Impact of agricultural extension services towards agricultural productivity and rural livelihood development: The case of Arua District, Uganda

The role of Agricultural extension services in teaching farmers how to improve their productivity and markets is key in enhancing farmer livelihoods. Extension is also critical to move research from the lab to the field and to ensure a return on investment in research by translating new knowledge into innovative practices. For sustainable inclusive development to be achieved by rural poor who consitute the majority of farmers, extension services must basically consider improving farmers’s livelihoods. To achieve this, extension workers must start by getting the local knowledge and then later introduce new ideas to build on the local ideas. Certainly there are many principles that underline extension services. Unfortunately, most of these principles are deterred leaving farmers unable to increase their productivity through improved farming methods and policies. A key aspect is mainsing tream gender sensitive agricultural Extension through farmer group approaches especially since women provide most labour in agriculture. This paper describes a Farmer-to-Farmer extension approach being implemented by the Farmers’ Groups Network (for Arua District Farmers Association (ARUDIFA) in northern Uganda which has promoted women participation in Projects that enhance livelihoods and agricultural productivity. The paper aims to examine the role of agricultural extension vis-a-vis the growing economic stagnation in agricultural sector coupled with analysis of policies critical for sustainable livelihood development and transformation of rural communities.