NEW APPROACH TO AGRICULTURAL EXTENSION IN
MADAGASCAR
Actors involved and participatory approaches
The experience of Madagascar in previous extension
approaches (that is teaching and visit extension approach
to technology transfer) has not yielded the expected
results. Many farmers were left on their own for information
on farm inputs. Insufficient funding and inaccessibility
to credit by farmers constituted a major problem to
extension services in Madagascar. This has led to the
current popular support for farmers’ organizations, collaboration
and diversification strategies embarked upon by
some private agencies. For instance, 11 farmers’ organizations
totaling 132 farmers had collaborated extension
work with Project South West (PSW) for production of
peapods and another 45 producers’ organization benefited
from bean seeds production in the mid-west Region.
Various projects are currently implemented through
partnerships with the private sector and NGOs in
Madagascar which is believed to increase confidence in
the extension service. The partnership style is being
supervised by the Ministries of Agriculture, Livestock and
Applied Development Research. A number of initiatives
have being generated by these relationships. The mode
of operation is “tight regulation by contracts” with the
different institutions concerned. As many as 20 agents
from private sectors have participated in the
implementation of the project’s activities while 66 NGOs
now maintain close partnerships according to their areas
of competence and comparative advantage with respect
to the project technical consultations.