Agricultural extension services are a vital service for farmers. In Mozambique, however, the ratio of extension services is around 1,200 per farmer – far off the 250 recommended by the FAO. This limits the adoption of new, yield enhancing practices and technologies, and keeps farmers in the dark with regards to prices and markets. The situation is even worse for more marginalized farmers – women, for instance, are around half as likely to receive extension services as men.

Our MultiMedia Extension project provided remote, Information Communication Technology (ICT) enabled extension advice to around 500,000 smallholders along the Beira and Nacala corridors. Since most of those farmers were usually excluded from traditional face to face extension models, our services were a vital lifeline –  not only their only formal source of agronomic advice, but also of real-time agricultural information for taking informed marketing decisions.

MultiMedia Extension worked with three ICT channels:

1. Cellphone enabled IVR, SMS and USSD messages, in partnership with Vodacom Mozambique and Human Network International (VIAMO) through its 321 agricultural services platform
2. Community radio, in partnership with Farm Radio International
3. Community video