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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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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