Knowledge use by extension advisers in the context of farmer organisations in Trás-os-Montes and Alto-Douro, Portugal. A new conceptual analysis framework

Abstract

The main objective of this paper is to contribute to the discussion, in theoretical terms, on the use of the knowledge, during both the social and the technical encounters between extension advisers and farmers. This reflection result from a research project (interviews and ethnographical observation) about extension advisers of farmer’s organizations (FO). In nowadays, in Trás-os-Montes and Alto-Douro (TMAD), we can find around 150 FO and 300 FO extension advisers. In Portugal, actually, such organizations assume the main part of the technical support to farmers, and private organizations and State services play a minor role. These extension advisers perform a variety of tasks of different categories or types, including: supervision of activities; technical advice (office and field work levels); project planning and monitoring; training; reception and analysis of farm subsidies' applications; administrative work; replacing the Directors in some duties; management of on-going projects; strategy definition; social activities with member farmers. In most cases, the work comprises a mix of tasks involving all of the above categories. The eight (or more) hours of daily work are mostly taken by technical tasks (69% of the time), followed by administrative (15%) and management ones (12%). The social animation activities (1% of the time) are underestimated, as the interviewed people consider that they tend to be combined with other tasks and, in this sense, difficult to measure. Some elements also classify them as "technical", once they require the use of specific abstract knowledge. In our perspective, the daily interaction between extension advisers and farmers leads to the production and sharing of knowledge. This knowledge emerges from the re-definition of the scientific knowledge acquired during the agricultural education and training, as well as trough practice (in the technical-strategic sense). It is shaped by the contribution of the contextual sense, both relational and prudential, and from the interpretative sense. In this paper we will explain more accurately the process of mobilization and transformation of knowledge by extension advisers, in order to make it more useful to farmers.