Roundtable on Agricultural Extension in Asia
Strengthening Extension for Sustainable Agricultural Intensification and Enhanced Farmers' Participation in Value Chains
March 15-17, 2012, Beijing
Background
Concerns about food security on a global scale have led in recent years to a renewed interest in agriculture and support services for farmers.
Extension figures prominently among those services, along with such items as credit, access to input, crop insurance and links to markets.
Sharing experiences of extension
However, extension has a complex history and a mixed record of success. The purpose of this Roundtable was to discuss what has and what has not worked in agricultural extension, and to foster learning from the experience of four countries: China, India, Indonesia and Vietnam.
The Roundtable provided a platform to share experiences across countries and potentially to establish a network for future professional exchange and collaboration[CB1] . It brought together senior experts, stakeholders from the four countries and international specialists for a structured discussion supported by specific background papers.
Joint hosts of this Roundtable were the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS) and the Syngenta Foundation.