Assessing the Performance of Agricultural Advisory Models for Scaling-Out Conservation Agriculture with Trees in East Africa (Kenya)

Abstract

<p>Conservation Agriculture with Trees (CAWT) is promoted as a sustainable way to enhance farm productivity and address food insecurity in populous Sub-Saharan Africa. CAWT combines the three principles of Conservation Agriculture (CA), namely minimum soil disturbance, maximum soil cover, and crop rotation or association, intercropped with trees. For CAWT to deliver benefits in East Africa, it must be widely adopted by farmers. CAWT as a complex combination of practices requires effective agricultural advisory services (AAS) for promotion. There is little comparative evidence on utilised advisory models available in the region to inform the design of AAS for CAWT. This research took place in Machakos County, Kenya, under a CAWT promotion project, and assessed the performance of two participatory advisory models, Landcare and Farmer Field Schools, compared to the more traditional top-down Ministry of Agriculture (MOA) delivery model. To understand the advisory models performance, assessment criteria were used: inclusivity of men and women, efficiency in delivery, social networks for information sharing and collective action and improvements in understanding and uptake of practice change of CAWT. By understanding the studied advisory models, and building on their individual strengths, a pluralistic agricultural advisory system for scaling-out CAWT was outlined.<br/> Data was collected from 292 farmer respondents, who were members of farmer groups under the three advisory models and exposed to CAWT training. Gender disaggregated data on the assessment criteria was collected and key informant interviews, personal observation and training reports added context to the findings. Data analysis included logistic regression, social network analysis, and descriptive statistics.<br/> Research results found the participatory models improved farmers' practice of CA by 20 percent more than the traditional top-down MOA model, the effect of this reduced for FFS at the local sub-county level. Participatory models did not improve farmers' understanding or practice of agroforestry, or combined as CAWT above that of the MOA model however. Agroforestry practices promoted as part of CAWT, were not accepted by the farmer group members, with below 12 percent practicing. The participatory models, and the MOA Mwala site under the traditional model, enhanced social capital in terms of producing dense and connected social networks for information sharing amongst farmers, extension agents and organisations. All models promoted equal understanding and practice for men and women, but Landcare achieved greater empowerment of women in terms of establishing their prominent role in information networks. Participatory models were 31-51 percent more expensive to deliver than the traditional MOA model, due to the provision of meals to farmers and better remuneration of extension agents but took less of farmers' valuable time to deliver training.<br/> To scale-out CAWT in Machakos County, and similar locations within Kenya and the wider East Africa, it is recommended that participatory models be used. While these models did not consistently perform better than the MOA model across the assessment criteria, they did deliver multiple and greater benefits. MOA model in Mwala Sub-county performed as well as the participatory models, and better than the other two MOA sites, in terms of social networks, CA practice and information access. Extension agents at this site were more facilitative and participatory than the other MOA sites, highlighting the importance of the extension agent in determining the delivery of an advisory model. A pluralistic AAS system, with government extension and non-government organisation (NGO) service providers is recommended to deliver participatory models. Pluralism builds on the strength of each provider. Government extension has greater reach and sustainability while NGOs have more experience in promoting social capital through participatory models and access to alternative resource streams. Government extension can utilise participatory models, as witnessed in MOA Mwala, provided extension agent capacity is built and NGOs would have an important role in this process.<br/> In conclusion, findings from this research partly agree with the literature that participatory models perform better than top-down models to enhance the adoption of complex practices, provided the community is interested in the practices, which was not found for agroforestry in this study. Advisory model delivery is however variable as shown by MOA Mwala. Research findings highlight the following recommendations. Implementation of pluralistic AAS should include capacity building of extension agents in participatory models, building of bonding and bridging capital, focusing on empowerment of women and utilising opportunities to reduce cost such as through rotational funds and local facilitators. Future research is required on appropriate motivators for extension agents to support participatory models; social networks for transferring complex information and collective action; and trade-offs between participatory extension delivery and the higher costs of such delivery modes. Future investigation could take place as an action research, while simultaneously promoting CAWT through a pluralistic and participatory advisory system.</p>