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Developing MEPA’s Capacity for Extension Services - TCP/GEO/3803








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    Strengthening National Capacity in Agriculture Extension Services to Increase Production and Income of Farmers in Outer Atolls of Maldives - TCP/MDV/3802 2024
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    Agriculture has played a crucial role in the Maldives for generations. Although its contribution to the gross domestic product (GDP) is low, there is a significant number of farmers working in the country. Despite its importance, the agriculture sector is affected by several issues. The first is that land holding sizes decrease as the number of farmers increases. In addition, farmers are often unable to sell their products at competitive prices due to the absence of proper market structures and transportation difficulties, so they are forced to look for intermediaries to access markets, and ultimately have to sell their products at a lower-than-competitive price. Finally, a lack of trained field officers prevents the MoAAW from gathering vital data from farms to subsequently generate useful agricultural information and best practices for farmers. To support the rectification of these issues, this project aimed to: (i) train institutional field officers from different atolls to provide agricultural advice; (ii) create a mobile-compatible web application that enables interaction and information exchange between farmers and officers; (iii) improve the socioeconomic status of farmers; and (iv) generate employment opportunities through capacity-building programmes.
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    Strengthen Extension Services Capacity and Transform It to Become a Market-Oriented Advisory System - TCP/SYR/3802 2025
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    The crisis in Syria has severely impacted the national agricultural extension services, resulting in the loss of over 50 percent of qualified technical staff and leaving only about 10 percent of extension units operational. Many units have been destroyed or are inaccessible, and the remaining staff are disconnected from recent advancements in agricultural technology. This has led to a need for updating and enhancing their technical knowledge and skills. The reduction in workforce and resources has also impaired the extension services' ability to collect data, affecting agricultural monitoring and production planning. Additionally, the limited accessibility and the loss of staff have diminished field presence and eroded trust between farmers and extension services. Consequently, farmers now rely on various alternative sources for technical advice and market information, including input dealers, market traders, private advisors and farmer organizations. In this context, the Ministry of Agriculture and Agrarian Reform (MAAR) sought the assistance of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) to strengthen the capacity of extension services, modernize the advisory system, and shift its role from providing technical production advice to facilitating a market-orientated approach to enhance farmers' profitability and income. This assistance was carried out through the current project, which was developed in consultation with the International Cooperation and Planning Directorate and the Agricultural Extension Directorate of the MAAR. This collaboration ensured that the project was tailored to the ministry’s needs and aimed at enhancing the quality and scope of extension services. Finally, the project was aligned with the United Nations Strategic Framework in Syria, contributing to Pillar Two, "Sustainable Socio-economic Recovery," and Pillar Four, "People Resilience and Institutional Responsiveness.".
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    Strengthening Agricultural Extension Services in Zimbabwe - TCP/ZIM/3804 2024
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    Overhauling the agricultural sector is critical to reviving Zimbabwe’s economy. Frequent droughts and unstable macroeconomic conditions continue to hinder the country’s ability to deal with the pervasive low productivity of the sector, caused by such factors as the high cost of inputs, the poor availability of quality inputs, unstable prices, liquidity challenges and a weak extension system. With FAO support, the Government has taken major steps in this regard by developing a number of strategic plans, such as the Agriculture and Food Systems Transformation Strategy (2020-2030) and the National Agriculture Policy Framework (2020-2030), as well as plans regarding agricultural growth and revival, agriculture information management systems, and agricultural education, research and extension.

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