Farmer-to-farmer extension in Cameroon: a survey of extension organizations

Despite the c entral role that farmers play as agricultural producers in developing countries they ar e often inadequately served by research extension and advisory services. E xtension approaches such as the farmer - to - farmer extension (F2F) approach were developed t o improve service to farmers but l ittle is known about how this approach is being used in Cameroon. This paper examines the experiences of organizations using the F2F extension approach. Specifically the study characterize s and assess es F2F extension approaches in Cameroon to determine which practices are most effective in different circumstances. A semi - structured questionnaire was used to collect data from 24 selected organizations in seven regions of the country . The F2F extension approach in Cameroon is used by farmer organizations as well as national and international non - profit organizations . Neither governmental services nor private sector companies use this approach. Th ose organizations using F2F extension had on average five f ield staff (FS) and mainly targeted f armer groups . Fi fty - eight percent of organizations interviewed had one wom a n or no women among their field staff . Though r espondent s stated that their organizations were using many different extension approaches in addition to the F2F approach 41 percent identified F2F as the most effective method. The main sources of technical information for FS were personal reading information exchanged during seminars and workshops staff member s ’ own experience s and research i nstitutes. Field staff were in charge of capacity development and follow - up of lead farmers (LFs). O n the basis of mutually agreed upon criteria LFs were usually selected jointly by FS and the community. According to the organizations interviewed individual FS were working with 17 LFs on average and th e latter w ere training approximately four groups each with about 43 members in addition to 48 individual farmers outside of these group s . These LFs were considered an extension of FS in their commu nities and usually offered their services on a voluntary basis .

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