The Albanian Fertilizer and Agri-Business Dealers’ Association (AFADA) is regarded as an alternative/complementary approach to costly traditional government extension systems which severely constrain agricultural development in Albania. The International Fertilizer Development Centre’s (IFDC) objective is to develop within AFADA a private sector extension service (PSES) by training active educated agricultural input dealers in extension methodologies. Such training empowers them to transfer to farmers’ new products and technologies.
In setting the objectives of the IFDC/PSES-Albania, an assessment of the perceived training needs of AFADA dealers was carried out in 1998. During the following two years, AFADA members were trained in extension methodologies. This training was combined with technical training to meet the needs identified in the above-mentioned study. On completion of the first IFDC project in Albania, an impact study was undertaken in order to have feedback on the effect of this training on AFADA members.