Increasing attention is being given to evaluating the impact of advisory services in terms of their effectiveness in providing farmers with knowledge and networks for innovation as well as understanding the factors that influence this effectiveness (Prager et al, 2017). The demand and uptake of advisory services is one factor and Klerkx et al (2017) comment on the variation in farmers’ demand and the influences of variables such as farm size, asset status and education as well as stability or turbulence in the regulatory environment. Some research has started to look at the quality of the service provided by advisors and debates in the literature have paid some attention to the new skills and profiles to be developed by agricultural advisors (Faure et al, 2012) including the importance of credibility and relational trust in the advisor - farmer relationship (Sutherland et al, 2013). Despite general agreement on the importance of social expertise, there are still wide differences in the conceptual understanding of the advisory relationship and how trust and confidence work to provide opportunities for information acquisition and knowledge exchange. Ingram (2008) has shown that farmers can be proactive or reactive in their relationship with advisors and how this relationship may be steered by either party or be more equal. The relationship between advisors and the farmers with whom they work is often one of the most influential in the transfer of knowledge and learning (Kuehne et al., 2015) yet it remains something of an enigma, often more art than science. Despite the diversity in public and private advisory service providers, there is increasing attention being given to the professional formation and continuing professional development of extension professionals (Gorman, 2018). The ProAKIS project called for the introduction and development of certification and accreditation schemes with could establish or strengthen the profession of agricultural advisor with curricula that include methodological emphasis as well as technical know-how. CECRA (European Certificate for Consultants in Rural Areas) is an example of an accreditation scheme for advisors that is focusing on such communication and methodological competencies.
En 2011, la Plateforme pour un partenariat Afrique-Europe dans le domaine de la recherche agricole pour le développement (Platform for African European Partnership on Agricultural Research for Development, PAEPARD) a lancé le processus guidé par les utilisateurs (PGU) afin de...
The paper takes a critical look at two key interventions identified to deliver the PAEPARD capacity strengthening strategy. Firstly, the training of a pool of agricultural innovation facilitators (AIF) to broker relations between relevant stakeholders for the consolidation of effective...
Ce document analyse de façon critique deux interventions majeures identifiées pour mettre en œuvre la stratégie de renforcement des capacités de PAEPARD. La première intervention est la formation d’un vivier de facilitateurs de l’innovation agricole (FIA) pour assurer une médiation...
In this paper, presented at the 12th European IFSA Symposium (Workshop: "Generating spaces for innovation in agricultural and rural development") in 2016, the authors assess the integration of new entrants to small-scale farming into agricultural knowledge and innovation systems (AKIS), in...
The nature of the issues around which Agricultural Research for Development (ARD) partnerships are formed requires a different way of conceptualizing and thinking to that commonly found in many agricultural professionals. This brief clarifies the components of a system of...