By Steven Franzel (ICRAF) and Brent Simpson (MSU) presented at the 2015 MEAS Symposium

1. Photo:DanQuinn,HorticultureInnovationLab
Farmer-to-farmer extension: The quiet
transformation
Steven Franzel,
Head Rural Advisory
Services, ICRAF &
Brent Simpson,
Senior Ag. Officer,
FAO/Michigan State
Univ.
June 4, 2015
MEAS Symposium

2. What did we do and why?
• Farmer to farmer extension (F2FE) is widely used:
In Malawi, 2/3 of development organizations use it
and in Cameroon, 1/3.
• But almost nothing available on lessons learned
across countries or organizations.
• Our objective was to assess
– How organizations select, train, and reward farmer trainers
– Organizations’ and farmers’ views on effectiveness
– Ways to enhance effectiveness and sustainability
• We conducted surveys of organizations using F2FE
(26-30/country) in Cameroon, Kenya and Malawi)
and farmer trainers (100-200/country)

3. Key finding no. 1:
Organizations’ views on benefits of F2FE
Percentages of organizations

4. Key finding no. 2: Motivations for farmers to become
farmer trainers: Cameroon, Kenya and Malawi
Motivations For becoming a trainer
% scoring motivation as important
Project material
benefits
Knowledge
Social status/
networking
Helping others
Income from
extension activities

5. Motivations for farmers to become and remain farmer
trainers: Cameroon, Kenya and Malawi
Motivations For becoming a trainer For remaining a trainers
% scoring motivation as important
Project material
benefits 22
Gain knowledge
61
Social status and
networking 17
Helping others
56
Income from
extension activities 14

6. Motivations for farmers to become and remain farmer
trainers: Cameroon, Kenya and Malawi
Motivations For becoming a trainer For remaining a trainers
% scoring motivation as important
Project material
benefits 22 22
Gain knowledge
61 49
Social status and
networking 17 23
Helping others
56 62
Income from
extension activities 14 37

7. Key finding no. 2: farmer trainers’ motivations
• Motivations vary among farmers and change over time.
• Programs need to identify lead farmers’ motivations and
provide low-cost incentives:
Motivation Incentives
Altruism, social status Contests, certificates, badges,
community recognition
Knowledge Training, study tours, training
materials
Income-generating activities Links to buyers of inputs and
services

8. Key finding no. 3: Gender imbalance in rural advisory services:
Farmer to farmer extension programs can help!
• Key problem: Women lack access to advisory services and proportion of
women extension staff is low.
• Farmer-to-farmer extension programs are an underutilized instrument in
addressing the gender imbalance in extension.
Figure 1. Proportion of staff and lead farmers who are women
40
33
43
21
5
33
0 10 20 30 40 50
Min. of Agriculture,
Malawi
EADD Project,
Uganda
28 extension
organizations, Kenya
% staff who are
women
% farmer trainers
who are women

9. Implications for improving EAS
• F2FE is an important (but neglected!) approach for improving
extension effectiveness.
• F2FE is not a substitute for extension staff, rather it is a
complement
• Understanding farmers’ motivations, and finding low cost ways
to motivate them, is a key to improving effectiveness
• F2FE can be used to increase numbers of women providing
extension services, but proactive measures needed, in recruiting
and training women.