-45-

3.43 The issue of replicability of the strategies to reach women farmers goes beyond sustainability to a determination of whether the conditions or setting in the North West Province are so unique that MIDENO's innovations have limited applicability. The setting described in Chapter 1 -- social and farming systems, constraints, policy -- is similar to settings found elsewhere in Cameroon and in much of Sub-Saharant Africa. MIDENO's experience suggests that an extension strategy based on groups and relying on gender targeting is likely to be widely replicable but, as there are conditions that limit the applicability of both approaches, they cannot be said to be universally appropriate. The aim of the distillation of lessons earlier in this chapter was to show that MIDENO's adoption of the three guiding themes was more important than the specific measures it took. These three themes have universal applicability, though the form of their realization will vary from locale to locale.

3.44 The limiting conditions with respect to an extension strategy relyinri on groups is that groups need an internal rationale to form; they cannot be administratively imposed from outside. Furthermore, the sociological and economic factors that give rise to a group's rationale and level of cohesion vary from ethnic group to ethnic group and region to region. For the most part, the peoples of the North West Province have traditions and economic needs that are highly supportive of group activity. But this cannot be taken as a given elsewhere. Instead, the applicability of a group-based extension strategy must be based on an analysis of the conditions prevailing in the particular area of concern.

3.45 For Cameroon as a whole, there is growing evidence that group-based extension strategy would be replicable. Bryson (1979, 1980) has analyzed anthropological studies dating back to the 1940s which show indigenous group activity in the highlands of the West Province, the forest regions of central Cameroon, and the savannah of northern provinces. A 1989 survey of group activity conducted nationwide by the Ministry of Agriculture's Division of Studies revealed group activity in all ten provinces (MINAGRI, 1989). More encouraging for group-based agricultural extension, this survey also found that women's groups were the most common type in each province and that agricultural production was the most common group activity (MINAGRI, 1989: 13;18). However, the report also noted that group activity and prevalence varied significantly from region to region (MINAGRI, 1989: 13). This observation only underscores the fact that the applicability of group-based extension will depend on an analysis of the area in question.

3.46 The limiting conditiQns for gendei targeting are of two types: internal and external. As was discussed in paragraphs 22 to 25 of this chapter, the necessity or value of gender targeting is based on the internal characteristics of particular groups. For groups at the high end of the scale measuring cohesion, gender targeting is probably not necessary. These groups have the legitimacy and strength to work with extension agents of either sex from the beginning. For groups at the low end of the scale, gender targeting is also likely to be of little value. As they struggle for stability, these groups will benefit far more from generalized animation than from the technically-oriented advice from a male or female extension agent. In other words, these groups need to pass through some type of "pre-extension" phase before gender-targeted extension will be cost-effective. However, for the groups that fall between the