Extension Caravan in Rice Growing Areas
Research and Extension Collaboration to Answer the Farmers’ Need On-Farm

In Guilan province, Dr. Saleh Mohammadi, the Director-General of the Jahad Agricultural Organization of Guilan province, Dr. Hosseini, the Director-General of the Rice Research Institute of Iran (RRII), Dr. Mojdehi, the Director-General of the Research and Training Center for Agriculture and Natural Resources, Dr. Manafi and Engineers Jafari from the Education and Extension Institute of Iran, numbers of the managers of the Agricultural Jahad Organization and all the academic members and researchers of Rice Research Institute of Iran and the Agricultural and Natural Resources Research and Training Center attended at this event.
In this program, each of the convoys consisting of agricultural experts, extension officers, and researchers of RRII attending on the paddy fields transferred the last research findings’ and experiences to farmers on-farm.


Dr. Hosseini further stated that the research findings’ transfer to farmers and the implementation of practical findings are aimed at improving productivity in the rice farming system and increasing domestic rice production and food security.
She also pointed out that rice is the second strategic and important grain of the country in the food basket of Iranians, and it plays a vital role in the people’s food table, so any step taken to improve rice production will maintain the stability of production and food security of this strategic crop.
Dr. Hosseini, the Director-General of the Rice Research Institute of Iran further said that the Rice Research Institute of Iran, as a national wide institute, has an active presence in rice and rice-based cropping fields. In this extensional event, in addition to the Rice Research Institute of Iran, all research centers in these three provinces seriously accompany this caravan, and all scientific capacities and human resources are used, and the Agricultural Education and Extension Institute are in charge of leading this event. The agricultural Jahad organizations of three provinces have participated actively.

The important goals of this program are the presence of experts in the field, increasing the penetration rate of knowledge, exchanging scientific information with rice farmers and rice-related users, assessing problems, and providing technical recommendations. It should be noted that the presence of researchers and academic staff along with extension officers and experts has been carried out continuously from the land preparation stage in all paddy fields and continues till harvesting and post-harvesting periods. In addition to research findings obtained from RRII’s research, the latest research findings’ of Universities are made available to farmers during this event. I hope these efforts effectively improve the quantity and quality of domestic rice production and increase the rice food security level.