agricultural extension and ras policies review

Agricultural Extension and Rural Advisory Services Policies review in (East)

Africa and their alignment to the CAADP framework

Oladele O IProfessor of Agricultural Extension

South Africa

Introduction

Policy has been generally and variously defined as :a course or principle of action adopted or proposed by an organization or individual; a principle or rule to guide decisions and achieve rational outcomes,

a statement of intent, framework for operations and practices, and legal framework (Oladele 2011, 2012, GFRAS 2012, Suleiman and Hall 2005).

.Oladele (2012) stated the dearth of extension policy in sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries

Different forms of extension policy in sub-Saharan African countries are provisional extension policies, decrees and proclamation and legislated extension policy,

GFRAS through the Nairobi 2011 and Manila 2012 declarations and other alliances as the frontiers of knowledge in RAS process have gained the attention of the research and development world on the need for RAS policy

Introduction Policy beliefs have been neglected in the literature on agricultural policy-making

Donors and domestic policy makers hold fundamentally different policy beliefs in Ghana and Uganda (Mockshell and Birner 2015)Globally, the advocate and proponents of RAS policy are stressing the need for many governments and organizations to move from “opinion-based policy” towards “evidence-based policy.

This is mainly due to the fact that the policy-making process is inherently political and, that the processes through which evidence translates into policy options often fails to meet required quality standards.

Introduction

Extension policy is different from extension models and approaches

Policy development is different from policy review and strengthening

Strategy is on off shoot of policy

Policy formulation

Factors affecting policy formulation

Kenya The vision of this policy is to have “ The Kenyan agricultural extension clientele demanding and accessing appropriate quality extension services from the best providers and attain higher productivity, increased incomes and improved standard of living” National Agricultural Sector Extension Policy (NASEP)(policy formulation) Developed by Key stakeholders with the objective of making extension service delivery more effective and efficient. Has Strong focus on promotion of pluralistic and demand driven extension service. Addresses funding modalities and regulation of extension services Establishes legal mechanisms and organs for regulation  Policy Validation The document was subjected to Two National Stakeholder Workshops with participants drawn from Government Public institutions, commodity parastatals, universities, colleges and research institutions Private sector institutions (producers, processors and exporters Individuals (farmers and fisher folk) NGOs Development partners The policy was subjected to all necessary parliamentary procedures

Tanzania

Uganda

Policy Contents

Policy Monitoring and Evaluation Indicators

Policy development process

Extension finance

Policy alignment to CAADP

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Thank you for your attention