at Comilla, devised by Akhter Hameed Khan, was based on this idea. At

Comilla, a Thana Training and Development Center was established to offer

a wide range of instructions to representatives (cooperative managers and

model farmers) elected by local groups of farmers. These representatives

came for instruction for a whole day every week or two, and then reported

back to weekly group meetings in the Villages.1

 In animation rurale projects in former French colonies in Africa,

the same principle of having villagers select representatives to receive

special training has been utilized. These individuals are called "ani-

mateurs."2 In the Puebla Project in Mexico, paraprofessionals helped

maintain a link between extension agent and farmer.3 The World Bank's

T & V system is a bit different because the contact farmer -

is selected by the government, not elected by the villagers.

 In any of these approaches, group organization can provide valu-

able economies of scale. It is far more efficient for an extension agent

to brief a group of farmers directly than to work with individuals.4 For

example, in Bangladesh,. if one hundred model farmers hear an explanation of

a Thana Extension Officer and then each one conveys this information to
thirty members of his village society, then the extension agent has reached

3,000 farmers in just one week. Likewise in the T & V System, a Village



 Akhter Hameed Khan, Reflections on the Comilla Rural Development
 Projects (Washington: American Council on Education Overseas Liaison
 Committee, 1974), p. 17.

 2jean Fauchon, "Integrated Rural Development and Planning for Rural
 Communities," in Training for Agriculture and Rural Development (Rome:
 FAO, 1975), pp. 79-85.

 Swanson, "Coordinating Research...," p. 11.

 4Leonard emphasizes the economy of communication to groups. p. 203.
 See also Rene Benalcazar R.,"New Techniques,Ag. Exten. Services..," p. 523.