Project News

A draft workbook for extension material development was prepared by a short term expert on extension material development, Mr Hiroshi Kikuchi, who was with the FRG II Project from January to March 2013. The workbook is to encourage researchers, who have little or no experience of developing extension materials, to take their first step. Providing theory and necessary skills is the aim of the workbook. Basic theory, method and some examples are contained in the workbook.

A workshop for extension material developing using the workbook was held on 20st and 21th of February with selected researchers from different research centers and universities. During the workshop, the participants tried to develop extension materials based on their own research using MS Word. The participants had active and fruitful discussions such as "considering illiterate farmers", "information farmers really need", etc. Practical skill training using examples is needed to push researchers to start developing extension materials. Extension material development is a process to think how research is to meet farmers' actual needs. It is expected that more researchers will engage in extension development which will lead to the consideration of more farmer oriented researches and eventually better research quality.