Inefficient Government Extension Service System

[Ronald Ombachi]

Agricultural extension service is meant to provide farmers with knowledge and information. Government system is not working at all, and the extension services provided by private companies is only concentrating on productive regions and high value crops which is fine, but that does not work for us as small scale farmers we want unbiased system that accommodates everyone (us). I stand to be corrected but an online platform such as this will be for all us, built by a community of enthusiastic farmers for farmers. let me know what you guys think. @Stajuli waiting to hear from you.

 

[Elly]

I could not agree with you more. I have never seen an extension officer even after requesting numerous times within my county.....We need to have better access to resources and experts, the current system is broken.

I know there are some SMS services out there but it is so hard to get quality information through such short messages. As access to digital information evolves extension services should to...but, unfortunately, it's falling behind.....

 

[Antony Bagwasi]

Every time government extension service is mentioned, I get angry because there is a budget allocated every year for the extension service yet I have never heard or seen a single officer. I am glad to be part of this community that it has the potential to fill that gap. I would like to hear from our brothers and sisters from TZ & UG on the quality of their extension service. The future is such online communities that we get help from experts and we can always help one another. thanks @Ronald Ombachi for bringing this up.

 

[Maureen W]

I am also waiting to hear from everyone' how they are managing sourcing agricultural information with the absence of extension service provider. Myself it has been if not learning from friends and Google it is guess work, which sometimes affects my farm productivity.

 

[Mutayomba denis]

Agricultural extension service is meant to provide farmers with knowledge and information. Government system is not working at all, and the extension services provided by private companies is only concentrating on productive regions and high value crops which is fine, but that does not work for us as small scale farmers we want unbiased system that accommodates everyone (us). I stand to be corrected but an online platform such as this will be for all us, built by a community of enthusiastic farmers for farmers. let me know what you guys think. @Stajuli waiting to hear from you.

Thats quite disgusting governments dont look down to small scale farmers but we have to exist through struggling by mininising expenses and quality production if we as farmers hold market structure then the government can have attention to us not just being farmers but we can try to eliminate these middlemen we establish our own stores and transport means

 

[Janssen]

Thats quite disgusting governments dont look down to small scale farmers but we have to exist through struggling by mininising expenses and quality production if we as farmers hold market structure then the government can have attention to us not just being farmers but we can try to eliminate these middlemen we establish our own stores and transport means

How do you think we should take the first steps?

 

[Mutayomba denis]

How do you think we should take the first steps?

Setting up group of farmers who deal in the same produce and location im giving the example group of 10 farmers if each have one hectare those are 10 hectares
2.they should use proper farming system fertilizer disease control and wedding spacing good breads of they are dealing in cereals like maize beans etc they have also to look forward to storage
4 dusting storage pests and humigation
Undetailed

 

[Janssen]

Setting up group of farmers who deal in the same produce and location im giving the example group of 10 farmers if each have one hectare those are 10 hectares
2.they should use proper farming system fertilizer disease control and wedding spacing good breads of they are dealing in cereals like maize beans etc they have also to look forward to storage
4 dusting storage pests and humigation
Undetailed

Great ideas...Would you be willing to try and organize? We have the could find many farmers in your particular area to join.

 

[Mutayomba denis]

Great ideas...Would you be willing to try and organize? We have the could find many farmers in your particular area to join.

Much willing anyone in fortportal town can join me and we discuss on next seasons preparations so that we gather requirements

 

[Ronald Ombachi]

Thats quite disgusting governments dont look down to small scale farmers but we have to exist through struggling by mininising expenses and quality production if we as farmers hold market structure then the government can have attention to us not just being farmers but we can try to eliminate these middlemen we establish our own stores and transport means

Well said @Mutayomba denis, In addition, the transport system that can well support smallholders farmers is totally bogus and it is one of the areas that government overlook, I don't know if it is the same in Uganda. Here in Kenya, this has become the entry point for middlemen. Farmer groups can go along all the way from how they can source inputs (earn discounts from bulk buying), produce aggregation (to meet demand, easy the transport cost burden) and the better one is knowledge sharing (market prices. product knowledge). the list is endless.

we are headed for tough times ahead, crazy hard economic times, corruption won't go away soon, the unpredictable shift of the climate. all these calls for drastically changing the way we do things as farmers.