The Learning when things fit neatly into place or the results of a procedure are
 good ones. The best reinforcer in the On-Farm Grain Storage
Process Project is when a farmer sees how many bags of maize he has saved
 by following the recommendations! But many farmers will need a
 lot of persuasion, guidance and encouragement along the way to
 that final stage.

 Materials
 These are the learning resources at your disposal. In school they
 would be such things as textbooks, maps, chalk, pens and pencils.
 You have the equivalent in any pamphlets, handouts or charts
 which carry the messages of a particular project or topic. Usually,
 you have no control over the production of these; your role is to use
 them in your work to maximum effect. But, in an effective extension
 organization, your experience of using such resources will be
 utilized; and any feedback should be taken into account in modify-
 ing the content and the design.
 Second, you will want to use other training or demonstration aids
 to increase the graphic quality of your presentations. As was said
 in Chapter One, visual impact is an important factor in learning.
 And Chapter Eleven reviews the characteristics and applications
 of the main types of aids that you might have available-or even
 make yourself.
 But you have at your disposal the most powerful of learning
 materials-the actual products and structures of farming. Better
 to show the farmers a contaminated maize cob than a picture of one.
 Better to show them an improved grain store than a model of one.
 Finally, there are the farmers themselves-they are your most
 important resource for learning. One of the most crucial aspects of
 your job, the most vital of your skills, is the ability to tap the
 experience of the farmers so that their learning is integrated into
 what they already know and can do. Furthermore, part of your role
 as an educator is to make it possible for the progressive, successful
 farmers in your area to become the teachers of their neighbours-
 without arousing feelings of jealousy or even resentment.
 But this takes us into the next topic: the way in which the very
 maturity of farmers affects their ability to learn.


Chapter 4