Consultation on agricultural practices and inputs

The agricultural service provides farm-specific advice on choice of crop and the best combination of seeds (varieties), fertilizer, pesticides, cultivation and irrigation technology. The purpose of this building block is to provide the farmers with the best available knowledge to guide their decisions and practice. 

Sometimes it may happen that the agronomist advises the farmers to apply a needed input at a certain time, but the farmers do not follow this advice, since at that time they either do not have the financial means for purchasing the recommended inputs or lack access to it. Thus, the provision of advice would not be effective.

The local agricultural extension service combines long-year experience in the specific region with knowledge on internationally available best practices. Further, the extension service collaborates closely with the agricultural departments in the respective districts and it is trusted by the farmers. The collaboration with the GIZ project allowed for the integration of additional state-of-the art technologies.

Agricultural extension needs to be tailored to the specific conditions of the local farmers and all advise has to take into consideration their needs and opportunities, while providing new knowledge and directly applicable suggestions.