‘Master Farmers’ to provide extension support to smallholder dairy farmers

Farmers gain a lot of knowledge and information from other farmers through peer-to-peer learning.

With this in mind, the Zambia Dairy Transformation Programme (ZDTP) has introduced the ‘Master Farmers’ concept to aid knowledge transfer within the Zambian dairy industry.

Master Farmers, or Lead Farmers, will function as facilitators between Extension Officers (EOs) and smallholder farmers in their communities.

This approach recognises the limited number of farmers that formally-trained EOs can reach daily as well as the financial resources needed for fuel and transport.

ZDTP Field Extension Manager Kelvin Mulusa, right, discussing the Master Farmer model with Yvonne Chifwala in Choma, Southern Province.

So far, more than 65 committed farmers from Central, Copperbelt and Southern Provinces have met the Master Farmers selection criteria, based on their dairy farming knowledge and experience, farmer entrepreneurship and people advisory skills.

Master Farmers will work closely with EOs from the Ministry of Fisheries and Livestock (MFL) and dairy cooperatives to assist farmers in the rapid adoption of best practice dairy farming technologies and activities.

They will do this by conducting training and demonstrations and using resources such as fact sheets and instructional videos provided by the ZDTP for distribution to their farming peers.