Project News Volume 37

Cost-share SHEP training for new extension officers was conducted in Kitui!

The project has completed capacity development training for the 20 target counties and is currently monitoring the county-led SHEP approach implementation (called “upscaling”). Additional training is being prepared in the form of cost sharing with counties those show progress in upscaling, and the first attempt was conducted in Kitui county on capacity development training on SHEP approach for new extension officers.

The training was conducted for four days from 1^st to 4^th October, and 18 people participated, including 16 new extension officers, the County Director on Agriculture (CDA), and the County Desk Officer (CDO) who is a responsible officer of the project. Half of the 16 participants were young extension officers with two years of experience. In addition to the two sub-counties that are the target of the project, extension officers from two neighboring sub-counties also participated in.

The four-day program includes lectures and exercises on market survey, crop selection, and development of crop planting calendar, which are important activities of the SHEP approach. In addition, sensitization, crop production technique training (include introduction of digital tool), and the definition of upscaling and how to report upscaling were also explained. The crop selection exercise was the most exciting part of the training among the participants. Participants joined the exercises as farmers, and there was a lot of discussion about why they selected that crop, whether the possible production volume of the crop was correct, and whether the production costs were underestimated. The project team explained that farmers select crops based on various factors, such as their cultivation experience, labor volume, and the relationship with other cultivated crops, in addition to the expected profits. The project team emphasized the importance of guiding farmers to listen to the voices of each other and understand the various perspective of the crops when training farmers on crop selection.

After the training, participants selected upscaling farmer groups and developed action plans. Participants plan to start activities from October 2024 which shows the high motivation and passion of conducting the SHEP approach. The project will monitor the implementation of SHEP in Kitui county.