This section will be followed by a more normative overview of what ‘modern’,
that is, responsive and client-oriented approaches to agricultural extension should
look like, and how ‘up-to-date modes’ of learning might be organized (see
Sect. 11.3). This will serve as a reference point for the direction that novel extension
approaches are taking, as discussed during the course of this chapter:
Building on the 6-year research experience generated by the Uplands Program in
relation to agricultural extension in Vietnam, Sect. 11.4 will then turn towards the
grass-roots level of knowledge generation and diffusion, and analyze how farmers
can collectively organize themselves in relation to it. Finally, we present the Ethnic
Farmer Research and Extension Network (EFREN) concept (Sect. 11.5), developed
as a new form of farmer-led extension approach that takes account of the major
lessons learned from preceding studies, and is geared towards the generation of
tailor-made knowledge and the overcoming of ethnic fragmentation.
To sum up, these case studies help find answers to a number of questions
regarding the suitability, practicability and effectiveness of being able to accelerate
the exchange and application of innovative knowledge, and, moreover, its potential
to be accepted by all actors involved. These lessons will be discussed in the
concluding Sect. 11.6.
11.2 Rural Advisory Services in the Mountainous Areas
of Vietnam: Evolution and Typical Features
Since Vietnam’s independence in 1945, the agricultural sector has gone through a
number of rigorous changes, and the decades following 1945 witnessed various
forms of collective agricultural production, most of which were implemented in the
northern part of the country: Under the collective system, farmers had to contribute
farm resources such as land, tools and animals, as well as labor, in exchange
for income, all of which did not provide an immediate incentive to be productive
(Van de Fliert et al. 2007; Goletti et al. 2007; Poussard 1999). Moreover, the system
required only a basic knowledge of the skills required for rice cultivation, since all
production decisions were made at higher levels of government, whereas the
function of the individual farmer was highly specialized, precluding a demand for
wider information sets.
This gradually changed during the economic liberalization process Doi Moi that
was initiated in 1986 and that brought-about a number of significant changes to the
agricultural sector. In contrast to the dictate of what exactly had to be produced and
how, the freedom to take individual and household-based decisions in terms of
production activities quickly introduced the need for information and targeted
knowledge to be developed, as farm households were recognized as the basic unit
of agricultural production. After 1986, farmers were allowed to buy, own and sell
agricultural inputs and outputs (Henin 2002; Sikor 1999), and the accumulation of
436
I. Schad et al.
that is, responsive and client-oriented approaches to agricultural extension should
look like, and how ‘up-to-date modes’ of learning might be organized (see
Sect. 11.3). This will serve as a reference point for the direction that novel extension
approaches are taking, as discussed during the course of this chapter:
Building on the 6-year research experience generated by the Uplands Program in
relation to agricultural extension in Vietnam, Sect. 11.4 will then turn towards the
grass-roots level of knowledge generation and diffusion, and analyze how farmers
can collectively organize themselves in relation to it. Finally, we present the Ethnic
Farmer Research and Extension Network (EFREN) concept (Sect. 11.5), developed
as a new form of farmer-led extension approach that takes account of the major
lessons learned from preceding studies, and is geared towards the generation of
tailor-made knowledge and the overcoming of ethnic fragmentation.
To sum up, these case studies help find answers to a number of questions
regarding the suitability, practicability and effectiveness of being able to accelerate
the exchange and application of innovative knowledge, and, moreover, its potential
to be accepted by all actors involved. These lessons will be discussed in the
concluding Sect. 11.6.
11.2 Rural Advisory Services in the Mountainous Areas
of Vietnam: Evolution and Typical Features
Since Vietnam’s independence in 1945, the agricultural sector has gone through a
number of rigorous changes, and the decades following 1945 witnessed various
forms of collective agricultural production, most of which were implemented in the
northern part of the country: Under the collective system, farmers had to contribute
farm resources such as land, tools and animals, as well as labor, in exchange
for income, all of which did not provide an immediate incentive to be productive
(Van de Fliert et al. 2007; Goletti et al. 2007; Poussard 1999). Moreover, the system
required only a basic knowledge of the skills required for rice cultivation, since all
production decisions were made at higher levels of government, whereas the
function of the individual farmer was highly specialized, precluding a demand for
wider information sets.
This gradually changed during the economic liberalization process Doi Moi that
was initiated in 1986 and that brought-about a number of significant changes to the
agricultural sector. In contrast to the dictate of what exactly had to be produced and
how, the freedom to take individual and household-based decisions in terms of
production activities quickly introduced the need for information and targeted
knowledge to be developed, as farm households were recognized as the basic unit
of agricultural production. After 1986, farmers were allowed to buy, own and sell
agricultural inputs and outputs (Henin 2002; Sikor 1999), and the accumulation of
436
I. Schad et al.