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Moderated conference on rural advisory services for family farms: 1-18 December 2014

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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].



My name is Mr. Myo Min Aung, from Myanmar (Burma). I am working in the Italian international non-governmental organization (INGO) called CESVI with the position of Township Coordinator in Seik Phyu Township, Magway region, Shae Thot (the way forward), a program funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). My professional field is agriculture and extension. I believe that the e-conference is relevant to small holder farmers.



I want to contribute towards Question 4.2 of the conference background document ("What are the current gaps in rural advisory services for smallholder family farms?"). 



Most of farms in Myanmar are family farms except for large scale farms. But the big gap between farmers and the government extension service is due to a few permit budget from Government sector. Most of the villages in the remote areas are missing rural advisory services. The government extension service is still poor, not only regarding budget limitation but also poor transportation and basic infrastructure. On my idea, government should permit sufficient amount of budget for Township level extension service of the Department of Agriculture. More staff are needed to be appointed or recruited for Township level extension staff but also the transportation charges for extension staff to go to the field regularly.



On the other hand, INGOs, Local NGOs (LNGOs) and community-based organizations (CBOs) are going to rural extension service instead of government extension service. UN agencies, INGOs, LNGOs and CBOs recognize the importance of effective organizations for rural advisory services - they are implementing training, Farmer Field Schools, farmer extension groups, training on field FEG, etc. These activities are supporting rural advisory service of family farms.



I want to also address Questions 4.5 ("How to improve the outreach and impact of rural advisory services?") and 4.6 ("What strategies are needed at the national/state level to enhance rural advisory services for family farms?"). My experience is also the same with our implementation in Shae Thot Program funded by USAID.



Our implementation is also helping to develop rural advisory service for sustainable in their villages. Our implementation started to organize Farmer Extension Group (FEG). This group was organized by 4 sub-groups such as Seed groups, Research groups, Technology groups and Market groups. These 4 components are very important for rural advisory services for family farms but also agriculture development. Our project targeted on 4 groups and is supporting the classroom training, on-farm training, farmers level trials plot and demonstration and continuously research and development approach.



Beyond the project, FEG will become rural advisory group and they will implement advisory services to farmers. The FEG approach/strategy is very useful to enhance rural advisory services for family farms but also we will get good result/impact of rural advisory service.



Mr. Myo Min Aung

Township Coordinator/ Senior Agronomist 

CESVI (INGO)

Shae Thot (The way forward) program 

No. 351 Yandanar Road, 

Ah Nauk Paing Ward, 

Seik Phyu Township, 

Magway Region

Myanmar (Burma)

Email: myominaung.agri (at) gmail.com

Mobile: 09 334 68506



[To contribute to this conference, send your message to [log in to unmask] For further information, see http://www.fao.org/nr/research-extension-systems/res-home/news/detail/en/c/264776/  



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