Incorporating needs into programmes

Rapid rural appraisal (RRA; see chapter 6) can be used by research and extension to provide agroecological, biological, and socioeconomic data for identifying problems and opportunities for extension's clientele. For effective utilization, these needs should then be categorized on the basis of type of needs; that is, whether they are material needs, knowledge-based needs, or infrastructural support needs (see chapter 5). Then the importance of the needs should be ascertained to prioritize them before incorporating them into extension programmes (see chapter 7).

Transferring appropriate technologies is not enough to ensure adoption. Incorporating them into the targeted farming systems may be constrained by other variables which needs assessment ought to identify. For instance, the use of nematicide can increase the yield of a commodity by destroying the harmful nematodes, thus increasing nutrient uptake and yield. However, because nematodes are microscopic organisms, their presence in the soil may not be so obvious to the farmers who have not had the education to understand microorganisms. Consequently, an education component will need to be added to the technology to increase its chances of being adopted.

There are also cases where appropriate material technologies are not accepted because inputs are unavailable. This underscores the importance of addressing the users' wide-ranging needs - knowledge, attitude, skills, economic needs, and institutional support - in order to achieve the adoption of material technology.