Potential Extension Agents in Myanmar

Determination of training and development for personnel in any organization is a challenging task. Although the Agricultural University and Institutes provide courses on basic sciences and various aspects of agriculture in their curriculum, only teach agricultural extension subjects during the students ’ final year of study. Many of the students that graduate from the Agricultural University and Institutes become extension agents employed by Myanma Agriculture Service. The Central Agricultural Research and Training Centre carries out the pre-service training program that provides only for potential extension agents before they are going to work at farmers ’ fields and a number of in-service training for field extension agents. However, most of training was crop production oriented and training in extension education has been scarce. Much of the training emphasized on new technical knowledge and on one-way communication skills needed for the transfer of technology and there was a lack of training needs analysis. These training institutions have a vital role to play in the sustainable development of agriculture in Myanmar. The purpose of this paper is to explore how the agricultural training program in Myanmar could be improved by analysing the perceptions of experienced extension agents towards the training needs for potential agents who are recent graduates from the agricultural University and Institutes. Th