3.Progress Report

An agreement was executed between ARS and the University of California/Davis (Project Number: 0210-22310-004-42) to conduct a series of train-the-trainer workshops in Pakistan and Afghanistan, designed to teach agricultural extension skills using horticultural field diagnosis and postharvest production, grain production, and soil fertility diagnosis and management as content examples. Instruction will be conducted by a consortium of U.S. land grant universities, led by UC Davis. The first workshop in this series was conducted June 13-17, 2011, in Islamabad, Pakistan. Participants were identified by the University of Agriculture, Faisalabad, Pakistan, and the Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation, and Livestock in Kabul, Afghanistan. U.S. course instructors came from Iowa State University, the University of California – Davis, Washington State University, and the University of Maryland. Course content included Extension Learning Styles where visual, auditory, and tactile learning methods were introduced; Extension Needs Assessment (instruction on how to conduct needs assessment via existing data, surveys, and focus groups); Data Based Extension (developing, validating, and extending data); Diagnosing Problems in the Field; and field trips to agricultural field stations. The instructors noted lessons learned for future courses (importance of selecting trainees with the appropriate background and expertise; logistics and planning, including interpretation and translation; the need for additional interactive workshops and more field trips). The university consortium is planning the next workshop for fall 2011, to be conducted in Afghanistan.