resistances to learning-a reluctance to admit to areas of ignorance
or the need to change habitual ways of doing things.
Imagine, for example, the feelings of an experienced extension
officer who attends a workshop on extension methods-or who is
reading this manual on the subject! If he is being challenged to
reconsider his own delivery methods, he may feel personally slighted
and become defensive about the way he has grown accustomed to
doing things.
So, this condition becomes extremely important when the learner
has already accumulated experience and competencies related to
what he is being asked to learn--or unlearn. This, of course, is the
situation you face in your dealings with farmers. They possess
experience and skills which can be drawn on in a positive way. But
there will always be the possibility that some farmers will become
defensive and resistant if their existing practices seem threatened
and regarded as inapplicable.
In this respect, whether or not a farmer is prepared to accept
extension messages will depend to a certain extent on the credibil-
ity of the sender of the message. Again, this refers back to what was
said in the previous chapter about your own standing in the eyes of
the farmer-and the extent to which you can enlist the support of
other high status figures in the community. Here, too, reference to
practices that neighboring farmers are adopting will have a
powerful influence

Presentation
It is unlikely that learning will be effective if it is not guided, if the
learner is not sure about objectives-what the learning is designed
to achieve-or if he does not have a clear picture of what he needs
to know or be able to do.
Of prime importance is that your presentation of information is
accurate. If, for instance, when you are dealing with the treatment
of grain before storing, you get the recommended chemical dosage
wrong, then the consequences could be serious.
The second general point is that what you say should be relevant to
the occasion-the message should be a timely one (concerned with
a particular farming activity that the farmers will soon be engaged
in); and the message should be "tailored" to the needs and interests
of the particular farmers you are addressing. There is, for example,
no point in talking in detail about the treatment of grain for storage
if the farmers have not even harvested. Or, it would be inappropriate
to concentrate on large cribs if the farmers you are talking to grow