead of a conveyor of
ready-made packages of information.

The best known example is Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy of motivation. The motivation to
learn is intrinsic; it emanates from the learner. Maslow considered various types of human
needs as the basis for motivation for learning and arranged them in the form of a
hierarchy beginning from the lowest to the highest needs. At the lowest level are
physiological needs and at the highest level are the self actualization. Only when the lower
needs are met is it possible to fully move on to the next level. A motive at the lower level
is always stronger than those at higher levels (Fig.2). Therefore, learners strive for self-
actualization and the goal of learning and educators should strive to bring this about
through facilitation and provision of an enabling learning environment. Clearly, this learning
orientation has been integrated into much of adult learning because people develop a
tendency to learn.

Fig. 2: Hierarchy of needs

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Shirur (1997) summarizes these as follows:

Level one: Physiological needs such as food, shelter, water, oxygen, rest, sex. He
contended that unless these basic human needs are satisfied to a desired level, other
needs will fail to motivate people in a sustained manner.

Level two: Safety and security needs which ensure protection from loss of physical and
material needs like jobs, property, spiritual and emotional security and desire for an
orderly world etc. If these are not satisfied, people will look to organize their worlds to
provide for the greatest degree of safety and security. If satisfied, people will come
under the force of level three.

Level three: Love and belongingness needs which are sometimes referred to as social
needs include the need for love, warm and friendly relationships in clubs, associations,
cooperatives, etc.

Level four: Self-esteem needs involve the desire to be recognized, praised, be respected
and need for status and prestige.

Level five: Self-actualization is the need for autonomy and self-direction-the need to
become what one is capable of becoming.

Influence on Extension Approach

The people are mostly motivated to demand services that relate to immediate benefits
rather than pursuing long term goals. For example, if the people are faced with hunger or
famine, if seed and fertilisers are distributed to them for the next planting season, they
would either sell the farm inputs or wash the seed and eat it so as to alleviate hunger than
keeping it for the planting season. Farmers demand services that address their needs or
problems. In other words, let the farmers identify their needs or problems since they
know them better and the extension officer should play a passive role. Its influence was
seen in participatory approaches such as PEA, FFSs etc.

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(d) Education for Change Learning Theories

This theory was advanced by so many scholars and popularized by

Paulo Freire. In order to understand Freire’s method of
consciousness-raising, it is essential to understand his perceptions
of humankind and oppression. The central theme of Freire’s
philosophy is that no education is value free. Education is either for
domestication/oppression or for liberation. The education that
domesticates is one that allows learners to patiently receive,
memorises and repeat knowledge and skills deposited into their empty heads without
questioning. This type of learning is functional in nature. Freire chose the latter
(liberation) premised on the philosophy of conscientisation, implying learning to perceive
social, political and economic contradictions and to take action against the oppressive
structures. According to freire (1972), he argued that people are poor because of the
artificially and deliberately created social structures. The structures have domesticated
them and are living in the ‘culture of silence’. Therefore, unless the oppressed, the poor
of the poorest and marginalised people realise their situation thereby, breaking the
‘culture of silence’, genuine learning will not take place. Under this orientation, the role of
an educator/activist is to encourage dialogical learning methods, implying that both the
learners and an educator jointly engage in the learning process.

Implication on extension approach

The role of an extension officer is to make the learner/farmer aware of his/her passivity
and its causes, before involving the farmer in the learning process or participation.

 Proponents of this theory consider farmers as extension officer’s equal partner in

extension programmes or learning process.

However, at particular points, each of these learning theories is important for they
together form a comprehensive and meaningful whole and is also found to be relevant to
adult learning situations (Shirur, 1997).

2.2.3 Principles of Adult Learning

Part of being an effective extension officer involves understanding how adult farmers
learn best. Compared to children and teens, adult farmers have special needs and

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requirements as learners. The principles of adult learning were pioneered by Malcolm
Knowles. He identified the following salient features of adult learners:

1. Adults are autonomous and self-directed. Adults attend extension programmes as

autonomously and self – directed. They are free to direct themselves and volunteer
to learn. Therefore, extension officers must not force them to participate in any
extension programme without their consciousness or full consent.
2. Adults have accumulated a foundation of life experiences and knowledge. As adult
farmers attend extension programmes, they do so and attend with a reservoir of
experiences and knowledge. Therefore, for them to learn better there is need for
an extension officer to tap their knowledge/experience base; start from what they
already know, and actively involve them in all the deliberations.
3. Adults are goal-oriented. Upon attending any extension programme, adult farmers
usually know what goal they want to attain. They, therefore, appreciate an
educational programme that is organized and has clearly defined goals.
4. Adults are relevancy-oriented. Adults attend extension programmes because they
have a reason for learning something. Learning has to be applicable to their work or
other responsibilities to be of value to them.
5. Adults are practical, focusing on the aspects of a lesson most useful to them in
their work. They may not be interested in knowledge for its own sake. Extension
officers must ensure that they design activities that address adult learners’
practical needs.
6. Adult farmers need to be shown respect. Extension officers must treat adult
farmers with due respect not to be treated like a bunch of kids. Whenever they go
wrong, an extension officer should find ways and means of correcting the situation
other than scolding at them or saying that the answer is wrong.

Motivating the Adult Learner

Activity 2.1 (about 10 minutes)

To start with list at least 5 reasons you decided to come and study at NRDC as
a mature student. My assumption is that you are all mature students. If you are
direct from high school please interview a mature student to get the answers.

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I am sure there were various answers as to what motivated you to come and study at
NRDC in your mature age. This brings us to another aspect of adult learning which is
motivation. At least six factors serve as sources of motivation for adult learning:

 Social relationships: to make new friends, to meet a need for associations and
friendships.
 External expectations: to comply with instructions from someone else; to fulfill
the expectations or recommendations of someone with formal authority.
 Social welfare: to improve ability to serve mankind, prepare for service to the
community, and improve ability to participate in community work.
 Personal advancement: to achieve higher status in a job, secure professional
advancement, and stay abreast of competitors.
 Escape/Stimulation: to relieve boredom, provide a break in the routine of home or
work, and provide a contrast to other exciting details of life.
 Cognitive interest: to learn for the sake of learning, seek knowledge for its own
sake, and to satisfy an inquiring mind.

Barriers and Motivation

Activity 2.2 (about 10 minutes)

Analyze the type of barriers an adult can encounter against them participating
in learning.

Read on and you can compare your answers to mine. Unlike children and teenagers, adults
have many responsibilities that they must balance against the demands of learning.
Because of these responsibilities, adults have barriers against participating in learning.
Some of these barriers include lack of time, money, confidence, or interest, lack of
information about opportunities to learn, scheduling problems, "red tape," and problems
with child care and transportation.

Motivation factors can also be a barrier. What motivates adult learners? Typical
motivations include a requirement for competence or licensing, an expected (or realized)
promotion, job enrichment, a need to maintain old skills or learn new ones, a need to adapt
to job changes, or the need to learn in order to comply with company directives.
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The best way to motivate adult learners is simply to enhance their reasons for enrolling
and decrease the barriers. Instructors must learn why their students are enrolled (the
motivators); they have to discover what is keeping them from learning. Then the
instructors must plan their motivating strategies. A successful strategy includes showing
adult learners the relationship between training and an expected promotion.

2.4 Factors affecting adult learning abilities

Research conducted indicates that normal healthy adults can learn well into their old age
after 70’s when bodily functions begin to deteriorate. In short, learning ability is not
affected by age, but there are other factors responsible for decline and these are:

i. Physiological factors

ii. Psychological factors

iii. Social factors

Physiological factors

Sight: Short (close) and long (far) sighted vision declines. The speed of seeing
becomes difficult to shift from looking at something closer to something far away. The
ability to adapt to the dark from a brightly lit room is reduced and so forth.

Corrective measures

 Arrange their sitting closer to the source of the message

 Ensure adequate illumination in rooms

 Charts, diagrams and pictures used must be large enough

Hearing: Hearing ability reaches peak at around 15 years old and after decreases
slowly until 65 years old. The ability to hear and discriminate sounds declines; men tend
to lose high pitched sounds and women lose low pitched sounds. Degeneration of
auditory nerves and so on; speed of hearing is reduced, hence difficult to comprehend
rapid speech.

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 Corrective measures

 Reduce or eliminate outside noise

 Speak slowly, distinctly and clearly but not too loud

 Facilitator to stay in one position so that they can observe gestures

 Arrange close sitting around the facilitator.

i. Reaction time: this is the time taken to respond to some stimulus. It reaches peak
at 20 years and declines at around 30 years.

Corrective measures

 Avoid situations where adults are rushed, timed etc because with unlimited time,
adults can do as well as young ones.

 Take sufficient breaks during meetings.

Psychological factors

Self-concept: Adults feel that they are mature, responsible and self directed, as such,
they want to be treated as mature adults not like a bunch of small children.

Corrective measures

 Remove all threatening situation by creating a threat-free friendly atmosphere.

 Treat learners as adults not like small children. Do not embarrass, scold or ridicule
them and be tactful when attacking them.

Time perspective: Adults find time to be limited, not enough and important. They can
withdraw or go away when their needs are not met.

Corrective measures

 Make sure that what they learn is meaningful and relevant to their needs and
problems.

 Avoid unproductive time, stick to the time decided as per schedule.

Problem centered: as in (ii) above.

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Social factors

Social roles: Adults have more social roles to play in society. These roles involve demands
and these demands can affect learning.

Corrective measures

 Be patient and flexible with adults who have deadlines with their offices, spouses
and so on.

 Schedule meetings (workshops or seminars) outside their commitements.

Experience: Adults come to learn with varying and vast experiences which can be a
reservoir.

Corrective measures

 Use their experience in the learning.

 Relate new instruction to what they already know.

SELF STUDY QUESTIONS AND EXERCISES

1. Define learning according to psychology and education.

2. Briefly describe the three main categories of learning.

3. What basic assumptions are central to explaining the learning process in behaviorism?

4. Describe the types of learning.

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UNIT 3: PARTICIPATORY APPROACHES IN EXTENSION PROGRAMME PLANNING

3.1 Introduction

Everyone who has ever worked in water utility companies, game management, security firm,
health, community development, education, extension service etc knows at least one horror
story about an intervention that either went wrong or never worked for a minute. Often,
when the story is told, it becomes clear that the well-intentioned professionals in charge
had totally misunderstood or ignored some fundamental fact about the community or the
target population. Since they assumed they knew what was needed, they planned the whole
thing themselves...and failed miserably. For every horror story, however, there's a story
about an intervention where everything went right or wrong. Below is a story to emphasize
the point:

It is not uncommon that facilities and services are created and offered
[my emphasis] to the people, who then fail to use them satisfactorily.
Many drinking water supply schemes have been set up, but the women,
the traditional water carriers, do not use the costly pumps installed
by programme agency. Rural housing is often built which people
refuse to live in... This happens when decision-makers exclude the
participation of those affected (Mathur, 1986:6).

In many of these cases, you'll find that the target population - and often the larger
community as well - was not included in the planning of the intervention from the beginning.

In view of the above, this unit will introduce you to how different people have defined
participation. Furthermore, you will be introduced to the challenges of participation. The
unit concludes by outlying a practical community participatory programme planning in
extension.

3.1.1 What is Participation?

Although this may appear to be a simple question, there is no single definition of

participation by communities but, rather, a potpourri of definitions varying mostly by the
degree of participation. The continuum in the next section provides a helpful framework
for understanding participation.

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3.1.2. Degrees/levels of participation

According to the typology of participation developed by Pretty (1994), two forms of

participation derive from these two approaches. The first, found in blueprint approaches,
can be called "passive participation", whereby people participate by being told what is
going to happen. The second, found in process-oriented approaches, can be called
"interactive participation" whereby people participate in joint analysis, which leads to
locally formulated action plans. Other types of participation exist in between and outside
these two (Table 3).

Table 3: Typology of participation

Typology Characteristic of each
1. Passive participation People participate in activities by being told what is going to
happen or has already happened. It is unilateral
announcement by an administration or project management
without listening to people’s responses. The information
being shared belongs only to outsiders or professionals.
2. Participation in People participate in activities by answering questions posed
information giving by extractive researchers, using questionnaire surveys or
similar approaches. People do not have the opportunity to
influence on proceedings, as the findings are neither shared
nor checked for accuracy.
3. Participation by People participate in activities by being consulted and
consultation external agents listen to people’s views. These external
agents define both problems and solutions, and may modify
them in the light of people’s responses. Such a consultative
process does not concede any share decision making and
professionals do not have obligation to follow the views of
the people.
4. Participation for People participate by providing resources, for example labor
material incentives for pond construction, in return for food, cash or other
material incentives. Much on-farm R&D falls in this
category, as farmers provide the fields but are not involved
in experimentation or on-farm testing or other learning
processes. It is very common to see this called
participation, yet people have no stake in prolonging
activities when the incentives end.
5. Functional People participate by forming groups to meet
participation predetermined objectives related to projects, which can
involve the development or promotion of externally initiated

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 organization. Such involvement is quite rare at early stages
of project cycles or planning, it often appears after major
decisions have been made. These institutions tend to be
dependent on external agents, initiators or facilitators, but
may become self-dependent later on. Examples are state
initiated: Cooperatives, Clubs, PTAs etc.
6. Interactive People participate in joint analysis, which leads to action
participation plans and the formation of new community organization and
local institutions or strengthening the existing ones. It has
a tendency to involve interdisciplinary methodologies that
seek multiple perspectives. Therefore, people have a stake
in maintaining infrastructures or practices.
7. Self - mobilization People participate in the development with self-initiative
and control over the changes of the community. They may
develop contacts with external institutions for resources
and technical advices they need, but retain control over how
resources are used. Such self-initiated mobilization and
collective action may or may not challenge existing
inequitable distributions of wealth and power. Examples are
community initiated cooperatives, clubs, associations etc.
Source: Pretty, 1994.

The first six (6) definitions are founded on the comforts of a modernization theory
premised on the universal prescription of identical development packages to diverse
regions with varying problems. Modernization thinking of development admits that
development is uniform to all locales. Proponents of this school of thought does not
appreciate that communities are risk-prone and diverse both in resources and the
problems that confront them.

The last two definitions generally are considered as being genuine participatory
development. Such definitions require extensive involvement of stakeholders in various
stages of development activities that is: programme design, implementation and monitoring
and evaluation. Proponents of this school of thought conceive that development is the
transformation of communities themselves into dynamic and self-reliant entities, which, by
virtue of their effective organization and development capacities and on the strength of
their own internal momentum, are capable of solving most of their development problems
on their own on a continuing basis (Dipholo, 1996).

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The involvement of the people entails allowing them to discover the possibilities of
exercising choice and thereby becoming capable of managing their own development.
Consequently, participatory development embodies a "process of enlarging peoples’
choices" (Martinussen, 1997). The opportunity to make choices should include the
opportunity to choose not to develop, or to develop according to their own understanding
of development.

The justification for participatory development is not an attempt to invalidate the

knowledge of development professionals. Expert knowledge is indispensable to the
development processes, but development cannot be planned exclusively on the basis of
opinions of or studies conducted by experts from outside. Local people may not have the
required technical expertise to undertake a particular project and they will therefore
need the input of experts from outside. But by the same token, outsiders may not
necessarily have a better understanding of local problems than insiders and they, too, will
need assistance from locals.

3.1.3 Why should farmers or the community participate?

Development practitioners have come up with various reasons why the community should
participate in development programmes. This section will not exhaust all of them. However,
the following are some of the major reasons:

When the community participates,

 It will ensure that the project revolves around people’s felt needs, and is
therefore, more responsive to local conditions;
 It enhances project sustainability;
 It builds and promotes the community’s ownership of the project. If people are
integral to the planning of a community intervention, then that intervention will be
theirs. They have a stake in it not only as its beneficiaries or staff or sponsors, but
as its originators. They'll do what they can to see their work succeed.; and
 It empowers the people, build social capital, and strengthen governance.

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When is participatory planning appropriate, and when is not?

There are three distinguished extension programmes: developmental, informational, and

institutional. The first one is clearly process centred, and objectives derive primarily out
of the needs and problems of the participants. The second is predominantly top-down
oriented, and participants are primarly recipients of information. The third type
corresponds basically to training and instruction and is developed from a field of
knowledge and from the educator. However, Boyle (1981) stressed that in the course of
extension work these types usually overlap; that is, a locally initiated participatory project
can very well benefit from centralized efforts to disseminate information and from
training activities. However, there are also some general guidelines for when a
participatory planning process may be appropriate or not appropriate at all, including:

 When there's simply no time. An outbreak of a disease may erupt – it may have
reached such crisis proportions that it must be addressed immediately. In such a
circumstance, it may be possible to do some participatory planning after the fact,
either to adjust the intervention before it begins, or to plan its next phase.
 When a community is so brutally divided, it's impossible to get all - or even any - of
the rival factions to the same table.
 When the target population is simply not interested in participating, and just wants
the organization to take care of it. One goal may be to get them interested, but
that may have to be part of the intervention, rather than part of the planning
process.
 When the intervention rests on technical knowledge of a kind that the target
population and community members simply don't have.
 When funding constraints or funders' regulations don't allow it.

3.1.4 Challenges of participation

Despite significant benefits of participatory approaches to development in ensuring

greater efficiency and effectiveness in service provision, to the contrary, there is little
evidence of the long-term effectiveness of improving the conditions of the most
vulnerable people or as a strategy for social change. Furthermore, very few farmers or
communities demand extension services or are self-mobilisers. The question is why?
This sub-section signals common pitfalls, identifies constraints that need to be
considered, and presents ideas for solving potential problems.

The common failings have been that:

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  Of changing the mindsets and behaviour of the community/people who have
developed a syndrome of dependence on government or extension providers. People
have fixed mindset of the impossibility believe that they are “set” as either good or
bad. As such, by simply engaging such people in participation will not change their
fixed mindsets and behaviour.

 The perception that even local camp extension officers are considered
“outsiders” of the village residents has been a misnomer. The fact of the matter
is that, in extension ethics, local camp extension officers are part and parcel of the
village residents who live with the village residents, implying that the problems
facing the village residents also affect him/her in one way or another; hence in one
way or another, s/he knows the problems facing the community. Therefore, local
camp extension officers in partnership with the farmers should also be involved in
the planning process.

 The PRA tools such as social mapping, transect walk, ranking, problem tree, etc,
have been applied mechanically regardless of the cultural context. Social
stratification, divisions along ethnic lines, personal rivalries and social factionalism
are some of the factors which make it difficult to talk about community
mobilization through participation. For example, a community defined by geography,
perhaps most appropriate for improving sanitation, may be too riven with social
discoid to permit mobilization. In such a context, participation may bring unresolved
and irresolvable conflicts out into the open, exacerbating rivalries of ethnicity;

 In majority of development programmes, the community has been invited to

participate in activities already designed by the service organizations to address
their goals instead of people’s goals. Sometimes, participation of community in
development programmes is used to legitimize externally promulgated programmes
(large development projects that are on tight timelines). The idea of participation is
used to legitimize the project’s own priorities and needs and the needs of donors to
include such processes in their projects; and

 Furthermore, majority facilitators of participation manipulate their audience to

ensure a quick, rapid application of the concept; so as to cover as many communities
as possible within a short space 'of time; and

 Often the top-down managerial style, characteristic of bureaucracies, tends not to

be compatible with participatory, bottom-up approaches and often favors more
responsive clients who are typically the better-off.

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While these challenges may present potential or real problems to the success of a
participatory programme, overcoming them may tremendously increase the possibility of
designing and carrying out an effective community intervention. In most cases, the choice
is not at one extreme of the continuum, but somewhere in between. At the same time, a
combination of different approaches may even be necessary and advantageous.

3.2 Practical steps in initiating a participatory extension programme planning

It must be emphasized that when conducting a participatory extension programme

planning, there is no set standard therefore; each planning must be tailored to the specific
objectives of the programme or project and the context in which it is implemented.
However, this unit provides a general guideline to follow when conducting a participatory
extension programme planning as envisaged in Participatory Extension Approach (PEA),
Participatory Village Development in Isolated Areas (PaViDIA), Farmer Field Schools
(FFSs), Farmer Input Support Response Initiative (FISRI) Conservation Agriculture
Scaling up for Increased Productivity and Production (CASIPP) etc.

In order to have a demand-driven extension programme, the following nine main phases,
which constitute the demand-driven extension approach, are considered:

3.2.1 Preparatory phase

Building trust in the community especially the poor of the poorest and marginalsed

The first step in initiating a participatory programme is to arrange for an informal meeting
with as many people as possible (e.g. Chiefs, village leaders, influential village residents
etc) and explain the new approach intended to be introduced. Since you want to introduce
a new extension approach different from the one they have been used to, it’s better first
to conscientise or break the ‘culture of silence’ and ignorance inherent in the subject-
object binomial relationship, only can they be able to change.

Collect basic data

Credible and committed development actors, who are interested in bringing about
sustainable development through the participation of the poor, will first seek to know the
micro-situations of the area they want to intervene. This can be done by conducting
baseline survey studies. Depending on the type and objectives of a programme, however,
the following information can be collected and analysed by the project managers in

Agricultural Extension Module – ZSN & C.S Page 40

collaboration with the community: farming opportunities and problems, available natural
resources, local leadership, types of crops grown and management, breeds of livestock and
management, culture, norms, education and poverty levels, hacterages, local channels of
communication, transport facilities, local credit and marketing systems, health and
nutrition levels etc. This type of data will serve as baseline data which will help in
determining whether the project has made an impact or not. It also helps in defining
community needs and priorities before starting a project. There are a number of methods
and tools that can be used in collecting basic data. Some of the more common methods are
focus group discussions, key informant interviews, social maps, ranking, scoring, case
studies, and individual life stories.

3.2.2 Diagnostic phase

Identifying community needs/or problems

At this stage, both the local extension officers and the community identify the major
opportunities, problems or needs of various enterprises in terms of bio-physical and socio-
economic factors. The identification of the community problems or needs can be done by
employing PRA tools such as mapping, transect walk, semi-structured interview, problem
tree etc. The community opportunities, problems or needs are then prioritized or ranked
according to importance and feasibility criteria using various PRA ranking tools such as
wealth ranking, matrix ranking etc. Thereafter, possible technical interventions are found
such as forming a cooperative, a demonstration, field day/visit, experimentation etc.

Once the problems or needs are identified, the next stage is to prioritise them on the
basis of the most important problems and their feasibility. The methodology to prioritise
the problems can be done through: (i) General consensus, (ii) Preference ranking, and (iii)
Pair wise matrix ranking. Ranking means giving scores to items and then placing them in
order of importance and feasibility.

Following the completion of problem analysis, and that possible immediate and underlying
root causes have been identified, the next step is to formulate solutions. Ensure that the
solutions sought must be realistic, practical and action-oriented. The tools that can be
used to search for solutions to identified causes are: (i) objective tree and (ii) table of
village solutions.

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 3.2.3 Action planning phase

Planning is a process by which the community translates the objectives into activities/ or
actions for onward implementation within a given time frame and budget. Prepare a
tentative action plan for possible services/interventions required from inside and outside
the community to implement the solutions. Although there variations in the format or
design of action plan, however, the following should concisely be stipulated: objectives,
activities to be carried out, and person responsible for implementation, period and target
groups, required resources and indicators of achievement (Table 3). In consultation and
collaboration with donors, the community/beneficiaries, and implementers decide what will
be monitored, define the expected outcomes and designate indicators to measure
achievements and how the monitoring will be conducted.

Table 3: Example - Action plan

Objective Activity By Who When Resources Budget Assumptions Indicator

s
To increase milk Providing L/stock 1st June- Com. Other Com. Other Resources Increase
yields from 10 water farmers 20th Nov, Drums,Sho Cem K100 K700 acquired on in milk
litres/milking to 20 regularly 2013 vels,sand, ent time yield
litres/milking by labor, land
2013.
To assess whether Evaluatio Farmers 30th Nov - 4 evaluators K50 K750 Funds Activities
milk increased from n & CEO 10th (2 from available, evaluated
10 litres to 20 litres Dec,13 L/stock
farmers & 2 Cooperation
CEOs,
Stationery

3.2.4 Implementation phase

However well a project has been conceived and planned if the implementation is not proper,
it will result in inefficient and wasteful loss of scarce resources.To implement the
programme, the activities specified in the work plan above have to be carried out. This
detailed work plan will take account of progress and problems encountered. Therefore, on
completion of the planned activities, a community coordinating body has to be constituted
to oversee the implementation process.

Agricultural Extension Module – ZSN & C.S Page 42

3.2.5 Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) phase

Both the farmers and CEO will be constantly reviewing and evaluating the progress during
the year and at the end of the year depending on the programme design. This evaluation,
together with an up-dated situational analysis, provides the basis for planning the next
year's programme. A reminder: Participatory monitoring and evaluation is an integral part
of the participatory project design and implementation process. It works best when the
entire project process, from planning to the final evaluation, is conducted in a
participatory manner.

More details on participatory monitoring and evaluation are discussed in the next unit.

Remember!

 Participatory planning implies that all the key decisions regarding the project
(objectives, activities to be implemented, strategies for implementation, and
timeframe) are taken jointly by the members of the communities for whom the
project is being designed and the project staff;

 Participatory planning is based on the results of the participatory appraisal and

reflects the problems, needs and concerns that communities are experiencing as
well as the suggestions they provide for addressing these issues;

 Participatory planning takes place at the community level where decisions are made
on how selected activities will be implemented for people living in that community;
and

 Participatory planning precedes the design of a participatory monitoring and

evaluation plan.

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 SELF STUDY QUESTIONS AND EXERCISES

1. Why is situation analysis important in this process?

2. Differentiate between ‘needs’ and ‘needs assessment’.
3. Why should farmers participate in decisions regarding the extension programme?
4. Briefly, discuss how to initiate practical participatory planning.

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UNIT 4: PARTICIPATORY MONITORING AND EVALUATION (PM&E) OF
EXTENSION PROGRAMMES

With increased importance of participatory programme planning, there is also a growing

recognition that monitoring and evaluation of developmental programmes affecting the
people should also be participatory. The focus of this unit, therefore, will be on
participatory monitoring and evaluation.

4.1 Definitions

Monitoring is the recording and tracking the progress of a programme while it is running to
determine what progress has been made in relation to the work plan. It is carried out to
take corrective measures before the project or activity is adversely affected.

Evaluation: First of all, what does the word evaluation mean? You may discover that there
are various definitions depending on one’s educational background. Some would define it as
‘to assess the value of something.’ Others may even go further to say that evaluation is
like looking to see where and how fast you are going, and then estimating when you are
likely to reach your destination. Despite these variations in definitions, in this course we
are going to adopt the following definition. Evaluation is a process of collecting, analyzing
and interpreting information to determine the worth or goodness of a project/programme
or activity for various types of decision – making.

Evaluation provides information about past or ongoing activities as a basis for modifying or
redesigning future strategies. Evaluation begins with a baseline survey that is conducted
before project activity begins.

4.2 Why evaluate?

You may be surprised that when you ask people why they evaluate their work, different
people would give you different answers. Here are some of the actual answers people have
given:

Agricultural Extension Module – ZSN & C.S Page 45

 To make our
To criticise work more
To measure
our own work effective
progress
Ministry
wants it

To see what
has been To see where our
achieved WHY DID YOU weaknesses and
EVALUATE? strengths are

To help us see
To be able to
where we are
improve our
going
monitoring
To be able to methods
Our funding share experiences
agency ask for it

Fig.5: Reasons for evaluation Source: Feuerstein, 2006

From the answers given above, you may agree that evaluation is clearly a matter of the way
we look at it. Whatever purposes of evaluation, there are many purposes for undertaking
evaluations in any particular situation. It cannot be assumed that all stakeholders
(farmers, extension staff, administrators, funders) share common purposes. Although
people may never completely agree about the purposes, one of the tasks at the outset is to
seek clarity about evaluation purposes through discussions with major stakeholders.
Appreciating different purposes at the outset can reduce conflicts and disappointments
down the road. Consider the following purposes:

Agricultural Extension Module – ZSN & C.S Page 46

Purposes for conducting an Evaluation

i. As pseudo self-serving purposes: Since organizations, including extension systems,

have a self-serving tendency, it is not unreasonable to expect that some staff
members, especially those in the highest positions may want a pseudo evaluation
that will postpone, buy time, or avoid threatening change. In these cases, evaluators
are not taken seriously, and the evaluation becomes a meaningless political
diversion. In other cases, some members of organizations want evaluations as
excuses for evading or avoiding administrative responsibility or to provide a
scapegoat for criticism. Evaluations that are undertaken only to make the
programme look good ("whitewash job") or to make someone or some aspect of a
programme look bad ("hatchet job") are pseudo and illegitimate.

ii. To enhance accountability: It is quite common for external donors to expect that
evaluation will provide accountability through evidence of impact or to document
cost-benefits, or to measure efficiency-effectiveness. In some cases, this
evaluative evidence is considered in decisions to continue the programme; or to
propose change, expansion, or reduction of a programme; or to change a policy,
organizational structure, philosophy, or design. The potential for negative findings
and the threat of discontinuing funding has led to "hiding the mistake," a
dysfunctional practice. However, evaluations rarely provide a single basis for
political decisions. They often are used by funders, administrators, or policy makers
to justify their decisions even when the evidence of benefits is weak.

iii. To improve performance: This purpose of evaluation is sometimes called

"formative" because the results are intended to help improve the programme during
its formative stages. This is in contrast to "summative evaluations" when the
purpose is to sum up or summarize the accomplishments at a point in time. When
evaluations are to improve programmes, lessons learned about strengths and
limitations of the programme are determined from the data so that changes can be
made immediately. Sometimes the intent is to discover new approaches and
alternatives or to adjust the programme to changing situations or client groups.
Evaluation also is used to understand multiple reasons for apparent failure or to
improve the management or operation of a programme.

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 iv. As a learning or communication Process: Sometimes evaluations are intended to
stimulate political dialogue or to resolve political conflicts intelligently. For
example, an evaluation of extension in a country could provide an opportunity to
debate the need to hire more women agents to respond to an increase of women in
small-scale agriculture or to extend the extension network to subsistence farmers
not being served. Often the most significant contribution of an evaluation is the
creation of new expectations, new organizational arrangements, new linkages, and
new purposes and goals. Evaluation may give visibility to a good idea and new
language that can communicate new ways of viewing extension to others who also
may want to share an experiment.

Evaluation purposes tend to vary, depending upon where one stands within a system like
extension. External funders often want an accountability purpose, while field staff are
more likely to favor a programme improvement purpose. Policy makers and programme
administrators can often appreciate an evaluation that contributes to new ways of thinking
about extension or new forms of extension. Farmers want an evaluation to improve the
benefits they may receive from extension staff.

4.3 The Focus of Evaluation Effort

What should be the focus of programme evaluation? This question raises the spectre of
evaluating everything which is impossible. Choices and priorities among many possible
questions have to be made. Generally, what to focus when evaluating programmes depends
on the model of evaluation chosen, the concerns of stakeholders and goals of the
programme. Nevertheless, a full range of possible focuses can be represented at least in
part by the levels represented in Table 4 below which shows eight major areas of focus
for programme evaluation. Note that you can’t evaluate everything thus the need to set
limits.

Narrowing the focus usually begins during planning with the major stakeholders in a
programme effort (farmers, extension staff, administrators, and funders).

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Table 4: Focus of evaluation
8. National impacts: Political stability, economic fairness, agricultural environmental
sustainability

7. Community change: Changes in administration of justice; health, welfare, and quality of

life; fairness in the marketplace; change in human rights, status of women; change in
economic and social indicators for poor; change of indicators of sustainable agriculture
and natural resource management; change in communication patterns and access to
education and news; public opinion change; fairer distribution of land and other
resources; improved interorganization relations; evidence of conflict resolution; and
cultural practice change

6. Organization change: Group operation and management; economic performance;

technical operation and management; financial operation; group institutionalization and
self-reliance, new groups of farmers included, new organization linkages; change in staff
performance, new service delivery, new methods used, additional facilities and equipment;
cost-benefits improved; new philosophy, purposes, and goals; improved organizational
culture

5. Individual change: Changes in knowledge, attitudes, skills; sustainable agricultural

practice; change in aspirations, self-image, perspectives; expenditure of effort and
money; use of methods, services; invention of appropriate technology; increased
production or use of tools; compliance with or opposition to public policy; patterns of
communication, career directions, and family relationships

4. Reactions: Testimonials; reactions to the relevance of content; appropriateness of

technology, helpfulness, perceived value of educational experience; reputation of the
extension provider

3. Participation: Farmer access to extension services by social class, gender, and ethnic
groups; intensity of face-to-face contacts; extent of media-assisted contacts; type of
participation (volunteering, planning, recruiting, learning, experimenting, evaluating);
indicators of commitment (attendance, continuity, frequency)

2. Activities: Participatory rural appraisal; planning; local knowledge documentation;

farmer experimentation; farmer-to-farmer knowledge sharing; farm tours; farmer
organizing; master farmer leadership training; farm demonstrations; exhibitions and

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 fairs; residential workshops; marketing analysis; farm policy education

1. Inputs-resources: Organizational sponsorship and networks; funds; organizational

design, facilities, equipment; philosophy, mission, goals, objectives; staff, resource
people, volunteers; local and external research knowledge and relevance; cultural,
economic, and political context.

4.4 Reasons projects are rarely evaluated

Although extension educators, funders, and administrators are in favor of evaluating

extension programmes, honesty requires us to admit that most of us are not overly
enthusiastic about undertaking it. There are many reasons for resistance and these
include:

The first form of resistance is fear, particularly the fear of change that evaluation might
precipitate. It is the nature of organizations to be self-protective and defensive.
Evaluation and organizational comfort appear to be somewhat incompatible because
evaluation challenges organizations to change. We all resist change to some extent.
Although evaluation is not revolutionary, it is a handmaiden to gradual change, and we have
to recognize that our reluctance to participate in evaluation is partially a reluctance to
embrace needed change.

Another resistance to evaluation comes from our need to avoid embarrassment about
potential bad news. We need to know the quality of our efforts, but we also have a fear of
finding out the truth about our achievements, particularly if we lack confidence. Most of
us avoid tests for the same reason. We need to face up to our personal and organizational
ambiguity regarding our need to know and our fear of knowing.

Still another real resistance results from the fact that evaluation is often seen as an
additional task to an already impossible workload. Those whose job description includes
evaluation may need only to be reminded of this. However, potential benefits may have to
be discussed and identified if collaboration is to become a reality among those who do not

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have a formal professional responsibility for under-taking it. Benefits include recognition
for achievements, opportunities to improve practice, establishment of accountability, and
learning new lessons about our efforts; and

The other reason is lack of time and resources - Evaluation is regarded as an expensive
exercise.

4.5 Exploding myths about evaluation

Several evaluation myths have often discouraged extension managers from engaging in
useful evaluation.

Myth #1: Evaluate only when mandated. It is a myth that evaluation should occur only if it
is mandated. On the contrary, evaluations that are self-initiated are more likely to be
taken seriously for immediate programme improvement. Programmes become responsible
and excellent just as often through self-initiated evaluation.

Myth #2: Evaluation is an add-on. It is a myth that evaluation is an add-on activity or at

most a pretest with a posttest. It is most meaningful when it is integrated with decision
making at every stage of programme planning.

Myth #3: Evaluation is an activity for experts. It is a myth that evaluation should be
undertaken only by technical experts. Yes, complex methods can be used; however,
systematic evaluation can be undertaken by inexperienced managers, and specialists and
educators themselves can be helped to critique their own work.

Myth #4: Outside evaluators are best. It is also a myth that evaluation should be done
only by external, outside, objective evaluators. Yes, external evaluators are often useful in
challenging insiders to address what they have overlooked because of their
nearsightedness. However, internal, self-initiated, and subjectively oriented evaluations
also can be rigorous and valuable. In fact, because they often are participatory in
generating, analysing, and interpreting data, they may result in greater acceptability of
the findings and recommendations.

Myth #5: There is one best evaluation approach. Still another myth is that there is one
best way to conduct an extension evaluation. Some approaches are probably better than
others for addressing particular types of questions or concerns. However, the many types
Agricultural Extension Module – ZSN & C.S Page 51
of evaluation approaches have their own strengths and limitations. Some situations require
quantification and measurement, while others require qualitative, descriptive, and
subjective data. Alternative approaches will be briefly described later in this unit.

Myth #6: Quantitative data are best. A mixed-methods approach combining qualitative
and quantitative methods can lead to better understanding and appreciation of phenomena
under evaluation and provide triangulation, convergence, and collaboration of results from
different methods. Qualitative methods are best for understanding the nature of
something, while quantitative methods help in appreciating its extent.

4.6 Stages of Evaluation:

There are 4 major types of evaluation at stage levels, namely (i) the inception evaluation,
(ii) the interim or midterm evaluation, (iii) terminal or completion evaluation and (iv) post
project or impact evaluation.

The inception evaluation is conducted after the starting of the first year of project
implementation. It helps to review the first period of the project progress.

The interim or mid-term evaluation is done at the mid-way of the project period. This
exercise helps to review the progress in term of what has been achieved with regard to
expected effects, therefore on the basis of reviews the corrective measures are taken.

Terminal or completion evaluation is generally done at the end of project period and it is
usually taken to indicate what has been achieved by the project funding sources.

Post or impact evaluation is done a few years after the completion of the project
implementation. This evaluation exercise will be conducted after such project became a
routine or regular work that is about 2-3 years after the project termination in order to
evaluate the extent to which the project has contributed in achieving the broader national
development objectives. Therefore, this latter evaluation also refers to as the impact
evaluation of the project.

Activity 4.1 (about 15 minutes)

Extension officers often consider evaluation exercises a threat. What can an

evaluator do to reduce this threat?

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Am sure you had a number of answers on your list. Creating positive evaluations images
is one way. Read on below to understand how this can be done.

SELF STUDY QUESTIONS AND EXERCISES

1. Why is monitoring and evaluating extension programmes important?

2. Discuss the resistance to evaluate extension programmes.
3. Discuss evaluation myths that have often discouraged extension managers from
engaging in useful evaluation.
4. List at least three evaluation purposes.
5. What should be the areas of focus of programme evaluation?

Agricultural Extension Module – ZSN & C.S Page 53

UNIT 5: EXTENSION METHODS AND TECHNIQUES

Extension methods may be defined as the methods used to create situations in which
communication can take place between the extension officer and the client. Thus,
extension methods are means by which people/farmers are organized or encouraged to
participate in educational activities. An understanding of different extension methods help
the sender of the message to select an appropriate method which suits his or her subject
matter to be delivered and the type of audience involved in the learning process. It is
however, understandable that every method has certain advantages and disadvantages and
there is no one single method which suits all the situations. Research indicates that aids
used in combinations are always better than any one type of aid used alone. Usually for
learning to be most effective and for adoption to be rapid, combination of methods is
normally recommended. The onus is on the extension officer within the limit of available
resources to determine what combinations or set of methods will assist in the goal
achievement.

5.1 Extension methods

There are several extension methods extension officers can use therefore; choice
depends on certain factors such as the specific goals, the number of people targeted and
the capacity of the extension service (van den Ban and Hawkins, 1996; Albrecht et al,
1989). Traditionally, extension methods are classified into three: individual, group and
mass methods.

5.1.1 Individual Methods

The individual methods consist of visits of an extension officer to clientele’s /farmer’s

homes or vice versa. At such a contact, face-to-face interaction ensues. The extension
officer meets the clientele /farmer at home or on the farm and discusses issues of mutual
interest, giving the farmer both information and advice. The atmosphere of the meeting is
usually informal and relaxed, and the clientele/farmer is able to benefit from the visit as
an individual. This individual contact between the extension officer and the client/farmer
can take a number of forms; the following are some of the methods:

5.1.1.1 Farm visits

Farm visits are the most common forms of personal contact between an extension officer
and the client/farmer and often constitute over 50% of the extension officer’s activities.

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At times, the extension officer will make a farm visit spontaneously if he happens to be
passing by and it is convenient to drop in. Such informal visits may have no specific purpose
but are a useful way to assist an extension officer to obtain first hand information on the
client’s/farmer’s problems/challenges, needs, and opportunities. In addition, even if the
extension officer just drops in to greet the client/farmer and his or her family, this short
visit can do a lot to foster mutual respect and friendship. Because they take up so much of
the extension officer's time, they are costly and coverage is small and the tendency for an
extension to visit the same client, it is important to be clear about the purpose of such
visits and to plan them carefully especially if they are not demand-driven.

5.1.1.2 Office visits

Just as an extension officer visits the client/farmer, so s/he can expect that from time
to time, the client/farmer will visit him or her at his or her office. Such a visit is often a
reflection of the interest which the extension officer may have aroused among the local
farmers. The more confidence local farmers have in the extension officer, the more likely
they are to visit him or her although this may not be the best measurement. Such office
visits are less time consuming for an extension officer. While no extension officer would
wish to be overwhelmed by such visits every day, s/he should let the clients/farmers to
know which times s/he can be available in the office.

5.1.1.3 Telephone calls

In today’s modern technology, communication with the clients/farmers on electronic

gadgets such as cell phones, radio messages etc are easy where infrastructures are
available. If the telephone is used, however, it will not be for long discussion but for
passing on specific advice or information for instance about commodity prices.

5.1.1.4 Informal contacts

Clients/farmers can meet an extension officer without prior arrangements. This could be
by the roadside, at social gatherings such as market days, funerals, filed days, traditional
celebrations, religious events etc. By so doing, it will bring him or her into contact with the
clients/farmers with whom s/he is working. By attending such events, s/he can become
well acquainted with the area where s/he works and with the farmers and their problems,
and s/he will be able to pass on ideas and information on an informal basis.

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5.1.2 Group Methods

The use of groups in extension has become more common over the past decades especially
with the promotion of participatory approaches. Group methods are characterized by
reaching many clients/farmers who have some degree of opportunity for interaction and
feedback. Group extension is the most important method for advising and promoting the
interest of a large number of small scale farmers/clients. To be effective, however, it also
has to be supplemented by individual and mass extension methods. Some of these group
methods include: meetings, demonstrations, field tours, field days and trips.

5.1.2.1 Group meetings

The group or community meeting is a useful educational forum where the extension officer
and clients/farmers can come together, and ideas can be openly discussed and analysed. It
is important that the clients/farmers know in advance what is to be discussed, time and
place so that they can prepare themselves. When group meetings are promoted, it is
advisable that they be held in a neutral place. Some examples are: cooperative meetings,
Farmer’s association meetings, crush pen association meeting etc.

5.1.2.2 Demonstrations

Demonstrations are very important methods of communicating innovations to the

clients/farming community. Clients or farmers would like to see how a new idea works, and
also what effect it can have on increasing production or welfare. Both purposes can be
achieved by means of on-farm demonstrations. A demonstration is a particularly powerful
method to use with farmers who do not read easily. A demonstration will give such farmers
the opportunity to observe at first hand, for example, the differences between a
recommended new crop practice and traditional practices. The strength of the
demonstration should lie in its simplicity and its ability to present the farmers with
concrete results and above all, the need for it. In such a case, they serve more if they
have been planned by the clients/farmers than where they are planned by the extension
officer or extension organization.

Demonstrations are divided into two principal types: method demonstrations and result
demonstrations.

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Method demonstrations

Basically, method demonstrations show the clients/farmers how to do something. In the

method demonstration, the client/farmer is shown step by step for example, how to plant
seeds in lines, how to make a wooden maize sheller, how vegetables are preserved etc. The
extension officer can only conduct a method demonstration only if the clients/farmers
have already been convinced or accepted the particular practice but need to know how it
can be done practically or how to do it themselves.

Result demonstrations

The main purpose of result demonstrations is to show

clients/farmers that a particular new recommendation is
practicable under their local conditions. In result
demonstration, the farmer is shown the end product of
two practices, that is, a new or recommended practice
and an old practice for them to compare. Comparison is the
important element in a result demonstration. For example,
comparisons between compost and no compost, between
recycled seed and certified seed, or between use of
fertilizer and no fertilizer. In this case, "Seeing is believing" is an age-old adage. In
conservation farming it is called “Conservation farming works” or “Look and learn.” Unless a
client/farmer has actually seen the good results of an innovation already been convinced,
s/he will not be convinced by the extension officer's recommendations.

Both method and result demonstrations are extension activities that require a lot of
thought, careful planning and efficient execution. Although the two demonstrations differ
somewhat in their purposes, they share a lot of common points and, in terms of their
preparation and execution, they can be considered together.

5.1.2.3 Field days

A field day is a trade show to which all stakeholders in

agricultural sector are invited to display their products and
pass information to. Field days are arranged in places where
a large group of clients or farmers can gather to see trials
and demonstrations. There are usually run in a more informal
and less highly structured manner. The purpose is often to
introduce a new idea and to stimulate the interest of as
many clients/or farmers as possible. A field day should be
Agricultural Extension Module – ZSN & C.S Page 57
interdisciplinary in order to bring extension, research and other agencies together into a
coordinated educational undertaking. Field days can be held on farmers’ field, Farmer
Training Centre or research centre. However, field days held on farmer’s field are more
effective than the one held on FTC or research stations. Normally, a field day takes the
whole day and involves visiting the field, discussions and viewing exhibits and displays.

5.1.2.4 Field trips

A field trip is a carefully planned educational visit in which a group of farmers visit a place
of interest for first-hand observation and study of something that cannot be brought to
the learning group. The visiting group makes its trip under the guidance of a person well-
informed about the given area under consideration. Field trips are usually of short
duration. They may involve less than an hour and usually do not require more than 2 or 3
hours. For example, farmers would like to be given a chance to see how other farmers
cultivate their land, and to exchange ideas and experiences with them. It is important,
therefore, that the area to be visited be in some way similar agriculturally to that of the
visiting farmers.

5.1.2.5 Field tour

This is a special visit made to several places or points of interest. It is a carefully planned
educational activity and may require a day, several days or even weeks. It is also conducted
for first-hand study of something that cannot be easily brought to the learning group.

5.1.3 Mass Methods

The aim of mass methods is to address a large number of people at once. It is particularly
useful in making large numbers of people aware of new ideas and practices. It is equally
good to announce sudden emergencies, campaigns or crusades. It is clear that mass
methods have a function mainly in stimulating clientele after which they seek additional
information by individual or group contact. Traditionally, mass methods are limited by low
level of feed-back. Examples are radio, posters, agriculture shows, displays and exhibits,
leaflets, fliers etc.

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5.1.3.1 Radio and Television

The coming of relatively solar panels and solar operated TVs has made rural community to
have access to more information. For example, the Department of National Agricultural
Information Services (NAIS) and other extension organizations provide extension
services to clients by use of these electronic gadgets such as ZNBC, Muvi TV, and other
community media.

5.1.3.2 Agriculture shows

Towards the end of the agricultural season, shows are held in Zambia. First, ward
agricultural shows followed by district, provincial and finally the national shows are held.
The objectives of these shows are to:

 Spread new innovations/ideas in farming;

 Provide an opportunity for farmers to discuss their
problems with fellow farmers and share experiences;
 Encourage competition in order to stimulate farmers to
improve their farming practices;
 Advertise goods and services available to farmers; and
 Sometimes it provides farmers with the opportunity to market and sell their
produce.

5.2 Extension techniques

These are means to achieve extension methods. In this section, only extension techniques
that are commonly conducted in the field are discussed. These are: Role plays, workshops,
seminars, conferences and discussions.

5.2.1 Role - Playing

Simulation involving a simple plot and participants are assigned roles to act out the
situation that is subject to discussion thereafter. There is normally no script, however,
participant are allowed to apply their own experience and skills to create learning
environment. Discussions should follow role playing during which the audience will freely
assess the points raised and jointly come about alternative solutions. Role plays are
commonly promoted by Ministry of Health and Community Development, Mother and Child
Health.

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5.2.3 Workshops

A workshop is a programmed group meeting held for a specified focus. It can be conducted
either in an open environment or in a structure. Basically, it is designed in such a way that
more time is spent on hands-on aspects than theory. It focuses on skills and is held
between one week to two weeks. It comprises between 10 – 25 participants. The
participants are active in deliberations and facilitators are required. Keep in mind that in a
workshop people expect to participate so try to talk for only 20 minutes in an hour. Ice-
breakers such as exercises and other interactive activities are done.

5.2.4 Seminar

A seminar is an educational event that features one or more subject matter experts
delivering specialised topics primarily via a lecture. In a seminar, an expert does the
“work” while the audience is doing the active listening. The participants must come away
from the seminar with the knowledge, so the attendees' progress is sometimes tracked
individually or as a team. A seminar, because of the learning nature of the experience,
typically has a smaller number of attendees (10 – 100) and takes a day to one week.
Seminars are used to present technical reports or papers on a specified topic.

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UNIT 6: MANAGEMENT OF EXTENSION ORGANISATIONS

6.1 Motivation of staff

Motivation is basically a feeling of happiness or contentment which takes place in

people depending on the circumstances on the job. The feeling of happiness is usually
a catalyst for effective work performance. Therefore, for workers to perform well,
and give their best etc, motivation is a very important management tool. The major
question is: How can workers get motivated and give their best at workplaces? You may be
aware that there are various factors that motivate workers.

Although writers disagree about the components of management systems which

motivate workers effectively, at least one writer has proposed two main types of
factors which stimulate or suppress work activity (Herzberg, 1959). In his analysis
regarding what constituted motivation at place of work, Herzberg classified the factors
on the basis of what he described as the “Two factor theory” and these are job satisfiers
or motivators and dissatisfiers or hygiene factors.

 Job satisfiers or motivators: Herzberg stated that the most important motivators
of workers at places of work are achievement, recognition, added responsibility,
opportunity for advancement and the work itself.
 Job dissatisfiers: On the other hand, the factors that cause workers
dissatisfaction are organization policy and administration, quality of
supervision, salary and working conditions can cause job dissatisfaction.

Factors involved in producing job satisfaction thus are separate from those causing
dissatisfaction. The first set of factors lead to growth and motivation, while
improvement in the second set merely reduces discontent. Hence, managers should
provide employees with opportunities for advancement and recognition, while at the same
time minimizing causes of dissatisfaction such as lack of policy, poor supervision, low
salaries and bad working conditions.

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6.2 Training

In today’s fast changing world, with its rapidly transforming kaleidoscope of social,
political, economic and technological factors, it brings about constant modifications in
the internal and external environment. It is against this background that all extension
service providers require a systematic in-service training programme for its members
of staff. Two types of training are desirable:

6.2.1 Short term training: This is the type of training regularly conducted for
staff and is done for not more than one year. Trainings such as workshops,
seminars, symposia, field days and many other short intensive courses are
some of the examples basically designed to acquire skills that is, hands-on and
are practical in nature.

6.2.2 Long-term training: These are courses conducted for a year and above.
These courses are designed to acquire knowledge for future use. Such
trainings are conducted in learning institutions e.g., Institutes, Colleges,
Universities etc.

6.3 Training Needs Identification

Chatterjee (1995) stated that “logically speaking, training ought to be imparted where
there exists a need for it.” Therefore, before the training programme for members of
staff is designed, it is vitally important that training needs are carefully and
systematically identified. Areas where training could bring about tangible and lasting
benefits must be defined in clear terms which are stated in training policies of most
dynamic organizations. If this effort remains vague or ambiguous, the extension
organization could end up wasting a great deal of time and scarce resources. In
diagrammatic form, this can be presented in Fig. 4 below.

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 Shortfall or training need

Level of knowledge,

Understanding, skills Level of knowledge, skills possessed by employee

and attitudes required

by job

Fig. 1: Training need

6.3.1 Organizational analysis: The first step to identify training needs is to consider
organizational structure, objectives, tasks, work culture, and its external environment. All
these provide relevant information as well as vital clues as to the areas where training is
needed. When analyzing the need for the training in an extension organization, the training
manager or officer needs to address the following requirements:
 Are there an adequate number of people to fulfill organizational objectives?
 Are these people equipped with the necessary skills and knowledge up the required
standard?

6.3.2 Job analysis: Secondly, job analysis has to be done and entails a detailed job
description, specification, experience etc. The focus, clearly, is on the job not an
individual. An analysis of the jobs and their various components provides a clear pointer as
to the requirements of skills and knowledge as well as attitudes that need to be inculcated
in employees.

6.3.3 Individual analysis: Thirdly, the employee’s abilities, skills, knowledge and attitude
have also to be considered. Overall, the difference between the desired performance and
the actual performance is the individual’s training need. Against this, the actual
performance can be assessed through:
 Production data;
 Appraisal records i.e. APAS forms;
 Observation at place of work;

Agricultural Extension Module – ZSN & C.S Page 63

  Interviews with superiors;
 Examining the problems employees have etc

6.4 Challenges in management of extension organizations

The following are some of the management challenges in agricultural extension

organizations:
1) Staff pay is low compared with other government organizations, whereas
extension agents often have to live in difficult conditions far from schools and
other facilities.
2) Career development pathways are totally lacking or severely limited for many
field staff.
3) Extension officers are rarely transferred, citing logistic reasons.
4) Transport is a major problem, with inadequate budgets for travel allowances
and few vehicles.
5) For field staff there is a lack of support from or liaison with:
(a) supervisors, who do not always help remove constraints to effective
work;
(b) input suppliers, who do not always ensure an effective and timely distribution
of farm inputs;
(c) Trainers, who do not always stress the practical aspects of their
subjects; and
(d) Other government departments involved in rural development.
(6) The walls between different government departments can be high, which
makes cooperation between them difficult. Many rural people receive their
income from different branches of agriculture as well as from sources outside
of agriculture. The present structure of government makes it difficult to
develop an extension programme which helps them in an integrated way.
(7) Extension officers usually spend excessive time writing reports and collecting
statistics which are seldom used for improving rural development.
(8) Majority women have limited access to extension services.
(9) Extension officers are not accountable to the farmers but accountable to their
employers.
(10) The Ministry responsible for Agriculture is obliged to find employment for all

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 graduates in agriculture. Therefore, nearly the whole extension budget is used
for salaries, leaving very little for operating expenses, thus preventing the staff
from working effectively. Furthermore, it is impossible to select the most
suitable extension officers amidst corruption; and
(11) Lack of coordination/linkages among extension providers.

Activity 5.5 (about 20 minutes)

1. What is the best way to reach female farmers and farmers’

wives with agricultural extension in your district?

2. List challenges in management of agricultural extension organisations you

know of.

Agricultural Extension Module – ZSN & C.S Page 65

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