Entrepreneurship

Written information: Fact sheets can be prepared and 
distributed  to  farmers.  In  addition  to  providing  specific 
technical  and  marketing  information,  they  can  also 
identity potential stakeholder partners who can provide 
advice and support.
Talks and seminars,
problem-solving 
techniques and 
written information 
are all useful ways to 
reinforce learning

---

104                                                  
Entrepreneurship in farming
Developing extension support
Extension  support  for  entrepreneurship  requires 
considering a number of points in addition to traditional 
extension planning. Some of these are:
•  Have  a  list  of  the  knowledge,  skills,  attitudes  and 
behaviour of effective entrepreneurs;
•  Create  opportunities  to  incorporate  entrepreneurship 
issues into farm extension programmes and plans;
•  Focus on learning-by-doing approaches;
•  Encourage  farmer-to-farmer  exchanges  particularly 
linking potential farmer-entrepreneurs with successful, 
established farmer-entrepreneurs; 
•  Develop an effective and deliberate mentoring system.
 
When developing new farm business enterprises, 
it is important that extension workers think carefully about 
what would be required to implement these enterprises. 
If  the  extension  services  in  the  area  do  not  have  the 
relevant expertise, extension workers are an important 
link through which farmers obtain the necessary support 
including access to finance. This could involve acting as 
a  broker  between  farmers  and  linking  them  to  finance 
programmes  or  agricultural  banks,  suppliers,  markets 
and others in the value-chain.
Figure 15