Evaluation of the Agricultural Information Service (AIS) in Lesotho

This paper presents findings of a study conducted to evaluate the extent to which the Agricultural Information Service (AIS) is providing agricultural information services to farmers in Maseru district, Lesotho. The study used the survey method consisting of various components of data collection strategies including field work, document research and observations. A total of 300 farmers were surveyed from a population of 1700 farmers. The study yielded 215 respondents representing a 70% of response rate. Two hundred and nine respondents were farmers while 6 respondents were AIS staff members. The findings revealed that information services provided by AIS were somewhat of good quality in terms of relevancy, sufficiency and currency and had improved productivity but were not easily accessible to most farmers. Several problems that hinder the utilization of the AIS services were cited such as failure to visit farmers at their respective areas, wrong broadcasting time, lack of promotion of AIS services and lack of training of farmers on how to use AIS services. The study recommended regular and continuous training program, active promotion of AIS services, introduction of appropriate information channels/technologies and the encouragement for farmers to visit AIS so that they can utilize the existing services. Although the study was limited to the evaluation of the AIS in Lesotho, the outcome of the study sheds more light on the challenges of the provision of agricultural information in Lesotho and other similar countries in Africa. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.