The History of Agricultural Extension in Malawi

Acknowledgements
Many people contributed to the development of this publication, specifically during the
stays of Jochen Knorr and Maria Gerster-Bentaya in Malawi, and the editors and authors
are most grateful to them:
First, we thank Dr. Willi Ehret who believes that there is a need for learning from history.
He was the adviser of the Agricultural Extension Support Project (AES) who accompanied
the Department’s process towards “Pluralistic and Demand Driven Services in Malawi”.
We thank him for his helpfulness and support, for providing all the project facilities
to Jochen Knorr and who impresses by sustainably incorporating the principles of participatory
assistance into the different projects of his many years work in Malawi. He also
helped us to keep up with the recent developments in Malawi concerning agriculture and
it’s knowledge system since the time of Jochen Knorr’s field research.
To Dan Kamputa we extend our sincere thanks. When starting the research he was the responsible
Director of the Department of Agricultural Extension Services at the Ministry
of Agriculture. He made the research possible and assisted and supported in numerous
ways. Also, we are most grateful for the help of all AES Project staff.
During their time at Bunda College many people helped to adjust to living and working in
Malawi and by sharing their knowledge with Jochen and Maria. We especially wish to
express our gratitude to Professor Masangano and Mr. Mphepo.
Jochen is most grateful for the help and assistance of Mr. Kaliwo who accompanied him
during the field study as “interpreter”. He not only translated, but also helped him to get a
deeper insight in many issues affecting farmers and extension in Malawi.
We would like to convey our utmost gratitude to all people of the visited EPAs, RDPs and
ADDs, who contributed much with their time, experiences and knowledge about extension.
In all the EPAs we received a warm welcome and were supported as much as possible.
Furthermore we wish to express our gratitude to the staff of various NGOs and farmer
organisations; they helped us much by giving insight into their work.
We wish to extend our gratitude to all farmers who took their time to answer the questions
and to give us insight into their problems and their way of life. It was a privilege to visit
the villages and to spend time with people who have such a different background. We do
hope that the farmers´ time was not spent in vain, but that this work contributes to improve
their situation.
Last but not least, Jochen Knorr wants to thank his wife Christiane, who encouraged him
through the duration of his research. She was so patient, especially in sharing his sorrows
during the write-up of the MSc Thesis in Germany.
We also want to thank all personnel from the Department of Agricultural Extension and
Communication Science at the University of Hohenheim, Germany, especially Patrick
Groetz and Simone Kriesemer for advice regarding the content of this study.
Jochen Knorr, Maria-Gerster Bentaya, Volker Hoffmann
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