Personalities and the Performance of Lead Farmers: A Case of Projects Applying the Rural Initiatives for Participatory Agricultural Transformation Approach, Tanzania

Abstract

Voluntary adoption and expanding use of lead farmers (LFs) under the farmer-tofarmer extension (F2FE) approach by organizations, in the absence of any directexternal promotion, confirms its effectiveness in responding to extension deliveryneeds. Although the F2FE approach has been used by many organizations andprojects in Africa, there have been few studies €”and limited promotion €”using thisapproach when compared to the farmer field school (FFS) approach. This paperexplores the needed personalities fit for LFs ' career, and the way they can beimproved. Using a cross-sectional research design, a sample of 384 farmers wasselected through systematic sampling from a population of 1800 project beneficiaries;whose list was obtained from the RIPAT project managers. Primary data wereanalysed using the SPSS app, whereby variables related to personalities fit for LFs inleadership and facilitation skills were analysed using cross-tabulation. Checklistswere used in collecting qualitative data through FGDs and KIIs, and were analysedthrough content analysis. The results show that the most needed personalities andassociated soft skills to LFs include integrity (58.6%), being courageous (54.3%) andvolunteerism (37.2%). The contribution of personalities to the performance of LFsincludes helping them to become role models, increasing their reliability in thecommunity, and enabling them in bringing group harmony. It was learned that theimprovement of LFs ' personalities can be achieved through setting goals fordeveloping good relationship with others and practical training, which entailsmentorship and coaching. It is concluded that the needed personalities andassociated soft skills of LFs are related to leadership and facilitation skills. Therefore,it is recommended that these personality traits be considered in complementing thehard skills of LFs when it comes to F2FE.