Training And Visit Extension Program Outcomes In Ninia Governorate, Egypt

The Training and Visit (T&V) approach was introduced by Benor and Harrison (1977). In this approach to extension services, the village extension agents (VEAs) are expected to focus their entire efforts on providing farmers with timely and relevant technical advice, and not become involved in the distribution and management of inputs or credits. They work with contact farmers or farmer groups and follow a regular calendar, alternating visits every two weeks to contact farmers or groups. The farmers or groups participate in training sessions held by technical subject matter specialists. The selected contact farmers are trained extensively on current and most needed farm practices on the condition that they agree to demonstrate and explain what they have learned to 10 to 15 fellow farmers, as Roling (1988) called them. The T&V system illustrates how many communication strategies can and must be built into an effective program for providing education to small farmers (Benor and Harrison, 1977; Benor and Baxter, 1984; and Benor, Harrison, and Baxter, 1984).