Building a Sustainable System of Agricultural Extension in Schools

In Liberia, where 80 percent of the population earns their livelihoods through agriculture, 77 percent of farming households live in poverty and only 3.4 percent have regular access to agricultural extension services. High-quality extension programs can transform agricultural productivity and improve the earning potential of farmers.

To improve agricultural extension services in Liberia, there is a school-based agricultural extension (SBAE) program that leverages school infrastructure to increase the reach of extension services.

This SBAE program uses project-based learning to teach students about agriculture and science, empowering them with agricultural innovations to test in school gardens and bring back to their family farms.

The implementing partner is conducting a randomized controlled trial (RCT) to evaluate the effect of SBAE on student attendance, science and math scores, entrepreneurial knowledge, and financial literacy, and on farming practices.

Findings from these studies will inform expansion of SBAE to ten countries over the next decade and establish a knowledge base for other countries to improve their extension services.