Training Options for Extension Professionals
According to the Myanmar Agriculture Service, training in agricultural disciplines including extension takes place at the following three institutions:
The Yezin University of Agriculture
Myanmar Agriculture Service
Myanmar Academy of Agriculture, Forestry, Livestock and Fishery Sciences
The Department of Technical and Vocational Education (DTAVE), Ministry of Education has ten types of institutes under it, which offer short-term training and long-term regular courses. A Government Technical Institute (GTI) and seven (7) State Agricultural Institutes (SAI) offer diploma programs. Myanmar also has Mobile Vocational Training Teams and Skill-based Literacy Training Programs at township level.
In spite of all this, according to a review of agriculture sector, specialized training programs based on farmers’ needs and constraints, agro-ecological and socio-economic conditions, and realities of research and extension organizations, are virtually non-existent.
A paper by Khin Mar Cho and Hermann Boland (2004), based on a research study conducted in Myanmar in April 2001, shows the in-country and overseas training received by extension agents located in five different regions, as follows: