Agricultural extension – tireless footsteps: [14] Staying true to chosen profession

Bringing knowledge to every farmer household

On a morning in Long Phu Ward, An Giang Province, Nguyen Quang Binh was already at a livestock household, checking a flock of poultry following vaccination. Riding his familiar motorbike to each household, he carried not only technical manuals and practical guidance but also genuine dedication to the farmers.

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At the age of 47, Nguyen Quang Binh remains as passionate as he was when he first entered the agricultural extension sector nearly two decades ago. For him, the work of an agricultural extension officer is not only organizing training sessions or implementing demonstration models. More importantly, it is about helping farmers understand, trust, and boldly apply new technologies to production practices. Therefore, whenever a new model is introduced, he spends considerable time visiting each household to guide them through every stage, from preparation and care to troubleshooting problems that arise during implementation.

What Binh remembers most is the time he accompanied farmers to implement a biosecure poultry farming model. There was a period when he visited farmer households almost every day, providing guidance on housing sanitation, vaccination, environmental management, and flock health monitoring. For him, the greatest satisfaction was not the figures presented in the annual reports but the farmers' smiles. He vividly recalls the project's closing review, where healthy poultry flocks, high survival rates, and first-time profits exceeded expectations.

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Over nearly two decades in agricultural extension, Binh has directly developed and implemented numerous technology transfer models in the livestock sector. He has also organized training courses, workshops, and conferences for farmers and community agricultural extension groups. These efforts have helped the locality establish effective community agricultural extension groups, creating a solid foundation for the wider dissemination of knowledge throughout the community.

Building trust via simple actions

However, Binh is always concerned about the big gap between scientific and technological advances and farmers’ ability to access and apply them. Although numerous production models have proven effective in practice, replicating them remains a significant challenge. Many households are still reluctant to change long-standing farming practices, while the number of grassroots agricultural extension officers remains limited and the areas under their responsibility continue to expand.

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Rather than waiting for farmers to seek him out, Binh has chosen to bring knowledge directly to them through innovative methods. Recognizing that smartphones are becoming increasingly common in rural areas, he studied to film, take photographs, edit videos, and use artificial intelligence to produce agricultural extension communication materials, with the goal of making technical knowledge more accessible, practical, and easy-to-understand for farmers. These communication products are regularly submitted to the An Giang Provincial Agricultural Extension Center for publication on its information platforms, helping extend technical knowledge to more farmers.

According to Binh, in the digital era, agricultural extension officers need more than technical expertise, but they must also know how to harness technology to bridge the gap between knowledge and producers.

Every instructional video shared and every article published has the potential to help another farmer household learn how to prevent livestock diseases, adopt new production practices, or boldly change farming methods. This means more opportunities for households to increase their incomes and improve their lives.

Looking back on his journey, Binh said that the greatest reward of working in agricultural extension has never been certificates of merit or commendation titles. Instead, it is the opportunity to meet hardworking farmers, accompany them through each crop season, share their joy at good harvests and good prices, and support them through the hardships caused by disease outbreaks and natural disasters.

It was farmers who have helped Binh understand that the value of an agricultural extension officer is measured by the positive changes in people's lives. In his view, meeting the demands of modern agricultural development will require greater investment in digital transformation, stronger community agricultural extension groups, the expansion of effective production models, and more practical training programs. At the same time, additional policy support is needed to give farmers the confidence to invest, apply science and technology, and pursue sustainable production.

In rural areas with many challenges, every training session, every visit to the fields, and every piece of wholehearted guidance can inspire a new way of farming, giving people the confidence to enrich themselves from their own land. Nguyen Quang Binh still works tirelessly in the fields and at livestock farms, quietly sowing the seeds of knowledge and nurturing farmers' confidence.

Even after nearly two decades in agricultural extension, Binh remains eager to keep learning, embrace new ways of working, and be wherever farmers need him. More than anyone, he understands that an agricultural extension officer not only transfers production techniques but also serves as a bridge between science and practice and between policies and the realities.

Asked whether he would choose the same path if given another chance, Binh smiled and gave a simple yet deeply heartfelt reply: “If I had the chance to choose again, I would still choose a career in agricultural extension.”