IFAD IMPACT ASSESSMENT - Agricultural sector development programme –livestock (ASDP-L) and the agriculture service support programme (ASSP): Tanzania

Decades of agricultural research have led to the development of technological innovations and improved farming practices that hold a huge potential for increasing agricultural production and achieving global food security. However, the level of dissemination and adoption of this knowledge is still inadequate, especially among smallholder farmers in developing countries. In an effort to enhance the adoption of such technical innovations and improved practices, agricultural extension approaches like Farmer Field Schools (FFS) have been widely advocated. FFS are usually participatory and informal methods of training and assisting farmers in their own locality, to adopt and adapt new technologies that can improve their farming practices. The ASDP-L and ASSP projects were implemented in Zanzibar between 2007 to 2017, with an aim to contribute towards the Government initiatives to increase agricultural productivity and profitability, generate employment in rural areas and ensure national and household food security. The purpose of the projects was to empower crop and livestock farmers through capacity building and training activities offered in the form of FFS, so as to improve their agricultural production systems. The impact assessment on the ASDP-L and ASSP projects is based on a quantitative household data collected in 2018 from about 2082 FFS participants and non-participants. Information obtained via a qualitative study by the project implementation team was used to support the quantitative survey design and interpretation of results from the quantitative data analysis for this impact assessment. Statistical matching techniques were used in the sampling and data analysis to identify and select a proper comparison group for the FFS participants.