An overview of extension use in irrigated agriculture and case studies in south-eastern Africa

Figures & data

Table 1. An overview of the impact of extension on the adoption of irrigation innovations by farmers (n = 53; % in parentheses).

	Positive, significant	Negative, significant	Not significant	Total
Hard technology (e.g. irrigation infrastructure systems, new crops, new farm irrigation technology)
Developed	6 (75)	1 (13)	1 (13)	8 (100)
Developing	13 (62)	2 (10)	6 (29)	21 (100)
Soft technology (e.g. soil and water practices, timing, crop management changes)
Developed	1 (33)	0 (0)	2 (67)	3 (100)
Developing	12 (57)	0 (0)	9 (43)	21 (100)
Both technologies
Developed	7 (64)	1 (9)	3 (27)	11 (100)
Developing	25 (60)	2 (5)	15 (36)	42 (100)
All	32 (60)	3 (6)	18 (34)	53 (100)

Table 2. Main information sources for making farm decisions across all countries (number of households, with % in parentheses).

		Extension service	Buyers of crop/live-stock, sellers of farm input	Farmer group	Irrigation assoc./ NGOs/ research	Other farmers	Media	Own knowledge	Total
Rainfed crops	What to grow	225 (76)	3 (1)	9 (3)	8 (3)	18 (6)	15 (5)	18 (6)	296
	How to manage	245 (77)	6 (2)	6 (2)	11 (3)	19 (6)	15 (5)	18 (6)	320
	Where to sell	190 (63)	36 (12)	13 (4)	14 (4)	20 (7)	18 (6)	13 (4)	304
Irrigated crops	What to grow	247 (71)	6 (2)	11 (3)	27 (8)	13 (4)	21 (6)	22 (6)	347
	How to manage	270 (72)	12 (3)	8 (2)	28 (7)	17 (5)	19 (5)	23 (6)	377
	Where to sell	211 (58)	48 (13)	14 (4)	18 (5)	23 (6)	22 (6)	24 (7)	362
Livestock	What to grow	193 (78)	8 (3)	2 (1)	4 (2)	15 (6)	14 (6)	13 (5)	249
	How to manage	227 (79)	15 (5)	3 (1)	6 (2)	14 (5)	11 (4)	11 (4)	287
	Where to sell	200 (72)	32 (12)	4 (1)	4 (1)	13 (5)	12 (4)	12 (4)	277

Table 3. Use of extension service for irrigated crops by country (number of households, with % in parentheses).

		Extension services	Other sources
What crops/feed to grow	Tanzania	80 (55)	66 (45)
	Mozambique	4 (12)	29 (88)
	Zimbabwe	163 (97)	5 (3)
	Pearson chi-squared test		129.9***
How to manage the crops/livestock	Tanzania	102 (57)	77 (43)
	Mozambique	5 (17)	25 (83)
	Zimbabwe	163 (97)	5 (3)
	Pearson chi-squared test		116.8***
Where to sell the outputs	Tanzania	62 (35)	117 (65)
	Mozambique	1 (4)	23 (96)
	Zimbabwe	148 (93)	11 (7)
	Pearson chi-squared test		149.3***

^*** p < .01

^** p < .05

^* p < .1.

Table 4. Use of extension service for irrigated crops by technology/practice adoption in Tanzania (%).

		What to grow	How to manage	Where to sell
Hard technology innovations
Pumping surface-water, pumping groundwater, water buckets or other devices, run-off harvesting	Adoption	57	63	43
	Non-adoption	53	52	28
Two-sample test of equal proportions (Z-score)		0.40	1.51	1.99**
Soft technology innovations
Growing cover crops	Adoption	46	49	43
	Non-adoption	64	65	26
Two-sample test of equal proportions (Z-score)		2.18**	2.07**	2.35**
Mulching	Adoption	50	53	44
	Non-adoption	55	58	34
Two-sample test of equal proportions (Z-score)		0.41	0.41	0.92
Crop rotation	Adoption	49	50	33
	Non-adoption	59	62	35
Two-sample test of equal proportions (Z-score)		1.15	1.55	0.29
Other natural resources access (e.g. wood, charcoal, fish)	Adoption	69	71	44
	Non-adoption	41	44	27
Two-sample test of equal proportions (Z-score)		3.36***	3.67***	2.40**
Planting leguminous crops	Adoption	53	56	36
	Non-adoption	58	59	33
Two-sample test of equal proportions (Z-score)		0.61	0.39	0.55
Alternate crop mix/varieties	Adoption	49	53	39
	Non-adoption	59	60	32
Two-sample test of equal proportions (Z-score)		1.12	0.97	0.96

^*** p < .01

^** p < .05

^* p < .1.

Table 5. On-farm income comparison by use of extension services in Tanzania (USD).

		Mean	Median	Distribution function
What crops/feed to grow	Extension service use	2,063.8	900.5
	Other sources	1,305.0	674.6
	Equality test	0.91^1	0.71^2	0.19^3
How to manage the crops/livestock	Extension service use	1995.2	856.6
	Other sources	1,176.2	629.1
	Equality test	1.17^1	1.89^2	0.19^3
Where to sell the outputs	Extension service use	2,234.0	866.0
	Other sources	1,316.3	753.1
	Equality test	1.25^1	0.41^2	0.10^3

Note: None of the above tests were significant at the 0.1 level.

¹ Two-sample mean t-test.

² Two-sample median chi-squared test.

³ Two-sample distribution Kolmogorov-Smirnov test.

Table 6. Gender, education and marital status by use of extension services in Tanzania (%).

	Gender		Education			Married
	Male	Female	Less than primary	Primary	More than primary	Yes	No
What crops/feed to grow	54%	62%	55%*	59%*	25*	61%***	30%***
How to manage the crops/livestock	57%	58%	51%**	63%**	27**	62%**	38%**
Where to sell the outputs	32%**	52%**	39%	36%	14%	38%*	22%*

^*** p < .01

^** p < .05

^* p < .1 (Pearson chi-squared test).