Field Services

The Department of Field Services is mandated to facilitate and provide all field agricultural extension services, programs and activities through Agricultural Information Services, Extension, Nutrition and Home economics Divisions.

Vision:

The vision of the department sees empowered clients with knowledge, having access to technology, information and appropriate farming practices for the sustainable management of natural resources so that this may contribute to household food security, commercialized production, employment creation and poverty alleviation.

Mission:

To facilitate and provide need-based knowledge, skills, information and innovation to clients through consultative participatory approaches and mass media to strengthen the capacity of stakeholders in planning, decision making, implementation and change management in a cost effective decentralized system relying on professional staff and appropriate techniques.

Overall goals
• To provide need based agricultural information for the empowerment of the clients in agricultural production.
• To create awareness on important agricultural related programs, projects and issues so that clients can make informed decisions.
• To improve knowledge and skills of stakeholders to optimize agricultural production
• To capacitate farmers, clients and or consumers to identify and find solutions to their own problems/challenges for optimal utilization of available resources.
• To promote the involvement of farmers, clients/customers and private sector in the delivery of extension services for improved/extended coverage
• To formulate appropriate information and extension policies so as to provide a conducive environment for quality service delivery.
• To provide guidance on the use of preventive nutrition so as to combat malnutrition and raise the nutritional status of Basotho.
• To provide technical expertise in methods that prolongs the shelf life of food as well as its quality, hygiene and safety in order to ensure food security.
• To encourage backyard food production to ensure adequate food availability all year round.
• To promote income-generating activities in order to improve the social and economic aspects of Basotho

Key performance areas:
The Department of Field services has three key performance areas, which simultaneously constitute three divisions of agricultural Information services, Extension, Nutrition and Home Economics.