IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jscscx/v8y2019i10p295-d279240.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Analysing Support towards Inclusive and Integrated Rural Advisory Systems

Author

Listed:
  • Julien Lamontagne-Godwin

    (CABI, Surrey TW20 9TY, UK
    School of Agriculture, Policy and Development, University of Reading, Reading RG6 6AH, UK)

  • Peter Dorward

    (School of Agriculture, Policy and Development, University of Reading, Reading RG6 6AH, UK)

  • Naeem Aslam

    (CABI, Rawalpindi, Satellite Town PO Box 8, Pakistan)

  • Sarah Cardey

    (School of Agriculture, Policy and Development, University of Reading, Reading RG6 6AH, UK)

Abstract

Public Rural Advisory Services (RAS) have adapted to different socio-economic scenarios in politically diverse countries with the help of the third sector supporting dedicated RAS programmes. The Plantwise (PW) programme, led by the Centre for Agriculture and Bioscience International (CABI) and designed to increase food security in over 30 countries, is a good example of a public/NGO partnership, although recent evaluations have questioned its impacts on gendered agricultural information access. This study aims to investigate Plantwise’s gender impacts from individual and institutional viewpoints, interviewing smallholder farmers and extension staff involved in and outside of, the Plantwise programme in Bahawalpur and Jhang district in the Punjab province of Pakistan. This serves to highlight the programme’s impacts on systemic processes which ultimately have the potential to contribute to gender-transformative change and a more efficient and sustainable RAS. Results show differences between extension workers in a PW district and a non-PW district and between plant doctors and non-plant doctors in a PW district, though none were significant from a gendered perspective. There were interesting findings highlighting the plant clinic’s capacity as an agent of change but the low turnout of women at clinics did not reinforce the clinics’ capacity for change from a female perspective. Information from systemic, male and female-specific analyses are important to consider for PW from a practical perspective, such as the importance of spiritual locations. This study into the Pakistani PW initiative also offers an opportunity to contribute to the growing body of academic literature on the individual and institutional impacts of international development programmes, helping to understand wider aspects of international development involvement in RAS. From a practical perspective, this study also enables PW and other international development initiatives to better understand and interpret stakeholders’ perceptions, highlighting the importance of design and investment in participatory approaches to enable longer term impacts, especially focused on gender. It will also help the PW programme assess and understand implementation challenges in order to attain impact on the ground and be a driver of positive change in the country.

Suggested Citation

  • Julien Lamontagne-Godwin & Peter Dorward & Naeem Aslam & Sarah Cardey, 2019. "Analysing Support towards Inclusive and Integrated Rural Advisory Systems," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 8(10), pages 1-18, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jscscx:v:8:y:2019:i:10:p:295-:d:279240
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0760/8/10/295/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0760/8/10/295/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Davis, K. & Nkonya, E. & Kato, E. & Mekonnen, D.A. & Odendo, M. & Miiro, R. & Nkuba, J., 2012. "Impact of Farmer Field Schools on Agricultural Productivity and Poverty in East Africa," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 40(2), pages 402-413.
    2. Rashid Amjad & G. M. Arif & Usman Mustafa, 2008. "Does the Labor Market Structure Explain Differences in Poverty in Rural Punjab?," Lahore Journal of Economics, Department of Economics, The Lahore School of Economics, vol. 13(Special E), pages 139-162, September.
    3. Jock R. Anderson, 2004. "Agricultural Extension: Good Intentions and Hard Realities," The World Bank Research Observer, World Bank, vol. 19(1), pages 41-60.
    4. Farnworth, Cathy Rozel & Colverson, Kathleen Earl, 2015. "Building a Gender-Transformative Extension and Advisory Facilitation System in Sub-Saharan Africa," Journal of Gender, Agriculture and Food Security (Agri-Gender), Africa Centre for Gender, Social Research and Impact Assessment, vol. 1(1).
    5. Laurens Klerkx & Karin Grip & Cees Leeuwis, 2006. "Hands off but Strings Attached: The Contradictions of Policy-induced Demand-driven Agricultural Extension," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 23(2), pages 189-204, June.
    6. Robert Newcombe, 2003. "From client to project stakeholders: a stakeholder mapping approach," Construction Management and Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 21(8), pages 841-848.
    7. Khalid Chauhan, 2014. "Gender Inequality in the Public Sector in Pakistan," Palgrave Macmillan Books, Palgrave Macmillan, number 978-1-137-42647-5.
    8. Nuno Carvalho & Luísa Carvalho & Sandra Nunes, 2015. "A methodology to measure innovation in European Union through the national innovation system," International Journal of Innovation and Regional Development, Inderscience Enterprises Ltd, vol. 6(2), pages 159-180.
    9. Amber Peterman & Agnes Quisumbing & Julia Behrman & Ephraim Nkonya, 2011. "Understanding the Complexities Surrounding Gender Differences in Agricultural Productivity in Nigeria and Uganda," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 47(10), pages 1482-1509.
    10. Klerkx, Laurens & Aarts, Noelle & Leeuwis, Cees, 2010. "Adaptive management in agricultural innovation systems: The interactions between innovation networks and their environment," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 103(6), pages 390-400, July.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Julien Lamontagne-Godwin & Peter Dorward & Irshad Ali & Naeem Aslam & Sarah Cardey, 2019. "An Approach to Understand Rural Advisory Services in a Decentralised Setting," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 8(3), pages 1-18, March.
    2. Abbasi Fatemeh & Esparcia Javier & Saadi Heshmat A., 2019. "From Analysis to Formulation of Strategies for Farm Advisory Services (Case Study: Valencia – Spain). an Application through Swot and Qspm Matrix," European Countryside, Sciendo, vol. 11(1), pages 43-73, March.
    3. Sylvester Ochieng Ogutu & Andrea Fongar & Theda Gödecke & Lisa Jäckering & Henry Mwololo & Michael Njuguna & Meike Wollni & Matin Qaim, 2020. "How to make farming and agricultural extension more nutrition-sensitive: evidence from a randomised controlled trial in Kenya [Agricultural extension: good intentions and hard realities]," European Review of Agricultural Economics, Oxford University Press and the European Agricultural and Applied Economics Publications Foundation, vol. 47(1), pages 95-118.
    4. Dzanku, Fred M., 2015. "Household-specific food price differentials and high-value crop production in rural Ghana," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 57(C), pages 73-82.
    5. Kondylis, Florence & Mueller, Valerie & Zhu, Jessica, 2017. "Seeing is believing? Evidence from an extension network experiment," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 125(C), pages 1-20.
    6. Miki Dowsing & Sarah Cardey, 2020. "Smallholder Farmers’ Perspectives on Advisory Extension Services: A Case Study of the Gamo Communities of Southern Ethiopia," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 9(9), pages 1-17, September.
    7. Qian Liu & Yongmu Jiang & Carl‐Johan Lagerkvist & Wei Huang, 2023. "Extension services and the technical efficiency of crop‐specific farms in China," Applied Economic Perspectives and Policy, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 45(1), pages 436-459, March.
    8. Martey, Edward & Etwire, Prince M. & Mockshell, Jonathan, 2021. "Climate-smart cowpea adoption and welfare effects of comprehensive agricultural training programs," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 64(C).
    9. Mullally, Conner & Maffioli, Alessandro, 2014. "The Impact of Agricultural Extension for Improved Management Practices: An Evaluation of the Uruguayan Livestock Program," IDB Publications (Working Papers) 4776, Inter-American Development Bank.
    10. Alex Koutsouris, 2012. "Exploring the emerging facilitation and brokerage roles for agricultural extension education," Working Papers 2012-4, Agricultural University of Athens, Department Of Agricultural Economics.
    11. Yang, Huan & Klerkx, Laurens & Leeuwis, Cees, 2014. "Functions and limitations of farmer cooperatives as innovation intermediaries: Findings from China," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 127(C), pages 115-125.
    12. Wei Yang & Le Wang, 2023. "Impact of farmer group participation on the adoption of sustainable farming practices—spatial analysis of New Zealand dairy farmers," Annals of Public and Cooperative Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 94(3), pages 701-717, September.
    13. Djuraeva, Mukhayyo & Bobojonov, Ihtiyor & Kuhn, Lena & Glauben, Thomas, 2023. "The impact of agricultural extension type and form on technical efficiency under transition: An empirical assessment of wheat production in Uzbekistan," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 77(C), pages 203-221.
    14. Makate, Clifton & Makate, Marshall, 2019. "Interceding role of institutional extension services on the livelihood impacts of drought tolerant maize technology adoption in Zimbabwe," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 56(C), pages 126-133.
    15. Smale, Melinda & Byerlee, Derek & Jayne, Thom, 2011. "Maize revolutions in Sub-Saharan Africa," Policy Research Working Paper Series 5659, The World Bank.
    16. Anthony Cawley & Cathal O’Donoghue & Kevin Heanue & Rachel Hilliard & Maura Sheehan, 2018. "The Impact of Extension Services on Farm‐level Income: An Instrumental Variable Approach to Combat Endogeneity Concerns," Applied Economic Perspectives and Policy, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 40(4), pages 585-612, December.
    17. Claire Jack & Adewale H. Adenuga & Austen Ashfield & Michael Wallace, 2020. "Investigating the Drivers of Farmers’ Engagement in a Participatory Extension Programme: The Case of Northern Ireland Business Development Groups," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(11), pages 1-15, June.
    18. Anthony Cawley & Kevin Heanue & Rachel Hilliard & Cathal O’Donoghue & Maura Sheehan, 2023. "How Knowledge Transfer Impact Happens at the Farm Level: Insights from Advisers and Farmers in the Irish Agricultural Sector," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(4), pages 1-24, February.
    19. Glendenning, Claire J. & Babu, Suresh & Asenso-Okyere, Kwadwo, 2010. "Review of agricultural extension in India: Are farmers' information needs being met?," IFPRI discussion papers 1048, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    20. Faure, Guy & Davis, Kristin E. & Ragasa, Catherine & Franzel, Steven & Babu, Suresh Chandra, 2016. "Framework to assess performance and impact of pluralistic agricultural extension systems: The best-fit framework revisited:," IFPRI discussion papers 1567, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jscscx:v:8:y:2019:i:10:p:295-:d:279240. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.