Towards a Revolutionized Agricultural Extension System for the Sustainability of Smallholder Livestock Production in Developing Countries: The Potential Role of ICTs

Obvious Mapiye, Godswill Makombe, Annelin Molotsi, Kennedy Dzama and Cletos Mapiye
Additional contact information
Obvious Mapiye: Department of Animal Sciences, Faculty of AgriSciences, Stellenbosch University, Stellenbosch 7600, South Africa
Godswill Makombe: Gordon Institute of Business Science, University of Pretoria, Lynnwood Rd, Hatfield, Pretoria 0002, South Africa
Annelin Molotsi: Department of Animal Sciences, Faculty of AgriSciences, Stellenbosch University, Stellenbosch 7600, South Africa
Kennedy Dzama: Department of Animal Sciences, Faculty of AgriSciences, Stellenbosch University, Stellenbosch 7600, South Africa
Cletos Mapiye: Department of Animal Sciences, Faculty of AgriSciences, Stellenbosch University, Stellenbosch 7600, South Africa

Sustainability, 2021, vol. 13, issue 11, 1-18

Abstract: The creation of commercialization opportunities for smallholder farmers has taken primacy on the development agenda of many developing countries. Invariably, most of the smallholders are less productive than commercial farmers and continue to lag in commercialization. Apart from the various multifaceted challenges which smallholder farmers face, limited access to extension services stands as the underlying constraint to their sustainability. Across Africa and Asia, public extension is envisioned as a fundamental part of the process of transforming smallholder farmers because it is their major source of agricultural information. Extension continues to be deployed using different approaches which are evolving. For many decades, various authors have reported the importance of the approaches that effectively revitalize extension systems and have attempted to fit them into various typologies. However, there is a widespread concern over the inefficiency of these extension approaches in driving the sustainability of smallholder farming agenda. Further, most of the approaches that attempted to revolutionize extension have been developed and brought into the field in rapid succession, but with little or no impact at the farmer level. This paper explores the theory and application of agricultural extension approaches and argues the potential of transforming them using digital technologies. The adoption of information and communication technologies (ICTs) such as mobile phones and the internet which are envisaged to revolutionize existing extension systems and contribute towards the sustainability of smallholder farming systems is recommended.

Keywords: agricultural extension; sustainability; smallholder farmers; ICTs; mobile phone; Africa (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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