Increasing Agricultural Productivity with Targeted Extension and Advisory Services: Lessons from Ugandan Dairy Farming

Recently, the use of improved technologies and increasing technical efficiency have been considered the two major pathways to sustainably increase agricultural productivity. The main aim of this study was to explore which factors might facilitate the designing of more-targeted extension and advisory services ( eas ) that can reduce technical inefficiencies, increase farmers’ knowledge about new agricultural technologies and stimulate their intention to use them.1 Mixed research methods, i.e. surveys, key informant interviews and focus group discussions, were used to collect data. Multivariate analysis, structural equation modelling and non-parametric efficiency analysis techniques were the major data analysis methods used to achieve the objectives of this study. The results reveal that Ugandan dairy farmers operate within various production systems, and that they have a low rate of adoption of information and communication technology ( ict ) in agriculture and a high level of technical inefficiencies. Although targeted eas could result in considerable improvement in their productivity, it should be noted that farmer classification and eas targeting should not be a one-off activity.