Volunteers can take the role of extension officers in Kenya, a study by Icraf scientists suggests. The ratio of extension officers to farmers in Kenya stands at 1 to 1,200 against the expected one officer to 400 farmers. But small-scale farmers can now be successfully trained to train other farmers without pay, says researchers from World Agroforestry Centre (Icraf). The arrangement, which began in South America in 1970s, is already being practised in parts of Rift Valley and Central Kenya.

Icraf scientists Dr Evelyne Kiptot  and Dr Steven Franzel last year studied seven sites where volunteer farmer trainers had been working the longest—Kieni, Olkalou, Muki, Kipkaren, Kabiyet, Cheptalal, and Longisa. Read more