Dear GFRAS affiliates,

We'd like to update you on the latest activities and upcoming events in rural advisory services (RAS) and GFRAS. Find more information at www.g-fras.org.

Regional Networks

African Forum for Agricultural Advisory Services (AFAAS)

AFAAS Extension Week, with the theme of "Value Chain Approach in Agricultural Development: Coping with new demands for Agricultural Advisory Services," took place 5-10 August in Gaborone, Botswana. It focused on how to improve the dissemination of new approaches and technologies among African farmers so that they can increase their productivity and add more value to their products.

Read more

Agricultural Extension in South Asia (AESA)

As part of widening and strengthening the AESA network, meetings were held with key extension functionaries in Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. Apart from the AESA Facebook group with currently 535 members, a new AESA group was formed on Linkedin, which has 75 members currently. AESA published six blogs on its webportal, they focus on topics such as skill development, horticultural extension, producer organisations, and use of ICTs in extension.  Further a good practice on application of ICTs was also published. 

European Forum for Farm and Rural Advisory Services (EUFRAS)

Latin America Network for Rural Extension Services (RELASER)

On 19-20 November the 4th RELASER meeting will take place in Brasilia. The Brazilian Ministry of Agrarian Development will host the event. The topic of the meeting is "Public Policies in Rural Extension in South America and their Contribution to Rural Development". Registration is open until 18 September.

In June representatives of the Latin American country fora (Paraguay, Chile, Peru, Colombia, and Central America) met with some RELASER steering committee members to exchange experiences and discuss common topics. They decided to elaborate a guide about the formation of country fora in Latin America.

The UN Food and Agriculture Organisation FAO and the Interamerican Development Bank IDB are conducting a study about the reforms and investments in extension in South and Central America. RELASER is contributing with methodological and monitoring support.

GFRAS Activities

4th GFRAS Annual Meeting

The 4th GFRAS Annual Meeting will take place on 24-26 September in Berlin, Germany, with side events on 22-23 September. The meeting will focus on the topic of “The Role of Private Sector and Producer Organisations in Rural Advisory Services”. Parts of the sessions will have a live video stream. Visit the website of GFRAS on the conference dates to watch it. You can also follow the events on Twitter using #gfras4.

Survey on policy needs

The GFRAS policy working group will be conducting a survey to find out more about needs and demands with regard to development of extension and advisory services policy. It will be available online on the working group’s webpage and at the GFRAS Annual Meeting Share Fair where we will have a poster.

GFRAS Extension Education and Training Directory

With the growing importance of rural advisory services and extension in agricultural development for food and nutritional security, food sovereignty, and economic stability, the role and capacities of the professional extension agent becomes crucial. As mentioned in the "New Extensionist" paper, the vocational and continuing training of these professionals needs to be strengthened with the competencies to meet the coming challenges. Organisational and institutional capacities are also needed.

The latest GFRAS directory contains information about training opportunities for extension and rural advisory services. You can help us complete it by entering your organisation and courses.

 to the directory

The Integration of Nutrition into Extension and Advisory Services: A synthesis of experiences, lessons and recommendations

GFRAS and the World Bank’s Secure Nutrition Knowledge Platform supported a research project to examine the integration and linkages of nutrition within extension and advisory services (EAS) and workers in Africa, South Asia, and the Americas. The major purpose of this work was to analyze and document the past, current and future EAS and the role that nutrition activities play within their portfolio. Through performing an extensive literature review, analyzing survey responses, and conducting interviews with actors from worldwide development organizations, governmental agencies, educational and research institutions, and the private sector, this report summarizes the current state of knowledge on the role of nutrition in extension and advisory services.

See the report here.

Kind regards

Lorenz Schwarz
GFRAS Communications Officer
September 2013

GFRAS on: