Identifying Needs and Actions

Group 3. Conservation Farming Management/Extension Needs in Vietnam

Major management and extension problems identified were:

1. Need for better and stronger linkages between researchers, scientists and extensionists.

2. Need to strengthen extension network at the grassroots level— especially in term of human resources, knowledge and coordination.

3. Substantiate documentation on conservation farming—-farmers, extensionists and scientists often lack information.

4. Lack of coordination among different programs and projects— coordination poor among GOs, NGOs, and LGUs.

5. Lack of appropriate macro policy to support conservation farming.

To address these weaknesses, activities should be designed to:

1. Collect, survey, analyze and evaluate successful and unsuccessful examples of conservation farming (including indigenous and improved practices).

2. Collect, survey, analyze and evaluate the methods and approaches of technology transfer, including the roles of extensionists, village leaders, farmers, policy makers, etc.

3. Document and disseminate information in various forms, e.g., videotapes, flipcharts and books.

4. Organize workshop to revise/evaluate the findings.

5. Finalize documentation and share widely.