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  • Apart from relevance, convenience and timeliness, they are also a great educational tool to transfer knowledge to Colombian coffee growers.

From 2003 to date, the Colombian Coffee Growers Federation (FNC), through its academic arm, the Manuel Mejia Foundation (FMM), has designed and provided at least 29 online extension courses to 29,857 participants, a figure that reflects the importance of this method.

Constant training and education are crucial for good performance of the Extension Service, made up of 1,500 men and women that provide technical assistance to coffee farmers and transfer them knowledge and scientific developments on coffee.

In a country with such a complex geography as Colombia, making the most of new information technologies to educate and train is very helpful and efficient. So much so, that the online courses provided by the FNC have become a key tool to train and keep extensionists updated, the main vehicle to transfer knowledge to growers.

Recently, as part of the strategies to update the Extension Service and strengthen the agronomic basics to be transferred to coffee growers, the “Climate and Coffee Production” course was provided to show climate factors and their influence on coffee production.

In the course “The coffee tree,” participants relate the coffee tree structure and functions to weather conditions and good agricultural practices, which increase productivity and sustainability of coffee crops.

The FMM online training programs began in 2003. Before, the extensionists were trained only in person at the FMM facilities or the National Coffee Research Centre (Cenicafé), with courses lasting up to four months. Now they are shorter, faster and topic-oriented, allowing for more and varied training every year.

Each extension agent can take the courses in its own municipality, as they only require internet access.

This successful experience of the FMM and the FNC (which has also helped train farmers and employees) has also enabled to train professionals from other agricultural sectors on rural extension, another important contribution of the coffee sector to the country’s development.