LIMITATIONS AND OPPORTUNITIES OF NAADS FARMER LED AND PRIVATELY
SERVICED EXTENSION SYSTEM IN NAKISUNGA SUB COUNTY, MUKONO DISTRICT
By
Nalugooti Agnes Department of Social Work and Social Administration and Edward Ssemakula,
Department of Agricultural Extension/Education Makerere University
Abstract
The research was intended to investigate the limitations and opportunities of the NAADS farmer
led and privately serviced extension system in the participating districts of Uganda. The study
reviews the chronology of various extension approaches ever used in Uganda. Due to the fact
that no considerable improvements in agricultural productivity were realized, the study noted that
government decided to introduce a farmer led privately serviced extension service. The objectives
of the NAADS approach were to empower farmers to access private extension services with a
wider say in its administration and control. The approach also aims at transferring the hitherto
publicly serviced extension to the private sector.
In order to succeed the NAADS approach needs to address the opportunities and the limitations
that characterize an effective delivery system. This research was intended to examine the
possible limitations such as the farmers’ readiness and competence to utilize and direct the
extension service provision. Opportunities existing in the form of the various institutional
frameworks and information channels and sources were also examined. Other factors such as
social cultural, political and economic implications were also examined. While constraints
affecting NAADS such as those related to structural and coordination issues have been identified
and documented, little was known about farmer institutional limitations. In particular information
flow and farmers’ knowledge and skills necessary for utilizing the NAADS services by resource
poor farmers were unknown, yet such information was vital in the design and implementation of
an effective delivery system.
The study was made in three of the eight parishes of Nakisunga Sub county in Mukono district.
Mukono district was one of the six pilot districts for the NAADS intervention while Nakisunga Sub
County was selected due to its proximity advantage. A total of 146 farmers were interviewed
using a semi-structured questionnaire. Qualitative data was collected through focus group
discussions, a workshop and through contacts with key informants.
Findings point to a number of limitations due to low levels of education and income. Use of
politicians as channel of communication proved disadvantageous as it suffered from partisan
information flow. Though the radio and fellow farmers were mentioned as the best channels of
technology dissemination, little has been done to take advantage of the two. Among the identified
opportunities were the institutional structures in form of farmers’ fora at various levels, the
decentralized local government units and the NAADS field arrangements. All these could be
used for better information flow. It is hoped that the study will assist in providing information that
will improve the design of strategies for more effective extension and advisory services.
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Introduction
Many efforts are being made to improve the performance of the Agricultural sector, in Uganda. The sector is
the main stay of Uganda’s economy contributing 44.4% of total GDP (EPRC 2001), accounts for over 90%
of the country’s total export earnings and a major source of livelihood for 85% of Uganda’s population who
live in the rural areas and provides raw materials to many industries (MFPED, 2000). Government of
Uganda’s past and current medium term plans has been focused on modernizing agriculture as an engine
for economic growth and poverty eradication. One of the intervention areas for investing public sector
resources is agricultural advisory service with the aim of improving service delivery to farmers by addressing
past extension weaknesses.
Over the past decade, agriculture extension delivery in Uganda has undergone many changes, all intended
to improve service delivery to smallholder and resource constrained farmers (MAAIF, 2000). The table
below illustrates the changes in extension delivery approaches since pre-colonial times.
Table 1: Extension Delivery Approaches since 1890s
Period
1898-1956
Approach
Extension by compulsion characterized by deliberate efforts to promote production of cash crops
(coffee, cotton, tobacco, rubber etc) using coercion tendencies enforced by chiefs to ensure supply of
raw materials to colonial power and other industries.
1956-1963
Extension through progressive farmers, where progressive farmers were identified and trained by
extension workers to act as change agents in their localities.
1964-1971
Extension educational methods, which emphasized professionalism through training and use of
appropriate methods.
Farmers were taught as to why and how they ought to undertake better
farming methods using government schemes such as demonstrations, farmer field days and trials
etc.
1981-1991
The project approach, introduced after a period of political turmoil of 1971 to 1980 was intended to
rehabilitate and restore basic services using extension programs like Agriculture Development
Project (ADP), South-west Agriculture Rehabilitation Project.
1992-1998
The unified extension approach was to integrate and harmonize the use of scarce resources. A
single extension worker was responsible for transfer of knowledge and technologies in all fields to
groups of farmers in a given geographical area.
2000- Todate
National Agriculture Advisory Services (NAADS), where farmers are lead players in extension service
delivery.
They demand and manage services together with local governments.
Government
provides services through private service providers in line with farmers’ needs.
NAADS is an extension approach introduced in 2000 on a pilot basis in six districts 1 and is now operating in
29 districts. Its rationale is failure of traditional extension approaches to bring about greater productivity and
expansion of agriculture, despite costly government interventions (MAAIF 2000).
The approach was
conceived under and meant to contribute to the agriculture sector objectives spelt out in the sector strategic
policy document, Plan for Modernization of Agriculture (PMA).
It was thus meant to redress past
shortcomings as well as incorporate “best” practices in order to make extension delivery more efficient and
1
Mukono, Soroti, Tororo, Kabale, Kibaale and Arua
2
effective (PMA 2000).
NAADS aim is to have a demand-driven, client oriented, farmer-led and private
sector delivered advisory service, particularly targeting the poor and the women.
NAADS is guided by a number of principles including: empowering farmers in the process and building their
demand for both research and agricultural advisory services; targeting the services to the poor; bringing
control of research and advisory services in the hand of farmers in line with the decentralization,
commercialization,
participatory
processes
in
planning,
contracting,
monitoring
and
evaluation;
mainstreaming gender issues; increasing institutional efficiency through contracting out services; managing
natural resource productivity; and creating linkages between research, advisors and farmers (MAAIF 2000).
In summary, the strategic changes within the NAADS system through which expected aims are to be
achieved include: empowering subsistence farmers to access private extension services, provision of
technologies and market information, develop private sector capacity and professional capability to supply
agricultural services, shifting from public to private delivery of advisory services and to promote commercial
farming. Other aims are to create options for delivery of advisory and technical services and to stimulate
private sector funding, (NAADS, 2001).
The Ministry of Agriculture through the Board is responsible for overall supervision; Ministry of Finance
Planning and Economic Development for funds flow and their accountability; Ministry of Local Government
through its decentralized structures for full implementation and supervision in partnership with the farmer
institutions (i.e. farmer groups and fora).
NAADS Board and Secretariat provide technical guidance,
operational supervision and facilitate outreach (NAADS Act 2001).
The approach is grounded on farmer groups as the main vehicle for NAADS implementation. The groups
aggregate into farmer fora at sub-county, district and national levels through representation and are
responsible for planning, contracting, monitoring and evaluation of services, determining priorities, allocating
resources, reviewing local government plans for agricultural development, providing feed back and feed
forward mechanisms at different levels, assess performance and quality of service provision, influencing
policy direction in the agricultural sector and at national level.
Problem statement
Attempts in the NAADS approach have been made to bring services nearer to the people and a step further
to give people powers to determine the services. It has clearly stated that services must respond to the
demands of farmers. The limitation however lies in farmers’ competency to effectively utilize the opportunity
since competency is affected by many factors like past experience, exposure levels of education and the
financial strength of the individual farmer.
It is not known whether farmers can ably take on all the responsibilities as key players in the delivery system
since the new roles require skills, adequate information channels, time and financial resources which poor
farmers lack. Indeed other factors like social-cultural, political and economic aspects are at play and need to
be examined and addressed if every resource-constrained farmer is to enter the NAADS delivery network.
The approach, which started as a pilot program in six districts has seen wide extension to other districts
without thorough researched and
documented learning themes that would characterize pilot projects.
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Constraints affecting NAADS such as those related to structural and coordination issues have been
identified and well documented. However, little is known about farmer institutional limitations in particular
information flow and farmers’ knowledge and skills necessary for utilizing NAADS services by all resourcepoor farmers. In addition, opportunities available for improved NAADS delivery other than political and
financial support are not documented.
The lack of information and adequate understanding of NAADS’ specific limitations and existing
opportunities limit planners’ and implementers’ ability to design an effective delivery service to farmers.
The study therefore sought to investigate the limitations as well as establish opportunities for NAADS
delivery system in Nakisunga sub-county in Mukono District.
Goal of the study
The goal of the study was to have limitations and opportunities of the NAADS’ farmer-led and privately
serviced extension system investigated.
Objectives of the study:
Were: a) to explore factors which limit farmers’ access to information in the NAADS farmer-led and privately
services extension delivery system; b) to establish existing capacity among farmers in form of knowledge,
skills and other resources necessary to utilize NAADS service; c) To establish existing opportunities for
improved service delivery through NAADS approach.
Methodology
The study population was drawn from farmer institutions i.e. farmer fora and farmer groups including female
and male members of all ages. Nakisunga has a total of 1380 farmers that were sensitized into the NAADS
program. A total 117 farmer groups were formed at the start of the program of which 94 were reaffirmed in
the second year of the program. Others had dropped off. It has 15 members on the farmer fora (Mukono
District 2002). These were the target population.
Major programme executing agencies and key persons at national, district and sub-county levels including
technical staff, politicians and Civil Society organizations were included as key informants to enrich the
findings. Some of the key offices/institutions interviewed includes officials from MAAIF, MoLG, MFPED,
NAADS Secretariat at all levels, production department, planning unit, sub-county and parish chiefs, and
councilors.
A total of 146 respondents were interviewed including 15 farmer fora members, 40 farmer group leaders,
and 91 ordinary members. Four (4) focus group discussions with an average of 10 members each, and 23
in-depth interviews were held.
Instruments
Two categories of research instruments were used: interview schedule and interview guide. For quantitative
structured questionnaire was developed and pre-tested in Nama sub-county in Wakiso district to establish its
validity and reliability.
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For qualitative data, unstructured methods in particular, interview guide for in-depth interviews, a checklist
for focus group discussions and an observation guide were applied.
Results
The majority of respondents were females at 65% compared to 35% males. The majority of the respondents
lived within 1- 2 Km from the NAADS meeting place, at 94%, while the rest lived beyond. This implied that
those beyond the 2-Km were disadvantaged as far as information access was concerned.
Information access
Information is a key factor resource for effective task completion according to Druker 191973, Daft 1998 and
Hackman 1990. Timely information dissemination, using appropriate channels for such a program as
NAADS that is highly structured and intends to reach down to the farmers, is very important.
Institutional factors
a)
The study identified, primarily, two types of institutions namely: the Farmers Fora (FF) and the
Farmers Groups (FGs) that were vital in the NAADS advisory services. These originate from parish
level and run through the sub-county, district to national level through representation.
b)
Secondary institutional frameworks include: the decentralized local government structures,
ministries of Agriculture and Finance as policy organs and the NAADS secretariat for supervision
and guidance.
c)
Farmers’ fora and Farmers groups played key roles in access of both technical and social
information flow. Farmers who were members of groups could access but non-members were
disadvantaged.
Sources of information
i)
Only 4% of respondents indicated that they learnt about the NAADS program through radio.
This was an obvious mismatch and NAADS may want to inquire into it, as radio was identified
as the handiest channel of communication.
ii)
While there were clear guidelines for information flow at National, District and sub-county
levels; at village levels no clear guidelines existed resulting into delays. The situation was
made worse by lack of facilitation, to the FF members and FG leaders, to meet the cost.
iii)
While the local government structures were expected to undertake mobilization this activity
was at times thought to belong to private service providers.
iv)
Most farmers 41% (Fig. 1) came to know about NAADS through fellow farmers contrary to
what implementer and literature say that farmers got to know NAADS through sub-county
leadership and extension staff. Politicians play big roles in information flow too. The two
channels should be facilitated to ensure success.
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Figure 1: Source of information during start up by percentage
50
40
41
40
34
30
20
10
10
4
0
2
1
Seminars
34
Fellow farmers
41
Radio programme
4
Printed material
2
Public servants
10
Politicians
40
Communication channels

The major channel of communication at farmers level, was verbal messages (76%) and
letters (50%). Problems noted with this mode of communication were: delays in information
flow (24%) failure to communicate due to political differences.

Farmers preferred radio to other forms of communication channels as 98% had access to
it.
Table 2: Major channel of communication
Channel of communication
Frequency
Radio announcements
2
Telephone
2
Letter
73
Verbal
111
Notice board
4
Multiple questions hence percentage does not add up to 100.
Percent
1
1
50
76
3
Political factors
Many respondents indicated that they received information late or never due to political differences with the
person delivering the message.
Attitudinal factors
Most respondents indicated that the majority of residents expected financial gains from NAADS initially; on
failing to get it they developed a negative attitude towards NAADS.
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Capacity
Capacity or competency in this study is a broad range of knowledge and skills derived from education,
experience and specialized training necessary for performing a given task.
Educational levels
Table 3: Respondents’ highest level of education
Education level
Never gone to School
Primary
Secondary
Tertiary
Total
Frequency
Percent
8
48
84
6
146
5
33
58
4
100
Education through formal schooling enhances peoples absorption capacity and as already established, most
respondents, i.e. over 95% under NAADS had some basic education while the majority of the FF had
attained secondary level. This is an opportunity for NAADS to exploit further.
There was a positive relationship between levels of education and understanding of NAADS activities.
In a cross tabulation between ‘education levels’ and ‘understanding of NAADS’, indicated in Table 3 it was
established that there was a significant relationship between education levels and understanding of NAADS
activities. Using ANOVA, the two variables were found to be statistically significant considering that the pvalue was less than 0.05.
Table 4: Cross tabulation showing relationship between education and farmers’ understanding of NAADS
Farmers’ understanding of NAADS as program targeting (Frequencies)
Education
Poverty
eradication
Advisory
services
Vulnerable
groups
Farmers in
groups
Never went to
school
Primary
0
3
0
3
5
38
1
4
Secondary
7
70
0
Tertiary
1
5
0
Works
through
Private
service
providers
0
Don’t
know
Others
2
1
1
4
4
6
0
0
13
0
0
0
1
ANOVA
SS
Between
group
Within group
Total
Df
MS
2528.214
6
421.369
3174.75
5702.964
21
27
151.1786
F
2.787227
P-value
0.037362
F Crit
2.57712
Conclusions and discussions
Farmers groups and fora provided good opportunities for information flow among members however non
members were disadvantaged, as they could not access information. Although clear guidelines on
information flow seem to exist at national and district levels, at lower levels there are no similar guidelines
and messages are sent mainly by word of mouth and no facilitation is offered to support the process. While
local government structures were expected to carry out mobilization of farmers, this was not the case as the
7
task was passed over to the extension staff or service providers. Similarly the local government set up,
including the agricultural technical staff, was not the major source of information as it had been anticipated,
instead the majority of farmers got information from fellow farmers. The major channel of communication
was by word of mouth followed by letters. However the two channels have a weakness of being subject to
the state of interpersonal relationship between the sender and receiver of the message. On the whole
farmers preferred the radio as the most suitable communication channel. Political factors tended to inhibit
information flow as people of different ideologies were ignored in the process. Attitudinal factors whereby
farmers developed negative attitudes after missing out on cash expectations from NAADS may have led to
apathy. Levels of education were found to be significantly related to understanding of the NAADS activities,
implying that the more educated the farmers are, the better the performance they can yield. This is one of
the opportunities that should be exploited by involving farmers themselves to assist other farmers, in a
farmer to farmer extension approach.
Recommendations

Efforts should be made to utilize all opportunities offered by the farmers institutions to
promote information flow, and non members should be encouraged to join

Guidelines for the flow of information at the lower levels should be established to improve
information flow and facilitation should be made to this end.

There is need to improve the communication channels by greater use of radio rather than
word of mouth and letters. The widespread of FM radios offer great opportunities as
channels of communication.

Local government structures especially the technical staff should undertake more
mobilization activities rather passing it to the private service providers.

Political and attitudinal factors should be addressed to remove the biases.
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