Agro-pastoral field school members are investing in side businesses and prospering
22 May 2023
Rural Extension & Capacity Development
Capacity development is a critical cross-cutting theme of all RFS projects, focusing on introducing, strengthening and maintaining the capabilities of people, institutions and local organisations to develop resilient food systems within their communities. Within the RFS programme, the development of rural extension services and capacities of agricultural extension officers is essential to this process.
Sub-Saharan Africa is home to 60 percent of the world’s remaining uncultivated arable land, yet the continent’s agricultural potential remains untapped. Over 60 percent of Africa’s population relies on agriculture for employment, most of which are smallholder farmers operating on less than 5 hectares of land. These smallholder farms are characterised by low levels of productivity, constrained by a lack of irrigation, quality inputs, access to credit, mechanisation, and storage facilities. Moreover, participation in farmer extension and capacity development programmes is low and declining, further restricting the capacity of smallholder farmers to adopt good agricultural practices.
Without access or exposure to information and skills for yield-enhancing techniques and technologies, smallholder farmers often resort to unsustainable agricultural practices, which further degrade available natural resources, leading to declining agricultural yields. This dynamic traps smallholder farmers in a cycle of low productivity and leads to a worsening of poverty and food security in rural communities.
Capacity development and rural extension activities introduce RFS farmers to new techniques and approaches for sustainable food production and sustainable land management. Sharing lessons on effective farming techniques, innovative agricultural methods, market needs, and sustainability issues, such as land degradation and deforestation, will help smallholder farmers identify areas that are constraining production and implement best practices to sustainably optimise use of the available natural resources.
RFS projects are also focusing on the training of agricultural extension officers in order to broaden the scope of extension service. Beyond new agricultural techniques and technologies, RFS adopts a more holistic approach to rural extension development, incorporating SLM and IWRM approaches, introducing off-farm incoming generation activities, enabling farmers to mitigate and adapt to climate change, and enhancing women and youth access to new skills and technologies.
RFS extension interventions aim to move away from a top-down approach to learning towards a new paradigm, one that promotes a two-way exchange between extension officers and farmers and between farmers themselves. The RFS programme works to document and scale this learning approach across all 12 RFS country projects.
Rural extension & Capacity Development is a cross-cutting theme that is central to all RFS country projects. Capacity development activities are implemented across multiple levels, from farmer beneficiaries to extension officers to government platforms and institutions. Activities are wide-ranging, including the establishment of knowledge exchange platforms, facilitation of practical field exercises and hands-on learning, establishment of demonstration plots and Farmer Field Days, and the organisation of exchange visits both locally and regionally between country projects.
In Burundi, FAO is working closely with Farmer Field Schools to train farmers in land and water conservation techniques through hands-on group learning, knowledge exchange, and field visits. The RFS Ghana project is holding a series of annual training sessions to improve the capacities of public extension service providers, as well as lead farmers who provide farmer-to-farmer extension services. In Nigeria, Farmer Field Days are used to showcase the viability and benefits of Good Agricultura Practices with a focus on Sustainable Land Management and Climate-Smart Agriculture.
Explore the RFS Country Projects to see more examples of how RFS countries are implementing Rural Extension & Capacity Development activities.
Stories from the Field
Explore our stories from the field to learn more about how RFS country project teams are implementing activities related to the programmatic theme of Rural Extension & Capacity Development.
Relevant resources
We have a growing library of reports, briefs, case studies, media, tools and guidelines. Explore all resources related to Rural Extension & Capacity Development to get greater insight into our programme activities.
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Evaluation of the Impacts of Women's Welding Granary Activities in Improving Food and Nutrition Security and Resilience of Rural Households in the Regions of Tahoua, Maradi and Zinder
31 October 2022More infoTo better understand the impact of Women's Welding Granaries in the RFS project sites, the National Representation and Technical Assistance Unit (CENRAT), and the Family Farming Development Programme (ProDAF) conducted a survey to see what the effects have been on the ground.
In total, the project targets 3669 GFS members (45% in Maradi, 31% in Zinder and 24% in Tahoua) with 8 villages per region practising GFS. 244 women were surveyed in the study, including men’s focus groups in each village to form a holistic impression of the impact.
ProDAF contributes to reversing the trend of land degradation through the promotion of the dune fixation technique
31 October 2022More infoThe RFS Niger project team presents their context, approaches and lessons learned in reversing land degradation.
This presentation was part of Learning Lab 3: Best practices on Sustainable Land Management for achieving Land Degradation Neutrality of the 2022 Resilient Food Systems Annual Workshop in Blantyre, Malawi.
Advisory services supporting community innovations: integrated landscape management through FFS and APFS
- Uganda
- Burundi
- Tanzania
- Rural Extension & Capacity Development
- Sustainable Land Management
- Knowledge & Learning
- Presentations
11 October 2022More infoFarmer Field Schools (FFS) are helping communities work together to achieve common goals. In this presentation, RFS Tanzania, Burundi and Uganda present their experiences with FFS as well as their lessons learned.
This presentation was part of Learning Lab 5: Advisory services supporting community innovations: integrated landscape management through Farmer Field Schools and Agro-Pastoral Field Schools of the 2022 Resilient Food Systems Annual Workshop in Blantyre, Malawi.
Country Projects
Burkina Faso
Burundi
eSwatini
Ethiopia
Ghana
Kenya
Malawi
Niger
Nigeria
Senegal
Tanzania
Uganda
Regional Hub
Project Themes
Agroforestry & Reforestation
Gender
Integrated Water Resource Management
Knowledge & Learning
Monitoring & Evaluation
Rural Extension & Capacity Development
Science, Policy & Institutions
Sustainable Land Management
Value Chains & Market Access
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