Reflecting on practice

Abstract

For a very long time, rural extension in Latin America, and probably in most developing countries, has followed a transfer of technology approach, aiming at transferring modern, input-based technologies from experts to farmers. This approach, also deemed ´diffusionism´, assumes that true knowledge is only in the hands of the so-called experts, while farmers are perceived as ignorant, traditional and at the same time ´resistant to change´. In spite of its evident failures, the ToT ideas still shape extension programmes and projects. Together with farmers and extension agents, our work in Paraguay tried to change the resulting practices in the field.