Making stakeholders aware of advances in smallholder dairy farming |
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| Smallholder Dairy Toolbox: A Flexible Delivery Platform for Media Supporting Innovation in the Smallholder Dairy Sector | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
A new 'toolbox' has been developed to make it easier for organizations to provide easy-to-understand information to anyone involved in smallholder dairy production. Known as the Smallholder Dairy Toolbox (SDTB), its software allows users to access useful information and provide it in formats that are appropriate to a whole range of stakeholders - from farmers and delivery agents to planners and policy makers. The toolbox is intended to overcome the fact that the training and information materials currently available are often inadequate and difficult to access - especially for farmers and extension workers who have very little spare time. It is available on CD or as a download from the project website, and is already being used in some parts of Kenya. Project Ref: LPP01:
Research Programmes: Livestock Production Programme Relevant Research Projects: ZC0261: Development of a Dairy Toolbox.
Poor access to relevant information is a widely recognised constraint for a range of stakeholders in the smallholder dairy sector. These include farmers, delivery agents, service providers, development agencies, planners and policy makers. Training and information materials are often inadequate, scattered and difficult to access, especially by extension agents and farmers who have very limited resources, facilities and time. Existing extension materials often focus on the static application of a specific technology and make little effort to address farmers' needs to adapt these for their own situations or to identify appropriate options from a range of technologies. Furthermore, livestock development efforts have sometimes promoted poor, or at least poorly-focused, science in the form of inappropriate choice and promotion of specific technologies. In other cases, these efforts may not have access to appropriately packaged information, nor to effective methodologies for transfer and innovation of technology. Project ZC0261 aimed to address these constraints through the development of an electronic Smallholder Dairy Toolbox (SDTB). This involved two major strands of work:
The SDTB system allows information resources and tools to be centrally packaged and distributed in a broad range of formats. Content has been specially commissioned and existing sources identified and assembled. This toolbox content can be accessed via a 'navigation tree' or by key word searches. Information exists in the toolbox as 'snippets' - small units of information that users can select and combine to produce customised information products. Alternatively, the user can simply select from around 200 ready-to-use default fact-sheets. The toolbox can be distributed to end-users either on CD-ROM or, where connectivity is not a problem, can be accessed via the Internet. It is expected that as Internet connectivity increases and costs drop, more and more users will be able to access the toolbox on-line, making the most up-to-date content instantly available.
Milk and milk products. The major commodity focus of the tool box is upon the production and effective marketing of milk and milk products. As smallholder milk production is often conducted in mixed farming systems, some material is included that is relevant to other products (e.g. manure / compost used for crop production). The most important novel feature of the smallholder dairy toolbox is its capacity to manage and deliver information in a wide range of media formats, from static documents to stand-alone decision support tools in a way that makes them both easily accessible and locally-customisable. The content management and delivery software developed for the toolbox could be used in virtually their current form to produce toolboxes relating other commodities, production systems or issues.
The dairy toolbox was intended to act as a focal point for bringing together significant material related to dairy production generated by both RNRRS and non-RNRRS research programmes. As such it already includes material that describes RNRRS outputs in a way that should facilitate their wider promotion. It would be sensible to verify that all the information that has been generated by RNRRS programmes has indeed been included and reference to these clusters offers a rapid and simple way of doing this. The content management system developed for the toolbox allows the submission of material by any user or contributor approved by the administrators. Wider promotion of this feature could greatly enhance the quantity and quality of the information held in the toolbox, potentially turning it into a powerful platform for information exchange. How the outputs were validated: The main approach taken to validation of the toolbox during development was to integrate feedback from users and potential users and partners. This enabled the project team to refine and improve the product and address any difficulties identified in relation to using content and to identify and address any gaps in the information and tools included. Validation focused on two main issues during the development and implementation of the toolbox:Software Design:The key elements required in the software were identified by the project partners and reviewed at various stages of development by potential implementers (i.e. the direct users of the toolbox including government and private extension services) Adequacy of Content: As the toolbox was intended as an integrating output it was necessary to assume that the validity of the material included had been effectively determined by its originators. Some aspects of the presentation of some of this material were however quite novel and the acceptability of this has been examined with toolbox users. Where the Outputs were Validated: Validation activities started in April 2004 and are still running in east Africa.
Who are the Users? The principal objective of project ZC0261 was to develop a toolbox. As this work has only recently been completed, usage of the output has not been widespread at the time of writing. Where the outputs have been used: Currently, the use of the toolbox is restricted to a number of organisations in Kenya including secular and faith-based NGOs and government extension offices (see Annexe Table 1). Scale of Current Use: We would estimate that there are currently less than 50 active users worldwide. However, this could be expanded rapidly with effective promotion in future. Policy and Institutional Structures, and Key Components for Success: A key driving force in achieving measurable impacts with the toolbox is the fact that demand for information on livestock management practises is growing. This is due to a number of factors:
Traditionally, the public extension system has been the major source of technical information. However as a result of inadequate resources, training and information materials are often inadequate, scattered and difficult to access. Furthermore, they often focus on the technology alone and do not assist either delivery agents or their clients to consider whether particular practices are appropriate for their own circumstances defined by client objectives, management system, resource endowment or even agro-climatic conditions. Managers and policy makers with remits relating to extension services are well-aware of these difficulties and novel approaches such as that encapsulated in the SDTB are of great interest to them in bridging the gap between current capacity and the new demand that is arising. Lessons Learned and Uptake Pathways Promotion of Outputs: The existence and availability of the toolbox, both as a resource to be used and a repository for further information and tools, needs to be made more widely known. This will initially be done by communication with the development partners and organisations that have already expressed interest in using the toolbox. Beyond this, opportunities to promote the toolbox to a wider audience will be taken whenever these arise. These are likely to include featuring the toolbox on the websites of ILRI, ICRISAT and LPP in addition to a dedicated section of the Stirling Thorne Associates website (www.agritools.co.uk/sdtb_index.html) where the SDTB can be downloaded. Increased awareness of the existence of the toolbox will also be achieved through opportunistic interactions with organisations that are likely to be interested as well as journalists and communication specialists. Potential Barriers Preventing Adoption of Outputs:
How to Overcome Barriers to Adoption of Outputs: Lack of investment in promotion and marketing: This shortcoming ought to be readily addressed by adequate promotion through formal dairy organisations as well as under the umbrella of the RiUP. Lack of funding to fully develop delivery channels: The core data that constitutes the information that is held and distributed by the toolbox is stored in a central internet database. This means that:
These applications would however require support for management and moderation of toolbox content. Lessons Learned: Given the stage of implementation of the Smallholder Dairy Toolbox, it seems premature to attempt to answer this question! The primary objective of the project was to deliver a product that could facilitate the passage of relevant information to those amongst the poor who might reap some benefit from it. It aimed to achieve this in two ways:
The extent to which the toolbox has achieved these aims will only become apparent when it has been more widely used and monitored. Poverty Impact Studies: Impact studies have not taken place as the toolbox has only recently reached a stage at which it might reasonably be applied in the field. How the Poor have Benefited (including gender and other poverty groups): The toolbox was intended as an integrating output for the products of RNRSS-LPP research projects and complementary information from elsewhere. As such, there are a number of points to note that bear upon our assessment of its capacity to generate pro-poor impacts. Firstly and of necessity, it was implemented, relatively recently, towards the end of the research strategy. This means that it has yet to be widely applied so evidence of its role in facilitating poverty impacts is lacking. Secondly, the toolbox itself can only ever be considered capable of generating impacts on poverty indirectly. Any impacts are actually generated by the application of the tools that it contains in situations where they are likely to be effective. Future evaluation of the toolbox needs to focus on its role as a facilitator in the process of impact generation. This might be achieved through:
Direct and Indirect Environmental Benefits: The toolbox per se does not generate positive or negative environmental impacts. Any environmental changes can only really be attributed to the implementation of the farming methods that it seeks to promote. However, the toolbox does offer a powerful platform for the promotion of dairy management practices that are environment-neutral or beneficial in the longer term. Adverse Environmental Impacts: There is no reason to anticipate adverse impacts due to the implementation of the practices that are promoted via the toolbox. All content is moderated and environmental sustainability is amongst the criteria applied during selection. Coping with the Effects of Climate Change, or Risk from Natural Disasters: Poor people who derive a benefit from the toolbox should gain access to a wider range of livelihood options that, in turn, will increase their capacity to deal with the risks and threats that they face. Annexe Table 1: List of Current Users in Kenya
Relevant Research Projects,
with links to the
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For relevant research projects, with links to further information
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