I recently finished a complete training course online for Small and Medium Enterprise Farm Planning and Operations Management. This course was sponsored by Winrock International and US-AID in Cooperation with Box Office Hub in Nigeria. My job was to develop a module of about 10 videos centered around getting involved in agriculture, planning your farm, actual farming, new technologies, markets and much more. Box Office Hub took my videos, broke them up into training modules, added some evaluations and fun exercises, and then hosted them online for young entrepreneurs to complete.
To be honest, this was like nothing I have ever done before but it was extremely enjoyable, challenging, and eye opening! I learned a great deal about making videos using a computer, webcam use, and OBS software. There was a learning curve, but overall not too bad, and once learned it goes fast. The hardest part for this Extension person was not being able to talk to growers and adapt my talks to their needs. But, Box Office Hub has a lot of experience doing things like this and they helped guide me and edit me when needed.
How did I get involved in something like this? Well, there is a long story but basically I have known and worked with Winrock International for years. With the COVID restrictions on travel they have had to be flexible and change some in-person training to on-line classes. These remote training programs are a way to bring in "experts" that small farmers may never meet, and let them get experience they may never have. In the process of doing the videos my contact information is available and I am available for any Nigerian farmer to talk to, text or email.
This kind of training can be followed up with visits and more trainings as things change in our world, but for now the education continues even though we are fighting a pandemic. Also, it opens up all kinds of options that really I had never dreamed about before.
Click here to link to the SME Farm Planning and Operations Management Class
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