African Forum for Agricultural Advisory Services

Are Agricultural Extension Actors in Africa ready ? It seems not, see this report.

From the 30th of March to the 3rd of April, three surveys were conducted at AFAAS; two  through the networks’ Dgroups using Google Forms, one in French and another in English, and the last survey was done live with Zoom Poll during AFAAS e-meeting held on the 2nd of April 2020.

Among the 1400 registered members in AFAAS Dgroups, 60 responses were received (44 for the English survey and 16 for the French version) and 20 out of 39 meeting participants responded to the online poll during AFAAS online meeting held on the 2nd of April. The sample was small but revealing.

The contextual and demographic information collected confirm that the respondents are generally people exposed to relatively high risks:

  • Because of their age (majority more than 50)
  • And because of their professional and social interactions (more because of that) and the size of household

When coming to passing the online test, the average score was 6.5/14 for the English speaking and 7.1/14 for the French speaking respondents.

It seems that AFAAS Network members are not ready to face Coronavirus pandemic.

Read more about the areas that need to be addressed and some activities that AFAAS should do next.