Gender again - Views of female agricultural extension officers by smallholder farmers in Tanzania

Tanzania attempts to have a village extension officer (VEO) in every village; until recent years most of the VEOs were male. Research indicated that male VEOs did nor often visit female farmers and male farmers frequently did not bring extension information home to their wives. Since women contribute more of the agricultural labor than men, it was recommended that female VEOs be hired. Now one-third of the VEOs are female and males and females have the same training. What are farmers' (male and female) views of the female VEOs? Which gender do they prefer and why? Is the modified training and visit (T and V) extension system working? Since privatization is underway in the country, do farmers want information other than on crops and livestock, which is the current emphasis? The researchers interviewed 240 male and female farmers in one region of Tanzania in October 1995 to ascertain their responses to these and other questions on agricultural extension. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Ltd.