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Using Workbooks and E-Learning Videos using adult learning techniques to help Small Scale Women Vegetable Farmers better manage their farms

Robin Brumfield, Burhan Ozkan, Rabia Vezne , and Eda Ilbasmis

Summary

Our goals of are to provide a comprehensive training program for women farmers; to train them in technical, entrepreneurial and managerial skills We designed the educational program and workbooks for 10 days of educational training and were reinforced by e-learning videos for women who attended the training sessions and are available at http://www.emwofa.eu/.
Adult learners are autonomous, independent, self-reliant, and self-directed toward goals. Adults need to be free to direct themselves since they tend to be autonomous and self-directed (Lieb, 2001). We informed the extension educators to actively involve the participants in the learning process and to be facilitators for this process, but also to provide the appropriate framework to allow the growth to occur. Learning is a continuous process that is based in experience. Adults need to connect new knowledge to past events and experience and are goal oriented; thus, we outlined objectives and goals early in the course. Because adult learners usually know what they want to learn, and they like to see the program organized toward their personal goals, we recommended that trainers show women farmers the reason for learning agricultural business management.

We held the training sessions at the local elementary school in Antalya, Turkey for female greenhouse growers, from the hours of 1 PM to 3:30 PM for 10 days on July 3-14, 2017 for greenhouse growers for a total of 25 hours of training per participant for 10 days on 3-14 July 2017. During the classes, we gave the women the workbook which contains worksheets on which to develop their business plans. At the end of each session, we assigned homework to develop the next section of their business plan. During the first 20 minutes of the next class, we led a discussion in which the women shared their homework from the previous session and discussed it with other women. This networking helped build a sense of community and empowered the women as they gained confidence in sharing their independent ideas and in helping each other develop their business plans.

At the end of the course, we asked the following five open-ended questions:
1. What do you feel was the most useful part of the program?
2. What topics do you feel should be included in this program?
3. What would you change about the program?
4. What changes have you made as result of attending EMWOFA training?
5. What changes do you plan to make as a result of attending EMWOFA Training?

Women farmers who attended the training were mostly from Generation Y. The average age was 32.13. The participants had spent an average of 11.27 years in farming. Fifty-nine percent of the participants were married. The majority (77%) had average cash farm sales of less than 50,000 Turkish liras (TL) per year, but 23% had average cash farm incomes of over 50,000 TL. For a majority of participants graduation from primary school was their highest level of education (54.55%), and 13.70% of them had higher education.
The most useful part of the training was management followed by computer skills and technical skills. Most women farmers (72.70%) of women farmers stated that the training was sufficient However, 27.3% would like to see technical visits to see other farmers and what they are doing in their farms. Most women farmers (59.10%) thought that the training was sufficient, and no change is needed. However, 36.35% of women farmers thought the program should have included technical visits. One woman stated that the program should be longer and give payments to participants. Women farmers thought that the training is enough, but some women farmers wanted technical visits to see other farmers and what they are doing in their farms. When asked what changes they have made as result of attending the training, 50% percent of women farmers stated that they learned about management during the training, and 31.80% of women farmers stated that they started to do prepare balance sheets after attending the training, followed by 13.60% who stated that they started to do develop a business plan after attending the training sessions. When asked about what changes they plan to make as a result of attending the 60% stated that they decided to keep balance sheets after the training, followed by 22.80% who started to do better business plans after the training, and 9.10% stated that they will buy insurance and concentrate on better marketing.

Details

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