Rwanda is hosting an International Learning Event on ‘Farmer to Farmer Extension’ that will take place from June 14-17, 2016, in Kigali to discuss about various aspects of different kinds of farmer to farmer extension models. The Rwandan Twigire Muhinzi extension model, a home-grown extension model operating in all Rwandan villages, will be taken as a case study for in depth analysis.
The Ministry of Agriculture and Animal Resources (MINAGRI) is organizing this event in collaboration with the Belgian Technical Cooperation (BTC), and Rwanda Agriculture Board (RAB) with support from One Acre Fund/Tubura, World Agroforestry Center (ICRAF), Swiss Cooperation, EU and African Forum for Agricultural Advisory Services (AFAAS).
Around 350 national and international participants will get a better understanding of how Twigire Muhinzi work and what its success factors are. Participants include government staff working in extension as well as staff of various organization such as NGOs, Development partners, universities, private sector, and farmers’ organizations, among others.
The 4-day event will kick off with an exciting opening show featuring videos, interview, debates and live performances. It will also feature an interactive workshop about all kinds of Farmer to Farmer extension and in-depth field experiences to give participants the opportunity to observe and analyze the model. There will be plenty of opportunities to exchange views, opinions and experiences, both in smaller groups as well as in larger groups.
“We hope that the event will trigger participants to reflect on their own experiences working with farmer to farmer extension in their countries leading to self-discovery of what is applicable for their own context,” explains Dr Gerardine Mukeshimana, the Minister of Agriculture and Animal Resources. “For us and partners, this will be a moment of learning, reflection and shaping Twigire Muhinzi to deliver better.”
Twigire Muhinzi extension model combines two different kinds of Farmer to Farmer Extension approaches: Farmer Promoters (FP) with demonstration plots and Farmer Field Schools (FFS) with experimental plots.
Twigire Muhinzi has front line extension agents comprising 14,200 Farmer Promoters (one in each village) and 2,500 FFS facilitators who have been recruited from local communities and work on voluntary basis. Thanks to this model, the access to advisory services in Rwanda has increased from 32% in 2012 to 69% in 2015.
This extension model is enabling farmers to increase agricultural productivity significantly and those reached by Farmer promoters experience more than 12% increase in yields while those reached by the FFS approach benefit more than 37% increase in yields.
On the international scene, FFS program in Rwanda was among the 10 Finalists for the global prestigious DAC Prize 2015 for taking development innovation to scale.