CABI is a not-for-profit organization that provides scientific expertise and information about agriculture and the environment. It has approximately 350 staff members worldwide and is owned by 47 member countries. CABI aims to strengthen global capacities for effective knowledge and advisory services through activities like scientific publishing, development projects, research, and plant clinics. The document discusses CABI's Plantwise program which establishes plant clinics to provide farmers with diagnoses and treatments for plant problems. It also covers partnerships between CABI and other organizations to improve extension services through mobile advisory programs, scaling challenges, and CABI's contributions to building capacity at individual, national, and regional levels.
1. Improving Extension
Strengthening Global Capacities for Effective
Knowledge and Advisory Services
Trevor Nicholls, Chief Executive Officer, CABI
GCARD 2012-GFRAS, 30 October 2012
www.cabi.org
KNOWLEDGE FOR LIFE
2. In brief
CABI
● CABI provides scientific expertise and
information about agriculture and the
environment
● Activities include: scientific publishing,
development projects and research,
and microbial services
● Established in 1910
● Not-for-profit
● Owned by 47 member countries
● Approximately 350 staff worldwide
4. Back to
basics: Key capacities
● Practical solutions to everyday problems
(Individual)
● Better problem-solving approaches
● Evidence based extension resonates
more
● Work with what is already there
(Organisational)
● Partners, resources - moving slowly
forward
● Pragmatic alliances – not everyone
can do everything
5. www.plantise.org
Content from CABI and partners Expertise from CABI and partners
screen shot
Knowledge Bank
Plant
Knowledge Bank Clinics
Plant doctors Plant Clinics
Data for prevention, Public good: trade, Practical assistance for
identification and knowledge, food security farmers
management Global reporting network
6. Set up at local
How the clinics work
meeting places
Free at the point of
use
Farmers come with
problems and
samples
Receive a diagnosis
and a ‘prescription’
from the plant
doctor.
7. Country Plans 2012
East Asia
Caribbean & China
Central
America SE Asia
Cambodia
Nicaragua
C&W Asia Vietnam
Honduras
Barbados Africa Pakistan
Grenada DR Congo Afghanistan
Trinidad & Kenya South Asia
Tobago Rwanda Bangladesh
South
Suriname Sierra Leone India
America
Tanzania Nepal
Bolivia
Uganda Sri Lanka
Peru
Ghana
9. Plantwise
case study: A Plant Health Systems
approach
Robust PHS extension systems
require you to:
● Embed innovations in existing services
● Combine groups; assess contribution
and skills
● Align mandates, roles and
responsibilities
● Leverage complementary delivery
approaches
● Build effective working ties with all
players, using renewable resources
10. India – Africa Mobile Agro-Advisory
partnerships India and Africa
● India – successful pilot project with IKSL
(IFFCO/Airtel)
● Over 3 million users – receive 5 free “push”
messages each day, follow up enquiries charged
at local rates
● CABI created ‘Direct 2 Farm’–database of farmer
centred actionable information
● Africa: leveraging on work in India – working with
GSMA projects to develop mobile agro advisory
services with Airtel in Kenya; with ESOKO in
Ghana.
12. Scaling up challenges
● Political: federal vs. states
● Inter-Institutional:
overlapping remits
● Sectoral: pluralistic advisory
services
● Ethical: working with
agrodealers
● Capacity: from weak &
fragile, to robust & dynamic
● Strategic: independent
ownership & management
of plant clinics
13. Healthy landscapes (AIRCA)
–making rural communities more viable
Reducing risk Increasing sustainability
Crop/fertilizer/water mix for better Lose less to increase output/
nutrition and yield quality with fewer inputs
Crop types and practices for Protection of biodiversity on and
resilience to change off farm
Improved knowledge of and Management of ecosystem
access to markets services, practices and use
Control of invasive species Involvement of women
Reduced food insecurity, improved quality of life
Reduced or reversed rural migration
14. Strengthening
extension: CABI’s role
(Plantwise approach)
● Consistent approach
● Apply standard methods, and
measure
● Coordinated effort
● Identify and understand local partners
● Work within partners’ limits
● Training, communication
● Enabling & encouraging
● Identify and share lessons
● Develop solutions together
15. CABI contribution – Global
● G1&2.Through AIRCA & CABI membership, support
capacity development and policy advocacy @
national/regional levels. Participate in networks
● G3. Through Plantwise (PW), adopt practical
frameworks/training modules, and papers outlining lessons
learned
● G4. Advocacy via PW on evidence-based success
● G5. Demonstrate positive role of partnerships in EAS
● G6. Through CABI membership, share experiences
● G7. Facilitate country-to-country learning
16. CABI contribution – Regional
Through working with regional partners
●R2. Aggregate, structure & publish evidence via R4D,
GARA and, if invited, other KM repositories
●R5. Through PW & CABI membership consultation, share
experiences, train stakeholders, and advocate pragmatic
approaches
17. Capacity priorities, individual
Through working with national partners
●N2. Capacity assessments and referral: e.g. Directory of
Diagnostic Services
●N4. Facilitate stakeholder workshops to learn what works
and what did not
●N5. Experiment with ICTs to scale out extension (e.g. IKSL,
India)
●N7. Lesson learning and improved planning via research
internships
18. teşekkür ederim
ke itumetse grazie
kiitos
terima kasih tak xie-xie
merci
спасибо
efharistó
faleminderit
cảm ơn cô 谢谢
salamat asante sana நன்றி
dhanyawaad शुक्रियाक्रिया zikomo mersi
danke
ありがとう
Assalamualikum
urakoze
stuh-tee
благодаря
thank you gracias
Trevor Nicholls
E: t.nicholls@cabi.org
T: +44 (0)1491 832111
www.cabi.org
KNOWLEDGE FOR LIFE
Notas do Editor
Practical solutions to everyday problems (Individual) Innovations in Extension need to take realistic account of the everyday pressures of being an extension worker on the ground – they are drowning, not waving. We need practical and better problem-solving approaches Speak plainly and from experience. In this debate, ask ourselves if all this theorising uses language or scenarios that an extension worker would recognise as a real world sitaution: ‘evidence based’ extension approaches will resonate more Work with what is already there (Organisational) Don’t reinvent the wheel but try to be inclusive with a small coordinated network of effective and willing partners, resources Moving slowly forward But, seeking near-complete capability delivery from every EAS participant is another recipe for protracted failure – take the best of what you can find and give it strength through coordinated processes and common standards
In positioning CABI as the Global Plant Health Centre, we will extend the the current pilot project on Plant Clinics to train plant doctors and establish a network of plant health clinics in at least 25 countries around the globe. These plant health clinics will provide immediate benefits to local farmers but will also contribute surveillance and monitoring of plant pests and diseases to a comprehensive global database which will also contain content from CABI and other partners. Initial focus on Pest and Disease information but long term intention will be to cover all aspects of plant health. The database will have a significant part of its content which will be available on an open access basis, forming a public good which will help build knowledge in support of food security and trade. We also envisage that certainly value-added analytical tools, reports and consultancy services will be paid for so as to ensure that the concept is financially self-sustaining.
Clinic in DRC
The ‘Proposed Organisation Structure’ slide states the CABI staff members who are proposed to fulfil the roles identified as required for the project (depending on the project level) – note that the availability of these staff members for this project should already be confirmed. Corporate Management (and authorisation of a project) will be dependent on project level, as given below for Donor-funded or Investment projects respectively: Donor-funded Projects: Level 1 (Gross Income > £250k) = PMG Level 2 (Gross Income £50k-£250k) = Global Director, Publishing Business Innovation Forum (PBIF), or EMT Member Level 3 (Gross Income < £50k) = Regional Director, Publishing Senior Manager, or EMT Member Any Level with NPC < 15% = PMG Investment Projects: Level 1 (Total Implementation Costs > £250k) = PMG Level 2 (Total Implementation Costs £50k-£250k) = EMT Member Level 3 (Total Implementation Costs < £50k) = Regional Director, Publishing Senior Manager, or EMT Member Any Level with any of the following = PMG Total CAPEX > £50k Internal Rate of Return (IRR) < 10% Payback > Year 4 Project Board The roles should be filled by CABI staff with external perspectives being represented by a CABI staff member. Where Project Board meetings occur, these should be internal to CABI, with ‘special’ Project Board meetings being held with external parties as required. Projects of level 3 may not have a Project Board, however there should always be a Project Executive.
The elements of a plant health system are made of extension players (Govt, NGOs), research (institutes), regulatory (NPPO, Govt) and the input suppliers (agri-dealers). Most farmers get most of their advice from sometimes loosely-regulated agri-dealers and seldom see an extension worker. Strength of arrows indicates typical strength of relationship and interaction With Plantwise, CABI uses plant clinics as the unifying means to link up a portfolio of trained players to offer objective advice via plant clinics, owned and run by the combined local partners. The clinics/doctors, over time, can ensure that agri-dealers stock safer chemicals (when and only if a chemical intervention is required), & stock the most appropriate types of chemicals (branded, licensed), building up trust that a farmer gets objective advice, appropriate dosage instructions, etc
Using Plantwise as an example of how we’ve made this work – and scale – we have seen that to build robust PHS extension systems consistently rely on the ability to: Embed innovations (e.g. plant clinics) in existing extension and advisory services Combining groups, assessing contribution and skills Alignment of mandates, job roles and responsibilities (research, extension, phytosanitary) Leverage complementary delivery approaches Effective (ethical) working ties with agrodealers and input supply (i.e. work with players, don’t bypass) Renewable resource allocation: funds and personnel. Not new money, but smarter use of existing funds and resources. Get their financial/resource commitment up-front, to avoid the 3yr project cycle of boom and bust
Political : federal vs. states [Bolivia, DR Congo]. E.G. DRC is not one country, effectively it is at least 4, requiring localised approaches and partnerships Inter-Institutional : Uganda (NAADs and MAAIF vs. local government); Sri Lanka (several ministries work in agriculture) Sectoral : pluralistic advisory services (mixed role of NGOs in Nepal and Bangladesh) Ethical : working with agrodealers (good relations in Bolivia) Capacity : from weak & fragile (Sierra Leone) to robust & dynamic (Kenya) Strategic : independent ownership & management of plant clinics
Consistent approach Apply standard methods with measurable results (M&E) Coordinated effort Identify and understand local partners, working within their constraints to reveal new possibilities Training, communication Enabling & encouraging Identify and share lessons Develop solutions together
From the GFRAS position paper, CABI/AIRCA can contribute to debate and action on the following points
From the GFRAS position paper, CABI can contribute to debate and action on the following points
From the GFRAS position paper, CABI can contribute to debate and action on the following points