Improving delivery of technical information to farmers in North - Western Cambodia

抄録

This paper presents the results of a survey of farm households carried out in North-Western Cambodia in early 2012 to gather baseline data for a new agricultural production and marketing research project. One of the objectives of the survey was to refine dissemination and communication strategies for project outputs and delivery of planned impacts. The survey gathered information about maize production issues, sources of information, training needs, as well seeking to identify ways to improve the delivery of relevant technical information and research findings to individual farmers. The survey revealed that farmers rely almost completely on each other for information about maize inputs especially seed for sowing and herbicides. The majority of training (68%) was provided by Non-Government Organisations (NGOs) with Provincial Departments of Agriculture (PDAs) providing 10% and input suppliers 7%. We put forward a conceptual communication and dissemination strategy that could be used to promote adoption of project results. It involves integrated roles based on comparative strengths for public, private and non-government organizations to achieve adoption of new technologies and better practices by farmers.