CTA and SPC combine to sponsor extension training

Monday 28 April 2009, Secretariat of the Pacific Community, Suva Regional Office, Fiji – How to adapt agriculture extension materials to the needs of farmers was the focus of a recent workshop in Nadi, Fiji. The workshop was a joint effort between the Technical Centre for Agriculture and Rural Cooperation (CTA) and the Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC).

SPC’s Information, Communication and Extension Coordinator, Stephen Hazelman, commended the partnership between CTA and SPC, noting that Pacific agricultural ministries were putting less focus on information and extension activities. The result was a widening information gap between producers and technical experts and this was disadvantaging farmers.

“When Dr. Obuba of CTA contacted us to see if we were interested in organising this workshop, we were only too happy as it fitted in directly with SPC’s concerns about the state of agriculture information in the region.”

Mr Hazelman said that in some Ministries of Agriculture, information and education resources had been neglected with declining human and financial resources. However, the EU-funded project, Development of Sustainable Agriculture in the Pacific (DSAP), had provided training to many agricultural department staff in the region and governments needed to tap into that resource.

Meanwhile, Dr Obuba said CTA was keen to continue working with SPC as both organisations had similar goals. He said that the CTA-supported ICT Policy Conference is part of its efforts to promote access to information.

Dr Obuba thanked the Fiji government as the host country and the governments of all participating countries for sending representatives to the workshop and challenged participants to bridge the information gap between farmers and researchers.

“Your job now is to multiply the impact of the lessons learnt during this training and work towards the betterment of farming communities,” he said.
The following events relating to agricultural extension are also planned for 2009:
· Extension Summit, 18 to 22 May 2009 in Nadi, Fiji
· Role of the media in agriculture development in ACP countries, October 2009 – international seminar in Brussels