A WONDERFUL MATCH TO FOLLOW

ASPS II/ARTI-Tumbi project was formally designed to involve extension officers as key supervisors at the community level. However, not all project sites could provide the officers. In Kasulu District, for example, four out of five villages are supervised by Farmer Facilitators. These are farmers who have been formally trained and are considered by their fellows as ‘Bwana shamba/Bibi shamba’. In a surprising situation, we have noted that these sites are performing very well. Besides the original project objectives, I am now interested to assess the performance of the project in areas with professional extension officers against those with para-professionals (Farmer Facilitators). The study will contribute to the existing knowledge gap on whether investing directly on farmer education is rational or not. It sounds like a match. Keep on visiting to follow the progress.