A change in perspective

Listening to farmers. Responding to farmers' needs. These are the new rules of research. But, if scientists are beginning to communicate and collaborate with farmers, why are extension agents often failing to apply the same principles? In many regions, extension services continue to promote inputs and technologies such as chemical fertiliser and pesticide which resource poor farmers, particularly women farmers, cannot afford and that, in the longer term, are not sustainable. And, too often, farmers struggle to find the advice and information they need in order to improve their livelihoods.

In Benue State, in central Nigeria, shortage of accessible farmland and declining soil fertility have combined to reduce crop yields, and to limit growth in household incomes. Traditional farming techniques, based on periods of long fallows, cannot overcome these constraints and chemical inputs are unaffordable. Productivity can only be increased through adoption of appropriate agricultural practices. And yet in Benue, as elsewhere, farmers need the right kind of information if they are to improve their crop and livestock production.

Breaking down the barriers

However, by enhancing the capacity of agricultural support services, the provision of relevant, accessible and affordable information and skills is being noticeably improved within the region. Through a collaborative DFID project with the Co-operative Extension Centre (CEC) of the University of Agriculture, Makurdi (UAM), resource poor farmers in three Local Government Authorities are being provided with improved training. Communication networks are also being developed and strengthened between and amongst farmers, agricultural development workers and researchers. Audu Grema, Assistant Co-ordinator for DFID's Rural Livelihoods and Environment Programme in Nigeria, reports that the word of success is spreading, "We are currently having requests from neighbouring states who have heard about the successes of this project. They have begun to ask their own extension systems for training or farmers are requesting visits to the project areas to see the results for themselves in order to be able to replicate them laterally in their own states."

A 'mind shift' is not always easy to achieve but, for the first time in many years, many extension officers are themselves realising that, by putting the farmers' needs first, they are also learning during the process. To achieve such an attitude and behaviour change takes time but, although it may be gradual, the process appears to be working. And, although extension provision may not always have been appropriate, the training and information dissemination is being delivered through existing extension agents because this is viewed as the most sustainable option.

The extension agents are not the only ones that are being encouraged to alter their way of thinking. Audu Grema points out that many of the solutions to production constraints are actually within the grasp of farmers but that it requires a break in the existing culture which has become established over the last few decades. "Dependency on high input systems that have been promoted over the previous decades cannot just on go, it's impossible. Many farmers are too dependent on the provision of advice and resources in the desire to be seen to be adopting modern techniques. However, increases can be achieved with better management and by making better use of simple, low-cost technologies."

To raise awareness of these alternative techniques in an effort to supply farmers with the greatest range of options, communication is also to be provided through the use of radio and printed material. Training within the Co-operative Extension Centre will enable production of high quality mass media so that farmers are continually exposed and encouraged to explore the solutions required to solve their own productivity problems.

It is no mean feat to remove the information barriers that have existed within the region. But, by September 2001, it is envisaged that the success in effectively communicating quality information to farmers will have brought about the supportive policy environment required to ensure that agricultural support services continue to deliver relevant information in an appropriate manner.

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