Dr. Samson Eshetu was born in Dire Dawa, Ethiopia. He got his first diploma from then Jima College of Agriculture, presently Jimma University, in Plant Science in 1991 and started his first career as a Development Agent (DA) under the former Ministry of Coffee and Tea in Keficho Shekicho Zone of the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples State.
After serving for seven years there, he quitted his and joined Haromaya University to pursue his advanced degree in Agricultural Extension, and managed to be a distinction graduate of the department. As scholarship opportunities were rare during those times, his wife’s salary was the only source of income to settle his tuition fees.
Luckily, the university hired him as a graduate assistant lecturer. He then won a scholarship offered Sasakawa Africa Fund for Extension Education in Tanzania and earned his MA. Coming back home, he served as a lecturer, programme coordinator and Head of Department at Haromaya University and went back to Tanzania to pursue his Ph.D at the same university.
He joined the African Forum for Agricultural Advisory Service (AFAAS) as a program officer. During his service at Haromaya University, he played a crucial role in the effort to establish the Ethiopian Society of Rural Development and Agricultural Extension (ESRDAE). Samson is currently a Capacity and Institutional Development Specialist at AFAAS. The Ethiopian Herald had a brief stay with him concerning AFAAS’s activities and the prospect of extension service in the agriculture sector.
Herald: What is the significance of ESRDAE and the overall progress it made?
Samson: The idea of establishing ESRDAE has long existed before I involved in the process. But with the support of the concerned partners, we have been able to establish it in 2010 and I was the Vice President by then. Its main objective was to provide professional support for Ethiopia’s agricultural extension program. In the past, there was no chance for Agricultural extension professionals to publish their researches. Then, the ESRDAE started organizing annual conferences that would enable members to share experiences and scholars to present and publish scientific researches.
The Ministry of Agriculture (MoA) gained significant inputs from the experience sharing and the researches. In April 2017, Ethiopia has launched the Ethiopian Home Grown Agricultural Extension Strategy and the Society has played a crucial role in supporting MoA while preparing the Strategy. After it was launched, ESRDAE members have been giving training about the Strategy for policymakers, extension workers, and different agriculture experts in every state throughout the country.
Herald: Would you tell us about key achievements and mention some
Samson: Like I said, we have been involving in the preparation of the Strategy and providing training for extension workers. The ESRDAE has also been facilitating and providing technical support for multiple stakeholders to contribute to the development of the agricultural sector through the Agriculture Development Partners Linkage Advisory Council (ADPLAC) National Platform. Driven from the Strategy, an extension roadmap, and a ten-year plan was also prepared and the society has played a big role in the process. In general, the ESRDAE has been making significant contributions in building the capacity of and providing expertise to the agricultural extension program.
Currently, we are initiating a panel discussion in collaboration with MoA about the impact of COVID-19 on the extension program, how actors in the sector are responding to it, and what type of methods and approaches we could implement for the future. It will be a live panel discussion that involves farmers, DAs, experts, and policymakers in every state. In this case, AFAAS is also supporting initiatives concerning agricultural extension in the continental level. For instance, it organizes the African Wise Agricultural Extension Week. Ethiopia has hosted the second edition and the Society in collaboration with MoA coordinated the event.
Herald: How do you assess the factors that are challenging African and mainly Sub-Saharan countries’ agricultural sector? In addition, what are the lessons learned from African Wise Agricultural Extension Weeks and other National experience sharing conferences?
Samson: There are common agricultural challenges in Africa and Sub Saharan countries including Ethiopia. These are food and nutrition security, productivity, climate change, and market linkage related problems. When we come to extension, our capacity is very weak in terms of reaching farmers, the methods, approaches, and tools we use. We are still practicing a face to face individual extension service and the current COVID-19 pandemic is posing a threat to our agriculture. Capacity limitations and lack of awareness about extension works are also gaps. Agricultural extension is a field that requires special skills and knowledge such as facilitation, communication, critical analysis, and understanding the concepts and culture.
Meanwhile, the current trend indicates that the extension and advisory services are transforming to agricultural innovation system, which is called pluralistic extension service. In the past, the extension service was considered a mandate left only for MoA. Now there is an attempt to implement pluralistic extension service, which involves private sectors, farmers’ organizations, NGOs, universities, micro finances, etc. But this needs coordination and integration. Thus, agricultural extension professionals are expected to play a significant role in coordinating and integrating all these actors. And the job requires negotiation and facilitation skills in line with the other knowledge that I mentioned earlier. This is why AFAAS is serving as a network to enable different actors and share experiences at the continental level. By this, it will be able to provide service for smallholder farmers or value chain actors in a coordinated and efficient way. It also gives them the chance to create relationships for future collaboration. There is nothing that one can accomplish alone these days.
Herald: So what is AFAAS doing in particular?
Samson: AFAAS has engaged in introducing national multi-stakeholder platforms and strengthening the existing ones in different countries of Africa. The platform brings together different institutions, the private sector, NGOs, etc. Our entry point in Ethiopia is ADPLAC under the Extension Directorate of MoA. It also supports the efforts of national agricultural initiatives and introduces new technology to the smallholder farmers.
Herald: Would you tell us about cooperation among AFAAS, MoA, decision, and policy makers as well as other institutions so far?
Samson: In this case, I would say that Ethiopia has so many interesting experiences to share for other countries.
Herald: Would you mention some examples?
Samson: For instance, the government’s commitment in giving due attention to and the huge investment it makes for the agricultural extension is exemplary. And Ethiopia is one of the few countries which made the African Union Comprehensive African Agricultural Development Programme target of investing ten percent goal of the national budget to the agricultural sector. But this doesn’t mean that the Country is not supposed to take lessons from others. It has to learn a lot. We can mention the use of ICT, which is the weakest part of the Country in comparison with others. Ethio- Telecom has been the only provider of the service. But now there is a good move as the sector is going to be partially privatized. The electronic extension is becoming very popular.
When we bring and share different experiences and as long as they are evidence-based, the MoA is very open to learn and implement. That is one good example.
Herald: Would you tell us about the progress of the platform that AFAAS created considering the role of the private sector in providing innovation and technology for smallholders to overcome the effect of COVID-19?
Samson: Well, we are creating space for countries to share their experiences. Our first job was doing a survey analysis through our discussion group network about public awareness and the effect of the pandemic. The result shows that majority of the people have awareness about COVID-19. The exchange of information in many countries is also well underway. In addition, governments are doing well in terms of maintaining good response mechanisms. Ministries as well as extension workers are discussing joint efforts for effective agriculture. These are the results or findings of our survey. Thus, FAO brought the question of what should be the role of the private sector. Now the extension service cannot be delivered face to face. So, the use of ICT based extension systems has become the best option and the private sector is the main actor with mobile access, web-based services, interactive voice responses, etc. It has also a role in digitalizing the extension service for smallholder farmers. In this case, the good news we have heard is that the mobile phone coverage in Ethiopia has reached 41 percent. Many may not have android versions but we can reach them through text messages and interactive voice response. As a result, the role of the private sector is expected to be crucial.
Herald: Thank you for your time.
Samson: Thank you for having me as your guest.
The Ethiopian Herald June 28, 2020
BY HENOK TIBEBU
