RAS-L Archives

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

RAS-L@LISTSERV.FAO.ORG

Options: Use Forum View

Use Monospaced Font
Show HTML Part by Default
Show All Mail Headers

Message: [<< First] [< Prev] [Next >] [Last >>]
Topic: [<< First] [< Prev] [Next >] [Last >>]
Author: [<< First] [< Prev] [Next >] [Last >>]

Print Reply
Subject:
From:
Reply To:
Date:
Wed, 3 Dec 2014 14:48:56 +0100
Content-Type:
text/plain
Parts/Attachments:
text/plain (31 lines)
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:

- Engaging farmers actively in extension activities (as also mentioned by Syed Hassan Raza, Message 3). In many agricultural extension activities carried out by both governments, international development agencies, and NGOs, efforts have been made on making participation as a 'means' - to increase the effectiveness of an externally introduced program via the involvement of local people in the processes rather than as an 'end' which empowers farmers by equipping them with the capability to change their own lives (Pretty, 1995).

- Paying carefully attention to sustainable livelihoods of farmers, especially the poor. A livelihood is considered sustainable if it can be resilient to external shocks and stresses, independent from external supports, maintaining the long-term productivity but not undermining livelihood options of others (Chambers & Conway, 1992). On the other hand, agricultural extension services should be designed in ways that could deliver long-term impacts. Agricultural extension intervention should not merely focus on transferring technologies to improve short-term social economic situations but also social and human capacity building for sustainable livelihoods of small farmers;

- Shifting from top-down to bottom-up extension systems with appropriate participatory communication strategies that enable environments for learning and sharing feedback between researchers, extension workers and local farmers as well as overcome communication difficulties such as language barriers, low education and shortages of communication facilities in poor communities and regions;

- Building market capacity for technical extension staff and farmers because in order to develop market oriented agriculture for the less developed regions, transferring knowledge and building technical capacity may not be effective without improving market capacity for both local extension forces and people;

- Promoting paid but reasonable agricultural extension services could not only help to mobilize private investment for agricultural extension but also improve the effectiveness of extension services in certain communities and regions

Nguyen Huu Nhuan
PhD Candidate
University of Queensland, 
Australia
Mobile:+61 450 268 689
Email: huunhuan.nguyen (at) uqconnect.edu.au
nguyennhuan1977 (at) gmail.com
 
References:
- Chambers, R., & Conway, G. R. (1992). Sustainable livelihoods: Practical concepts for the 21st century (Vol. IDS Discussion paper 296). Brighton UK: Institute of Development Study, University of Sussex.
- Pretty, J. N. (1995). Participatory learning for sustainable agriculture. World Development, 23(8), 1247-1263. doi: 10.1016/0305-750x(95)00046-f

[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/   

########################################################################

To unsubscribe from the RAS-L list, click the following link:
https://listserv.fao.org/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=RAS-L&A=1

ATOM RSS1 RSS2