AGRA and other stakeholders in the agricultural sector are developing a framework on how the government can institutionalise the private sector-led extension approach called the Community-Based Advisor (CBA) in order to increase the number of extension agents in the country.
AGRA believes that this approach will complement the government’s efforts in providing extension agents for work and also create jobs for youth.
Qureish Noordin, AGRA’s Programme Officer Extension and Capacity Building, said during a side event organised by AGRA at the 6th Africa-Wide Agricultural Extension Week in Abuja that they aim to find a way the CBA’s can be institutionalised and make sure that they are recognised both by the government, communities, and private sector.
The side event is themed ‘Institutionalisation and Sustainability of Private Sector-Led Extension Approaches (Community-Based Advisors).
He said 90 per cent of countries in sub-Saharan Africa have a big challenge in terms of extension workers. He noted that the ratio of one officer to farmer ideally should be one to 500, but in most countries, it is one to 2000 or 10,000.
Noordin said AGRA trains government officials together with its implementing partners and the private sector on what is called a private sector-led approach using Community-Based Advisors (CBA).
“So, once the government officers have been trained, they go out there together with the communities and set criteria that they use to identify and select individuals. Once they are selected, they are given training in terms of good agronomic practices and good extension approaches. As they grow, they are also given training on marketing, post-harvest management, and others, and then they link with other partners.
“They are not paid; they generate their own income; they become agents of seed companies, agro-dealers, and off-takers, and they make commission out of that, but the government has to be involved. Once the government comes in and their officials are trained, then they have the capacity to take it out there because the good thing is that they don’t have to pay these CBAs because they generate their own income”, he said.
He said AGRA sees this model as one of the main processes through which African governments can help enhance the efficiency of the extension system.
Noordin, however, said the side event is mainly looking at how AGRA and the private sector can institutionalise the CBA and make sure that they are recognised by the government, communities, and the private sector.
He said they also hope to get ideas from different countries and generate these models, and then the government can institutionalise and certify the CBAs, give them ideas, and make sure they have the correct information they give to farmers.
“So, from here, we hope that we come up with a more comprehensive framework on how the government can institutionalise the CBAs”, he added.
Tajudeen Yahaya, CEO of Extension Africa, while speaking with Nigerian Tribune, said the government alone cannot provide the kind of extension in terms of the number of extension agents needed in Nigeria; hence, there is a need for private sector players to come in.
He said currently in Nigeria, there is one extension agent for 10,000 farmers, and by standard, there should be one extension agent for 500 farmers, or a maximum of 800 farmers.
“So it means we need more agents. The current extension agents from the government side are complaining in terms of their payment system, and they are also not enough, so we need private players to come either as a company bringing extension agents or as big companies doing extension services.
“There is also a need for the private sector to look at extension as a standalone service and make sure that it is available to industry players, and I think it provides job opportunities for young people.
“So, private extension works because it would handle the issues of availability of extension agents, sustainability of extension, and reliability of extension services”, Yahaya added.
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