10197 Agricultural Public Disclosure Authorized Extension by Training and Visit Public Disclosure Authorized The Asian Experience edited by Public Disclosure Authorized Michael M. Cernea John K. Coulter John F. A. Russell Public Disclosure Authorized FILECOPY A World Bank and UJNDPSymposium -It I -%, Agricultural Extension by Training and Visit The Asian Experience A World Bank and UNDP Symposium I would suggest to your Grace, that a number of persons should be selected, possessing sound practical knowledge of the most improved systems of agriculture applicable ... and of such general education as may enable them to communicate that information orally in a satisfactory manner, and that those persons should be employed to perform each a circuit through certain districts... such as your Grace may decide upon, and to deliver lectures on practical agriculture to the farming population. Your Grace will, probably, agree with me that it would be highly important that those lectures should not be conceived or delivered in an abstract or purely scientific style ... ; they should be couched in clear but simple language, and might, in some cases, be usefully illustrated by practical demonstrations. In the delivery of three such lectures, your Grace will, probably, find that a week may be usefully occupied; and, as each lecturer can embrace in his circuit about eight localities, his journey may be considered as likely to occupy eight weeks ... - From a letter by the Earl of Clarendon, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, to the President of the Royal Agricultural Improvement Society of Ireland, September 23, 1847 AgriculturalExtension by Training and Visit The Asian Experience Edited by Michael M. Cemea John K. Coulter John F. A. Russell THE WORLD BANK Washington, D.C., U.S.A. Copyright t 1983 by the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development / THE WORLD BANK 1818 H Street, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20433, U.S.A. First printing December 1983 Second printing November 1984 All rights reserved Manufactured in the United States of America The views and interpretations in this book are those of the contributors and should not be attributed to the World Bank, to its affiliated organizations, or to any individual acting on their behalf. Editor James E. McEuen Figures Pensri Kimpitak Book design Brian J. Svikhart Cover design George P. Parakamannil Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Main entry under title: Agricultural extension by training and visit. (A World Bank symposium) Papers presented at the Asian Regional Workshop in the T & V System of Extension, sponsored by the World Bank and the United Nations Development Programme, at Chiang Mai, Thailand. in 1982. Includes bibliographical references. 1. Agricultural extension work-Asia-Congresses. I. Cernea, Michael M. 11. Coulter. John K.. 1925- III. Russell. John F. A., 1938- . IV. Asian Regional Workshop in the T & V System of Extension (1982: Chiang Mai, Thailand) V. World Bank. VI. United Nations Development Programme. VII. Series. S544.5.A74A47 1983 630'.7'1505 83-26010 ISBN 0-8213-0301-5 Foreword The World Bank is strongly committed to promoting agricultural development in its borrowing member countries. In most of these countries, agriculture makes up a high proportion of the economy and is the economic base for an even higher proportion of the people in poverty. The Bank has lent for agriculture and rural development since its inception, and over the past decade it has devoted about a third of its annual lending to this sector. The bulk of this lending is based on the premise that the most effective way to promote agricultural and rural development is to provide the least advantaged farmers with means to increase their productivity. This is a difficult task for several reasons, some of which are beyond the Bank's control, but it can be and is being accomplished through a range of joint efforts actively supported by governments and the Bank If they are to increase their productivity, small farmers need to use scientifically based technologies that are suitable for their location and the farming system they are following. Once developed, such technologies must be transferred to farmers in ways that the farmers can understand and in forms that they feel able to adopt. In other words, agricultural research must be closely geared to the perceived needs of farmers, and its findings must be formulated so that they can be transmitted to farmers readily and clearly. Conversely, farmers must also be able to transmit their perceived problems clearly and quickly back to researchers for evaluation and solution. This process has proved much simpler to articulate than to effect. One of the most promising means of achieving it is the Training and Visit (T & V) system of agricultural extension. Following on the success of its first involvement with T & V extension in the early 1970s, the World Bank is now financing over ninety projects that explicitly depend on the application of the T & V system. This represents a substantial investment by the Bank and an even more substantial one by its borrowers. Most of these projects are in Asia, although countries elsewhere are increasingly turning to the principles of the T & V system as a means of strengthening their extension services and thus improving small farmers' productivity. To capture and disseminate the nearly ten years of Asian experience with T & V extension system, the World Bank and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) arranged and helped to fund an Asian Regional Workshop on the T & V System of Extension held at Chiang Mai, Thailand, in late 1982. Managers of T & V systems from six Asian and two African countries presented papers and exchanged experiences, together with staff from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, the UNDP, and the World Bank concerned with agricultural extension and research projects. This volume contains the keynote papers presented by extension system managers and evaluators from Asian countries, together with issue papers by the workshop discussants and introductory and concluding overview chapters. Whether they are policymakers, project designers, rural sociologists, extension workers, or agricultural researchers, it is hoped that those who read this volume will find the experience it documents of value for their own work in extension and development. 8. Shahid Husain Vice President Operations Policy December 1983 The World Bank v Contents Foreword by S. Shahid Husain v Definitions xi Acknowledgments xv Overview 1. Agricultural Extension: A Tool for Rural Development 3 Donald C. Pickering The Importance and Shortcomings of Traditional Extension Systems 4 The Training and Visit System of Extension 6 Advantages and Difficulties in Establishing the T & V System 9 The Chiang Mai Workshop 12 References 1 3 Farmer Participation and the Village Extension Worker 2. Farmer Participation in the Training and Visit System and the Role 17 of the Village Extension Worker: Experience in Indonesia Dady Ganda Sukaryo Formation of Farmer Groups: Sociocultural and Administrative Considerations 18 Selection and Role of Contact Farmers 20 Conduct of Field Extension Worker Visits and Method of Encouraging Feedback from Farmers 21 Role of the Field Extension Worker 24 3. Farmer Participation and the Village Extension Worker: A Comment 26 John F. A. Russell Group Selection and Development 26 Role of the Contact Farmer 28 Encouraging Better Participation and Feedback 29 Role of the Village Extension Worker 29 Incentives for Village Extension Workers and Farmers 30 Conclusions 3 1 References 3 1 Technical Recommendations and Research-Extension Linkage 4. Developing Technical Recommendations and Research-Extension 35 Linkages: Experience in India N. N. Mehta Agricultural Extension in India 35 The Training and Visit System in Madhya Pradesh 36 Evaluation of Constraints to Production 37 Effectiveness of the T & V System 40 Fixing Priorities for the Extension System 41 State Planning Committee 43 Regional Coordination Committee 43 Zonal workshops 43 vii viii CONTENTS Monthly workshops 44 Fortnightly training 44 Adaptive Research and Formulation of Recommendations 44 Adjustment of Recommendations 45 Organizing Linkages for Effective Contact between Farmers, Extension, and Research 46 5. The Interdependence of Research and Extension: A Comment 49 John K. Coulter Improved Technology as a Component of an Extension System 49 Identifying important problems 49 Formulating researchable problems 50 Developing successful solutions 51 Research-Extension Linkages 52 Conclusions 52 Training 6. Training in the Training and Visit System: Experience in Sri Lanka 55 S. Natesan Development in Training 55 Creating awareness and understanding of the system 56 Training of field workers 57 Training of Subject Matter Officers 60 Training of information and communication staff and establishing linkage with broadcasting personnel 60 Training those responsible for T & V administration and services supporting extension 61 Issues in Training 61 Conclusions 63 7. Training Extension Staff: A Comment 64 G. R. Galgali and John H. Lindt Training for Extension Agents 64 Training Methods 65 Practical Training and Tests 66 Present Experience and Problems 67 Management and System Maintenance 8. Management and System Maintenance in Extension Services: 71 Experience in Thailand Vorasak Pakdee Evolution of Agricultural Extension in Thailand, 1968-82 71 First period (1968-72) 73 Second period (1972-76) 73 Third period (1977-82) 75 Emerging problems 75 Problems of Implementing the Training and Visit System in Thailand 75 Necessary adaptations 77 The projects and their implementation 77 Operational problems 78 Functional problems 79 CONTENTS ix Solutions to Problems 81 Present Situation 83 New Challenges for the Agricultural Extension Service 84 Conclusions 85 Reference 86 9. A Modified Training and Visit Extension System: 87 Experience in the Philippines Francisco G. Rentutar and Romeo V. Aquino Objectives and Problems 87 Strong Central Direction 88 Extension at the Field Level 90 Links with Research 92 Training 93 Monitoring and Evaluation 94 Conclusions 94 10. Organizing Extension along Training and Visit Lines: 96 Experience in Nepal R.