Agricultural extension in Papua New Guinea: the challenges facing demand-driven extension from the perspective of practitioners

Kirt Hainzer, Catherine O'Mullan and Philip Hugh Brown

Journal of Agribusiness in Developing and Emerging Economies, 2023, vol. 14, issue 5, 1161-1175

Abstract: Purpose - Agricultural extension has played a central role in building the capacity of smallholders for decades. In efforts to improve extension outcomes, demand-driven approaches have emerged to better align extension content with smallholder context. The aim of this paper is to explore the challenges facing demand-driven extension in Papua New Guinea. Design/methodology/approach - Exploratory case study methodology was used to explore the challenges facing demand-driven extension from the perspectives of 11 practitioners experienced in community engagement in Papua New Guinea. Findings - Although there is great potential for demand-driven extension, this research found extension services in Papua New Guinea are ill-equipped to introduce and sustain a resource-intensive approach like demand-driven extension. It further found that rural farmers who extension organisations have long neglected lack the necessary skills and trust to gain from these services. Research limitations/implications - A limitation of this research is that it only reflects the opinions of practitioners working in Papua New Guinea. Further research featuring a broader sample of value chain actors connected to extension would provide a more complete understanding of the potential challenges to demand-driven engagement in this context. Originality/value - With a growing interest among development projects to utilise demand-driven engagement with farmers, this research is the first study to explore the challenge facing this promising approach in Papua New Guinea.

Keywords: Agricultural extension; Demand-driven; Papua New Guinea; Smallholder (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eme:jadeep:jadee-06-2022-0131

DOI: 10.1108/JADEE-06-2022-0131

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