The "Revalorizing Extension: Evidence and Practice" symposium highlights extension's crucial role in international agricultural development while seeking to address these key questions. 

At the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign on April 3-4, 2018
Hosted by AgReach; Office of International Programs; College of ACES; INGENAES; Women and Gender in Global Perspectives Program. Click to see the full agenda.

Topics of Interest

• Effective extension methods at the farmer, organizational, and country/system levels
• Innovative approaches to sustainably reach women farmers and youth
• Using ICTs to empower staff and reach more farmers
• The political economy of agricultural extension
• Extension in post-conflict and post-disaster contexts
• Partnerships to strengthen extension
• Extension for improved nutrition, natural resource management, and sustainable agriculture

Symposium Presentations

Keynote

Rob Bertram [Chief Scientist, Bureau for Food Security, United States Agency for International Development] - Quality Information and Improved Access: Keys to Achieving SDG2

Private sector extension and partnerships

Emily Urban [Project Coordinator, University of Tennessee] – Joining forces in smallholder poultry production: A case for public-private partnerships in Rwanda

Papias Hongera Binagwa [Doctoral candidate, Tuskegee University] – Engaging public and private seed companies for increased access to quality seed of improved common bean varieties by smallholder farmer: experiences from bean seed systems project in Tanzania

Susan Godlonton  [Assistant Professor, Department of Economics,
Williams College] – Impacts of cash and input transfers and a cross-randomized program of intensive agricultural extension in Malawi

Haroon Sseguya [Technology Scaling Specialist, International Institute of Tropical Agriculture] – Taking agricultural technologies to scale: Experience of a research-development partnership in Tanzania

Innovative approaches to engage women and youth

Dee Rubin [Co-Director, Cultural Practice] Gender-inclusive and market-oriented extension

Friederike Bellin-Sesay [University of Giessen] From gender sensitive to gender transformative approaches in extension – the gender model family approach in Sierra Leone

Austen Moore [Deputy Director, SANE; University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign] – Engaging youth and extension workers to build agribusiness capacity: A peer-to-peer training approach in Malawi

Effective extension methods at the farmer, organizational, and country/system levels

Hope Michelson [Assistant Professor, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign] – How do Farmers Learn from Extension? Evidence from Malawi

Bidyuth Mahalder [Chief of Party, AESA project] and Tania Sharmin [Technical Team Lead for Women’s Empowerment and Nutrition SBCC, CARE] – Strengthening Agricultural Extension in Bangladesh: The AESC Model

Emmanuel Tumusiime [Sr. Program Research and Learning Specialist, World Vision] and Barrett Alexander [Program Manager, World Vision] – Community-Based Advisory Services through Village Agents and Lead Farmer: Performance in Niger

Ivan Adolwa [Technology Scaling Specialist, Africa RISING–ESA, International Institute of Tropical Agriculture] – Comparative analysis of two agricultural knowledge systems in Ghana and Kenya to understand information utilization by farmers

Making agricultural research and extension systems work: Political economy, coordination, and evaluation issues

Cristina Alvarez [Research Specialist, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign] – Political incentives and influences in extension provision

Kathleen Kelsey [Professor and Graduate Coordinator, University of Georgia] – Extending Agricultural Research Impacts in Africa through Evaluation Capacity Building

Vickie Sigman [Consultant] – Notes from the Field, Malawi

Day 2

Preparation and  capacity building of extension personnel

Austin A. Peterson [INGENAES Field Coordinator, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign] – AEAS Strengthening Through the Collaborative Development of Institutional Structures in Liberia

Mark Erbaugh [Director, International Programs in Agriculture; The Ohio State University] – Improving the Training of Frontline Extension Workers in Tanzania: A pilot curriculum reform initiative with the Ministry of Agriculture Technical Institute at Ilonga

Edye Kuyper [Nutrition and Gender Advisor, University of California Davis] – Process for developing appropriate nutrition training for postsecondary agricultural trainees that can be replicated in multiple contexts         

Sarah Hogan [Project Officer, SPRING/JSI] – Nutrition Sensitive Agriculture Training Resource Package

Using ICTs to empower staff and reach more farmers

Lulu Rodriguez [Director, Agricultural Communications Program, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign] and Kouadio Amavi [ICT advisor, Agriculture Technology Transfer Project, IFDC] – Using Videos to Disseminate Good Agricultural Practices in Northern Ghana: The Agricultural Technology Project Experience

Mohammed Majeed [Board Director, Postharvest Education Foundation] – The Postharvest Education Foundation: Role in postharvest capacity building through innovative extension platforms and effective training programs in Africa and the Caribbean

Amos Wussah [Farmerline Ghana] Business model for mobile phone based services in Ghana that farmers are willing to pay for

Joe Miller [AgReach Abroad, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign] and Nayeli Mejia and William Laumann [Students] – Engaging students in the production of farmer-to-farmer videos for WorldFish in Sierra Leone

Extension for improved nutrition

Kelly A. Davidson [Instructor, University of Florida] – Measuring the Effectiveness of Combined Extension Methods: Behavioral Nudges and Nutrition Education in Bangladesh

Han Bum Lee [Postdoctoral Research Fellow, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign] – Findings from evaluations of a nutrition-sensitive agricultural extension project in rural Bangladesh

Liz Sloffer [Doctoral candidate, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign] – Hungry for Information: Empowerment and Food Security in Honduran Extension Projects

Isidro Matamoros [Associate Professor, Zamorano] – A Pilot Project to Re-Establish a Dairy Extension Program in Honduras

Extension for improved natural resource management, climate change adaptation, and sustainable agriculture

Festus Amadu [Doctoral candidate, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign] – Agroforestry adoption, a pathway for the impact of climate-smart agricultural interventions on soil health and agricultural yields in southern Malawi. A double hurdle application.

Beatrice Luzobe [Chief Executive Officer, Uganda Forum for Agricultural Advisory Services] – Delivery of climate smart agricultural extension in Uganda: Incorporating gender and nutrition, ICT, and youth in agriculture

Austen Moore [Associate Director SANE, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign] – Community–Based Forecasting: A Local Approach to Fall Army Worm Monitoring and Response in Malawi

Closing remarks and next steps

John Peters [USAID/BFS, AOR for INGENAES and DLEC] - Issues and priorities in agricultural extension: principles and practices for sustainable outcomes

Posters

J. Chah et al. [Univerity of Nigeria] A Comparative Analysis of Factors Affecting the Adoption and Non-adoption of Orange Fleshed Sweet Potatoes among Kafula Chisanga et al. [ZARI] Rural Farmers in Abia State, Nigeria

Kafula Chisanga et al. [ZARI] Extension Methods and their Implications on Crop Yield in a Maize – Legume Conservation Agriculture Project in Zambia

Y. Colmenarez et al. [CABI Plantwise] Empowering farmers and improving Food Security in Latin America & the Caribbean by Strengthening the National Plant Health Systems

Jera Niewoehner-Green [The Ohio State University] Influence of Gender on Rural Honduran Women’s Leadership Roles

K. F. Omotesho et al. [University of Ilorin, Nigeria] Effectiveness of Extension Volunteers in Disseminating Innovation on Dry Season Rice Farming in Remote Communities in Kwara State, Nigeria

Salehe H. Mohammed [Malolo Agriculture Resource Center] The Impact of Agriculture Resource Center on Dissemination of Agricultural Innovations to Youth and Women Farmers

Evie Smith [University of California, Davis] Extensionist Training in Value Chain Enhancement

Willy Turyahikayo [ Makerere University] The perceived role of innovation platforms in addressing the value chain collective problems: Implications for agricultural extension services to rural farmer organizations