increasing the outreach of information to farmers in nigeria: the nigeria agricultural question and...
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Bashir saniTRANSCRIPT
Increasing the outreach of information to farmers in Nigeria:
The Nigeria Agricultural Question & Answer Service (NAQAS)
ApproachBashir M. Sani
National Agricultural Extension & Research Liaison Services, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Nigeria
Introduction• Agriculture plays an important role in Nigeria• Increasing agricultural productivity is a key
challenge• Adequate/relevant information is a key
requirement for increased productivity• Agricultural extension/advisory services provide
access to knowledge and information• Technical Centre for Agricultural & Rural
Cooperation (CTA), established a Question and Answer Service (QAS) to provide targeted information on demand
• Nigeria Agricultural Question and Answer Service (NAQAS) domiciled within National Agricultural Extension & Research Liaison Services (NAERLS) was set up in year 2000
• Users have been mainly students, researchers and lecturers
• Farmers were the least beneficiaries• Service was office based and ‘on demand’• Need to develop a strategy to get across to
farmers
Methodology• Complementary usage of the existing
extension structures of NAERLS and NAQAS partners
• Partners operate within the Research Extension Farmer Input Linkage System (REFILS).
• Structure and mechanism for collaboration in technology generation, adaptation, dissemination and utilization with clear roles and responsibilities for all
• The major actors and partners in REFILS include:• Agricultural Development Projects (ADPs) in all
states of the federation (responsible for grass root extension)
• The National Agricultural Research System (technology generation)
• The private sector. • The REFILS also includes the government for
policy• NAERLS is a member of REFILS responsible for
extension specialist support to the ADPs.
Selection of farmer groups/communities• A total of 23 farmer groups located across Nigeria
were involved in the activity.
• Criteria was based on the following:
• NARIs (incl. NAERLS) – 15 adopted villages (villages selected by research institutes for the purpose of developing and evaluating technologies) as follows:
NAERLS 8 (Hqs and 5 Zonal Offices nationwide)
Other NARIs 7 (1 fisheries, 2 livestock, 4 crops)
• ADPs – 8 communities (across agro-ecological zones of Nigeria
• Each unit of operation was supported with $66/month
The information delivery/question generation process
• Use of extension agents as facilitators in ADP selected communities
• Use of Adopted villages extension staff as facilitators in NARI selected communities
• Mobile phones (request visits from the extension agent; questions via text messages)
• Radio programmes based on FAQs
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Figure 1: Mode of flow of information
FARMERS/FARMER GROUPS
(Source of questions)
FACILITATORS
(Working with farmers/farmer groups to deliver information, generate questions and answering
of questions, documentation)
DESK OFFICERS IN ADPs/SUPERVISORS IN NARIs
(Supervising facilitators to generate questions from farmers/farmer groups and answering of questions,
documentation)
NAERLS ZONAL OFFICERS
(Supervising ADP Desk Officers/NARI Supervisors to generate and manage questions from farmers/farmer groups and answering of questions, documentation)
NAQAS HEADQUARTERS
(Production and airing of radio programmes, Overall supervision of the QAS)
RESULTS• During the activity period 2003-2008,
the proportion of farmers that used the service was very negligible compared to other categories of users
• As a result of the approach which allowed direct access to farmers, this figure rose significantly and was higher than any other category
Results of the approach
User Category 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007/
2008
2009 2010
Researchers 229 228 150 36 122 127 180
Lecturers/ Teachers
113 191 108 21 97 115 212
Consultants
Librarians/ Archivists
16
Students 585 403 342 384 1150 342 993
Extension agents
6 39 6 2 53
Policy makers/ planners
Farmers 3 38 5 6 236 801 2135
Others 12
Total 936 899 613 449 1686 1956 3520
Chart showing proportion of farmers out of the total that used the Q&A Service
Conclusion, recommendations and implications
• Based on the result of the approach used, more farmers utilised the QAS
• It is therefore recommended that where such structures exist, (e.g. REFILS) it would be advantageous to use them to achieve a wider reach of extension and advisory services to farmers
• The implication is that specialized services like the Question and Answer Service can deliver information and advisory services direct to farmers through already existing and functional structures, complementing and strengthening the structures
Thank you