Video as a tool for agricultural extension in Africa: a case study from Ghana

The paper explores the effectiveness of video viewing clubs (VVCs) as a training method based on a formal survey of 32 Ghanaian women farmers who were trained on cocoa integrated crop and pest management (ICPM) using this method. Results suggests that the video viewing club is effective as a relatively low cost, interactive training method for providing low literacy populations with skills, information and knowledge on complex technical topics. While there was no significant difference between VVC participants and a control group in cocoa yields and implementation of selected ICPM practices, the study demonstrated that VVC training significantly improved farmers' knowledge of most topics covered. Farmers' perception of changes in their practices provided further evidence of the positive impact of the training, as did their high rate of knowledge diffusion. The use of local facilitators in the VVCs, which created a sense of ownership and added to the credibility of the technical messages, contributed to farmers' appreciation of the method. The paper concludes by discussing the challenges of scaling up VVCs and identifying issues for further research. [PUBLICATION ABSTRACT]