RAS-L@LISTSERV.FAO.ORG
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Among its initiatives for the 2014 International Year of Family Farming, FAO has worked with the Global Forum on Rural Advisory Services (GFRAS) in setting the spotlight on rural advisory services for family farms. This has been done by jointly organizing two recent side events on the topic: in Buenos Aires on 26 September 2014 during the 5th GFRAS Annual Meeting and in Rome on 27 October 2014 during the Global Dialogue on Family Farming. To expand the dialogue to a global audience, FAO is now hosting this e-mail conference on "Tailoring rural advisory services to family farms".
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AIS
Wed, 16 Oct 2019 13:39:00 +0000
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Dear Colleagues,
Back in 2014, you subscribed to an FAO e-mail conference that I moderated on "Tailoring rural advisory services to family farms". Given your interest in the topic, I am now taking the liberty of sending you a message from my colleagues in the FAO Research and Extension Unit about a new webinar series in which you might wish to participate.
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AIS
Fri, 19 Dec 2014 18:43:24 +0100
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Dear Colleagues,
We have now put all of the messages from this FAO e-mail conference on "Tailoring rural advisory services to family farms" into a single PDF and made it available on the web.
The file contains in chronological order: - the Welcome message I sent before the conference began - the 113 messages that were posted during the 18-day conference - the final message I posted earlier today closing the conference, providing also a brief summary about participation.
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AIS
Fri, 19 Dec 2014 16:54:34 +0100
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Dear Colleagues,
The last messages have just been posted (numbers 108 to 113), so this FAO conference on "Tailoring rural advisory services to family farms" is now officially closed.
I wish to sincerely thank all of you who participated actively in this conference. Like Deogratias Lwezaura (Message 85), I too wish to congratulate these people for their "remarkable contributions", covering so many different relevant aspects (too numerous to mention here) of rural advisory services for different categories of family farms in different countries around the world.
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AIS
Fri, 19 Dec 2014 16:53:58 +0100
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My name is Madeleine Smith and I am an Agriculture Advisor with John Snow Research and Training Institute in Arlington. VA, USA, and working on a USAID Feed the Future funded program: Strengthening Partnerships, Results, and Innovations in Nutrition Globally - SPRING. One of our key initiatives is building the evidence base for integration of agriculture and nutrition in view of improving health and nutrition, reducing stunting, and impacting food systems. Within that scope, we are very interested in building the evidence around the role rural advisory services have in promoting integration nutrition sensitive agriculture, and linking agriculture agents and private service providers with other
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AIS
Fri, 19 Dec 2014 16:53:15 +0100
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My name is Maria Auxiliadora Briones, from Nicaragua. I am an economist and have more than 20 years of work in agriculture innovation systems in Latin American and as a consultant I have been supporting the Ministry of Agriculture in many country to strengthen the rural advisory services as an important factor to changing the lives of rural families. I Have been a consultant of World Bank, IFAD, FAO, and other national institutions.
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AIS
Fri, 19 Dec 2014 16:52:12 +0100
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This is Botir Dosov again.
I would like to support the view of S.S. Roy (Message 104), that in transition economies when and where rural advisory service are operating in a diversity models and pursue sustainability, any sources of supporting their operationalization could be considered conducive at certain extent. I agree that national rural advisory service systems should reduce the dependency on external support, and governments have to play a more pro-active role in creation of infrastructure facilities to address gaps or niches that private companies are neglecting as they have their own interests which sometimes are not aligned with
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Fri, 19 Dec 2014 16:51:19 +0100
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My name is Dick López Heredia, from Perú. I am a biologist, an agronomist with specialization in plant health and agricultural economy from the Universidad Agraria “La Molina” a doctoral candidate in education.
For 20 years, I work linked to the development of small farmers. In that time, there are few changes in productivity - coffee 12 quintales per hectare since then, cocoa 500 Kg per hectare and one feels responsible. I have not seen a serious agricultural extension scheme in Peru since the 1990s , and they're replicas of models brought in from outside, just a few failed attempts
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AIS
Fri, 19 Dec 2014 16:45:26 +0100
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This is Jacques Fremy, from South Africa, a senior specialist for the development and management of skills training systems. I am a past member, from 1987 to 1998, of the World Bank team who had been supporting the cost- effective implementation of the Agricultural Services Initiative of the World Bank for Sub Saharan Africa. Born in 1942, I grew up on a family farm in a small French rural village and have a lifelong experience of family farmers especially after decades of hands-on capacity building/training-projects in Africa at the service of department managers and technicians, trainers and trainees, family farmers
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AIS
Fri, 19 Dec 2014 16:44:36 +0100
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This is Ngouambe Nestor again.
As we are concluding our e-discussion, I want to share an approach developed in Cameroon to better tailor farmers' needs to extension/advisory services offered both by public and private sector.
When I evaluated an extension programme experienced by a private extension service in Cameroon in 2008, I realized that the skills and qualifications of extension agents or advisory officers has a significant impact on the message/innovation to be diffused. Most extension agents within the program had at least 15 years of experience in agriculture, but they had never actually studied agriculture because agriculture was not
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AIS
Thu, 18 Dec 2014 15:23:44 +0100
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This is Dr. Kumaran again.
Thank you for enriching all of us through the e-conference and it is innovative.
A few points I wish to make in general.
- Extension personnel are mostly busy with implementing welfare schemes. Should this job be assigned to a non-technical people in the department OR make an 'employee segmentation' by providing this job alone to a selected few and the remaining people can concentrate only on technical service provision ?
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AIS
Thu, 18 Dec 2014 14:46:56 +0100
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I am Gabriel Adukpo again, from the Department of Agriculture, Obuasi - Ashanti, Ghana.
The potential of radio to the development of rural advisory services is immense. Broadcasters are doing a great job to educate family farmers on various topics. Most radio stations rightly engage extension officers, researchers and policy makers to communicate their ideas to listeners.
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AIS
Thu, 18 Dec 2014 14:40:13 +0100
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My name is Dimitar Vanev. I'm working in the Bulgarian National Agricultural Advisory Service. It is a public institution and we annually provide advice to about 20 000 farmers - most of them (above 80%) are small family farmers.
I would like to take up a position to question 4.1 about the unique characteristics or features of rural advisory services for different types of family farms especially for small family farmers.
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AIS
Thu, 18 Dec 2014 14:30:35 +0100
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This is S.S. Roy again. This e-mail conference has provided an opportunity to get an insight of the present situation of advisory services in different parts of the world especially the developing countries where it is more relevant.
While I find the observations of many participants are very pertinent and are worth emulating, very few participants have shared any experience of a self-sustaining model of rural advisory service existing in their country or given any direction as to how to make it sustainable without any external financial support (national/international).
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AIS
Thu, 18 Dec 2014 11:59:28 +0100
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This is Dr Mahesh Chander again, finally, sharing an incidence about responding to farmers’ needs! Towards the end of this interesting e-discussion, I am tempted to share one small incident. It’s now over 10 years since I was on duty at an agro-exhibition stall organized by the Ministry of Agriculture in the Indian capital and we junior extension personnel then were joined by our very senior colleague - an extensionist. One farmer visiting our stall asked, “Sir, I wish to go organic, would you please tell how to do it?”. Listening to this, our superior became nearly wild,
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AIS
Thu, 18 Dec 2014 11:43:18 +0100
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This is Huu-Nhuan Nguyen again.
Regarding question 4.5 about how to improve the outreach and impacts of rural advisory services for small farmers, from my research experience, I would like to share my opinions about it. In this message, I focus on discussing why and how communicating impacts among stakeholders is important for improving the outreach and impacts of rural advisory services for small farmers.
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AIS
Thu, 18 Dec 2014 11:30:00 +0100
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I am Mr. Myo Min Aung, again. I am working in CESVI- Myanmar organization and ShaeThot (the way forward) program in Magway Region of Myanmar funded by USAID.
I would like to respond to question 4.6 ("What strategies are needed at the national/state level to enhance rural advisory services for family farms?").
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AIS
Thu, 18 Dec 2014 11:09:25 +0100
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This is Ngouambe Nestor again. I just want to add some comments to Message 92 by Mahesh Chander:
Gender analysis in extension and advisory services must targeted to both men and women. Because it is important to identify what are the main strengths of each within the farming systems. What are the specific activities for women, men and youth? This will give an overview of the kind of services that can be brought to them.
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AIS
Thu, 18 Dec 2014 10:44:54 +0100
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This is Naser Zamani-Miandashti, assistant professor and chair of the Department of Agricultural Extension and Education, Shiraz University, Iran.
Rural advisory service providers face many obstacles in providing advisory services for poor family farmers. Budget tightening is one of their main obstacles. Governments are reducing their support for public extension services, and private service providers have no choice but to focus on target groups who can pay for advisory services. Therefore, public institutions providing rural advisory services should mobilize all resources to improve outreach of their services. One of the resources which could be of real help in this regard
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AIS
Thu, 18 Dec 2014 10:32:31 +0100
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This is Laurens Klerkx, associate professor at the Knowledge, Technology and Innovation group of Wageningen University.
I have enjoyed the discussion so far, with the rich contributions from so many countries. It is obvious that there are still many challenges to solve in term of the reach and competences of extension to serve family farmers. Many of the concerns raised seem to be about coordinating different types of extension providers in pluralistic systems, and making sure that advice is consistent and coherent and that complementarity amongst different types of advice (agronomic, technical, economic, farm management, nutrition, etc.) is achieved. This
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AIS
Thu, 18 Dec 2014 09:47:44 +0100
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I am Dr Muhammad Anjum Ali, Director General Agriculture Extension, Punjab, Pakistan, working in the agriculture extension wing for the last 20 years.
I am following this discussion regularly and found it very useful to extract valuable information to finalize policy for family farms.
Pakistan agriculture is governed by family farms as more than 8 million farms are present with over 95% of farms less than 10 hectares. In addition, 67% of the population of 184 million people is living in rural areas. Pakistan is also divided in 10 different agro ecological regions based on rainfall, temperature and soil. Every
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AIS
Wed, 17 Dec 2014 16:43:47 +0100
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I am Robert Agunga, associate professor at Ohio State University (USA) and a native of Ghana. I have great field experience in extension from Ghana as well as from many African countries where I have worked as a consultant.
First of all, I am very grateful to the FAO and GFRAS for their endless effort at finding lasting solutions to problems of extension as a vehicle for increasing smallholder farm family productivity. I am also thankful to all of you who have contributed to this discussion. It is unfortunate that I am coming in at the tail end. I am
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AIS
Wed, 17 Dec 2014 16:17:31 +0100
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I am Ayanda Saki from South Africa with extensive experience in assisting blue chip companies, government departments and other organisations leverage information and communication technology (ICT). l am currently a Masters student at the University of Liverpool in the United Kingdom, looking at how business intelligence (and other ICTs) can be used to enhance food and nutrition security. It is a case study in family farms considering that 500 family farms produce over 80% of the world's food.
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AIS
Wed, 17 Dec 2014 15:42:04 +0100
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I am Godswill Ntsomboh Ntsefong, of the Institute of Agricultural Research for Development (IRAD), Cameroon.
I have so far followed this e-mail conference keenly and am pleased with the wealth of knowledge gained through the numerous interventions of participants. I just wish to thank FAO for the initiative and most especially all participants for sharing their wide experiences in agriculture.
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AIS
Wed, 17 Dec 2014 15:37:25 +0100
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This is Ngouambe Nestor, again.
One of the missions of agricultural extension and advisory service is to provide proper information and other services required by farmers for their activities. The mobile phone is thus used as a communication tool to achieve this mission and reach a large mass of farmer living in remote areas. Despite the remoteness of Fondonéra (village in West Cameroon), farmers continued to benefit from remote coaching via their mobile phone. Dissemination of information on the markets/prices and opportunities are made by voice calls and SMS. A positive assessment is seen as it links farmers and other
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AIS
Wed, 17 Dec 2014 15:27:50 +0100
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Dr Mahesh Chander again, on the gender dimension in agricultural extension services. In 2005, I supervised a Master’s thesis*, wherein we found that male and female members of farming households differ with respect to their access to information. This difference in accessing information was due to the variation in opportunities available to male and female members of households for training, exposure visits, credit, mass media exposure, educational opportunities and social participation in informal and formal associations including contacts with development agencies.
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AIS
Wed, 17 Dec 2014 13:31:22 +0100
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This is Archie Cameron again, commenting on Message 84 by Ehsan Masoomi on family farmers aging and Message 85 by Dr Deogratias Lwezaura on adapting to local conditions.
It is a world-wide trend on all farms that there is a rising average age of farmers. This presents challenges to assist them in continuing in farming, passing the farm on (succession planning) and attending to other problems arising from the aging (assistance to carry out their work, health provisions etc.) - all sections of the rural advisory services can provide help from governments, co-ops, farmer associations, NGO's etc. If it can be shown
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AIS
Wed, 17 Dec 2014 13:11:29 +0100
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This is Ehsan Masoomi, again.
Rural consultancy services in Iran are mostly economic oriented and the goal is national production increase or farmer income. Rural consultancy services should consider other aspects of farmers life and, even if the goal is increase of farmer’s income, rural economy development as a whole must be considered and not just agricultural economy.
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AIS
Wed, 17 Dec 2014 13:04:31 +0100
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This is Francis Chilenga again from Ministry of Agriculture, Malawi.
I would like to concur with Dr. Deogratias Lwezaura from Tanzania (message 85) that we need to integrate indigenous knowledge of family farms into mainstream rural advisory services. Recently, a local farmer-led innovation emerged among global Top 20 innovations that benefit small farmers. The competition was launched by the Dutch-based organisation the Center for Technical and Rural Cooperation in Agriculture (CTA) ACP-EU and I was the one who wrote about the innovation story. A lot of family farms are innovating but their knowledge is completely unrecognised because of the dominant
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AIS
Wed, 17 Dec 2014 12:58:38 +0100
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I am Das Joseph Koottappillil again, from Kerala, India.
From my experience, I'd like to inform one fact. Lack of effective rural advisory service and supply of adequate input factors such as agriculture machinery, manure, etc. leads to loss of interest in agriculture. The farmers are seeking other jobs. At the same time, agricultural farm lands are converted into commercial plots and other plantations. Ultimately in recent future poverty will affect in worst condition.
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AIS
Wed, 17 Dec 2014 12:29:55 +0100
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My name is Shahid Sheikh, retired from the agrochemicals industry in Pakistan. I am now working as freelance agriculture consultant and promoting sustainable agriculture through Good Agricultural Practices and Organic Farming System voluntarily.
The hosting of this e-mail conference by FAO on “Tailoring Rural Advisory Service to Family Farms” must be appreciated in view of food security challenges. Family Farms:
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AIS
Wed, 17 Dec 2014 12:14:36 +0100
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This is Ngouambe Nestor, again.
Agricultural extension in Cameroon started before independency. During that period, agricultural extension was controlled by the colonial administration and was based on two main approaches: i. Farmer contact approach: where farmers were trained to experience some crops (palm oil, coffee, tea, rubber) to be imported to colonial metropolis. ii. Visit and trips approach: leading new farmers to learn more through other experimented farmers.
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AIS
Wed, 17 Dec 2014 09:25:13 +0100
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This is Dr. Deogratias Lwezaura from the Tanzania Ministry of Agriculture, again.
I continue to congratulate the remarkable contributions. One of the many points I am learning from Message 82 by Gabriel Adukpo and others is that we need to go as a multidisplinary team (sociologist, cooperative officer, economist, extension officer, value chain experts, etc.) in family farms engagement. In this way we will avoid placing too much to extension officers, which in the end we may not achieve the knowledge required to the farmers. So, extension services would need a well-coordinated approach with the involvement of various actors each
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AIS
Wed, 17 Dec 2014 09:12:00 +0100
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This is Ehsan Masoomi. I am a second year master of science student at the Department of Agricultural Extension and Education, Faculty of Agriculture, Shiraz University, Iran.
Family farms study is an important issue in Iran which can lead to rural development and improvement, since most rural farms are family oriented and the majority of them are small scale. Therefore, the farm governing style must be considered in rural development plans and policy making.
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AIS
Tue, 16 Dec 2014 17:15:55 +0100
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Dr Mahesh Chander again, this time on the potential of producer groups in providing extension and advisory services (EAS) to member producers. In our recently submitted study of dairy cooperatives in India, we found that: The EAS role was not well recognized by the cooperatives at least when compared with the animal breeding and health service role, the quality and quantity as well as poor professional orientation of practitioners within the cooperatives with regards to EAS was apparent, lack of funding for EAS by cooperatives, social capital, cultural practices and social networking were not taken into account to design
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AIS
Tue, 16 Dec 2014 13:40:14 +0100
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I am Gabriel Adukpo, head of Department of Agriculture, Obuasi Municipal Assembly in the Ashanti Region of Ghana. One of my duties is to promote extension in the district. I have a few front line agricultural extension agents and their supervisors to execute that mandate.
I want to contribute to the discourse based on discussion topic No. 4.2
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AIS
Tue, 16 Dec 2014 11:52:59 +0100
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This is Horacio Luis Villagrán Juárez. I am a Master of Science student, specializing in Rural Development at the University of San Carlos in Guatemala.
I agree with the statement in previous messages, they have the same structural problems in almost all regions of the world, to which the lack of training for proper human development is subject of special significance for a productive enterprise in the short term. With regard to the principles expressed in the synthesis of opening of this enriching forum I would like to expand upon Question 4.2 - What are the current gaps in rural
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AIS
Tue, 16 Dec 2014 11:26:56 +0100
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This is B L Jangid, working as a Principal Scientist (Agricultural Extension) at the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) Central Arid Zone Research Institute (CAZRI), Regional Research Station, Pali-Marwar, Rajasthan, India.
I have been going through all the messages of this conference and it's going great. It has been great learning about the issues of the conference in various parts of the world.
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AIS
Tue, 16 Dec 2014 10:47:39 +0100
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This is Marisa Gonnella, again.
All participants agreed on the importance of family production. Comments and experiences refer to different situations considering the contexts of rural development and cultural meanings established family production, making each experience unique. This is because rural extension works with social relationships so you cannot isolate and standardize methodology since the same methodology can be considered successful in one context and not in another. This issue must be present when speaking of adaptation of extension services to household production conditions.
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AIS
Tue, 16 Dec 2014 10:36:57 +0100
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This is from Violet Nyando, again.
Here is my contribution on Question 4.7 (How can family farmers be best involved in formulating policies relevant to rural advisory services for family farms?).
Policy formulation processes are important in any development plans as they provide guidance and frameworks against which investments can be directed and monitored. Farmers are at the core of agricultural based value chains and for their services and their contribution to be sustained, they need to be consulted as far as important key decision making processes are concerned. Policies being critical decisions in any given economy, farmers need to
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AIS
Tue, 16 Dec 2014 09:12:46 +0100
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I am Javier Franco, previously a research scientist for several years and now working with the CABI-Plantwise program with plant clinics in Bolivia and Peru.
The questions from the conference background document that I will discuss are described below:
Question 4.1
Small or medium-sized family farms and subsistence or near-subsistence smallholders of family farms differ regarding financial capability to have access to rural advisory services. For the last category of family farms, there is no way they can pay for that service as the second group could do it.
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AIS
Mon, 15 Dec 2014 11:02:09 +0100
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I am Das Joseph, aged 35 from Kerala, India. After my post graduation in commerce, I choose my career in agriculture (not in office) and do all works in the farm including labour works. I own a total of 1.5 hectares of agriculture farm land. Mixed farming is the secret behind my success. My main crops are paddy, coconut, duck, hen, cattle, fish etc. This means all are inter related.
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AIS
Mon, 15 Dec 2014 09:56:39 +0100
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[Thanks to Myo Min Aung for the message below. I remind all participants that there are just 4 days left in this 18-day long conference. The last day for receiving messages for posting is Thursday 18 December 2014. The final messages will be posted on 19 December and the conference is then finished. All messages posted so far are available at https://listserv.fao.org/cgi-bin/wa?A0=RAS-L ...Moderator].
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AIS
Sun, 14 Dec 2014 07:22:33 +0100
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This is Dr Mahesh Chander again, responding to Question 4.4 in the conference background document.
There are regional specificities regarding rural advisory services for family farms!
Often technologies are advocated to producers without analyzing the associated requirements, consequently leading at times to failure of a high potential technology. A technology doing very well in irrigated areas having medium or large farmers like in the Punjab state of India may not sustain/perform equally well or fail in states falling in dry zones dependent on rainfed agriculture within a country like India.
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AIS
Sat, 13 Dec 2014 06:42:54 +0100
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This is Rachel Zedeck, again. Good morning from chilly Kabul.
In response to Dr. Chander (Message 69): The propagation of inappropriate technologies or practices is not unique to India…Rather than focus on the technologies, I would ask where is the influence of both the private sector and free market economics on rural economic development strategies? Yes, big agri producers often learn because they have the capital to make mistakes but they also have access to expert advice from input suppliers.
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AIS
Fri, 12 Dec 2014 16:50:05 +0100
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This is Botir Dosov again, from the Central Asia and the Caucasus (CAC) region.
My second contribution for this email conference is related to the following questions in the conference background document: Question 4.4 Are there regional specificities regarding rural advisory services for family farms? And Question 4.6 What strategies are needed at the national/state level to enhance rural advisory services for family farms?
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Fri, 12 Dec 2014 16:29:32 +0100
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I am Dr. Deogratias Lwezaura, Principal economist in the Ministry of Agriculture, Tanzania.
I have been following the good comments coming out. While we are in agreement that there are still, of course in general terms, low levels of technology adoption, my concern is whether we have developed the benchmarks regarding the appropriate level/rate to say that a technology has been adequately adopted with a particular intervention. Is it 50%, 60%, 80% or 100%. Probably we may think of having scenarios across target groups i.e. project participants (direct), non-participants (but in the project area) and non-project participants (non-project area). If
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AIS
Fri, 12 Dec 2014 16:06:50 +0100
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This is Prakashkumar Rathod from India again, adding a few more points to Message 66 of Datta Rangnekar.
The issue regarding the confusion created by various scientists or extension experts (like agriculture, horticulture, dairy etc.) is very interesting. In this context, I would like to add a few more points about the same confusion that we normally have as extension experts while giving certain suggestions or advice for the farmers.
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AIS
Fri, 12 Dec 2014 15:50:58 +0100
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This is Dr Mahesh Chander, again, responding to Dr Datta Rangnekar's Message (66). I do have very high regard for the wisdom, rich field experiences and practical approach of Dr Rangnekar who is a source of inspiration for many of us. In addition to the comments of Prakashkumar Rathod (Message 67), I wish to highlight two livestock technologies viz urea treatment of straw and azolla as animal feed! Both of these are excellent in terms of their feeding value (protein), but only in laboratories - in the field these are an utter failure. Yet, urea treatment was promoted among
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AIS
Fri, 12 Dec 2014 15:02:45 +0100
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This is Simon Manda from Zambia extending Prakashkumar Rathod's ideas (Message 67) on limitation of extension services.
If at the broader level, agreement is elusive with regards interventions required in rural spaces and for family farmers, then we should expect more confusion in family farming. What form of rural transformation do we envisage in the rural spaces? What will transformed livelihoods look like? And what will be the pathways for small famers? Migration, employment or producers as meta-narratives suggest?
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AIS
Fri, 12 Dec 2014 14:18:11 +0100
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This is Prakashkumar Rathod from India again, responding to different points in Message 66 by Datta Rangnekar.
Regarding the limitations of current extension systems, I would prefer to say that it's not the problem only with the extension system but also with our research, extension and farmers linkage which is very weak. In the older systems, the roles of research scientist, extension agent and farmer were well defined and seen as unproblematic: researchers generated the technology, extension officers communicated it, and farmers adopted (or failed to adopt) the solutions to their problems(Scoones and Cousins, 1989).But, over the years with the
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AIS
Fri, 12 Dec 2014 11:14:57 +0100
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This is Datta Rangnekar, from Ahmedabad, again.
Reading contributions of participants (particularly by Dr. Mahesh Chandra and Dr. Rathod) during the last 2-3 days I am encouraged to convey issues/aspects related to existing extension systems that are on my mind since a long time and get the benefit of the conference to learn/refine/confirm or change my perceptions. My comments and views are related to experiences with underprivileged rural families from Western and Central India.
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Thu, 11 Dec 2014 16:48:03 +0100
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This is Guy Faure, deputy director of the “Innovation in Agricultural and Agri-food systems” Joint Research Unit in Montpellier (France). I am an economist and carry out research in Western Africa and Latin America focusing on Farmers’ organizations, Farm management advisory services, Regional “innovation systems” (networks between actors to produce knowledge and impact of research.
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Thu, 11 Dec 2014 16:10:35 +0100
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This is S.S. Roy again.
While appreciating the three broad categories of family farms, as indicated in Section 4 of the conference background document, and also the observation made by Dr. Marisa de Luján Gonnella (Message 44), there seems to be another dimension of this categorisation which needs to be recognized: The organised farmers and the unorganised farmers.
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Thu, 11 Dec 2014 11:39:00 +0100
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This is Dr Mahesh Chander again, on the growing pluralism in agricultural extension services.
Pluralism in agricultural extension services is showing an increasing trend. The private players, especially seed and other input companies like pesticides, fertilizers etc, are making efforts to reach out to farming communities primarily to serve their own interests by pushing their products. As also many industries, under their corporate social responsibility (CSR) programmes they are increasingly opting to serve farming communities. Also, donors/NGOs are trying to reach to farmers in increasing numbers. This means that the burden on public sector extension services is going to reduce. Since
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Thu, 11 Dec 2014 11:30:08 +0100
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My name is Katinka Weinberger, and I am the Head of the Centre for the Alleviation of Poverty through Sustainable Agriculture (CAPSA) of the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP). With this intervention, I would like to contribute to question 4.6 of the email conference, on national strategies, based on the findings of an Expert Consultation that CAPSA hosted in Bangkok, Thailand on 11-12 December 2013, and that addressed the question of how to enhance research to extension linkages (see full report here: http://www.uncapsa.org/publication/Research_extension_linkages_report.pdf (6 MB)). The expert group, representing public (extension & research),
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Thu, 11 Dec 2014 10:38:20 +0100
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Dr Mahesh Chander again, commenting on comments!
1. Agree with Lisa Kitinoja (Message 55) and Ngouambe Nestor (Message 57) that an ideal extension system must build its strategy around a value chain. The farmers need extension support not only for production but for the rest of the processes like postharvest/processing including marketing. Also, not only the farmers but also the extension and advisory services need skills required along the value chain.
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Thu, 11 Dec 2014 10:17:48 +0100
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My name is Rachel Zedeck, Director of Sustainable Programs for Control Union from Holland, currently based in Kabul, Afghanistan. We are a certification body who support food safety programs in 61 countries.
In reference to extension and "access to markets": While many programs/teams focus on accessing export markets, we regularly advocate for prioritizing local and regional trade. When export production is appropriate with a business model that generates sustainable income and good corporate governance, we find that producers and processors are then confused and challenged by both the technical implementation and costs of commercial certification programs. This is especially for
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Wed, 10 Dec 2014 17:03:37 +0100
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Dear Colleagues,
This conference began on Monday 1 December and the last day for receiving messages will be Thursday 18 December 2014. We have therefore just passed the half-way stage in this conference on "Tailoring rural advisory services to family farms"!!.
At this point in time, I would like to take this opportunity to thank all of you who have already sent in messages and who have dedicated your time and effort to sharing your knowledge and experience with all the people who have subscribed to this conference. You have provided us with a fascinating and rich exchange of views
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Wed, 10 Dec 2014 09:37:36 +0100
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I am Prakashkumar Rathod again, responding to Dr. Purushottam Sharma (Message 39).
With huge infrastructure, public and private sector agencies are struggling to educate the farmers on scientific practices. Although heavy investments are made on generation and transfer of technologies, very few of them are adopted by farmers and very few of them are aware about the same. It is interesting to note that the majority of farmers in India are not connected to any organizations or producer organizations (POs) for accessing the information. The population of farmers who require information or who never search information is more as compared
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Wed, 10 Dec 2014 09:28:02 +0100
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This is Prakashkumar Rathod from India again.
I want to respond to the comments of Ngouambe Nestor (Message 51) concerning farmer organizations for the Indian context.
I hope that most of us would agree that farmer organizations (referring to dairy cooperatives) have been more successful in India. They have provided multiple benefits if not the direct economic benefits at times. The dairy cooperative members are highly benefited compared to non-members. Further, dairy cooperatives also contribute to the social and economic empowerment of women members to a greater extent. However, studies have also pointed out that dairy cooperatives are facing constraints, in terms of human resources,
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Wed, 10 Dec 2014 09:22:08 +0100
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This is Ngouambe Nestor, again, responding to Lisa Kitinoja (Message 55):
When we talk about extension and rural advisory services, I think we also refer to value chains. If an extension system does not build its strategy around a value chain, it would be very difficult to satisfy farmers living in remote rural areas. That is why postharvest losses and food processing is the main challenge for the extension system in Cameroon. Some sectors like roots and tubers which has a high added value, are considered within our extension and advisory system.
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Wed, 10 Dec 2014 09:13:55 +0100
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I am Rob Sacco, Principal of the Nyahode Union Sustainable Agriculture College, which is a subsidiary of the Nyahode Union Community Trust Technical College in Chimanimani, in the Eastern Highlands of Zimbabwe.
We have thirty years of experience in extension work in rural communities in the Eastern Highlands and further afield. Every time we think we have a handle on the work, different deeper problems emerge, and we and the communities go back to scratching our heads.
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Tue, 9 Dec 2014 16:58:48 +0100
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This is Lisa Kitinoja, again.
Many of those who have been posting on gaps in rural advisory services (RAS) have mentioned how smallholders and family farmers need access to information and training on value addition, agro-processing and marketing.
Many countries are represented in this discussion, so I have a question for each of you. Does your National Agricultural Extension Service have personnel who are extension specialists with expertise in the following technical and educational fields?
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Tue, 9 Dec 2014 13:55:13 +0100
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Dr Mahesh Chander again, responding to Section 4.7 of the conference background document which seeks to know, how can family farmers be best involved in formulating policies relevant to rural advisory services for family farms? This is one of the important points raised in this document. The evidence-based policies on rural advisory services (RAS) are required to benefit effectively from these services. However, it needs to be seen whether such policies exist in many developing countries. Inclusive and context-specific agricultural extension policies (AEPs), strategies and approaches can effectively contribute to national, continental and international development goals, while addressing the agricultural
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Tue, 9 Dec 2014 11:16:37 +0100
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This is Francis Chilenga again.
I totally agree with Akinremi Peter Taiwo (Message 50) on current gaps in rural advisory services especially on markets and agro-processing. There has been much talk of agro-processing/value addition of agricultural products. However, the missing link is farmers capacity to add value to their products. As a result, most farmers either working as individuals are still selling raw products far much below minimum prices. This is quite commonplace in Malawi where a majority are small-scale farmers and with minimal capital to access agro-processing equipment. We therefore need to focus rural advisory services on value chain
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Tue, 9 Dec 2014 10:14:29 +0100
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This is Subhash Mehta again, and I would like to request all contributors who have raised concerns/questions about the farmer producer organisations/company (PC) to please read my Message no. 4 very carefully as it provides all the answers and backed by evidence of a successful case study (Nava Jyoti PC Community Enterprise System) of many years at www.navajyoti.org. This producer company (PC) is of, for and by (owned) the producers but managed by professionals, accountable to them, in keeping with the legal requirements of the Indian Companies Act, and not to a department (cooperative and or societies) of the state
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Tue, 9 Dec 2014 10:14:03 +0100
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This is Ngouambe Nestor, again.
I just want to give some comments on the thoughts raised by Dr Mahesh Chander (Message 49) concerning farmer organizations.
Talking about farming families by neglecting farmer organizations is not possible within an Africa context. Farmer organizations like cooperative have key driven approach to sustain food productivity. For extension systems to be more efficient, cooperative societies must be used as a relay to disseminate Innovation from research institutes among farmers practices.
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Tue, 9 Dec 2014 09:10:28 +0100
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This is Akinremi Peter Taiwo from Nigeria. I am an ICT consultant. I work with the commissioner of Ministry of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Calabar, Nigeria.
I would like to add a few points to the wonderful ideas circulating on this platform on question 4.2 (What are the current gaps in rural advisory services for smallholder family farms?), based on the recent meeting of the Niger Delta Development Forum (NDDF) in Calabar, Cross Rivers State, on 25-26 November 2014, with the theme “Unlocking investment opportunities in agriculture in the Niger Delta for regional competitiveness” (http://www.pindfoundation.org/news/niger-delta-development-forum-unlocking-investment-opportunities-in-agriculture-for-regional-competitiveness/).
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Mon, 8 Dec 2014 17:50:20 +0100
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This is from Mahesh Chander, again, on the topic of farmer producer organizations.
It has been recognized and emphasized by many, and in many countries, that producer organizations, cooperatives and other community-based organizations are playing a key role in providing services to smallholders and helping them voice their requirements. In India, in the dairy sector as also in sugar production, cooperatives are active since a long time. These cooperatives are highly successful in some States and ailing and failing in many other States.
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Mon, 8 Dec 2014 16:09:29 +0100
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This is Puruswattam Rauniyar, again.
Actually, there is an organizational structure for agricultural development in every country. The target groups are always farmers for these organizations. The main objective has been always to raise the living standard of the farmers and to sustain the living of the farmers. Besides, this various international non-governmental organizations (NGOs) are working inside the developing country and conducting their activities in the name of the various projects. These projects also publish various reports in their annual publication. But, when I talk taking the reference of the media, annual GDP and their contribution through agricultural development,
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Mon, 8 Dec 2014 14:51:35 +0100
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I am Dr. Kumaran from India, working with the aquaculture sector. Here are some of my views on the questions raised in the conference background document for your thought:
Question 4.1: What are the unique characteristics or features of rural advisory services for different types of family farms?
The aquaculture/fish farming sector is relatively commercial in nature and has these three categories of farms in the ratio of 10:70:20.
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Mon, 8 Dec 2014 11:14:25 +0100
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This is Prakashkumar Rathod from the Division of Extension Education at the Indian Veterinary Research Institute in Izatnagar.
In response to Message 18 by Francis Chilenga:
Rural resources centers can make a difference. I would like to make a mention that these centres have been successful in few parts of India but also face various challenges and constraints. These centres can also act as effective innovation brokers. There is a need to focus on stimulating and enabling the institutional innovations needed to allow these telecentres to emerge and grow organically in context-specific ways. The telecentres can act as an effective
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Mon, 8 Dec 2014 11:00:16 +0100
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This is from Julie Nakalanda Matovu, again.
To Olawale Olaniyan (Message 33): Thanks for your submission. I'm also in total agreement with your idea of not thinking of a one-size-fits all advisory approach. This e-mail conference is very useful for us all to learn from each other and tried out possible options to our local situations.
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Mon, 8 Dec 2014 10:59:06 +0100
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This is from Marisa de Luján Gonnella. I work as a teacher, researcher and extension specialist at the National University of Rosario, Argentina. I am Professor of Rural Sociology and Rural Extension.
Generally speaking, family production can be divided into two broad categories. 1- The family production with access to capital that incorporates inputs for production. 2- The family subsistence production.
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Mon, 8 Dec 2014 10:57:58 +0100
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I am S.S. Roy, doctorate in agriculture, presently associated with the BAIF Development Research Foundation, a Pune based national level NGO engaged in livelihood development activities in the country, after serving for 35 years in the field of agriculture and rural banking sector in India in various capacities in commercial bank and the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD).
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Mon, 8 Dec 2014 10:56:12 +0100
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I am Botir Dosov, facilitating an Innovation Platform within the CGIAR Research Program on Dryland Systems in Central Asia, and providing consultancy to the Central Asia and the Caucasus (CAC) Association of Agricultural Research Institutions (CACAARI), and further will be much involved in strengthening the regional network/forum on rural advisory services for 8 countries in the CAC region, namely Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.
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Sat, 6 Dec 2014 07:25:16 +0100
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This is from Mahesh Chander, again, on the topic of capacities of extension service providers.
Farmers in developing countries are increasingly expecting and requesting from rural advisory services a much broader range of services than before. For instance, farmers need information on certified agriculture/organic agriculture, good agricultural practices, traceability tools, climate smart agricultural practices, requirements for exporting agricultural products, organic standards and certification procedures, agro/rural tourism, exploring remunerative markets for their designer/innovative products etc.
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Fri, 5 Dec 2014 17:32:07 +0100
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Dear Colleagues,
Firstly, thanks to all of you for joining and a special thanks to those who posted all the extremely stimulating and knowledge-rich messages to the conference.
The 40 messages posted so far are available on the web, at https://listserv.fao.org/cgi-bin/wa?A0=RAS-L and, in chronological order, https://listserv.fao.org/cgi-bin/wa?A1=ind1412&L=RAS-L&O=D&H=0&D=1&T=1 . The message archives are searchable, with a 'free text' search button on the right hand side of the webpage.
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Fri, 5 Dec 2014 16:58:23 +0100
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This is Puruswattam Rauniyar, again.
I am 100 percent in agreement with the point of Olawale Olaniyan (Message 33) that: "Let's not forget that the basis of some farmers' relationship with the outsiders, including researchers, extension agents, development workers, etc., is principally on moral trust. Once disappointed through improper advice and inconsistency of advisory system, it becomes very difficult to regain such trust and confidence of the farmers".
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Fri, 5 Dec 2014 13:15:57 +0100
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I am Dr. Purushottam Sharma, Principal Scientist at the Indian Grassland and Fodder Research Institute of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research, Jhansi.
We conducted a study in Bundelkhand region (part of Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh) of India and found that:
The farmers of this region had 39.06% of knowledge on improved feeding practices of dairy animals. Large and marginal farmers had more knowledge compared to other categories. The feeding-related aspects according to their descending extent of knowledge score were dry animal feeding followed by heifer feeding, lactating animal feeding, pregnant animal feeding, low cost feeding technologies (LCFT), calves,
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Fri, 5 Dec 2014 13:15:30 +0100
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This is Archie Cameron, again.
In reply to Harutyun Gevorgyan's message (nr. 28):
Denmark and possibly other countries in Europe had a requirement for people acquiring land for agriculture to have a "green certificate", that is having done a study about agriculture. Whether that still applies and how it was actually done, I'm not sure, however, the principal is good. Managing to achieve this type of approach in the area we are discussing is going to be the major challenge. Having said that, all efforts should be made to achieve this aim, as that is the crux of our discussion, empowering all
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Fri, 5 Dec 2014 13:14:43 +0100
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This is from Violet Nyando, again.
Replying to Harutyun Gevorgyan (Message 28):
Indeed it can be difficult to engage in an enterprise without even the basic knowledge and especially if you want farmers to enter into some sort of commercialized/business oriented agricultural production.
For your case, I believe these farmers have some knowledge about farming having grown and witnessed the former regime engaging in farming. The good news is that they are not really blank of any basic farming ideas.
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Fri, 5 Dec 2014 13:14:24 +0100
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I am Lisa Kitinoja, a postharvest technology specialist and postharvest trainer. I've worked in many countries and on many types of extension projects that focus on linking smallholders or family farms to markets, and training young professionals as postharvest extension specialists.
I've found that too little funding for extension can be a real problem (since agents will not be able to reach the farmers), and too much funding can be a different problem, leading to waste and spending on large vehicles and fancy hotels, etc. One project that I worked on recently put the majority of the funding for a
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Fri, 5 Dec 2014 13:14:00 +0100
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This is from Julie Nakalanda Matovu, again.
Thanks for all your submissions. This is a very lively discussion, it touches our lives, our work, our heritage and our future.
To Klaus Fleissner (Message 31): Thanks for your positive comment. We need to be honest to ourselves in order to establish where the real problem lies.
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Fri, 5 Dec 2014 13:13:00 +0100
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My name is Sabine Wischnat and I hold a master degree in agricultural sciences in the tropics/subtropics from Hohenheim University, Germany. I worked several years in Panama with smallholder farmers and lived on my husband's family's farm, which classifies as a medium-sized farm for subsistence and some sales of surplus.
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Fri, 5 Dec 2014 13:12:04 +0100
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This is Olawale Olaniyan, a researcher with the International Trypanotolerance Centre, The Gambia.
It's been really insightful to read your various comments in this forum. Thanks to the moderator and everyone.
I would like to say that a one-size-fits-all advisory approach is neither effective nor productive! This among many other factors is due to seasonality and changes in farming conditions with the consequence that a package of information targeting a set of farmers this year may not be adequately sufficient for coping with next year's peculiar challenges. Such changes in the amount of annual rainfall, soil fertility, market price of
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Thu, 4 Dec 2014 18:00:37 +0100
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This is Dr. María Elena Murillo, from the Universidad Autónoma Agraria Antonio Narro in Mexico. I am a psychologist with a Ph.D. in vocational agriculture.
Even though women are responsible for 45% of agricultural production in the world, their rights are not recognized. Therefore, rural advisory programs should be comprehensive, so they train women in production techniques as in personal development.
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Thu, 4 Dec 2014 17:05:29 +0100
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This is Klaus Fleissner from AVRDC again.
I want to commend Julie Nakalanda Matovu from Uganda for her honesty in the statement (in Message 10) that "as advisory service providers, we tend to push our defined agendas as already predetermined by the project we work for".
This for me is the plain truth and the reason, why agricultural development efforts have barely generated sustainable impact for smallholder farming families in Africa. She also appraised very rightly the complexity of smallholder family farms with its implications "in terms of farming system, skills, income levels, etc.".
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Thu, 4 Dec 2014 16:59:04 +0100
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My name is Michelle Carnegie and I am a Social Scientist based at the University of New England, in Australia. I am currently working on a Livelihoods and Extension research project in Myanmar. The project aims to build the capacity of Myanmar government officials and researchers who are tasked with providing education or training on extension, or managing or delivering research and extension services. The focus is on incorporating socio-economic analyses, a livelihoods approach and participatory methodologies into their work, to ultimately improve smallholder farmer livelihoods. The issue of how to effectively target and tailor extension services to diverse
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Thu, 4 Dec 2014 15:10:26 +0100
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My name is Violet Nyando, from Kenya. I work as an External Relations, Policy and Lobby officer at the Kenya National Farmers Federation (KENAFF), an Apex organization that represents the interest of all farmers in Kenya. Our core mandate is to engage with our membership in order to clearly articulate issues/concerns affecting the farming community and engaging in relevant dialogue processes with the right authorities to seek redress on the same. My training background is in agricultural extension and agricultural and rural innovations, and I believe this topic under discussion is timely and relevant particularly with regard to transforming the
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Thu, 4 Dec 2014 14:41:17 +0100
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My name is Harutyun Gevorgyan. I am an extension specialist in Armenia, and PhD researcher of agriculture extension education. I got qualifications about advisory systems and Extension education in the USA, Greece, Italy, Bulgaria and in the Netherlands. Currently I am doing my PhD in the Tuscia University, Viterbo, Italy.
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Thu, 4 Dec 2014 13:53:06 +0100
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My name is Moses Kondowe. I am Zimbabwean and am a food security specialist working for SNV Netherlands Development Organization in Zimbabwe.
My first contribution addresses question 4.2: What are the current gaps in rural advisory services for smallholder farms?
In Zimbabwe the following are the gaps;
1. Training of smallholder farmers in post-harvest handling and marketing of their agro produce.
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Thu, 4 Dec 2014 11:50:39 +0100
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This is from Julie Nakalanda Matovu, again.
Regarding Message 13 by Paul Zaake:
Thanks for bringing out the real issues: Village elites, the demos at "rich" family farms. A true reflection of what's happenings here in Uganda.
Julie Nakalanda Matovu Lead Consultant Juls Consults - Agribusiness & Sustainable Development Gombe B, Bukasa Parish, Wakiso District, Uganda +256 772-63-66-88 or +256-701-63-66-88 e-mail: Matovujuls (at) gmail.com
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Thu, 4 Dec 2014 11:50:17 +0100
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This is from Julie Nakalanda Matovu, again.
Regarding Message 11 by Abdulmojeed Yakubu:
Thanks for your submission. The situation in Uganda is also true especially on point no. 2. Points 3-5 are also very critical in ensuring sustainable development in the agricultural sector.
Julie Nakalanda Matovu Lead Consultant Juls Consults - Agribusiness & Sustainable Development Gombe B, Bukasa Parish, Wakiso District, Uganda +256 772-63-66-88 or +256-701-63-66-88 e-mail: Matovujuls (at) gmail.com
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Thu, 4 Dec 2014 11:49:51 +0100
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This is from Julie Nakalanda Matovu, again.
Regarding Message 9 by Dr. Praveen Kumar Shrivastava:
This is very interesting. Especially on the bit of points (i), (ii) but also the rest up to (vi). These are very good, true and practical observations. I have liked the bit of engaging college/university students under their respective faculties to address some of these problems. This is something I have always thought of as part of what could be the solution to our very ineffective extension services. If such approaches are embraced while keeping in mind that these family farmers, on top of the
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Thu, 4 Dec 2014 11:48:15 +0100
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My name is Klaus Fleissner and I'm an International Research Staff of AVRDC (The World Vegetable Center) in Cameroon.
I completely agree with Francis Chilenga's statement (Message 18) on the importance of rural resource centers. I would like to emphasize especially the importance of non-governmental rural resource centers, because rural non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and community-based organizations (CBOs) are closer to the needs of the people in rural areas! I consider rural resource centers as one of the most effective scaling-out (and even scaling-up) tools for agricultural innovations. In Cameroon, the World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF) has developed local NGOs into rural
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Thu, 4 Dec 2014 11:47:08 +0100
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This is Datta Rangnekar from Ahmedabad presently a freelance consultant and associated with some NGOs, a research institute and a veterinary university. While I am basically a vet with specialization in animal nutrition for most of the last five decades I was involved with rural development / livelihood development programmes based on crop - livestock - natural resource development and community mobilizations and the goal was to achieve sustainable development. Most of these programmes were in less developed interior rural areas of western and central India, involving underprivileged families and would fall into category 2 and 3 as described in
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Wed, 3 Dec 2014 17:16:51 +0100
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This is Dr Mahesh Chander again, responding to Question 4.1 in the background document.
The discussion has rightly chosen to ignore large family farms which, being mostly large business ventures, are capable of accessing information and other services on their own, and also public extension services are mostly irrelevant to them. The small or medium-sized family farms being in transition to market-oriented and commercialization seek extension services from wherever they can get them, thus manage getting extension services from public agencies and NGOs. Also, they are capable of using modern ICT tools like mobile phones etc. The real challenge
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Wed, 3 Dec 2014 14:48:56 +0100
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This is Huu-Nhuan Nguyen again. In my previous message (nr. 15), I shared the overall agricultural extension trend and current gaps in extension services in Vietnam. I think they may be similar to many other regions around the world. In this message, I discuss some extension strategies for having more effective agricultural extension services for family farms in poor and cultural diverse regions:
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Wed, 3 Dec 2014 14:37:47 +0100
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This is from Puruswattam Rauniyar. I am an undergraduate level student studying at the Institute of Agriculture and Animal Science (IAAS), Paklihawa Campus, Rupendehi, Nepal.
Why the agricultural development of a country like Nepal is worse?
Nepal is an agricultural country. About 65% of the people of this country are involved in agriculture. But the country's production has not yet fulfilled the demand of the agricultural products inside the country. The terai (plain) regions of Nepal are called the bread basket of the country. Most of the agricultural farms are in the rural areas. Illiteracy is another main problem. The agriculture
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AIS
Wed, 3 Dec 2014 13:16:58 +0100
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My name is Francis Chilenga from Malawi, a Senior Agricultural Extensionist in the Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation and Water Development. I have worked with small-scale farmers for the past 10 years in areas related to agricultural technology dissemination, local institutional development and strengthening, and documentation and promotion of local agricultural innovations. I would like to focus on question 4.5 of the conference background document, i.e. "How to improve the outreach and impact of rural advisory services for family farms?".
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AIS
Wed, 3 Dec 2014 13:15:21 +0100
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This is Mahesh Chander again, answering the question: who should be the target for agricultural extension services in family farms? All members of the family farm need information and extension services. Some categories of members need more attention due to their crucial role in future agriculture. Youth apart from farm women, is one such category which should be the target for extension services. Adult vs Youth: When India became independent in 1947, about 83% of the Indian population was living in rural areas and most of the Indians were illiterate (over 88%). Adult education was the main focus
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AIS
Wed, 3 Dec 2014 13:14:02 +0100
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I am Tshering Samdrup from Bhutan. I am an agricultural economist.
I agree with Dr. Mahesh Chander (Message 1) that micro level situations of farmers should be understood before talking about any extension services, which was supported by Ngouambe Nestor (Message 8) from Cameroon. Nestor added something from his field experience of not being able to access some villages due to bad roads. This is true especially in Asia and Africa where connectivity is poor but improving.
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AIS
Wed, 3 Dec 2014 13:12:16 +0100
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I am Huu-Nhuan Nguyen, a PhD candidate at the University of Queensland, Australia and a lecturer at the Vietnam National University of Agriculture (VNUA). I am currently working on developing a holistic framework for assessing impacts of agricultural research for development (AR4D) projects which aims at both understanding fully the contribution of AR4D to development and utilizing impacts towards influencing development policy, decision making and practices for regions with similar socio-economic and natural conditions to the Northwest Highlands of Vietnam. I am very interested in the conference topic "Tailoring rural advisory services to family farms".
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AIS
Wed, 3 Dec 2014 13:11:30 +0100
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My name is Aditya. I completed post-graduation studies in May 2011 with Extension Education and recently entered the field of extension teaching and research at Bihar Agricultural University, Sabour, Bhagalpur, India. Very recently, I have been granted a Media Lab Asia project “Interactive Information Dissemination System (IIDS)” which aims to reach farmers through voice messaging and text based mobile advisory services. I have earlier worked for the Microsoft Research Labs.
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AIS
Wed, 3 Dec 2014 13:09:58 +0100
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My name is Paul Zaake. I have a degree in Agriculture and accumulated broad knowledge and experience on rural advisory services. I have got the opportunity to be in the “shoes” of a researcher, extension worker and farmer. Currently my work involves linking all of them in rural part of Uganda.
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AIS
Wed, 3 Dec 2014 13:09:02 +0100
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I am Mr. Francis Okori, Graduate Student of Postharvest Technology, University of Cape Coast, Ghana.
The family farming concept is key in the elimination of hunger at the family level. The role of gender must be an emphasized priority as a tool towards the eradication of hunger. In its simple essence, we cannot talk about food security or hunger reduction without a mention of the role of the rural woman.
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AIS
Wed, 3 Dec 2014 13:07:33 +0100
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I am Abdulmojeed Yakubu of the Department of Animal Science, Nasarawa State University, Keffi, Shabu-Lafia Campus, Lafia, Nigeria. Permit me to state the following as regards the current gaps in rural advisory services for smallholder family farms in Nigeria: 1. Most farmers have little information on how to get subsidized inputs.
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AIS
Wed, 3 Dec 2014 13:06:01 +0100
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My mame is Julie Nakalanda Matovu. I'm a Msc. Agroecology graduate from Uganda Martyrs University and have worked with several rural communities across Uganda and in the region. I have worked with NGOs, private farms and government. I'm an agribusiness consultant dealing in sustainable development in agricultural related business. I work in peri-urban and rural settings.
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AIS
Wed, 3 Dec 2014 08:46:31 +0100
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I am Dr Praveen Kumar Shrivastava from India and I teach organic chemistry to my graduates and postgraduates students at Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh.
Referring to Question 4.4 in the conference background document (i.e. "Are there regional specificities regarding rural advisory services for family farms?"), these are my observations:
The Department of Agriculture and Cooperation, Ministry of Agriculture, Government of India runs call centres in all or most of Indian languages. They are effective and give good advice to farmers. The main problem with understanding the advice is because:
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AIS
Tue, 2 Dec 2014 17:46:08 +0100
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I am Ngouambe Nestor, Agricultural economist (Agricultural Extension), Regional officer for Farmer Organization Registry at the Ministry of Agricultural and Rural Development in Cameroon. I am also the main Founder of the Cameroon Forum for Agricultural Advisory Services (www.facebook.com/CAMFAAS) to be officially launched in January. I am also coordinating Cameroon Youth Initiative for Rural Development (CAMYIRD).
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AIS
Tue, 2 Dec 2014 17:37:40 +0100
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This is Mahesh Chander again, supplementing the views of Mr Cameron (Message 5).
The different categories of farmers respond to information and technologies in different ways considering their resource domains. A small-scale farmer may hesitate to grab the new technology like large sized high yielding exotic cattle breeds like Holstein Friesian compared to a wealthier farmer due to differences in their risk-bearing abilities. When designing extension interventions, it is important to keep in mind that technology should not be thrust upon farmers. They need time in persuading themselves and getting ready to accept the technology. Many a time farmers are
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AIS
Tue, 2 Dec 2014 14:42:38 +0100
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This is Mahesh Chander, again.
Producer organizations (POs)/Farmer associations can be handy in tailoring rural advisory services to family farms, since the members can better articulate their needs which POs can effectively meet. The dairy cooperatives in India are a wonderful example of the POs having their own livestock services delivery system. By March 2013, the milk unions in India had covered about 0.16 million village dairy cooperative societies with 15.1 million milk producer members. Extension activities are undertaken at Dairy Cooperative Society (DCS) and at milk unions to enhance active participation of the producer members and to create awareness
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AIS
Tue, 2 Dec 2014 14:41:31 +0100
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I am Archie Cameron, a long time farmer, now semi-retired in Australia and an active member of my local State farmer organisation.
This is a very important topic and in this submission I will make some broad comments:
The general thrust of this exercise is similar, whether, smaller farms in terms of the Asian and African areas mainly or the smaller farms in "western/European" terms. Even in the better developed agricultural communities of the "west", there is still a big gap between participators and those who go their own way some successfully with good acumen and knowledge and some who don't. If
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AIS
Tue, 2 Dec 2014 14:40:31 +0100
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This is Subhash Mehta, from India. I am a trustee of the Devarao Shivaram Trust (DST). I started with organic agriculture during my stay in Rome 1997-2000 and association with FAO, the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and Global Forum on Agricultural Research (GFAR) since those years. To get down to the bottom of the high cost conventional agriculture, I did a course in organic agriculture, inspection, certification and accreditation at the Centre International de Hautes Etudes Agronomiques Méditerranéennes (CIHEAM), Bari. I soon realised that organic was less than 1% and too small for governments, national agricultural research and
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AIS
Tue, 2 Dec 2014 14:38:19 +0100
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My name is Syed Hassan Raza and I have been working as a teacher, research worker and extension worker since 1983. I have executed national and international projects for farmers (both genders) training and extension services set up through farmers association dealing in livestock production. My last assignment was worth 1.6 billion rupees project.
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AIS
Mon, 1 Dec 2014 18:20:22 +0100
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My name is Jerod Myers. I graduated in May 2013 and recently entered the field of agricultural development. I work for the USAID Knowledge-Driven Agricultural Development project in Washington, D.C.
My question pertains to scalability. How do we tailor advisory services, keeping in mind the regional specificities (Q 4.4) while addressing issues of scale? Can interventions be scaled-up efficiently without overlooking local context?
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AIS
Mon, 1 Dec 2014 18:19:13 +0100
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I am Mahesh Chander, Principal Scientist (Agricultural Extension), Indian Council of Agricultural Research, currently posted at the Indian Veterinary Research Institute as Head, Division of Extension Education.
The theme “Tailoring rural advisory services to family farms" is very timely, relevant-demand driven! Thanks to the organizers for the opportunity to be able to participate!
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AIS
Fri, 28 Nov 2014 17:09:51 +0100
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Dear Colleagues,
Welcome to this FAO e-mail conference on "Tailoring rural advisory services to family farms" !! Thank you for joining.
You can send messages now (send them to [log in to unmask]). Messages will be posted from Monday 1 December onwards while the last day for receiving messages will be Thursday 18 December 2014.
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AIS
Sat, 22 Nov 2014 18:44:57 +0100
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Dear Colleagues,
Welcome to all of you who have subscribed so far to this FAO e-mail conference on "Tailoring rural advisory services to family farms"!!
I am now sending you the Background Document to the e-mail conference. It aims to provide information that you, as participants, will find useful for the e-mail conference. The first Section of this 7-page document explains why this e-mail conference is taking place. The document then provides a brief overview of rural advisory services (Section 2) and family farms (Section 3) while Section 4 presents some specific guidance about the topics to be discussed in
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