The Meru University family is creating solutions addressing the Sustainable Development Goal to “End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture” (SDG2). MUST through our Enhancing Partnerships for Industry-led Vocational Training (EPIVOT) research project, is host to the Result Based Management in Agricultural Advisory and Extension Training Course from Thursday 9th June to Friday 10th June 2022.

Agricultural Extension and Advisory services are an essential tool for Kenya’s transformation agenda. Agriculture provides employment to over 70 per cent of Kenya’s rural population and more than 40 per cent of the total population. Its contribution to GDP in 2021 was 26 per cent directly and 27 per cent indirectly through linkages to other sectors. The sector accounts for 65 per cent of export earnings and provides livelihoods to more than 80 per cent of the total population.

Agricultural extension and advisory services are a key driver of employment creation, income and national food security needs. However, the limited capacity of the public extension system, coupled with an uncoordinated private extension system limits its ability to support sector growth.

This course on result based agricultural extension and advisory has been developed to equip private and public sector extension providers with essential knowledge, skills and competencies on the use of results-based management, ICT and the RASTA model in the design and delivery of agricultural extension services.

After completion of this result-based extension training course, the learner will be:

• Familiar with the principles of Result Based Management
• Familiar with Terms and Definitions and Course documentation
• Understand how to design an extension project
• Familiar with the RASTA model
• Understand how to implement the RASTA Model
• Familiar with the use of ICT in agricultural extension and advisory

The University’s research projects such as EPIVOT, similarly to the (SGD2), recognizes the inter linkages among supporting sustainable agriculture, empowering small farmers, promoting gender equality, ending rural poverty, ensuring healthy lifestyles, tackling climate change, and other issues addressed within the set of 17 Sustainable Development Goals in the Post-2015 Development Agenda.

The training course includes a total of 8 interactive sessions with combinations of lectures, audio-visual presentation, hand-outs and a case study to ensure a complete understanding of the subject:

Section – 1: Introduction to the Course

Section – 2: Terms and Definitions and Course Documentation

Section – 3: Use of Result Based Management in Agricultural Extension

Section – 4: The RASTA Agricultural Extension Model

Section – 5: Use of Information and Communication Tools in Agricultural Extension

Section – 6: Extension programming for Agricultural Crops and IPM

Section – 7: Setting up as a commercial ESP

Section – 8: Case Study

The United Nations in the article “Feeding the World Sustainability” – Authored by José Graziano Da Silva cited that according to estimates compiled by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), by 2050 we will need to produce 60 per cent more food to feed a world population of 9.3 billion. Doing that with a farming-as-usual approach would take too heavy a toll on our natural resources. Thus, we have no choice but to embark on a greener revolution.

MUST is committed to providing solutions in support of food security and agricultural best practices.

For more information on the EPIVOT project, here’s an article from our 9^th Graduation Souvenir Magazine (Page 38): https://www.must.ac.ke/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/9th-Graduation-Ceremony-Magazine-2022-.pdf