Local Involvement :: Development, Farmers

One main issue about local involvement is how to integrate participatory principles in the present dominant top-down hierarchical extension system in developing countries. In the study about participatory extension approach in Vietnam, Minh et al. (2000) examine the potential and challenges to scale up several new participatory principles (participatory-based training methods, interactive training sessions, group-based sharing experience, practical learning, and learning-by-doing process) in the existing supply-driven extension system. They found that by the help of external support, the approach has been proved to be successful to be applied in farmer level. In order to institutionalize this approach, they recommend using a stepwise procedure, in which it must be initiated by identifying the core problems of the existing extension system and the capacities and then gradually introducing the innovations rather than giving them on the whole. Other issue about local involvement is how to integrate farmers’ innovation into wider existing formal institutional system. Tchawa et al. (2002) assess the Participatory Technology Development in Cameroon, in which they institute that such an innovation may be effectively adopted by the various social actors involved in it, even though it requires difficult learning process difficult at the beginning of the implementation. Taking the case of soil and water conservation, this participatory approach integrating indigenous practices and modern agricultural innovations using the techniques of informal and formal learning (pp. 206-211) However, one study showed that collaboration that involving farmers must be accomplished carefully because of the possibility of social bias. The study of collaborative research-extension plans conducted in Iran indicate that the joint plans, although able to promote collaboration between extension workers and researchers, and extension workers and farmers, the results of this study indicate that such a cooperation plan may be more adaptive to larger-scale farmer segments than the smaller ones. (Movahedi et al., 2007). (pp.304-309Â ¬) Other social segment that should be considered is the young farmers. Auta et al. (2010), in the study of Nigerian youth farmers, argue that the youth needs agricultural trainings as well as more access to agricultural inputs and services to enable them participate in agricultural activities continuously, particularly under scarcity of food availability. Other focal extension issue in developing countries is about partnership among agricultural actors. In the study of cost-sharing scheme, as part of relationship reform between government and farmers extension service, Ozor et al., 2007) found that both farmers and extension workers hold positive perceptions regarding this new partnership scheme; 80.