Capacity Building in Agricultural Extension: the World Bank Experience in Nigeria

Capacity building for effective agricultural extension may be required at the levels of individual non-governmental group, and institutional and policy actors. World Bank support to Nigeria for capacity building in agricultural extension dates back to the mid-1970s with the establishment of nine enclave Agricultural Development Projects (ADPs). These were followed by the statewide ADPs (1981-83), the multi-state ADPs (1986-89), and the National Agricultural Technology Support Project approved in 1992. The total investment in the ADPs, so far is about US$2 billion. Analyses of the earlier World Bank interventions for capacity building show results that vary/ from highly satisfactory to unsatisfactory, depending largely on the performance of the Bank, the government and the rural clients. In the process, the Bank has learned a number of lessons which will guide its future interventions in agricultural extension in Nigeria. First, the client needs to be in the driver's seat, empowered to decide its priorities and be able to hold extension agents accountable. Second, the Bank's limited resources will need to befocused on achieving strategic outcomes that are in line with the client's development priorities andfor which the Bank has a comparative advantage. Third, the selectivity principle will be applied to support the development strategies of reforming state and local governments. These lessons are being applied in the Second National Fadama Development Project (Fadama II) and the proposed Fadama III Project. The paradigm shift adopted under these projects requires: (a) demand-responsive advisory services; (b) empowerment of user groups to participate in the planning and implementation of advisory services; and (c) encouragement of pluralistic service delivery. Although the experience on Fadama 11 is still very limited, there are clear indications of increasing participation and ownership by the user groups which will likely increase the sustainability ofthe investments in capacity building.