Farmer-to-farmer extension approach in Malawi: a survey of organizations

To improve smallholder farmers’ access to information, many extension services use farmers t o help disseminate information that their fellow farmers can use to help increase agricultural productivity. This extension approach is referred to as “farmer - to - farmer,” and the farmer extension agents are variously referred to as lead farmers, model farm ers or extension multipliers, among others. The objective of the study is to characterize and assess the farmer - to - farmer extension approach and its application in Malawi by drawing from the experiences of organizations that employ the approach in their ag ricultural development programs. It is part of a series of studies being conducted of organizations conducting farmer - to - farmer extension and farmers involved in such programs in Malawi, Kenya and Cameroon. Sampling was done using the snowball method, in w hich extension managers using farmer - to - farmer extension were interviewed and respondents directed interviewers to other potential respondents. The sample included 9 international non - profit organizations, 7 national non - profit organizations, 4 governmenta l services, 3 farmer organization s and 2 private companies . In most cases, both the organization and the community were involved in choosing the lead farmers. In only two cases did the community have no role. Selection criteria varied considerably and inc luded literacy, residence in the community, ability to communicate well, and being a hard worker. Some organizations were aware that their lead farmers were serving as lead farmers for other organizations. Lead farmers tended to be about the same age and s omewhat better educated than other farmers , but of the same wealth level. Most held other leadership positions in the community. The main functions of l ead farmers were to train other farmers (72 percent), prepare and manage demonstration plots (56 percen t ) mobilize farmers for meetings (48 percent) and disseminate information (48 percent). Most lead farmers worked with a single group of farmers but t he number of farmers that each lead farmer worked with varied considerably, with a median of 25 and a range of 10 to 100 . The number of lead farmers per extension staff varie d considerably; the median number was 15

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