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UPSCALING EXTENSION COVERAGE AND IMPACT UNDER PLURALISTIC,
DEMAND DRIVEN AND DECENTRALIZED AGRICULTURAL EXTENSION
SERVICES SYSTEM
(DAESS)
Paper prepared by
Lilongwe ADD for presentation at the MAFAAS extension week
held at MIM in
Lilongwe
By
Mussauwa Vincent Wandale
Acting Chief Agricultural Extension Services Officer
Lilongwe Agricultural Development Division
JULY 2016
1
Contents1. INTRODUCTION...................................................................................................................................3
2. RESULTS OF STUDIES ON DEMAND DRIVEN, PLURALISTIC AND DECENTRALISED EXTENSION SERVICES......................................................................................................................................................4
3. BACKGROUND OF DAESS IN MALAWI..................................................................................................6
4. LADD INNOVATIVE APPROACH FOR UPSCALING EXTENSION COVERAGE AND IMPACT UNDER DAESS8
5. OUTCOMES REALISED IN THE PROPOSED INNOVATIVE APPROACH TO DAESS.................................12
6. CHALLENGES, OPPORTUNITIES AND SUCCESSES ENCOUNTERED IN LILONGWE ADD ON DAESS......13
7. CHALLENGES ANTICIPATED IN THE PROCESS OF IMPLEMENTING THE INNOVATIVE APPROACH......17
8. WAY FORWARD.................................................................................................................................18
9. RECOMMENDATION..........................................................................................................................20
10. CONCLUSION.................................................................................................................................20
11. REFERENCES...................................................................................................................................21
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1. INTRODUCTION
Agricultural extension can be defined as a function of providing needed and demand-driven
knowledge and skills to rural men, women and youth in a non-formal, participatory manner,
with the objective of improving their quality of life (Qamar, 2005).
The economy of Malawi is much dependent on agriculture yet the quality of agricultural
extension services in Malawi has gone down in recent years despite the existence of an ultra-
modern Agricultural Extension Policy since year 2000 with its accompanying innovative
delivery system called Decentralized Agricultural Extension Services System (DAESS). The draft
Malawi Agriculture Policy (2015) notes that the adoption rate of innovative marketing and
production systems by farmers has been low. This is evidenced by few exportable agricultural
commodities which do not usually meet international quality and quantity standards and
significant supply deficiencies of all kinds of agricultural commodities at most local markets in
Malawi. The quality of life of farmers has not improved significantly over time to attribute to
any extension multiplier such that food insecurity is a common phenomenon amongst
Malawians and successive UNDP Human Development Reports ranks Malawi low amongst
Nations in human development. The impact and coverage of the extension services has been
very small despite abundant resources allocated for agriculture from the national budget and
from development partners as depicted in the Malawi database of agricultural development
projects over years. The agrarian change process where agriculture is the engine for growth of
industries in an economy seem to have failed for Malawi such that the country ranked
miserably in most United Nations Millennium Development Goals from year 2000 to 2015; and
the poverty of most rural and urban people is worse even after 50 years of independence.
This pathetic situation has worried the farmers who complain aloud that extension services
were effective in the past when extension services were not pluralistic, demand driven and
decentralized. Development partners as well are not happy with the many resources that have
gone into agriculture development in Malawi with very insignificant impact. This realization has
3
made all partners in development of Malawi to consider impact or result based reporting with
emphasis to case studies to try to remedy the defect.
This grave realization of failure is a clear opportunity for extensionist to prove their worth and
defend their acclaimed agricultural extension delivery system by bringing forward innovative
arrangements to make extension services delivery cover wide areas and have significant impact
on the intended beneficiaries as well as the nation at large. This paper discusses the modalities
proposed by Lilongwe ADD to upscale coverage and impact of agricultural extension services in
the country in order to support the Malawi Export strategy and the draft Malawi Agriculture
policy both of which seek to increase the export base for the country while meeting local
demand for goods and services. It covers an introduction; results of studies on demand driven,
pluralistic and decentralized extension services; background to DAESS; approach proposed by
LADD to upscale extension impact and coverage; outcomes realized in the implementation of
an innovative approach to DAESS in LADD; some challenges, opportunities and successes of the
system in LADD; challenges anticipated in implanting the innovative approach to DAESS in
LADD; way forward; recommendations, conclusion and cited literature.
2. RESULTS OF STUDIES ON DEMAND DRIVEN, PLURALISTIC AND DECENTRALISED EXTENSION SERVICES
Studies show that the reorientation of extension services away from centralized and top down
extension services delivery systems towards demand driven, pluralistic and decentralized
extension services system has many advantages despite the challenges encountered. The
results of one study conducted in Kenya on the effect of pluralistic and demand driven
approach on agricultural technology transfer among small scale farmers in Siaya County in
Kenya by O Ochola et.al (2002) show that pluralistic and demand driven extension services
improves transfer of agricultural technologies. The improvement was due to the use of farmer
groups as avenue for transfer of technology and collaboration among agricultural extension
service providers. However, the study showed that the improvement was affected by
inadequate government funding for collaborative activities; technology packages
4
recommended by researchers were beyond small scale farmers ability due to low economic
status; lack of sustainability of farmer groups; and inadequate technical knowledge necessary
for engaging in demand for extension services.
Another study conducted in Mozambique show that within the pluralistic extension system of
Mozambique, NGOs and private commodity extension Organisations play an important role in
supporting smallholder farmers. And according Rajalahti R of the World Bank support to
agriculture programme, agricultural extension and rural advisory services provide critical access
to the knowledge and information that rural people need to increase the productivity and
sustainability of their production systems, and thus improve the quality of their lives and
livelihoods.
Chowa C. etal (2012) writing on farmer experience of pluralistic agricultural extension in Malawi
noted that farmers appreciate having access to a variety of sources of technical advice and
enterprise specific technology. However, most service providers continue to dominate and
dictate what they will offer. Market access remains a challenge as providers still emphasize
pushing a particular technology to increase farm productivity rather than addressing farmers
needs. Although farmers work in groups, providers do not seek to strengthen these to enable
active interaction and to link them to input and produce markets. This limits farmers capacity to
continue with innovations after service providers pull out. Poor coordination among providers
limits exploitation of potential synergies amongst actors.
Masangano C and Mnthinda C (2012) in their descriptive study to assess the status of extension
services in Malawi 10 years after implementation of the pluralistic and demand driven
extension policy noted that there are many players in agricultural extension services delivery as
a result of the pluralistic policy but the government extension service remained the largest in
terms of staffing and spread. The primary focus of most Organisations was to help smallholder
farmers improve their livelihoods with special effort to women. Government extension service
was characterised by limited resources, but many field staff with low qualifications. Most of the
other extension organizations had limited staff concentrated at higher levels with no grassroots
staff thereby depending on government extension staff to reach farmers. Strong institutional
5
linkages existed at district levels with local agencies as well as with non-governmental
organizations but there were weak linkages with education and research institutions.
3. BACKGROUND OF DAESS IN MALAWI
Any system needs connectivity among its various parts to be called a system. And systems
usually exist within other systems.
According to the Malawi agricultural extension policy (2000), agricultural extension services
system for the delivery of agricultural extension services to farmers in Malawi was designed to
respond mainly to the Decentralized System of Government adopted in 1994 where District
Councils are semi-autonomous parts of central government. And because of the democratic
nature of government adopted in 1994 all extension services had to be demand driven because
of the freedoms provided for in the new constitution of Malawi. For the same reason the
monopoly enjoyed by government to be the sole provider of extension services ended and
multiple players were allowed to deliver extension services to farmers in a pluralistic way. This
then meant that the Decentralized Agricultural Extension Services System (DAESS) had to exist
under the Local Government System which is governed by the councilors and various district
council committees.
The Decentralized Agricultural Extension Service System (DAESS) being a system hatched to fit
into the new democratic and decentralized form of government had to have features that fit
into the local government structure; viz Village Development Committee (VDC), Area
Development Committee (ADC), council standing committees, District Council. For the
articulation of community demands at village level the Councils use the Village Development
Committees to carry out appraisals in a participatory way to develop the Village Action Plans
(VAP). In order to assist the community articulate their demands in all areas of development
the District Council mobilizes all stakeholders in the district through the District Executive
Committee (DEC) of key stakeholders headed by the Council Chief Executive Officer to make
teams for the appraisals. These stakeholders are at all levels from village level, area level and
6
district level. At district council level the ward councilors formulate Standing Committees of
council in key areas of agriculture and natural resources, health, education, finance, etc which
correspond to the various sectors of the economy. The council also establishes a market
information and technology system through creation of Resource Centres to assist the village
members know what the market demands and technologies available in order to make
informed choices of what to demand.
In line with the local government structure, the DAESS had to have features that fit into this
structure. Thus, as all development interventions had to land at village level, that is where
under DAESS the Model Village Concept was devised as an entry point of agricultural
development interventions with a view to totally transform the village following demanded
interventions articulated through the participatory appraisals as outlined in the Village Action
Plans. Through the model village various committees for agricultural interventions are formed
at village level during the appraisal following the Village Action Plans based on felt needs of the
village members. It is these committees that become the focus of agricultural efforts to impart
the demanded knowledge for solving a particular problem following the pluralistic approach
where many players are available for delivery of services, all of them responding to the Village
Action Plans. The delivery of the demanded agricultural extension services follows a
Harmonised programming approach where interventions are systematically planned,
implemented and evaluated with community focus. All the demanded interventions are
implemented with community leadership for empowerment with all other stakeholders acting
as supporters to avoid pauperizing the community with dependency syndrome.
Thus, agriculture extension wise, the extension delivery structure is as follows: at village level
there is the Village Agriculture Committee (VAC) and at group village level there is the Group
Agriculture Committee (GAC) of farmers and service providers to champion agricultural
programmes and report to the VDC; at area level there is Area Stakeholder Panel (ASP) and at
District level there is a District Stakeholder Panel (DSP) of technocrats and community members
all intended to coordinate and collaborate in delivery of extension services at their level in
response to the Village Action Plans to avoid duplication and expand coverage under the ADC
7
and the agriculture standing committee of council. At District level there is also the District
Agricultural Extension Coordination Committee (DAECC) which is a committee of technocrat
heads of various service providers and farmer Organisations that should guide the whole
extension services delivery system at district level and report matters to the relevant Service
Committee of Council for further action by full Council. All Village Action Plans are consolidated
at district level to form the District Development Plan (DDP). All this arrangement is embedded
in the District Development Planning Framework (DDPF) which is the main development
framework for the District Councils that is linked with the National Development goals. All
devolved sectors at district level follow the DDPF in their interventions in order for the Council
to ensure that they are indeed responding to felt community needs.
With the elections of councilors in 2014 for the councils, full decentralization is now possible
and it is a positive challenge for agricultural extensionist. All the devolved sectors including
agriculture have been fully decentralized now. Human resources shall now be recruited for a
particular district where they shall be under the jurisdiction of the District Council. This is an
opportunity to accelerate agricultural extension impact and coverage following the District
Development Planning Framework and the DAESS.
4. LADD INNOVATIVE APPROACH FOR UPSCALING EXTENSION COVERAGE AND IMPACT UNDER DAESS
The Lilongwe ADD extension department at its annual review meeting held in Salima in June
2016 agreed to focus much attention to all the systems and concepts that support the DAESS in
order to have wider coverage and impact. The general understanding of staff of the system was
generally disjointed where systems that constitute DAESS were seen as single entities which are
not aligned to the main system. This disjointed understanding created problems in programme
implementation which resulted in low impact and coverage. The agreement was therefore to
refocus the farmers attention towards their VDC as the leaders of all programmes following the
village action plan rather than focus on an employed government staff such as the AEDO as was
the case before. Now, with full decentralization in place and all Councils being under obligation
8
to implement demand driven services as outlined in the Village Action Plans and their
subsequent District Development Plans which are updated periodically, the question of
upscaling extension coverage and impact with innovative approaches becomes a must.
The first stage in response to the question of upscaling extension coverage and impact with
innovative approaches is to find out what the farmers are demanding and what institutional
and human capacity is available to respond to them. There is substantial institutional and
human capacity in government and private sector within LADD to respond to the community
needs because most people recruited in these entities have some relevant training for their job
descriptions although the number of service providers is quite low to cover all villages of the
country with demanded interventions. The issues that farmers are demanding are outlined in
the Village Action Plans developed through carrying out engendered participatory appraisals
where all the community demands in all sectors of the economy are articulated by building on
individual household needs articulated through the household approach. According to the
DDPF, every village across Malawi must have an updated Village Action Plan with issues of
agriculture well-articulated where agricultural technocrats from both Government and Private
Sector can isolate training needs and develop tailor made training curriculum. The curriculum is
then used to respond to the articulated community needs and is used by multiple extension
agents to train the targeted farmers in the demanded areas for standardization. These
targeted farmers then in turn champion Farmer to Farmer Extension at village level for greater
impact and coverage once they master the technologies learnt at their household level and so
become lead farmers.
The second stage in answering the question is how to reduce farmers’ apathy and draw the
interest of every farmer in the programme of responding to their needs in order to have
maximum impact. To address this question, there is need to systematically address in a
coordinated way one major problem that is currently affecting every farmer by involving the
farmers and all other actors concerned with the identified problem. This then means that the
intervention approach must involve selecting one value chain commodity that is available to
every farmer and identify a common problem affecting the commodity where interventions
9
would role from as an anchor activity to draw the interest of all farmers. Such a value chain
commodity in Malawi is local chicken with its perennial mortality problem caused by New
Castle Disease.
According to statistics for Lilongwe ADD, every farmer of the 845 thousand farming population
in the ADD has an average of nine (9) local chickens out of the total chicken population of eight
(8) million birds. Out of this local chicken population, over 60% of the chicken dies every year
due to New Castle Disease which is preventable through I2 and Lasota vaccines. This mortality
situation is the same across the country and is a nuisance to every household. Therefore, any
programme that involves saving the local chickens from this drastic mortality can touch and
involve every farm household in the country such that all farmers can be drawn into action.
With this generated interest by the farmers to solve a common problem of New Castle Disease,
other agricultural interventions can then take advantage to roll through by mainstreaming.
All villages across Malawi have Village Action Plans and all stakeholders are under obligation to
develop interventions in response to the Village Action Plans. Newcastle Disease is a nationwide
problem. It is therefore possible for the stakeholders to agree to indulge in a massive
Newcastle vaccination multimedia campaign using selected farmers as vaccination agents and
the Minister of Agriculture as chief advocate of the campaign to convince all local chicken value
chain actors to take part. Such a campaign can have significant impact for the entire agricultural
sector.
Malawi local chickens are organic and prolific in reproduction. According to literature, without
New Castle Disease mortality, the local chicken population can increase by about a hundred
fold within one year which can create an opportunity to expand local chicken markets to earn
surplus income for the farmers. That surplus income earned can be used by the farmers to
invest in the other agricultural programmes that respond to their felt needs as outlined in the
Village Action Plan. Once done with local chicken value chain, another value chain commodity
can be selected for similar intervention based on value added to the economy and so forth. In
that way the goal of increasing income and food security at community and national level can
be achieved in the shortest run.
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This massive Newcastle vaccination multimedia campaign can be rolled out as part of a grand
extension harmonized programme involving extension workers and selected farmers in every
village. These select farmers shall be identified by the community members to be trained by
extension workers as agents to assist the community to respond to the community expressed
needs. The selected farmers shall be designated as vaccination agents where they shall get a
vaccine-sales-commission as incentive upon vaccinating chickens of fellow community
members. The vaccine shall be sold to the community members at a fee reflecting cost plus
sales commission of vaccinating agent. The whole arrangement shall operate as a revolving
fund to reserve funds for the subsequent vaccinations. This revolving fund shall be managed by
the selected farmers themselves.
Experiential learning Agricultural schools combining the theory of farmer field school and farm
business school shall then be opened in all villages to train these selected farmers in the other
community demanded areas besides New castle Vaccination procedures. Community leaders
shall designate central places in the villages where the selected farmers shall erect makeshift
tents for conducting the experiential learning sessions. The learning sessions shall be under the
facilitation of an extension worker where each class shall have about 15 to 20 farmers meeting
once or twice a week for a maximum of two hours all season long. All government led or private
sector led field demonstrations shall be conducted with the leadership of these selected
farmers including data collection for various agricultural interventions in the village. The target
is that every selected farmer shall have a community following of 50 farmers where all
interventions learnt from the schools shall be relayed through harmonized demonstrations
involving all the 50 community members where the extension agents shall act as coaches and
supervisors. These agriculture schools and the selected farmers shall also be handy to be used
for other government interventions as lead farmers.
With this massive intervention, all local chicken value chain actors shall have to be geared
towards offering a quality service at their level to promote the value chain and improve its
efficiency at all levels. The community members shall have to be organized into legal groupings
and offered necessary capacity to fit into the value chain in response to their felt needs. The
11
various actors in the value chain shall need to gear well into the programme to avoid
information asymmetry that leads to poor decision making in response to felt community
needs. Issues of vaccine adequacy at every stage of the chicken population growth, marketing
of the surplus chicken locally and internationally, utilization of chicken waste, housing of the
increased chicken population, other chicken diseases control measures, feeds and feeding of
the increased chicken population, reinvestment of earned surplus chicken sales income in other
development needs of the community, banking support, insurance support, transport support,
utilization of chicken products, etc need fore-thinking through by the actors.
Systematic enterprise planning for each selected value chain commodity earmarked for
promotion shall have to be emphasized supported by quantifiable market demand where
production shall always respond to a determined market order so as to take advantage of Bank
Letters of Credit (LoC) against a specified order so as to easily secure the necessary project
financing from Banks that shall set the whole marketing process moving. For that reason profit
planning approach of management accounting shall have to be employed in budgeting for the
various aspects of the chosen enterprise. This profit plan shall aid in ensuring entire value chain
inter business connectivity in real time as well as individual intra business entity connectivity
that shall assist in individual business entity management and control within the value chain.
This profit planning approach once done well and set on internet/intranet shall ensure that
information flows smoothly across the value chain to aid in timely decision making for
individual business and industrial resilience.
5. OUTCOMES REALISED IN THE PROPOSED INNOVATIVE APPROACH TO DAESS
Since the agreement to reorient LADD extension service delivery approach the way described
above was made recently in June 2016 in Salima, the outcomes of this approach are yet to be
seen. However all districts have agreed to follow this approach including all departments of the
ministry of agriculture at ADD level who were briefed and adopted the arrangement including
the new castle vaccination campaign initiative. Funding is being sourced to brief all stakeholders
12
in the ADD following the local government structure of this new arrangement and solicit their
support for the programme. Implementation will follow the already approved annual work
plans and budgets for all stakeholders for the 2016/2017 financial year since no new activities
are being proposed. The only effect on the workplan will be seen on overachieving of activity
targets on same cost. Resources are being sourced to support the curriculum development
sessions as well the subsequent training of staff in the delivery of the curriculum which are not
covered in the current annual work plans and budgets. After three months of execution a
review meeting will be held to assess progress and modify the approach where needed.
With this approach there is much hope the programme will yield positive results.
6. CHALLENGES, OPPORTUNITIES AND SUCCESSES ENCOUNTERED IN LILONGWE ADD ON DAESS
The following are the challenges and opportunities of DAESS implementation in LADD which is
also a reflection of the entire country:
i. Most councils had not fully devolved (until 1st October 2016) which meant programmes
were disjointed according to sectoral Ministries rather than Harmonised at council level
following Village Action Plans which made implementation of programmes to be
disjointed as well with less impact. Most model village action plans were not fully
implemented due to lack of support from other stakeholders. There is now an
opportunity created by the announcement that government has decided to implement
full decentralization beginning 1st October 2016 which means that Councils will be in full
control of their staff as well as in control of programmes generated by the Village Action
Plans where DAESS shall be fully applied.
ii. The absence of ward councilors until 2014 created a vacuum for leadership at the
Council level and made Council Chief Executive Officers to be fully responsible for
council programmes along with sector heads, Village Development Committee and Area
Development Committees who had no full legal mandate. All council now have elected
13
council members in form of Ward Councilors to provide the needed leadership and
make necessary bylaws which are necessary for the smooth running of programmes and
systems such as DAESS.
iii. Most villages have no or old Village Action Plans and some even have multiple action
plans from various sector supporters/service providers like agriculture, health, works,
community development etc which confuse the community and creates conflicts and
negates harmonization. With full decentralization the councils can revise all village
action plans to reflects new demands and harmonize all sectors needs into one
document for the village for harmonized execution which is advocated by DAESS.
iv. Most committees created under the DAESS at all levels were not properly connected to
the corresponding committees of the Local Government structure creating parallel
structures and a disjoint in implementation of programmes. There is now a greater
understanding of full decentralization and dual reporting structures for council staff that
created divided loyalties have been removed such that all staff are under District
Councils and Council Chief Executives have power over all staff. This means that all other
sector specific committees created at any level where the local Government Committees
are present are now subordinate and report to the Local Government Committee at that
level such as VDC, ADC, Council Standing Committee, or Full Council. In case of the
agriculture sector, Village Agriculture Committees (VAC) and Group Agriculture
Committees (GAC) are subordinate to the VDC and should make reports to them, Area
Stakeholder Panel (ASP) is subordinate to the Area Development Committee (ADC) and
Area Executive Committee (AEC), District Stakeholder Panel (DSP) and District
Agriculture Coordinating Committee (DAECC) are subordinate to the Agriculture and
Natural Resources Standing Committee Of Council and Full Council and should make
reports to them.
v. Absence of up to date farmer demands due to absence of up to date Village Action
Plans created gaps in what the extension workers were providing and the community
demands making demand driven extension fail. Further the absence of a robust and
working market information and technology system in form of Agricultural Resource
14
Centres by Government made most farmer demands to be unrealistic and not geared
towards a perceived market demand. The presence of ward councilors, VDC and ADCs in
the Councils shall assist in ensuring that all development programmes responds to the
needs of the people through up to date Village Action Plans developed through
engendered PRAs supported by robust and working market information and technology
system in resource centres based at village level to make farmers make informed
choices of demands.
vi. Lack of stakeholder collaboration and coordination at district level resulted in most
PRAs conducted without multisectoral expertise due to sector orientation of
stakeholders rather than total development orientation as envisaged in Village Action
Plans. This also led to sectoral implementation of activities which deprived the
concerned communities of holistic development. The availability of Ward Councilors
and full decentralization shall solve this matter by empowering Council Chief Executives
to establish or strengthen stakeholder panels and coordinating committees that should
feed into the various standing committees of Council at all levels.
vii. The concepts of Malawi Local Government System, DAESS, Model Village, Farmer to
Farmer Extension, Harmonized Programming, household approach and community
appraisal through PRAs were usually executed as stand-alone concepts rather than as
jointed processes towards achieving a one whole which is a transformed and
empowered community which includes farmers. This disjointedness made the concepts
appear vague therefore easily got ignored or just lip serviced in execution by
stakeholders to the disappointment of community members. In principle, engendered
PRA should be done in a particular group village earmarked for total transformation,
building on the individual household needs articulated through the household
approach, led by the Village Development Committee (VDC) of council, supported by
multisectoral team of stakeholders in the council, in order to articulate community
members informed demands in that village, that should be recorded in the Village
Action Plans (VAP), which pluralistic and decentralized service providers of quality
services would respond to, following harmonized programming, by following the
15
concept of farmer to farmer extension that use the community members themselves in
intervention implementation for empowerment, increased coverage and impact. This
general understanding is an opportunity.
The following successes were registered in the LADD and other ADDs on DAESS
implementation:
i. Most villages in the ADD have Village Agriculture Committees (VAC) and Group
Agriculture Committees (GAC) that assist in articulation of farmers demands and
mobilization of community actions in agriculture like input purchase. There are notable
cases like of groups of over 2000 farmers that save cash to buy inputs valued in millions
of money and get trade discounts and delivery services of the inputs in time at their
convenient places. This is notable in lobi EPA and in Mitundu EPA. The collaboration of
village members towards establishment of cluster and mndandanda technology-out-
scaling stretches where harmonized demonstrations are carried out is also seen in most
districts as a result of DAESS. This has resulted in improved livelihoods for the affected
community members where most have food security all year round and are able to sale
cash crops to meet other livelihood needs.
ii. Most villages have embraced farmer to farmer extension through lead farmers who are
championing various agricultural technologies at village level through showcasing real
improvements in their livelihoods acquired through modern farming methods delivered
by extension agents which other village members emulate; which is a positive mark
towards empowerment as envisaged in DAESS.
iii. There are multiple service providers both local and international, not just in agriculture
but in almost all sectors of the economy, where farmers can choose those best able to
provide services to meet their demands. This is a stepping stone towards coordination
and collaboration which councils can take advantage of to harmonize executions under
DAESS.
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iv. The presence of most structures of DAESS in most councils viz DSP, DAECC, ASP, VAC,
GAC which only need human capacity building and financial capacitation to be able to
operate their functions well is a success.
v. There is considerable support by community members in council structures and
activities which creates a fertile ground for launching effective programmes in a
harmonized way for all sectors under DAESS.
vi. There has been overwhelming support from development partners in the DAESS such
that several development projects were developed to support its strengthening
including FICA, IRLADP, IDAF, ASWAP SP, SAPP which is a sign of goodwill for the system
DAESS.
7. CHALLENGES ANTICIPATED IN THE PROCESS OF IMPLEMENTING THE INNOVATIVE APPROACH
The proposed innovative approach to DAESS as outlined in preceding sections has a number of
anticipated challenges:
i. The Development Budget of the council has not been devolved by central
government despite the devolution of staff to the councils which will create funding
bottlenecks for the Village Action Plans as has been the case. This challenge can be
solved by embracing the spirit of decentralization fully where district councils have
mandate to forge links with other councils across the world in an autonomous way
and secure financing for its projects at council level. Councils can operate companies
for the sake of fundraising to implement the district development plans by using its
pool of highly trained professionals to manage these companies where they will
secure additional salary for extra work.
ii. The high vacancy rate in councils and ministry headquarters for all devolved sectors
shall hamper programme implementation at council level making farmers demands
not to be fully met. The gap can be filled by encouraging retirees and fresh
graduates to form agricultural extension delivery businesses to increase the number
17
of players in order to make pluralism work at farmer level in all villages of the
country. A deliberate effort can be made to ensure that all contracts for extension
delivery services be first offered to local entrepreneurs with a specific quarter which
the rest can be offered to foreign based firms.
iii. Reluctance of local banks to finance start up farming businesses because of the high
risk associated with rain fed farming and the low returns realized when heavy
investment is being considered such as construction of irrigation schemes which
take time to realize positive returns. The solution to this challenge is to encourage
councils to establish Venture Capital Funds from proceeds realized from the
businesses proposed in the preceding paragraph (ii) to sponsor start up businesses
of people of the council. Also the council shall have to find serious buyers of the
products the council can capably produce and secure from them binding contracts
with relevant Letters Of Credit (LOC) so that the concerned business entities can use
market operations to secure financing by using the Letters Of Credit in local or
international banks.
iv. Defiance by some development partners to follow the district development
planning framework resulting in disjointed operations. This challenge shall be
addressed by ensuring that VDCs do not allow any intervention that is not graced by
the council or is not embedded in the village action plans to take place in their area.
8. WAY FORWARD
In order to execute the foregoing and make DAESS function effectively, the following tasks need
to be done by all councils including those in LADD:
i. Briefing all District Councils by DADOs (Chief Executive, council chairs and standing
committee chairs) on the need to update the Village Action Plans and District
Development Plans for all stakeholders to gear well for demand driven interventions in
all villages.
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ii. Mobilization of all stakeholders in the district (DAECC, DSP, ASP, ADC, VDC) for the
assignment of updating the Village Action Plans and District Development Plans.
iii. Establishing a community based market information and technology system through
creating Resource Centres in all villages to enlighten the community members of market
demands and available technologies to guide their enterprise choices.
iv. Conducting engendered Participatory Rural Appraisals in all villages to build on the
individual household needs generated through household appraisal by using multi-
sectoral teams of stakeholders led by the Village Development Committee members to
articulate community demands and compile/update Village Action Plans.
v. Preparation of training curricula to respond to community demands in a harmonized
manner using multi-sectoral teams of stakeholders.
vi. Training of a multi-sectoral team of selected technocrat personnel from both private
and public sector on the delivery of the training curriculum in response to the
community demands under DAECC/DSP.
vii. Training of community members following the curriculum in response to the articulated
demands in a multi sectoral approach in integrated Agricultural Schools.
viii. Carrying out harmonized demonstrations of key selected needs by community
members for wider coverage and impact using lead farmers through harmonized
programming.
ix. Conducting a multimedia campaign for New Castle Disease vaccination for local
chickens for every farming household by using all the local chicken value chain actors.
x. Conducting a fundraising campaign to raise funds for the procurement of new castle
vaccine and rolling out the vaccination campaign programme.
xi. Establishing value chain specific clubs/cooperatives/companies/associations for
community members to link well in the value chain for operational efficiency.
xii. Preparing profit plans for the enterprises chosen for promotion following the value
chain approach at all levels of the chain by using a multisector team of experts with
leadership of the concerned entity.
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xiii. Carrying out participatory monitoring and evaluation of all interventions carried out in
response to the Village Action Plans to prepare case studies for the success and failure
stories of community members who have participated in the community demanded
interventions to show results/impact.
9. RECOMMENDATION
For the above mentioned actions to take place it is recommended that the Council Chief
Executive Officers and the District Council Chairpersons should champion this arrangement
rather than leaving it wholly in the hands of the DADO who is a mere sector head. This high
level political and administrative involvement shall make all other players to gear towards
achieving its goals in the shortest run. Besides the council, the cabinet should take this
programme as a priority and designate special days within the year to follow up the proposed
activities where all stakeholders involved should take part.
10. CONCLUSION
The DAESS is an integral part of the democratic dispensation Malawi embraced in year 1994
and it has come to stay as long as democracy stays in Malawi. It is a well thought out and
innovative system that all stakeholders in agriculture must support and follow. The interest of
farmers needs to be generated by addressing their most pressing problem first in a harmonized
manner for them to be drawn to listen keenly to the other programes earmarked to assist them
respond to their needs. Value chain orientation need to be emphasized for maximum impact
where one value chain after another is addressed systematically using multi media campaign
with Massive political support.
Once this proposed innovative approach of upscaling extension coverage and impact is
implemented as suggested in this paper, agrarian change process where agriculture is the
engine of growth for industries in an economy shall become real for Malawi. This agrarian
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change process will certainly fulfil the dream of our distinguished late President His Excellency
Professor Bingu Wa Mutharika who dreamed of a predominantly producing and exporting
Malawi: “May your brilliant soul rest in peace Your Excellency Sir while you continue covering
Malawi with your abundant spirit of grace just like all Great Saints of the World. LET IT BE SO!”
11. REFERENCES
The following literature were cited in this paper
a. The Malawi Agricultural extension policy
b. Draft Agriculture policy for Malawi
c. Final round Malawi agricultural production estimates report for 2016/2017
d. Extension department annual report for LADD 2016/2017
e. Guide to agricultural production and natural resources management in Malawi
f. United Nations Millennium Development Goals evaluation report 2015
g. UNDP Human Development Reports 2013, 2014, 2015
h. Eicher C.K. 2007. Agriculture extension in Africa and Asia.
i. Malawi export Strategy 2016 - 2020
j. Ochola et.al (2002): The effect of pluralistic and demand driven approach on agricultural
technology transfer among small scale farmers in Siaya County in Kenya
k. Rajalahti R (2009): The World Bank support to agriculture programmes
l. Chowa C. etal (2012): farmer experience of pluralistic agricultural extension in Malawi
m. Masangano C and Mnthinda C (2012): Descriptive study to assess the status of extension
services in Malawi 10 years after implementation of the pluralistic and demand driven
extension policy
n. DAESS concept
o. Case study concept
p. Harmonised programming concept
q. Local government system concept
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r. District development planning framework
s. Experiential learning concept
t. Model village concept
u. Multi media campaign concept
v. Farmer to farmer extension concept
w. Household approach concept
x. Resource centre concept
y. Value chain concept
z. Enterprise planning concept
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