| Agricultural extension | Extension work is carried out through
two-way communication. This communication takes place in a
cross-cultural environment that is not familiar to a new agent.
Sensitivity to that environment is important in everything the
agent does. Evidence of cultural differences is readily found in
a people's customs and beliefs. Extension agents need to look
beyond these more obvious manifestations of culture to subtle
distinctions fauna in language and other means of communication
if the desired two-way flow of information is to take place.
Learning to speak the farmer's own language is a goal most
extensionists work towards in some way or another. Learning to
use a language in a culturally appropriate way may in many
respects be a more useful objective. For example, there are
expressions in most languages that have special (colloquial)
meanings in local circumstances. "An empty sack will not stand
up" does not refer to grain bags in a storeroom; it is an
expression that says, in effect, "A