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I do not believe that a single method of promotion is adequate to get technologies to users, especially in sub-Saharan Africa. We should think of a holistic approach in which researchers, extension agents, producers, NGOs, CBOs, the private sector and other key stakeholders will fully participate using the different mechanisms such as media (radio, TV, newspapers), participatory research, farmer field schools, farmer exchange visits, demonstrations, field days, dramas, etc. Based on practical experiences, I am really convinced that researchers have to play a very important role in extension rather than leaving it all to extension workers. This approach has been a failure and we all know and have read even in these discussions that extension workers are not well facilitated/motivated to do this to the extent everybody expects from them. Key figures can also play a very significant role as well. Let me just give here one example, the queen of Baganda in central Uganda advised the people in the kingdom to produce and consume more orange-fleshed sweet potato (OFSP) varieties to alleviate vitamin A deficiency, which is an important problem. This was broadcast on radios and published in national news papers. That is all it took to make such varieties popular. After that people ware more willing to learn more about the nutritional advantages of these varieties and the demand increased remarkably. It is also very important to target local radios that broadcast in local languages. This proved successful in many areas in the region. Spending money on generating technologies is not very useful unless there are good plans to disseminate the generated technologies. A pre-requisite to this is that the technologies have to be demand-driven and add tangible values to what farmers already have, such as better quality, marketability, yielding ability, disease resistance and earliness. The last one is important because of the recurrent unexpected droughts in several countries and the short rain seasons. What is also important is enhancing the capacity of farmers to properly utilize the technologies. This can be done in several ways, one of which is through farmers' training (formal and informal), without forgetting institutional building. It is obvious that there are a number of NGOs, CBOs, NARs, IARCs, etc. that work hard to distribute important technologies in each country with the major goal of improving the livelihoods of the rural poor. Why don't we see much success then? I believe that one of the reasons for this is that efforts are not coordinated. Some of such organizations working in the same country on similar issues and supported by same donors do not like to work together. How can this be resolved? Is there any suggestion by donors to effect integration at this level? What does DFID say about this? Berga __________________________________________ Please note changes in e-mail addresses. Berga Lemaga PRAPACE Network, Plot 106, Katalima Road, Naguru P.O.Box 22274, Kampala, Uganda Tel: +256 41 286209, +256 77 696808 Mobile: +256 77 696808 Fax: +256 41 286947 Email: <address removed>, <address removed>, <address removed> _____________________________________________________________ ============================================================= To send a reply to this message that goes to all list members, make sure that you send your reply to <address removed> To unsubscribe from this list, send an email to "<address removed>", with the message body: unsubscribe science-and-technology <your-email-address>
Please visit dfid-agriculture-consultation.nri.org.