May 2005
Research Centre of Agriculture and Forestry Laimburg
18-22 October 2004
Ora, Italy
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Development experiences of the last decades have shown that human resources development is essential for food security and market integration. Achieving sustainable agricultural development is less based on material inputs (e.g. seeds and fertilizer) than on the people involved in their use. This focus on human resources calls for increased knowledge and information sharing about food production.
New agricultural technologies are generated by research institutes, universities, private companies, and by the farmers themselves. Agricultural extension services are expected to disseminate them among their clients, but due to poor linkages between research and extension the adoption of new agricultural technologies by farmers in the developing world is often very slow and research is not focussing on the actual needs of farmers. In many countries the insufficient agricultural development has been attributed, among other factors, to poor linkages between Research-Extension-Farmers and to ineffective technology delivery systems, including poor information packaging and lack of communication systems.
To meet such rural development constraints, FAO and the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit (GTZ) GmbH (German Agency for Technical Cooperation) organized a technical workshop on issues related to Communication for Development, Research, Extension and Agricultural Information Management. Both organizations have gained considerable experience in these fields and are mutually engaged in joint activities which put knowledge and information at the heart of any rural development initiative.
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The workshop was conducted jointly with the Research Centre for Agriculture and Forestry Laimburg, an internationally known centre of excellence in research – extension linkages for agriculture.
Forty-five experts in communication for development, agricultural research and agricultural extension, representing the GTZ, FAO, the World Bank, CGIAR Centres, CIRAD, universities and other international and national organizations, participated in the presentations and discussions.
A Task Force was mandated by the Workshop to follow-up the recommendations which include the preparation of guidelines for development planners and practitioners on research-extension linkages for market–oriented and subsistence based agriculture by improved communication tools, methods, structures and approaches.
Once finalized, the experts’ guidelines will be published on the web and in print format.
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The overall aim of the workshop was to identify key issues in research-extension linkages and explore communication approaches and tools that can provide effective linkage mechanisms in line with the Millennium Development Goals.
The Workshop discussion issues were essentially:
The workshop Agenda consisted of the following activities:
The major workshop findings were consolidated in a set of enabling success factors for an effective communication between research, extension and farmers, these have been identified as follows:
Furthermore, the rounds of facilitated group work pointed out condensed and structured recommendations relating to their related specific issues:
At the final promotional exercise, the participants presented preliminary ideas, topics and modes for collaborative work and future activities: Option for Future Collaboration
The Organizers also produced a summary Report with a set of recommendations and identified potential areas of collaboration between the participating organizations and their development partners. The Report includes the overall evaluation of the workshop organization and outcomes.
For further information:
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Riccardo del Castello |
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Mathias Braun |
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Joseph Dalla Via |
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