Increasing the outreach of information to farmers in Nigeria:

The Nigeria Agricultural Question & Answer Service (NAQAS)

ApproachBashir M. Sani

National Agricultural Extension & Research Liaison Services, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Nigeria

Introduction• Agriculture plays an important role in Nigeria• Increasing agricultural productivity is a key

challenge• Adequate/relevant information is a key

requirement for increased productivity• Agricultural extension/advisory services provide

access to knowledge and information• Technical Centre for Agricultural & Rural

Cooperation (CTA), established a Question and Answer Service (QAS) to provide targeted information on demand

• Nigeria Agricultural Question and Answer Service (NAQAS) domiciled within National Agricultural Extension & Research Liaison Services (NAERLS) was set up in year 2000

• Users have been mainly students, researchers and lecturers

• Farmers were the least beneficiaries• Service was office based and ‘on demand’• Need to develop a strategy to get across to

farmers

Methodology• Complementary usage of the existing

extension structures of NAERLS and NAQAS partners

• Partners operate within the Research Extension Farmer Input Linkage System (REFILS).

• Structure and mechanism for collaboration in technology generation, adaptation, dissemination and utilization with clear roles and responsibilities for all

• The major actors and partners in REFILS include:• Agricultural Development Projects (ADPs) in all

states of the federation (responsible for grass root extension)

• The National Agricultural Research System (technology generation)

• The private sector. • The REFILS also includes the government for

policy• NAERLS is a member of REFILS responsible for

extension specialist support to the ADPs.

Selection of farmer groups/communities• A total of 23 farmer groups located across Nigeria

were involved in the activity.

• Criteria was based on the following:

• NARIs (incl. NAERLS) – 15 adopted villages (villages selected by research institutes for the purpose of developing and evaluating technologies) as follows:

NAERLS 8 (Hqs and 5 Zonal Offices nationwide)

Other NARIs 7 (1 fisheries, 2 livestock, 4 crops)

• ADPs – 8 communities (across agro-ecological zones of Nigeria

• Each unit of operation was supported with $66/month

The information delivery/question generation process

• Use of extension agents as facilitators in ADP selected communities

• Use of Adopted villages extension staff as facilitators in NARI selected communities

• Mobile phones (request visits from the extension agent; questions via text messages)

• Radio programmes based on FAQs

z

Figure 1: Mode of flow of information

FARMERS/FARMER GROUPS

(Source of questions)

FACILITATORS

(Working with farmers/farmer groups to deliver information, generate questions and answering

of questions, documentation)

DESK OFFICERS IN ADPs/SUPERVISORS IN NARIs

(Supervising facilitators to generate questions from farmers/farmer groups and answering of questions,

documentation)

NAERLS ZONAL OFFICERS

(Supervising ADP Desk Officers/NARI Supervisors to generate and manage questions from farmers/farmer groups and answering of questions, documentation)

NAQAS HEADQUARTERS

(Production and airing of radio programmes, Overall supervision of the QAS)

RESULTS• During the activity period 2003-2008,

the proportion of farmers that used the service was very negligible compared to other categories of users

• As a result of the approach which allowed direct access to farmers, this figure rose significantly and was higher than any other category

Results of the approach

User Category 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007/

2008

2009 2010

Researchers 229 228 150 36 122 127 180

Lecturers/ Teachers

113 191 108 21 97 115 212

Consultants

Librarians/ Archivists

16

Students 585 403 342 384 1150 342 993

Extension agents

6 39 6 2 53

Policy makers/ planners

Farmers 3 38 5 6 236 801 2135

Others 12

Total 936 899 613 449 1686 1956 3520

Chart showing proportion of farmers out of the total that used the Q&A Service

Conclusion, recommendations and implications

• Based on the result of the approach used, more farmers utilised the QAS

• It is therefore recommended that where such structures exist, (e.g. REFILS) it would be advantageous to use them to achieve a wider reach of extension and advisory services to farmers

• The implication is that specialized services like the Question and Answer Service can deliver information and advisory services direct to farmers through already existing and functional structures, complementing and strengthening the structures

Thank you