Advising a farmer: listen, diagnose, propose a realistic action plan
Knowing is not yet knowing how to advise. Many good technicians arrive at a farmer's, see in ten minutes what is wrong, say it in twenty sentences, and leave; three months later nothing has changed. The farmer did not hear, or he heard a list of reproaches, or he received twelve pieces of advice and applied none. Advising is a trade of its own: you listen first, you ask, you measure, you set a diagnosis that links the signs together, and you propose three priorities the farmer can really carry out with what he has. Then you come back to check. This lesson gives the method, with a complete consultation told at a coloured-chicken farm in the Bongouanou area.
13 min read · 5-question quiz at the end
By Abdul Hussein ChoumanFounder of NEXTEKCI · Agnibilékrou hatchery since 2006This lesson is part of Level 15 — Expert adviser: project, audit and passing it on. It opens to registered students who have passed the level 14 exam. Levels 1 to 5 and the tracks remain readable by everyone.
- ✓Conduct the opening interview with a farmer: listen without interrupting, rephrase, ask open then closed questions
- ✓Link the audit findings and the farmer’s answers into a diagnosis, that is, a chain of causes
- ✓Write an action plan in three priorities, each with a gesture, a figure, a date and a check
- ✓Organise the follow-up at 7, 30 and 90 days, and know what to do when the plan is not applied