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Moderated conference on rural advisory services for family farms: 1-18 December 2014

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Wed, 3 Dec 2014 13:09:58 +0100
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My name is Paul Zaake. I have a degree in Agriculture and accumulated broad knowledge and experience on rural advisory services. I have got the opportunity to be in the “shoes” of a researcher, extension worker and farmer. Currently my work involves linking all of them in rural part of Uganda.



This message deals with three issues: The village elites; contradicting advice to the same problem; and putting the last first.



The Village Elites



Even among the small-holder farmers, the village elites exist. The village elites have a comparative advantage to resources and opportunities. These village elites transform and become medium-sized family farms which are, or may become, market-oriented and commercial. The rest who are usually not connected, live far in the very remote areas, do not have access to other side income, whose mobility and influence is limited continue to survive as subsistence small-holder farmers. While the village elites can adopt the risky innovations, the extreme subsistence farmers cannot afford to take risks. Sometimes they are not informed about the extension training sessions. The extreme poverty existing puts them at a disadvantage in the society and their social status is seriously affected and the fear grows. The fear creates the shyness behavior which prevents them actively participating in the community development initiatives.



Smallholder farmers have unique issues. For example here in Rakai District, I have visited farmers who do not have the necessary information about managing Banana Bacterial Wilt, yet the government and other stakeholders have for long carried out massive education of the public through workshops, posters, farm based training and others. The demonstrations are usually continuously done at the relatively successful farms and they expect extreme poor smallholders to learn from such farms. However, the existing social status gap creates a virtual boundary between these two repelling social worlds. These repelling social worlds include the medium-sized family farmers and the subsistence smallholders.



Contradicting Advice to the Same Problem



Coffee producer organizations in the Rakai District linked farmers to the Crop Protection Department in the Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries. This was during the critical period when Coffee twig Borer was at the peak of wiping out the established coffee farms. The producer organization also reached out to other stakeholders like the Uganda coffee development authority. Most of such training involved selecting a representative group of farmers for training on how to manage, control and prevent the disease. The roles include buying farm inputs in bulk, securing incentives as groups and marketing together. Still the challenge is that many members of such groups are the village elites.



We have various providers of rural advisory farmers for farm families, however the differences in the recommendations to address similar issues is a serious problem. For example on the issue of low yields due to soil degradation, one organization may recommend using organic fertilizers and other sustainable land management practices. Then another organization will also come and recommend to the same farmer to use inorganic fertilizers to address the problem of soil degradation.



Put the Last First



Let us put the first last. Instead of setting up demonstration plots at the village elites’ farms, let us establish these farms at the land of the smaller family farms. Instead of confusing farmers with opposite strategies and then reconciling, let us first reconcile the best strategies based on research. Rakai Environment Conservation Programme uses a Farmer Field School model and it is better compared to other models. In Uganda, the poor quality of rural advisory farmers was reportedly caused by the inefficient corrupt technical officers. So the government through restructuring has militarized the rural advisory services. Though it was intended to bring in the army officers to monitor, it has been observed that the army officers are the one distributing the farm inputs like coffee seedlings and they are undergoing thorough agricultural training. We are yet to see the results of this approach. While the activists are opposing this approach, some people are happy for it.



There is a need to involve family farmers in the formulation of policies. Farmers can be involved through continuous community based consultation. The rural advisory services should be decentralized such that the decisions made and activities better suit the grassroots farmers in the specific area. Local producer organizations should be empowered and their recommendations especially on the performance of the rural advisory service providers should be taken seriously.



Paul Zaake

Program Coordinator

Rakai Environment Conservation programme (RECO), 

P.O Box 21 Kyotera, 

Uganda

Mobile: +256-75- 26026

Email: zaakepaul (at) gmail.com

Skype or facebook: paul.zaake

Whatsapp or Viber: +256779627992

Linkedin: http://ug.linkedin.com/in/paulzaake/

Web: http://zapweb.yu.tl/



[To contribute to this conference, send your message to [log in to unmask] For further information, see http://www.fao.org/nr/research-extension-systems/res-home/news/detail/en/c/264776/  



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