The rhetoric on the value of participation isn’t just lip service. In our work in Asia, the most participatory projects tended to have more impact. Consider this– in the “Three Reductions, Three Gains” or “Ba Giam, Ba Tang” media campaign, the local governments of the Mekong provinces provided about US$345,000 additional resources to launch similar campaigns. Initial budgets of the pilot campaigns in Can Tho and Tien Giang provinces totaled only US$40,000. A specific line item budget for “Ba Giam, Ba Tang” was also written into the budget of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) to support its implementation in all provinces.

Developing prototype materials for "Three Reductions, Three Gains"

Plant protection partners discuss campaign strategy, Can Tho, Vietnam

To enhance multiplier effects we actively involved partners from the central and local government, university, research, extension and media, in planning, development, implementation, and evaluation activities. This was done through a series of participatory workshops with emphasis on establishing quality partnerships and local ownerships.

The workshops developed the strategies, the campaign slogan, “Ba Giam Ba Tang”, selected the media to be used and pilot sites, prepared and pretested the campaign materials. Implementation plans were also finalized by partners in the workshops. The process had encouraged transparency, friendship and cooperation and had served as an important vehicle towards facilitating scaling up extension. It has helped in multiplying the campaign pilot by leveraging local resources to increase spread thus increasing returns to modest project investments.

With the limited resources Asian governments are allocating to extension,  media campaigns, especially when implemented through multi-stakeholder partnerships, can be an effective option for reaching farmers.

“Three Reductions, Three Gains” key partners in Vietnam: Nguyen Huu Huan (vice director for plant protection, MARD), Ho Van Chien (director, southern regional plant protection center), Pham Van Quynh (vice director for agriculture, Can Tho province), Pham Sy Tan (agronomist, Cuu Long Delta Rice Research Institute or CLRRI), Pham Van Du (plant pathologist, CLRRI)