Monitoring and Evaluation in Agricultural Extension Programmes

Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) are central functions of development management. These concepts are familiar in every project today. M&E are used for performance assessment as they may feed back into the implementation process, helping management to improve the quality of its decision-making and develop a learning orientation. The debate about M&E has often centred on the search for appropriate methodologies.

Meaning and Scope of Monitoring and Evaluation in Agricultural Extension

1. The functioning of project activities within the context of implementation schedules.

2. The use of project inputs by beneficiaries within the design expectations (Murphy, 1993).

3. It is a day-to-day management activity, gathering information on the utilization of project inputs, the unfolding of project activities, the timely generation of project outputs, and circumstances critical to the effective implementation of the project.

4. Evaluation is a periodic assessment of the relevance, performance, efficiency, and impact of the project within the context of its set objectives. The extension organization provides advice (and, in some cases, inputs, credit, and marketing services) to farm families to increase their productivity and well-being.

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Scope of Monitoring and Evaluation in Extension Programmes

In extension, managers make decisions at four levels and require information in four categories. According to Murphy (1993), the decision levels are:

i. What type of services do the people need, and how should they be delivered?

ii. Are these services being delivered as planned?

iii. Are the farmers aware of the availability of services being provided, and are they using them? Reasons should be sought for their use or lack of use.

iv. What differences have occurred due to the services provided?

Categories of Information in Agricultural Extension Programmes

Extension managers require four categories of information: diagnostic information, implementation information, utilization information, and impact information.

1. Diagnostic Information: involves describing the current farming situation and analysis to understand why a situation is as it is and what it means for extension programme design or redesign. Issues here include current technology in use, types of farming households, identified needs, and constraints.

An understanding of these factors ensures that the messages selected for extension fit within the existing system. During implementation, diagnostic information is needed to understand why farmers adopt or fail to adopt a given recommendation and to identify constraints to implementation.

2. Implementation Information: includes descriptions of the programme’s implementation (physical and financial information or inputs). This involves staff availability, training sessions held, number of visits, cash flow, number of demonstration plots planted, and so on.

These help establish whether implementation is going as planned. Managers need to determine the percentage of training seminars realized, the ratio of field staff to farmers, the percentage of field visits on schedule, and the costs involved.

3. Utilization Information: (also known as ongoing evaluation or beneficiary contacts) includes key indicators such as rates of participation in extension demonstrations by different categories of farmers, adoption rates of major technological changes in relation to farmers reached by the extension service, and in relation to all possible users of the technology in that area (to see if there is a spread of information from farmers to farmers). Have the farmers modified their behaviour in response to the extension advice?

4. Impact Information: measures the difference resulting from the shift in technology. Expected impacts include increased productivity, changes in cropping patterns, and increased income and well-being of farmers. Impact information to collect also includes data on activities outside the extension programme, useful to managers in planning and finance ministries and to donors (Murphy, 1993).

Indicators to Guide Information Collection for Monitoring and Evaluation in Agricultural Extension

Three concentration points to consider are:

1. The visits – main concern of monitoring.
2. The yields (overall production level) main concern of evaluation.
3. The recommendations (adoption of) concern of both monitoring and evaluation (Cernea and Tepping, 1977).

Implementation Indicators in Agricultural Extension

Relevant indicators for monitoring include:

1. Resources put in place (personnel, materials).
2. Number of contact farmers reached by the Village Extension Worker (VEW).
3. Number and frequency of visits by the VEW to the farmers.
4. Degree of understanding by the farmers of the messages that were to be spread by the VEW.
5. Degree to which the recommended practices are adopted by the contact farmers and transmitted to other farmers.
6. Attitude of the farmers toward the usefulness of the extension programme and its staff.

List of Indicators for Monitoring in Agricultural Extension

1. Institution Build-up:

i. Staffing of extension organization – Reporting.

ii. Selection of contact farmers – Ad hoc survey and reporting.

iii. Training (role learning) – Reporting.

iv. Physical equipment – Reporting and accounting.

2. Extension Performance:

i. Degree of exposure to extension – Monitoring sample survey (MSS).

ii. Farmers reached directly.

iii. Farmers reached indirectly.

iv. Quality of visits – MSS and harvest survey.

v. Adoption of farm practices – MSS, harvest study, village studies, and farm practices ad hoc study.

vi. Role behaviour (VEWs, AEOs).

vii. Training quality – Ad hoc study and study on VEWs.

These indicators provide a means to monitor, both quantitatively and qualitatively:

i. The construction of the organization.

ii. The role performance of its actors (VEWs, AEOs, SMSs, etc.).

iii. The reactions of the beneficiaries.

List of Indicators for Evaluation in Agricultural Extension

Impact Indicators:

1. Yields of major crops.
2. Cropping intensity and patterns (changes).
3. Areas under high-yielding varieties (HYVs).
4. Spread of key practices.
5. Amount of purchased inputs (fertilizer, etc.).
6. Credit use/recovery.

Data sources include harvest surveys, village studies, and reports. Monitoring and evaluation efforts recognize that the indicators of agricultural production levels may result from actions other than extension.

In evaluating extension, efforts are made to establish a link between extension, the adoption of a recommendation, and an increase in yields, among other outcomes.

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Steps in Conducting an Evaluation in Agricultural Extension Programmes

1. Develop an evaluation plan determine all resources required.
2. Determine the personnel and financial resources available and needed for carrying out the evaluation, as well as the time required to complete the evaluation.
3. Select and define the part of the programme to study training methods, results of accomplishments, and so on.
4. Determine the need for the evaluation define the objectives of the evaluation, stating what evidence is needed to show that the programme is reaching the people, e.g., accomplishments, changed behaviour, etc.
5. Decide the method of collecting information questionnaires, observations, etc.
6. Determine the population to be sampled and what sample size is necessary and feasible.
7. Determine the criteria for evaluating the programme e.g., the number of beneficiaries.
8. Collect information, train interviewers, and employ field supervisors.
9. Collate and analyze the data.
10. Interpret the data and prepare a report of the major findings.
11. Plan for the use of the findings (workshops, seminars) and determine their implications for future work. The findings should be applied to improve the ongoing programme and/or modify a future one.

Levels of Evidence to Use in Evaluation of Agricultural Extension Programmes

Criteria categories and types of evidence include:

1. Inputs: Number of visits, meetings, calls, discussions, etc.
2. Activities: Learning situations set up, subject matter taught, experiences gained.
3. People participation: Percentage of farmers involved in the programme, attending meetings, receiving training, and receiving inputs.
4. Reactions: Number of farmers indicating whether the programme is useful.
5. KASA change: Changes in knowledge, attitudes, skills, and aspirations (KASA) of farmers.
6. Change in practice: Number of farmers using improved practices.
7. End results: Achievement of set objectives, changes in the quality of life of farmers.

Monitoring and evaluation are important concepts in any development programme. Many approaches are available, but there are guidelines that run through all of them. Extension managers should select methodologies that are appropriate to particular situations.

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