Dynamics of communicating with smallholder farmers in the Gweru district of Zimbabwe

Abstract

Communication is an important facet of every development sphere and sufficiently so in the agriculture sector which is the main source of livelihood in many developing countries like Zimbabwe. The implications of communication in agriculture have a large bearing on the success or failure of agricultural development projects. While the diffusion of innovations theory has been criticised for its linear nature, the participatory theory has been questioned for its definitional and practical ambiguity in agricultural communication. However, this study argued that agricultural development goals can be realised if these two theories are combined together into a hybrid mode. Thus the diffusion of innovations and participatory theories underpinned the current study in exploring the dynamics of communicating with smallholder farmers in the Gweru district of Zimbabwe. The goal was to determine the smallholder farmers' communication needs and challenges faced in agricultural communication between agricultural extension personnel and the farmers. The research problem was a concern that there was lack of information, education and training during the Fast Track Land Reform Programme (FTLRP) and consequently low agricultural production hence the continuing food insecurity in the country. The study adopted a mixed research design in order to gain an in-depth understanding of the state of agricultural communication in the Gweru district. A quantitative survey was conducted through a questionnaire to collect data from the Gweru district smallholder farming community to determine their agricultural communication needs and preferences. Simple random sampling was used to determine the sample. A qualitative semi-structured interview by purposive sampling was used to collect data from agricultural extension workers in the district to determine the effectiveness and challenges faced with available communication media and methods in disseminating knowledge and information. The Gweru district was used as the study population since it is in one of the regions indicated in the literature to be affected by food insecurity, the Midlands region. The study findings were adequate enough to conclude that smallholder agricultural communication in the context of the Gweru district FTLRP of Zimbabwe is not effective due to multiple resource constraints. Thus, from the study findings, it was recommended that agricultural communication should be multifaceted: top-down, bottom-up and horizontal and be contextualised as much as possible if development goals are to be realised. The study has therefore developed some models to improve on current communication practices, which could consequently promote increased productivity. These are: multimedia and multi-strategy approaches to smallholder agricultural communication, detailed smallholder farmers' stakeholder analyses and smallholder agriculture stakeholder mobilisation.