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

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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.



A very common statement is that smallholder farmers are resistant to change and do not adopt scientific recommendations and technologies and continue to follow traditional practices (as if all traditional practices are un-scientific). I learned that in many cases 'resistance to change is a blessing in disguise'. Planned research (with participatory - systems approach) to find out 'why this is so'; and good understanding of 'why farmers are doing what they are doing' can provide the pathway for an effective extension approach.



In many areas, small farmers are bombarded with recommendations that create confusing/conflicting situations and they find it difficult to decide what to accept and adopt. Let me state two examples.



Before the onset of the rainy season, farmers in many areas are approached by agriculture extension officers to convince them to adopt new paddy (rice) variety and at the same time horticulture extension officers approach them to convince them about adoption of new variety of some fruit crop and dairy extension officers to put most of their land under fodder crops and each one tries to convince them that what they are recommending is the most profitable. Some of the farmers get utterly confused, some get carried away, some adopt recommendation till subsidy is available, while some having 'innate wisdom' say YES to all extension officers and make their own decision. This situation arises since most extension officers are commodity oriented or project/target driven and they are not to be blamed. It is their seniors - the planners/managers of projects who guide or direct them that lack 'farming system and whole farm approach' and ignore that extension should aim at helping farmer to take better decisions rather than confusing them.



Another example of how conflict/confusion is created by technical persons (with due apologies) due to changing/conflicting messages: Till a few years ago, agriculture extension officers recommended increasing use of chemical fertilisers and pesticides (some recommend it even now) and now most recommend to cut down use of chemical fertilisers/insecticides and explain the harmful effects. In the same manner, dairy extension officers strongly recommended cross breeding of dairy cattle and explained how cross-bred is profitable (to all farmers) and now keeping and development of indigenous cattle is strongly recommended. In some extension meetings, farmers commented that technical persons should make up their mind as to what they wish to recommend since frequent changes cannot be made.



Involving and extending benefit to women in agriculture is a much talked about subject but in most extension/training programmes the only change is to involve farm women in extension meetings or training programmes and literature/leaflets are provided to them. However, hardly any attempt is made to understand how they perceive various agriculture operations and what are their priorities in respect of production of crops and livestock and the problems or constraints faced. Women have a key role in some aspects of livestock and crop production and improvement can be faster if extension approaches are based on good understanding of their perceptions and priorities. Virtual absence of women extensionists in crop and livestock sector is a major limitation in this regard.  



Lastly, I wish to ask whether there are studies to understand 'traditional communication systems' - I always wondered at commonality of some practices related to crop and livestock production (agronomic practices/feeding and management systems). I found that traditional fairs and social functions are occasions for exchanges of information/practices but there could be some more ways.      



I may be excused for this longish mail but wish to make the best of this opportunity and would eagerly look forward to feedback from participants.



Datta  Rangnekar 

Freelance consultant

Ahmedabad, 

Gujarat, 

India.

e-mail: Dattavr (at) rediffmail.com



[The point raised by Datta about farmers receiving contradictory advice from advisory services, was also discussed by Paul Zaake from Uganda (Message 13), who wrote "We have various providers of rural advisory farmers for farm families, however the differences in the recommendations to address similar issues is a serious problem. For example on the issue of low yields due to soil degradation, one organization may recommend using organic fertilizers and other sustainable land management practices. Then another organization will also come and recommend to the same farmer to use inorganic fertilizers to address the problem of soil degradation"...Moderator].



[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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