Farmers’ field schools can be a game changer for agriculture sector
Farmers’ access to Agricultural Extension Advisory Extension services in Uganda is still limited and this has affected the growth of the sector.
The poor access to the technical services from the professionals has been attributed to the limited number of Extension Service providers and limited resources that the central Government allocates to the Local Governments to support Agricultural Extension services especially at the Sub county level.
Extension workers play a vital role in imparting information to farmers especially on issues related to quality inputs, pest control, good harvesting practices and controlling post harvest losses among other technical issues.
Government through the Ministry of Agriculture Animal Industry and Fisheries has tried to support farmers by recruiting Agricultural Extension service providers at the District and Sub-county level, but access to their technical guidance remains limited.
This is because of the challenging environment under which extension workers operate, with limited resources to support them move across their areas of operation and poor remuneration among other issues, affecting their performance. This has has greatly affected farmers.
Margret Masudio, a farmer from the West Nile region and also the publicity Secretary of Smallholder farmers in Uganda under their umbrella body, the Eastern and Southern Africa Small Holder Farmers Forum – EASSAFF – Uganda Chapter, says farmers can’t blame Government extension officials because of the in poor environment they are operating in.
“They can’t reach to every farmer in the Country particularly the smallholder farmers at the grass-root level since they are few and are supposed to cover wider areas at the sub county level,” Masudio says.
Based on the above background, farmers are now advocating for the integration of farmers’ field Schools in the Agricultural Advisory Extension Services where farmers can be empowered more effectively than the current system being implemented by the Government.
She observes that farmers at the grass root level have the capacity of sharing information among themselves, but they need support from Government in organizing them such that they can learn from each other.
“It’s very easier to establish farmers’ field Schools at the village level; what farmers need from government is the establishment of the farmers’ Field Schools at each village and empower the few farmers to become model instructors. This will help in promoting agricultural information sharing among farmers at the grass root level,” Masudio told this website during the recently concluded Uganda National Agricultural Extension Services week held at Kabira Country Club in Kampala.
The 2023 National Agricultural Extension Week was held under the theme; “Unveiling Innovative Pluralistic Agricultural Extension and Advisory Services actors, resilience and Competitiveness for food security and Commercial Agriculture”. The event brought together extension service providers, farmers and the academia.
In his keynote address about Agricultural Extension services in the Coffee sector, Dr Godfrey Kagezi, the Principle Coffee Researcher at the National Coffee Research Institute, noted that the establishment of farmers’ field schools can be game change in the agriculture sector.
Kagezi observed that many Agricultural Scientists especially researchers have been engaging in research aimed at solving some of the challenges affecting smallholder farmers, but this has been done without the input of the stakeholders especially the small scale farmers.
“Government should not focus more on recruiting Agricultural Extension Services providers but also focus more on strengthening farming groups. These groups can be a source of information to the scientists to come up with solutions that address their scientific challenges,” he said.
Agriculture Sector contributes about 23 % of the GDP and employs the largest percentage of Ugandans.
