'Video demo quickens dissemination of agri-technology effectively'

RANGPUR, July 14 (BSS) - Experts at an international training course here have said video demonstration effectively disseminates proven agri-technologies quicker among the farmers to increase crop productions at reduced costs amid climate change impacts.

"Show of digital video after producing, editing and validating at farmers' levels, helps technologies moving faster among farmers in their local languages to produce more foods for ensuring food security," they said.

They said this at different field-level and indoor sessions of the two-week-long training titled 'Farmer-to-Farmer Video Production Course' that concluded at the RDRS auditorium here today.

Under the management of International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), Agro-Insight of Belgium planned and conducted the course. Nineteen experts, specialists and agri-technology service providers from Bangladesh, India, Nepal and the Philippines took part in the course.

Cereal Systems Initiatives for South Asia (CSISA), Stress Tolerant Rice for Poor Farmers in Africa and South Asia and Consortium for Unfavourable Rice Environment Projects funded the course.

Dr. Paul Van Mele and Ms Marcella Vrolijks from Agro-Insight
of Belgium and Ms Josephine Rodgers from the Countrywise Communication of the United Kingdom conducted the course as expert trainers.

Divided in three groups, the participants prepared scripts and produced three videos on the proven agri-technologies at the farmers' fields on fish feed in rice-fish systems, power tiller operated seeder and flood tolerant rice farming in different districts.

The workshop developed capacities of the extension service providers in using digital video for enhancing their efficiency and proper methodology on developing regionally relevant and locally appropriate training videos with the farmers.

The trainers addressed the important issues like video script research with farmers, way to merge scientific knowledge with farmers' knowledge, coming to the grips with camera handling and
video editing during the course. "With video, we learnt how technologies can move faster bridging the knowledge gaps through
effective dissemination of technologies," Dinajpur Manager of CSISA in northwest Bangladesh told BSS at the end of the course.

Akbar Gulzar from Digital Green at New Delhi in India said, "With Digital Green, we have made many videos with farmers, but each dealt with one small topic only. Now, I learnt, in one video many different technological options might be presented." "The produced videos will play vital roles in disseminating the proven agri-technologies quicker as the farmers learn easily from other farmers," said Shreeram Pudasainee of the Agriculture Information and Communication Centre from Nepal.

Shahriar Zaman from Shushilan, an NGO in Satkhira said, "I
learnt importance of script research and script writing in order
to make a quality video on successful agri-technology easily
understandable for the farmers in local languages."

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