Malawi – The status of extension and Advisory services in Malawi: a case study of policies,...

National Case Study on Extension and Advisory Services,

MALAWI

Emmanuel KaundaUniversity of Malawi, Bunda College

MALAWI - “The Warm Heart of Africa”

Presentation Lay out• The National Setting-Background• National Policy Environment for Agriculture &

Rural Development• National Policy Environment for Extension and

Advisory Services• Status of Extension Services• Funding• Impact• Recommendations

The National Setting-Background

• Malawi’s economy- Agro-based

• Agric contributes 80% of workforce & 39% of GDP

• 52.4% living below the poverty line

• Malnutrition levels are high (MDHS 2011):

stunting = 47%

wasting = 5%

underweight = 13%

• Mw’s agriculture is dualistic : small scale and large scale

• 3.0 million farm families are in the small scale

• 80 % of country’s food production

• 56% of the smallholder farmers have a land holding size of ½ hectare

National Policy Environment for Agriculture & Rural Development

Malawi Growth and Development Strategy (MGDS)

National Regional

Comprehensive AfricanAgriculture Development Programme (CAADP)

•Ref. document•Philosophy : Pov Red through sustainable economic growth and infrastructure. Agric. one of the six priority areas in MGDS•Aim : Increas. agric productivity and food varieties thus increasing economic growth

•Six Percent Agricultural Growth•Ten Percent Budgetary allocations

Agriculture Sector Wide Approach (ASWAp)- Main Gvt programme on Agric- large & small scale

Agriculture and Food Production

Up to around 2005- Maize shortage- (Chirwa et al 2007)

0

500

1 000

1 500

2 000

2 500

3 000

3 500

4 000

000

tonn

es

2003-2004 2004-2005 2005-2006 2006-2007 2007-2008 2008-2009

Malawi

Imports

Production

Total cereal imports vs production

From 2005 import situation changed – Introduction of fertiliser subsidy- Banda 2008

National Policy Environment for Extension and Advisory Services

Extension Approaches in Malawi since 1950

4 Pronged; Master Farmer, Staff Training, Public Relations Unit, Nat soil & w c. P – Top -down

Conv. Approach (Group approach)-cinemas, campaigns,magazines –Top down

Block Ext Syst- ehanced Group approach; Modified T&V; logical framework – Top down

Plurastic -demand driven, Commodity led, NGO based- volunteers, extensionist, Farmer Led (Farmer organisations- NASFAM, influence piolicy)

50 60 70 80 90 2000 2010

Status of Extension Service-Public

Organisational Structure of Ministry of Agriculture Irrigation and Water Development Source: Masangano & Mthinda 2010 

Technical Administration & Finance

CAETS

DAES DLR DF

CAS (INST)

Agricultural Development Divisions (ADDs)Programme Managers

District AssembliesDistrict Agricultural Development Officers (DADOs)

Extension Planning Areas (EPAS)Agricultural Extension Development Coordinators (AEDCs)

SectionsAgricultural Extension Development Officers (AEDOs)

DCPDAHI DPDARS

VillagesFarm families

Principal Secretary

Ratio of Public EO/Farmers5,376,000

CountryAgricultural

Labour Extension

Force OfficersRatio* of ExtensionOfficers to Farmers

Botswana 783,020 525 1:1500

Malawi ,376,000 3,183 1:1700

Swaziland 453,750 359 1:1300

Tanzania 16,884,000 6,113 1:2800

Zambia 3,804,930 2,175 1:1700

Zimbabwe 5,950,00 2,047 1:2900

Aina 1992

1984-85

• Recommended ratio; 1 : 750 or 1 : 850

• Current ratio: ranges 1:600 to 1:5000

• Most recent data: the Ministry employed 300 frontline extension workers in 2011 thereby increasing the number of extension workers to 1,887 against 2,880 established posts leaving 993 positions vacant (35 %).

• With 3,487,520 farming households, current official ratio of extension officers to farmers is 1,848.

Gender Disaggregation-2009 Major Categories of Extension Staff

Secondary school dip.

2-3 yr. Ag

diploma

B.Sc. degre

e

M.Sc. /Ing. Agr. Deg.

Ph.D. degree

Sex F M F M F M F M F M

Senior Management Staff         3 6 3 2 1  Subject Matter Specialists (SMS)    

21 30

21 60 3 5    

Field-level Extension Staff 300 1460

115 125            

Information, Communications & Technology  (ICT) Support Staff 3 4 1 1 1 1   1    

In-Service Training Staff                    

Total Extension Staff: 2,167 303 1,464

137 156

25 67 6 8 1  

TOTAL MALES: 1695TOTAL FEMALE: 472% FEMALE: 22% (NGO 24%)

www.worldwide-extension.org

Linkage mechanisms between Public Extension Service and other Actors

Technology Transfer Section of Dep of Agric Research Services (DARS), Guide to Agriculture Production (GAP), Field Days, Joint Committee meetings, .. And also Agriculture Technology Clearing House Committee (ATCC)- approve technologies placed in GAP

Interaction (Linkages) between different clusters of actors within the Maize ASTI system in Malawi Source: Safalao et al 2007. (CTA )

Farmers

Research - Univ

Research - GVT

AdvocacyPolitics

Extension, Gvt.

Extension-NGOs

Credit Ins. Markets

Input suppliers

In general, weak linkages between Research and extension

Funding

Funding

TITLE OF PROGRAMME

1991/1992d REVISED

% 2000/2001e % 2010/2011f %

Administration 5,096,188 8 204,774,355 44 - 0

Crop Production - 0 23,012,300 5 23,954,954,386.

95.6

Agricultural research 7,630,072 13 61,912,510 13 - 0

Animal Production/veterinary services

8,247,299 14 50,110,400 11 36,509,576 0

Agricultural extension

1,533,266 2 89,674,329 19 776,952,639 3.11

TOTAL AMOUNT 60,847,220 100 465,863,661 100 25,084,645,746

100

Percentage of Funding of Extension Services over the years

Challenges with New Policy

• Coordination

- Conflicting technical messages conflicting technical recommendations

- creation of conflicts among farmers

- congestion of NGO’s in one area or competition over clients

• Lack of understanding by front-line staff of the approach

• Articulation of demand small scale farmers

IMPACT

Difficult to assess

• Changes in per capita agric output;

• 1.9% in 1970s

• -2.3 % in 1980s

• 5.5 % in 1990s

• 0.36 % 2000-2005

• Increase in maize production attributed to subsidised

Recommendations

• Mechanisms to be found to assess impact of extension approach/policy

• Coordination mechanisms are crucial to the success of the new extension policy

• Issues of gender needs to be seriously addressed in service provision where women constitute about 51% and are the “farmer”

Acknowledgements

• CTA

• Stakeholders that were consulted

• Bunda, University of Malawi