Improving agricultural extension with digital data

Abstract

Using digital dissemination tools, extension services can more easily report on achievement of targets
··· Planners can use farmers‘ digital feedback to adapt planning of activities to local needs
··· Policy-makers can review the work of extension services based on data from the ground

Full text

Information exchange between farmers and extension services through voice messages
• An automated 24/7 hotline, accessible by normal phone calls, gives farmers access to pre-recorded
agro-advisory messages adapted to local context. Farmers can also record further questions.
• At an online platform, registered extension ofcers can listen to their local farmers’ questions. The
ofcers record answers and send them as push-calls.
• To each farmer question, extension ofcers add thematic keywords that are stored online. Analysis
of these keywords allows detecting trends in farmers’ information needs.
Our project showed how digital tools can
help to ensure that public money for agricul-
tural extension is spent wisely. Governments
often fund ofces, training centers, and the
salaries of extension ofcers, but cannot eas-
ily review the impacts of these expenditures.
This is because the activities of extension
agents are not monitored systematically. Ex-
tension services rarely generate quantitative
data on the effects of their work.
Many extension ofcers use eld books to re-
port towards their direct supervisors. But that
information cannot be aggregated at larger
scales. This makes it hard for policy-makers
to evaluate the work of the extension service
as a whole.
Nowadays, large numbers of farmers can be
reached through their mobile phones. When
new ICT tools are used in the delivery of ad-
vice, this generates useful data for monitoring
and evaluation.
We tested the new digital advisory service
“Ushauri” (see Box below). As an example,
this generated the following data:
• Which topics were disseminated
• How many farmers were reached
• How frequently each ofcer gave advice
Credit: Bioversity International/J. Steinke
Improving agricultural extension with digital data
What works where for which farmer Policy brief No. 2
Box: “Ushauri” digital service
In summary
• Using digital dissemination tools,
extension services can more easily
report on achievement of targets
• Planners can use farmers‘ digital
feedback to adapt planning of
activities to local needs
• Policy-makers can review the work
of extension services based on
data from the ground
Jonathan Steinke, Berta Ortiz-Crespo, Jacob van Etten
December 2019

The Alliance of Bioversity International
and the International Center for Tropical
Agriculture (CIAT) delivers research-
based solutions that harness agricultural
biodiversity and sustainably transform
food systems to improve people’s lives.
Bioversity International and CIAT are
CGIAR Research Centres.
Bioversity International
Via dei Tre Denari, 472/a
00054 Maccarese (Fiumicino), Italy
Tel. (+39) 06 61181
Fax. (+39) 06 6118402
bioversity@cgiar.org
www.bioversityinternational.org
In our study, 86% of all registered
farmers actively used the digital ser-
vice, making one call per week, on
average. This type of data allows set-
ting performance targets, so the ex-
tension service can improve from
season to season.
When all extension ofcers use the
same digital tool, these data can be
aggregated and analyzed at district,
or even national scale. This way, poli-
cy-makers get better evidence about
the performance of the public exten-
sion system.
Extension services often follow a pre-
designed project approach, focusing
on certain value chains. But agricul-
tural activities are diverse, and farm-
ers’ needs can change over time.
To help extension services better re-
spond to farmers’ current needs, digi-
tal tools can continuously collect and
aggregate data on farmers’ questions
and information needs.
Using our “Ushauri” tool, extension
ofcers answered farmers’ questions,
but also noted keywords – which ma-
jor topic each question was about.
This showed: Over the rst season,
36% of all questions asked by farmers
related to land preparation, and 14%
of questions were about groundnut
diseases.
This type of evidence can be used by
planners. For example, the extension
service can now plan upcoming train-
ing and dissemination activities about
proper land preparation. Because all
questions and keywords are stored at
a single online platform, large-scale
analysis can be performed, for exam-
ple, at regional level.
• Increased use of digital tools in
the provision of extension, and
ICT training for extension ofcers.
• Extension ofcers should report
on their activities using digital me-
dia. This could be done using a
custom ODK survey, to be lled
by each ofcer once per week.
• A set of key indicators for meas-
uring the performance of exten-
sion services needs to be dened.
These indicators should be calcu-
lated from the data reported by
extension ofcers.
• Data about farmers’ questions
should be taken into account in
the planning and programming of
extension services.
Credit: Bioversity International/B. Ortiz-Crespo
The “What Works Where for Which Farmer” project is funded by UK Aid from the UK government through the Sustainable
Agricultural Intensication and Learning in Africa (SAIRLA) programme. The project has generated evidence about how
digital tools can help smallholder farmers, especially women and youth, to access information that can support the
implementation of sustainable agricultural intensication (SAI). Over the course of the project, novel concepts for digitally
improving advisory services were tested in Ethiopia, Kenya, and Tanzania. Researchers, farmers, and extension agents
specied the design of a new digital information service for SAI through a participatory design process.
The project