Chapter 8: Educational Outreach - Extension

• Origins of Educational Outreach
• Investments and Inputs
• Behavioral Change
• Communication and Technology
• Research Focus
• Extension Systems
• The Training and Visit System
• "Education, Equity and Competence"
• Curricula
• Environmental Extension
• Interactive Technology
• A Future for Extension

This Chapter considers extension as a component of education and reviews some past and current approaches. It discusses the future of extension in the current policy environment of privatization; it links extension to curricula, and introduces a basis for reuniting education and extension through new communication technologies.

Origins of Educational Outreach

The origins of extension are traced to advice given to Irish farmers affected by the potato blight in the 1840s (Zijp, 1992) and subsequent developments in the USA, Canada and Europe through the 1860s (Penders, 1971). The first of the major USA agricultural colleges was established in 1862 under the Land Grant policies (refer to Chapter 6). Demand for local information and for its inclusion in education led to the creation of research stations. However, rural extension was not formalized until a major cotton disease destroyed crops in the southern States and the Federal Department of Agriculture responded by recruiting special staff to help control the disease at source. This action created interest in the demonstration of new techniques to the public and ultimately led to the first county extension agent being appointed in 1906.

By 1914, a service was created with the aim of extending information and research results obtained at universities and research stations. The Cooperative Rural Extension Services was based on Federal, State and County support and interlinked with the Land Grant College (LGC) activities of classroom teaching and research. This gave rise to the close relationships between research, teaching and extension which was a hallmark of the Land Grant system.

In recent decades, extension has been discussed as an agency of behavioral change, social engineering, a simple extension of classroom education, and as an adjunct to research. Perhaps as a function of its social science base in a field dominated by technicians and scientists, extension has not always been held in the same high regard as research.

Extension in less developed countries (LDCs) was adapted from the experience of more developed countries (MDCs) giving rise to what may appear to be fashions over Four Decades of Extension to the 1990s. The current decade appears to focus on assessing the responsibilities and roles of government in extension, the introduction of new technologies and increasing the efficiency of extension activities.

Investments and Inputs

A survey of 207 extension institutions in 113 countries conducted in 1989 confirmed the government dominance of financing of extension and its high level of separation from agricultural education institutions, specifically universities. More than 80 per cent of extension work is conducted through a Ministry or Department of Agriculture, and a further ten to twelve percent is supplied through non-government organizations, universities and parastatal organizations. An estimated five percent is conducted through the private sector (Swanson et al, 1990).

Over the past decade, extension services have increased significantly with approximately one-half of today's extension services being created in the last ten years. The majority of extension resources target larger commercial producers while small marginal farmers receive an estimated one-third of all resources. It is estimated that about 40 per cent of expenditure is related to traditional extension activities and less than 20 per cent to mass media. Total expenditure for the world in 1990 was estimated to be in excess of US$6 billion. By far the major expenditure was made in the Asia and Pacific region (Figure 8.1). The following figures indicate current commitments to and characteristics to agricultural extension (Zijp, 1992; Oram, 1993):

Figure 8.1 Annual Public Expenditure (US$ millions) on

A major portion of investment in extension services relates to staff. An FAO (1984) analysis of global extension staff highlights serious deficiencies in Subject Matter Specialist (SMS) knowledge of natural resource management principles among other deficiencies, and the low numbers of women extension staff.

Agricultural extension has generally accepted some responsibility in natural resource management through such means as soils and water care programs. However, the fiscal reliability of large publicly funded programs separate from educational institutions may be questioned. Declining numbers of farmers in MDCs and the allocation to private costs of inputs leading to private benefits, is changing the nature of agricultural extension. These effects must be expected to carry-over into LDCs, even though the numbers of farmers are several times higher and the ability of farmers to access education may be more limited than, for example in North America.

However, before addressing trends in agricultural and resource management extension, it is important to understand the alternative approaches which have been employed in agricultural extension.

Behavioral Change

Natural resource management education includes the role of agricultural extension as a behavioral change agent through Knowledge, Learning and Information and in enticing farmers to Make the Change, that is, adopt practices consistent with environmental protection. However, although behavioral change is a field wider than agricultural extension, all to often agricultural extension is viewed as a unique activity which must learn from its own mistakes in isolation from other similar behavioral change mechanisms. Change can be forced by strong government action or, as is more commonly the case, may rest on voluntary behavioral change which requires (Padgitt and Petzelka, 1994):

• An awareness of the problem
• Knowledge of alternatives
• Motivation for change
• Resources to implement changes

Awareness of the problem, as a prerequisite of behavioral change, is addressed through extension by highlighting unrecognized problems. As with all aspects of human endeavor, farmers may be aware of general issues concerning natural resource management, yet not relate these to their own individual actions. For example in the mid-western region of the USA, most farmers had observed that erosion had become so severe and widespread that land values had decreased: yet 90 per cent of those expressing this opinion reported having little erosion on their own properties (Bultena et al, 1990).

Knowledge of alternatives to current behaviors is constrained by the conditioning of farmers to seek an immediate solution to a problem rather than creating a knowledge base from which to consider options. A second constraint is the poor availability of historical and technical records. Much activity on farms is conducted by feel rather than record which introduces a subjective element which may cloud consideration of alternative solutions as Padgitt and Petrzelka (1994) note ... to a considerable degree, sustainable agriculture alternatives involve a transition from substituting capital for labor to substituting management for capital.

Motivation for change is clearest in circumstances where change is essential for survival. This may be in economic or environmental terms, such as the impact of rising salt levels in mismanaged irrigation schemes. In terms of natural resource management, reacting to environmental pressures which challenge survival is more likely to represent an economic decision than an informed environmental decision. Agricultural extension must acknowledge the influence of self-interest, economic motivations, and other influences on decision-making to understand the motivations for change.

The principle resource for change is information in the form of experience, extension information, word of mouth, extension agents, and historical knowledge. These resources readily compound to an excess of information channels, providing information that may at times be, or appear to be, conflicting. This circumstance highlights the limitations of information dissemination alone as an objective for extension; information does not have an inherent value in this circumstance unless it can be assimilated through the learning process to knowledge.

Natural resource management relies on a sound knowledge base to assimilate new information provided through extension programs. Failure to acknowledge the underlying role of formal education can lead to the farmers viewing Extension as a Threat.

Communication and Technology

Technology transfer is spoken of in the same breath in extension, just as the D of R & D (Research and Development) is assumed by research agencies to acknowledge the need for useful research results to be adopted. These views can lead to extension being considered as an activity separated from formal education, to the detriment of both extension and education. Ongoing innovation in communication technologies is providing a unifying mechanism for the field and provides a return to its origins by linking extension to education.

Technology transfer to LDCs can be effective if they link with international technology generation and dissemination systems (Bianchi et al.,1988). International R & D includes the outputs of National Agricultural Research Systems and International Agricultural Research Centers (refer to Chapter 7) and is thus not restricted to MDCs. MDC governments increasingly view extension under a generic approach to Creating Innovation.

In both LDCs and MDCs, the proportion of the population involved in farming is declining, and in MDCs has reached quite low levels. Agricultural policies are increasingly influenced by environmental policies and it is more than coincidence that an organization such as GreenPeace with its five million or more supporters in 30 countries can offer important lessons in extension. For example, Zijp (1992) observes that GreenPeace canvassers talk to approximately 40,000 persons per night in the USA, and that worldwide, its 46 offices in 26 countries with some 1,000 full-time staff connected by electronic mail, is an efficient extension mechanism. Linking environmental messages to agricultural messages may not seem appropriate to some persons, particularly when environmental groups are critical of agricultural activities. However, if extension is conceived as the imparting of knowledge as well as information, then that knowledge must include an understanding of the natural environment. Similarly, the messages of GreenPeace must increasingly include information which places the practical imperatives related to agriculture in a wider environmental context.

A comprehensive discussion of technology applicable to the transfer and use of agricultural information has been prepared by Zijp (1995). He examines ten information technologies and their applications to agriculture including; CD-ROM, computer networks, desktop publishing, expert systems, geographic information systems, interactive video, packet radio, radio and interactive radio, satellite communications, and linear video. The lack of information channels to poor rural communities in LDCs is said to be overcome, in many cases, through new technological innovations in communications. Overall, radio communication is seen to offer the first ready means of enhanced communication. Higher communication costs in remote areas is said to be acceptable based on experience in Alaska and Northern Canada, where native people spend more than three times as much as their urban counterparts on long distance telephone calls, even though their average income is lower. This premium placed on communication by persons in remote communities may be considered to be an indication of the demand for an information conduit. Electronic communications offer cost reductions from traditional extension network systems, although most reviewers support parallel systems rather than complete replacement of field extension workers with radios or other electronic communication mechanisms.

Enhanced learning from such mechanisms as interactive video is attributed to the involvement of sight, touch and hearing to consolidate messages being received. This confirms the successes of effective field extension agents where interaction between humans involves more than single media messages. New technologies may be approached more openly by remote communities, for example, preliterate Indians in Brazil have learned to use camcorders after fifteen minutes of instruction (Annis, 1990). In Ecuador, literacy trainers were able to produce audiotapes after about one hour. Learning to use computers and fax machines through the pressing of appropriate buttons was also taught in remarkably short periods to villages in Guatemala.

In an assessment of extension approaches for LDCs on behalf of the World Bank, Mody (1992) reaffirmed the importance of the Farmer First extension communication system. She concludes that the approach to information dissemination must be more important than the hardware itself.

Zijp (1992) favors a shift in World Bank allocation of investment in extension to privately owned channels of communication. He sees a rapidly changing world in which communication technologies will allow extension to be conceived from an entirely different viewpoint. In such a vision, use of computers by LDC farmers is conceivable, as is the use of satellite communications - developments which concern Conway (1994) who feels that computers can lead to specialization and imperfect matching of information and education.

Communication of natural resource extension information focuses on institutionally organized systems. In some cases, obeisance and in others, lip service, is paid to the involvement of farmers through "bottom-up" processes to include the aspirations of farmers and at the same time motivate them to predetermined changes. Merrill-Sands and Collion (1994) propose an alternative approach based on farmer partnerships with researchers. The benefits of anthropological analysis can, they contend, increase the efficiency of communicating appropriate outcomes from research activities and hence improve adoption rates while at the same time increasing the relevance of applied research. This approach reduces the responsibility of extension agencies considerably and provides further evidence that an appropriate context in which to understand extension is that of education. Distance education programs, computer-aided learning, short on-farm courses and other educational activities are the preserve of extension institutions in many countries. Yet these are functions that are also undertaken by educational institutions, often in parallel with little coordination. Extending education, training, knowledge, and information beyond the walls of the academy is a responsibility of natural resource management education.

In Australia, linking technology, work and learning has been an increasing concern of government (NBEET, 1995). The imperative for the education and training system has been defined as - learning across the lifespan. Vocational learning is seen as an initial activity which can lead to an attitude to lifelong learning of skills which in turn can enhance lifelong employability.

Electronic communication highlight a growing information gap between those who are part of that information system and those who are not. Such a conclusion has also been drawn for LDCs relying on traditional means of knowledge dissemination - this implied criticism of continued reliance on traditional agricultural extension systems highlights a need to reassess approaches to international assistance for extension. Tribe (1994) has estimated that 80 per cent of the world's new knowledge accrues to less than 10 per cent of its population. Those excluded through illiteracy and poverty in LDCs appear to be further marginalized in terms of education expenditure - for example, Japan allocates some $700 per person compared to a Nigerian figure of some 22 cents. These inequities are wider than those of distribution in wealth and are likely to widen that gap.

Research Focus

It is common for agricultural research documents and R & D agencies to assume that agricultural extension exists primarily for the extension of research results to users. For example, a University of Florida (1995) document promoting increased allocation of funds for USA universities to assist in international agricultural research, discusses the link between research and extension and identifies the five areas of essential activity as; basic research, strategic research, applied research, adaptive research, and technology transfer.

Such an approach omits the essential link of education to complete the agricultural knowledge system - the continuum between research, education and extension. It appears to have been possible, although perhaps financially less efficient, to separate research and extension from education in some cases, particularly where a purely commercial or individual gain was the output of research and extension. In terms of natural resource management, such a separation is less appropriate, because the benefits accruing from information generated through research and imparted through education and extension, may in fact not lead to individual benefits yet nevertheless require changes in the behavior of the individuals concerned. In such circumstances it is necessary to Extend Knowledge not just information.

Fuller and Waldorn (1989) note the need for agricultural science to remain in close contact with agribusiness, farming, and the rural environment in order to remain current. They refer to the relationships which serve the mutual interests of universities and the agricultural sector as outreach. The role of the universities in providing outreach activities is seen as an integral part of their responsibility which, if not implemented effectively, detracts from the impact of agricultural education. Agricultural education itself includes the extension of that education to farmers and other potential learners. Realizing that persons need to Learn to Learn and that learning takes place in many forms apart from formal classroom-based teaching is an essential aspect of education. Formal education has inculcated an approach to teaching and learning which is narrowing and may in fact be counterproductive in changing circumstances.

Extension Systems

Extension systems vary between cultures in MDCs. In the case of LDCs there has been a tendency to adopt a prescriptive approach based on a western, often a USA, model or on policies of major lending agencies, in particular the World Bank.

In MDCs, systems which link farmers and other information users directly to researchers and educators are seen to be the most efficient, responsive and durable. The Danish Agricultural Advisory Service is one example of such an efficient service. It is managed by users through farmer organizations. It is partially supported financially through an Act which also requires advisers to be impartial and economically independent. Advice is offered in all areas of farm production with the service operating at both local and national levels. The local service of approximately 90 advisory centers is run by local farmers' unions and local family farmers' associations. At the national level, the Danish Agricultural Advisory Center supplies local centers with technology and research outputs.

With 3,400 staff of which some 900 are advisers, the Danish Advisory Service is engaged in all aspects of farming including management, with accounting services providing a valuable input to other advisory services for individual clients. More than 50 per cent of advisers and some 80 per cent of technicians and assistants, are employed in the accounting departments of the advisory service (DAAC, 1992). The demand for these services has increased with the sophistication of agricultural production and natural resource management with all additional advisers being paid for by farmers. Education and in-service training are conducted in short courses as an essential part of the overall education ethos of the extension service. The importance of education and training in Denmark can be understood from the requirement that prospective purchasers of farms must demonstrate participation in appropriate education and training activities. As farms are no longer inherited in the traditional manner, this implies training at least for every generation and new owner, with such training instilling an ethic of continuing education. The linkages between urban and rural concerns over the environment are considered in the design of education and training activities to ensure an urban understanding of the requirements of farming and a rural understanding of the concerns of urban dwellers.

Other approaches seek to emulate the Danish model or have evolved their own culturally specific models. Taiwan, for example, operates efficiently through a dual extension system, one side of which is supported publicly while the other is financed by local farming associations (Chaudhry and Al-Haj, 1985). Over time, these systems have interacted to provide an efficient mechanism for delivering knowledge and information to farmers.

The institutionally separated model described by Falvey and Forno (1996) is based on state or federally funded extension officers gathering information for farmer clients from research reports and researchers. The separation of these organizations from education institutions tends to preclude an educational element in advisory services which might otherwise instill an ethic of continuing learning. While it appears to be effective in imparting information of commercial benefit to recipients, it does not optimize benefits of knowledge and behavioral change in non-commercial areas important to natural resource management.

The LGC system is commonly viewed as a successful integration of extension with teaching and research. Extension services are increasingly paid from county funds thereby linking users more directly to funding than would federal or state supported systems. Extension personnel are staff of the university and are engaged in teaching or research in addition to extension activities (Falvey, 1995). Such dual responsibilities of extension staff maintains linkages to research and teaching and enhances the relevance of all three areas. The definition of extension as a separate field in such systems can be an artificial construct as it may include distance education, short courses, farm demonstrations, personal advice, discussion groups, and public information services.

While the LGCs had been the basis of extension development in some LDCs such as India, the overriding influence of the World Bank and its support for the so-called Training and Visit System has lead to wide-spread introduction of that approach through the major period of investment, the 1980s.

The Training and Visit System

The T and V System is an institutionalized approach to providing maximum direct contact between extension agents and farmers. Extension agents are supported by informed specialists who act as resource persons. While it is stated that the system must be adapted to suit individual conditions, concern has been expressed that the system is inflexible and costly.

Key positions in the T and V model include the Village Extension Worker, the Agricultural Extension Officer, and the Subject Matter Specialist. The Village Extension Worker is the only agent making contact with farmers and all other parts of the extension service aim to improve the efficiency of this position. The Village Extension Worker gains information from the Subject Matter Specialist on a programmed basis and plans visits to farmers on non-training days. The Subject Matter Specialists has a higher level of education and accesses information which is imparted through training sessions and in response to ad hoc questions from Village Extension Workers. The Agricultural Extension Officer oversees a group of Village Extension Workers and assists in organizational arrangements and access to training and information. The Agricultural Extension Officer must spend more than half of her/his time visiting Village Extension Workers to ensure that farmers are being visited regularly (Benor et al, 1984).

The T and V system places great faith in field staff with limited qualifications (Oram 1992). Level of competence is seen as a major barrier to effective communication between extension and research staff (Von Schilfgaarde, 1992). Such levels of competence may be reflected in the statistics that, in 1990, less than 15 per cent of personnel in low income countries had university qualifications. The system is costly as a function of very high staffing ratios (Zijp, 1991) and one can honestly ask - Has it Delivered?

Even in countries which have not been influenced by the T and V system, large numbers of staff are often sustained in agricultural extension systems. Fan and Pardey (1995) record that China's national agricultural extension system had some 300,000 employees in 1987 of whom some 193,300 were classified as professional and technical staff. However since 1987, the number of professional extension workers has declined markedly. Approximately 90 per cent of professional staff are located at county level where technology demonstrations and training activities are conducted.

Agricultural extension is often justified in general terms by yield increases. However, it is not possible to define the proportion of increases attributable to effective extension and hence extension systems worldwide are subject to funding pressure. The debate concerning the future of extension appears to be polarized between revisions to management structures and introduction of new information technologies. Promotion and Extension as practiced in commercial companies is easily overlooked in such debates.

Throughout this book, agricultural education is proposed as a basis for natural resource management education. The disciplines required for appropriate natural resource management education are those included in agricultural education in its various guises including extension. We may conclude that concerns held for extension internationally suggest that significant changes will be introduced and that associated opportunities exist to widen its perspective. Even within currently beleaguered extension systems, a production and commercial focus dominates any context of natural resource management. If extension is indeed the extension of education and hence the sharing of knowledge and an ability to learn, significant shifts in its approaches, design, and conduct are required.

Education, Equity and Competence

Rostow (1987) in his political analysis of recent times notes the beginning of a human resource revolution in LDCs. For example, the nominal pool of scientists in India has increased from 190,000 in 1960 to some 2.4 million in 1984, a figure above all other countries except the USA and the Soviet Union. The overall increase in Higher Education Participation is seen as a key to further rapid development. Regardless of debates over educational quality, this increased resource inevitability leads to new technologies being developed and adopted and provides a basis for interaction between scientists, engineers and entrepreneurs across the international system. This resource may underpin a period of rapid technological growth in LDCs over the next two decades.

Securing the benefits of extension requires a structure such as the following proposed by Ransom (1993):

• Telecommunication and other linkages
• An integrated market system for information
• Skilled scientists able to adapt to technological change
• Active participation in international research
• Institutional integration of research-extension-education

While these may appear onerous, they may be met in a range of circumstances for the critical extension component of projects in LDCs. Chaudhry and Al-Haj (1995) note the need for competencies in technical, economic, scientific, farming, and communication fields as the essential basis for effective technology transfer. This implies that technology transfer will probably take place in the absence of an active extension system and that therefore the real function of extension is to accelerate the rate of adoption. While this begs the question of extension as a component of knowledge development as distinct from information transfer, it does highlight a justification for funding extension systems in LDCs. In these terms, Byrnes and Byrnes (1971) believe that the broad training of agricultural courses, particularly in LDCs, may be insufficient to engender essential Extension Worker Qualities. Jurlano (1995) notes one example of the poor esteem in which extension officers are held in the Philippines' coconut industry as a function of their perceived low levels of competence. Such opinions abound in LDCs where young or inexperienced staff are assigned to roles of technology transfer or behavioral change with inadequate personal competence or backup.

Competence in extension staff might also be related to gender. Farming activities involve women at least as much as men. When the decision-making factors concerning input purchasing and management are considered, many cultures in LDCs assign a significant role to women. Yet the model for extension services is overwhelmingly a male to male relationship. Saito and Spurling (1993) observe that while men and women farmers share many characteristics, divisions of labor influence gender responses to information and productivity constraints. Oram (1993) concludes that the true value of women in extension and society is undervalued through current approaches to extension and that there is a need to Balance the Message.

Various criticisms are leveled at current extension practices despite apparent widespread successes; perhaps it is that current approaches are now seen to be outmoded. Many of the criticisms are based on opinion - how does one readily assess the economic benefit of institutional commitment to agricultural extension? Where are extension services continuously measured and assessed? In those circumstances where extension is considered merely as a means of accelerating technology transfer, one must acknowledge the conclusion of reviewers such as Gnaegy et al (1981) that research and development agencies tend to produce innovations that are considered risky, unprofitable or unsuitable by farmers. More specifically, Zijp (1992) isolates the major issues for further review in the case of World Bank funded extension activities:

• a lack of common purpose in public extension
• a lack of accountability in relation to clientele
• changes in information needs
• an expanding audience
• a lack of policy consistency

Repairing an obsolete system may not be the solution. Consideration of extension in a wider knowledge construct, wider even than its original focus in LGCs, may expand the narrow technology transfer aspects of extension which persist in some LDCs while integrating it with the wider role of education in natural resource management.

Information technologies may partially substitute for face-to-face communication. Information technologies can transfer information - but can they impart knowledge? It appears that distance education utilizing newly developed information technologies can create a learning environment in which knowledge and ability to further develop knowledge is created. Within such a process, information is transferred and behavioral change can occur. This context provides a clearer opportunity for University Extension.

Curricula

If we suggest that extension operates as part of education, and that natural resource management principles should be included in both formal and informal learning, then we must consider the curricula of current courses. Umans (1993) traces the developments of forest science from applied biotechnology and economic research to include social and ecological dimensions. This philosophy still underlies the courses, as they do for agricultural courses (Lucas, 1986). The general nature of such curricula is claimed to incorporate all variables which apply to agriculture, forestry and the natural environment. Critics suggest that such breadth must be at the expense of depth, although MDC trends of wider access to undergraduate education have thwarted attempts at depth in many undergraduate qualifications. A comparison of courses relating to natural resource management against the Tbilisi declaration principles for one institution concluded that most programs provide students with skills and knowledge to identify and solve environmental problems. However, courses do not generally encourage students to become more sensitive to the total environment, and few subjects aim to develop attitudes to environmental issues which would allow full participation in environmental decision making (Parkin, 1994).

Agricultural courses may have focused on integrating scientific knowledge, often through the use of biochemistry as it applies in soils, plants and animals. They may also take a focus on the agribusiness chain dealing with production parameters, processing and marketing of product (Wallace, 1994). Other approaches also exist; however, these two suffice to indicate the past emphasis of such courses on science and commercial outcomes. Progressive shifts in the role of agricultural education, particularly in MDCs, may see a balance struck between commercial and environmental outcomes from agricultural education. Agribusiness and natural resource management are not mutually exclusive in such circumstances. While a focus on agribusiness may be partially driven by the need to attract agribusiness funding for education (Schroder and Pollard, 1989), agribusiness companies themselves must also be aware of sound natural resource principles and research.

In considering how to increase environmental inputs into existing education, a UNESCO (1986) report concludes that:

• ...something must be dropped from the existing requirements for students and replaced with elements relative to the development of environmental studies....
• ...the introduction of courses on environmental problems [must] be supported by a group of scientific high-ranking persons at the university...
• ...advanced students could join in some research project and have some special educational arrangements made for them ...
• ...the complete analysis of a real or imaginary case which would be related to the actual experience of the students in their daily environment...
• ...the more teachers are aware of the implications of their own subject for the environmental issue, the more reference they will make during their own teaching activities...
• ...integration of different aspects of one problem has become of importance...

The link between education and extension has been made in terms of adult education and extension processes (Pollard and Bardsley, 1993). A shift in demand for knowledge, particularly from adults, is possibly leading to a refocusing of education away from teaching towards learning environments - refer to Chapter 9. Agricultural producers are viewed as inquiring and experimenting people whose processes of learning vary; they also wish to control their own learning processes in seeking solutions to problems as they arise. As a function of this demand, distinctions between extension and education are breaking down, particularly in the area of formal education conducted in an institutional setting. Fixed syllabi taught to groups of young learners are seen to be complemented by workplace training and education, recognition of prior learning through work and life experiences, and allowing learners to engage in self-directed learning through personalized study programs. Apart from the logic of assisting the growing trend which binds adult education and extension philosophies, the cost-effectiveness of such activities in education is seen to be a further driver. An additional benefit would be the encouragement of a continuous learning ethic among individuals in rural communities to assist them to adjust to changing circumstances and to thus retain control over their own futures.

Inter-disciplinary approaches to science are said to be increasing (UNESCO, 1986). This approach fits philosophically with many existing agriculture and forestry courses. A tendency to focus agricultural education on commercial outcomes, is greater in vocational education and training than in higher education (McMahon et al, 1992).

The major foreign influence on development in LDCs is international lending agencies. In its publication - Mainstreaming the Environment -the World Bank (1995a) lists its approaches to the natural resource management sector and the subsectors of agriculture and forestry. While the list of worthy investments does not explicitly highlight the need for revisions in agriculture and forestry education to reflect a natural resource management approach, one must expect this as the next major step for the Bank.

Environmental Extension

Conceiving extension as a component of education provides the context for introducing environmental management principles and concerns. Orr (1992) proposes a slow but effective development of an alternative approach to education of Concern and Communication, which is environmentally appropriate. Similarities between institutions taking this approach include commitment to: ecological sustainability; appropriate scale; cultural and ecological diversity; revaluation of the goals and direction of industrial society; and justice, peace and participation.

Extending this concern beyond the academy together with knowledge, information and skills may become the extension approach of the future. This need not necessarily replace specific technology transfer functions where they are justified and fit within an overall environmental ethos. Nevertheless, it does represent a major shift in the overall conception, management and staffing of general extension systems. Such shifts are already evident in MDCs such as Denmark (DAAC, 1992), and in Australia where Landcare programs and services of such departments concerned with natural resources and the environment complement technical, commercially oriented advisory services (Barr and Cary, 1992).

A similar sentiment was expressed by Imberger, on his appointment to the United Nations Board on Sustainable Development; he observed that humankind's very mastery over nature may lead to its destruction (Campus Review, 1996). By removing a fear of nature, the center of most religions has been removed and hence individual and societal responses to the environment must be redeveloped.

Simple relabelling of courses may be occurring to accommodate a perceived shift in fashion. In such ways, titles such as Farming Systems may be changed to Resource Management (Ravenborg, 1992). The intellectual wrangling in the CGIAR to ensure that dual challenges of assisting the poor and preserving or enhancing the environment is one international testimony to the difficulties of transforming production-oriented sciences, such as agriculture and forestry, to a wider environmental context. In taking such a lead, the CGIAR provides an example to its supporting donors for their other programs, and to LDCs for their own activities. The relationship between education and CGIAR centers (refer to Chapter 7) provides a link to natural resource management extension

Changes in approach and information technology in natural resource management (IT in NRM) which are already occurring in extension also point to a future which is able to accommodate a broader environmental perspective.

Interactive Technology

Interactive technology allows information to be manipulated far more efficiently in terms of both time and costs. Crawford et al (1995) observe that higher education has pioneered educational applications in administration, instruction and access to education. However, LDCs may not have benefited to the same extent as MDCs. Enrollment expansion and decreasing operational funding create the opportunity for interactive technology to offer cost-effective solutions if the essential capital expenditure to start that process can be accessed. Innovations relevant to LDCs include; intelligent tutoring systems, interactive distance education, computer mediated instruction, data retrieval and electronic libraries.

In developed countries, use of interactive technology is rapidly increasing. The number of Internet subscribers continues to increase at a rate of around 15 percent per month. Perhaps the most widely used example of the development of such technologies is that of the State of Maryland in the USA which has provided access for 96 percent of its residents to the Internet. However, in LDCs the Barriers to Interaction continue to exist.

The capabilities of interactive technology are hardly realized. The social dimension of their use means that training and confidence building are critical parts to wider usage. The benefits to fields of natural resource management appear to have been realized slowly to date.

A Future for Extension.

In prognosticating a future for extension, we must recognize changing trends in governmental attitudes to funding. This takes the form of rationalizing apparent government subsidies in MDCs and of fiscal responsibility in times of rising debt in many LDCs. While governments have traditionally been the dominant funders and providers of extension services in LDCs (Umali and Schwarz, 1994), this may not be the case in the future. The inherent differences in needs between MDCs and LDCs in terms of information and knowledge, must be acknowledged in conjunction with the trend to date of LDCs adopting institutional arrangements which mimic those of the MDCs.

In MDCs, far reaching shifts in agricultural extension have occurred. In New Zealand in 1995, the number of advisers engaged through the government's service had declined to less than a third of its numbers prior to its rationalization. A major policy and fiscal shift drove this radical change and has stimulated an increase in fee-for-service consulting with the number of private consultants doubling in a market free of public extension services. The New Zealand case stands out as a brave approach which forms a part of a wider restructuring of the economy. Yet the principle of privatizing extension services is being addressed in various ways in many MDCs. The essence of most debates is the division between Private or Public benefits derived from such services. Cary (1995) concludes that eliminating public delivery of extension includes inherent risks associated with cycles in agricultural production and shifts in the balance between private and public delivery over time. Concerns over the ability of a privatized technology transfer service being able to meet the goals of sustainable agriculture have also been raised in the USA (Kenney and Vorley, 1995).

In LDCs, extension has been said to require a long term human capital development program and a problem-solving orientation for all farmers (Mody, 1992). This can be achieved by linking farmers to research systems to strengthen communication of research results and minimize the need for extension per se. It can also be supported by defining strategies according to individual requirements and by acknowledging the wider lifestyle requirements of farmers rather than focusing on introducing or imposing a single technological message. Zijp (1992) includes this approach and links it to privatization and communication trends in his projection of A Bankable Future(?) for the World Bank.

The Landcare movement in Australia (Scarsbrick, 1995) is an interesting phenomena involving farmers and conservation lobby groups through a focus on environmental problems and the influencing of government investment. Its output orientation allows the engaging of private or public sector delivery of extension with individual Landcare groups operating on a basis of community action in their immediate area. If we expect to see increased privatizing of extension services in MDCs, we might assume that a private system would substitute those elements of the public extension service which impart a benefit able to be captured by an individual. Those elements which serve a wider public, which includes most of the aspects of natural resource management, are likely to remain the preserve of the public sector. Thus whether trends in MDCs are followed by LDCs with respect to private good aspects of extension is not of immediate relevance to extension for natural resource management. It appears that both in MDCs and LDCs, extension concerning environmental management will be conducted within the public sector and by concerned citizen's groups. Insofar as the public sector remains the major funder of agriculture and forestry education, reestablishing the linkage between extension and education seems possible and existing, albeit sometimes tenuous, linkages may not be threatened by privatization.

Extension has much to offer when it is conceived as part of the wider learning environment of education. New technologies in communication are widening access to education and providing the link between what has, for the past three decades or so been called extension, and education. The next Chapter discusses the means by which persons learn and beneficial uses of technology.

Sensibility

I thirst for knowledge
and drown in information,
I have problems, need solutions,
this the source of irritation,
I dig for information
and am buried in data,
Where to go for answers
to my alma mater?
Who converts data to information
- information to knowledge?
Is it the shy boffins
who among the libraries forage?
Is it researcher or teacher
is it both, or is it I?
The whole world changes far too fast
on whom can I rely?
The researcher is translator
she speaks, I do not understand,
The teacher needs a classroom
long time inputs does she demand,
Researcher, teacher, willing student
this the essential flow,
But surely this is quite elitist
limiting who can know,
Teacher extends her message
- elastically it pulls me back,
To the dreaded classroom
separated from life's fact,
Lips move explaining all
but I do not hear one word,
Perhaps I seek to act by instinct
live life like fish and bird,
I hope to gain the knowledge
yet despair, can't comprehend,
Mere advise on each issue
no new knowledge does extend,
I look for easy solutions
and am blinded by my fear,
And I realize that knowledge flow
requires me in its sphere,
From my cell of ignorance
I must myself release the latch,
To feel and love the fabric
not just to darn and patch,
To love to learn the only path
I am no more forlorn,
And now my senses sated
I face learning's bright new dawn.