Institute-client liaison essentially involves interaction between agencies supporting the activities of research institutes and the users of the research outputs. As far as liaison with the farmer group is concerned, it is covered in this manual in two places. The case studies of Faro Arroya and of the National Institute of Food Research, both presented in Module 7 on Financial Management, also provide an opportunity for discussion of relevant issues, as institute-client liaison is essential for obtaining support, whether the support be in the form of financial or other practical resources, or in the form of political or moral support. Module 9, Information Services and Documentation, also deals with institute-client liaison issues. There therefore remain research-extension linkage issues, and they are covered in this module. It is not necessary to discuss how extension is organized in a particular country. Much as the Training and Visit (T&V) extension system is presented as a uniform model, in practice it is far from uniform, and many evaluation studies have indicated several limitations in the approach. Therefore, this module is not specifically concerned with an evaluation of the T&V system. Instead it looks at the linkage of research with extension and farmer users, a linkage which should be of basic relevance to agricultural research institute management. Various modalities for achieving and consolidating such linkage are discussed in this module.
The five hand-outs provide background material germane to relevant discussion:
1. Institute-client liaison.
2. Importance of agricultural extension in the agricultural development process.
3. Major extension trends, approaches, programmes and methods.
4. Role of agricultural research institutes in transfer of improved technology.
5. Generation of improved technology and its validation.
6. Farming systems research.
Thus this module contains only one session, on the research-extension linkage. The discussion should emphasize the importance of such linkage, and various models for achieving it. During the discussion, the resource person should focus on how the research-extension-farmer linkage can be ensured under differing conditions.
