Concentration should, also, be the key factor in your fortnightly
training sessions. Attention should be focused on those constraints
that have been identified in the field and on the major points
generated through research which are of immediate concern to
farmers.

Time-Bound Activities
Messages and skills should be taught to farmers in a regular,
timely fashion, so that the farmers will be able to make immediate
and best use of them. You are expected to visit your farmers
regularly, on a fixed day each fortnight. Similarly, all other super-
visory extension staff should be making timely and regular visits to
the field. The SMS should be attending monthly workshops where
they discuss particular farming conditions for specific areas. The
recommendations that are formulated at these meetings are then
passed on to you at your next two fortnightly training sessions. In
this way, there is a continuous exchange of relevant information
related to the farming activities of your locality.

Field Orientation
Farmers can only be served effectively if an extension service is in
close contact with them. This contact needs to be regular, frequent,
and on a schedule known to them.
As a front-line worker, you will have groups of farmers that you
visit on a fixed day every two weeks. But all other extension staff,
including the SMS's, should be spending a large part of their time
in the field, also on regular scheduled visits. District-level Exten-
sion Officers, researchers and trainers, must also go to the field
regularly if they are to understand the problems faced by farmers-
and by you in your daily work routine.
It is to allow as much time as possible in the field that the
administrative and report-writing tasks are kept to a minimum
within the true T&V system. Nevertheless, the habit of keeping a
daily diary of your contacts, and problems encountered in the field,
will enable you to contribute more effectively in your training
sessions and to provide material for any reports that you do have
to write.
By spending most of your time in the field, you are putting yourself
in a position to understand the farmers' production problems and
to act as that important link between the farmers and research.
You will, of course, only be an effective link if you listen as much as
you talk!