How do rural extension agents really learn? Evidence and proposals from Latin America

LANDINI, FERNANDO

Toulouse

Seminario; 26th European Seminar on Extension & Education; 2023

AGIR (Agroecology, Innovation, Territories) and LEREPS (Economics, Policies and Social Systems)

Rural extension and advisory services are a very diverse and complex practice. In this paper I describe the various sources of knowledge and learning of rural extension agents from Argentina, Chile, Cuba, Ecuador, Guatemala and Uruguay, and present proposals to strengthen their skills based on the results. One hundred and thirty three rural extension agents were interviewed and asked about how they had learned the knowledge they use in their professional practice. Interviews were transcribed and analysed using content analysis procedures. Eight sources of knowledge and learning were identified: early rural or farming experience, vocational education, undergraduate education, experiential learning, in-service training, mentoring, exchange of experiences among peers, and graduate education. The results show that rural extension agents acquire knowledge and skills from a multiplicity of sources, some of them usually not taken into account by researchers and institutional authorities. These sources are interconnected and thus should not be analysed independently. Finally, it is apparent that contributing to the development of extension agents’ knowledge and skills is not only about training them but also generating contexts that contribute to autonomous learning. In the article I also present multiple recommendations for practice.