Agriculture Extension and Peer-to-Peer Learning: Reaching to Women Farmers | Lessons from the Field
In Manjuri Khurd, a village in Bankey Bazaar block, in Gaya, Bihar; a group of 15 women sit in a circle on the ground in a winter afternoon. Two women are asking questions, leading the discussion and encouraging participation. The women talk about challenges and plans for their farms, problems in their families and recent developments taking place in the area. One of the women, Rita Kumari, leading the discussion is the chairperson of the group. The other woman, Rinku Kumari, explains that a non-governmental organization (NGO) has come to the community and offered to provide the women with the better market avenues for the agricultural produce; they will just need to bring in minor changes in their agricultural practices. She leads them in a discussion of how they should proceed about it, what needs to be done and how it could benefit them . They are happy and excited about the novel possibility that is blooming, which will help drive the economic value creation through agri-produce. The second woman facilitated the relationship with the NGO and the introduction of improved extension services. She is the woman extension officer (WEO).
“Gender equality is crucial for agricultural development” (World Bank, 2008: 2). Supporting the success of female farmers is key to agricultural development, food security and the sustainable improvement of rural livelihoods. Currently, female farmers receive only a fraction of the inputs and support that their male counterparts receive (World Bank, 2008: 7). One of these inputs is extension services. Extension services include the support and information required to know about and adopt good agricultural practices. Adaptation rate to extension services get enhanced when their is peer learning involved. Farmers are more likely to adopt a new interventions if the officer helps in its introduction to farmers. The increased rate of adoption is possibly due to the high trust relationship that WEOs have with other farmers, the fact that they themselves have adopted the interventions and their ability to communicate the information necessary for adoption in a way that is relevant to their peers. This aspect of WEOs being peers is particularly important for female farmers. When implemented in a holistic way, peer-to-peer learning and WEOs can provide female farmers with much needed technology and information to implement improved agricultural practices, while spreading the benefits to a wider group of people.
#WEO #Gender #Agriculture #ExtensionServices #PeerToPeerLearning #CommunityBuilding #AgriculturalInnovations #sumARTH #DeshKaCultureAgriculture
About the author: Mayank Jain is a social entrepreneur working in aspirational district of Gaya, India through his social enterprise SumArth. He works directly with agrarian communities and aims to provide sustainable agrarian livelihoods to them. SumArth, have direct outreach to 10000+ farmers in naxal affected region and more than 23000 farmers through collaboration and have positively impacted more than 5000 beneficiaries. He has also represented India at India Innovation Delegation, Israel, Global Social Economy Forum, South Korea and World Urban Forum, Malaysia