Caribbean agricultural extension II

Lucia, and St. Vincent) and Belize, as well as regional institutions supporting such systems. The Midwest Universities Consortium for International Activities (MUCIA) will implement the project. Country AE training needs will be partially met by providing diplomas in agriculture to 28 AE field staff; diplomas in extension to 18 district and training officers at the University of the West Indies (UWI); annual inservice training (12 days) for all AE field staff; and training for inservice training officers. Graduate or postgraduate training will be provided for select senior officers. Three UWI and two MUCIA long-term advisors will work with national AE sevices to coordinate project activities and will support and monitor AE planning and implementation. UWI and MUCIA will also provide short-term TA to specific national AE activities, and MUCIA will conduct subregional workshops (in management and program development, soil and water conservation, and pest management), and sponsor a program to honor exemplary AE staff. The project will also provide countries with selected commodities. AE-research linkages will be promoted through a Technical Joint Action Committee, composed of representatives from the project, UWI, and two regional research organizations, CARDI and CARDATS, and through a Regional AE Coordinating Committee, composed of representatives from countries, regional organizations, private commodity associations, farmers, and donors (including A.I.D. and the Peace Corps). Helped by TA and training from MUCIA and by AID-funded equipment, the project will establish AE communications and information units within each country and a Regional Extension Communications Unit within UWI"s Department of AE to backstop national efforts. Private sector AE instituions will participate widely in project activities; special attention will be paid to the project"s impact on that sector. Amendment of 4/2/86 extends the project for 35 months, with particular emphasis on supporting frontline AE of location-specific (at the district level) farming systems and technologies. In continuing to strengthen national AE systems, the project will focus on upgrading/increasing: private sector and farmer involvement in agricultural planning; AE training, including more practical, relevant national vocational training; frontline extensionist mobility, through an innovative vehicle loan scheme; regional and national linkages among research, extension, and marketing; and regional and national mass communications. (PD-AAT-664)