228 Governance and Education
In principle, the initiative for advisory communication lies largely with the
farmer. Of course, communication workers can ‘advertise’ that they are able to
help solve particular types of problems, but it is essentially up to the farmer whether
to use such services. It is this active or expected demand by clients that is often
used to legitimize the provision of this kind of communication service. In advisory
communication, the communication worker’s role is basically that of a consultant
or counsellor, depending on whether the emphasis is on providing knowledge or
process guidance. For the adequate provision of these kinds of services, it is par-
ticularly important that communication workers have, or have access to, relevant
kinds of expertise, and that they have adequate skills to elicit the needs and expec-
tations of farmers, as well as the capacity to adjust to these.
Supporting horizontal knowledge exchange
Individual farmers usually have much expertise – based on experience, on-farm
experimentation and/or training – which could be relevant to other farmers. Farm-
ers are aware of this and as a result there are often informal means of farmer-to-
farmer (i.e. horizontal) exchange of knowledge and information. Typically, markets,
work parties, funerals, bars, celebrations, community meetings and church services
provide opportunities for farmers to talk about agriculture, while observation of
other farmers’ practices is also an important mechanism for horizontal exchange.
If needed, communication workers can stimulate or help to improve farmer-to-
farmer exchange in various ways. They can, for example, organize meetings or
festivities that are conducive to this kind of exchange, induce the formation of
study groups, support existing groups and networks with training and logistics,
develop more systematic modes of farm comparison, correct uneven exchange of
knowledge within communities, communicate experiences from other communi-
ties, organize excursions etc. The role of the communication worker here is not
that of a consultant or expert, but rather of a facilitator; that is, of someone who
brings people together (networking) and acts as a catalyst for, and/or directs, learn-
ing and exchange processes, either in general or around a specific problem. Some-
times farmers actively demand these kinds of services, while in other cases
governments support farmer-to-farmer exchange for the benefit of the public (e.g.
more rapid diffusion of innovations). In addition, public extension organizations
in particular often use farmer-to-farmer exchange to make efficient use of increas-
ingly limited resources, i.e. to reach a relatively high number of farmers with lim-
ited inputs and/or to stimulate knowledge exchange in the absence of professional
communication workers.
Generating policy and/or technological innovations
As indicated in the previous chapter, there is an increased need for communication
workers to organize processes through which new innovations are designed, rather
than to ‘sell’ predefined packages to farmers. ‘Innovations’ here are ‘novel working
wholes’ (Roep, 2000) that involve a variety of practices and multiple actors. Often
innovations have technological components, but some are more ‘policy-oriented’