From Climate information to Climate Smart Agriculture, Evaluating Extension Delivery Models for Climate Information and Their Influence on Climate-Smart Agriculture Adoption in Zambia: Evidence from Kasenengwa and Monze Districts

Climate change is one of the significant threats to agricultural productivity and food security in sub-Saharan Africa, whereby smallholder farmers that depend entirely on rain-fed agriculture are more susceptible to climate change than other farming communities. In Zambia, increasing climate variability increases the need for relevant and appropriate climate information to inform decisions related to agriculture. Agricultural extension plays a critical role in facilitating the use of climate information in making appropriate decisions that increase the adaptive capacity of farmers and promote Climate-Smart Agriculture (CSA). Although a lot of resources have been devoted to providing climate information services, little research has been done to compare the effectiveness of different models of extension in providing climate information. The present study seeks to evaluate the effectiveness of different extension delivery models in disseminating climate information and how they influence CSA adoption by smallholder farmers in Kasenengwa and Monze districts in Zambia. The research adopts a convergent mixed methods research approach whereby a combination of quantitative household surveys, key informant interviews, and focus group discussions was conducted. Findings reveal that participatory models of extension, such as Farmer Field Schools, PICSA, and lead farmer models, perform better compared to traditional non-participatory approaches in the promotion of CSA adoption. However, institutional constraints, including inadequacy in extension staffing, poor coordination among institutions, inadequate transportation network, and lack of ICT connectivity, limit the efficacy of extension service delivery.