A Workshop on Further Concepts on Rural Extension and Organic Farming for developing the capacity of field staff of the Provincial Department of Agriculture was conducted by Professor Emeritus N.Sriskandarajah of Agriculture at the District Agricultural Training Centre on 20th and 21st of February 2019.
This workshop was conducted with the objective of broadening the thinking pattern of the staff of the Provincial Department of Agriculture to adopt multi perspective approach principles in rural extension activities for promoting organic farming and other innovative practices.
On the first day the staff in 6 groups visited 3 organic and 3 conventional farmers’ field, participatory discussion with 6 farmers and documented the findings using the mind map technique. On the second day 6 groups of staff presented their findings, recommendations in the presence of Organic Farmers from whom the data collected on the previous day.
Provincial Director of Agriculture (NP) S.Sivakumar, Deputy Provincial Director of Agriculture Kilinochchi Mr.P.Atputhachandran, and Deputy Provincial Director of Agriculture Mullaitivu Mr.P.Uganathan participated on the 2nd day of the Workshop. They also emphasized the needs for adopting multi perspective approach principles in rural extension activities for promoting organic farming and other innovations in agriculture sector. Deputy Provincial Directors expressed their decision to train other staff on this field for making them to adopt in their work.
