Agricultural and Rural Development

• SHEP Approach (Japanese)
• SHEP Approach (French)
• SHEP Approach (Spanish)

SHEP Approach and Its Expansion

Smallholder Horticulture Empowerment & Promotion (SHEP) Approach have developed in Kenya through technical cooperation project by JICA which started from 2006 and succeeded in increasing farmers' income. SHEP is an approach which realizes "Market-Oriented Agriculture" and converts farmers mind from "grow and sell" to "grow to sell". In Kenya, with this approach, the project achieved doubling income of 2,500 smallholders only within 2 years (2007-2009).

JICA has set the wide implementation of the SHEP Approach to countries throughout Africa as one of the pillars of Agricultural cooperation in Africa. In this page you will see how SHEP has been expanding.

• SHEP Approach and Its Expansion

SHEP Projects in the World

Eat more vegetables for your health!
TANSHEP casts a critical view for nutrition improvement and agricultural marketing

"We are made of what we consume every day. I know the source of my beauty is vegetables I eat." A healthy and brilliant lady, Ms Nancy Sumari who won the title Continental Queen of Africa for Miss World 2005, confidently shares her long-standing-beauty experience in the screen in front of various mouth-watering vegetable dishes, encouraging Tanzanians to do the same for better health and beauty through a video clip released and aired on Clouds TV under TANSHEP project.

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• Archive

Teaching Materials & Public Relations

We developed SHEP teaching materials and various PR matters such as SHEP game, YouTube channel.

• Teaching Materials & PR

• SHEP Game

What does it take to make money in agriculture? "Fun Fun Farming!" is a free app that lets users think about this question while they play an entertaining game.

• YouTube channel

• Introduction to the Psychology of International Cooperation (external link)

• Introducción a la Psicología de La Cooperación Internacional (Español) (PDF/8.80MB)

We took our on-site experiences with technical cooperation in the agriculture and rural development sector and attempted to both analyze them and translate them into explicit knowledge based on theories of psychological motivation—a critical part of the SHEP approach.

Latest SHEP PR Video is now on YouTube updated in September, 2017.

• (YouTube) Smallholder Farmers Make Changes for Success at Market－SHEP Approach Spreading to the Whole Africa (external link)

- SHEP Approach Training Digest (2020)

[English]

• (YouTube) The SHEP Approach Training Digest 2020 (Short ver) (external link)
• (YouTube) The SHEP Approach Training Digest 2020 (Full ver) (external link)

[Arabic]

• (YouTube) The SHEP Approach Training Digest (2021) (Short ver) (external link)
• (YouTube) The SHEP Approach Training Digest (2021) (Full ver) (external link)

[Russian]

• (YouTube) The SHEP Approach Training Digest (2021) (Short ver) (external link)
• (YouTube) The SHEP Approach Training Digest (2021) (Full ver) (external link)

- SHEP Approach "Promotion of Farming as a Business" Based on Motivation Theory (2017)

[English]

• (YouTube) The SHEP Approach 2017 (Short ver) (external link)
• (YouTube) The SHEP Approach 2017 (Full ver) (external link)

[Arabic]

• (YouTube) The SHEP Approach 2017 (Short ver) (external link)
• (YouTube) The SHEP Approach 2017 (Full ver) (external link)

[Russian]

• (YouTube) The SHEP Approach 2017 (Short ver) (external link)
• (YouTube) The SHEP Approach 2017 (Full ver) (external link)

- SHEP Handbook for Extension Staff

This handbook is based on practical experience applying the SHEP approach to extension activities. It was made with a mind to provide those engaged in extension work with something that they can implement immediately.

• SHEP Hand book for Extension Staff (PDF/4.98MB)
• Manuel SHEP pour les vulgarisateurs (French) (PDF/4.20MB)
• Manual de SHEP para el extensionista (Español) (PDF/4.85MB)

JICA SHEP Facebook

We regularly post information about projects that have used the SHEP approach on our official Facebook page. If you're interested in getting this information, simply click the "like" button on the JICA SHEP Facebook page to register. You will need to create a login ID in order to get full access.

• JICA SHEP (Facebook) (external link)

Contact info for inquiries

JICA Economic Development Department
Email: edga1@jica.go.jp