![]() Central and Eastern Europe |
(NP CCI-Agro), Moscow, Russia |
First Extension Center, Farming Development Service, was created in 1993 in the All-Russian Agricultural College in Sergiev Posad (Moscow oblast), and then, in 1998, six additional centers were established in the following colleges: Zadonsk (Lipetsk oblast), Arzamas (Nizhni Novgorod oblast), Pashkovski college (Krasnodar city), Vsevolozhsk (Leningradskaya oblast), and in Penza city Kolomna (Moscow oblast). The area of competence and target group of clients for the new extension centers were defined by such specifics of the projects as location of the colleges in rural areas, work experience of faculty members, and limited financial support the Center for Citizen Initiatives could provide. Today extension centers deliver information and consulting service to the private farmers, mostly those whose land does not exceed 70 hectares, and to home-growers. Why is this group of clients different from other types of producers? They get hardly any access to loans that are allocated by the federal and regional governments to large agricultural producers to purchase fertilizers, pesticides, fuel and other materials. There thus exists a demand for information on low-input agricultural techniques. Small farmers and home growers sell their products basically on the local markets. They also grow food for their own consumption. So they are very much interested in any information related to organic farming with minimum application of agricultural chemicals. Formally private farming was considered a "small business". Such farmers are much more flexible in terms of business management and decision making than directors of former state agricultural enterprises, so they express a great interest in timely information on legal and financial issues related to small and medium business, as well as in any educational programs that help farmers to develop skills needed in business. Limited job opportunities and high unemployment levels in rural areas also lead to the need of additional education being organized for farmers' wives and children. This group of clients lacks free time (and, sometimes, will) to attend long-term educational programs or study scientific books. There exists, therefore, high demand for such information material, adapted to specific needs and concrete problems, that is printed on just a few pages. These producers have virtually no access to modern information sources and updated practical information material collected in libraries, educational and research institutions, or on the Internet. According to some data (no special study has as yet been conducted) small farmers and home-growers generate up to 50% of all food in Russia. This number may in some place even reach 100%. Given current conditions in Russian agriculture it is not likely that farmers and home-growers will soon receive any other kind of support but information. E.g. an extension worker who is active in one of the college extension centers is a teacher at the college at the same time. Extension workers usually use their own rich experiences, which are, however, limited, due to the nonexistence of private farming in the past. Such consultants (or extension agents) are sometimes forced to create a solution in no time at all in order to meet farmer's problems of that very day. An "innovation" is not necessarily the best way out of the problem. Moreover, in 99.9% of cases one can be sure that somebody somewhere has already resolved such a problem in a most efficient way. And yet there is no such information available to extension centers. All information resources, including those at agricultural libraries and information center of the Federal Extension Service, collect mostly scientific material or such information that can serve the needs of the large agricultural enterprises. In the same time, the vast extension information have been collected by many different actors. Unfortunately, such information has been scattered in many places and is not readily available. Current methods of extension centers merely maintain local production on same level. Support on the part of the centers is mostly moral, what is not sufficient. If the centers are to fulfill their task - an increase in agricultural production - they need access, electronic as well as material, to all pertinent materials. Because of lack of technical utilities the centers are not able to use the capacities neither of the Federal Extension Service nor those at the libraries. It is therefore of high importance to include those extension centers focused on work with small farmers and home-growers, especially in marginal areas, in the programs of agricultural information supply. The following illustrates one of the uses of the documents collected by the centers: Seven centers under the project spend some 20% of the monthly grant on books, journals and similar materials. These materials are used mainly by college teachers as some colleges have been for the last ten years unable to purchase any publications. In the period of January 1998 - January 1999 these centers created a significant collection of 745 items. Also, all centers publish monthly newsletters and some of them are very useful. The newsletter of the Arzamas Center, for example, was put on the Internet and boasts a monthly visit of 13,000 hits. Newsletter of the Zadondsk Center is extremely popular among farmers because of its instructions on how to save energy and money by reconstructing of farm equipment and machinery. There are piles of similar data and documents collected also under other projects, but are used only by immediate participants of those projects. It would be very recommendable for agricultural libraries to consider also the specific needs of extension centers while setting up their plans. Special divisions within a library could be created with respect to extension material. This would provide extension agents with easy access to needed information. Such an effort, carried out by the librarians, would be highly appreciated by extension services on all levels. |
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