On November 27th and December 7th-10th, 2009, the Farmer Associations Training was held in Longjing City and Wangqing County, Jilin Province respectively. In total, ninety-three participants consisting mainly of members from each county, city and prefecture Swine Farmers Association attended these two trainings. Thirty-two (32) participants attended the first training; 27 men and 5 women; 12 were from the Korean minority. Sixty-one (61) participants attended the second training; 51 men and 10 women; 13 were from the Korean minority and 1 was from the Manchu minority. This training was very successful and this success is attributed to the great help and cooperation from the Jilin PMO, Longjing AHB, Wangqing AHB and the Longjing and Wangqing swine associations.

The first training was carried out by Dr. Paul Schneider, LTTA, Jilin PO. The topics covered in the first training included the current situation of farmer associations in Canada, swine disease prevention, production management and artificial insemination (AI). The second training was carried out by Gao Jianhong, CTA, Jilin PO; Jin Chengfan, Deputy head of Longjing City AHB and Li Zhiguo, Manager of Purina feed company. The topics included a training needs assessment, the current situation of farmer associations in Canada, swine disease prevention, production management, early weaning technology, swine artificial insemination, resolving problems like piglet diarrhea in the winter and group discussions. It was the first trial for us to give part of the training lecture by video. A video of the training delivered by Dr. Schneider was shown to the participants.

In the first training, Dr. Paul Schneider introduced farmer associations in Canada, swine disease prevention and production management. We went to a swine farm where swine AI training was conducted. In the training, participants showed great interest in the presentation given by Paul, especially for the AI part, and they had many questions for Paul. In the second training, we fully used the participants’ experiences and knowledge to exchange and learn from each other during the training. Mr. Wei Yajie, one of participants of this training, from Wangqing AHB, played an important role in this training, especially in answering the participants’ questions. Participatory discussion was the highlight of this training and it was very important to the farmer’s understanding. The farmers’ true requirements and the problems that they encountered during their work was determined through the training needs assessment and the facilitators could then lead discussions that helped provide solutions to these problems. This was most efficient and useful way to resolve farmer’s problems.

The successful implementation and outcomes of this training is due, in part, to the good communications between the Jilin project office and the Longjing and Wangqing Swine Associations and the strong support these associations provided to notify participants, to coordinate the training sessions, etc. With this training, the associations also gained new information and knowledge especially from the foreign experts. The example presented about the Canadian farm associations gave very helpful ideas to the county associations in organization and implementation of associations. The associations need more resources to get more knowledge and information to the farmers. In general, the participants were very satisfied with this training and they want to get more chances to attend this kind of training. The head of Wangqing county swine association, Wu Jizhe said “…… this was a very interesting and special training; we like this kind of training more than traditional training, and this training can really resolve the problems the farmers meet. I hope this kind of training can be held in Wanqing once every year at least..…”. This training also was reported in the media in the Yanbian Daily on January 4th, 2010.
 

Dr. Paul Schneider, LTTA of Jilin PO giving the lecture about the Canadian swine association	The head of Wangqing swine association giving a speech in the opening ceremony	Group discussion