Use case

Agricultural Extension and Advisory Services | Sustainable farming

Funding

FAO

Focus Area

The project objective is to provide a training programme for extension specialists on sustainable crop, soil, water and pest management, including conservation agriculture, integrated pest management, organic agriculture and principles of extension systems and services

Duration

January 20, 2019 – December 31, 2019

Coverage

DRS, Khatlon and Sughd regions

Beneficiaries

Extension specialists of public and private agencies, agricultural specialists, researchers in national institutions and universities and farmer organizations and farmers

Partners

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Key activities | achievements

The following outputs were achieved as the result of project implementation:

• Information about the project objectives and activities was disseminated among a wide group of stakeholders in Tajikistan

• The criteria for selection of candidates to be trained within the training program has developed by the team of NM and approved by FAO

• 106 applications (CV and cover letter), including from 29 women were received for the competition on selection of extension specialists to be trained on sustainable crop production intensification

• 61 participants for the training program, including 17 women were selected (25 senior specialists, incl. 9 women and 36 junior specialists, incl. 8 women). The selected participants represent public institutions (39%), NGOs (31%) and private organizations (30%). The list of participants was agreed with the MoA and updated after the first training as participants demonstrated passive participation and low interest were replaced with new motivated extension specialists

• 12 demonstration sites were established on key principles of sustainable crop production intensification, including Seed production, Organic Agriculture, Conservation Agriculture and IPM in the project target districts

• 4 Field Days were organized at demonstration sites on key principles of sustainable crop production intensification, including Conservation Agriculture, Organic Farming, Seed promotion, and IPM with an attendance of 138 participants (34% women). Participants of the Field Days cultivate agricultural crops in 852,79 ha of land area

• 5 training workshops on Seed Promotion, Organic Agriculture, Conservation Agriculture, Integrated Pest Management, and Greenhouse Vegetable Production were organized for 61 selected extension specialists (25% women) from junior and senior groups

• The test results showed on average 32% improvements in participants’ knowledge of the selected topics

• Participants also rated the level of the training organization at 4,7 points out of a maximum of 5 points

• Totally, 40 on-the-job trainings were organized for agricultural extension specialists. On average, 10-12 agricultural extension specialists from the senior and junior groups, including several leading farmers participated in each on-the-job training

• The training materials on (1) Conservation Agriculture, (2) Organic Farming, (3) Seed promotion, (4) IPM, and (5) Greenhouse Vegetable Production were prepared by the FAO International Consultants and translated into Russian, copied into the memory sticks and distributed among agricultural extension specialists

• Training and other extension materials in the Tajik language for Field Days and on-the-job-trainings were prepared based on the training materials of the FAO International Consultants and disseminated among agricultural extension specialists